In the evening, the Shenxianyuan community was lit up with faint candle lights for the first time in a long time, which seemed very warm in the endless darkness.
In such a warm scene, hundreds of aggressive residents of Shenxianyuan gathered at Wu En's home on the 18th floor of Building 14 where Sinan lived.
Just as people had speculated when they were collecting supplies a few days ago, Wu En's wife, daughter, sister and mother had already sneaked away on the day when everyone else went to collect supplies.
The residents of Shenxianyuan who were deceived and victimized in the past two days turned the nearby temporary shelter upside down, but could not find Wu En's wife and daughter. So they turned around and smashed Wu En's house to vent their anger.
Amidst the noise of banging and smashing, Wu En's house was smashed to pieces. Not feeling satisfied yet, these people picked up hammers and other objects to smash the walls and ceiling.
As a result, when the ceiling was being smashed, a large pile of diving suits, diving goggles and other things suddenly fell from the ceiling, making a loud noise and stirring up a lot of dust.
People stepped back and screamed, "What the hell did this guy want to do by hiding so many diving suits in the ceiling?"
A brave man reached out to pick up a diving suit and took a closer look. Suddenly he said, "This diving suit looks familiar! I remember it! When we went to the temporary shelter to look for Wu En's wife and daughter a few days ago, we saw many people wearing diving suits and goggles along the way. They dived into the water under the buildings in various parts of Xingcheng to look for supplies and collect sunken trees, tables, chairs, benches and the like as fuel. At that time, we were surprised where these people got the diving suits from. Now that I think about it, is there a possibility that this diving suit is one of the supplies issued by the state to our residents, maybe one per household, so that we can be self-reliant, but it was hidden by that damn Wu En!"
"But why did he hide only the diving suit instead of other things?" someone asked puzzledly.
"You are stupid. With this diving suit, people who can swim can dive into the water and look for gold and silver jewelry that were submerged in the water before, and use them to exchange for money to buy supplies! You can also find some sealed canned food and fish. At worst, you can find some firewood that sank to the bottom of the water and dry it to use as fuel. In short, with this diving suit, there are many benefits."
"But why did he hide these things?"
"Maybe it's revenge for the fact that people in our community stood by and watched when his daughter got into trouble."
Everyone fell silent upon hearing this.
Wu En's daughter disappeared in broad daylight. Someone must have seen the robbers kidnapping his daughter but chose to turn a blind eye and stand idly by. This led to Wu En's daughter being raped. Wu En became resentful and colluded with the robbers to kill people.
No one knows whether this is the truth or not. Wu En is dead, and his wife, daughter and family members must have gone to a temporary shelter farther away for fear of retaliation from the people in the community.
Nowadays, there are often millions of people living together in shelters. It is a mixed crowd and the atmosphere is foul. It is not easy to find someone inside.
A few days ago, they went to a nearby shelter to look for Wu En's family. The group was nearly robbed right under the noses of JC soldiers. They also saw many women standing at the entrance of the toilet stairs in dishevel, engaging in prostitution.
There are many groups of men who look ferocious, strong or have a sinister aura, and they are obviously not good people, wandering around there. The chaos inside is so chaotic that it makes one's scalp tingle just thinking about it.
In this situation, no matter where temporary shelter Wu En's family goes to, without the protection of the man in the family, their lives will surely not be easy.
After thinking about it this way, these people felt much more relieved. They divided up the diving suits and other items and went their separate ways.
Unexpectedly, Sinan and his friends were also given a diving suit.
The one who came to deliver the diving suit was Teacher Li, who came with Fang Huaimeng, the Huang family, and other female relatives to apologize: "Doctor Cheng, Mrs. Cheng, we believed the rumors and did irrational things to you. I solemnly apologize to you two: I'm sorry, we misunderstood you! Please forgive us, and don't bear a grudge against us."
As she spoke, she took out another pound of rice and a large cabbage and handed them to Si Nan and the other man. "This is my apology, a small token of my appreciation. Please don't refuse it. From now on, we will live in harmony with our neighbors. If you have any problems, just let us know. We will definitely help if we can."
The other women behind her, whether they were willing or not, took out some potatoes, sweet potatoes, rice and other things and handed them to Si Nan and the other man through the gap in the iron door of passage 1501.
Sinan narrowed his eyes and felt that Teacher Li was worthy of being a teacher. He was very measured in what he said and did.
If she didn't accept this apology and compensation, it would seem that she was being unkind and ungenerous, and that she had something to hide. So she nodded and said, "It's good that the misunderstanding is resolved. We are all neighbors, and we will see each other sooner or later. If you need us in the future, just call us."
These are just polite words. Only you know what you are thinking.
Si Nan and Cheng Su Ming took the things in their hands. They seemed relieved and said a few nice words before turning around and leaving.
Si Nan returned to the living room with seven or eight large cabbages in his arms. He looked back and saw Cheng Su Ming coming in with a bunch of potatoes, sweet potatoes, rice, etc. He couldn't help laughing: "Why do I feel like what we did is not fair, like we're taking advantage of someone's misfortune?"
"They gave it to us voluntarily. We didn't force them. How could it be considered robbery?" Cheng Suming put all the food in his arms in the corner of the living room, pointed at the pile of food and asked, "What do you want to eat for dinner?"
"Eat these free dishes first. Fried wolf-tooth potatoes, stir-fried cabbage with vinegar, stir-fried bean sprouts, and steamed rice."
"You're eating so much vegetarian food today?" Cheng Suming was peeling potatoes in the kitchen, and he couldn't believe his ears. "You feel uncomfortable without eating meat for a day, why did you change your temper today?"
"It's good to be able to eat meat, but in the past two days, besides fish, cooking other meats will definitely attract other people's attention. If I make these dishes that taste the same as everyone else, no one will say anything."
Si Nan carried a basin of rainwater to the kitchen sink, washed the cabbage leaves, and then washed the potatoes. Then he took out the wavy iron knife he bought from Zizhu Town, cut the potatoes into thick slices one finger wide, and then changed them into wolf-tooth-shaped potato strips. He watched Cheng Suming pour cooking oil into the pot and said, "I'm going to fry my potatoes until they're a little more cooked. I'm going to put chili peppers and watercress in them. The spicier the better. You don't eat watercress and you can't eat spicy food, so take out half of the potatoes after frying them and add your favorite flavor."
As she spoke, she took out a handful of wild Houttuynia cordata that she had bought from a farmer in the mountains in Zizhu Town, and picked off the roots of the Houttuynia cordata next to the trash can.
As one of the F4 provinces and cities in the southwest, most people in S Province love Houttuynia cordata. This thing smells like fish and is also called Houttuynia cordata.
People who like to eat it think it is super delicious, especially the wild Houttuynia cordata, which is dozens of times more fragrant than the one grown in a greenhouse. It is usually used for cold dishes, with chili peppers, Sichuan pepper powder, a little salt, MSG and soy sauce. It tastes spicy and crispy, and is better than all meat dishes.
This dish alone is enough to make a person eat two big bowls of rice. If it is used for stir-frying, making soup or cooking hot pot skewers, it will become another unique flavor.
However, even in Province S, many people do not eat Houttuynia cordata, thinking that it is fishy and unpalatable, and cannot be eaten no matter how it is cooked.
It just so happened that Cheng Su Ming was the one who didn't like to eat Houttuynia cordata. He himself didn't like to eat fish very much, and he wouldn't even look at any food that smelled of fish.
However, after experiencing the natural disasters in his previous life, he changed his picky eating habits and has been trying to eat foods that he rarely ate before, including Houttuynia cordata.
He first washed the rice and steamed it, then heated oil in a pot and put the cut potatoes into the smoking pan. The potatoes in the pot made a sizzling sound.
As time goes by, the potatoes are fried until golden, exuding an enticing aroma of potatoes mixed with oil.
Cheng Suming used a spatula to break off a potato strip to check how well fried it was. When he felt that the potatoes were cooked, he took out a colander from the kitchen cabinet beside him, scooped up the fried potatoes and put them in a large bowl. He signaled Sinan to season them, and he turned around to collect the excess cooking oil, and started to stir-fry the cabbage with the remaining oil in the pot.
Si Nan picked the young Houttuynia cordata, washed it, kept the older ones, and planted them in a vegetable pot, letting them grow and sprout.
This kind of root plant is generally very vigorous, and it can survive as long as there is soil, and it can be planted anywhere. Therefore, you can always see large areas of Houttuynia cordata in the fields in the countryside.
Sinan had never thought of planting Houttuynia cordata before, mainly because she only bought two bunches of Houttuynia cordata and placed them in the corner of the space. She never thought of eating them. Today, she suddenly remembered it and searched for a long time before finding it. She quickly left the old roots and planted them.
Houttuynia cordata is a root plant that does not require much photosynthesis and can grow in the soil. As long as the soil is fertile and has enough fertilizer, it can grow a large bunch of roots from one old root. She is looking forward to seeing it grow into a large pot.
If there is a good harvest by then, she will divide the old roots and plant a few more pots. That way she will have an endless supply of Houttuynia cordata to eat. She feels happy just thinking about it.
After she finished planting Ze'ergen, Cheng Suming had just finished frying potatoes. She quickly washed the Ze'ergen chili peppers, chopped them up with a kitchen knife, put them into the steaming potato bowl, added a little salt, MSG, soy sauce, chopped green onions, pure farm rapeseed chili oil, pepper powder, and finally some cumin powder and stirred them. A spicy and fragrant dish of spicy wolf tooth potatoes with the special aroma of Ze'ergen was ready. It smelled so good that Cheng Suming couldn't help but take a look.
Si Nan picked up a piece of potato with chopsticks, and deliberately put some watercress and chili on the potato strips. He put it in his mouth. The potato was burnt, spicy and fragrant, with a texture between crispy and soft. It had a crispy texture and the unique glutinous texture of potato, wrapped in the aroma of all the seasonings, and matched with the special fragrance of watercress and chili, which relieved the greasy taste after frying. Si Nan was amazed at the deliciousness after taking a bite, and couldn't help eating two more pieces.
"It tastes really good." Si Nan commented, and picked up a piece of potato and stuffed it into Cheng Suming's mouth.
Cheng Suming chewed it and found it tasted good, but a little spicy. The lingering fishy smell was unbearable. However, if he ate two more pieces, he would become addicted, so it was still acceptable.
After the meal was ready, the two sat at the table and finished their meal, while Cheng Suming washed the dishes as usual.
Si Nan unpacked four boxes of ready-to-eat foods from the space, including four boxes of barreled instant noodles, biscuits, bread, ham sausage, and bagged meat, and then took out four bags of rice, each weighing five pounds, eight cans of canned fruit, and eight cans of eight-treasure porridge, and divided them into four batches of supplies and placed them next to the sofa in the living room.
"What are you doing?" Cheng Suming finished washing the dishes, wiped his hands with a cleaning cloth, walked out of the kitchen and asked.
"Distribute the supplies." Si Nan put on his coat on the chair and prepared to go out: "We robbed the bandit base. Cheng Wei, Yu Yong and the others have been speaking for us. We should at least distribute some supplies to them. Otherwise, it will be bad if there is a rift between relatives and friends."
Cheng Su Ming was a little surprised, but he quickly understood her idea. She was afraid that Cheng Wei and the other two would think that the two of them had robbed so many supplies and were unwilling to share any with them, and would be dissatisfied with them, so she made such a move.
He pushed up his glasses, his eyes smiling behind the lenses: "It's okay if we don't give them supplies. They are not stingy people. They won't alienate us for a few supplies."
"I know, but if I don't give it to you, it will become a thorn in everyone's heart, making people feel uncomfortable from time to time. It's better to give it to you. Oh, by the way, you have to follow my words later and don't let the cat out of the bag."
After Si Nan said this, he quickly invited Cheng Wei and the other two to Room 1501.
When the three of them came in and saw the divided supplies, they all showed expressions of understanding.
Sinan said, "That night, after I sent Suming to the hospital, I came back despite the severe pain and moved the supplies to a low-rise building near the hospital that was about to collapse. I found a house that looked quite shabby, hid the supplies in the toilet inside, and covered it with a lot of construction waste. I would sneak over to check on it from time to time. I don't know if it was because of good luck, or because the people there had searched all the abandoned buildings around, so no one went to search again. Anyway, when the storm died down, Suming and I moved all the supplies back at night and gave you some."
"You moved all the supplies to the vicinity of the hospital by yourself? This is really a case of starvation killing the timid and gluttony killing the bold! You were so seriously injured, but instead of treating your wounds, you hid the supplies first. No wonder Wu En and his wife couldn't find any supplies after searching all the nearby buildings. It turns out that you moved the supplies to a building that was nearly an hour away from the waterway."
Yu Yong pushed the supplies back to Si Nan with great admiration: "You fought so hard to get these supplies. I am a grown man and I didn't help you at all, so how can I accept them?"
"Yes, sister-in-law, we can't accept it." Cheng Wei and Yang Wentao also pushed back: "We usually eat and drink at your house, it's already embarrassing, how can we ask for your supplies."
Si Nan waved his hand and said, "We are all relatives and friends, why be polite? What Su Ming and I have, you can't miss."
Cheng Suming said, "I told you to take it, so just take it. What are you talking about? I'm giving you food so that you won't come to my house for free meals in the future. Don't disturb our life together. Do you understand?"
"Understand. I'll get out of here right away so as not to affect your ability to have a baby." Single guy Yu Yong was so jealous that he picked up all the supplies and looked around the door cautiously to make sure that no one was paying attention to what was happening here. Only then did he leave with a guilty conscience.
"Brother, why are you so generous all of a sudden?" Cheng Wei made a naughty expression, leaned close to Si Nan's ear, and asked with a gossipy face, "Sister-in-law, you and my brother have been married for nearly two years and you haven't gotten pregnant. Did you take any contraceptive measures? Can you teach me? Wentao and I are running out of things we have saved. Wentao said that he doesn't want me to get pregnant and have a baby in today's environment. He is afraid that if I have a baby, it will suffer with us, and he is also afraid that my life will be in danger if I give birth to a baby, so we have to use contraception."
"You have to ask your brother about this. I don't know." Si Nan's face felt a little hot, and he tilted his head uncomfortably to look at Cheng Suming.
When she was stockpiling supplies, she didn't think of stockpiling family planning products. The main reason was that she and Cheng Suming had an agreed marriage and would not really be together. She never thought that things in the world are so unpredictable.
When she and Cheng Suming got married a month ago, she had agreed with him that she didn't want children. Her reason was similar to Yang Wentao's. The natural disaster environment was so harsh that it was difficult for adults to survive, so why give birth to a child to suffer together.
Cheng Su Ming immediately said that he had the same idea, so he did not touch her that night, disappeared for most of the next day, and came back without touching her for another week. She felt very strange and asked him about it, only to find out that he had gone to the hospital to get a sterilization.
To be honest, when she learned the news that he had a vasectomy, she was shocked and touched.
Most men in Country Z believe that continuing the family line is of paramount importance and they coax their wives to bear children to continue the family line. Among these men, many do not want children. Although the men agree, they will not sacrifice themselves but let the women get sterilized. The purpose is to be on the safe side and to leave a way forward for their future.
Their thoughts are often very clear and cruel. They think that if the two divorce for various reasons in the future, the man can still find another woman to have children and continue the family line, but they don't care about the consequences for the woman who gets sterilized and divorced.
There are very few men like Cheng Suming who respect their wives and get sterilized just because they don't want children.
If he didn't truly love me, Si Nan couldn't think of any reason for him to get a sterilization, so I would have given myself to him without any hesitation.
Cheng Suming felt her gaze, turned to look at her, his eyes filled with gentleness, and silently asked her what was wrong.
Si Nan's heart started beating violently. He blushed and smiled at him faintly, and silently replied to him, "It's nothing."
Cheng Wei saw the interaction between the two and was happy for their harmonious relationship. However, she did not have the courage to ask Cheng Suming about contraceptive measures. She just followed Yang Wentao who was carrying supplies home and told him about it.
Yang Wentao put all the supplies in boxes in the small room, turned around and said to her, "Don't worry, if you are embarrassed to ask, I will ask him tomorrow. If he doesn't want to tell me, I will find a time to get sterilized and will never let you get pregnant."
Cheng Wei was shocked, and pinched the corner of his clothes and said, "It's so serious to have a sterilization. I actually think it's good for us to have a child."
"No." Yang Wentao said firmly, "You are too young to bear children. The current environment is so bad. According to your brother and sister-in-law's doomsday statement, this natural disaster will never end. I can't let you give birth to a child for my own selfish desires and make you suffer together! If you don't want me to get sterilized, I will just not touch you anymore! Anyway, there is no talk of having children."
"Okay, I'll do whatever you say. Don't be angry, I was just saying it casually." Cheng Wei saw that his brows were raised and he looked very angry, so she could only go over and hold his arm to coax him.
1501, Cheng Suming pointed to the remaining supplies in the living room and asked Sinan: "If I'm not mistaken, you are going to give this supply to your friend Sheng Youqing."
"Smart." Si Nan hugged his neck, stood on tiptoe and kissed his thin lips, rubbed his chest and said, "I haven't visited Youqing for a long time. Now there is no communication and no network to contact her at any time and know her recent situation. I don't want her to lose contact like my uncle and aunt Gao Moli, so I want to go see her. It's a good opportunity to use the robbery of the bandit base as an excuse to send her some supplies."
"As long as you are happy." Cheng Suming lowered his eyes to look at her, his eyes that used to be as quiet as water were now filled with desire. He held her in his arms and whispered in her ear, "Wait for me a moment, I'll cover the two geese and be back soon."
Si Nan was stunned for a moment, then looked at his back as he grabbed a goose in one hand and went into the toilet, then he burst out laughing.
Last time, she and Cheng Su Ming stayed in the hospital for a week. No one fed the two geese, so they were hungry and kept clucking at home, disturbing the neighbors' sleep.
After they came back, they found that the two geese had eaten all the vegetables planted on the ground at home and were starving to death. Sinan decided to always have some chicken, duck and goose feed on hand at home, pour it into a basin and place it in the living room, and pour some water next to it so that the two geese would not starve to death when they were away.
From then on, the two geese stayed close to her, fearing that she would disappear again and starve to death.
Cheng Suming was very unhappy. The main reason for his unhappiness was that when he and Sinan were making love at night, they would always make uncontrollable noises. When Dabai heard the noise, he would scream non-stop, which seriously affected his performance.
From then on, before each operation, he would take a large iron basin with a small hole as a vent and cover the two geese inside to isolate the sound.
The Dabai couple were both overshadowed by him. Now they automatically fell silent when they saw him appear, but they still couldn't escape being covered by him.
Because there was a large bucket of water on the basin, they were pressed down so hard that they couldn't move. Cheng Suming didn't let them out until he was satisfied. The Dabai couple felt very wronged. Every time they complained to Si Nan, she pretended not to hear them, and the Dabai couple gave up struggling.
After Cheng Suming covered the goose and came out, Sinan found a set of pajamas and planned to boil water for a bath.
Cheng Suming held her in his arms and moved into the room: "It's winter now. I just took a bath yesterday, so I don't need to take a bath today."
Si Nan bit her red lips and said, "If I don't wash it, I won't be used to it..."
"It's okay, I don't dislike you." Cheng Suming hugged her into the room, "You need to wash, go later."
Si Nan hooked his hands around Cheng Su Ming's neck and said helplessly, "You're right. Boil some water for me later..."
The night outside the window was as cool as water. The dim light stretched the two figures and imprinted them on the curtains. The water downstairs had been calm for a long time, with a few fish occasionally jumping out of the water, causing ripples. Everything was so peaceful and tranquil.
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