The two went downstairs. The sun had already risen in the sky, revealing a hint of red light.
The community roads that were deserted in the past are somehow bustling today. Many people are carrying big backpacks and big bags, holding umbrellas, and walking hurriedly towards the community gate.
Some confused young people grabbed an old lady and asked her, only to find out that a large supermarket closest to Shenxianyuan had received a new batch of supplies that day, and everyone got up early in the morning to queue up in the supermarket to buy food and water.
When Si Nan passed by, he heard people talking: "This high temperature has lasted for more than two months. Other places at least have some rain to relieve the heat, but we haven't had any rain in Xingcheng. The river is dry and only the riverbed is left. Crops, chickens, ducks, fish and other things have all died, and many people have died of the heat. If I hadn't seen the situation was not right and stored more rice, flour and water at home, our family of six would have starved to death and died of thirst. How could we have survived until today."
"That's right. When the temperature was rising, my eldest grandson called me and told me that he saw a doomsday warning on some forum, saying that a natural disaster and doomsday were coming and the high temperature would last for a long time. He asked me to stock up more food and drinks at home, but I didn't believe it. It was my old lady who had experienced the virus epidemic who said that they just didn't believe it back then. As a result, they were locked up at home for several months without food or water. They relied on the government's relief supplies to survive. A family of eight could only eat one meal a day. I didn't know how pitiful they were. She insisted that I stock up more food, so I stocked up some, and I didn't expect it to come in handy."
"Do you really believe that doomsday warning? Hasn't the government already debunked the rumor? Experts say this is just the biggest drought the Earth has seen in 60 years, and it will pass if we just endure it."
"We have been enduring this for more than two months. When will it end? Yesterday I saw the power lines outside our community were burning and smoking due to the high temperature. There were crackling explosions. It was scary! I don't know what the Xingcheng government is doing. Other places are artificially raining, but why is there no movement here?"
"Do you think the government doesn't want artificial rainfall? Artificial rainfall requires the rigid condition of rain clouds. Every time a rain bomb is fired or an aircraft is used to catalyze rainfall, it costs at least hundreds of thousands, and at most millions. Every time artificial rainfall is made, it costs a lot. Our Xingcheng has had clear blue skies for the past two months, with no clouds in sight. Without clouds, the government cannot make artificial rainfall."
"You are the only one who talks too much, it's not a big deal that you have studied for a few years, is there any need for you to give a science lecture here? Go away, go and play."
Some elderly people recognized Cheng Suming and greeted him one after another: "Xiao Cheng, you are back from abroad? Oh, I haven't seen you for many years. You look quite different from before. I almost didn't recognize you."
"I think Xiao Cheng hasn't changed much. He just wears a pair of glasses now. He looks like a star on TV, more refined and more handsome. Auntie likes him very much!"
"Hey? You are Xiao Cheng, when did you come back? I heard that you became a doctor, that's amazing, the salary is quite high, right? Do you have a girlfriend? Do you want your uncle to give you..."
There are twenty buildings in Shenxianyuan, of which Building 14 where Cheng Suming lives and Building 15 next door were given by the developer to the land holders who had acquired the land at the time. Most of the residents in these two buildings live in the building themselves, and a small number have been sold. Cheng Suming has lived here for more than ten years and rarely goes out, but he is still followed by many families in the same building. This is because the events of the Cheng family caused a lot of controversy back then, and everyone sympathized with Cheng Suming and couldn't help but take care of him.
Cheng Suming has a very indifferent personality. After being abroad for six or seven years, he has basically forgotten the people living in the same building. However, when people greet him, he still responds with a decent smile.
When a group of older uncles and aunts were enthusiastically trying to introduce their daughters and nieces, he kept telling everyone that he was already married, and his wife was Si Nan who was standing next to him. Only then did those people give up.
Si Nan tilted his head to look at Cheng Su Ming, who understood: "It's still early. If you want to go to the supermarket to buy things, we can go first."
"I don't have to buy it." Sinan followed the crowd. "We stay at home most of the time and rarely go out. We look pretty good and don't look like we're short of food and drink. If we don't go with everyone else to grab some supplies, we'll definitely arouse suspicion. Those aunties and uncles who greet you are all shrewd people. If we don't follow the crowd, we'll definitely be skinned alive by them."
Cheng Suming listened to her patiently and raised his eyebrows slightly, "You are right, let's go and get ready for the battle."
Fuwanjia Supermarket is about twenty minutes away from Shenxianyuan, but because there is a road in between and a three-way intersection, the crowd who are anxious to buy supplies can't wait for the red light and simply take a shortcut through the underground tunnel.
This tunnel was originally an abandoned tunnel and was usually blocked by iron railings. After the high temperature, there were power outages everywhere and people couldn't stand the heat, so this tunnel was occupied by residents living nearby.
Many large factories and enterprises issued notices a month ago that employees should work from home or be laid off due to power outages. With power outages during the day and at night, in order to prevent the elderly and children at home from suffering from heat stroke and death, many families went out together to look for cool places to stay, such as subway tunnels, supermarkets and shopping malls, riverside caves, etc., and stayed there for the whole day.
Many people also take mats and cardboard boxes, a day's worth of food and water, toys, cards, books, etc., and make appointments with people they know to sleep and play directly in the subway tunnel.
Although times are hard, people always find joy in adversity.
Si Nan followed a large group of people who were rushing to buy supplies at Shenxian Garden out of the tunnel. Both sides of the tunnel were filled with sleeping men, women, old and children. Hearing the noise, many people opened their sleepy eyes and looked at them with confusion on their faces, not knowing what was going on.
Someone curiously asked them what they were doing, and at this time the owners of Shenxianyuan remained silent.
Shenxianyuan has always been regarded by the outside world as a wealthy community. The people living there are either rich or noble, and have always been the object of envy or despise.
But as far as the residents of Building 14/15 are concerned, they are just ordinary people. If the developer had not expropriated their land and made them homeless, they would not have moved into Shenxianyuan.
However, because some of the rich second generation or children of powerful people in Shenxianyuan show off their wealth in a high-profile manner and bully men and women, Shenxianyuan has a bad reputation in the eyes of ordinary people outside.
Some time ago, the government distributed water supplies in different areas, and Shenxianyuan was on the list, but it was collectively denounced and boycotted by nearby residents and netizens. The reason is that they think the owners of Shenxianyuan are so rich and have connections to buy supplies. Why should they compete with ordinary people for supplies? Ordinary people have such a hard time, but they don’t provide more for ordinary people, but they supply Shenxianyuan. Is there something shady going on?
In fact, the government distributed supplies one by one according to the regions. Under pressure from public opinion, it had no choice but to stop delivering supplies to Shenxianyuan, and it stopped for the third time.
This really pissed off the owners of Shenxianyuan. They felt that only the truly wealthy and powerful people in Shenxianyuan who had the means to buy supplies were a minority, and most people were just from well-off families. Why shouldn't supplies be delivered to them? They started making all sorts of noise and even posted their complaints online.
Unexpectedly, they were collectively criticized by many netizens who hated the rich. They even threatened the government that if they sent more food and drinks to Shenxianyuan, they would definitely expose the whole process and investigate the shady dealings.
The owners of Shenxianyuan were also very tough, with all kinds of counterattacks and insults, controlling comments, etc. The situation was getting out of hand, and the ordinary owners of buildings 14/15 were the ones suffering.
As an ordinary family, like most ordinary families, they have lost their jobs in the high temperature and life is already difficult. They don’t have so much money and means to stock up large amounts of supplies at home. The best they can do is to stockpile food and water for one or two months.
Originally they were waiting for relief from the government, but they didn't expect that all the relief food would be gone because of those jealous outsiders and netizens. If they couldn't find a way to get some supplies, the family would have no choice but to wait for death.
The news that Fuwanjia Supermarket will deliver food, water and other supplies today was secretly told to her family by an older sister who works as a manager in Building 15. The old lady thought that the owners of Buildings 14/15 are all her fellow villagers, and she couldn't let her family take all the benefits. Therefore, she told everyone about this in the 'Loving Building 14/15 Owners Group' specially established for Building 14/15.
Because there are also a small number of owners who sell out their houses or rent their houses in other buildings, everyone is grateful for the old lady's reminder. As long as they are asked where they are going in Shenxian Garden, they will remind them, but they will not say a word to outsiders.
They have not forgotten who was to blame for the repeated failure of the owners of Shenxianyuan to receive supplies. Add to that the current shortage of various supplies, the food and water supplies in many large supermarkets and shopping malls have long been sold out, and the existing goods are all inventory, parallel imports or smuggled goods purchased at high prices. The quality is not guaranteed and the prices are ridiculously high. However, there is no way to avoid the dilemma of not being able to buy them even if you have money. Basically, any new goods in supermarkets or shopping malls will be snapped up.
The owners of Shenxian Garden refused to say, but seeing that they were carrying empty bags, it was not difficult for people in the tunnel to guess what they were going to do.
Those who were more proactive immediately followed, and the original group of more than a hundred people became a group of nearly three hundred people. By the time they arrived at Fuwanjia Supermarket, there were nearly five hundred people blocking the way, and the number of people was still increasing.
Apparently, the news that the supermarket was going to stock new goods had been spread by more than one supermarket insider.
Si Nan squeezed in the crowd, looking at the huge crowds of people at the entrance of the supermarket, his brows furrowed tightly.
Because of power and water rationing, many people hadn't taken a shower for several days. They were all wearing short-sleeved shirts, shorts, skirts, slippers and sandals to keep themselves cooler. The air was filled with a disgusting mixture of sweat, body odor and foot odor.
Even if you cover your nose, the smell will still come into your nose, so smelly that you want to escape from this place.
Si Nan regretted why she came to join in the fun. Now she was squeezed in the crowd. She wanted to move, but she couldn't. She wanted to leave, but she couldn't. She could only move with the crowd.
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