65 Chapter 65
Because the school playground was paved with cement and plastic, although trees still grew there, they weren't as densely packed as outside the school gate. Tong Songming drove the car into the school, and Wang Jianye and Qin Jiaqiang got out to set up a temporary campsite.
The students arrived quickly. Tong Shu had barely set up the small pot for cooking instant noodles at the camp when students began to gather around. One boy, sniffing dramatically at the long-missed smell of junk food, looked at Tong Shu expectantly: "H-Hello, can I trade a sweet potato for a bowl of instant noodles?"
Tong Shu agreed. The student had his bowl in his bag, which seemed to be easy to move around in. He handed the bowl to Tong Shu, who generously filled it to the brim and then accepted the sweet potatoes he had brought in exchange.
"Sister, I'm here." The girl who gave Tong Shu the chocolates also came over, followed by a few other girls. She reached into her pocket, took out a lipstick with slightly damaged packaging, and carefully handed it over: "I bought this lipstick a while ago, and I haven't used it yet. It shouldn't be expired. I wonder if I can use it to exchange for sanitary napkins..." She felt a little guilty, after all, not many people use lipstick these days. But this was something she really cherished. Seeing the lipstick occasionally reminded her of the wonderful times she and her girlfriends would spend shopping together.
“Okay.” Tong Shu took the lipstick. “Lipsticks are hard to find these days, but we have plenty of sanitary napkins here. I’m the only woman on the bus, so I can’t possibly use them all. I’ll trade this lipstick for five packs of sanitary napkins.” Tong Shu and the others got off the bus and moved around while wearing protective suits, while Shu Hua and the others mostly stayed on the bus. Except for her petite figure, the others all looked about the same size. The teachers and students at the school probably still didn’t know how many people were on the bus, so no one would notice if Tong Shu lied.
The girl was overjoyed. She never expected that a small lipstick could be exchanged for so many sanitary napkins. This would be enough for her to use for a year. Heaven knows that after the natural disaster, her originally normal menstrual cycle had become once every two or three months.
The other girls were in similar situations, and seeing this, they all took out things they had been reluctant to use for a long time.
"Sister, this is my hand cream. I've only used it twice, and I still have a lot left..."
"Sister, I'll trade you some mentholatum. There are lots of trees now, and bugs are starting to appear. This oil can repel mosquitoes and other insects!"
"These are two ballpoint pens, unused. Can I exchange them?"
...
No matter what the girls offered, Tong Shu accepted it all, and exchanged it for five packs of sanitary napkins from each of them.
It's clear that they carefully searched for their most cherished possessions. These things might not have been valuable before the disaster, but now they are becoming increasingly rare.
The girls were exchanging necessities here, while the boys exchanging food for instant meals obediently held their bowls and huddled in the corner. Tong Shu and her group had prepared a lot of instant noodles, with two large boxes piled up next to the pot. The students who saw them were not envious at all; they were content to exchange what they could afford for some to try. The students eating the instant noodles were very satisfied and happy. These visiting brothers and sisters were well-off, so it seemed that even if their good friends arrived late, they could still get a bowl of instant noodles.
"Sister, you came from outside. What has it changed outside?" A boy wearing glasses asked her, holding a bowl of noodles in his hands, his lenses fogged up with white mist.
After thinking for a moment, Tong Shu truthfully described the situation outside the north of the city: "Before the giant tree grew, almost every city lost more than 50% of its population. There was a shortage of supplies, urban disorder, and in some places, cannibalism had already occurred."
Upon hearing this, the students all looked incredulous. Some of the more imaginative students immediately lost their appetite, picked up their bowls, and turned away to gag.
"...How...how terrifying." The girl with small eyes shrank back and leaned against her sister: "We're all...we're all compatriots, how could this happen?"
"When people are in dire straits and want to survive, they will stop at nothing." Tong Shu lowered her eyes and poked at the firewood under the pot with a stick.
Thinking of their classmates buried deep in the mountains, the students present also fell silent.
"...We are so lucky to have so many teachers and friends with us." After a while, a boy spoke up, breaking the silence.
“That’s right, we also have Beishan, where we can grow our own food,” a girl chimed in. Then, remembering something, she turned to Tong Shu and whispered, “Sister, do you have any seeds? I’d like to exchange some.”
“I have seeds, but not many. What do you want?” Tong Shu asked.
"There's a valley in the mountains near our school that's great for growing things, but there aren't many wild fruits. We don't have any other grains besides potatoes and sweet potatoes. Do you have any rice or wheat seeds?"
Other students chimed in, saying, "Bean seeds will do too. My family used to have land in the countryside, and beans are easy to grow."
“Now the ice in the valley has melted, and we can plant some vegetables. Teacher Zhou has been unable to go to the toilet. Last time, I overheard him complaining to Teacher Zhang.”
The students burst into laughter upon hearing this. Their minds were pure and full of vitality. Their positive attitude towards the future made Tong Shu feel nostalgic. Once upon a time, she was just like them, thinking that even if the apocalypse came, she could lead more people to live better lives.
The students had already started talking about other topics. They were discussing going into the mountains to cut down trees, building sheds, and catching pheasants to raise... Tong Shu silently left the circle of students, returned to the car, turned around and went into the small island to select suitable seeds for them to plant.
Tong Shu mixed several common and easy-to-grow fruit tree seeds together, sealed them in a bag, then filled a large bag with vegetable seeds, and finally carried two bags of unprocessed wheat and rice.
"These haven't shed their shells yet. If you want to take them outside, look in the warehouse." Tong Songming happened to be fiddling with the machine on the island and quickly reminded Tong Shu when he saw her.
"No, these are the seeds that the students wanted. They plan to grow food in the mountains to eat," Tong Shu explained.
Tong Songming understood. He breathed a sigh of relief, his face showing joy and ease: "It's good to be young, you have the drive to succeed."
Tong Shu smiled and left with her things in a light step.
"Wow! Sister, you really have seeds, and so many!" The boys surrounded Tong Shu, marveling at the grain seeds she had brought over.
“These were obtained by trading medicine with others. These two bags look like a lot, but they can't be used to plant much land. You still need to plant more potatoes and sweet potatoes, otherwise it definitely won't be enough to feed so many of you,” Tong Shu said.
"It's okay, it's okay! Our cafeteria chef used to farm, he'll definitely be able to grow it. Then we'll plant the harvested seeds, and ten pounds will become a hundred pounds, a hundred pounds will become a thousand pounds, and we'll all have enough to eat!" the boy said excitedly.
Tong Shu smiled. They really were just a bunch of kids; their words were so innocent and naive.
"Sister, are you going anywhere else?" a girl asked, leaning closer.
Tong Shu nodded.
“Sister, it’s so dangerous outside. Why don’t you stay at our school? There are so many of us. We can farm together and take care of each other,” another girl asked tentatively. She liked this gentle older sister very much and sincerely hoped that she could stay.
Tong Shu refused: "This is a place suitable for you, but not for us. We came here from outside and are used to surviving in that kind of environment. We have vehicles, so we can exchange supplies everywhere and get the latest news as quickly as possible."
Seeing the students' dejected looks, Tong Shu felt a pang of pity, after all, they meant well: "Don't be sad. Maybe in a few years, the environment will gradually improve, and after you've worked here for a few years, this place will probably look different. Maybe a small town will even appear. If we're lucky, we might still be alive then, and we might drive back here to tell you about the changes outside. Of course, if you'd like, you can leave here and go out and explore. We might even run into you again."
This is a world where everything has been overthrown and rebuilt. These students are young and full of hope, and perhaps they really can change a place and create a small town.
"Yes! We definitely will!" The children shook off their earlier dejection and were full of energy again.
"I want to research how to make instant noodles. They're so delicious! When my sister comes back, I'll use the instant noodles to trade for other things. My sister can take my instant noodles out and trade them for other people's good stuff!"
“Then I’ll ask Teacher Zhou to take me to the mountains to catch wild boars. My hometown is great at making ham, and I sell ham.”
"Then I can only study hard, and when the time comes I'll build my own car and drive it to meet up with my sister."
"Hahahaha, that's so unrealistic! You might as well make ham with Sun Shuai."
...
They played around until midnight. These students hadn't had such a relaxed chat in a long time. Most of them left the small camp before dark after changing their things, leaving a dozen or so playful ones who refused to leave. Tong Shu let them be. Seeing that several girls were getting sleepy, she and Wang Jie went into the car and brought out two tents, letting the boys and girls set them up and go inside to rest. They would return to the teaching building the next day when it was safe.
The students thanked them politely and then laughed and chatted as they set up the tents together. They seemed to have forgotten that they were in a perilous post-apocalyptic world, and their demeanor was as if it were just a small outing during the semester. And that's exactly what they thought when they lay down in the tents. They had been living in caves and later sleeping on the classroom floor tiles, but nowhere was as nice as this. There was a small space with a campfire outside and sleeping bags that they had taken apart to use as blankets inside. It was as if they had suddenly returned to normal life.
"Go to sleep, things will get better," the girl said to her friend beside her with her eyes closed.
"Um."
Things will definitely get better.
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