Chapter 84
The wind outside intensified, and Mu Nan hurriedly checked all the windows inside and outside the house with a popsicle in his mouth, making sure they were all closed tightly before returning to the room.
Qin Huai put the folded clothes on the bed and asked Mu Nan to put them into the space later. He then brought the dirty clothes basket over and asked Mu Nan to take out some more dirty clothes: "Wash another pile while the water is still usable. In a few days, even if the water is pumped from underground, the water pipe will probably freeze, and it will not be so convenient to wash clothes." There is heating in the house, but it is icy and snowy outside, so the water pipes will definitely be frozen.
Mu Nan took out another pile of dirty clothes from the space. He had washed quite a few when Qin Huai was not at home during the day. He stopped when there was no more room in the whole house to dry them. Now that some clothes were dry and there was a little extra space, Qin Huai took the time to wash more clothes. It was just a matter of throwing them into the washing machine anyway.
Qin Huai put the clothes into the washing machine and tidied the bathroom. When he came out, he saw Mu Nan staring at the mutton pot on the table. He said, "You just had a popsicle. Don't keep it hot and cold."
Mu Nan turned to look at Qin Huai, thought for a moment and sighed: "Forget it, don't bring anything, just eat in the cafeteria. Such thick clothes may already attract people's attention. If you bring your own food and meat, I'm afraid you will be robbed by others. It doesn't matter if they take off your clothes on the road, but you will freeze to death. If you don't eat well at noon, come back to eat at night. Good things should be eaten secretly."
Qin Huai smiled when he heard that. "The food in the cafeteria isn't that bad. The aunt in the small cafeteria is pretty good at cooking. The ingredients are limited but the taste is okay. I had a good meal before I went out this morning. It's okay to just have some at noon. Put this pot into the space. Cook some carrots and vegetables tomorrow. I'll eat it with rice for breakfast."
When it gets cold, people really need food to resist the cold. In addition, Mu Nan is worried that Qin Huai doesn't eat well at work, so whenever he is at home, he takes a lot of food. He even serves rice for breakfast. He eats well before going to work. I don't know if it's because he eats too well every day, or if those hot packs are really useful. Although the wind can penetrate the mask and scratch the face when riding a bike, the body is warm. The people who work with him come in every day with blue faces due to the cold. If it weren't for the lack of conditions here and the fact that there are many important equipment that cannot let them stay overnight, people like Zhou Chuanghong would like to stay here and not leave, so as not to suffer on the road.
Not only are they freezing cold every day, but they have also developed chilblains on their hands and feet. The cracks on their hands and feet are as deep as if they were cut by a knife. Some are so swollen that they can't even type on the keyboard or bend their fingers.
But even so, they still persisted. Compared to the physical exertion of moving bricks outside, they can sit indoors and enjoy the air conditioning, which is really good. So they cherish the current opportunity and try their best to overcome any difficulties.
When he saw that Qin Huai's hands didn't have any frostbite, he sighed that handsome people are different. Living in the same climatic conditions, his hands and feet are not hurt at all.
Hearing their sighs and envy, Qin Huai looked at his hands. The anti-cracking cream he applied every morning and evening was not in vain, and the thick gloves he wore were not in vain. If he got sores on his hands, Nan Nan would be even more unwilling to see him go out to work.
After checking the program he had done yesterday, Qin Huai saw Zhang Qi, who was sitting next to him, lying on the table for a long time, so he asked, "What's wrong with you? Are you feeling unwell?"
Zhang Qi quickly sat up, but kept his hands on his stomach: "I just have a stomachache, I'm not sick and I don't have a fever. I'll be fine after a while." If you get sick now, you will be taken away for isolation. Not to mention whether you can keep your job, it is hard to say whether you will be infected during the isolation period.
Zhou Chuanghong leaned over and looked over: "You must have caught a cold wind. The scarf you're wearing is not woven densely at all. The big pattern looks nice, but it doesn't block the wind. You must have caught a cold riding all the way here."
Qin Huai stood up and poured Zhang Qi a cup of hot water: "Go and rest first, and continue when you feel better. It really hurts so much. I will help you later if you haven't finished."
Zhang Qi took the hot water and said quickly: "No, no, I can do it myself. Thank you, I'll just take a break."
Qin Huai did not say much. He was not a very enthusiastic person. It was just that when he saw Zhang Qi, he couldn't help but think of his own child. On the day when the weather changed, it suddenly alternated between hot and cold. Mu Nan had a stomachache and curled up in bed with a pale face. He had to comfort him and said that it was okay and the pain would be gone after a while. So when he saw a boy who was not much older than Mu Nan fighting hard in such cold weather even though he was not feeling well, he instinctively softened his heart after a little association.
Around noon, the team leader from the engineering department came over and said to them, "We are going to adjust the base station interface today. Please arrange for someone to go with us in the civilian communications department."
Hearing this, Qin Huai frowned subconsciously. It was almost time to get off work, and he had to add a temporary task. Although he told Mu Nan that he was very busy recently and might have to work overtime at any time, every time he returned home, Mu Nan would be waiting for him at the stairs on the first floor. Although the floor heating was turned on on all three floors of the house, the heating on the first floor was not very strong. If he went home late, he didn't know how long Mu Nan would wait. He might worry about whether he could get into trouble on the way because he couldn't contact him. But in this situation, as the team leader, who else could go if he didn't go?
The squad leader continued, "This is considered overtime. After all, we don't know how late it will be, so we will give you an extra dinner and five points of overtime pay. You guys decide who will go, and gather in half an hour to set off."
Five points are not a small amount. Except for Qin Huai, none of them have been officially converted to regular employees yet. However, due to weather reasons, the commute to work is more difficult, so the daily wage for interns has also been increased. Five points a day, overtime work will not take a few hours, and one trip can earn an extra day's salary and an extra dinner. It is very cost-effective.
If there was no overtime, then Qin Huai would definitely go by himself. Now that he had overtime pay, he naturally looked at the other three people and said, "Who among you is willing to work overtime?"
They looked at each other. Although it was cold outside, they could still earn wages. Five points could at least exchange for more than a week's worth of food. Zhou Chuanghong was fine, as it was enough for him to feed himself, so he was not so willing to work overtime. But Zhang Qi and Shu Bin seemed to have families to support, so the attraction of earning an extra day's wages was quite great for them.
However, it was Zhang Qi who spoke first. He took the initiative and said, "I want to go. Is that ok?"
Qin Huai weighed Zhang Qi's ability and thought that ordinary port connection debugging would be no problem, so he nodded: "Okay, you go ahead."
Upon hearing this, Zhang Qi immediately smiled and thanked him. Shu Bin, who was standing beside him, pursed his lips and said nothing more.
After deciding who would work overtime, Qin Huai started packing up to get off work. Zhou Chuanghong smiled and said, "Brother Qin is the most enthusiastic person after get off work every day."
Zhang Qi, who could earn overtime pay, said lightly, "If you are not active after get off work, there is something wrong with your thinking."
Qin Huai smiled when he heard this: "Someone is waiting for me at home, so I will be proactive."
The two people on his left and right looked at him curiously: "Brother Qin, are you married?"
Qin Huai did not deny it, but just smiled. That family has always been there. When it can be built depends on when his Nan Nan wakes up. As for taking the initiative to reveal it, Qin Huai has no plan for the time being. His life has not settled down yet. Also, because Mu Nan has been used to being close to him since childhood, he is not sure about Mu Nan's thoughts. He is afraid to face the fact that when Mu Nan finds out about his changed feelings, she will resist or even feel disgusted. He does not have a God's perspective, so he can only speculate in fear and trepidation. No matter how straightforward and decisive a person is, he will become hesitant and indecisive when he encounters his weaknesses. The more he cares, the more he fears losing.
I returned home in the snow and wind. As soon as I entered the yard, the door of my house was opened. Two heads popped out, one human head and one dog head. The human head looked at me with a smile: "Brother, you are back. Come in and warm up quickly. You must be frozen on the road."
Looking at Mu Nan who took off his hat and mask and wiped his hands and face with a hot towel, Qin Huai smiled. He was happy enough now, and he didn't know if he would be too greedy if he asked for more.
The successful repair of the base station allowed the local area network to start operating smoothly. The network fully covers the entire community, but you need to enter an account password to connect to the network. No SIM card is required, but one account can only correspond to one mobile phone. The mobile phone network is open in the form of a monthly package, and the monthly rent is not expensive, three points a month. It's just a local area network. There are not many existing network resources, but the fact that you can contact each other in the entire coverage area is enough for many people. Moreover, the open software also has community channels, and many people communicate with each other on it. This has allowed many people who were left alone after the earthquake to find some comfort and channels for expression. It is easy for a person to collapse mentally when he is closed for a long time. Even if it is just chatting with strangers on the Internet, it is good to feel the bustle of the crowd on the Internet.
Mu Nan was the first to get an internal testing account. As operators and maintainers of civilian communications, Qin Huai and his colleagues each had three internal testing accounts, which could be considered a benefit for internal staff. Once officially opened, these accounts would be free of monthly rent, which means they could be used for free. However, the account limit was only to prevent internal staff from taking advantage of employee convenience to resell.
There were three accounts, Qin Huai and Mu Nan used one each. It was not a good idea to sell the other one, but it was not enough to give it to a friend, and it was a waste to leave it unused. Finally, after some politeness from each other, the account was given to Jian Chu. They worked together, went in and out together, and did not need to contact each other remotely. By contacting Jian Chu, they could contact all of them. In addition, Mu Nan and Jian Chu chatted more often, so the account was given to Jian Chu.
Now Mu Nan can contact Qin Huai at home at any time, and Qin Huai can tell Mu Nan the first time if there is any work change. This makes Mu Nan feel more secure, and even because of the restoration of communication, he has regained a little bit of the feeling before the end of the world.
For example, he put his bare feet on a coffee table piled with snacks, took a photo of a movie projected in the background and sent it to Qin Huai: "Brother's hard work is to make his brother happy, come on, brother, you are the best!"
Looking at the photo, Qin Huai pursed his lips and smiled and replied: "Eat less snacks, and don't drink ice drinks. Leave them on the ground for at least half an hour before drinking."
Mu Nan sent him a bitter-faced text: "It will become hot water in half an hour."
After posting this paragraph, he immediately posted a photo of himself holding a transparent teacup: "I drink grapefruit tea, hot."
Qin Huai looked at the hand holding the teacup in the photo for a few more seconds before replying, "Be good."
Zhou Chuanghong stretched himself, and when he turned his head, he saw Qin Huai still smiling at his phone, so he said, "Having a family, it's really a torture for single people."
Shu Bin, who was sitting opposite him, said while typing on the computer: "You can also find one."
Zhou Chuanghong sighed, "I am living from hand to mouth. What are you looking for? It's hard to even support myself. Oh, by the way, do you know that there are man-eating beasts around here?"
Shu Bin then looked up at him: "A man-eating beast?"
Zhou Chuanghong nodded repeatedly. "It happened at the school. Someone was diagnosed with the plague. The symptoms weren't very severe, but he just couldn't accept it. He was devastated and ran away from the school. Later, a military vehicle carrying people who needed to be quarantined to the school resettlement point saw a corpse with half of its body missing and its entire stomach emptied. It was the person who ran away."
Perhaps it was because too many people had died in the past year or so, or perhaps the death and corpses seen after the earthquake had made people numb. When Shu Bin heard this, his first thought was not to lament the death, but to ask, "If the beast eats a sick person, will it be infected?"
Zhou Chuanghong shrugged: "Who knows? Anyway, everyone should be careful. Don't let anyone die unjustly in the mouth of a wild beast until today."
While they were talking about the beast, Mu Nan was lying on the sofa watching a movie. The clothes had been washed, and while there was still water, Mu Nan poured a swimming pool of water into the backyard. There was also a small piece of open space behind their building, which was deliberately cleared out when the wall was built, but the area was very small and not as spacious as the front yard. There was not much space for it at the moment, but it was enough for a swimming pool anyway. It was still snowing outside, and the swimming pool would freeze solid after a day. For now, they could only secretly store ice cubes like this. They had to put the swimming pool full of water into the space before the neighbors came back, and continue tomorrow.
There are still a lot of ice cubes in his space. Not much was consumed when the weather was hot before, so Mu Nan was not in a hurry and stored them slowly, one block a day. In this winter that lasted almost half a year, he could have hundreds of large ice cubes, which would be enough for the summer.
After finishing all the chores inside and outside the house, he lay down on the sofa for a while and sent a message to Qin Huai, but he also knew that he should not disturb him too much at work, so he put down his phone and planned to take a nap. Before he could lie down for a while, Niu Niu, who had been lying obediently on the cushion next to him on the sofa, twitched her ears, and suddenly stood up, making a low warning sound towards the window.
Mu Nan was startled and thought there was someone outside, so he quickly covered Niu Niu's mouth, fearing that she would suddenly scream and alarm the people outside.
Mu Nan took Niu Niu and carefully approached the window. While preventing Niu Niu from screaming, he lifted the curtains and looked outside. However, he did not see anyone, but saw a scene that almost gave him a heart attack: a tiger was sniffing at the gate of their yard.
At that moment, Mu Nan's mind went numb. The tiger, an animal that had only been watched through glass in the zoo, was now walking back and forth in front of their house. It was not known whether it smelled something, or whether it smelled that there was a dog in the house, so it seemed to be reluctant to leave.
Mu Nan's first reaction was to look for Qin Huai, but he quickly calmed down. There was a courtyard wall and an iron gate outside, and there were several doors in the house. No matter how ferocious the tiger was, it would take some time to break in through the door. And as long as he was careful not to make any noise to alarm it, it might not attract its attention. Thinking of this, Mu Nan finally calmed down a little, so he took out his mobile phone, took several photos, and sent them to Brother Xu.
The Internet has not been fully opened yet, but the military has already connected to the Internet for the convenience of receiving messages. In order to prevent him from having any problems at home, Qin Huai also asked for Brother Xu's account and asked Mu Nan to add him as a friend. After all, he is at the power station. If something happens at home, he will not be able to rush back immediately, and Brother Xu, who is now stationed in Building No. 1, is the best person to ask for help.
Brother Xu was also shocked when he received the photo. Tigers are very lethal animals. The key is that this is a residential area. Some people who only work half a day are just going home after work. If they are hit by a tiger, who knows how many people will die. So Brother Xu hurriedly took his men and weapons and drove towards Mu Nan's home.
After receiving a reply from Brother Xu, Mu Nan breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, there was internet and they could still contact each other. If they couldn't, they could only pray that Tiger had left on his own.
Mu Nan hid behind the curtains, observing the situation outside while holding Niu Niu's mouth tightly, for fear that Niu Niu would suddenly scream. Fortunately, Niu Niu was held tightly by him and did not make any sound until the tiger left. However, even though he could not see the tiger at home, Mu Nan did not dare to let go of Niu Niu. Instead, he waited for a long time until he heard the sound of a car and gunshots outside. Knowing that the soldiers were coming, he sat on the ground weakly.
He let go of Niuniu and patted the dog's head: "Luckily you are at my house. If you were at your own home, you would have screamed a long time ago. If you had screamed, the tiger would have definitely climbed over the wall to eat you."
Niu Niu looked at Mu Nan in confusion, raising her nose and trying to smell something in the air. In the end, she just wagged her tail and rubbed it on the hand that was touching her head.
Knowing that someone had dealt with the tiger outside, Mu Nan ran to the balcony outside to take a look. He didn't see the car or the tiger, so he went back into the house and sent a message to Qin Huai: "A tiger just passed by our house. I cleverly notified Brother Xu, and the tiger was killed!"
First tell Qin Huai that the tiger was killed, and then send him the photos that he had just taken secretly, so that Qin Huai would not be scared to death after seeing the photos first.
However, when Qin Huai saw the message sent by Mu Nan, he was so frightened that he almost had a cardiac arrest, and he quickly made an Internet call.
Mu Nan answered the call quickly: "I'm fine, I'm fine, my house is safe and sound, the tiger just passed by and didn't come in, I notified Brother Xu immediately, and he brought people here right away. I heard gunshots, the tiger must have been killed, don't worry. But you have to be careful when you come back, in case there are other beasts here."
Qin Huai's heart finally calmed down when he heard Mu Nan's voice: "Are you scared?"
Mu Nan said, "I was indeed startled when I first saw it, but I soon calmed down. Even if Brother Xu wasn't there, the tiger couldn't get in just because of the wall. Tigers can't even climb trees, so how can they climb over the wall? Don't worry, I'm fine at home. You work hard and be careful on your way back, okay?"
Qin Huai nodded, and reminded him several times to check the doors and windows of the house and draw the curtains tightly. After confirming from Mu Nan's voice that he was really fine and not scared, he ended the call.
Qin Huai did not avoid people when he called, and the others did not expect that just after they finished talking about the wild beast, a tiger appeared at Qin Ge's door. However, they felt relieved when they heard that it was shot dead. Although they were in a villa area and an apartment building respectively, the entire community was together. If there were really wild beasts roaming around in that area, they would be worried when going to and from get off work.
But what made them even more curious was the person on the phone, especially Qin Huai's obviously frightened expression just now, and then he gave such gentle and detailed instructions. If the other party was a woman, then she was definitely the one, but if the other party was a man, then that might not necessarily mean he was not the one. So Zhou Chuanghong asked curiously: "Brother Qin, is that the one from your family?"
Qin Huai hummed, glanced at them and said, "Recently, there have been a lot of animals wandering around the zoo. Please be careful when you go to and from get off work."
Zhou Chuanghong and the others exclaimed, but they couldn't help but sneak a glance at Qin Huai unexpectedly. Although society is very tolerant of homosexuality now, it is a minority after all. They have never come into contact with them in their lives. Now that they have come into contact with them, they feel inexplicably moved. They don't know what kind of person is the one who can make such an outstanding man fall in love with her. Moreover, such an outstanding man likes men, and female compatriots have lost a high-quality choice.
After sending the message to Qin Huai, Mu Nan sent the photos to Jian Chu. Naturally, he did not treat Jian Chu like he did Qin Huai for fear of scaring her, so he sent a few photos first to wake them up.
Jian Chu: "!!! What's going on!"
Mu Nan: "Maybe the smell of dog meat attracted the tiger to linger and almost came in as a guest."
Jian Chu: "Now? Still at the door?"
Mu Nan: "He's gone. I notified Brother Xu right away, and he came over and shot Tiger dead."
Jian Chu on the other side breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly showed the photo to others, which scared Yu Zibai, Wu Zheng and the others into breaking out in cold sweats. Fortunately, they were working a full day to earn points. If they had worked half a day, they would have almost been home at this time, and they would have run into a tiger head-on. They suddenly felt grateful for having survived a calamity.
However, Mu Nan thought that he was killed only because he heard the gunshot. In fact, the tiger ran away, but one of its legs was injured.
Brother Xu led a few soldiers and drove along the trail of blood to chase the tiger. With one leg injured, the tiger could not run far. Originally, the matter could be resolved without hurting anyone, but some people were determined to seek death and insisted on giving the tiger a meal before it died.
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