Chapter 138
At night, the neighbors came back from fetching water and called Qin Huai in the yard. Seeing Qin Huai popping his head out from the third floor, they asked, "Is one bucket of water enough for you?"
Qin Huai: "That's enough. Is the water limit now?"
Yu Zibai said, "It's limited. One bucket per person. I'll put the water at the door for you. You can come and get it later."
Qin Huai responded with a "good" and Yu Zibai asked again, "How are you? Is it serious?"
Qin Huai said: "Fortunately, it's not serious. You guys should also be careful when you go out to fetch water every day."
After making sure that the two of them were fine, Yu Zibai carried his own bucket of water into the house. Now one had to swipe their ID card to get water, and each person was limited to a daily amount. However, Qin Huai and the others had conjunctivitis, and they had to be quarantined at home for fear of infecting others, so they definitely couldn't get water.
While they were fetching water, they wanted to inquire about the situation around them to see if there were many cases of conjunctivitis, but they were afraid that asking would attract attention. Qin Bing, who was in charge of patrolling this area, was injured and was recuperating temporarily. They couldn't find anyone to ask, so they simply didn't ask to avoid causing trouble. After all, this was not a very serious problem. If the higher-ups were afraid of infection and took people away for isolation, that would be troublesome.
The quarantine conditions here are not good now. There might be many people with infectious diseases being quarantined together. It's too dangerous.
So now, including Xu Ming who has recently been on vacation at home, the three families go to fetch water together every day, and then share a bucket for Qin Huai and his family. Anyway, Qin Huai's family has already cleaned up, and the water consumption is not much, just enough for daily eating, drinking and washing.
After Yu Zibai and Jian Chu entered the house, Song Jia was still standing in the yard looking at Qin Huai: "Where's Mu Nan?"
Mu Nan popped up from behind Qin Huai: "What?"
Song Jia looked at him and smiled: "Look how red your eyes are."
Mu Nan shone the flashlight at him and said, "Stop gloating over other people's misfortunes. Look at the bump on your face. Be careful not to get disfigured."
Song Jia touched the bump on his face and said, "It's just a common mosquito bite. I checked it carefully every day and there are no bugs."
Qin Huai hooked Mu Nan and said, "Go in, be careful of mosquito bites."
Mu Nan waved to Song Jia, then followed Qin Huai into the house.
It may be that Qin Huai's physical fitness is better and his resistance is stronger, or it may be that he took medicine directly as soon as he showed signs of illness, so after about three or four days, his eyes were basically no longer red. When Qin Huai got better, the secretions from Mu Nan's red eyes began to decrease. He washed his eyes twice a day and applied medicine three or four times. The tube of eye ointment was almost used up before he started to get better.
Seeing that he was still pulling at his eyelids, Qin Huai slapped his hand and said, "That's why you're healing so slowly."
Mu Nan touched the back of his hand that was hit: "I'm just worried that there might be parasites in my eyes. If it weren't for the sewage getting into my eyes, how could my eyes get inflamed? The sewage must be from the ground. Now that all kinds of parasites are rampant, I always feel like I've been infected."
Qin Huai patted his mouth lightly: "If you keep talking nonsense, you will eat three meals of noodles today."
Noodles' warning made Mu Nan shut up instantly. If he didn't want to say anything, then he wouldn't say it. He could just watch it secretly while taking a shower. Anyway, he would feel uneasy if he didn't watch it.
It was less than half a month later when Mu Nan's eyes were completely healed. Coincidentally, they had just started repairing the cable lines. Because the apartment building collapsed, many overhead cables had to be rerouted, and some electric poles were broken by water, so the entire line had to be replaced.
The cable factory is rushing to rebuild the factory and put it back into production, and other places are also trying to recruit people. A high-rise apartment building in District 1 has collapsed, and the entire collapsed building needs to be cleaned up. I'm afraid there are still dead bodies buried underneath. The flood has just passed, and the weather is so hot, so it must be cleaned up as soon as possible.
Once this side is cleared, new housing will probably be built right away. Many people are eyeing this piece of land in District 1. This is the inner city. Compared to the various dirty and even disorderly sheds outside, several districts in the inner city have long been full of people. Now it's rare to have vacant land, so naturally many people are trying to find ways to get in.
Because the entire second area was re-routing, this period of time was particularly busy. The excitement of this work did dispel some of the desperate atmosphere after the disaster. Every day, Mu Nan could see many people in bee suits climbing high up the routes from the bay window in his room.
Bee suits are the work clothes worn for collecting honey in the past. They are made of fine mesh, from head to toe. They are much more breathable than protective clothing and not as stuffy as protective clothing. After all, the most important thing now is to prevent mosquito bites, so this kind of bee suit is very suitable for outdoor workers, and they can even be worn at home if conditions permit, of course, the premise is that you can buy so many sets.
Some people have developed their creative ideas and added a lining inside the bee suit by wrapping a circle of steel wire to prop up the entire bee suit. In this way, there is no need to worry about the clothes being too close to the skin and being bitten by mosquitoes through the gauze net with their sharp mouths.
"Why didn't we buy some of these clothes? Mosquitoes are still quite big nowadays and can't get through this fine net. This is more breathable than protective clothing. I don't have to worry about being bitten by mosquitoes when I wear it to fetch water every day."
Unfortunately, there was no detailed plan before. Who could be so meticulous? Even he had foresight, but he didn't know this would happen. If he had known, he would definitely buy a lot. Anyway, this kind of beekeeper's work clothes are not expensive. But now, even if they exchange them with food, they can't get more than two pieces. So now they go to fetch water every night, still wearing airtight protective clothing, sweating profusely from the heat.
Qin Huai said: "I can make one for you."
Mu Nan suddenly widened his eyes and looked at him: "Huh?"
Qin Huai smiled and said, "What? We bought so much gauze fabric, can't we make a piece of clothing? Let's think about it."
Speaking of making clothes, Mu Nan suddenly remembered: "I remember the girl next door to us, I forgot who it was, she said before that she seemed to be studying fashion design, and she also said that if she had the opportunity to get some fabrics, she would make clothes at home and sell them to see if she could support herself."
Qin Huai asked, "You want them to do it?"
Mu Nan didn't care: "If you think making clothes can kill time and figure it out yourself, that's fine. Anyway, I've been eating and sleeping these days, and I'm getting lazy."
Qin Huai thought for a moment and said, "Let's ask them when we get water tonight. If they want to make clothes, we can see how many pieces can be made from one piece of cloth. If each family can have one piece, that's fine."
Mu Nan said, "How do you say the source of that cloth? It's impossible to just pull out a piece of cloth out of thin air, right? It must be the most in-demand mesh cloth right now."
"Don't worry about that. They all know that I have a wide network of contacts and know a lot of people. If there are really people who can make clothes among the girls, we can just go out one day and bring back some cloth. But the cloth can't be given away for free, so we need to think carefully about the price."
That night, when putting the buckets on the tricycle in the yard, Mu Nan asked Sun Sisi. Sun Sisi asked in confusion: "Making clothes? Yang Jing is a professional, but he doesn't have any cloth. Don't you have enough clothes?"
Yang Jing on the side said: "Making clothes is no problem. I have some tools, but I need cloth and thread. If you can get the cloth and thread, I can help you."
Song Jia turned to look at Mu Nan: "Don't you have enough clothes? Are you wearing your underwear outside?"
Sun Sisi rolled her eyes: "Although we are all sisters in this courtyard, don't we still need to be careful about some things? As for the underwear, you can just learn to cut and sew them yourselves. At most I can help you make some clothes and pants for going out." What was this guy thinking to let a group of girls help make underwear!
Song Jia quickly straightened herself up: "Who are the sisters? Who are the sisters? I'm standing straight, okay!"
Seeing that he was in a state of distress, Sun Sisi advised him, "Give up struggling. Wouldn't it be comfortable for you to lie down like a weakling and be served by others?"
Song Jia raised his fist and chased Sun Sisi all over the field. Mu Nan said to Yang Jing, "We want to make protective clothing with mesh to prevent mosquitoes. Can we make it with that kind of mesh fabric? If we can, my brother can use some connections to get some of that mesh fabric. How many sets can we make with one piece of fabric?"
Yang Jing said: "Save some materials, or use other fabrics. Didn't you get a lot of curtain fabrics before? If you do some splicing, you should be able to make three sets."
Mu Nan was stunned. He thought he could make at least six or seven sets, but he didn't expect that he would have to stitch other fabrics together to make only three sets. "Isn't a piece of cloth more than 30 meters long?"
Yang Jing looked at him and smiled: "How much do you think you can do in 30 meters?"
Mu Nan said: "He's only about 1.8 meters tall, so just make two meters, one front and one back, and sew them together, making four meters. If we put them together again, I think we can make at least ten sets if we can save some money." There are ten people in their yard.
Yang Jing was amused by his words: "Don't you need cloth for the sleeves? The cloth is woven for you according to the body lines, so there is no need to cut it. The three sets are just barely pieced together. This is to omit all the tedious processes that waste material. Otherwise, if you are more extravagant, sometimes you need to piece together other materials to make a set of clothes with one piece of cloth."
Qin Huai came over and called Yu Zibai and Wu Zheng, "I asked someone about it. Someone helped me get some mesh cloth. It costs 100 yuan per piece plus 100 kilograms of rice. It costs money and food. Now it depends on how many sets you need to make. I'll go and make the arrangement with them. We'll pay Yang Jing a little extra as compensation for making the clothes."
Yang Jing said: "I don't need extra compensation. As long as you have cloth and thread, I can make it for you. The fact that you can share these protective suits with us is already a reward for us. After all, if it weren't for your connections, we wouldn't even be able to get ordinary cloth, let alone this kind of mesh cloth."
Qin Huai turned to look at Yu Zibai and the others: "How is it? If you want it, just confirm it with my friend and you can pick it up in two days."
Yu Zibai said: "Yes!"
Wu Zheng also hurriedly said: "We want it too."
Xu Ming said, "I don't need it. The farm will have a quota. Since we raise animals, they are more likely to attract mosquitoes, so we will provide this kind of work clothes."
Now this mesh protective clothing is the best clothing to prevent mosquitoes without being too hot to get heatstroke. Unless they hide at home and never go out, they will definitely be bitten if they go out. Wearing long sleeves and long pants, if the clothes are not thick enough, but just thin cloth, it will not prevent mosquitoes at all, and they can bite you through the clothes.
But if everyone gets a set, then the price will be quite high. Excluding Xu Ming, if everyone gets a set, there will be nine people and three pieces of cloth.
Qin Huai reminded them, "There may be a food crisis soon. You should decide for yourself whether to go get some water first and then decide whether to take it or not after you come back."
Although Qin Huai reminded everyone of this, everyone wanted it in the end. This opportunity was too rare. And to be honest, considering the current scarcity, the price was not expensive in comparison. If you have the conditions to get one, at least you can go out when mosquitoes are rampant. As long as you can go out, you can always find opportunities to make money or earn food. At the very least, you can apply for jobs now, and many positions will provide meals.
As long as you still have a job, you can have a meal every day during a famine, which is worse than being trapped in the house and consuming your food reserves. If the food reserves are used up, you will be bitten to death if you go out, and you will starve to death if you don't go out. It is better to invest in a set of protective clothing that can be used outside.
After everyone discussed it, they found a day and asked Qin Huai to take Mu Nan out to move the rice first. As for the money, they would transfer it when the internet was connected.
Mu Nan sat behind Qin Huai and fanned him: "If the price wasn't so low that it seemed unreasonable, I wouldn't have asked for their money and rice."
Qin Huai said: "Look at it from another perspective. Although we asked for their money and rice, we gave them more tools to survive in this harsh environment. It's an equal transaction."
Mu Nan just sighed, thinking that money and food can be earned again, but if bitten by a poisonous mosquito, they can't always get medicine in time to save lives, so it's worth it when you think about it this way.
Before the sun came out in the morning, Qin Huai took Mu Nan for a stroll outside. Even the early morning breeze was hot and humid, and they were soon drenched in sweat. But as they followed the river and saw most of the residential areas in the inner city, Mu Nan really felt that the best conditions were in District 2.
Although other places were also low-rise buildings, they were the kind where five or six households might live on one floor. You could hear all kinds of noisy noises before you even got close to them, including quarrels, crying, and swearing. As for the broken windows outside the residents' rooms, they had not been repaired yet, and all kinds of messy things were blocking them, including cloth, wooden boards, and even various cabinets and tables, as long as they could block the sunlight.
The broken walls, the dirty roads, and the barren surroundings left by the sun with not a single blade of grass growing on them all showed how miserable life was now. Seeing this, Mu Nan couldn't help but grab Qin Huai's clothes tightly.
Qin Huai took Mu Nan for a walk under a bridge tunnel that was washed away by the flood. When they came out, the rice on the cart was gone. They covered the three rolls of cloth with black cloth, and then rode back to the small yard at a high speed before the sun got hot, and handed the three rolls of cloth directly to Yang Jing.
As for the other cloths, they had already been soaked in the flood, but since they were cloth, they were soaked in water, so they could just be torn apart and dried in the sun. Anyway, they were made for their own people to wear, so they could just be washed and worn after they were done.
In order to be able to go out safely and early, Yang Jing started working as soon as he got the cloth and thread. Although Sun Sisi and Tu Juan were not professionals in this field, the girls were careful and dexterous, so it was no problem for them to help out. This kind of gauze protective clothing did not need to be made close-fitting, and he even planned to use thin steel wire to roll a lining inside like others did, so there was no need to make a pattern, and he could just get started.
Regardless of size or style, it took more than a week to finish nine sets of protective clothing. This was even after they stayed up late and worked overtime every day. If they had tools, the process would have been even faster, but they had no tools and could only sew by hand. After the clothes were made, the three girls lost a lot of weight.
Sun Sisi slumped in the chair: "It turns out that making clothes is such a tiring task. When I was a child, sewing clothes for my dolls was not so tiring."
Yang Jing left three sets of small sizes. Since they were not tall or fat, he could save fabric and managed to make clothes for everyone. However, he used curtain fabric for the legs and head, so he saved as much as possible.
The gauze cloth was used up, leaving only a pile of cut scraps of cloth, but Yang Jing did not throw them away. He collected them and sewed and patched them up, trying to see if he could piece them together to make something useful.
The mosquito-proof suit made by Yang Jing actually looks pretty good. The fabrics chosen for patchwork are of similar colors, with light-colored patterns. So despite being patchwork, it doesn't look ugly. There's a lining inside, which stretches the entire garment and covers the person inside. Movement may be a little restricted, but that's okay. Anyway, you don't do anything that requires delicate movements, so it's good enough to be able to protect yourself from head to toe.
When this group of people go out to fetch water again, their scale looks very eye-catching. It cannot be said that everyone in District 2 is familiar with them, but they are the ones who fetch water every night. Plus, these handsome men and beautiful women are really impressive, so many people are familiar with them. They didn’t have this kind of clothes yesterday, but they are all wearing them today. I thought they found a private seller somewhere, so some of them couldn’t help but step forward to ask.
Song Jia pulled the gauze on his body and said to the person who was asking carefully, "Please take a closer look."
The man didn't understand what he meant. He looked up and down but couldn't see anything special.
Song Jia said: "It's made by dismantling a mosquito net. This is not the kind of professional clothing that others make. It's just a modified mosquito net. The situation is urgent. In order to go out safely, I have thought of every possible way."
The man took another look and saw that it was indeed a mosquito net, thin and soft. He immediately asked in confusion: "If you take down the mosquito net, what will we do at night? Are you going to sleep wearing this?"
Song Jia sighed, "This is the only way for now. We're rerouting the lines these days. When the electricity comes back on, we'll turn on the air conditioner. Then there won't be any mosquitoes if we close the doors and windows. Let's just get through these few days first."
Knowing that they dismantled the mosquito nets to make clothes, some people who might have extra mosquito nets at home or this kind of gauze fabric came over one after another, wanting to see how the clothes were made. Song Jia directly helped Yang Jing and the others to attract business: "Go to her, go to her. She is a top student at the Fashion Design College. All our clothes are made by her. It's not expensive. As long as you have your own fabric, ten kilograms of labor fee, a set of clothes can be delivered in three days."
Song Jia was just joking at first, but he didn't expect that someone would actually take note of it. The next day, someone waited for them to fetch water and asked Yang Jing if he could really help. Ten kilograms of rice is not a lot, but it is not a small amount either. However, compared to making it with scraps of materials or buying expensive professional mosquito-proof clothing from others, ten kilograms of rice and a mosquito net in exchange for a set of protective clothing that can be used outside is worth it. As long as mosquitoes do not become extinct, this may be used every year in the future.
Yang Jing had no problem earning food by doing handicrafts at home. He didn't need to be paid first. He could just pay after the clothes were made. He wasn't afraid that others would not pay him. He could sell a set of finished mosquito-proof clothes and earn hundreds of kilograms of rice, and people would rush to buy them.
Seeing the girls running their small businesses, Song Jia put his arm around Mu Nan's shoulders and sighed, "I didn't expect that the first three of them would be the ones to start home-grown production. When will our recycling farming business be put on the agenda?"
Mu Nan turned and looked at him: "Have you replanted the seeds?"
Song Jia sighed, "Waiting for the electricity. It's so hot that even weeds can't grow, let alone food. Is your rabbit still alive?"
Mu Nan: "Feeding on steamed buns and dead pepper and tomato leaves, he is still strong and alive. When he grows up a little and Qin Bing's injuries are healed, we will find a day to kill him and eat his meat."
After Mu Nan finished speaking, he glanced at his brother and Yu Zibai who were fetching water in front, and nudged Jian Chu next to him: "Is your Yu Zibai really going to work on the farm?"
Jian Chu nodded: "Well, we've discussed it. The farm also needs people. We didn't have protective clothing before, but now we have it. Let's go. The family has suffered heavy losses and huge expenses. We have to find something to make a living, otherwise we will really eat up all the money."
Although farm workers will be provided with clothes, they don't get them right away. Even Xu Ming and his team don't have them yet. Those who have just started working can only wait for their superiors to have more clothes. If they can get some themselves, that would be the best, and it would be safer if they were more careful in protection.
Mu Nan nodded: "That's fine. At least Xu Ming will take care of the farm. He will work on the farm. When the phone comes, you can grow grass and raise rabbits at home. Life will get better."
Jian Chu sighed slightly: "I hope so." They no longer dared to hold out hope for the current state of the world. Who knows what kind of catastrophic disaster they will encounter just when their lives are getting a little better? They just have to live one day at a time.
Shui and his group, who were riding a tricycle, had just returned home when they saw the street lights flickering and lighting up. At the same time, they heard many people cheering. Although there was no electricity at home, the circuit of the street lights outside was connected, and it would probably only take a day or two for the house to be connected. Not long ago, some people's homes had already come to check the circuits.
Mu Nan was so happy looking at the street lights: "Great, I finally got the power. If it doesn't come back, I'll be so hot that I'll die." Although there were ice cubes to cool down, Qin Huai wouldn't let him get close to the ice. Every day when he slept, there were puddles of sweat on the mat because of the heat. It was far from what air conditioning could handle.
Jian Chu looked at Mu Nan: "Electricity will come sooner or later, but will the air conditioner and electrical appliances still work?"
This question made Song Jiawen, who was also very happy, frown: "My air conditioner is seriously flooded. I don't know if it can be used."
Mu Nan said: "My brother has disassembled the air conditioner and cleaned it, but we won't know if it can be used until it is powered on." As for other electrical appliances, such as refrigerators, they can definitely be used. They were all put away in the space before he left, and they are all in good condition.
Yu Zibai said: "If it doesn't work, think of another way. If it really doesn't work, make a simple fan to cool it down."
Song Jia's eyes lit up, and Mu Nan also asked curiously: "How do you make a fan?"
Yu Zibai shrugged: "I don't know, I'll figure it out when I need it."
Song Jia: “…I thought you could do it.”
The electricity came on in the middle of the night. Mu Nan was sleeping in a sprawling state, and was woken up by Qin Huai covering her with a large blanket. She subconsciously kicked her legs to get rid of the "heat source" that was getting in the way, but Qin Huai gently held her back: "The air conditioner is on, cover yourself with a blanket to avoid catching a cold."
Mu Nan didn't hear clearly, and hummed in a daze. When he realized that Qin Huai didn't let him kick the blanket, he stopped, turned over and continued to sleep. When he woke up in the morning, he was still curled up in Qin Huai's arms, half awake, and said, "I dreamed that there was a phone call."
Qin Huai gave him a good morning kiss: "There was a call, and the air conditioner was turned on in the middle of the night."
Mu Nan sat up suddenly and said, "Did you get a call? I was wondering why I slept so comfortably. I didn't even wake up from the heat last night."
You have to know that even with ice cubes and air-conditioning fans, it is common to wake up in the middle of the night due to the heat because Qin Huai does not allow him to get too close or blow the fan directly at him. He slept through the night last night.
Mu Nan quickly took out his cell phone, but there was still no signal. He probably had to wait a while. But now that the call came, he could finally live a cool life with air conditioning.
His life became happy, but his neighbors were not so happy. Their hope that the air conditioner could still be used after being cleaned after being flooded was shattered by the intuitive test after the call. Their air conditioner was scrapped.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
