Chapter 109
After Qin Huai came out, he said hello to this new friend who he had chatted with for a few words, and then left with Mu Nan. Mu Nan walked downstairs and spread out the chocolate for Qin Huai to see: "Liang Yu insisted on giving it to me just now, and I said no, and he also said that next time we go to his house to play, he said he would make meat buns for us, but I refused, but he was too enthusiastic."
Qin Huai took the chocolate from Mu Nan's hand: "Don't lower your vigilance just because of other people's enthusiasm. Don't follow others rashly, especially don't be alone with strangers." Although he didn't say it, with Mu Nan's vigilance against strangers, it was impossible for him to follow others casually, and of course he wouldn't be tempted by the food. Although he made so many meat buns when he was locked up at home during the epidemic, Mu Nan has never liked meat buns since he was a child. Every time he had to take a bite of meat bun and a sip of milk to swallow it. He always said that he would choke if he ate meat buns alone. This habit has not changed until now, so there are many meat buns in the space, but they haven't eaten them many times yet.
He did not deny that there were indeed some people who were particularly enthusiastic and generous, but in today's world, it was always better to be cautious.
Mu Nan nodded: "No, I'm not greedy." Whatever you want to eat, there is no food in the space. It's not necessary to follow others just for a meat bun.
When the two were walking out, Qin Bing just came back from patrol. Mu Nan was about to say hello, but Qin Huai held his head and led him out. Qin Bing just glanced at them but didn't come over. He just passed them by as if he didn't know them.
Although Mu Nan was a little confused, he didn't ask any more questions. He wrapped his mask tightly, put on his goggles, tightened his collar, and followed Qin Huai to walk home in the wind and snow. Just when he was getting a certificate at Building No. 1, the wind and snow outside became stronger. Mu Nan wore a hat and a raincoat that covered his entire body, but his body was still aching from the strong wind and snow. Even though he covered his body with hot packs, it seemed that he couldn't stop the biting cold.
Qin Huai saw that the weather was too unbearable, so he pulled Mu Nan and ran home in one breath. Fortunately, Mu Nan ran every day and could now last half an hour on the treadmill. It was no problem for him to run back in ten minutes. If he walked back slowly in the wind and snow, he would probably be frozen to death.
But even after running all the way back, Mu Nan was still very cold. Qin Huai quickly asked him to take off his clothes. When they went out, they put a set of clothes in the quilt to keep warm. Now it was just right to change them inside out, which would always warm him up.
Mu Nan's teeth chattered from the cold as he took off his clothes. Qin Huai put the fully charged hand warmer on him and said, "Warm yourself up quickly, don't get cold again."
Mu Nan crawled under the quilt and spread himself on the hottest spot on the kang like a pancake: "We are wearing so many thick clothes and have hot packs, but we are still freezing. How can others bear it?"
Qin Huai wrung out a hot towel to wipe his hands and face: "Rely on human potential, wrap yourself in the quilt, sit up and drink some hot water."
Mu Nan took the hot water and warmed it in his hands: "Change your clothes quickly, you're all wet." Although it was the raincoat he was wearing on the outside that was wet, it was still a little uncomfortable to be wet.
After settling Mu Nan, Qin Huai took off his clothes calmly, retrieved the chocolate Liang Yu gave to Mu Nan from his pocket, and casually put it in the cabinet at the entrance. Probably he heard some noise from their side, and soon Jian Chu knocked on the garage door. Qin Huai, who had just changed his clothes, threw a few pieces of firewood into the stove and went to open the door.
Mu Nan lifted a corner of the quilt: "Come up quickly, are you cold?"
Jian Chu nodded repeatedly: "It's freezing cold. I've been here for just a short while and I'm freezing."
Mu Nan: "We just ran back. It was too cold. If we walked back slowly, we wouldn't be able to bear it."
Jian Chu couldn't help but say, "The wind is stronger when we run back, it's easy to get hypothermia."
Mu Nan smiled and said, "It only took five minutes. You ran down in one breath. You are cold on the body but hot on the heart. Of course you can't run long distance. You came here to see the ID card, right?"
Jian Chu nodded, and Mu Nan showed him the new ID card. It was different from the previous one. In addition to the ID number, there were the birthplace and the place of application. The place of residence was gone. Most people now have no fixed place to live. Where can they get a place of residence? Mu Nan said, "The person who issued the ID card said that the Internet will be available in a month at the earliest and indefinitely at the latest. However, the electricity supply is said to be limited, that is, a household can use a certain amount of electricity. Once it is used up, it is gone. Therefore, the electricity cannot be used to supply floor heating, but lighting and mobile phone charging are no problem."
Jian Chu said, "Then how can we limit it? Your family is one household, and mine is two. If we divide it by the number of households, your small three-story house will definitely not be enough. But if we don't divide it by the number of households, then people who have three households in one house will have even less."
Mu Nan shook his head: "I don't know. I didn't ask in such detail. The higher-ups should have considered it. We'll see what happens when the time comes."
Qin Huai said: "It will be divided by the number of households. When the time comes, the wires will be rerouted. You will use your ID card to open an account. Each household will have a meter. You can pre-charge the electricity. If you want heating, you can charge. If you don't have money, you can save electricity."
Mu Nan said to Jian Chu, "You can ask about solar energy. We can recharge our electricity in the winter, so we don't have to spend money in the summer. The sun is so strong that solar energy is enough to consume electricity."
Jian Chu wanted to inquire, but the problem was that anyone with some conditions wanted to buy such scarce materials, and their family was not much richer than others. Even if they bought together with Xu Ming, it might not be enough: "We can only wait and see. Anyway, I told Qin Bing to help keep an eye on it. I don't know when this exchange point will open again."
Mu Nan said, "In addition to this card, there is also a bracelet, one of those futuristic technology bracelets, with a soft, thin strap, only about six or seven centimeters wide, with one section that is black, probably where the chip is installed, fifty points each, but it seems that not many people buy it."
Hearing that it was fifty points each, Jian Chu rolled his eyes and said, "I'm poor and can't afford luxury goods."
Mu Nan smiled. Although he and Qin Huai were already quite wealthy, he was reluctant to give up the fifty points. If life could really go smoothly, this thing would surely become popular in the future, and he could buy it then. Thinking of what they said when they got the certificate today, Mu Nan said, "I remember Wu Zheng studied machine tool mechanics or something like that, right?"
Jian Chu didn't really take it to heart: "What's wrong?"
Mu Nan said, "We need to build a factory. A city this big can't just rely on digging up ruins and central government subsidies. We have to pick up our past civilization bit by bit. What's more, it only took our country a few decades to go from having no electricity to building infrastructure in space. It will only be faster if we do it again. A country with crazy infrastructure is not a lie. But there has to be a starting point, so the wave of reemployment for laid-off workers is about to begin."
Jian Chu was immediately moved, but then he was confused: "Does it depend on the major? What can a finance major do? Baldhead, if I had known this would happen, I would have studied agriculture instead of carpentry."
Mu Nan shrugged. He didn't know what finance could do. Anyway, all he could do was to draw serials. He hoped that people would be in urgent need of spiritual entertainment by then, so that he could make some money. If he couldn't make this little money, he could only set up a stall to sell vegetables. However, the only good thing now was that if he serialized his comics online, there should be no one to steal them, after all, he didn't have the conditions to steal.
As for his brother, he has nothing to worry about. He is a highly talented person and does not need to worry about having no food to eat.
Jian Chu came here just to see what the new ID cards looked like. Although they were the next batch to get them, people are more or less curious. Since he was staying at home anyway, he might as well come over and chat. The two talked for a while, and Jian Chu's body warmed up. Seeing that it was almost time for dinner, he naturally would not stay. He was not that ignorant.
I got my ID card, and the only thing left was to see when I could get vaccinated. However, at this temperature, it might be difficult to transport the vaccine, so I had to wait a little longer. What made Mu Nan happy the most was that in addition to the abundant fruits on the third floor, the female rabbit in the room on the second floor had grown fat, lying lazily in the cotton all day without moving. Qin Huai said that there might be baby rabbits.
In order to allow the rabbits to give birth, Mu Nan also placed a heater in the room, the kind that looks like a small solar heater, in the corner of the rabbit hutch. A battery can power the heater for a whole night. Qin Huai said that rabbits have very strong reproductive capacity. They can give birth to seven or eight babies at a time, and several times a year. After all, it only takes a female rabbit one month to get pregnant and give birth to babies. This is related to their future food supply, so Mu Nan attached great importance to it and simply took a small generator, connected it to the small solar heater in the room, and provided heating 24 hours a day.
In order to prevent the strange smell from making the pregnant female rabbit nervous, Mu Nan could only pee through the door and look inside: "We failed to raise chickens, but the rabbits we picked up this winter should be able to survive. Brother, if we raise the rabbits, can they survive the hot summer?"
Qin Huai was weeding the vegetables in the greenhouse next to him. Half of the soil in the vegetable pot was ordinary soil and the other half was nutrient soil. The nutrient soil was fine because it had been specially processed. Ordinary soil would contain some plant seeds or even tiny insect eggs, so he had to observe carefully every day to see if any grass plants had grown to steal nutrients or if some small insects had hatched. Hearing Mu Nan's question, he said with a smile, "Don't we have solar energy in summer? Just turn on the air conditioner."
Mu Nan nodded: "That's right, we have our own solar energy so we don't have to worry about power outages. Little rabbits, have more children. Whether our family can eat meat in the future depends on you."
Qin Huai: "Rabbit said, if you keep nagging me every day, I won't have any more children."
Mu Nan turned around and glared at Qin Huai: "Stop talking!"
Qin Huai laughed out loud, put down the spray bottle, and came out of the greenhouse with the cut weeds: "Here, feed your little rabbit."
Mu Nan looked at the grass in Qin Huai's hand and exclaimed, "I didn't buy the grass seeds!"
Realizing that he didn't seem to have any grass to feed the rabbits except sweet potato vines and various vegetable leaves, Mu Nan couldn't help but start looking through his seed stock, wondering if he was lucky and had bought so many seeds and some were wrong, or maybe the boss just happened to give him some grass seeds as a gift.
As a result, he turned over all the boxes of seeds on the kang, but found not a single grass seed: "There are even blueberry seeds, but no grass seeds!"
Qin Huai said: "No matter how far you think, there will always be omissions. It's okay. I'll just ask someone next time. Besides, they've started breeding there, so they'll definitely be growing feed. We can either grow it or buy it when the time comes."
Mu Nan sighed: "This is the only way. I hope the sweet potato vines and the like are nutritious for the rabbits."
Qin Huai comforted him, "It's definitely enough. Wild rabbits have grown this big eating weeds outside. And last year it was so hot that all the plants dried up, but those rabbits still survived, proving that they have strong vitality. Now they have food and water, which is much better than life outside. Those little rabbits will definitely be able to give birth well."
Mu Nan observed for a few more days and confirmed that the female rabbit was really pregnant. Her belly was getting bigger and bigger, and her temper was getting more and more irritable. The male rabbits could not get close to her at all. Even when they went in to clean, they had to avoid where the female rabbit was. The female rabbit would get angry if they got close to her.
Mu Nan rolled up a pile of dirty cotton and diaper pads, quickly put new ones on them and ran out. The female rabbit kept staring at him, as if she was going to scratch him at any time: "Don't mess with her, don't mess with her, not even females with cubs."
Qin Huai pulled the plastic bag and asked him to throw the garbage in. These things could only be accumulated in the space for the time being, and they would be thrown out when they had the chance. "Don't get close. I'll bite you with my claws. I guess you can't even fight a rabid dog now."
Mu Nan shook her head repeatedly: "I won't come near, I promise not to come near. It's okay if you tickle me, but if you scare me to the point of not having pups, then that's a big deal."
Qin Huai was speechless towards Mu Nan. Thinking of those little rabbits, he couldn't help but ask, "You raised them yourself, would you be reluctant to eat them?" After all, they were raised by themselves. Some people couldn't even bear to eat the chickens and ducks they raised, let alone these furry rabbits. Besides, Mu Nan had liked furry things since childhood, so it didn't matter to them whether they ate them or not. After all, there was plenty of meat in the space. Up to now, not even one-tenth, let alone one-twentieth, had been consumed. If they really developed feelings for them, with the reproduction rate of rabbits, they might not be able to keep them all in this house.
Mu Nan looked at Qin Huai with a look of "What are you talking about?" "Why are you reluctant to give it up? Spicy rabbit head, dry-fried rabbit cubes, and fried rabbit legs. Isn't the meat delicious? If you can't bear to eat it, I will still keep it. Thank you."
Qin Huai laughed. He shouldn't ask a carnivore whether he was willing to eat rabbit meat.
After feeding the rabbits and weeding, Mu Nan hopped downstairs with a light heart. Seeing the calendar hanging on the wall, he said, "Should I take my temperature today?"
As soon as he finished speaking, there was a knock on the door, and Qin Bing's voice: "Please open the door, I'm taking your temperature."
The two of them happened to be on the first floor. Qin Huai picked up a coat, put it on, and went to open the door.
Qin Bing carried a big bag and followed Qin Huai into the house, and then Mu Nan stuffed a cup of hot tea into his mouth: "You can drink it directly. This is not freshly boiled water."
After Qin Bing thanked him, he put the bag he was carrying on the ground, and then pulled out a piece of paper from his arms: "This is the details of the exchange. Because I know that your family is exchanging peppers and tomatoes, the exchange materials are in units of tomatoes and peppers."
The last time he took the temperature, Qin Huai asked if he could use tomatoes and peppers to exchange for some seasonings, in addition to oil, salt, soy sauce, oyster sauce, cumin, thirteen spices and the like. They had brought some of these things from home. Although there were a lot in the space, there were not many exposed. After making several spicy dishes, these things naturally became less. For the convenience of future use, it would of course be better to change some if conditions permit.
Another reason was that the tomatoes and peppers upstairs had borne fruit and had grown very large, so they needed to be harvested. Although they could be stored in the space, there was no need to do so. Mu Nan had been planning to support his brother through planting, so this legitimate harvest should be exchanged for something legitimate. It was nothing shameful. So when Qin Bing took out the exchange details, Mu Nan stretched his head to take a look.
Salt is a very important commodity, so it is a little bit more expensive, one pound of salt for ten pounds of tomatoes. After all, there are not many tomatoes in ten pounds, but one pound of salt can last for a long time. Then there are the big spices like thirteen spices, some of which are just leaves, which are light and have no weight. If you exchange them by weight, then you will need more tomatoes and peppers.
Qin Bing said, "I brought the seasoning, but I don't know how much oil you want. If it's urgent and you don't have it at home, I'll bring it on my way when I inspect in two days. Take a look at these and see how much you want to exchange."
Qin Bing was carrying a large sack of stuff, which was quite a lot. Mu Nan asked, "Can we exchange it with new currency now? Our neighbors probably need it too, but they probably only have new currency."
Qin Bing shook his head: "I'm afraid that the new currency transaction is not available for the time being. I don't have a machine. If you need it, you have to go to Building No. 1 yourself. There is a machine in Building No. 1 that can be used for swiping, and it should be possible to exchange it."
Mu Nan smiled and said, "There is no delivery service." Then he looked at Qin Huai and said, "Brother, how many do we need to change? I'll go up and pick them."
Qin Huai said, "Pick off all the ripe ones first, weigh them and replace them."
Mu Nan ran up to pick them, and Qin Bing said, "Then you guys pick them first. I'll go take the temperatures of the people next door and then come back."
Mu Nan took two baskets, one containing tomatoes and the other containing peppers. Some of the peppers had already grown a little red. Anyway, as long as they were grown up, they could be eaten. The harvest of the entire living room on the third floor was not enough to fit in two frames. Some of the tomatoes or peppers were a little smaller, so Mu Nan did not pick them and left them there so that they could eat them later.
After he had taken down the two large boxes of things, Qin Bing came back after taking the temperature. He weighed them with a portable scale and exchanged three kilograms of salt, two kilograms of cumin, and all the other big spices Qinhuai. He also exchanged the rest for twenty kilograms of oil: "Don't worry about the oil. We still have some at home. Just bring it over when it's convenient next time."
Qin Bing poured the tomatoes and peppers into the bag. There were not many seasonings left that he brought with him, only a few pounds of salt and cumin chili powder. The rest were kept by Qin Huai and the others. However, they replaced them with tomatoes and peppers and filled another bag. They carried them in when they came in and carried them out when they left.
Qin Huai said to Mu Nan, "Go next door and ask them if they want to change something."
Mu Nan asked, "How are you going to exchange it with them?" Although he would not be reluctant to part with such a small thing if it was given for free, he just felt that it might be a bit too generous.
Qin Huai said, "Put a small scale outside. If they want to change, write down how much they take and pay them when the internet is connected."
He wanted to stew meat for Mu Nan. Although the two houses were separated by a distance, there was no guarantee that the smell would not spread. He asked Mu Nan to ask Jian Chu, just to pass the thing in his hand on directly, so that no matter what smell they made in the house, the neighbors would not find it strange. Although this was a little troublesome, since they had to live together, they could not completely ignore their surroundings in today's world.
Mu Nan thought this was fine, so he ran from the garage and knocked on Jian Chu's door. Because Xu Ming lived close to the garage, it was Xu Ming who opened the door. Mu Nan said directly, "My brother just changed a lot of seasonings. Do you have enough seasonings? Do you want to change some?"
Jian Chu came over in slippers: "Change the seasoning? What's that?"
Mu Nan: "Oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, thirteen spices, etc."
The things were piled up by Qin Huai in the living room on the first floor, illuminated by a small lamp. Xu Minghe, Jian Chu and Yu Zibai all came over. Their two families were eating together, and they couldn't keep consuming other people's seasonings, so if they had to change, it would naturally be better to change together.
Jian Chu and his friends were indeed short of seasonings. They had originally thought that if Qin Huai and his friends didn't change much, they wouldn't change anything. But when they saw the pile of things in the living room, they were shocked: "So many."
Mu Nan said, "I'm exchanging tomatoes for them. The tomatoes and peppers upstairs have all borne fruit. If we don't collect them, they'll rot, so I'm exchanging them for something that's durable. Do you want some?"
Of course they wanted it. Xu Ming asked, "How do we change it?"
Mu Nan took the small scale and the small notebook and said, "Write down the amount you exchanged. When the internet is connected, you can buy these things from the official website. Just give us the amount you paid then."
They all thought this was a good idea. Xu Ming and Yu Zibai went to pick up the things and put them on the scale. Jian Chu came to Mu Nan and asked him, "Do you know how to play cards?"
Mu Nan looked at Jian Chu: "Mahjong? You want to make cards?" If it was playing cards, Jian Chu would definitely not ask him this, they had played it last time, so he would only ask this about mahjong. Thinking of Jian Chu's skills in making cards, he didn't dare to imagine what the mahjong would look like, but he couldn't take the mahjong out of the space. If they brought mahjong with them when they came here, it would be too unreasonable.
Jian Chu said, "Where? The family behind us is surnamed Huang. They opened a mahjong room. When we were shoveling snow yesterday, they asked if anyone wanted to play."
Mu Nan shook his head: "I don't want to play, and I don't know how to play. Do you want to go?"
Jian Chu was indeed a little moved: "Staying at home is just too boring, and if I interact with more people, I can hear a lot of news."
Mu Nan said: "Then don't go alone, let Yu Zibai go with you, otherwise it will be unsafe."
Jian Chu also felt that it was not safe to be alone, so he asked Mu Nan if he wanted to go play together. However, he would not force Mu Nan if he didn't want to go. As for Yu Zibai, Jian Chu couldn't help but shook his head. Forget it. He could only imagine Yu Zibai at home typing on the computer and reading books, but couldn't imagine Yu Zibai playing mahjong. He might as well ask Song Jia next time he wants to shovel snow. If Song Jia is not interested, he can only give up the idea. It is too hard to stay indoors without electricity or internet.
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