For most residents today, mealtime is the biggest torture.
While most families are still thinking about how to divide a packet of instant noodles into three portions to save food to buy other things, there are always families who have no shortage of supplies and who make all kinds of delicious dishes to attract hatred when it is time for dinner.
For example, the seven families living on the upper and lower floors of the 15-story building 14 felt that tonight was another torture.
The rich aroma of hot pot ingredients, along with the fragrance of various meats and vegetables, lingered in the air. This made people who had not seen meat for nearly two months almost drown in saliva after smelling the aroma.
1502. A doll-like little girl with braids was chewing on a steamed potato the size of a fist. It was one of the relief rations distributed by the local government last week. She had been chewing it for almost a week, and her mouth was almost swollen. She turned around and looked at Ban Tianyi, who was also chewing a potato, with tears in her eyes: "Brother, I really want to eat meat."
"Oh." Ban Tianyi stood up and rummaged in the closet on the left side of the bedroom. He took out a bag of cooked chicken wings and handed it to Ban Tianna, "Eat."
"I don't want to eat this!" Bandina tilted her head, her braids swung over her shoulders. "These packaged cooked foods are terrible. I've been eating them for almost three months. I'm about to throw up! I want to eat fresh meat and fresh vegetables. I'm not afraid of spicy food!"
Ban Tianyi looked at the chicken wings in his hand with a frown on his face. He finally took out a few bags of cooked food such as duck legs and pig's trotters from the cupboard and opened the door to the living room with a messy head. "I'll go to 1501 next door and ask if they can get us some fresh meat and vegetables."
Ban Tianna's eyes lit up, and she hurriedly followed him: "Brother, I'll go too. The sister next door is very nice. She will definitely be willing to exchange food with us again."
1403, Fang Huaimeng tightly grasped the man's hands, knelt on the ground and cried: "Tongtong's father, I beg you, there is only one pack of instant noodles left at home, Tongtong and I haven't eaten anything for a whole day and night, and haven't drunk any water. We are just waiting for you to come back and share the food together. You can't eat it all in one go! Tongtong is sick, at least leave her half a bowl of noodles!"
A three-year-old girl named Tongtong was lying on a cool mat in her bedroom, coughing and shouting weakly, "Mom, I'm so thirsty and hungry..."
The man seemed not to hear her. He kicked the woman away and ate up all the noodles in his hand, not even leaving the soup. He threw the bowl away after finishing it. With the sound of the porcelain bowl breaking, he turned around and cursed at Fang Huaimeng: "I ate it all, so what? Who told you not to sell it?! You tried hard to seduce me and force me to marry you when I was a pure college student who had never been in a relationship before. In the end, you are a slut who can be slept with by anyone! If my brothers hadn't told me what you did, I would still be kept in the dark! You don't even know whose child that little bitch is, how can you eat!"
Fang Huaimeng curled up on the ground in pain, holding her stomach, and looked at the man with tears in her eyes: "No, Tongtong's father, I didn't lie to you. Before I met you, I really had never been in a relationship. I just don't know why we didn't have blood on the first night. I swear to God! I never lied to you! On the contrary, your so-called brothers are all dog-meat friends who can't stand you doing well. They are the ones who have been deceiving you. They cheated you of your money and caused your company to go bankrupt. We are now in debt everywhere. Why do you prefer to believe their words instead of believing the words of me, your wife? Look at us now, we are forced to use food and drinking water to repay our debts. Which of your brothers has helped us? They hide as far away as possible and don't even want to answer the phone. Why don't you wake up?"
"Bullshit! Stop trying to sow discord between me and my brothers. We grew up together wearing open-crotch pants. I know what they smell like when they fart. How can they harm me? You are the bitch who is acting like a jerk. You seduced outsiders to conspire to harm me, and now you are pretending to be completely ignorant. Do you think I am a fool?! Stop talking nonsense to me! If you were willing to put aside your pride and use your previous methods to seduce the doctor on the 15th floor, with his family's abundant supplies of food and drink, why would I be so hungry that I have to eat instant noodles every day?!"
The man became angrier and angrier as he spoke. He grabbed Fang Huaimeng's hair, forcing her to raise her face in pain. He then slapped her face hard with his arms left and right, causing stars to appear in her eyes and her face to swell up. She screamed in agony, but still not satisfied, he dragged her by her hair, dragging her entire body across the ground. He walked to the dining table, held her head, and slammed it hard against the sharp corner of the table, causing her head to be bleeding. The hands that were pulling her hair slowly fell down weakly, and then he let go of them and slammed the door in a rage.
The young Tongtong heard the noise in the room, struggled to get off the bed, and staggered towards the woman who fell in the living room. Seeing that the woman was covered in blood, Tongtong knelt beside the woman, stretched out her small hands to touch her face, and cried out in a heart-wrenching and tender voice: "Mom, are you okay, Mom..."
Fang Huaimeng opened her bloodshot eyes and tried to touch the child's face and comfort her, but she was badly injured and lost blood too quickly. She couldn't lift her hands after several attempts. She could only utter a weak voice, "Tongtong, go upstairs and find uncle 1501 to save mom."
1504, Huang Kaikai smelled the aroma of hot pot and skewers coming from next door, and angrily threw away the moldy and rotten sweet potato in his hand and yelled at Huang Shufen: "Mom, I want to eat hot pot and skewers too!"
Huang Shufen was so frightened by his yell that she dropped the sweet potato chunks weighing less than half a pound on the ground. She saw a fingernail-sized edge of the sweet potato being smashed and fused with the floor tile. She couldn't be shameless enough to lick it or eat it. She was so angry that she raised her hand and slapped Huang Kaikai: "You're going to die! Why are you yelling so loudly? Do you think you can have hot pot and skewers if you yell? Don't dream! Do you think everyone is Cheng Suming from 1501 and can earn meat and vegetables?"
A month ago, the air conditioner in Huang Shufen's home suddenly caught fire due to the high temperature and burned down the entire house. Her family had to move in with Old Mrs. Huang, and they relied entirely on government relief supplies for food and drink. If they were careful with their budgets, they could easily survive on food for a week.
But Huang Kaikai, this bad boy, has a huge appetite and often secretly eats a lot of the food she hides. It is useless even if she beats and scolds him. He will do whatever he wants. Every weekend and Saturday are always very hard for the family. They rely on a little bit of food to survive until the next Monday when the government distributes supplies. She didn't expect that such a little food would be eaten up by this boy. How could she not be angry!
What's even more infuriating is that Huang Shufen's eldest brother Huang Heguang and his family mortgaged their house to pay for the medical treatment of his children and his parents-in-law, and the whole family moved in to live with Old Lady Huang. More than a dozen people have lived together for more than a month, and all kinds of conflicts have occurred, including quarrels and fights. Now the two families are like enemies, and they can't wait to drive the other family out and wait for the old lady to die so that they can have some peace and quiet.
At this critical moment, Huang Kaikai was still making a fuss, which really annoyed her.
Huang Kaikai covered his slapped cheek with grievance, crying and shouting: "Mom, if you don't have the ability to earn meat and vegetables, you can steal or rob. The TV broadcasts those robbery news every day. The police and the army can't control it. You can take advantage of the doctor's absence to break the door and steal some food. The police can't find evidence, so how can they have the time to arrest you?"
The speaker may not mean it, but the listener may take it seriously. Huang Heguang, who was sitting next to them and watching their family coldly, suddenly turned around and looked at Huang Shufen. The brother and sister both saw some kind of stirring idea in each other's eyes.
On the balcony of 1601, a sturdy man was lying on the edge of the balcony, looking through binoculars at the faint flickering lights on the enclosed balcony of 1501 downstairs. Through the tiny gap in the insulation curtain, he could see a small pool under the gap, which contained not only water but also many swimming fish.
The man put down the binoculars in his hand, spat fiercely on the ground, and a sneer appeared at the corner of his mouth.
Damn it! The couple in 1501 have such a carefree life. Why are other people hungry, thirsty and unable to sleep? They have no worries about food or clothing, and even have extra water and electricity. It's time to give them some trouble.
Si Nan heard a knock on the iron door outside the passage. Standing on the small surveillance screen at the entrance, he saw that it was the otaku and the doll from 1502 next door. He and Cheng Su Ming opened the door together, walked to the iron door of the passage and asked, "What's the matter?"
Ban Tianna shook the two palm-sized bags of instant duck legs in her hand, as well as the bag of chicken wings and pig's trotters in Ban Tianyi's hand, and said to Si Nan with a bright smile: "Sister, I'm Nana from 1502 next door. Last time I exchanged five boiled eggs with you, do you remember?"
Si Nan certainly remembered that the chickens on the balcony had been laying eggs. Due to the hot weather, it took a lot of effort to feed the chickens and geese. Cheng Su Ming told her more than once that she wanted to kill all the chickens and geese on the balcony to avoid the high temperatures causing them to suffer while alive.
Si Nan couldn't bear it, so she kept dragging her feet and not agreeing. She also didn't want the hen to hatch new chicks and then die of heat, so she put all the fertilized eggs in the space. If she wanted to eat eggs, she would take out eggs from the space and buy them from the vegetable market.
Once she was in a good mood, so she took out ten eggs to cook tea eggs. Bandina from next door smelled the fragrance and insisted on dragging her brother to bring several bags of cooked meat to exchange for eggs. After that, she exchanged for other things several times. Although according to the current price, bartering is considered equal, but in fact there are all kinds of things in Sinan's space, and there is no shortage of cooked meat at all.
However, Sinan had a very good impression of the two siblings, mainly because they were quiet and did not do much. Every time someone came to ask for something, they would always politely offer something in exchange. They were not like other people who would ask for help and then not pay, or even go to the door to use moral blackmail and threaten people who gave them supplies.
In contrast, the two siblings in 1502 were much easier to get along with. As long as the things they exchanged were not too excessive or out of line, Si Nan would basically agree.
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