Chapter 41
After soaking in the water for a while, Qin Huai let Mu Nan get up. He didn't let him soak for too long. Although he had lost his appetite due to the shock of what happened just now, Qin Huai still let Mu Nan eat a bowl of cold porridge. He was afraid that he couldn't eat hot food at this time. After eating, the two went to bed. Perhaps because he was back to a familiar place with someone who made him feel at ease, Mu Nan fell asleep quickly.
Qin Huai watched him for a long time, and seeing that he was sleeping soundly, he closed his eyes as well.
This time the power outage lasted a while, and the two of them slept until almost noon. Because there was no air conditioning, even though there was residual cool air in the house and the air-conditioning fan was constantly blowing air, the temperature in the house still rose as the sun shined outside. They were woken up by the heat, and the mat on the bed was so hot that a human shape was imprinted on it with sweat.
Mu Nan sat up feeling a little hot. Even though the room was blocked from light, the heat seemed to seep into the room through every available gap.
Qin Huai got up and turned on the rechargeable light. Mu Nan rubbed his eyes and tried to wake himself up: "It's so hot."
Qin Huai said: "I'm afraid we'll have to kill the chicken later."
Mu Nan looked up at him, and Qin Huai said, "It's a bit too difficult to raise a living creature at this temperature."
Mu Nan felt a little regretful: "Dead?"
Qin Huai: "No, but he is already dying."
Mu Nan sighed, "Yesterday, we gave the chickens a separate air-conditioning fan and put some ice in it. Forget it, let's not bother with the chickens. They are too difficult to keep at this temperature. Let's kill them and focus on the vegetables."
Although there will be no fresh eggs to eat in the future, he has bought hundreds of boxes of eggs before, and one egg a day has been enough for him in the past few years.
The electricity hadn't come back yet, and the generator had been used all night, so there wasn't much electricity left. Fortunately, they had a lot in stock, so they took out another fully charged one. After the two washed up, Qin Huai carried a cage of chickens into the bathroom, bled them and wiped their necks skillfully, and when they were dead, he asked Mu Nan to put them in the space. There was no electricity at the moment, and the temperature at home was too hot, so there was no way to boil water to pluck the chicken feathers, so they could only leave them there for now.
He scooped a few spoonfuls of water and took a shower, washing off some of the hot sweat on his body and the bloody smell in the bathroom. When Qin Huai came out, a cool breeze hit him. The electricity was naturally not on, but Mu Nan put away the swimming pool from yesterday and took out an inflatable swimming pool without water. He put several large ice cubes in it and turned on two air-conditioning fans facing the bed. When he saw him come out, he quickly asked him, "What do you want to eat?"
Qin Huai walked over and sat on the bed, fanning himself and said, "Let's eat some cold porridge. It's too hot to eat anything else."
Mu Nan took out two bowls of porridge from the space, and took out a few side dishes packed in a box to go with the porridge, and had a fairly comfortable breakfast while enjoying the cool breeze from the air-conditioning fan. Mu Nan was used to eating while looking at his phone, and sure enough, everyone in the group was talking about the power outage. Their family relied on ice cubes and air-conditioning fans to cool down, so the house was still relatively cool, while other people's homes had really become furnace saunas at this moment. When the sun was shining at noon, some people's homes only had a layer of light-blocking cloth outside, not the thick and heat-insulating membrane cloth outside their home, so the temperature in the house was even higher.
"Someone is really going to die. Is there anyone who can help? It's too hot!"
"When will the electricity come back? Never mind the explosion, I have to turn on the air conditioner during the day!"
"When will that cold spot be opened? I really can't stand it anymore. I'm going to move in even if I spend all my money. What's the point of saving the money but losing my life? Once I move in, I'm not going to move out!"
"Who can share two bottles of water with me? I paid a high price for it. I could have gotten some water today. But if the electricity doesn't come, how can I get some water when I can't even go downstairs?"
"Can't the elevator be used to generate electricity?"
"The elevator only generated electricity for a short while yesterday, and then it was shut down in the middle of the night. Oil is so expensive nowadays, and we can't keep using generators to generate electricity. When can our community get solar energy? If nothing else, it can keep the elevator running smoothly."
Someone asked for help in the group, saying that his elderly family member was dying. Someone else kept tagging the community, asking it to supply power to the elevator. The child at home was vomiting and having chest tightness due to the heat and needed to be sent to the hospital immediately.
The community is already extremely busy. In broad daylight, people can faint from the heat even if they hide under shaded buildings, let alone walk outside. They are also human beings and cannot go out at this time. There is no other way except to comfort them in the group. After all, they have families to support. If the government could not provide three meals a day and distribute supplies to support their families once a week, who would be willing to do this kind of job that involves almost daily contact with dead bodies, trying their best to consider things for others but still being blamed and complained for not getting a good job?
However, the topic in the group was soon interrupted by yesterday's elevator incident. They didn't know what happened to the people who were locked in the elevators in other buildings yesterday. Although they lived in the same residential area, information did not spread so quickly. But in their building, five people were sent to the hospital yesterday. After Qin Huai and Mu Nan went upstairs, there were several other people who had follow-up reactions that were not right. Some were lucky and were sent to the hospital in time. They recovered after being given a bottle of water. One was not in a good condition. He had convulsions on the way to the hospital. When they arrived at the hospital, the emergency room was overcrowded. There were too many people and there were only a few doctors to rescue them. They couldn't even keep up. In the end, that person died in the hospital.
Yesterday, two people died when they got out of the elevator in their building. One was a very thin young man, not too old, less than 30 years old, who started convulsing on the way to the hospital. The other was an old man named Zhang Jianwen who lived on their floor.
Mu Nan was stunned when he saw the news: "Grandpa Zhang next door died."
Qin Huai was also stunned: "Dead? No one was able to save him?"
Mu Nan shook his head: "That's what the group said." The Zhang family probably hadn't come back yet, so they didn't hear any noise outside.
Yesterday, there was a very smart person. He thought that there was a power outage here. If there was no electricity during the day, it would be too hot to stay at home. So he actively helped the community to send people who were almost dying from the heat to the hospital, and then stayed in the hospital and didn't come back. However, he didn't just leave the hospital after entering it. The hospital is now managed very strictly. Such an important place must not have a power outage. In order to prevent people from running to the hospital to take advantage of the air conditioning and increase the population burden of the hospital, it is stipulated that only one family member can accompany a patient.
So the man accompanied the thin man to the hospital, and then helped other people in their community to run around, lending a hand whenever possible, so he was the first to know who didn't make it back. This man is still in the hospital, and he will post any news in the group. But when it comes to Zhang Jianwen, this man can't help but have a bit of sarcasm in his tone.
Someone didn't understand what was going on. This person probably had nothing to do at the moment, so he complained to the group about some of the things he heard.
Yesterday, seven people were locked in the elevator, including the four members of the Zhang family, a mother and son, and the young man. After being locked in the elevator for so long, it was stuffy, hot, and suffocating. The first person who couldn't stand it was the middle-aged woman. She had gone out with her son to deliver water to her elderly mother who lived in the same community but in a different building. When they came back, they were trapped in the elevator. There was nothing they could use for first aid. Seeing that they were suffocating, her son naturally asked for help from others, asking if they had any water. He was willing to pay any amount of money and begged them to give his mother a bottle of water.
The skinny young man had nothing on him, and it was obvious that he had no water. But the Zhang family had bags on their backs. Although they didn't know if they had any water, they were the only ones with bags on their backs at the time, so the boy naturally begged them, almost kneeling on the ground and kowtowing to them. But the old man from the Zhang family only said that they had no water and that they only had some clothes in their bags.
I don’t know if they were afraid of being taken advantage of, or if it was some puzzling train of thought, but after being locked up in there for nearly an hour, the Zhang family members were also extremely hot and stuffy, but they didn’t even drink a sip of water and just endured it.
As a result, except for Zhang Jianwen's wife who sprained her foot and was unable to go out, the four of them went out to collect supplies that night. There was water and noodles in the bag, but old man Zhang was unwilling to give them, so he resisted the urge to drink. Unexpectedly, the middle-aged woman was sent to the hospital immediately and was later rescued. After the old man Zhang fell to the ground, the car had just left, and it was more than ten or twenty minutes before the car came back. When he was sent to the hospital, he was already dead.
Zhang Jianwen probably thought that he was in good health, and was usually healthy and pain-free. He thought he was stronger than some young people, so he could handle it. But he didn't think that his body was any stronger. He was already in his seventies, and in the end, he lost his life because he was unwilling to take out the water.
The twists and turns in the process simply stunned Mu Nan, and he was very puzzled: "What on earth was Grandpa Zhang thinking? Just because he didn't want to give the water to others, he endured it and didn't drink it. He was suffocated for almost an hour. Wasn't his most precious grandson also suffocated in there? He lost his life for water. This is too unbelievable."
Qin Huai said: "When some people get old, their thinking will change to some extent. This is the inevitable result of brain aging. Therefore, many young people cannot understand the thinking of some elderly people and think that they are unreasonable and stubborn. In fact, it is just because they are old and their brain thinking has degenerated. Therefore, it is really difficult for others to understand what they think. For example, Zhang Jianwen is used to saying what he means. Even if his behavior is unreasonable, his children and grandchildren dare not refute him. His usual strength and stubbornness are the main causes of this tragedy."
Mu Nan sighed softly. This was a typical case of harming others without benefiting oneself, and ultimately losing one's life. It was not worth it.
Thinking of the information he had seen in the group before, Mu Nan asked, "Is Grandma Zhang home alone now?"
Qin Huai glanced at Mu Nan and said, "It should be. What's wrong?"
Mu Nan: "Well, do you want to go and have a look?"
He felt that Grandma Zhang was about the same age as their grandmother. Now that the power was out, it was so hot in the house. An old woman might get into trouble because of the heat. After all, they lived on the same floor and didn't have any big grudges against each other. If something bad really happened, their family members would come back and might blame them for it, causing trouble. But if they intervened, they were afraid that others would think they were young and soft-hearted, and they would blame them if something happened in the future. After all, based on the brief contact when Jian Chu got into a fight last time, he didn't like the Zhang family very much. It can't be said that they were all bad people, but they were all too selfish.
Qin Huai didn't want to care. He had always disliked the Zhang family, and this dislike had accumulated since childhood, but he didn't mind being a good person for Mu Nan. But before they could take action, Xu Ming, who lived next to the Zhang family, went to see them first. He probably learned about the Zhang family from the group. He thought that the elderly man was at home. Although they couldn't help much if something really happened, they could still give him some ice water. However, he was not appreciated.
Because the three families lived close together, they could hear each other's movements. In addition, Jian Chu and his family lived in the living room. When they heard Xu Ming knocking on Zhang's door, they curiously opened the door and took a look: "What's wrong?"
Xu Ming looked at Jian Chu who was lighting up with his phone: "Didn't you check the group?"
He shook his head: "Not yet."
Xu Ming said: "You check the group, I'll check on the old man in their family."
Jian Chu said "oh" and closed the door. Although there was not much air conditioning in the house, it was still a few degrees lower than outside, so if the door was left open for too long, the heat would come in. He returned to the house and climbed onto the bed in the darkness. Then he opened the WeChat group and saw that there were more than 99 people chatting, so he climbed up the stairs and scrolled slowly. Until he saw the news about the elevator, he immediately exclaimed: "That old man Zhang is dead!"
Yu Zibai, who was half asleep and half awake, was stunned for a moment, rubbed his eyes, and said in a hoarse voice: "Who?"
Jian Chu almost thrust the phone screen in his face. "The old man from the Zhang family next door was locked in the elevator last night. As a result, his whole family brought a backpack of water, but because they didn't want to give it to others, they didn't drink it themselves. They were suffocated for almost an hour, and then they died. Damn, a selfish death that cost one's life, this is the first time I've seen such a thing."
Yu Zibai flicked his forehead and said, "The person is gone, so don't say such things. What's going on next door now?"
Jian Chu: "The old lady from the Zhang family sprained her ankle, so she didn't go out yesterday. Now she is alone in the house. I guess Doctor Xu saw that she is old and now there is a power outage, so he was afraid that the old lady couldn't bear it, so he went to check on her."
Before Jian Chu could finish his words, he heard a cursing voice from next door: "What are you doing! Can't you let me sleep in the broad daylight?! Why are you knocking? It's so noisy. Get out!"
Jian Chu was stunned: "What's going on? It's so fierce."
Yu Zibai heard no movement outside, and then heard the sound of the door closing. He guessed that Dr. Xu had gone home, so he said, "I guess the old woman was alone at home. She knew it was not safe now, and she thought that others saw her alone and wanted to do something to their family, so she drove them away fiercely."
Just as Yu Zibai guessed, when she heard no knock on the door, Grandma Zhang was immediately relieved. Her husband and grandchildren couldn't come back because of the power outage, and she was the only one at home. What if someone really opened the door and took away all their things? She turned on her cell phone, and with her presbyopic eyes, she dialed the first number in the phone book based on a vague outline, but still no one answered. It was broad daylight, and she didn't know where they were hiding from the sun and whether they were safe.
Jian Chu tagged Dr. Xu in the small chat room on their floor to ask if he had been tricked. Dr. Xu just sent a helpless shrug emoji, and Mu Nan sent a question mark. Jian Chu then hurriedly told him what had just happened, and concluded, "Stay as far away from the Zhang family as possible in the future. You can't afford to offend such people."
Mu Nan sighed, "Sure enough, I can't afford to offend him. I'd better avoid him in the future."
Qin Huai patted his side and asked Mu Nan to come over. Then he fiddled with the computer for a while and played a doomsday disaster movie for him. When Mu Nan saw the title, he said, "I've seen this."
Qin Huai said: "Then read it again."
After pressing Mu Nan to the bed to watch a movie, he got up and checked the vegetables in the house and next door. The temperature was too hot, and the vegetables were wilting. Qin Huai squatted down and fiddled with them with his hands. The air conditioner was on before, so the vegetables could still be kept alive. Now the power is out, and in just one night, the vegetables are already wilting and can't be seen. Those who live indoors are like this, and those farmlands outside must have been dried out and cracked by the sun.
When Mu Nan was halfway through the movie, he saw Qin Huai, shirtless and sweating, carrying a bag of vegetable seedlings covered in mud. When the sweat flowed down along the lines of his abdominal muscles, Mu Nan felt dizzy. Before he could think about why he felt dizzy when he saw Qin Huai sweating, his attention was instantly diverted to the thing in Qin Huai's hand. He immediately said with a bitter face: "No way, the vegetables are dead too?"
Qin Huai: "The temperature of over 50 degrees is really too much for them."
Mu Nan sighed and lay back on the bed: "Another way out is cut off."
Qin Huai smiled and said, "Didn't we buy a lot of seeds? You can put these soils into the space later. We will see whether we will stay here or move to another place. We will decide then. You can collect these seedlings first. You can wash them and stir-fry them to eat later."
Mu Nan got up from the bed and put a small sack directly into the space. Qin Huai went to the bathroom to take a shower and washed off the sweat on his body. When he came out, Mu Nan handed him a box of ice cream. Qin Huai sat on the bed, took two bites and gave it back to him. He didn't like to eat such sweet things. Even if he ate ice cream, he preferred to eat refreshing popsicles.
Of course Mu Nan knew that Qin Huai didn't like this kind of creamy ice cream, but he did like it. If Qin Huai only took a few bites and stopped, he would be able to finish the whole box.
Unfortunately, before he could take action, Qin Huai predicted his plan: "You can only eat half."
Mu Nan leaned aside, turned sideways, put the ice cream on the mat, supported his head with one hand while looking at the computer, and scooped up the ice cream and ate it bite by bite with the other hand, without responding.
Qin Huai turned his head to look at him, smiled, and leaned back on the bed to browse his phone. After Mu Nan finished watching the movie, Qin Huai asked, "My thoughts after watching it."
Mu Nan lay on his back on the bed, looking sideways at Qin Huai beside him, thinking: "The protagonist's halo is immortal?"
Qin Huai raised his hand and tapped his forehead: "Eighty percent of accidents come from people you know. Look at the protagonist in this movie. He was tricked by acquaintances several times when he was in danger."
Mu Nan then realized Qin Huai's intention of asking him to watch this movie: "Why don't you just tell me directly and let me watch the movie again."
Qin Huai smiled and said, "You may not remember it even if I tell you. I know you think that the person is about the same age as our grandmother and is an old neighbor who I knew before. If it was a completely stranger, you probably wouldn't worry about whether to go and see him. But many things often happen to people you know."
Mu Nan said, "I know. I'm not that easily soft-hearted." The fundamental reason why he was struggling over whether to go and check on the old woman was that, to put it bluntly, he was still worried that something might happen to the old woman at home, and her family would resent them, thinking that they were watching her die without helping them while they were living on the same floor. He had seen a lot of such situations in his previous life. He was thinking that even if they had to go to the government's refugee base in the future, they would still have to live here for a while. It would be so troublesome if they really offended a family who held a grudge against them behind their backs.
Qin Huai pinched his face lightly: "It would be great! But considering that you discussed it with me and did not take direct action, it is worth rewarding you with a portion of braised shrimp today."
Although it was very hot, Mu Nan's appetite was instantly aroused by the words "braised shrimp". The bowl of porridge he had just drunk was almost digested in the time it took to watch a movie, so when Qin Huai spoke, he quickly pushed away the computer and ran to the small round table to take out food from the space. The braised shrimp he took out was the one Qin Huai had cooked before. It was his favorite flavor and tasted better than those cooked outside. The last time Qin Huai cooked it, he didn't give him many to eat.
Seeing that he was about to eat a lot, Qin Huai couldn't help but said, "Eat less, there will be no more after you finish it, save some for the future." If he was not stopped, he could finish a whole bowl in one breath without considering whether his stomach could take it.
Mu Nan thought so too, so he took a clean lunch box and grabbed a little from the big bowl. It seemed not enough, so he reached out and grabbed a few more, then put the bowl back into the space: "Eat less each time, brother, if people can adapt to this extreme environment in the future, can our lives return to the way they were before?"
Qin Huai said: "Of course we can. Look at the past and present, every period of rapid development has been accompanied by various natural and man-made disasters. As long as humans can survive, it will be a period of destruction and then reconstruction. So we must live well until the time when order is restored and see the new world that is destroyed and then rebuilt."
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