The group returned home exhausted. That night, the news that someone intercepted and robbed supplies on the water near the East City Wholesale Market spread throughout Xingcheng.
Many people said that after experiencing half a year of high temperatures, hail, and heavy rains, being trapped at home, suffering from food shortages, witnessing the death of family members and friends, or almost dying in the disaster themselves, many people have developed psychological problems.
Nowadays, many people are either lying down and giving up, or struggling to survive. In serious cases, they will be like those robbers. I can only live an easy life, so don’t expect anyone to live an easy life either.
Now it's just stealing and robbing, but if natural disasters continue in the future, murder is very likely to happen.
Many people asked the government to send police to maintain order in the city as soon as possible, and also asked for the distribution of emergency supplies as soon as possible, otherwise everyone would go to temporary shelters to ask for supplies, which would inevitably cause riots.
Amidst all the condemnation, discussion and suggestions from the people, the government relief food was airdropped by helicopter or transported by speedboats a day later.
Because the rooftop of Sinan's building is spacious, they carried out an airdrop of supplies. This allowed the residents on the top floor to be the first to get the supplies, so they could directly open the boxes and eat them first.
This made the residents on the lower floors very angry. They united and climbed to the home of the residents on the top floor to ask for an explanation.
The leader was from room 1504, which had the largest population, about twenty people living there. At that time, they pushed Mrs. Huang over and knocked on the doors of rooms 1501 and 1503, asking Sinan and his three companions to go upstairs.
The Huang family probably thought that Cheng Suming was a doctor and Yang Wentao looked fierce and ferocious, and that the two of them had a lot of influence in Building 14, so they shamelessly pushed Grandma Huang out to ask them to come forward.
"You guys go, I won't go." Si Nan was on her menstrual period, feeling weak all over. She just wanted to curl up in the warm bed and watch the TV series she had downloaded on her laptop. She didn't want to get involved in anything going on outside.
"I'll be back soon." Before leaving, Cheng Suming made her a cup of hot milk, peeled an orange, a pomegranate, and a kiwi and put them in a fruit bowl, then gave her a bag of melon seeds and a small box of spicy duck necks, duck wings, duck feet and other braised food that he had learned to make before, and placed them on a small desk used by students and on the side of Si Nan's large bed so that she could watch the drama comfortably. He did all this before leaving.
Si Nan looked at the people eating on the small table, feeling complicated but also a subtle sense of happiness.
During the time she and Zou Shichu were together, although Zou Shichu would cook for her, he never treated her like a treasure like Cheng Suming did. As long as it was something she liked or was willing to eat, he would do his best to satisfy her and send it to her, for fear that she would be hungry.
Zou Shichu only knew how to cook the dishes he liked, never asked her what she wanted to eat or what she didn't want to eat, and never brought food or drinks to her. He always only thought about himself.
In this way, Cheng Suming is portrayed as a perfect and excellent man.
But does such a perfect man really exist? People are born with flaws and weaknesses, but Si Nan has been with Cheng Su Ming for nearly half a year, and she really hasn't found any flaws or weaknesses in Cheng Su Ming.
This made her feel a little uneasy. She always felt that Cheng Suming had hidden his true identity and many things that she didn't know.
So no matter how good Cheng Su Ming was to her, she could never give her true heart to him.
Less than halfway through an episode, Cheng Su Ming came back with messy hair and a bloody bag in his hand.
"What happened?" Si Nanji walked over, pulling up his slippers. "Did you fight with someone?"
"Yeah." Cheng Suming casually threw the bag onto the coffee table, revealing a few darker cold buns inside. He didn't care, and sat on the sofa, crossing his long legs and stretching his arms on the sofa, looking nonchalant and full of evil. "If someone doesn't follow the rules, of course they have to be taught a lesson."
Si Nan's eyelids twitched. He felt that he looked a little strange, and couldn't help asking, "Cheng Su Ming, are you hiding something from me?"
Cheng Suming looked up at her, looking at her through the glasses with interest: "What do you think I can hide from you?"
Sinan was speechless for a moment.
Cheng Suming's background, including what happened when he left for abroad after he became an adult, was explained to her. She also informed her own channels and obtained confirmation from Cheng Wei that he did not lie.
But why was she uneasy? Why did she always feel that Cheng Suming was hiding something important from her, making her feel that this person was dangerous?
He obviously looks normal.
"I don't know. Maybe I have depression and I always have wild thoughts." Si Nan suppressed his uneasiness and slowly sat on the short sofa on the other side of Cheng Su Ming. "Since the high temperature started, I haven't dreamed about the natural disasters. I don't know whether it's good or bad."
Cheng Suming narrowed his eyes slightly, carefully observing her expression, and said after a long while: "It may be a good thing that you didn't dream about it. Knowing too much will make you feel more uncomfortable."
Si Nan felt that there was something else behind his words and wanted to ask him clearly, but he had already closed his eyes and looked like he didn't want to talk any more.
The days passed slowly. One day, Si Nan was preparing to go to the toilet. As soon as he entered, he saw bubbling in the toilet.
She stood by and watched vigilantly, when suddenly a water snake emerged from the cave entrance. She was so scared that she screamed and turned and ran away.
"What's wrong?!" Cheng Suming, who was exercising in the living room, heard the sound and rushed into the side-bed toilet immediately.
Even faster than him was Dabai, who was following Sinan closely and guarding the toilet door. Hearing Sinan's scream, the moment Sinan opened the door, Dabai spread his goose wings and jumped in.
It cried "hey" loudly and rushed to the water snake that appeared. It opened its beak, picked up the two thumb-sized, half-meter-long water snakes, and threw them to the ground several times. While the water snake was struggling in pain, it ate the whole little snake into its stomach.
Sinan and Dabai's wife Xiaobai were both stunned. They stood at the door of the toilet with a goose, and didn't react for a long time.
Si Nantian is not afraid of anything except these slippery, cold-blooded animals. She would be scared to death when she sees snakes. She didn't expect that Dabai would directly perform a live swallowing show for her, which shocked her!
After Dabai swallowed the live snake with great effort, he felt that it was no longer stuck in his throat. He held his head high and walked majestically to Xiaobai. He called out to it, then circled around Sinan and made the same movements, as if to say, "Am I handsome?"
Xiaobai was very considerate and stretched out his white goose neck, rubbed its neck, and made a low sound of "gu ga ga ga" in his mouth, as if praising it.
Si Nan was so moved that he reached out and hugged Dabai into his arms, "Dabai, thank you, you are my hero! You saved me again! Don't worry, as long as I am here, you will be here too, and I will definitely take good care of you."
Dabai nodded and glanced at Cheng Suming who was standing behind Sinan with a smug look on his face.
It was as if he was saying, I have done a great job in protecting my master, now you can't touch me.
Cheng Suming: ...
Sooner or later, he will slaughter this scheming goose!
After this incident, Si Nan was so scared that he decided to block the toilet and even the kitchen sewer.
During previous high temperature periods, residents living below the tenth floor had experienced large numbers of cockroaches flying around, swarming up toilets and sewers.
Si Nan lives on the 15th floor, which is quite high, but this kind of situation has never happened before.
Now the accumulated water has submerged the eight-story building. Many creatures, such as rats, snakes, insects and ants, are looking for places to live. If the pipes of the house on the 15th floor are not sealed, those creatures will crawl into the house with bacteria on their bodies, which will be another disaster.
Si Nan did what he said and took out a bag of cement and a bag of sand from the space. Cheng Suming added water according to the proportion and sealed all the sewer pipes in the toilets. The excess was taken to the next door 1503, and Yang Wentao was asked to seal the toilet as well.
Soon, Si Nan began to use cat litter as a toilet, which he was not used to.
She felt extremely painful every time she went to the toilet because she had to deal with her feces herself, which was disgusting just thinking about it.
Fortunately, the room she and Cheng Suming lived in had a toilet, so they used it separately and it wasn't awkward.
Early that morning, she washed out a lot of empty oil drums and large mineral water bottles that were stored in the space.
She first filled two large oil barrels with soil from the space, and then used scissors to cut many small holes in the barrels filled with soil, and inserted the seeds into the holes, one barrel for green onions and the other for purple garlic.
Then plant five whole white-skinned garlics in the bottle. Also, take out the roots of water spinach left over from growing vegetables on the balcony, cut them into ten-centimeter pieces and put them in the bottle.
Then he took out four plastic basins from the space, drilled a few holes in the bottom with scissors, filled them with soil, and sprinkled two pots of leek seeds, one pot of white radish seeds, and one pot of lettuce seeds.
In this way, when watering, the water will flow down the soil to the bottom of the pot, so that the roots of the sprouting vegetables will not be burned when the temperature is unstable.
The sky is now gloomy and it has been drizzling non-stop. Sinan doesn't want to sit back and do nothing, so he wants to grow some fruits and vegetables to enrich his diet.
Because there is no sunlight to provide light and function, many vegetables cannot be grown. We can only choose those vegetables that like shade and are easier to grow and try growing them.
She wanted to see which one was easier to grow, hydroponic vegetables or soil-grown vegetables, without sunlight and strong light. So she placed vegetable pots, oil drums and bottles near the windows of the living room and bedroom where the light was brighter and where she would light candles at night, to see if she could grow any.
About a week later, the vegetable seeds began to sprout one after another, and the hydroponic garlic and water spinach grew obviously faster than those grown in soil.
She also watered the soil-grown vegetables frequently, because the soil had been fertilized before the vegetable seeds were sown. It is not advisable to fertilize again during the seedling and growth stage, so as to avoid too much fertilizer, excessive absorption by the seedlings, and root burn and death. Therefore, there is no need to fertilize for the time being, just water and weed.
After she finished serving the dishes, she went to the water barrel on the balcony, picked up the gourd on the ground, and scooped some water from it to wash her hands.
The hole in the awning was not blocked because the water bucket was only half full and the remaining bucket had to continue to store water.
The rain now keeps on falling in a continuous rhythm of drizzle. The rain gathers on the awning and falls into the water barrel like a faucet.
Occasionally it would suddenly rain heavily, but it would return to normal within two hours. Sinan had gotten used to it.
After washing her hands, she walked into the living room and saw Cheng Suming busy in the kitchen.
Today is New Year's Eve. No matter what kind of day it is now, it is the important annual festival for Chinese people. Everyone is trying to find ways to make themselves and their families eat and drink as well as possible.
Cheng Suming was cooking cured meat, sausages, cured spare ribs, cured pig's feet, cured pig's ears and other cured goods in the pot. These were all New Year gifts from Yang Wentao as his brother-in-law.
Cheng Wei wanted to take this opportunity to have a free New Year's Eve dinner, but she was rejected mercilessly by Cheng Suming: "It's New Year's Day, everyone should go back to their own homes and see their own mothers. We don't accept outsiders for dinner."
Cheng Wei had no choice but to go home feeling aggrieved. Before she could even sit down, she was bombarded with phone calls from her parents, asking her to go back to the Cheng family to spend the New Year with the old lady and stay for a while. The Cheng family had already sent a speedboat to pick her up.
Cheng Wei has always been willful. During the high temperature period, her parents were doing research in the capital and could not leave, so they asked her to return to the Cheng family's old house. She didn't like the old-fashioned and serious atmosphere there, and insisted on moving to 1503 on the grounds that Cheng Su Ming would return to China and live next door and take care of her.
After experiencing heavy hail and heavy rain, when communication was restored, her parents were worried about her safety and insisted that she return to Lao Cheng's home. She made excuses again and again, but she could not avoid the New Year holiday.
Except for Cheng Suming, an "outsider", and Cheng Wei's parents, who are working on a scientific research project and need to keep it confidential and cannot leave at any time, all the members of the Cheng family must return to the old house to visit and reunite on the old lady's birthday and Chinese New Year.
As one of the daughters of the Cheng family's main branch, Cheng Wei had to be present even though so many natural and man-made disasters had occurred this year.
Only Cheng Suming knew that she was in love and living with Yang Wentao, and she didn't have the courage to tell the Cheng family.
However, this time when she returned home for the New Year reunion, she was ready to speak out about this matter and was prepared to be put under house arrest in case the Cheng family opposed it.
She and Yang Wentao were prepared to never return. Before leaving, she gave the key to 1503 to Cheng Suming and asked him to help her look after the house when he was free. She also tacitly allowed him to take away all the food and drinks in the room.
As soon as the two of them left, Cheng Suming began to cook dishes without a care in the world. In addition to cured meat, he made beef tendons and offal with radish, dry-pot duck head, braised shrimps, stir-fried pork intestines, onion and cumin squid tentacles, steamed sea bass, a cold cucumber salad, and a serving of spicy stir-fried cabbage.
The rich variety of dishes dazzled Si Nan. He did not forget to take out the long strips of dried radish that his aunt had dried herself from the space, tear them into small pieces, wash them, and throw them into the cured meat pot to cook together. The unique salty aroma of bacon mixed with the fresh and rich fragrance of radish spread far and wide. Si Nan was drooling just by smelling it in the kitchen.
"Are the dishes ready?" Si Nan was helping Cheng Su Ming. Seeing that the dishes were almost ready, he helped cut the vegetables, plated them and served the dishes without waiting for Cheng Su Ming to answer, filling the round dining table.
She took out some beer, red wine, and fruit juice drinks from the space, and seemed to feel that the atmosphere was lacking, so she luxuriously started the diesel generator placed in the smallest side bedroom.
Amid the rumbling sound of electricity, the lights in the house lit up.
Sinan turned on the TV he hadn't seen for a long time, but it was all snowy and the TV was off. After searching for a long time, he finally found a channel, which was the National Center Channel 1.
There was not the joyful atmosphere of the Spring Festival performances in previous years. There were only two hosts greeting everyone with a smile, and from time to time they played footage of the disaster, urging the people not to give up hope and to believe in the national government, which was trying to find ways to solve the current predicament. After a while, they would play some funny performances recorded and broadcast during the Spring Festival in previous years... In short, the TV was very lively.
Cheng Su Ming, who had originally lit candles and planned to create a good atmosphere and have a candlelight dinner for two, didn't know what to say when he saw what Si Nan did.
"Happy New Year's Eve!" Si Nan poured a glass of red wine for himself and Cheng Suming, clinked glasses with him, and drank the wine in the glass.
Cheng Suming hesitated to speak, and finally said only one sentence: "Happy New Year's Eve."
Drink up the red wine in the glass as well.
Sinan couldn't drink much, so after finishing the red wine he had no intention of drinking any more. He picked up a piece of greasy prawn and while eating it he watched a comedy skit on TV, his eyes curved with laughter.
Cheng Suming refilled his glass of red wine and shook it slowly in his hand, staring at her with his deep eyes.
Her facial features are not the type that are particularly beautiful, but she has beautiful eyebrows, big eyes, a delicate nose, cherry lips, a beautiful and gentle smile, and a graceful look. She doesn't look aggressive and it's easy for people to like her.
Since the weather turned cold, she often wore bulky and loose pajamas, with no makeup on, and her hair tied in a ponytail with the hair loosely scattered on her shoulders, looking casual and free and easy.
Not knowing how long she could maintain this casual attitude, Cheng Suming sighed inwardly, drank the half glass of red wine in his hand, and refilled it with another half glass.
"Why are you drinking all the time? Eat some vegetables." Sinan put a piece of fat and lean bacon into his bowl.
People in Xingcheng like to make bacon in winter, which is smoked with pine and cypress branches for many days until it turns brown-red.
The bacon made in this way has a non-greasy fat taste, and the lean meat is salty and fragrant, with a faint smoky flavor of pine and cypress trees.
Served with crystal clear rice and a radish strip that was stewed soft, sweet and soaked in the bacon broth, just one bite made Si Nan sigh with satisfaction: "There are so many people out there who don't have enough food and clothing, but we have to cook so many dishes to eat. What a sin."
"Everyone in the world suffers, and we are all in it. Just live in the present and don't care about others." Cheng Suming put down his wine glass, slowly finished eating the ribs in his hand, and pointed at the red wine placed between the two of them: "The red wine you bought is not very old, and it tastes astringent. Add some soda juice in it to mix the taste, it will taste better."
"Really? I seldom drink, so I don't really understand." Si Nan poured himself half a glass of red wine, then some orange juice and white and black soda, stirred it, took a sip, and it tasted much better than before. He couldn't help but drink a few more sips, "It really is."
"Drinking red wine in moderation is good for your skin." Cheng Suming put a piece of tender beef tendon in her bowl. "It's still a long time before New Year's Eve. Let's eat slowly. Put the unfinished food in your space and take it out when you want to eat it."
"You're right. If you can't finish the food, you can put it in the constant temperature refrigerator. No matter how many dishes you cook, you don't have to worry about waste."
After eating the beef tendon, Si Nan felt that it was overcooked and a little greasy. He couldn't help but drink two sips of red wine and juice to get rid of the greasiness, then moved on to other dishes. He chatted with Cheng Suming while eating, and watched TV from time to time. He was so carefree.
Cheng Suming prepared a pot of food made by Cheng for Dabai and Xiaobai, including sweet potato cubes, cornmeal and cabbage leaves, plus two handfuls of corn kernels as a feed for them in advance, as a gift for the New Year.
While Si Nan and the other person were eating, drinking and chatting, the two of them squatted in front of the TV. Xiaobai curled up in a ball and took a nap, while Dabai watched TV with relish. There was an eerie harmony in the living room.
The whole New Year's Eve was filled with fragrance. Ban Tianna gnawed on the dry steamed bun in her hand and said to Ban Tianyi with a look of despair: "Brother, the neighbors are making delicious food again."
"Yes." Ban Tianyi, with a messy hair, held a steamed bun harder than a rock in his hand and mechanically soaked it in a glass of water in front of him, trying to soften it. "Not only their family is making delicious food, but other families in Building 14 are also making it."
Ban Tianna looked depressed: "Then why are we the only ones here eating buns that are harder than rocks?"
Ban Tianyi: "Because you broke your hand and can't cook."
"So, you can't go cook?" Ban Tianna sneered, "We obviously bought a lot of bacon, rice, flour, grain and oil before, why do you let me eat the steamed buns that the government gave me that could kill people?"
"Are you sure you want me to do it?" Ban Tianyi put down the steamed bun in his hand, and it fell on the table with a clang.
He pushed up his glasses, looking eager to try.
BANTINA: ...
Thinking of how Ban Tianyi would use normal ingredients to make all kinds of inedible dark dishes, Ban Tianna was speechless.
Cooking is as simple as heating oil in a pan, throwing in the vegetables, and then sprinkling some salt and MSG on them before eating.
Why has it become more difficult than making money, writing code, etc. in the hands of some people? !
He can end up in the hospital several times just by eating. How can he survive without others cooking for him or ordering takeout?
In the end, Ban Tianna resigned herself to her fate and hung one arm. She went to the kitchen and cooked two packets of instant noodles with the Ceramic stove. She put two sausages and two instant boiled eggs in them and divided them into two bowls as a snack for herself for the New Year.
In a large and luxurious twelve-story villa located near the central city of Xingcheng, the atmosphere is very solemn.
A 55-year-old man with gray hair on his temples, a dignified face, and a serious expression, stood next to an 85-year-old woman with completely white hair, wearing a dark red winter cotton coat with floral patterns, and who looked very angry. He shouted at the man and woman who were kneeling in front of them, "Weiwei, say what you just said again!"
Cheng Wei's slender body trembled, and she bit her lip and said, "I said, I'm in love and living with my boyfriend. My boyfriend is the one next to me, his name is Yang Wentao. My cousin Cheng Suming is also married to the person who saved my life."
After she said this, the large and luxurious banquet hall on the tenth floor of the Cheng family fell into deathly silence.
The Cheng family is an old and prestigious family in Xingcheng with a history of thousands of years. After experiencing the changes of time and the devastation of war and national affairs, its family influence and connections have finally become well-known in Xingcheng's upper class society after years of hard work.
Now the main branch of the Cheng family has three brothers and sisters, and several side branches. The main branch is sparsely populated, especially the second branch, Cheng Wei's father is obsessed with scientific research, and there is only one daughter, Cheng Wei.
As a member of an upper-class family, even if he is the youngest, the marriage of the descendants of the main branch of the Cheng family must be jointly agreed upon by the Cheng family, so as to make a business marriage that is beneficial to the family.
As the only daughter of the second branch of the main branch, Cheng Wei actually dared to date secretly and even lived with someone! How could Old Lady Cheng and the other heads of the Cheng family not be angry!
The author has something to say:
When a person is unlucky, even drinking water will get stuck in his teeth.
My computer has been broken for several days, so I bought a new one online. However, it has been delayed due to the epidemic, so I can only type on my mobile phone, which is as slow as a snail. Ah, I have only updated it now, and I am going to sleep.
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