Chapter 178
Qin Huai and his family were not the only ones cooking at this moment. Some families also started setting up pots and making pancakes. There was a place in front with sockets. If anyone had an induction cooker, they could go and queue up to use it. Some people even carried firewood on their backs. This was probably the experience they learned in the cave during the previous flood. They used firewood to make pancakes and potatoes. If conditions were better and they had water, they could cook some noodle soup.
Because the sleeping areas there are quite crowded, it's already very hot just to lie down. If someone makes a fire there to cook, the people nearby probably won't agree.
So many people jumped directly under the subway tracks with their food in hand. There were various cooking methods and the aroma of food wafted over. The hand-pulled pancakes made by Qin Huai and Jian Chu, who were downstairs, were not so conspicuous.
Mu Nan reached into his bag and fumbled around, then lay down beside the platform, because the place where they slept was close to the platform, the kind where if they turned over they could roll down to the subway tracks, so by lying on the edge he could see the people cooking downstairs, and he silently handed over a box of meat.
Jian Chuyi raised his head, his expression showing undisguised surprise, and even subconsciously looked around, then quickly took down the box of obviously minced meat and covered it up: "Where did it come from?"
Mu Nan rested his chin on his hands and leaned on the edge. "Of course I brought it. My brother killed all the chickens and rabbits in our house a few days ago. The cumin smell you smelled before was because he had just eaten cumin-fried rabbit meat. There was a little bit of shredded rabbit meat left, which would have gone bad if left alone. Add it to the pancakes."
Living down there now is different from living in the mountains before. When they were in the mountains, they could stroll outside and secretly eat something after the rain stopped, but down there they couldn't hide in the toilet to eat, so they took advantage of the first two days when it was still reasonable to take out some things and let his brother eat more meat.
The meat has been brought out and there is no refrigerator outside. It would be a huge waste if it was left uneaten until it went bad. So Jian Chu didn't bother to be polite with Mu Nan and called Yu Zibai to stand beside him to block other people's sight. After all, it was just a box of meat. If someone saw it, he might run into some people who would come over and ask him to buy something for a few dollars. That would be troublesome.
Jian Chu poured out all the meat, then added some seasoning to mix it up, sighing, "This would be great in winter."
If it were winter, he could make dumplings with the meat. Even if he took shelter outside, the meat would naturally freeze solid, so there was no need to worry about it going bad and he could just keep it and eat it slowly.
But now, I'm afraid I have to finish this box of meat right away, and there's no time to keep it until I wake up. Even if there is air conditioning in the subway station, the strength of the air conditioning cannot be compared with before. The hottest temperature outside used to be over 40 degrees, but now it's easily over 60 degrees. It's good enough to have a little air conditioning inside. With a room temperature of nearly 30 degrees, it's impossible to keep meat.
But the meat belonged to Qin Huai and his friends after all, so Jian Chu emptied the bowl clean, then filled four pancakes with meat, and spread the rest evenly on the other pancakes.
Mu Nan rummaged in her bag again and pulled out a small bottle of chili powder.
Jian Chu glanced at him and said with a smile: "Are you Ding Dong?"
Mu Nan: “Yes.”
Qin Huai smiled and put the pancakes that Jian Chu had prepared in the pan. The sizzling sound made people want to drool. If the two families next door were not also frying pancakes, which attracted a lot of people's attention, their family would be the most conspicuous in the whole place just for the smell of oil. However, if they hadn't seen others frying pancakes, they wouldn't want to eat pancakes. They would probably just cook some mushy dumplings to deal with it.
Uncle Cai thought for a while and brought over a handful of mushrooms: "Can I exchange one with you?" He only needed to exchange one, otherwise Xiao Zhu would definitely be greedy when they were eating later. Although Xiao Zhu was very sensible and would not ask adults for more, he couldn't bear to see the child being greedy.
Moreover, he also knew Qin Huai and the others. They would definitely give food to Xiao Zhu when the time comes. Instead of eating their food for free and then trying to compensate them, it would be better to give Xiao Zhu a replacement from the beginning.
Jian Chu quickly counted the dough balls they had rolled in his mind, and thought that one cake should be enough for them, so he nodded: "Okay, no problem."
After saying that, he asked Yu Zibai to wash the mushrooms, cut them into small pieces, add them directly to the flour balls, and then mix them with the meat to make a pancake.
The four meaty ones were of course for Qin Huai and Mu Nan. Mu Nan didn't pretend to be polite with Jian Chu and the others, but he only ate one plus a small half piece and couldn't eat any more. The pancake was a bit oily. The first one was just right, and I wanted to eat more, but the second one was too greasy and I couldn't finish it. Fortunately, Qin Huai always ate more than him, so he ate up what he couldn't finish.
Over there, Xiao Zhu ate the hot pancake and found that there was meat inside. His eyes suddenly widened. Then he insisted on tearing off the meaty part and stuffing a bite into everyone's mouth. The family shared the small pancake. Xiao Zhu even left a small bite on purpose, saying that he would wait for his uncle to come back to eat it.
Wu Zheng and Yu Zibai work outside and come into contact with quite a few people every day, so they know very well what life is like outside. However, their own lifestyle is almost settled, and food is not so scarce that they can only eat one meal a day. So except for the initial period of hunger in the city due to lack of money, oil and salt, they have not suffered from hunger until now.
Because they knew the situation outside, when they suddenly became a group, the lives of each household lay out before their eyes, and they didn't think there was anything wrong. They thought that was the general environment and they had long been accustomed to it.
But Song Jia and Jian Chu haven't gone out to work for a long time. The only people they come into contact with are those in their own yard and those through the Internet. There are many people complaining miserably on the Internet, but they are all exaggerated complaints. Even if you take them seriously, you don't have much substantive feeling. After all, as long as you can still access the Internet, your life probably won't be so bad that you can't imagine.
But now, when people are lying in the same space, there are children whispering about being hungry, adults who are forced to sleep have raging stomachs, and a family of three can only wet their mouths with dirty water bottle caps in order to save a little water.
While Mu Nan was leaning on Qin Huai to digest her food, she saw a mother and son carefully eating the multi-grain cake that the government had distributed earlier. She was so careful that she divided the cake into two halves from the bag, poured one half into her hand, and gave the whole half to her son. She poured the crumbs of the cake into her mouth, and licked her palm clean for fear of missing any, and then carefully kept the other half. This half of the cake was the meal for two people.
Compared to them, Mu Nan, who had just burped because of the taste of a fried pancake, subconsciously covered his mouth. This was too much. Others were growling with hunger, but he was still burping.
Qin Huai pulled his hand down and let him lean on him. He also put a small blanket on him. He put one arm around him and stroked him with the other hand: "Go to sleep."
Mu Nan was embarrassed to say that he was too full and couldn't sleep. There was no shelter here, and unlike the cave before where he was separated from others, the light was bright and he could see everything clearly. There was also a stranger sleeping not far away. Although he could speak in a low voice, others might not hear him, but this was too hateful, especially when compared to the little kid over there who was crying like a weak cat and saying he was hungry, he couldn't say it.
Qin Huai: "How about watching a movie?"
Mu Nan thought it was okay, so he took out his cell phone and put on headphones. The two of them put their backpacks behind them to raise them a little, and then leaned on the backpacks to watch a movie. It’s not advisable to watch a movie that is too exciting before going to bed, so Mu Nan found a Japanese pure love movie to watch. The music was gentle and the plot was calm and peaceful. Before the movie was halfway through, Mu Nan was hypnotized and fell asleep.
This sleep was not a very comfortable one. Although most people had the same schedule and their days and nights were reversed, this was not like the naps we had in school before. No matter whether we could sleep or not, we were under the supervision of the teacher and could not make any noise. So as long as some people were not asleep, it would be quite noisy. Those who were asleep would snore even more loudly.
But Mu Nan is only pampered at home. If he can't sleep well outside, then he can't sleep well. Losing his temper can't change the sleeping environment. If he doesn't sleep well, he will wait until he is sleepy and continue to sleep. Anyway, he can only stay here and can't go anywhere.
Because I woke up early, there weren't many people queuing at the toilet, but the smell was quite wakening. I felt nauseous and almost vomited before I even entered.
Qin Huai had no way to deal with this situation. Before, because of heavy rains and floods in the mountains, the thing that was least lacking was water, so the bathroom was cleaned very clean every day. But now what was most lacking was water. The bathroom was not a flush toilet, but a separate one built with a squat toilet collection container underneath, which did not need to be flushed with water at all.
Mu Nan couldn't help but have tears in his eyes. When he thought about having to satisfy his physiological needs in this kind of environment for the next few days, he completely collapsed and was stunned. Even during the most difficult period he had gone through, he had used cat litter to solve his problems.
Qin Huai felt both distressed and amused when he saw Mu Nan covering her nose and mouth and rushing to the sleeping mat without even waiting for him as soon as she finished class.
When they got up to go to the bathroom, Jian Chu and the others woke up. When they saw Mu Nan rushing back in a daze, they were startled: "What's wrong?"
Qin Huai, who came back behind, wet the face towel with water, wiped Mu Nan's face, and then wiped his hands: "The toilet stimulated me."
Jian Chu and the others had not been to the bathroom downstairs, but they had the impression that the bathrooms in subway stations should all be flush toilets. However, when they thought about the current shortage of water, they immediately tensed up: "Yes, how exciting is it?"
Qin Huai pointed at Mu Nan, who now looked desperate: "It's so exciting, how exciting can you say it is."
Mu Nan pulled Qin Huai and asked, "Is there any medicine that can make me constipated for seven days?"
Qin Huai said with a smile: "Even if you are constipated for seven days, you still have to hold your urine for seven days?"
Then she ruffled his hair and coaxed him, "Today is only the first day. It must be hard to accept. You will get used to it in two days. By then, we will wear masks to seal our mouths and noses tightly."
After a while, Jian Chu and Yu Zibai also came back. Jian Chu looked at Mu Nan with a nonchalant expression: "Can't you tolerate such a small scene? It's not a big deal."
If Jian Chu's face wasn't so pale, this statement would be somewhat believable.
In order to go to the bathroom less often, Mu Nan didn't even dare to drink water. Qin Huai didn't force him. After all, taking refuge here was only temporary. If he couldn't stand that kind of bathroom, he would just eat and drink less and endure it.
The watermelons they brought suddenly became less popular.
The few people who had been severely disgusted by the bathroom looked at the green melon rind revealed by Mu Nan's opened sack. They were really greedy but didn't dare to eat it. Watermelon is a diuretic, which really put them in a dilemma.
"You don't bring chickens or rabbits, but watermelons?"
Mu Nan: "They look ripe now. I'm afraid if I don't pick them, they'll dry up in the basin in ten days or half a month."
Song Jia sighed: "This is really a sweet torture. I can only eat it secretly. Otherwise, people who haven't eaten fruit for several years will probably rush over to grab it."
Qin Huai: "There's a hole down there. Go down and walk a little forward. It's big enough to accommodate two people. If you want to eat, take turns to eat there. It's farther away so the smell won't come over as easily."
They didn't actually plan to eat the watermelons they brought with them. If they left them at home with the doors and windows closed and the power off, the watermelons would be suffocated by the excessive heat. So they brought them out to eat if they could, but they wouldn't force themselves if they couldn't.
Jian Chu: "Then eat before going to bed. I hope to finish eating and go to sleep after that."
While they were talking, the three girls came back, and Song Jia asked curiously, "How powerful is the women's toilet?"
Sun Sisi: "It can make people explode on the spot."
Seeing that they were holding a box of whole grain steamed buns and a bottle of water, Song Jia asked, "Did you go buy food? How much is this?"
Sun Sisi: "One yuan for a steamed bun and a 250ml bottle of water."
This is not cheap at all. Before, when I got water from the water station, the price of the second bucket only increased to 50 cents. A bucket of water is three liters, which is much more than these 250 milliliters.
But in the current situation, the price is not too unreasonable. They have no idea how severe the sandstorm situation outside is, and they don't know how much supplies are stored in this subway station for them to take shelter. But the price has to be higher so that people can save on food and drink.
I didn't cook anything too dry this morning, so I just cooked some dumpling soup, and threw some Chinese cabbage leaves and the leftover mushrooms from yesterday into it. The girls were more frugal, and just shared a steamed bun among the three of them. Seeing this, Song Jia couldn't help but whisper to Sun Sisi, "Are you guys so short of food?"
Sun Sisi: "Not really, I'm just too lazy to do it. I just lie down every day anyway, so I'll just starve. I'll just consider it as losing weight."
Seeing how skinny they all were, Song Jia didn't ask any more questions. In the past, they might have really been restraining themselves to lose weight by eating less. Now, maybe there wasn't enough food, otherwise why would they want to starve when they could eat their fill?
After breakfast, Mu Nan took out a mini tablet, which was only slightly larger than a mobile phone screen, and played a very appropriate thriller, Subway Escape.
Song Jia asked curiously, "How can there be such a movie on this tablet?"
Mu Nan stepped out and showed them the catalog. "It's full of apocalyptic movies, such as Virus Attack, Sandstorm Doomsday, Extreme Escape, and Last Dawn. I used to like watching these kinds of movies, especially those that are too bloody and exciting. I could watch them when they were first released, but after a while, I don't know if it was due to copyright issues or reports that they were taken down, I couldn't find the resources. After a few times, I got used to downloading the movies to disk, so that when I wanted to watch them again, they would be banned everywhere."
Song Jia gave him a thumbs up and said, "This is a good habit. When we get back, we can make this movie into a horror album."
Jian Chu: "Isn't the movie about the apocalypse in the sandstorm appropriate?"
Mu Nan: "But we are at the subway station now."
Song Jia on the side shook his head repeatedly: "I hope this doesn't really come into play. If it does, it will be too scary."
The movie time passed quickly. When they finished watching the first one and were about to look for the second one, they heard a huge rumbling sound, not sure whether it came from upstairs or outside. Even the sound of wind could be heard on the subway tracks.
Fearing that there might be any sudden changes, the people below who were originally making a lot of noise suddenly quieted down and listened carefully to the movements above.
Mu Nan leaned towards Qin Huai and said, "Why is there wind down here? Could it be that the sandstorm outside is blowing in?"
Song Jia had already started packing things. He loaded all the things that had been placed outside into the trailer so that they could run away at the first time if anything happened.
There was another loud bang. Some younger children were probably affected by the environment. After all, all the adults were nervous and holding their breath. The atmosphere was really a bit scary. They were immediately frightened and started crying in panic.
Song Jia was a little panicked: "Will it be appropriate?"
Jian Chu and Mu Nan looked at him at the same time: "Stop talking!"
Song Jia shut up immediately. At this time, the entire subway station started broadcasting, saying that a strong wind was coming, and people were asked to stay where they were, not to panic, and not to move around. They also said that the subway gates had been closed and it was safe inside. Everyone was asked not to panic, and if there was any news, the radio station would notify them immediately.
It has been several years since I entered the subway station, and even more so since I heard this kind of broadcast. When the broadcast first sounded, everyone was a little dazed for a while. Mu Nan felt like he had traveled back in time and space. He whispered to Qin Huai, "Suddenly, I feel like I have returned to civilized society from surviving the apocalypse."
Although he didn't know where this feeling came from, it was just that the broadcast was ringing.
The rumbling sound outside was still continuing, but because of the broadcast from the radio station, many people were a little more relaxed than before. They slowly sat down from their original standing positions, but still pricked up their ears to listen to the noise.
Jian Chu whispered, "How strong is the wind outside to make such a big noise? There are no tall buildings here, so it's impossible that the five- or six-story building will be blown down, right?"
Wu Zheng said: "It's very likely."
Mu Nan looked at him puzzledly: "Not really?"
Wu Zheng: "We worked on the construction site for a while. At that time, in order to rush to build houses, the foundations of many houses were very shallow, because the designed floors were not high and did not require too deep foundations. Some houses even used splicing structures. This structure is fast to build and can resist earthquakes to a certain extent, and can even withstand strong typhoon-level winds. However, we are neither on the coast nor in the north, so the strong typhoon-level wind resistance is already the highest level of disaster preparedness. However, if there is a wind stronger than a strong typhoon, those houses will not be able to withstand it."
Mu Nan nodded, then turned to Qin Huai and asked in a low voice: "What is disaster reserve?"
Qin Huai: "When doing disaster preparation, different terrain environments will lead to different natural disasters. For example, coastal cities are prone to typhoons and even have the risk of tsunamis, so the housing construction there is at another level. Our area has a flat terrain, more rain, and more common floods, so building a house drainage system is the key. This is called disaster preparation."
Mu Nan said, "I didn't expect that a sandstorm would happen here, with super strong winds."
Jian Chu also sighed: "I don't know what the outside world will be like after the storm passes. I pray that our house doesn't collapse."
Song Jia was more practical: "Fortunately, you didn't install solar panels later, otherwise, with the strong wind outside, I'm afraid even the roof would be blown away."
Speaking of solar panels, it is still a pain that Jian Chu cannot get over.
Sitting there was panicking, so Mu Nan leaned against the wall and played with his phone, only to find that there was no internet connection. "I knew the internet connection would be disconnected, brother. Do you think if we build the internet cable underground, we won't be disconnected if something goes wrong?"
Jian Chu turned around and said, "Why don't you build the power lines underground so that there won't be power outages when something happens?"
Mu Nan: "I still have some basic common sense."
Several girls straightened their clothes and stood up: "While everyone's attention is outside, let's go to the bathroom. You can take care of the things."
Song Jia waved his hand: "Go ahead."
As soon as they left, Daniu came over to check: "Just a routine question, do you need any temporary work?"
Qin Huai and the others definitely didn’t have it. It’s easy to imagine what this temporary job is about, and cleaning the toilets is definitely one of them.
Song Jia said directly: "As long as I have a bite to eat, I would never do this even if you kill me!"
Daniu smiled, and Aunt Yin asked, "Is the temporary job just cleaning the toilets?"
Daniel nodded. “That includes cleaning the ground, cleaning the trash cans, and cleaning up the trash on the subway tracks.”
However, there is not much garbage now. Nothing that can be eaten is thrown away, and there are very few plastic packaging bags. Although they are few, they are still there. As long as there are traces of life, there must be garbage. For the living environment below and the future safety of subway tracks, someone has to clean and pick them up.
Seeing that Aunt Yin seemed a little interested, Uncle Cai said directly: "Okay, Daniu is still busy with his inspection, don't delay his work."
Aunt Yin: "I'll ask what's wrong. If the treatment is good, then I'll give it a try."
Uncle Cai: "Why try anything? Stop messing around."
This is a family, they would quarrel with each other no matter what. Aunt Yin asked these questions probably because she wanted to earn some food for the family. Mu Nan noticed that except for the mushrooms, they did not bring much rice. Until now, the Cai family should still be buying the weekly food quota from the government.
Even if the potatoes in that house were sold for some money, they had no place to buy food. They probably couldn't bear to spend the high price of food, so until now, although their family only had two meals a day, the amount of each meal was very small. Even Xiaozhu couldn't eat enough, let alone adults. No wonder Aunt Yin wanted to find a job.
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