Chapter 142: Collecting Warmth and Cold-Proofing Supplies
The next night, Xia Xiaoman brought 30 cans of milk powder and five bottles to exchange with Liang Ru.
After successfully changing into warm clothes, Xia Xiaoman stayed in Shuiyue Bay with peace of mind. Except for going out to clean the sewers, she basically never went out.
The next day, Wang Shijin came back and rested for a day. At around six o'clock in the evening, he used a wheelbarrow to transport 400 kilograms of coal to Xia Xiaoman.
"Pay your rent on time and never default on it. Do you want to weigh it?"
Xia Xiaoman smiled and said, "No need." Then she helped to move several bags of coal off the cart.
"Do you plan to burn this coal directly or make honeycomb coal?" Wang Shijin asked.
"I want to take out half of it and make honeycomb briquettes, but I don't have the tools." Although making honeycomb briquettes is a bit troublesome, honeycomb briquettes are more durable than coal.
Wang Shijin said, "You can buy it from the Logistics Department. The Logistics Department plans to get some yellow mud to make honeycomb coal in the next two days. They should make a few more coal presses as backup."
Xia Xiaoman nodded, "Okay, I'll ask the logistics department tomorrow." After that, she asked politely, "Did your trip go smoothly this time?"
"It went smoothly! It went really smoothly." Wang Shijin said a little excitedly, "The last time I went to Yancheng, a group of people wanted to rob us on the road, but they were forced to flee by the official convoy."
"The official motorcade was well prepared for this trip, and they brought a special army to encircle and suppress the robbers. Tsk, you didn't see the scene at that time. It was simply a real-life version of a car-racing police movie, even more exciting than watching a 5D movie."
As a man, who doesn’t have a superhero dream? At that time, he wanted to turn into a soldier, driving a car with a gun to chase the fleeing robbers. Just thinking about it made him feel so cool.
"Those robbers are so greedy. They have already robbed so many supplies, but they are still greedy and want to rob the official convoy. Now they have hit a wall!"
After the official motorcade arrested the robbers, they went to their lair, where more than 30 vehicles were parked, 18 of which were trucks, and the rest were sedans and SUVs.
Moreover, these cars are in perfect condition and can be driven just by adding petrol.
In addition to the vehicles, there were also a lot of supplies. Rice, flour, grain, oil, clothes, shoes, socks, cigarettes, alcohol, medicines, pistols and bullets were all piled up in the warehouse. The official convoy used 21 trucks to transport all these supplies away.
Fortunately, these robbers had so many large trucks, otherwise it would be troublesome to transport all the supplies at once.
When Xia Xiaoman heard about the pistol bullets, she instantly felt a little regretful. If she had known that the gang had hot weapons, she would have quietly gone to find out more.
But with so many people on the other side, it's not easy to get in. Forget it, she is not destined to get rich overnight, so she is content with a small fortune. Safety is more important.
"The authorities have seized so many large trucks, so won't we be able to use a few more trucks to transport coal to Yancheng in the future?"
Wang Shijin shook his head. "You think too much. You can't load as much coal as you have in your trucks. There are many coal mines in Yancheng, but there are also many people who go to Yancheng to buy coal."
"The amount of coal Yancheng can give to Fucheng is regulated. Once the regulated amount is exceeded, Fucheng will no longer be able to transport coal."
"Then how can you buy coal?" Xia Xiaoman asked.
"We have a wide network of contacts!" Wang Shijin said proudly, "Yang Xiaomai's brother is in the Yancheng Army. I'll take her there and let her talk to her brother so she can buy some coal."
This is the advantage of having someone above you. No matter what time, having connections is always better than having no connections.
"But there is still a quota, two thousand kilograms per person. Every time I go to Yancheng, I have to bring the identification cards of the owners of the community and use their quota to buy coal."
"When I have used up all the quotas in those buildings, I will come to your villa area to borrow quotas."
Xia Xiaoman said, "Then you better hurry up. There are so many people in the community. Don't wait until Eternal Night before all the places are used up."
"I'm not worried about the time. Even if the eternal night appears, the temperature won't drop in a short time. What I'm mainly worried about is whether there are enough supplies to exchange for coal. After only exchanging coal twice, the supplies on hand are not enough."
Wang Shijin looked melancholy. Fortunately, they were now cooperating with the Ye family fleet. As long as the cooperation continued, they would not starve to death.
"Are you buying processed coal? Why don't you try buying raw charcoal? It should be cheaper." Xia Xiaoman asked.
Wang Shijin explained: "Green charcoal is heavier than processed charcoal and has more impurities. In total, the price of green charcoal is about the same as that of processed charcoal."
Suddenly, he thought of something and clapped his hands excitedly, "Oh, how could I forget that we can burn charcoal!"
Charcoal burns longer than wood and produces less smoke, but it's a little more troublesome. But right now, trouble is the last thing they fear.
"I don't want to chat with you anymore. I'm going to find Old Man Luo." After saying this, Wang Shijin ran excitedly to the property management department.
There are many low hills in Fucheng, and many large timber factories have contracted these hills to plant eucalyptus trees. It can be said that eucalyptus trees can be seen everywhere in Fucheng, and every few years timber factories will send people to cut down eucalyptus trees for sale.
After the locusts devoured the trees, only the thick trunks were left standing, making it easier for people to cut them down. In just a few days, Shuiyue Bay had already transported back more than 10,000 tons of wood.
Wang Shijin doesn't know how to burn charcoal, but the older generation in the community knows more or less the steps to do so.
The next day, when Xia Xiaoman went out to clean the sewer, he saw someone building a kiln in the community square.
The soldier who came to count the number of people saw this scene, but did not say anything to stop it. Who cares whether burning charcoal will pollute the environment? It's good enough to be alive.
…
Coal trucks suddenly appeared in the floating city, all the cold-weather clothing at the trading point was sold out, and many people appeared in the mountains to cut firewood. Some ordinary people who were not well-informed noticed something was wrong and began to think of ways to store cold-weather supplies.
For a moment, the floating city was filled with a tense and oppressive feeling, and people were fighting over the rotten wood on the roadside, with people bleeding.
But all this had nothing to do with Xia Xiaoman, she lived a simple life every day. She got up early to clean the sewers, went home to sleep after work, and occasionally when Sun Qing came over, she would go to the gate of the community to exchange recent news with Sun Qing.
That day, Sun Qing delivered the goods again. Xia Xiaoman received the message and came to the gate of the community. "You came just in time. I built the kang according to the instructions you gave me. I have already done more than half of it, but I don't know if I did it right, so I didn't dare to close the top."
"Do you have time to take a look for me? If there is no problem, I will seal the top later."
Sun Qing nodded. "I'll go over with you to take a look after I've arranged everything here."
As soon as she finished speaking, something hit her shoulder. Sun Qing subconsciously looked at her shoulder to see what hit her.
Before he could see what was on the ground, he heard Xia Xiaoman shouting, "Hail! It's hailing, find a place to hide! Run!"
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