Chapter 81
Yu Zibai studied finance, and Jian Chu was his junior, so naturally they were in the same department. But now they didn't understand civil engineering, and they were not like Qin Huai who understood software research and development and production. The skills they had learned in school before were not of much help to them in today's world, so they could only follow others to rebuild and move bricks.
Wu Zheng never went to college. He studied machine tools in junior college, but that was many years ago. He didn't find a suitable job directly after graduating from junior college. He first worked in insurance and later in sales. He was promoted to sales manager. Unfortunately, the global smog made him unemployed. Then, like Jian Chu, he worked as a delivery man for a while. Anyway, he did whatever could make money and he didn't have any advanced skills to make a living. Now he can only do hard labor.
Wu Zheng's younger brother is even more outrageous. He studied music and knows a little about editing. He made money by editing short videos for others before graduating from college. He is regretting it now, saying that if he knew this would happen, he would have studied civil engineering. Although he also wanted to go out to work with his brother, Wu Zheng didn't let him. He asked him to stay at home for the time being until they had figured out the situation outside. Besides, there was a dog at home. Although Niu Niu was very smart, dogs were protective of their homes. As long as there was no one at home, they would bark at the door when there was a little movement. At this time, the barking of the dog was like inviting people to dinner. So Wu Zheng asked Song Jia to find a way to train Niu Niu so that it would not make any noise at home, so he did not go out for the time being. Anyway, they were not short of points for the time being, so it didn't matter if one of them stayed at home.
There are two working modes outside now. After all, it is a job that consumes a lot of physical energy. Even if there is no sun at night, the temperature is still high. Although many people seem to have adapted to the current temperature, many people still cannot bear it if physical work is added. Therefore, the working hours are divided into morning and evening shifts. The morning shift is from 8:30 pm to 2:30 am, and the night shift is from 12:30 am to 6:30 am. The working hours are the same, and the three points plus a meal are also awarded. It is up to you to choose early or late.
Wu Zheng and the others went to work together, so they naturally chose the same time. Song Jia saw that it was almost time for them to get off work, and he wanted to take Niu Niu out for some fresh air and to pee and poop, so he simply took Niu Niu to pick them up. As soon as they picked them up and were walking back together, Niu Niu suddenly rushed out like an arrow from Li Xuan. Then, a short, sharp cry came from behind a half-collapsed shabby house in the distance, and then there was no sound after the cry. When they chased over to check, they saw that Niu Niu had bitten an alpaca to death. It was not dead at the time, and was still twitching, but it had died on the way back.
Looking at what they carried back, Mu Nan couldn't help but ask, "Can this be eaten? Aren't alpacas pets?" Eating someone's pet is almost the same as eating dog meat.
Jian Chu said, "Anything can be a pet these days. Some people even raise pigs. Eat what you want. Besides, alpacas are edible livestock. They were first introduced because they are edible and taste great. But I don't know how they became pets for many people. To be honest, there is no difference between alpacas and pigs, cows, and sheep. So eat them without any psychological burden."
Mu Nan was a little surprised: "Why is there an alpaca here? If someone kept it as a pet, it's amazing that the alpaca is still alive today." Even the pet dogs were almost all killed. At least they didn't see a single dog during the time they were traveling back and forth between the business district. An alpaca is so big and not even as agile as a pet dog. If someone really saw it, how could they let it go?
Jian Chu shook his head. "I'm afraid this isn't someone else's pet. Most people here are either students or people from villages in the city. Most of them keep cats and dogs, but not necessarily trendy alpacas. I remember there's a zoo here, a semi-wild kind, and there's a group of alpacas in the zoo. I'm afraid this one escaped from the zoo."
After Jian Chu said this, Mu Nan also remembered. He knew about the zoo. Their department had organized a social activity before, and the venue chosen was the zoo. However, he had no interest in this kind of activity. It was tiring and tedious. He thought it would be better for him to stay at home and draw more drafts, so he did not participate. But if it was the alpacas in the zoo, Mu Nan looked at them: "The alpacas have run out, what about the lions and tigers?" This animal did not end up in the mouths of the lions and tigers, and finally survived until now, but it is going into their mouths. It seems that it is destined to become a meal on the plate.
Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment. Song Jia squatted on the ground, hugged Niuniu's dog head tightly and looked at them: "No way?"
Yu Zibai: "Everyone should be careful. If we really encounter it, we will become food. Animals that are not cared for will release their wildness when they are hungry. We should find a time to talk to the soldiers about this. Their attention is now on reconstruction. I don't know if they will notice this. Don't wait until someone dies before noticing it."
Everyone nodded when they heard this. They did need to report it. If lions and tigers really got out, they would not be able to deal with them. They would have to rely on armed soldiers. However, this one also needed to be dealt with. Jian Chu said, "It's already dead and can't be kept. But will anyone kill it?" It was no problem for him to kill the chicken, but he had no idea how to deal with the alpaca.
Mu Nan shook his head: "Now it's not a question of how to kill."
Jian Chu turned to look at him: "What's the problem?"
Mu Nan said, "If lions and tigers escape, the smell of blood will be the most attractive thing to them. So where should we kill this alpaca? How should we deal with the fur and internal organs that cannot be eaten after killing it? Do we have enough water at home to wash away the blood on the ground? Most importantly, we don't have a bone-cutting knife."
He had a bone-cutting knife in his space, but none outside. The knives he had found in the ruins before were not enough to cut bones, and they didn't know whether alpaca bones were easy to cut.
Song Jia poked the alpaca's fur and said, "Then we can't eat it anymore? We haven't eaten meat for a long time."
Yu Zibai said, "Send them to Building No. 1." Building No. 1 is the first townhouse where the soldiers were resettled. It is said that the house will be vacated later and another office will be built on the open space in the community, but they are still in Building No. 1 now, so you can go directly to them if you have any problems.
Hearing this, Song Jia was even more reluctant: "Hand it over. Then what we hand over can we get in return for a bite of meat?"
Mu Nan said, "That's fine, but you don't have to hand it all over. Carry it over. Although this one looks skinny, it should weigh more than 100 pounds. Let them help deal with it and kill it. We can bring a clean basin and bring back some of the meat directly. The rest can be exchanged for points. It saves trouble and we still have something to eat."
Jian Chu also thought this method was good, but the alpaca was killed by Niuniu after all, and he was afraid that Wu Zheng would think they were taking advantage, so he said, "All the points we exchanged belong to your family. Without Niuniu, we might not have found this alpaca. We can just eat the meat, but we don't want the points."
Mu Nan also nodded: "I have a lot of seasonings at home, so I'll set up a place for the seasonings. Ride the tricycle over there and find something to cover it. I'll turn on the air conditioner on the second floor. You can eat at my house later. When you're done, my brother and Xu Ming will be back soon."
Jian Chu smiled and said, "Then they are really comfortable. They will eat when they come back."
Wu Zheng didn't bother to push the issue back and forth with them. Even if he handed over part of the alpaca, he probably wouldn't be able to exchange for many points. They could ask for more in return later, and share the uneaten food with each family. However, they didn't have electricity at home, so they might have to borrow the neighbor's refrigerator.
After assigning the tasks, everyone started to work. Jian Chu sighed, "Fortunately, I brought the staple food back and didn't eat it. If I had, I wouldn't be able to eat meat."
Mu Nan reminded: "If you haven't eaten meat for a long time and suddenly eat a lot, you will have diarrhea."
Jian Chu patted his stomach and said, "It's okay, I can digest even steel!"
Mu Nan returned home and turned on the air conditioner on the second floor. He also took out some folding stools that he had found in the ruins and put them in order. There was no table, but he found a coffee table in a furniture store later, which had a corner broken but was still usable. The power strip, induction cooker, pots and baking trays were all put in place. There were even more seasonings. Anyway, Jian Chu and the others knew that they had a lot of sauces, but as for how much, no one had searched his bag, so they probably didn't know in detail. Therefore, barbecue dipping sauce must be available, and the sauce for marinating meat could also be taken out. The frozen corn kernels and canned fruits in the refrigerator were also prepared. Since they were eating other people's meat, they had to come up with something more.
Mu Nan thought about it, took out a stainless steel basin, and poured a lot of ice milk tea he had brewed at home into it. Milk tea comes in powder packets, which can be stored for a longer time. It is not surprising that it can be taken out now, at most it is rare. Exchanging milk tea for meat is very sincere. After all, he did not kill the alpaca, nor did he carry it back. When his brother comes back, he will eat the ready-made meat directly. At least he should let the person who provided the meat feel a little better.
Until his brother came back from work, the person who carried the alpaca to Building No. 1 had not returned yet. As soon as Qin Huai came up, he saw Mu Nan sitting in the small living room on the second floor playing with his phone. Small stools were set up, and pots and tableware were fully prepared. He couldn't help but ask: "What are you doing? A party?"
Mu Nan hurried over and took a pack of wet wipes from the space: "Is your first day of work hard? Are you tired? Are your colleagues easy to get along with?"
Qin Huai: "It's not hard, nor tiring. I'm sitting in an air-conditioned room doing my old job, typing on the computer. It's very relaxing. My colleagues are also easy to get along with. Don't worry, everything is going well. What are you going to do?"
Mu Nan quickly told him about Niuniu biting an alpaca to death: "So you are ready to come over to eat meat. I also prepared milk tea. It should be okay to take out the milk tea now. Doesn't milk tea have that powder bag, just like a tea bag? Wouldn't it be very eye-catching if we have it at home?"
Qin Huai shook his head: "No, take it out and drink it if you want. Tea bags are also available there today. It's a pity that we don't drink tea much, but I also brought a few bags back. I will make you milk tea later."
Qin Huai puts his things upstairs. He has to bring books to work every day. Although there are books like the ones in TV dramas where one can type out a string of code with his eyes closed, they are mostly exaggerated. So sometimes he still has to look through books for some things. Now these books are treasures and cannot be kept in the office. He has to carry them with him every day.
When Qin Huai put his things away, Mu Nan followed him like a tail, reciting in detail what he had done that day. It took a lot of effort to deal with so many earthen pots in the living room on the third floor. After he finished speaking, he turned back to the alpacas: "The alpacas are all running over. I think the lions and tigers must not be far away. It's too dangerous for you to work so far away."
Qin Huai said, "Don't worry. I will go with others starting tomorrow. There are a few programmers here, but they live in the apartment building. Anyway, they live close, so it's safer to have a companion on the way. I won't be alone. It is said that after a few days, when the entire road here is cleared, there will be buses coming and going. After all, not everyone has a bicycle. It's too far for those who don't have a car to walk." Hearing what Qin Huai said, Mu Nan was relieved: "Then you'd better be careful. Now that the zoo is gone, the animals inside are probably starving."
Qin Huai did not take a shower, but he wiped the sweat off his body and changed into a dry vest. Anyway, there was air conditioning at home and he would not go out again. It would not be too late to take a shower after dinner. After changing his clothes and preparing to go downstairs, he turned around and bumped into Mu Nan who was following closely behind him.
Mu Nan stepped back, holding his nose in pain. Qin Huai took his hand away with a smile: "Let me see if your nose is crooked. You haven't learned your lesson after so many collisions. Your low nose bridge must have been caused by collisions when you were a child."
Mu Nan touched the bridge of his nose and said, "It's obviously very high."
Qin Huai put one hand on the back of his head and pushed him downstairs. Seeing that he was still rubbing his nose, he took his hand away: "Don't blame me when you rubbed my nose red even though it wasn't bumped on."
Mu Nan glared at him: "Why isn't it your fault? Why didn't you say hello when you turned around?"
Qin Huai smiled and said, "It's better to install a receiver on you. I'll hold a light in my hand, and when you turn around, I'll clap it, and then a small speaker will announce that your brother is about to turn around. Nan Nan, please pay attention. How about this?"
Mu Nan jumped onto Qin Huai's back and pulled his hair. How could you be so disrespectful?
As soon as they walked up to the second floor, they heard noises in the yard. Mu Nan hurried to the terrace to see that it was Wu Zheng and Yu Zibai who came back on a tricycle. He ran downstairs to open the door for them. Qin Huai followed him downstairs. They brought back a lot of meat, a large basin full of meat, which was quite heavy. Qin Huai reached out to take it. Yu Zibai parked the tricycle and came in. Wu Zheng went to call Song Jia and Jian Chu. Now only Xu Ming was left.
Several people went upstairs. Jian Chu was fine as he had just come back from home and their house had turned on the air conditioner. Song Jia hadn't felt such coolness for a long time. Even Niu Niu found the coolest place to lie down as soon as she came up.
Jian Chu said to Song Jia: "The electricity will be turned on soon. Some people have started repairing the circuit today."
Song Jia sighed comfortably: "It would be great if we could have electricity. Although I seem to have gotten used to this kind of heat now, it would still be better to be able to use the air conditioner comfortably."
Yu Zibai and Qin Huai were cleaning the meat they brought back. They rinsed it with water and then started slicing it. The meat they brought back should have all kinds of parts, some were fatter, some were leaner, and some were evenly fat and lean, but it was all pure meat, with a little bit of internal organs, but not a single bone.
Jian Chu was supervising on the side. Seeing that they didn't bring back any bones, he said with a bit of regret: "Alpaca ribs taste pretty good. We have an oven at home, but it's a pity you didn't take any. Did you tell them about the zoo?"
Yu Zibai said, "I told them they will pay attention. The alpaca is not easy to clean. It took a lot of effort to get the bones apart. It took a long time to cut off the meat, skin it and bleed it. In order to bring it back and eat it directly, they cleaned it more carefully and cleanly. It's good to eat it. I'll see if I can buy the ribs later."
Jian Chu looked at Wu Zheng and asked, "How many points did you exchange for the remaining ones?"
Wu Zheng said, "I haven't calculated it yet, but I've recorded it. The bones and some remaining meat weigh several dozen kilograms. We only brought back more than 20 kilograms. If you can't finish it, you can share some and freeze it. I don't have electricity over there, so I'll freeze it with you guys."
Mu Nan said: "No problem."
The first piece of meat was put into the pan, sizzling with the roasted oil and dipped in a little chili powder, it was enough to make one cry. It had been a long time since I had eaten meat so comfortably, and it was still so fresh. This moment of enjoyment seemed to offset all the bitterness that had been endured before.
When Xu Ming came back and just entered the yard, he saw Mu Nan waving at him from the second floor: "Hurry up, hurry up, you're the only one missing!"
Xu Ming thought something happened, so he went into Mu Nan's house without even going home. As soon as he entered the door, he smelled a strong aroma of barbecue before he even went upstairs, and his expression was immediately surprised.
Mu Nan smiled and said, "Niuniu went hunting and caught an alpaca. We just started eating it."
After taking Xu Ming upstairs, Mu Nan went to the kitchen and took out some milk tea. When Song Jia and Jian Chu saw the milk tea, they went crazy and shouted, "You actually have milk tea at home!"
Mu Nan used disposable cups to serve each of them: "There are not many milk tea bags left from the ones I bought before, and each time I drink it, there is less." But his brother didn't like to drink something so sweet, so he took a sip just for the sake of politeness, and the rest was given to him.
Xu Ming looked at Niuniu who was being fed meat by Song Jia and couldn't help but sigh: "What a good dog, but it's a pity that it's not a female."
Song Jia smiled and said, "Even if it's a female, I can't find another male to mate with her. But even if I can find another female, it's useless because my Niu Niu has been sterilized."
Xu Ming sighed, "Niuniu, eat more meat today. Pure lean meat, blanch it a little, and don't add any fat. Fat can easily cause gastroenteritis."
After eating and drinking to their heart’s content, everyone was so full that they sat on the ground and didn’t want to move. This meal was so satisfying that it felt like Chinese New Year.
There was still a lot of meat left. Even if each person could eat one pound of meat, there would still be at least ten pounds left. It was divided into four portions. Jian Chu and the others had a refrigerator, so they took it away. Wu Zheng and the others left it with Mu Nan. Anyway, if they wanted to eat, they could just shout through the window opposite.
When distributing the meat, Song Jia asked, "Do you want to give some to our neighbors over there?"
Jian Chu looked at him and raised an eyebrow: "Are there any you like?"
Song Jia rolled his eyes and said, "How can that be possible? You are just thinking about your neighbors."
Mu Nan said: "Then they might misunderstand that you are interested in one of them." It's not that girls tend to think a lot, but the girls live among a group of men like them, so they might be a little sensitive. You even sent meat to them, but now meat is not even available for purchase. If you are so nice to them for no reason, it would be strange if they don't think you have ulterior motives.
Song Jia immediately gave up the idea. After eating and drinking, he began to feel sleepy. Seeing that everyone had almost finished eating and burped, Xu Ming said, "Let's go home and have a rest. We still have to go to work tomorrow. But you should pay more attention when you go to work. With the alpaca, the other animals will probably not be far away."
Wu Zheng and the others nodded and decided to have a good talk with Song Jia when they returned today. In the future, they should not bring dogs out if possible. Having animals around would make it easier to attract some large beasts. So even though Niu Niu is very useful sometimes, it also brings a lot of dangers.
Jian Chu helped Mu Nan pack up a little. Except for the pot, everything else was disposable, so they just packed it up and took it out to throw away. After cleaning up the place, everyone went home.
Qin Huai closed the door and went straight up to the third floor. Mu Nan saw that the time for soaking the seeds had come and didn't want to leave it until tomorrow. He hadn't taken a shower yet, so he simply took the seeds that had been soaked for a while and planted them in pots. Qin Huai was ready to help, but Mu Nan waved at him, "Go take a shower. You've been working outside all day. Take a shower and go to bed. I'll just bury them in the soil. It'll be quick."
Seeing that he didn't want him to interfere, Qin Huai went into the room to take a shower. After the shower, he saw the projector on the bed that had not been installed yet. He read the instruction manual for a while and then installed it. After Mu Nan had prepared all the seeds outside, he went into the room and saw Qin Huai lying on the bed, watching a movie on the computer. The screen had already been projected, and it happened to be projected onto the opposite wall. The screen was large and clear. He then hurried into the bathroom to take a shower, and threw himself onto the bed as soon as he came out.
Qin Huai wiped his hair with a towel. His hair had grown a little longer, but he didn't plan to cut it. Winter would be coming soon, and it would be nice to keep some hair on his head to keep warm.
Mu Nan sat on the bed and fiddled with his new toy. He had never used a projector before, so it was like watching a private movie. He found a brain-burning time-travel movie and watched it with Qin Huai. He counted the days in his mind: "It's going to snow in a few days. How can we remind them to prepare for winter? It's still so hot now, and it feels a bit hard to remind them all of a sudden."
Qin Huai tilted his head slightly to look at the head resting on his shoulder and smiled: "Don't worry, everything has a precursor. We already know the result. As long as we pay close attention to the precursors, there will always be a way to give a reminder without exposing ourselves too much."
Mu Nan put her legs against Qin Huai's legs under the blanket. Qin Huai's body is warm in winter and cool in summer, so it feels comfortable to be pressed against him.
Qin Huai lowered his eyes to look at him, raised his leg and pressed it on his leg. Mu Nan immediately started to compete with him, insisting on suppressing him in return. The two started to pull each other from leg fighting to hand fighting. Mu Nan laughed while fighting with him, and soon he couldn't laugh anymore. When Qin Huai pressed him on the bed, he was already laughing too much to struggle: "You are so competitive, it's not okay. You have to respect the elderly and love the young. Your competitive spirit of always having the upper hand is too inappropriate!"
Qin Huai looked down at him with amusement. Every time he lost, he would babble and try to get back at him. Seeing that he was about to start lecturing him about his various competitive behaviors from the beginning, Qin Huai lowered his head and kissed him on the forehead: "Well, I will love young people well in the future."
After Qin Huai finished speaking, he lay back on the bed. Mu Nan couldn't help but tilt his head to look at him and touched his forehead. Although this was not the first time that Qin Huai kissed his forehead, the kiss just now suddenly felt a little weird, so he couldn't help but look at him again.
Qin Huai turned his face away: "Watch your movie, why are you looking at me?"
Mu Nan snorted, turned over and faced Qin Huai, then couldn't help touching the place that was kissed again. Was his brother used to being close to him since childhood, or was it something else? No matter how close the relationship between brothers was, they wouldn't kiss each other so easily. Girls wouldn't be so close, let alone boys. Mu Nan carefully turned away with a suspicious look, but Qin Huai watched the movie with a frank look on his face, and didn't think there was anything wrong with his previous action. Mu Nan couldn't help but feel confused again. What on earth did his brother mean by this? Was it... interesting or boring?
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