Chapter 142
The matter of a live-in son-in-law was naturally just a joke by Mu Nan. Whoever could snatch his brother away would be amazing. However, the two of them were still a little wary of the uncle's house just now, so they planned to go over and take a look at the environment first.
The uncle's surname was Cai, and his family lived in a residential area that was a bit like the old village in the city, with houses of the same size, two floors, and a yard. The living conditions of some people around here should be pretty good. When they drove in, they saw someone drying clothes on the terrace on the second floor.
This feeling of ordinary life gave Mu Nan a greater sense of security.
Following the house number, Qin Huai found Uncle Cai's house. He asked Mu Nan to stay in the car while he got out and knocked on the door.
Originally, the middle-aged lady who opened the door was a little wary of a strange man knocking on the door. She only opened the small door and did not dare to open the main door until Qin Huai said that Uncle Cai asked them to come here and was willing to rent them a room to stay temporarily. Only then did she open the door, and Qin Huai also saw the situation in the yard.
There was an old man with silver hair in the yard, wearing a flowered shirt and holding a bowl of rice in his hand. A little boy about three or four years old was running around in the yard, and from time to time he came back to eat a bite of rice.
There was a well in the yard. Two girls who didn't look very old, in their twenties, were drawing water from the well to wash clothes. When they saw the yard gate opened, a car parked outside and a strange man standing there, they became curious and wary.
With just one glance, Qin Huai was sure that this was an ordinary family. He had learned a lesson at the Fisili training camp abroad. The weakness and harmlessness of the elderly, women and children was the most effective weapon to deceive people. However, whether they were truly weak or disguised could be carefully analyzed through their eyes and some expressions. Thinking that he had observed this family so carefully, Qin Huai felt that he seemed to be influenced by Mu Nan, as if everyone he saw was a bad person with bad intentions.
After making sure that the environment of this house was fine and that they could stay temporarily, Qin Huai asked Mu Nan to drive the car in. There was a sunshade in the yard, where they could park the car.
Uncle Cai's wife's surname is Yin. She is chubby and her eyes become slits when she smiles. When she saw Mu Nan getting off the car, she started praising them, saying that he was a handsome, tall and upright young man, and his appearance could immediately make people feel good about him.
Because the two provinces are close to each other, the language, even the local dialect, is not a barrier for Mu Nan and Qin Huai.
Seeing Aunt Yin speaking Mandarin that was a little difficult to understand, Qin Huai said, "Just speak the local dialect, we can understand it."
Aunt Yin then said, "It's good that you can understand. People who speak Mandarin have pain in their cheeks. How long did it take you to drive here from Kangyun?"
Qin Huai said: "More than five hours."
Aunt Yin: "Oh, it took so long, more than five hours. How is the situation over there? I heard there was a flood and many people died again?"
Qin Huai: "The flood just passed, and many things were washed away, so we came out to find other ways to survive. May I ask which room we are in?"
Seeing their tired faces, Aunt Yin said quickly, "Look at me. You've been driving for such a long time and I'm still holding you to talk. Do you want to live on the first floor or the second floor? There are air conditioners. The first floor is the one with windows near the carport. The second floor is a little smaller and has no windows, but it's cooler."
Qin Huai: "Let's live on the first floor."
The room should have been vacant all the time, so the air conditioner was not turned on. It was so stuffy that people almost suffocated when they entered the room. Qin Huai knew that Mu Nan could not stand this kind of stuffy environment the most, and it would be better for him to sit in the yard and enjoy the dry heat, so he asked him to go to the car to pack things, and he turned on the air conditioner in the room to cool down.
When Qin Huai came out, he saw Mu Nan had moved a small stool and was sitting obediently in front of the car. Everyone else in the yard was busy with their own things, some were washing clothes, some were cleaning. The only one who didn't have to do anything was a three-year-old child who was holding a ball and inviting Mu Nan to play with him.
Children are full of energy and they don’t seem to be afraid of the heat. Mu Nan sits there and throws the ball, and the children happily run to pick it up, not feeling tired at all.
Aunt Yin was a very talkative person. While Qin Huai was waiting for the temperature in the room to drop, he talked to Aunt Yin in the yard, asking about the prices here and also about their general living environment.
This place is close to the mountains and the water, and the natural resources and environment are better than theirs, so there are more game.
However, the situation in planting was not very good, because there were not enough indoor planting fields, and Qinghe was not a provincial capital, so there were almost no material reserves. Therefore, when they first came here to seek refuge, their main task was to prevent and control the plague, and they could even receive relief.
However, this place really experienced a famine. If it were not for the fact that it was close to the mountains and the water, and if it were not surrounded by various collapsed buildings and blocked by the raging plague virus, I am afraid that more people would have starved to death than died of disease.
Now that Qinghe has survived the initial famine, it pays more attention to food. As a result, although there is no shortage of meat, as long as one works a little harder and goes to the mountains to try, one can always catch some wild rabbits, pheasants or wild birds. However, other daily necessities are quite scarce.
Hearing this, Qin Huai said, "What can we exchange our home-bred wild rabbits for here?"
They came with a cage of rabbits, which cannot be concealed, so it is better to ask directly. As for what is in the other snakeskin bags, we can always adapt to the situation.
Aunt Yin asked them to take out the rabbits and see that they were little rabbits, a whole litter of them. Five of them was not a small number, both male and female. She immediately became interested and asked, "What do you want to exchange?"
Qin Huai: "Change the chickens, preferably one male and one female that can lay eggs."
Aunt Yin laughed out loud, "That's not easy. Hens can lay eggs, which are very expensive. Nowadays, domestic chickens are much harder to raise than wild chickens in the mountains."
Qin Huai: "Do you know where to buy it? We are new here and don't know much about anything. At least we should know where to buy it. We can talk slowly about what the person needs."
Aunt Yin said, "I see. Wait a minute. I'll ask around for you. There's nothing in this area that I don't know about."
As soon as Aunt Yin finished speaking, Uncle Cai came back from outside. When he saw Qin Huai, he smiled and said, "Have you seen the room? How is it? Are you satisfied?"
Qin Huai said: "That's great. Thank you very much. Otherwise, my brother and I would not know where to go to avoid the sun after dawn."
Uncle Cai turned around and saw the young man who had just been sitting obediently on the small stool coming over. He greeted him politely. The young man was fair and tender, with gentle eyebrows and eyes, and even had shallow dimples when he smiled. He was shy and looked like a good kid.
Thinking of his own monkey, the smile in his eyes became even bigger: "What's the big deal? You pay the money and I provide the land. If you need anything, just contact my wife at any time. She used to work in the community. If nothing else, she has first-hand information resources."
Qin Huai smiled and said, "Aunt Yin looks so friendly and cheerful, and she is so clear about the surrounding situation. It turns out she is a professional. We are so lucky on this trip. We can avoid a lot of detours."
They were nocturnal, so the other person had just gotten up, while Qin Huai and Mu Nan were still sleeping. Plus, they had been driving for several hours, so they were really tired. After the temperature in the room dropped, they went back to the room to rest. However, after moving a few snakeskin bags into the house, Mu Nan gave the child a few grapefruit candies.
When times started to get hard, the child was still young and ignorant. It can be said that he had never eaten anything good or played with any toys. He only had a small ball with patches on it. He had no conditions for eating candy. When he first received the grapefruit candy from his little brother, the child didn't even know what it was.
The child's mother, a young woman, was washing clothes. When she saw her son taking other people's things, she came over and scolded him. Mu Nan said quickly, "This is to thank him for playing ball with me just now. Xiaozhu has been very well behaved. He even said thank you to me just now, right?"
Xiao Zhu was very sensible and obedient and returned the candy to Mu Nan. He would not do anything that his mother did not allow.
But Mu Nan directly tore off the candy coating and stuffed the grapefruit candy into the child's mouth: "It's just a candy, it's nothing, the child is very well behaved, let's go back to the room to rest, Xiao Zhu, see you tomorrow."
Xiao Zhu held the sweet taste in her mouth, raised her little hand and waved to Mu Nan, then looked at her mother carefully and took the candy out of her mouth: "Mom, eat it."
Xiaozhu's mother sighed and touched her son's head: "You eat it yourself, mom won't eat it." A child who should have been brought up in pampering, but because he was born in the wrong era, he has never even eaten candy. As a mother, how could she feel good about it.
Mu Nan returned to the room and said to Qin Huai, "It seems that food is in short supply here, but meat is more abundant than other things. Aunt Yin just said that daily necessities are scarce. What can we trade, clothes or something like that?"
Qin Huai changed the bed sheet with the one Mu Nan took out from the space, and put his usual pillow on it. He sprayed the whole room with disinfectant, and put up the mosquito net to make sure there were no mosquitoes inside. Only then did he let Mu Nan get on the bed. This place was close to the mountain, so there would be more mosquitoes and the like, so one had to be more careful when going out.
Qin Huai said: "You don't really need clothes, but you can get some soap."
Mu Nan was stunned: "Soap?"
Qin Huai hummed, "They were washing clothes just now, just beating them with wooden sticks, without any cleaning supplies. And their bodies must have not been properly cleaned for a long time, they are very black."
Mu Nan said: "I thought they were just tanned."
And along the way, Qin Huai noticed that both men and women had very short hair, but Qinghe was not short of water. Although he didn't know whether every household had a well, at least the Cai family was not short of water. Before they entered the house just now, they saw Aunt Yin drawing water directly from the well and pouring it on the ground in the yard to cool it down. If there was a shortage of water, it would definitely not be so luxurious.
In a place where there is no shortage of water, our bodies are not clean enough, and even a lot of oil stains have accumulated on our clothes. It can be seen that this kind of cleaning product is in short supply here.
Mu Nan had downloaded some handmade items before, and said, "Soap and the like shouldn't be difficult to make. If people often hunt in the mountains, they can collect the fat of some animals and make soap. Is it possible that it's too expensive for ordinary people to afford? If we take it out, will people be tempted by the money?"
Qin Huai pinched the back of his neck and said, "Even if it's very expensive, it's not to the point of killing for money. Let's see tomorrow. If I can get some chickens back from this trip, it will be enough."
Mu Nan also lay down: "Chickens can lay eggs. Chickens lay eggs much faster than rabbits. When the eggs are accumulated in a week, we can sell some. That way we can make money much faster. Besides, eggs can provide nutrition. People nowadays need them. If we can exchange them, it would be better if we exchange a few more. Just a pair of male and female is not safe enough."
Qin Huai stretched out his hand and took him into his arms: "Go to sleep, you must be tired from the journey."
Mu Nan had just closed his eyes when he couldn't help but get up again. Then he strung two bells together with a thread and hung one on the door and the other on the window. This way, the bells would make sounds at the slightest movement, so he wouldn't have to worry about someone sneaking into his room while he was asleep.
Qin Huai lay on the bed and watched Mu Nan tossing and turning without stopping her. It's good that he has a strong sense of prevention.
The two of them went to bed at around three o'clock and woke up once at noon. Mu Nan saw that the bells on the windows and doors were all fine, so he drew aside the curtains and looked at the cars outside. They were still there, so he went to wash up with peace of mind.
The Cai family seemed to have no running water, only well water. A shed was built above the well leading to the house, probably to make it convenient for people to fetch water during the day. But it was still very hot, and Mu Nan didn't know how to press the well. He sweated all over but couldn't get any water. It was Qin Huai who came over and did it easily.
The two of them poured a bucket of water, brushed their teeth first, and then went into the bathroom to take a shower. They just wiped themselves with wet wipes before going to bed yesterday and didn't take a shower. They were sweating again after tossing around in the water. In less than five minutes, Mu Nan's cheeks were flushed with heat.
After washing off the sweat and stench, Mu Nan returned to the room, fanning himself while waiting for Qin Huai. Qin Huai came into the room with a damp face, lifted his face to look at him, and Mu Nan reached out and touched it: "Fortunately, it's not red anymore after a bit of cooling down. This sun is too scary. It's still covered, not directly exposed to the sun."
Qin Huai said: "The sun here is obviously hotter than ours." Although the heat may have been dissipated a little by the mountain air, the intensity of the ultraviolet rays is much higher than theirs. With the protection over there, it is impossible for their bodies to turn red in just three to five minutes.
As Mu Nan applied the after-sun repair cream on his body, he said, "All those high-end skin care products you dug out from the ruins are still with me. Can you trade them?"
Qin Huai said, "Then don't use it. Keep it for yourself. I didn't buy much cream before, so this is just the right thing to fill the gap. Put a bag of pumpkins outside. There will be a market for things that are not available. Take out those cheap boxes of soaps and let me see them."
Mu Nan stretched out his hand, and a box of soap appeared next to the bed. Qin Huai opened it and took a look. The brands were all pirated counterfeit brands, such as Shufujia, Daoshi, and Diaopai Transparent Soap. If you didn't look carefully, you couldn't tell that the brands were missing parts. They definitely couldn't compare with the authentic soaps in terms of efficacy, but they still had basic cleaning ability, so there shouldn't be much of a market for them.
After the two of them confirmed the items to be traded, they ate a little. This person was outside, so he tried to eat as much as possible while keeping everything simple. After the meal, he took a short nap. It was not until he heard some noise outside that Qin Huai went out.
It was around five in the afternoon when Uncle Cai got up to cook. When he saw him coming out, he asked enthusiastically, "Did you have a good rest? Did you sleep well in your room?"
As for the invitation to dinner, Uncle Cai did not mention it. Although he was not a mean person and had been very hospitable in the past, anyone who had experienced a famine like that would inevitably pay extra attention to food. It had been agreed before that accommodation did not include meals. His family had many people and there were only two able-bodied laborers who could earn money, so the conditions were really limited.
Qin Huai didn't care and said, "It's pretty good, but the chirping of insects and birds is a bit noisy. Can we use the new currency here?"
Uncle Cai said as he cleaned the big iron pot: "Of course I can. If I can't use the money, then why would I earn it from you? I just don't know if your cell phone can connect to the signal here. If not, you have to go to the neighborhood committee to find an official card machine to swipe the money."
Qinhuai has tried it a long time ago. It should be because the base stations are different, so there is no way to connect to the Internet. But there are always more solutions than problems. As long as there is a place to flash, it will be fine.
As the two were talking, a young man came back. He was stunned to see two strangers in the room. Uncle Cai said, "This is our tenant. He came from Kangyun and rented the house for two days. This is my son, Cai Wentao."
Qin Huai said: "Hello, my name is Qin Huai, and I have a younger brother named Mu Nan, but he is in the room."
Cai Wentao quickly said, "Hello, hello." While saying this, he winked at his father.
Uncle Cai glared at him and said, "Go wash your face and brush your teeth. We'll have dinner soon."
Cai Wentao walked in while yawning: "Wash after eating, and then go to sleep after washing."
During the chat, Qin Huai learned a lot of information about his family. Uncle Cai used to work in urban management, his wife was the director of the community neighborhood committee, his daughter had just graduated from college at that time, and his son had been working for two years, but he was in logistics. It was also because of his work in logistics that he had the conditions to stock up a lot of things ahead of others at that time.
The mother of the three-year-old child Xiaozhu is Uncle Cai’s niece. He also has a younger brother who died in the earthquake. His sister-in-law and son-in-law were hit while trying to protect the child. They could not be rescued and there were no conditions for rescue at the time. They just watched them die.
Nowadays, few families are well-off, and it is impossible for my niece to raise a three-year-old child alone, so the whole family lives together, helping each other, and the hardship will always pass. Now his son Cai Wentao also works in the market, but he is a warehouse manager, and he has to be on duty, day and night. He just came back from a day shift. His shift is one day off, which is quite comfortable.
Although the government's control here is quite strong, there are still too few things women can do outside, mainly because of concerns about safety. But they can't rely entirely on two strong laborers at home to support the family, so they have been thinking of other ways to make money.
Uncle Cai said, "There is a family in our Xiawu Village. His son is very capable. Although he seems to be idle all day long, he always finds ways to make money and stores a lot of food for his family. Later, after the road was paved and opened to traffic, he often brought people from other places to rent his house, whether they were looking for people or buying and selling things. He doesn't have to do any hard work every month and can support his family."
If there hadn't been a precedent, he would not have thought of renting a room. It was just a coincidence. He had told his family two days ago that if he met some people from other places and they looked friendly, he would try to rent a room from them. As a result, less than two days after he said this, someone really came to inquire about accommodation. He saw that the other person's child was good-looking and polite, so he gave it a try, and unexpectedly it worked.
If they could develop the house rental business in the future, their family would be much more comfortable.
The stalls at the night market do not open until nine o'clock. Uncle Cai is the market manager. He told Qin Huai and the others that if they encountered any difficulties, they could go to the booth where he was yesterday to find him. Finally, he asked Cai Wentao to take them around the market. The main reason was that they could not connect to the Internet, and if they liked something they could not pay for it. So they simply let Cai Wentao take them, and they would go to the market management department to swipe the money on the machine to Cai Wentao. This way both parties would save trouble.
The night market here is very much in line with the concept of living off the land. There are many leather sellers. Cai Wentao said, "It's freezing here in the winter. You can't stand it without wearing leather."
Mu Nan asked, "How much is the leather here?"
Cai Wentao was very familiar with the market. After confirming that they were really interested in buying, he took them to his old classmate's house. "My old classmate inherited his father's business. His family used to work in a slaughterhouse. Later, they formed a team to go hunting in the mountains. Now they are considered experts in hunting. You are my first customers. You must ask him for a discount. I can't say anything else, but I can definitely give you the lowest price in the market."
The skins were not expensive, and it could be seen that Qin Huai and his friends were generous people. Cai Wentao's classmates also gave a generous price: rabbit skins were five yuan each, and fox skins were a little more expensive, at seven yuan each. If they stockpiled some of these skins, they could make some money by reselling them in the winter, or letting Yang Jing make them into finished products, which would earn them several times the price. Qin Huai thought about it for a moment and bought up almost all of their goods. There weren't many anyway, so he only bought about forty skins in total.
In the end, they gave them a small amount of money, but the money was not paid yet. Cai Wentao did not have that much money in his account, so they just asked his classmates to deliver the leather to Uncle Cai's home first, and they would use credit cards to transfer the money, and then let Cai Wentao pay online.
Seeing that they bought all the goods right away, Cai Wentao asked curiously, "Do you have many ways to make money?"
Qin Huai said: "What other ways can we have to make money? We came here to test the waters first. The money was collected by more than a dozen people, just to make a hard-earned living. You are close to the mountains and have a lot of game, but we are not close to the mountains or the water, so we buy some things that are not available in the market over there."
Cai Wentao was eager to stock up on some leather and ask his father to get a car to go to Kangyun to make some money. After all, a four- or five-hour drive was not too far. If he could really make dozens or hundreds of dollars, it would be enough for their family's food and drink for several months.
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