Chapter 48 Opening a stall
At Mo Fei's suggestion, the survivors in Hexi Town organized themselves and knocked on doors one by one.
Finally, it was counted that there were two survivors, who died in the sudden and drastic drop in temperature.
These two people already have some underlying diseases and their physical fitness is worse than others.
While others were telling each other that the weather was changing so drastically and that they should make preparations early, they were still stubborn and walked around in short-sleeved shirts.
In order to avoid the heat, they had been sleeping in the cooler basement, but they did not prepare any warm bedding or clothes in their lodgings.
Who would have thought that he would freeze to death in his sleep.
Someone who was familiar with them found door panels and bedding, rolled up their bodies, carried them to an open space outside the town and set them on fire.
They were all used to seeing life and death, but they couldn't help but sigh and shed tears when watching from the side.
I thought life would get better, but a new natural disaster came again...
These two people died this time, but will I be the one to die next time?
Fortunately, there wasn't much else in the town, so there were enough warm clothes and bedding.
The survivors pried open the door locks of hundreds of households in the town and pulled down bedding, cotton clothes, blankets and even curtains stored in the cupboards and took them away.
As if that was not enough, they then took away the tables, chairs, benches, chopsticks and other items that could be used as burnt materials.
No one knows how long the extreme cold will last.
When people in Hexi Town wake up every day, they see a vast white world outside the window.
The weather is divided into light snow, slight snow, moderate snow and heavy snow. There is no such thing as no snow.
If you don’t know, you would think we are entering an ice age.
"It's so cold." Song Yi came out of the room and couldn't help rubbing his arms.
"Grandma, let me hug you." Mo Jiayue was practicing calligraphy at the table, but she immediately rushed over and hugged Song Yi tightly.
The weather was too cold for her to wear a little skirt, so she wore a moon-white down jacket with a snow-white fur collar and a beige woolen hat.
"Our Yueyue is like a little stove." Song Yi's face was full of joy when she was hugged by her granddaughter.
When we first met a few months ago, Jiayue was still a tiny baby. Now she has grown a lot in height and weight, and looks different every day.
"You got up without wearing a down jacket and you're complaining about being cold."
Mo Zhicheng followed out from behind. He was wearing a large army green cotton coat and holding Song Yi's gray down jacket in his hand.
"Didn't you forget?" Song Yi rarely said anything to her husband. She took the clothes and put them on, then pulled Jiayue towards the fireplace in the living room.
Since it started snowing, Mo Fei has been using the diesel generators, solar panels and stoves he had stored.
During the day, everyone gathered in the living room around the charcoal stove to warm themselves, and at night they turned on the small sunroofs in their rooms to keep warm.
However, the diesel reserve was limited, and in order to save electricity for the children, Song Yi and Mo Zhicheng rarely turned on the Sunbathing Machine. They would rather cover themselves with two more quilts and put two hot water bottles inside. However, when the quilts were too thick, they could not breathe easily when they slept, which led to poor sleep quality.
Mo Fei has talked to his parents about this several times, but they just insisted on having their own way, leaving Mo Fei helpless.
As soon as they sat down by the stove, they heard the door open.
"I'm back." Mo Jianian came in from outside, feeling cold, with his face and hands and feet all red from the cold.
"Are you frozen? Are you cold?" Song Yi quickly stood up, poured boiling water from the thermos, wet the handkerchief, and handed it to Mo Jianian to warm his hands.
"I'm fine, grandma. I run with Uncle Lin and the others every morning, and I feel that I'm in much better shape now. I even did a hundred push-ups today."
Mo Jianian spread out a handkerchief and wiped his face, his tone relaxed.
Ever since Lin Jiyuan told him that as long as he exercised his body well, he would be able to make greater use of his tentacles, he has been paying attention to it.
Not only does he run in the morning and evening, but sometimes he also practices boxing with Lin Jiyuan and others.
Moreover, he is smarter than Lin Jiye's brothers. He can remember the fighting methods almost after watching them once, and he practices them very well. Sometimes he even gets a word of praise from Lin Jiyuan.
"Why don't you take me with you? I want to run with Uncle Lin too."
Mo Jiayue shouted that as a face control, she wished she could follow Lin Jiyuan every day.
Mo Jianian said mercilessly: "Because you can't get up."
"..."Between a handsome guy and sleeping in, Mo Jiayue chose the latter.
"Where's mom? Why can't I see her?" Mo Jianian turned his head and looked around.
"Mom just came into the kitchen. She said she wanted to prepare a whistle. She's going to make noodles today." Mo Jiayue said, "Let's go help her by lighting a fire."
Apart from planning how many fires to burn, how much supplies to search for, and how many supernatural crystal cores to find every day, the people in the small town live a very happy life.
The reason was simple: ever since the continuous snowfall, Mo Fei had set up a small stall outside her yard, which he only set up once every morning.
Food is not purchased with coins, but through barter.
For example, a candle, a pack of cotton thread or a circuit board can be taken to Morpheus.
As long as she thinks it is useful, she will give you the corresponding amount of food.
If the survivors were a little more diligent, they could go to Mo Fei every day to exchange for delicious food.
Just for this reason, my happiness index really rises.
However, what Mo Fei likes most is the supernatural crystal core.
One piece of energy crystal core can be exchanged for the largest amount of food from Mo Fei.
In addition to Mo Fei's family of five and Lin Jiyuan's family of four, there were a total of twenty-five survivors in the town.
Among these twenty-five people, originally only half of them were psychics, but since they came to eat the meals cooked by Mo Fei once a week, three or four more psychics have awakened.
Those who already had superpowers miraculously discovered that their superpowers were upgrading little by little.
If you think about it carefully, life now is not much different from before, except that I can have a meal cooked by Mo Fei every day.
Anyone smart enough would know that this must be due to the meal cooked by Mo Fei.
The food she cooks is already so delicious that it makes people salivate, and it also has the effect of assisting in awakening and upgrading superpowers, which is simply beyond surprise.
It is snowing heavily today. The wind is whistling in my ears, making my heart whistle as well.
"How many people are there in line ahead?" someone asked at the end of the line.
Zeng Gaoming and Laizi, wrapped in a thick blanket, lined up one after the other. They stood on tiptoe to look forward and said in unison, "There are at least twenty more people."
They regretted so much that they got up too late, and now they could only queue at the very end.
No, I must get up early tomorrow.
The snowstorm was still falling, but it couldn't stop everyone's enthusiasm to queue up in the severe cold.
At the front of the line was a simple stall.
This car was the one the original owner used to sell fried rice. Mo Fei modified it and fixed it at the door of his current residence, turning it into a fixed stall.
There was a charcoal fire burning under the stall, which made the faces of the people queuing nearby all look red.
There is a big iron pot above the stove, and even with the lid on, it can't cover up the heat and aroma coming out of it.
You can tell from the smell that this is a big pot of beef brisket stewed with tomatoes.
The door of Mo Fei's house was closed, but the people in line had no complaints, and no one opened the lid of the pot to grab the food. They all waited in line obediently.
It was not until after waiting for another five minutes that there was a noise from inside the door.
Mo Jianian opened the door and stepped aside, and Mo Fei came out carrying a large soup pot.
Song Yi and Mo Zhicheng followed closely behind to help carry the two buckets.
"Boss Mo! Are we having beef today? We can smell it."
Someone in the queue asked with a smile.
"That's right. I'm starving."
Mo Fei's hair, which was cut short to her ears, had grown to her shoulders without her noticing. She tied it into a short ponytail with a hair tie and put on a mask specially used for restaurants.
"Sorry, I had a lot to do today and wasted some time in there."
Mo Fei smiled and asked his daughter to bring the small blackboard over.
Ever since Mo Fei decided to open this food stall, the whole family has come to help.
Mo Jiayue was responsible for writing and drawing the menu on the small blackboard.
With just a few strokes, she drew a bowl of noodles on the small blackboard.
Today's menu is written next to it: noodle special, dry dishes/soup, braised beef, beef brisket, beef tripe, steak, and family meal.
The braised beef is made from the best beef tendon. Cut it into large pieces, add onion and ginger, and put it into the pot with cold water. After the water boils, skim off the foam and put it back into the pot with hot water. Continue to add cooking wine, onion and ginger and cook for an hour until chopsticks can be directly inserted. Then add light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, pepper, cinnamon, star anise, and soybean paste, continue to stew, and finally add onion knots and rock sugar before serving.
The water Mo Fei used was all blue water from the space river, and the pot he used was a magical iron pot that did not require fire.
With the addition of these two ingredients, the braised beef has distinct tendons and meat after being sliced, has bright color, and is very tasty.
You can eat a lot of slices without adding anything.
Mo Fei did not waste the remaining marinade and added boiled eggs and dried tofu into it.
Another pot of braised eggs and braised tofu was served.
If you don't add these to your noodles, they won't taste half as good.
In addition, Mo Fei also made tomato stewed beef brisket, spicy beef tripe, and fried steak.
The main point is to eat multiple foods with one cow.
It is a bit troublesome to prepare so many different ways of cooking, but Mo Fei has the magic iron pot in his hand, so he can cook quickly and deliciously.
"Good morning, Mr. Mo. I have a special crystal core." At the front of the line was the Chinese teacher Wei Xuemin, who was wearing a pair of broken glasses. He spread his hands and handed over a shiny crystal core. He looked at the open iron pot and his eyes suddenly became brighter than the crystal core.
The ability he awakened was related to ancient poetry. As long as he could recite an ancient poem with great emotion, he would be able to randomly obtain an image contained in the poem.
These objects can now exist for one minute.
For example, once he was facing an attack from three zombies, he recited a poem "Song of Gaixia" on the spot, and as a result, Xiang Yu's BMW Wuzhui appeared out of thin air, carried him and ran away.
Another time, when he was reciting a poem called "Quiet Night Thoughts", a huge bed appeared before his eyes, allowing him to lie down and rest for three minutes.
Wei Xuemin now carries a poetry book with him at all times, and the poems copied at the front are frontier poems, war poems, and poems expressing his feelings, including "One sword was once worth a million soldiers", "Iron horses and frozen rivers come into my dreams", and "One day the great roc rises with the wind, soaring up to 90,000 miles."
Relying on these poems, Wei Xuemin killed many people along the way. Together with several other supernatural beings, he had swept through Yanxi Village and Shangwan Village, which were the closest to Hexi Town.
In addition to supplies, they harvested eleven or twelve pieces of energy crystal cores of various sizes, and each person got two pieces.
Those at the front of the team were following Wei Xuemin, and almost everyone was holding a supernatural crystal core as big as a fingernail in their hands.
"What would you like to eat, Teacher Wei?" Mo Fei asked as he took out a bowl from the bucket to get the seasoning.
Wei Xuemin looked at the small blackboard for a long time, and asked cautiously: "Can Jinghe come with a family portrait?
The whole family means beef, brisket, tripe, and steak are all added in. Just thinking about it makes it delicious.
"Such a large crystal core, of course it can be used. Teacher Wei, do you want soup or dry pick? Rice noodles or noodles?"
Mo Fei has a good impression of Wei Xuemin, not only because Teacher Wei can often take out crystal cores, but also because he can also teach Mo Jianian and Mo Jiayue Chinese.
Sometimes we recite poems and classical Chinese, and sometimes we teach texts and tell stories.
Both the original owner and the current Mo Fei respect their teachers very much.
After all, knowledge is power.
"Soup, please! I want noodles. The most common noodle dish in my hometown is beef noodles. I haven't had this in a while. Add more chili."
Wei Xuemin touched his nose and said.
He left his hometown and finally passed the exam to be a primary school teacher in Hexi Town, but he didn't know that he would never be able to go back to his hometown.
In this kind of world, Wei Xuemin feels that it is worth dying for he can still eat a bowl of beef noodles to comfort his homesickness.
"Okay. Wait a moment." Mo Fei took the crystal core and put it into the small box below.
Mo Fei grabbed a handful of white, round rice noodles and put them into the colander, then opened the lid of the soup pot and put the rice noodles in to cook.
After cooking for about 30 seconds, she put the white and soft rice noodles into a large bowl, poured a spoonful of red chili oil on it, and then added a spoonful of braised beef, tomato stewed beef brisket, spicy beef tripe, fried steak, and added a braised egg and a piece of dried tofu.
Finally, sprinkle a handful of chopped green onions and coriander.
The ingredients are so rich that they form a small mountain in the bowl, and you can hardly see the rice noodles underneath.
If you don’t know, you might think it’s a whole bowl of beef.
"Here you go." Mo Fei handed over the bowl enthusiastically.
Then I started preparing the next bowl in full swing.
"It smells so good! Give me a bowl too!"
"It smells so good! Boss Mo, we're having noodles today, what are we having tomorrow?"
"Oh my goodness, you're already thinking about tomorrow before you even eat today's meal."
"You don't understand. What I eat tomorrow is related to whether I should go out to look for a supernatural crystal core today."
The people queuing behind Wei Xuemin stared at the bowl of noodles in his hand like starving ghosts, their saliva almost dripping.
After a night's sleep, everyone was starving and could not resist this temptation.
There was a sudden wailing, and everyone asked Wei Xuemin to eat farther away.
Wei Xuemin held the bowl of noodles proudly as if he had won a battle, and started to eat it while standing beside the team.
A mouthful of noodles with a mouthful of beef, plus some chili oil, will whet your appetite and warm your stomach.
The coldness in my body was almost dispelled.
What’s even more amazing is that after Wei Xuemin finished eating this bowl of noodles, he felt his abdomen beginning to feel stronger.
People with super powers know that the power of super powers is like water. A small storage box will form in the abdomen to store the power of super powers.
Wei Xuemin and several of his companions had just finished fighting a blood-seeing grass that was more than ten meters wide yesterday. Their special powers were almost exhausted and could not be recovered quickly.
He resisted the urge to use his supernatural crystal core just to buy food for Mo Fei early this morning.
Unexpectedly, after eating this big bowl of noodles, the originally empty supernatural power storage box returned to its best condition.
There are even signs of upgrading.
After Wei Xuemin returned the empty bowl to Mo Fei, he hurriedly ran home.
In the queue for eating noodles, some people thought Wei Xuemin was in a hurry to pee and laughed at him for being a lazy person with a lot of pee and shit.
Unexpectedly, the next second, he also felt the power coming from his abdomen. He couldn't help it and upgraded on the spot.
The process of upgrading superpowers takes less time than awakening superpowers, but it is more dangerous than awakening superpowers.
Because people who have entered the stage of upgrading their superpowers can only stay still and lose all five senses. If they encounter any danger, they will definitely die.
Fortunately, everyone still alive in Hexi Town has experienced life and death together. Even if they did not know each other before, they now have a deep relationship with each other.
Those people consciously formed a human wall around the man, chatting and guarding him.
Seeing that all the noodles were sold out today, Mo Fei brought the bucket of fire under the stove over to these people.
I also brought a few small stools.
"Thank you, Boss Mo!" Everyone grinned at Mo Fei.
Someone suggested: "Why don't we build a shed at the door of Boss Mo?"
The person who was speaking was Li Wei. He used to be a long-term worker on a construction site. He knew a little bit of handicraft and building a simple shed was no problem for him.
At his suggestion, these people, who had nothing to do, collected materials from nearby abandoned houses, some moved wood, some took plastic film.
After Mo Fei washed the dishes in the kitchen, he came out and saw that a simple wooden shed had been built a few dozen meters away from the door, which looked very windproof.
The survivors were guarding the person who had upgraded, sitting beside him, warming themselves by the fire and chatting, with a smile on everyone's face.
Mo Fei also smiled unconsciously, but her eyes were directed to the house next door.
After Lin Jiyuan and the other three took Mo Jianian for a morning run, they set off for Changtuan Village, the village farthest from Hexi Town.
That's the place Laizi mentioned, where there are countless mutant field mice.
Now that the weather is getting colder, many mutant animals that have no hibernation habits are forced to hibernate.
This is a good time to go to Changtuan Village to find supplies.
But Mo Fei was secretly a little worried.
After a moment, she shook her head. Lin Jiyuan and the other three were all people with special abilities, and they carried guns with them at all times, so she probably didn't need to worry about them.
Instead of worrying about nothing here, it’s better to go into the space and grow some vegetables.
Ever since he solved the water source problem of the space river, Mo Fei has made full use of the black soil in the space.
The areas are also strictly divided.
The area on the far left is the grain area, half of which is planted with wheat and half with rice.
In the middle is the vegetable area, where the most commonly eaten peppers, tomatoes, chives, cabbage, lettuce, carrots, etc. are grown.
On the far right, some practical crops are planted, half of which are planted with fruits and the other half with cotton and rapeseed.
Bucket after bucket of river water was poured onto the soil where the seeds were buried.
As long as Mo Fei watered the crops diligently enough, he could grow a crop of vegetables in almost an hour and rice in a day. The growth cycle of fruits and cotton was longer.
“My little apple has finally grown up.”
Mo Fei stood under the apple tree with his hands behind his back, and sighed at the round, plump, red apples on the tree.
It takes three years for an apple to bear fruit in the outside world, but in her space it only takes three days.
Moreover, the fruits are large and plump, the yield is stable, and they are not infested with insects.
Mo Fei plans to do some research and build an automatic irrigation machine in the space to directly connect the river water to the ground for regular irrigation.
This way she wouldn't have to go into the space every day to keep an eye on it.
"Let's make apple pie tonight." Mo Fei appeared in the living room with a basket of red apples.
The family has gotten used to Mo Fei's occasional disappearance and reappearance, from being shocked at first to now being accustomed to it.
"I know apple cider vinegar, but what is apple pie?"
Mo Zhicheng is an old-fashioned person and seldom eats Western food.
"How uncultured. It's just apple pie." Song Yi put down the sweater she was knitting, "These apples are really good."
Mo Zhicheng muttered: "What good can it be? It's not as good as the sauce-flavored pancake."
"Yeah, the sauce-flavored pancakes are good too. I'll make them for everyone tomorrow. I'm going to make apple pie for dinner tonight."
Mo Fei accepted her father's advice, but still insisted on her own ideas. She didn't like the feeling of having her plans disrupted.
The crust is crucial to a delicious apple pie. There are not many ingredients to prepare for the crust.
All you need is all-purpose flour, sugar, salt, ice cream and ice water.
Add half of the prepared all-purpose flour first, then add white sugar and ice cream, mix well, then add the remaining flour and water and knead into dough.
Roll it into 0.4 cm skin, which is a bit similar to making Thousand Layer Wrap, but thicker than Thousand Layer Wrap.
The pie crust had to be refrigerated first. Mo Fei put it outside and then went into the kitchen to make the filling.
Mo Fei first removed the core and skin of the apple, then slashed the apple into slices of almost uniform thickness with a swipe of the kitchen knife.
After cutting, add brown sugar powder and marinate for a while until the water comes out.
Brown sugar has a stronger charcoal flavor than white sugar, and tastes more three-dimensional.
Cinnamon powder, nutmeg, cornstarch, and lemon juice are mixed together and simmered into a jewel-colored syrup, which is then mixed with apple slices. This is the soul of the delicious filling. The baked pie crust is crispy and fragrant, and some almond slices are sprinkled on the top. The taste is rich and balanced, with moderate sweetness and rich aroma.
After making the apple pie, it was almost dark. Even Mo Zhicheng, who didn't like sweets, couldn't help but eat two pieces.
When the temperature is high, it always gets dark very late. Now it is extremely cold and snowy, so it gets dark very early.
Murphy absentmindedly put the remaining apple pie into the box.
Even when most people in Hexi Town had gone to sleep, Mo Fei still didn't hear any sound coming from the yard next door.
"Mom, why haven't Uncle Lin and the others come back yet?" Mo Jianian had already changed into his furry pajamas. He knocked on Mo Fei's door and asked worriedly.
Mo Fei did not fall asleep, but sat on the bed looking at his iPad.
The page on the iPad contains some self-rescue knowledge for dealing with extremely cold weather.
But Mo Fei had been reading for half an hour and was still stuck on the first page.
She opened the door. "I don't know either. What did they say when I left this morning?"
Mo Jianian said affirmatively: "Uncle Lin said to come back before dark."
"It's okay. Look, it's snowing heavily. Maybe it's hard to drive on the road. They have to stay in Changtuan Village for one night. You go to bed first."
Mo Fei touched Mo Jianian's head.
"Okay then. Good night, Mom." Mo Jianian turned around and went back to his room.
After closing the door again, Mo Fei still didn't feel sleepy at all.
She stood at the window and opened the curtains. Just as she said, the snowflakes outside were getting bigger and bigger, and there was even more momentum.
Heavy snow had been falling intermittently for a month, and thick layers of snow had accumulated on the nearby mountains. Lin Jiyuan and his companions would not encounter a snowstorm on their way back, would they?
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