Chapter 53: Carrying Water Out
The notice board stated the specific arrangements and procedures for sludge excavation.
You need to bring your own tools for digging the sludge. The floating city has limited tools and no extra tools are available for distribution to citizens. The time for digging the sludge is set for August 16, which is tomorrow.
The weather was hot, so in order to avoid the hottest time at noon, we gathered at 5:30 a.m. to register our names, started digging at 6 a.m., and finished the morning work before 11 a.m. We worked from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m.
To register for sludge digging, you need to bring your ID card. If you don’t have an ID card, you can bring your household registration book. If you don’t have a household registration book, you can report your ID card number. If you forget your ID card number, you cannot register for sludge digging.
In the living room of 1502, everyone on the 15th floor gathered together for a meeting.
Sun Qing spoke first, "Should we sign up to dig sludge tomorrow?"
Zhou Qiuyang said, "The water in our house is almost used up." The implication was that they might have to dig up sludge to exchange for some water.
Sun Qing sighed, "My family's water supply is almost gone."
Although there is a lot of stored water, the two girls, 1503, use more water than the boys.
Wen Jianfeng said: "My family still has a lot of water, but sooner or later it will run out. I need to think in advance about how to solve the water problem in the future."
Xia Xiaoman thought for a moment and said, "Let's wait and see for a day to see how others do when digging the sludge tomorrow. If it's not too tiring, we can sign up to dig the sludge. If digging the sludge is too hard, we can take bottles to the mountains to find water sources and bring back water."
Now the mud has been dried and hardened, and you can walk on it. It shouldn't be a big problem to walk on the mud to find water in the mountains.
Wen Jianfeng nodded and said, "It's also good to go to the mountain to fetch water. You don't have to be restricted by others and can fetch as much as you want."
…
The next day, most people in the building signed up to dig out the sludge. Before daybreak, the sound of digging could be heard downstairs.
Working with a goal in mind is different. Before, the people in the building dug sludge and it took them five or six days to dig out a small pit. Everyone was afraid that they would do too much work and become a scapegoat.
Now there are clear regulations on the amount of sludge to be excavated, and within one day, a huge pit appeared downstairs.
Xia Xiaoman and his friends observed on the balcony for a day and found that digging sludge was a very difficult job.
It's not because it's difficult to dig, but because you may encounter all kinds of "surprises" at any time during the digging.
You might dig up plastic bags filled with feces, metal garbage, human corpses and fish bones, or even luxury cars that have been buried in the ground for a long time.
In just a few days, the strong sun only dried the surface of the sludge, while the center of the sludge was still moist.
If a body is dug up, it would be like 'winning the jackpot'.
The stench of a highly decomposed corpse was too much for ordinary people to handle. Some corpses even had thousands of white maggots wriggling inside, making people's scalps numb.
All the staff on the 15th floor unanimously decided that between digging out the sludge and going up the mountain to find water, everyone chose to go up the mountain to find water.
…
The way the floating city controls the citizens is to use food and water to lure everyone to help dig mud. But if these two things are not tempting, I believe few people will be willing to dig mud.
Xia Xiaoman and the others just wanted to make themselves live more comfortably and had no intention of disrupting the plans of the Fucheng government.
It was too arrogant to carry buckets openly, so several people stuffed the collected mineral water bottles into their backpacks, intending to use the backpacks as a cover to transport the water back to the community.
Those who stayed behind to see the situation had to have high martial arts skills, otherwise they would not be able to protect someone if they broke into the 15th floor. The one who stayed behind to watch the house this time was Wen Jianfeng, who still had a lot of water at home, so he was not in a hurry to go out and transport water.
It was six o'clock in the morning, and the sun had just come out. Xia Xiaoman and his friends took advantage of the fact that it was not so hot and hurried to the mountain to catch ducks.
Along the way, we met many people cleaning up the sludge, and saw more than a dozen excavators and bulldozers working diligently.
When I drove the speedboat to the mountain, I didn’t feel how far it was. Only when I walked there did I understand why the suburbs are called the suburbs.
After walking for more than three hours, the group finally reached the foot of the mountain.
Xiao Zheyu wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, "It's too hot. I'll go swim in the pond later to cool off. The sun is so hot that it's almost burning me out."
"Wait until you've filled up the water before you swim. I don't want to drink your bath water."
Xiao Zheyu hugged Su Ran and wiped all the sweat off his body to her, "Who are we friends? You still look down on me!"
Su Ran was so angry that she picked up a stick and chased after Xiao Zheyu.
"Hey! Who are you? What are you doing here?"
A voice suddenly sounded in the forest, startling both Su Ran and Xiao Zheyu.
Xia Xiaoman looked up and saw a middle-aged man with an unshaven beard standing next to a big tree with a sickle in his hand.
Not wanting to cause a conflict, Xia Xiaoman said in a gentle voice, "Uncle, we came to the mountain to find water. We'll leave after we get some water."
The man said coldly, "This is our village's territory. If you want water, go find it somewhere else. Let's leave now!"
Xiao Zheyu was not convinced. "How can this be your village's territory? There's no sign of your village carved on the mountain. We just came here to get some water. Why do you want us to leave?"
"Xiao Zheyu!"
Before the man could say anything, Xia Xiaoman shouted with a fierce face: "Uncle has already said that this is their village's territory, what are you still hesitating about? Come down quickly!"
He helped the team fight for benefits, but not only was he not praised, he was also bullied! Xiao Zheyu felt so wronged that he was about to speak when someone covered his mouth.
Su Ran covered his mouth and pulled him back, "Brother! Stop talking and leave!"
The man who was about to take action stopped what he was doing silently when he saw that they were so sensible.
Only after they were some distance away from the mountain did Su Ran let go of Xiao Zheyu's hand.
After regaining his freedom, Xiao Zheyu said indignantly: "Sister Xiaoman, why should we leave? There is such a big mountain standing there. He said it is the territory of their village, right?"
"Besides, he's just one person. If we can't convince him, we can just fight. I don't believe that with so many of us, we can't beat him alone!"
Sun Qing, Zhou Qiuyang and Ye Xiaojie also didn't understand why they had to leave.
Xia Xiaoman leaned against a tree and fanned herself as she slowly explained, "He is alone, but how do you know if there are other people behind him?"
Xiao Zheyu retorted, "So what? Even if there are other people, we may not lose!"
Xia Xiaoman sighed helplessly, "The man just said it very clearly, that mountain is the territory of their 'village', the focus is on the village, not the people."
"You are all city people, you don't know how united the countryside is. It looks like he is the only one on the mountain, but maybe there are people from the whole village standing behind him. I am confident that I can beat him alone, but I am not confident that I can beat the whole village."
Sun Qing frowned, "Xiao Man, are you overthinking it? Maybe he is the only one on the mountain."
Xia Xiaoman shook her head. She was very sure that there was definitely more than one man on the mountain.
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