Chapter 147
After all, the yield of bamboo worms is not high, so they are dug in the mountains as they come. Even though this time we bought a slightly larger quantity than last time because there were a few more people digging bamboo worms, they were still sold out in one morning.
Because the car and gasoline belonged to Qinhuai, even the frying oil and seasonings were his, plus there was the human investment of Danniu and the investment of Xu Ming. Finally, according to the proportion, the net profit from selling bamboo worms for Qinhuai alone was nearly 40 yuan, Danniu made the least, but he also made more than 20 yuan, and others including Xu Ming made more than 30 yuan. These were the net profits after deducting the principal, which was already quite considerable. After all, the time invested was only so short, and it was purely lucrative extra income.
If this business could develop stably, after all, it is not artificial breeding, for the sake of the income, you can completely quit your job and go into the business. Earning ten yuan a day is much more than working in an office.
Because they made money, everyone in the courtyard was very happy. Although a few girls were jealous, they had no capital and could not do the same transportation as the boys, so they could only envy silently. However, because of Mu Nan's instructions, Qin Huai and his friends bought some homespun cloth when they went there last time. It seems that they also want to develop the trade of finished clothes.
Qinghe was a city that developed based on tourism before the apocalypse. In order to attract tourists, many places retain many traditional things. The old lady opened a shop in the scenic area before the apocalypse, selling pure hand-woven cloth. Fortunately, although her house collapsed after the earthquake, because it was an old low house, the collapsed tiles did not damage the loom, so the old lady can still make a living from it.
Mu Nan checked the cloth Qin Huai bought and said, "Let Yang Jing make some to test the waters first. Make some for both men and women and sell them online. If they can be sold at a high price, you can pick up the cloth when you go to collect bamboo worms in the future."
Qin Huai said, "It may be difficult to get cloth once a week. They use a pure hand-loom, and the old lady is old. It may take a long time to accumulate such a small amount of cloth. If you really want to sell clothes to make money, then I will go there next time to see if there are other shops making homespun cloth. There were many such old handmade shops in Qinghe before, weaving cloth, sharpening musical instruments, and hand-made silver jewelry, so there may be more than one. The market is so big, I will look for them then."
Mu Nan said, "Forget it, let's just go with the old lady's business. We don't plan to develop a big clothing business. Yang Jing has also taken on a lot of scattered business. It's enough to make a living. My main business is still family farming and animal husbandry. Oh, by the way, I also have comics. I'll go see how the revenue of my comics is recently. I've been busy with other things these days. I forgot to check the revenue when I updated the manuscripts."
Except for the period of flood when the internet and power were cut off, Mu Nan was very diligent in updating weekly after he was connected to the internet. It was mainly because the current environment gave him a lot of imagination and inspiration, so he didn't have to worry about running out of topics. As long as he was diligent, he could draw non-stop every day.
Mu Nan logged into the platform account with his mobile phone, and took a glance at the account balance. He immediately sighed: "It's only a dozen yuan. Fortunately, I don't rely on drawing comics to support myself now, otherwise I really can't support myself."
After saying that, he thought of Qin Huai's little game again, and asked curiously: "What about yours? How much money did you make from your little game?"
Qin Huai took out his phone and showed him the balance. Although Mu Nan was not very good at calculating his own accounts, he was not completely ignorant. After all, Qin Huai would always tell him how much he earned, how much he spent, and how much was left. So when he looked at the balance on Qin Huai's phone, he laughed and said, "Isn't this the money you made from selling bamboo worms? You didn't make any money from your mini-game? You're not as good as me making money from comics."
Qin Huai said slowly, "Since the mini-games are divided into profits, they are settled monthly. According to the background data I checked, I roughly calculated that I can get at least more than 300 yuan next month."
Looking at the account on his phone, which showed that the total income since the comics were updated and the money was not even thirty, Mu Nan turned over silently with his back to Qin Huai. He also made money by spiritual food, but he didn't even make a fraction of Qin Huai's money: "Don't talk to me, I'm autistic."
Qin Huai smiled and changed the subject: "Did the chickens lay eggs today?"
Mu Nan cheered up again: "There was an egg this morning, but I don't know which one laid it. Anyway, it's OK that it laid eggs. In the first two days after I brought the chicken back, there were no eggs. I thought it was scared by the change of environment and stopped laying eggs. I thought if it didn't lay eggs, it would be a big loss. Fortunately, it didn't stop laying eggs because of the change of environment. Our family's animal husbandry has finally embarked on the path of sustainable development!"
After Mu Nan finished speaking, he saw a vicious murder case on the headlines of the news network. They were still on a local area network, which covered the entire residential area, so any major or minor events posted on the news network could be said to be things happening around them. Seeing the six big words "vicious murder case" full of horror in the headline, Mu Nan quickly clicked on it and said, "Is there another serial killer?"
Qin Huai directly pulled out the phone in his hand, and the page just loaded. There were some pictures on it, but only the blood-stained scene and some information about the victim. After confirming that there was no photo of the victim, Qin Huai returned the phone to Mu Nan: "The outer city is very chaotic, and the inner city may not be safe either, so don't go out unless necessary, especially don't go out alone."
Mu Nan was reading the news on his phone and said, "I don't need to go out either. Besides, why would I go out if you're at home? But you, wow, the day you had the accident was the day you went to find Wang Xiaoli. It was so scary. Brother, don't go out of town alone in the future. If Wang Xiaoli needs you again, just contact him online. Otherwise, let him come to find you. It's too scary. Fortunately, you came back alive."
He still had some concerns about the environment in the outer city, and now that this incident had happened outside, he really didn't dare to let Qin Huai go out alone again.
Qin Huai rubbed Mu Nan's hair and responded with a smile.
The news briefly mentioned some basic information about the victims. Mu Nan said with a sigh, "There's nothing to eat now, but these people are still gambling. Four people died, all with a single knife in the throat. All four of them were gamblers. They must have owed money or cheated and are being sought for revenge. They have survived so many disasters, but they still don't live a down-to-earth life and go gambling. Tsk, I thought they were some perverted serial killer."
Whether in the inner city or the outer city, people die every day, some die of disease, some die of starvation, and some are even beaten to death while fighting for a bite of food. So if it was just a simple death or an accidental death, the authorities would not have the time to report it in the news. But this time the matter is a bit serious. Overnight, four victims were murdered in the same manner. Regardless of the bad nature of the incident or the curiosity of people, this kind of news earns the most traffic.
But catching the murderer is not so easy. One reason is that there are not enough police forces. It is impossible to dispatch too many police forces just to investigate this matter, because all kinds of deaths and murders are happening almost all the time, thefts, burglaries, robberies. When most of the troops withdrew back to the base, the handover period of the newly hired police forces was full of chaos everywhere.
Another thing is, just as Qin Huai had expected, there were no cameras in the outer city, and it was a mixed crowd. It was also an area densely intertwined with gambling and red-light districts. It was really difficult to investigate in such an environment. So even though this matter was reported in the news and seemed to have attracted much attention, Qin Huai was not worried at all.
Probably because so many people were paying attention to this matter, some people with a keen eye on gouging the background of it. Of course, the news that was dug up was not reported by the official news network, but was only circulated in some small groups or community forums. Some people in Mu Nan's community group were talking about this, but most of the comments were that it was good for those scumbags to die.
It is said that the few people who died can be described as a cancer. The outer city was in chaos and difficult to manage, so they took advantage of the chaos to rob some weak and single people. It is said that someone was beaten to death for robbing others' things, but the dead was an elderly widower. Because he was alone and had no one to talk to, after his death, people from above came to take away the body. Although some people knew how he died, they were afraid of causing trouble, so they dared not say anything. This kind of thing is too common in areas without control.
Now that those scums have been killed, all the bad things they did before have been revealed, whether true or false or exaggerated. Some of them may have been made up just to attract attention, while some of them actually happened. However, many people unanimously agree that these people deserved to die.
Perhaps this matter was far away from him. After all, it happened in the outer city and not in the community where he lived, so it had little to do with him. So Mu Nan browsed the news and group chat for a while, felt it was a bit boring, and simply went downstairs to do the cleaning. The rabbit nest and the chicken coop had to be cleaned every day, otherwise they would be smelly and stinky.
Qin Huai leaned on the bed and looked up at him, but Mu Nan was stretching and walking out and didn't see him. Only after Mu Nan walked out of the room did Qin Huai lower his eyes and look at the hand that stabbed the man's throat. Only at this time would he sincerely thank the man for the ruthless genes he inherited from him. If his heart was not ruthless enough, his hands would not be steady enough.
After changing the hay that was used as bedding for the rabbits and cleaning the ground, Mu Nan went to the chicken coop and trapped the chickens in the fences. He shoveled out the chicken droppings on the ground and put them in a special basin. He used to think this was really disgusting, but habit is a terrible thing. After cleaning the chicken coop a few times, he was able to get used to it without changing his expression.
Mu Nan did not throw the chicken and rabbit poop randomly, but carried it directly to the top floor and put it with Jian Chu and the others. These could be accumulated and mixed with a certain proportion of fertilizer to make compost. Fertilizer is not easy to produce nowadays. Even the fertilizer in the planting area of the farm is partly made from the feces of animals on the ranch. So if their family can produce and sell something by themselves, they must keep it.
But Mu Nan doesn’t know how to do it. His family has no shortage of fertilizer, so he is reluctant to do it. After all, people have to live there, and he doesn’t want to make the house smelly.
Now that Yu Zibai works on the farm, he has convenient conditions, so Jian Chu asked him not to throw away the waste. Every time he cleans it, he will put it on the top floor for them. Then let Yu Zibai watch and try it out according to the proportion. If it works, he will distribute the fermented fertilizer to them. Every penny saved is a penny earned.
After putting it on the roof, Mu Nan sent a message to Jian Chu to inform him, checked the young watermelon seedlings that were growing well, and then strolled downstairs.
After cleaning the livestock area at home, all that was left was to wait until the sun went down and open the doors and windows of the planting area to dry in the sun. Mu Nan, who had nothing to do, returned to the room and went to the bathroom to take a shower. He then spent half a day cleaning. Although there was air conditioning, it was still very hot, plus there was that foul smell. He had to take a shower, otherwise he would have to eat with the smell on.
Mu Nan took a quick shower and threw Qin Huai's clothes into the washing machine. Then, after coming out of the bathroom with a refreshing soapy scent and moisture, he climbed onto the bed and threw himself on Qin Huai: "What are you looking at?"
Qin Huai held the man tightly in his arms and wiped his wet hair with a towel: "Just now, a notice was issued that the water supply may be cut off starting tomorrow."
Hearing this, Mu Nan sighed: "I've already expected it. The water supply in the past two days hasn't even filled a container. The water flow is much smaller, and it's only a matter of time before the water supply is cut off."
Qin Huai said: "It's a pity that the timing is wrong. If we ask someone to dig a well now, I'm afraid that someone will die when the water shortage reaches its limit in the future."
Mu Nan asked curiously, "Why did you think of digging a well?"
Qin Huai said, "Yu Zibai and his friends saw the well at Cai's house before. When they came back, they thought about the water restrictions here, so they mentioned that it would be much more convenient if we had our own well in our yard."
Mu Nan felt that if they could have a well, it would indeed be much more convenient, just like the Cai family, where water use would not be too restricted: "Then should we dig a well? Can we dig a well even if water use is restricted? We need machines to dig a well, right? And do we need to explore for water sources? We can't just pick a place and drill down and find water."
Seeing that Mu Nan looked like he couldn't wait to find someone to dig a well tomorrow, Qin Huai said, "What are you thinking? You can't dig a well whenever you want. If we are very short of water and no one else has water, and there is only a well in our yard, and they come to you for water, you have to give it to them or not. If you don't, they will die of thirst. If you give it to them, then it's over, because you can't supply the entire community. But others won't care about you. They just want water, and if you don't give it to them, they will fight over it. What will the situation be like in the end?"
Mu Nan felt his scalp tingling as he imagined Qin Huai's description, and asked uncertainly, "Will the shortage be that serious?" He had experienced the greatest water shortage, and there was government relief. If there was another shortage, he couldn't imagine what would happen.
Thinking of Qinghe, Mu Nan said: "Qinghe has abundant water resources and it's close, so it shouldn't be too difficult." Borrowing water or something like that, if it doesn't work, then you can drive to Qinghe and change places to live.
Qin Huai shook his head. "I'm just used to anticipating the most extreme possible scenarios. It may not be that severe. It was hot for almost a whole year and not a drop of rain fell, but it didn't reach that level. The water we store, even if it only goes out but not in, can at least be used for three to five years. If the water is used up, we can melt it into ice, so there's no need to worry. If it really comes to that extreme situation, we'll talk about it later. There's always a solution."
Jian Chu and the others should have seen the notification as well, and were complaining in the group: "We won't have to carry buckets to fetch water every day like before, will we? If we don't go out, we might only use half a bucket of water a day. If we go out and sweat, we'll use even more water!"
Song Jia: "I'm only worried about not having enough water. How can I grow grass and vegetables on the rooftop?"
Xu Ming rarely spoke in the group: "Don't worry, just look at the notice above, we can't let everyone die of thirst."
Song Jia tagged Xu Ming: "Are you taking a break today? It feels like I haven't seen you for a long time."
Xu Ming: "I haven't had a day off recently. A batch of pigs are about to be released from the pig farm, so I'm a bit busy."
Song Jia and Jian Chu exclaimed at the same time in perfect sync: "!!!"
Mu Nan couldn't help but ask in the group: "Can I buy pork now?"
Xu Ming posted a spreading-hands emoji: "I'm afraid I can't buy any. A lot of pigs died in the flood, and there aren't many left. But these pigs will only keep the meat alive, and they won't get fat. They can't reproduce after being castrated. I can only sell them. But the quota is probably limited to a small number of people. I'm afraid ordinary people may not even receive the news."
Song Jia was very angry and sent a string of exclamation marks: "!!! Life is hard enough, do we still have to distinguish between bureaucrats and the rich? Don't the people at the bottom deserve to eat meat?"
Jian Chu refuted him in the group: "We really can't be considered the bottom class. Go to the outer city and see that's the real bottom class."
Xu Ming: "Some quotas will be allocated to some important units, such as hospitals, power plants, farms, etc. In short, you can buy meat based on your work. If you are very rich, you can buy their quotas. If you have no money and no job, you can just eat porridge."
Mu Nan looked at the words Xu Ming posted in the group and couldn't help but sigh: "This feels really like the era of my parents. Only those who have a job can earn food coupons and meat coupons. If you don't have one, you have to have money to buy the coupons from others. If you don't have money, you can't eat anything."
Qin Huai smiled and said, "There's nothing we can do about it. There's too little food, but there are so many workers watching over the farm. It's not like before when news was hard to spread. The higher-ups can keep the meat secret. The whole community knows about it. Life is so hard now. The higher-ups don't dare to do anything that could arouse public anger. There's not enough meat to go around, so they have no choice but to choose this method. It can get some money back and also serve as an incentive. Only when more and more people are willing to contribute their labor and start working can this new city get up and running as soon as possible."
Mu Nan didn't lack meat, and he didn't have a strong desire to buy meat, so when the small group was talking about it, he would occasionally reply to participate, and from time to time switch to their community group to see if there was any news, such as buying meat. But the community group didn't talk about food, but about school.
Mu Nan flipped through the pages and asked in surprise, "Are we going to rebuild the school?"
Qin Huai tilted his head to glance at his phone. "I guess there is some rumor, but the school should be rebuilt. Knowledge is the cornerstone of human progress. Look at the current situation. Isn't it the best proof that people with skills can always find a place to use them? More than ten years of hard work will not really be returned to the teacher once you leave the campus, because no one knows what extra gains you will get in the future because of the knowledge you have learned from hard work."
Mu Nan exclaimed: "What a good piece of chicken soup. It's a pity that I have already graduated and don't need to go to school anymore."
Qin Huai smiled and gently pinched his waist: "Let me see your diploma?"
Mu Nan snorted. It was not his problem that he didn’t have a diploma, it was the world’s problem!
The next day, just as the notice said, the water supply was cut off. Mu Nan looked at the water pipe that was not even dripping with water, sighed helplessly, turned off the faucet, collected the last bit of water in the container, threw in disinfectant tablets and waited for the water to settle, and then filtered it out and put it into another water tank.
The water he collected before and the water he collected after the parasite outbreak were always stored separately. He mostly used the water he collected after the outbreak to mop the floor and water the vegetables. Although he used disinfectant tablets and various filters, the water had been soaked with some insects after all, and he was traumatized by it, so he never dared to use it for eating or drinking. He only used it for washing clothes and flushing the toilet.
On the day of the water outage, they received another notification on their mobile phones. Districts 2, 3, and 4 would collect water at the small square at 9 o'clock every night. Districts 1 to 4 were located around a small square, so if they wanted to collect something, most of the time it would be centered around the small square. However, the apartment building in District 1 had collapsed and was now being rebuilt. It was said that they were planning to rebuild a hospital and a large shopping mall here.
Since the new city is to be fully operational, many things must naturally be developed. It is not an earthquake that will directly shake the entire civilization back to the Stone Age, nor will it cause all the earth's resources to disappear. The way people developed in the past will only be repeated more quickly now. In fact, because of previous experience, the planning and development will be better this time. Therefore, schools, hospitals, and shopping malls are inevitable.
But yesterday, Mu Nan saw in the group that the comprehensive shopping mall was stopped and converted into a school. Long-term education is more important than short-term trade development, so it was temporarily stopped. It was also said that if the school is rebuilt, then their second, third and fourth districts will be the central school district housing in the center.
However, this statement is also a joke made by some people in the group. We don’t even know how many children are left who need education. What about school district housing? I’m afraid that in order to allow more children to go to school, tuition will be free and meals will be provided. Maybe scholarships will be given to students with excellent grades.
But these have nothing to do with Mu Nan. The completion of the school will only make the living environment in their area safer. This is the real bud of the future of the motherland, which can no longer withstand destruction. Naturally, it must be protected, but the rest has nothing to do with him. Anyway, he and Qin Huai will never have children in this life. As for adoption, he feels that it is impossible to consider it within ten years. He himself is still a child, the child of Qin Huai's family.
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