Chapter 141
This dinner not only satisfied the appetite, but also allowed everyone to relax their tense emotions. In addition, the recent days have been relatively smooth, and the mental outlook of the entire courtyard has changed a lot. At least, their demeanor is no longer as exhausted as before due to various post-disaster trivial matters, and they have more or less recovered from the loss at home.
After the dinner, each family gradually resumed their own pace of life. Because of what Song Jia said before, Yang Jing also found a new way of survival. With the convenience of the Internet, she was no longer limited to the orders in District 2. She directly opened a clothing section online, which could be delivered in person or by remote delivery.
However, now any daily necessities are at risk of being robbed. It is slightly safer to use official delivery channels, but it is a little more expensive. However, most people choose to pay in person or pick up the goods in person. After all, they are afraid of losing both their money and goods. Yang Jing always chooses to trade at the neighborhood committee. The house in Building No. 1 has been vacated, but it has not been used for civilian purposes. It has been directly converted into a dormitory for the staff of the community service center.
There is a police station next to the newly built community service center and a small square next to it, which makes both parties in the transaction feel at ease in terms of security.
Although not many people asked Yang Jing to make clothes for them, she could make two or three sets of clothes a month. The money she earned and the rice she exchanged for were enough to cover her expenses. She didn't have to work outside in the wind and sun, and what she did was something she really liked. Yang Jing herself didn't expect that she would really be able to make a living in the clothing industry in this life.
Yu Zibai's work on the farm was gradually going well. Xu Ming was also at the farm. As soon as he entered, he was led by an old acquaintance. He was also capable, although he didn't know much about this aspect, after all, he had never been exposed to it before, but as long as his mind was flexible enough, it was not difficult to learn.
The benefits that Yu Zibai gained from joining the farm began to show after he started working for a month. He learned how to mix fertilizers. Although he joined the animal husbandry department and was mainly responsible for animals such as pigs, cattle and sheep, animals also need to eat grass and feed, so a special forage planting area was opened up. This area was not his responsibility, but he would go over to help when he had nothing to do, and then learn how to plant scientifically and mix fertilizers.
After learning it, I taught Mu Nan and Song Jia. It was better than letting them mess around at home.
It's no wonder that once the fertilizer was applied, the alfalfa grew very fast, almost growing a little taller every day.
Mu Nan observed around the grass pot: "It's better to feed them scientifically. I gave them fertilizer before, and they could grow slowly without it. But now they rot at the roots. Now I dare not give them fertilizer randomly, for fear of burning the roots."
Qin Huai accompanied him to search in every earthen pot to see if there were any bugs, and said, "In a few days, an Agricultural Science Academy section will be opened. If you have any questions, you can ask them online."
Mu Nan's first reaction was: "Do you want money?"
Qin Huai: "Some require payment, some are free. The free one is to post your questions and wait for experts to answer them one by one. The paid one is to find an expert individually for one-on-one guidance."
Mu Nan: "Is that so? That's fine. When will it be opened? I want to ask how to fertilize the watermelon. After the watermelon seedlings grow, do they need to be fertilized before they can bear fruit?"
Qin Huai put the weeds in his hand into the small basket in Mu Nan's hand: "You can ask when the time comes."
As soon as he finished speaking, he heard his cell phone ring. He took it out and saw that it was a message from Shi Yuanfei. Mu Nan saw Qin Huai taking a picture of a pile of vegetable pots that had not yet grown, and asked curiously, "What's going on?"
Qin Huai: "Shi Yuanfei asked about the progress of our family's planting business. Maybe he wanted to buy some vegetables."
Mu Nan sighed and said, "What a pity! If you want to eat the food, you have to wait at least a few months."
Shi Yuanfei looked at the picture of the earthenware pot with a little green and pointed tip and sighed. He originally wanted to bring some fresh vegetables to the door to appear more capable and confident. Although his future father-in-law did not think highly of his job, after all, in times of crisis, people like them would rush to the front line, which was a great guarantee for the safety of the people, but it was uneasy and dangerous for their family members.
If his job can bring some special sense of security to his family during this special period, such as vegetables and meat that are not available outside, then this dangerous job also has some benefits. It's a pity that it happened now. If it was a little earlier or later, he would be able to come to the door with a sack of vegetables.
So he turned to Qin Huai angrily: "Brother, you are so useless!"
This vegetable won’t grow immediately after being planted, so Qin Huai could only send him a helpless expression.
Mu Nan watched them going back and forth, puzzled, "What's wrong? Do you have to eat fresh vegetables? Are you constipated?"
Qin Huai touched his forehead and talked a lot: "The future son-in-law is coming to visit, and I want to get something that looks good."
Mu Nan said, "Oh!", touching his forehead, "Can't you give me a rabbit? Or maybe later, when our watermelons are grown, we can give them to you. That would be very impressive."
Qin Huai said, "He may not like your rabbit because he brought a hen from a neighboring province."
Upon hearing this, Mu Nan's eyes lit up: "Chicken? Can we get chicken now?"
Qin Huai said, "Yes, but it requires transportation. We don't have it here, but we have it in the neighboring province. We also got the potatoes from there. Some well-informed people have already found a way to get trucks for transportation. Once the materials from the two provinces are resold, it will be a huge profit."
Mu Nan asked curiously, "What do we have here that others don't have?"
Qin Huai: "The cables are new types of cables. Apart from the central government, our province is the only one with them."
Mu Nan exclaimed. He hadn't thought about it in this direction. He had always been thinking about what food they had that the other side didn't have. He didn't expect that it was actually cables.
After checking the vegetable basins on the top floor and clearing the weeds, Mu Nan followed Qin Huai down to the second floor to feed the rabbits, and then heard Qin Huai say, "Do you want to go out and play?"
Mu Nan hummed: "Where are we going?"
Qin Huai: "Lin Province."
Mu Nan subconsciously looked at the sun outside. It was so hot. It would be very dangerous if he couldn't find a place to stay during the day.
Qin Huai said, "Are you afraid of the heat? That's fine. The two provinces have just started to communicate with each other, so let's wait a little longer. We can go after things stabilize."
Mu Nan asked quickly: "Do you have a plan? How long will it take us to drive there? Has the road been cleared for traffic?"
Qin Huai said, "Our province is next to Qinghe. It takes four hours to drive on the highway. If you set out before dark and drive slowly on the road, you can arrive at midnight. The general situation over there is probably similar to ours, but their general environment is surrounded by mountains. Before the city collapsed, all the survivors moved to the mountains on all sides. When the flood passed here, the water slowed down, and when it reached there, it was blocked by the mountains. It is said that only a few places caused landslides due to heavy rain, but it did not cause much damage, so compared to ours, it may be slightly better over there."
At least it would never be like their place, where the residential area that they had developed with great difficulty was washed away by a flood.
Mu Nan nodded: "Then we go at night and come back before dawn?"
Qin Huai said, "It shouldn't be that fast. If there is a place like a hotel to stay temporarily, we can stay there for two days, observe the market carefully, and take out some things to trade. If not, we can find an uninhabited forest before dawn and take out the RV to avoid the sun. If the situation is much worse than we expected, we will rush back before dawn, but what we bring back in the car, only we know."
Mu Nan understood Qin Huai's meaning instantly. If they could trade in Qinghe, they would do so. If they couldn't trade, they could take some things out of the space and bring them back. This way, at least many things would have a clear path that everyone knew.
Qin Huai said: "When we come back, we can still take out a car. It will be more convenient for us to do anything if we have our own car."
Mu Nan, who originally felt a little too hot to go out, listened to Qin Huai's analysis and thought that going out might be a good idea. Although they could eat and drink secretly, if they encountered some emergency situations and needed some special things, such as some medicines, they would not be able to get them out at any time. If they went out this time, they would not need to tell others in detail what they brought back. If there were any special things at home, people would naturally associate it with this trip out.
The most important thing is that his brother seems to want to go out and see what's going on outside.
So after a little hesitation, Mu Nan asked, "Will it be dangerous?"
Qin Huai said: "This is difficult to guarantee. Everything has certain risks."
Mu Nan hesitated for a while before saying, "Then let's go. When will we go?"
Qin Huai smiled and looked at him when he heard this: "Are you not afraid of the heat or the danger?"
Mu Nan snorted, "Anyway, you won't let me get into danger alone, so there's nothing to be afraid of."
It's not that you can go there just by saying so, but Qin Huai still asked Shi Yuanfei about it. Shi Yuanfei knows someone who has been there and has some experience. He also wants to see how to replace some cables and move the little rabbits at home. He can keep the two adult rabbits, and leave them at Jian Chu's house for him to help take care of them when he goes out.
When they go out, they can also take out some durable items, such as the grapefruit candies that Mu Nan had made before, pumpkins that can be stored for a month or so, and bean threads made from mung beans, and even some vegetables grown at home. Presumably these things should have a market, but they just need to find a reliable middleman consignee. They can't just set up a stall and start selling when they arrive at the local area. There are only two of them, so it's easy for them to be robbed.
But this matter cannot be directly handled through Shi Yuanfei's relationship, otherwise people can just ask what they got this time, which would be too exposed. So Qin Huai planned to go around and see. If there is a chance, he will find someone himself. If not, he will just trade directly in the local market depending on the situation.
The idea of exchanging rabbits for cables was quickly rejected by Qin Huai. This required the cooperation of a large team, and the cables would be shipped to some private contracting factories, who could not exchange on such a large scale, so it was not suitable. So they simply took the rabbits and the money. Knowing that they were going to Lin Province, Song Jia and Jian Chu emptied their family savings and gave them all the money, asking them to buy whatever was suitable.
Song Jia also lamented: "If they hadn't been washed away by the flood, your bags of tomatoes and peppers would have been hard currency."
Mu Nan said, "Rabbits are also meat and can be traded. Anyway, my brother and I will go over there to check out the situation. If there is any profit to be made, we will go together next time."
When they just said they were going to Lin Province, Song Jia wanted to go with them, but Mu Nan politely refused. If Song Jia followed, how could they get things from the space? He just said that the two of them would go and test the waters first, and if anything happened, it would be easier to run away with fewer people.
However, Song Jia felt that all the reasons for rejection were invalid. To put it bluntly, they just wanted to hang out together on their own and didn't care about this bright and shining light bulb like him!
Jian Chu took over the two big rabbits and a pile of hay that had just grown and was harvested, and reminded them: "Safety is the most important thing. If the situation is not right, you don't have to give up anything. Just make sure that the person returns safely."
Mu Nan nodded. Because they didn't have much stuff, they only rented an off-road vehicle. A sedan was not suitable for long-distance travel on uneven roads, so an off-road vehicle was more suitable. Although it might consume a little fuel, Qin Huai and his friends had plenty of fuel, so this consumption was not a problem at all.
Mu Nan temporarily handed the house over to Jian Chu to take care of. He waved at them and said, "Don't worry about the downstairs. Remember to draw the curtains and water the watermelons on the roof every day."
Jian Chu: "Got it. I promise that when you come back, the rabbits and melon seedlings will be fine."
Mu Nan and his friends left home at around five o'clock. The sun was still there, but not as strong as at noon. If they hurried a little faster, they might be able to reach Qinghe before the sun completely set and it got completely dark.
The two drove out of the residential area and were about to get on the highway soon. The place where they lived was on the edge of the highway, so they saved a lot of time.
Mu Nan checked the car carefully and found no dashcam or anything like that, so he didn't worry about what they said or did in the car being recorded. He then put the things he had sorted out in the house on the back seat of the car: "I hope we can go today and be back tomorrow!"
Qin Huai laughed as he drove: "You don't like going out so much?"
Mu Nan: "I'm tired and hot. I'm just a salted fish. You can't expect me to rise up."
In the past, after returning from a long trip, I would want to lie down for three days. That was when transportation was convenient. Now it would be even more tiring. Some people just can't sit still and like to constantly expand their territory, while some people just don't want to move and pursue a life of stillness. It is obvious that Mu Nan is the latter, and as for whether Qin Huai is the former, it depends on how active the latter can be.
Qin Huai smiled and pursed his lips. It was good for a salted fish to stay within the range he had drawn. If Mu Nan could not sit still, he would have a headache. As long as Mu Nan stayed by his side, she would never know how terrible his possessiveness was.
There was not a single car on the highway. Some places had cracks due to the earthquake. Although no one had repaired them, the gaps were not too big and the wheels could pass through them without any problem. There were also many abandoned vehicles on both sides of the road in some places. It seemed that there should have been people on the highway when the earthquake occurred. I just didn't know whether those people abandoned their cars or were gone. Anyway, they didn't see any bodies.
At least this section of the highway was safe, so Mu Nan asked to take turns driving with Qin Huai so that Qin Huai could have a rest. He was also very considerate and took out a bunch of food and drinks, trying his best to make Qin Huai comfortable.
The journey was safe and sound, nothing happened. There were no dead animals that died mysteriously on the highway, no one stopped the car halfway, and no one took the wrong turn into the wilderness to stage an extreme survival game. The car drove out of the highway smoothly before dark and turned to the Fourth Ring Road in Qinghe according to the road signs.
Like their province, Qinghe also gave up on rebuilding in the city center as it was too large. It is said that the number of people who died from the plague in Qinghe at that time was no less than theirs. However, the total population of Qinghe was almost several million less than theirs, which shows that Qinghe had a harder time than them during the plague at that time.
Because of the experience he learned from Shi Yuanfei, after getting off the highway, Qin Huai sat back in the driver's seat and drove directly to Beishan in Qinghe. Beishan was where the first survivors to evacuate were located, so supplies were relatively sufficient and it was also a new city with a relatively complete reconstruction plan.
Even within the scope of Beishan, there was a toll station. Seeing the toll station and the uniformed staff, Mu Nan felt dazed for a moment, as if he had returned to the prosperous and civilized period before the end of the world. But after passing the toll station, there were no more tall buildings, the green belts deserted by the sun, and some human-powered tricycles going up and down the mountain all showed the blurred scene in that moment. It was just an illusion, and this was still the end of the world.
Looking at the bright street lights along the road, Mu Nan said, "This place is much better than our place. It feels a bit like returning to the city. Although it is a small town outside the third-tier cities, it at least has some urban characteristics."
Qin Huai: "We will be able to rebuild and develop quickly. If there are no more disturbances, our provinces and cities with heavy industry will develop even faster. So if we encounter some major events, we will be hit harder."
Mu Nan nodded, thinking that what Qin Huai said made sense. Qinghe is not a province with heavy industry. Because it has more mountains and rivers, it pays more attention to tourism. As people prefer more and more natural environments, Qinghe focuses on its original ecology. Therefore, there are not many high-rise buildings except in the city center. This also led to their losses in the earthquake being much smaller than those in other first-tier cities.
In addition, there are many mountains and rivers here, so even if the temperature is extremely hot, it still has some geographical advantages. However, advantages are often accompanied by some risks. They now live in areas surrounded by mountains. Although they can rely on the cool air of the mountains to avoid the heat, there is also the danger of a prairie fire. Over there, they don't need to worry about forest fires, so everything has its pros and cons.
As the car drove deeper into the valley, the atmosphere of life became more intense. It was probably because people here hibernate during the day and come out at night, so it was very lively at night. It wasn't as crowded as before, but there were still quite a few people. There were still quite a few vendors setting up stalls. Mu Nan leaned over the car window to look over there. Although he couldn't see clearly what was being sold on other people's stalls, he felt a little more at ease seeing so many people doing business in an orderly manner.
"I thought it would be a scary situation, with people on the edge of a knife and all kinds of dangers lurking around. They would come and rob people at any time, or rob people who were out of the way. It seems I was overthinking it."
He really thought that the situation outside was terrible. Wasn't he killed by robbers in his previous life? That was in a residential area. Although it was in the relatively messy outer city, there was still some control. At that time, they had not experienced floods and had just survived a cold winter. Judging from the environment he had experienced himself, it was really quite apocalyptic, with disease and hunger, and they would even fight to the death for a little food.
But in this life, perhaps because he followed the troops from the very beginning and the place he chose was also the central area under military and political jurisdiction, what he saw and experienced were completely different. At that time, he could only struggle with others at the bottom, but in this life, he can drive a car to trade across provinces, which also led to a deviation in his perception of some things.
Qin Huai smiled and said, "Read less novels. If it were abroad, it would definitely be the situation you described. Even at home, we would be in danger of being hacked to death by someone breaking into our house. But in China, if it really came to the extent you described, we would have already hidden in the mountains where no one was."
If it was really that dangerous, he would never take Mu Nan outside.
The market over there is inaccessible to traffic, and it would be best if they could find a place to stay. Shi Yuanfei gave them an address where they could stay overnight, which was the home of a friend of a friend he knew who was in the transportation business. There probably weren't enough conditions for staying in a hotel right now, but it wasn't convenient for them to go to other people's friends' homes, so Qin Huai walked around the residential area in the valley, then found the market management booth and asked the uniformed staff.
Mu Nan sat in the car and looked outside carefully. His brother said a few words to the uncle in uniform, then went back into the guardhouse and did something unknown. He then came back with a note.
As soon as Qin Huai got in the car, Mu Nan asked, "How is it? Is there a hotel here?"
Qin Huai: "How could there be a hotel? If we open a hotel at this time, we will probably starve to death. The uncle was quite easy to talk to. He knew we came from another province, so he asked us if we mind renting a room in his house. He has a yard where we can park our car, and the price is not high. The rent is two yuan a day, and we have to bring our own meals."
Two dollars a day is already very high. Although I don't know how much the housing price is here, their small three-story house only costs twenty dollars a month. However, as they have just arrived, it is not easy to find a place to stay.
Mu Nan asked: "Is it safe?"
Qin Huai asked him to take the simple map: "There are seven people in his family, him and his wife, a son and a daughter, an eighty-year-old mother, a niece with a three-year-old son. Let's go and take a look first. If this is really the case, they are probably more afraid that it will be unsafe for us to live in their house than they are that we are unsafe."
Mu Nan thought about it and agreed. They were two grown men after all. "Then why do you want us to live there?"
Mu Nan glanced at the side profile of Qin Huai who was driving and frowned: "Could it be that he saw that you are handsome and wanted to develop a son-in-law relationship with you?"
Qin Huai almost slipped the steering wheel and the whole car flew out.
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