Chapter 40
After setting up the stall for several days, the first things to sell out were shower gel and insect repellent spray for pets. Those snacks that looked like pure jerky also sold out quickly. He didn't sell them expensively, fifty-one bags and one hundred and three bags. Because they were real meat, some people who thought they were for cats and dogs would be more accepting of them. In the end, there were a few bags of dog food left, and they were all sold at two hundred yuan a bag to the two brothers who took four bags on the first day.
After selling out all the goods, Jian Chu started to divide the money equally. Because there were more shower gels and the prices were higher, but there were also many people buying them, so they made quite a lot of money in the past few days, and each family could get 12,000 yuan.
Mu Nan couldn't help but sigh as he looked at the money coming into his phone: "I haven't spent all the money yet, and I've made another fortune."
Qin Huai said, "Why don't you go buy some sketchbooks and some paintbrushes? Food and daily necessities are expensive now, but these things are very cheap. I remember there is a stationery store in our community. Ask him if he sells them there."
The things Mu Nan prepared before were all for future disasters, and he didn't spend the money on his hobbies, but now he can't buy too many things, and he still has a lot of money left. Besides, those ordinary paintbrushes don't cost much, and maybe he can buy some canvas and paint, but he sees that Mu Nan doesn't seem to be very interested in oil paintings.
Mu Nan really didn't buy these things. The pens for drawing recipes were all stockpiled from the past. Later, when he had money but didn't know where to spend it, he didn't think of buying these things. After all, all he was thinking about was the hardship of the future, so he didn't have the leisure to paint. So when Qin Huai brought it up, he was naturally tempted. Buying some brushes wasn't expensive. Isn't this another unexpected gain? "Then how about asking the price first?"
Qin Huai saw that he wanted it, so he searched in the community group, found the WeChat of the stationery store owner, and added him privately. It is estimated that there are many people who want to buy stationery in this way, and the boss's friends approve it very quickly. After all, there are many families with children who can't go to school now, but always think that they will resume their studies one day in the future, so they can't delay their studies, so they will buy some exercise books and either teach themselves or sign up for some online courses. There is always a need for exercise books and pens, so there is a certain market.
Although these things are not necessities of life, they are basically all stopped in production now. Even for stationery, there is no place to purchase them, so the prices have risen slightly. For example, the 72-color colored pencils used to cost more than 100 yuan a box, but now they are about 150 to 200 yuan. However, you can still buy them now, so the price is not bad.
Qin Huai asked the boss about the inventory. There were not many drawing books and colored pencils, and there were only a few boxes of goods. Qin Huai wanted them all. Anyway, they could not be eaten. If they could be sold early, they could earn some money to buy more food. The boss also gave a preferential price. However, they did not accept online transactions or door-to-door delivery. It was probably because there were too many delivery accidents in some transactions recently, so they were more cautious. So they made an appointment and asked Qin Huai to wait directly at the door of the stationery store, and let them pick up the goods directly from the stationery store.
When Qin Huai was pushing the small trailer and waiting at the door with Mu Nan, he saw a few people tinkering with a shared bicycle. Mu Nan said, "You can't see this kind of shared bicycle anymore. I don't know where these people got it from."
Since several buses exploded in the hot weather, public transportation on the road has been suspended. Later, when the temperature was ridiculously hot, the subway also stopped operating. Only some cars that took the risk of luck could still travel at night, but as the oil price went from high to no longer sold to private individuals, and only the community could report to buy oil, there were not many cars on the road. Those energy vehicles that were not highly accepted by the public before suddenly became popular, but at this time, energy vehicles were no longer available to ordinary people. Traveling on the road became difficult, and this kind of shared bicycles were targeted. Now Mu Nan can no longer see shared bicycles parked on the roadside, basically they have been taken by others.
He also prepared a bicycle in his space. It was given to him as a gift when he bought an oven so that he could cook some food at home. It was still new and the bubble film wrapped on it had not been removed yet.
Qin Huai said: "Maybe it was just luck that we met by chance."
As soon as he finished speaking, the owner of the stationery store came over, covered in sweat. Mu Nan subconsciously hid behind Qin Huai. Although they all smelled of sweat, his brother's smell was better than others.
The boss simply opened the big iron chain, opened the gate of the stationery store, and led them into the store. He was not afraid that they would have any bad intentions. They only had some pens and paper, and they couldn't eat or drink. Moreover, although they were two big boys, one of them looked fair and harmless, and didn't look like a bad person.
The boss took out the things they wanted from the cabinet and said, "You guys are asking the right questions. In two days, they will be gone."
Qin Huai asked, "There are still so many things here. Are they all sold out?"
The boss sighed, "How can we sell all the goods? Even eating is a problem now. No matter how important studying is, having enough food to survive is more important. Not many people are buying. I can't survive in this city anymore, so I'm going to go back to my hometown. At least I still have a piece of land there."
Qin Huai smiled and said, "That's great. We can go to the countryside. The countryside is more popular than the city now. Many people want to go there but have no way to get there."
Talking about this, the boss couldn't tell whether he should be proud or discouraged. He had fought hard to get out of the countryside, and had suffered countless hardships during those years of hard work. He faced the contempt of his wife's relatives, borrowed money from his father-in-law to open this store, worked from dawn to dusk, paid off his debts, saved up extra money, and after so many years of struggle, he finally bought a house of his own. Although it was a second-hand one, at least he had a place to live.
I originally thought that I could work harder, save more money, sell the house here, buy a bigger one, and bring my parents from my hometown to live out their retirement. But now, after all the twists and turns, I have to go back to find a way to make a living. But compared to some city people, it is really a lucky thing to have this way of making a living in the countryside.
"I don't know when the situation will recover. I hope I can come back one day."
Qin Huai said, "Yes, boss, if you want to leave, why don't you sell the things here at a lower price? My brother and I will buy some more."
Although these books are not as durable as food, they will turn yellow easily if left for a long time. If left unattended, they will be eaten by insects. It will be a waste if no one buys them, so he said, "Okay, look for something else you want, and I'll give it to you at a discount."
Qin Huai thanked him and asked Mu Nan to choose.
Mu Nan picked out some pens, some notebooks, and a few boxes of tape, ink, and erasers. Various miscellaneous items almost filled a box. In addition, he added his sketchbooks, colored pencils, and various watercolor pens, which also filled several boxes.
In the end, the boss only charged them 3,000 yuan, hoping to sell some of them before leaving, and just consider it as travel expenses.
Qin Huai pulled the trailer towards home, and Mu Nan followed him with longing, saying, "It would be great if our family had a rural home. Then I would definitely go back early to buy a house, install solar panels on the roof, build a big yard, raise two big wolfhounds, and connect electricity to the iron gate of the yard. If anyone has bad intentions, I will electrocute them to death. I will also dig a deep well at the back, the deepest one, and make a heated kang, like the ones in the Northeast. Once it is lit, the whole house will be warm. How great it is."
Qin Huai smiled and said, "Farming is very hard."
Mu Nan: "Now that farming is mechanized, I'm afraid that it's too hot to farm in the fields." He couldn't help but sigh again: "I don't know what the world will be like in the future."
He didn't live long in his previous life. He only survived one winter and didn't even make it to the summer of the following year, so he didn't know what happened afterwards.
Qin Huai used his free hand to rub his head: "Why think so much? Just take it one day at a time."
On the way home from the stationery store, they passed by the junior high school they attended. Mu Nan pointed to a dead corner of an alley and said, "Brother, do you remember that place?"
Qin Huai glanced sideways and couldn't help but smile: "Of course I remember."
At that time, Mu Nan had just graduated from elementary school and had no summer homework, so he had fun all summer. He was in the third year of junior high school, so the school was very strict and started to make up lessons not long after the summer vacation. He didn't have much time to accompany Mu Nan because he had to go to class. So Mu Nan would climb over the wall from that dead corner every day, carrying a pile of waste cardboard boxes as a cushion, and go into the school to bring him iced milk tea.
Once he came to get milk tea and was seen by the dean. At that time, Mu Nan hadn't had her hair cut for the whole summer vacation. Her hair had grown long enough to be braided into a doll's head. She was white, had big eyes, and had not yet started to grow tall. At first glance, she looked like a little girl. Thinking that he had caught a student in premature love, the dean ran over and frightened Mu Nan so much that he turned around and prepared to climb over the wall, but he was so flustered that he couldn't climb up. Fortunately, he was caught below and fell directly into his arms. This really irritated the dean, and this happened in front of her.
As a result, he was severely criticized and educated, and was angry about calling his parents. After a lot of fuss, it was discovered that Mu Nan was a boy. He just climbed over the wall to bring him a cup of milk tea, which left his class teacher speechless.
Mu Nan said, "You don't know, I was afraid of running into that director later. Sometimes when she was checking attendance at the door in the morning, I wanted to hide myself for fear of making eye contact with her."
Qin Huai chuckled: "You don't know, after that incident, the director wandered around the school every day when he had nothing to do, and later he actually caught two couples secretly dating."
Mu Nan sighed: "What a sin." It was truly their sin.
By the time the two men walked downstairs of the community, their clothes were already soaked with sweat. However, they had been out almost every day in recent days, either setting up stalls, fetching water or getting supplies, or going to the supermarket to pick up things purchased online, so they had almost adapted to the heat. In the end, it was unclear whether to say they were lucky or unlucky.
As soon as they entered the building, the elevator came. However, several people from the Zhang family stood in the elevator. Although there was enough space for a small cart and the two of them, Mu Nan didn't want to go up. It wasn't that he hated the Zhang family. He didn't have any grudges against them, so he couldn't say he hated them. He just couldn't stand the strong smell of other people in such a confined space like an elevator. Before he even got in the elevator, he smelled a suffocating smell of sweat.
Qin Huai, who knew Mu Nan very well, did not get on the elevator. He just said to the people inside: "Let's wait for the next one."
The elevators on both sides were about to come down, but when they reached the fifth floor, there was a bang and the entire building went dark.
Mu Nan subconsciously reached out to Qin Huai: "Brother."
Qin Huai held his hand, took out his cell phone and checked the time. It was only two o'clock in the morning, and it was not time for the power to go out yet: "Let's go out and wait, maybe the power will come back soon." There was still a slight natural breeze outside, but there was no wind at all inside.
Mu Nan said, "Should we put our things away while it's still dark?" Even if we have to climb the stairs later, it would be more comfortable to have empty hands.
Qin Huai saw that there was no one around and there was no need to worry about the camera since the power was off, so he said, "Okay, put it away first."
As soon as he finished speaking, he felt his hands empty and the entire trailer was put away by Mu Nan.
The whole community was out of power, and without moonlight, it was pitch black outside. Mu Nan sat on the small flower bed with Qin Huai. Seeing that there were no people around, he pretended to take out two fans and a bottle of cold water from his small backpack: "Brother, drink something quickly."
Qin Huai took the fan from his hand and fanned him: "You drink first."
Mu Nan didn't argue with him. He took a few sips himself. The cool feeling helped to dispel some of the heat from his body. Then he took the fan from Qin Huai's hand and asked Qin Huai to drink some as well. He then fanned the two of them.
After finishing a bottle of water, Mu Nan put the empty bottle in his bag. The bottle can be kept and filled with water to keep it cool. This kind of container is also a very important material and cannot be thrown away randomly.
They sat downstairs for a while before other people came back from outside. Seeing that the neighborhood was so dark, they naturally guessed that there was a power outage. So they started complaining. They were already tired and hot, and wanted to go home quickly after getting the supplies to enjoy some air conditioning. But now there was a power outage, and they didn't know when the power would be back on. If the power couldn't come back at night, they didn't dare to turn on the air conditioner during the day, which would be really fatal.
Many people in the group were tagging the person in charge of the community. The phone at the community was flooded with calls, but the power outage was not just in their neighborhood, but in the entire area. After asking around for a long time, they found out that the power supply equipment in their entire area was broken and could not withstand the excessive temperature and super-capacity load, so it finally went on strike. As for when the power would come back, it was hard to say. After all, they had no way of asking for the details, but it was obvious that it could not be repaired in a short time.
More and more people came back from outside. There were about 10 to 20 people at a glance, but no one was going to climb the stairs. They all gathered together waiting for the power to come back. Even at night, it was as hot as an oven. Without electricity at home, the air conditioning in the house could not last long. Climbing up the stairs at this time could really kill someone with a slightly weaker body. So someone called the community and talked for a while before saying to everyone, "Everyone wait, the community is trying to use a generator to generate electricity to get the elevator running first."
Someone asked: "Is there anyone in the elevator? Will they die of heat if they are trapped here?"
Qin Huai, who had been sitting silently at the side, spoke up at this time: "There are people, seven or eight people."
One or two is already stuffy enough, let alone seven or eight. I can't take a shower frequently and my body smells bad already. Now I'm stuffy inside and I'm afraid I'll really suffocate.
So someone quickly called the community again and told them that someone was trapped in the elevator. If they didn't quickly generate electricity to open the elevator door, several bodies would have to be dragged out.
Mu Nan stood next to Qin Huai with a lingering fear: "Fortunately we didn't take the elevator just now." Otherwise, there were so many people in the elevator, and he couldn't get the things out of the space. But if he didn't take it, he might really be killed if he was trapped in there. There was simply no solution.
Qin Huai used the light from his cell phone to glance at Mu Nan's face: "Are you hot? Are you feeling uncomfortable anywhere?" He was afraid that if they stayed in there for too long, Mu Nan might not be able to bear it.
Mu Nan shook his head: "I'm just a little panicked because of the fear."
Qin Huai took out a wet towel and wiped him, wiping away the sweat and cooling him down. The small fan kept blowing, which could relieve the heat a little.
After a while, people from the community came running over, sweating profusely. There were seven buildings in their community, and there were four elevators on both sides of one building. First of all, they had to confirm which elevator had someone in it, and then they had to make sure the elevator with someone in it powered on, otherwise time would be wasted and something really might happen.
Seeing that the community was short of manpower, someone stepped forward to help. Fortunately, in order to prevent such a situation from happening, the community had sufficient stockpiles of generators and oil. However, the engineer who knew how to use them was not in the community. After the community had prepared everything, the engineer came on a bicycle. It was almost half an hour before and after.
Of course, the people in the community did not just wait during this half hour. They checked every building one by one. Some buildings were lucky enough because someone was waiting for the elevator. So they could not only determine whether there was anyone in the elevator, but also which floor the elevator was parked on. If it was a low floor, they would directly try to force open the elevator door and rescue the people inside first.
At this time, the community’s WeChat group also played a big role. Some people tagged all members in the community group of their respective buildings, hoping that someone on each floor would knock on the elevator to see if they could confirm whether there was anyone in the elevator, or which floor it was parked on. After all, the lower floors could still be checked, but the staff on the higher floors could not climb up.
By the time Mu Nan's building finally managed to generate electricity and run the elevator, an hour had passed. As soon as the elevator door opened, the people inside almost ran out as if they were escaping for their lives. They were sweating as if they had been drenched in water. Not only was there no dry spot on their bodies, but there were also puddles of water on the floor inside the elevator. Those who could move ran out, but after running a few steps, they collapsed to the ground, breathing out with their mouths open like stranded fish. Those who couldn't move had already collapsed inside, and the community people hurriedly carried them out.
Although they had contacted an ambulance when the power went out, no ambulance arrived after such a long time. Fortunately, the people in the community had good response capabilities and had already started preparing vehicles. However, after the elevator door of Mu Nan's building was opened, the car to the hospital had not returned yet, so they could only carry the fainted person outside, and a group of people were sprinkling water and helping to fan the person.
The one who fainted on their side was a woman, she looked to be in her forties. Her son was not very old, he looked to be less than 20 years old. He was panicked and pale, kneeling beside her, calling for his mother while fanning and sprinkling water. His hoarse voice was filled with tears. Someone nearby couldn't help but comfort him, "Don't worry, he can still be saved if he can still be fed water. The community car will be back soon, and he will be fine when he is sent to the hospital."
These comforting words seemed to calm the boy. Although the hands that were feeding his mother water were still shaking, they were obviously much calmer than when his mother was just carried out. Someone also advised him to drink a little. He was also locked up for more than an hour, so he shouldn't rush his mother now or she would collapse the next moment.
After waiting for about three or four minutes, the car came back and the fire was still out. Everyone hurried to help the boy lift his mother into the car.
As a result, the car had just moved for less than two minutes when there was a scream and someone fell down again. Everyone looked and saw that it was an elderly man who had just come out of the elevator. Someone had just said that the old man was in good health and had been locked up for more than an hour, when young people would have been unable to endure it, but he was fine. As a result, the person fell down before the heat of the words had even died down.
As soon as the person fell down, the people around him naturally dispersed quickly. It was not because they were afraid of getting into trouble, but to try to leave room for air circulation. As soon as the crowd moved away, Mu Nan saw who the person who fell down was. It was the grandfather of the Zhang family, who had fought with Jian Chu a few days ago. Their whole family was in the elevator just now. The little grandson of the Zhang family was also sitting on the ground with a pale face and weak body. When he saw his grandfather fall down, he rushed over in a panic.
But the car just left not long ago, unless an ambulance comes, it will take at least 20 minutes to get to the hospital even at the fastest speed. If they can't get to the hospital in time, then they will naturally do their best to rescue on the spot.
Everyone downstairs was busy, but those who needed to go home had to go home. When Qin Huai and Mu Nan walked in, Zhang Jianwen's face had turned pale and gray.
Looking at the elevator, Mu Nan was even subconsciously a little hesitant to get in. If he was locked up, that would be the fate of those people outside.
Qin Huai took his hand and comforted him: "It's okay, this is electricity, it won't stop again."
After returning home in a thrilling manner, although there was no electricity in the house, the air conditioning was still on. As soon as he entered the house, Mu Nan sat on the ground in fear: "I was so scared, it was just a little bit."
Qin Huai turned on the rechargeable light in the room, went to the bathroom to get a towel, then went to the kitchen to get a bottle of ice water and poured it on the towel. He first wiped Mu Nan's forehead and applied a cold compress to the back of his neck: "Are you feeling uncomfortable anywhere?"
Mu Nan hummed: "I feel a little dizzy."
Qin Huai said: "Take out the swimming pool and take a dip in the water."
Although I felt a little dizzy, I was still able to move, so I got up, took out the swimming pool that had been filled with water, then went to the bathroom to take a quick shower. After I came out, I soaked in the water for a long time before I recovered.
Qin Huai was more heat-resistant than him, and probably had a higher psychological endurance, so his reaction was not so big. After he was sure that Mu Nan had recovered and his face was not so pale anymore, he went to take a shower and washed off the sweat on his body. Then he came out and soaked in the swimming pool with Mu Nan.
The air conditioner was blowing loudly. Mu Nan leaned on the edge of the inflatable pool. He might be sleepy or tired after the shock. He looked at Qin Huai drowsily: "Brother, if we got on the elevator at that time and it was too stuffy inside, would you let me get something from the space?"
Qin Huai said: "Yes, nothing is more important than life."
Mu Nan: "What happens after the secret is exposed?"
Qin Huai: "Of course I will take you away from here and hide you before order completely collapses. After order collapses, I will move to another place far away from here."
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