Chapter 6 Homemade Spear
The mountain fog is very thick in the morning. Standing on the second-floor terrace and looking down, the visibility is no more than 20 meters. Meishan is surrounded by clouds and fog all year round. In the rainy season, the mountain is full of evergreen broad-leaved forests and fir trees that look extremely vibrant.
This will be the quietest moment of the day in the mountains. Perhaps everyone is waiting for the favor of the morning sun, and everything is quiet.
Zhao Yeqing was wearing a thick coat, chewing some fruit, and holding a cup of freshly ground coffee. It was the American coffee that was ingrained in the morning people's bones.
As usual, she reported safety to Feng Chunyan and asked after her best friend. She was relieved to learn that the residential area where she lived had been controlled and all the infected people had been cleared out.
Today's news seems to have brought hope and despair to everyone. They found that after three days of frenzy, the infected people's body functions would weaken autonomously, as if their bodies were drained of blood by the virus, and they would eventually become bloodless mummies. Currently, there are no drugs or means to control the situation.
Countless people were rescued safely, and countless people lost their loved ones.
There were many different opinions about the cause of the virus, until someone counted the disaster situation from the messy information and found that the worst-hit areas were similar to the most industrialized cities and the areas with the lowest forest coverage. The replies were quickly flooded with replies.
Within half a day, the authorities took control of the industrial park and prohibited citizens from approaching within a five-kilometer radius of all industrial zones in all cities.
Although there was no official announcement, netizens who had come to their senses were still confused. In an instant, the forum was overwhelmed by the anger of netizens from all over the world...
'Protect the environment, protect the environment! What we learned in kindergarten is really useless!'
"Our community has spontaneously formed a small organization to protect the environment. We go to the streets every day to pick up trash. It's so funny, we can't pick up all the trash."
"If you don't shake your brains well, please go back to your golf course and eat mud!"
'The protected areas are decreasing every year. Moving mountains to build factories, cutting down forests to build cities, pursuing development without regard for the consequences, will the money earned be enough to live on?'
......
Exiting pyq's live broadcast, Zhao Yeqing looked at the mountain that his grandparents had protected for most of their lives and sniffed.
There aren't so many natural disasters...
The time spent on the phone always goes by quickly. The morning mist has already dispersed halfway. I have to continue today the hole I didn’t finish digging yesterday.
Zhao Yeqing went downstairs and pushed open the tool room. He felt a tingling sensation in his hands. He lifted his hands and saw several soybean-sized blisters on his white hands. They should have been caused by chopping trees yesterday.
I was afraid that it would burst again after digging, so I took out a Band-Aid, cut a hole the size of the blister, put medical cotton underneath it so that the height was level with the blister, and it wouldn't burst easily when I worked again after putting it on.
As usual, I put the axe on my back and carried the shovel. Today I planned to ferment some organic fertilizer. Before going out, I also brought a backpack and picked up some dead leaves.
A deep pit was dug in the middle of the road, leaving a width of 40 centimeters on both sides for passing. Some parasitic vines from tree trunks were pulled over it, and some fallen leaves were spread on it. It was quite hidden if you didn't look closely.
There are not many fallen leaves in this season. Most of the fallen leaves in autumn and winter have turned into mud, also called leaf mold. It’s just that the temperature is low in winter and the surface layer has not been fully decomposed. Zhao Yeqing found a few pine trees and dug up the brown soil on the surface. Five or six centimeters below, black soil was exposed. Brown undecomposed soil can easily burn the roots, and black leaf mold means it has been decomposed.
When I was a child, my grandmother told me that soil made from decomposed pine needles was better than other soils. Later, when I planted vegetables on the balcony, I also dug soil from the woods on the outskirts of the city. Out of curiosity, I checked online and found out that pine needles are acidic and can improve soil quality.
There are no trees on the homestead, so there aren't many fallen leaves, just a few blown by the mountain breeze.
Carrying half a basket full of leaf mold and dead leaves, Zhao Yeqing took a detour to the wild loquat tree to see if there were any fallen fruits.
There were several old loquat trees that had been growing for who knows how many years. Their leaves were all large patches of dark green, and there were also many tender green buds that had just sprouted recently, showing their vigorous vitality. There were many fruits hanging on the branches. Zhao Yeqing picked two bunches of ripe ones, tore off one, peeled it and put it in his mouth.
Although the core is a little bigger than those bought in the city, the rich fruity aroma and abundant juice are the best products that cannot be bought in fruit stores.
Zhao Yeqing leaned against a tree and ate half his fill. Then he lowered his head and threw the rotten fruits that had fallen on the ground into his backpack one by one to take back as fertilizer. When he had almost picked up all the fruits, he did not forget to pick another bunch before leaving.
Of course, vegetables and fruits should be eaten in season.
The kitchen waste produced in the past few days is collected nearby, including vegetable leaves, egg shells, fruit peels, and coffee grounds.
Zhao Yeqing took the largest pot and boiled a large pot of water and poured it on the leaf mold, killing the insect eggs inside with high temperature. After rinsing, it was noon. He spread a plastic sheet on the ground and sprinkled the soil on it to dry. The direct sunlight could make the surviving adult insects run away and kill the eggs more effectively.
I took down the large cardboard boxes used to pack express deliveries from upstairs and made a simple compost bucket. I put a large plastic basin under the cardboard boxes to catch the liquid fertilizer. I put the remaining hollow bricks between the cardboard boxes and the plastic basin to prevent the cardboard boxes from being damaged by the liquid fertilizer. Three types of waste were utilized at the same time, and I felt inexplicably comfortable inside.
At this moment, the sun was shining directly overhead, and there were no trees to block the view. The spread leaf mold was shaken from time to time, and it dried fairly quickly. Perhaps it could be dried before the sun went down.
Zhao Yeqing moved a bench and sat down on the terrace on the second floor. Recently, she got used to staying on the second floor when she had nothing to do. The wide view upstairs gave her a lot of sense of security. She was always worried that there were a few missed infected people. If they ran up the mountain, she could see them in advance from a distance and always have an advantage.
Thinking of this, Zhao Yeqing counted the tools at home: an axe, a sickle, a hatchet, and a rake, but he didn't know which one would be more convenient for hitting someone.
She went downstairs, took out the tools and tried them out, but she felt something was not right. The axe, hatchet and sickle were too short. If she encountered an enemy, she could only attack at close range, and she would be killed if she was not careful. The rake was a bit heavy, and her hands felt sore after she swung them a few more times.
It had to be longer and light enough. The only bamboo I had at home was the one I cut two days ago. The top section was not thick enough, so I put it aside temporarily because I couldn't use it at the time. I had originally intended to use it to build a rack for fruits and vegetables.
After waving it a few times, there was a whistling sound, which looked quite realistic. However, the post said that the infected people are not afraid of pain after losing their minds. This bamboo pole is just for knocking, and I don't know if she can knock him out with that much strength.
He wandered around the house with his hands behind his back, looking around, and finally his eyes fixed on the fruit knife that used to be used at home. Other knives were too heavy, and they were not very balanced when tied to the front end of a light bamboo pole. Only this fruit knife was the right size and weight. He made a groove in the front of the bamboo pole, coated it with glue, and stuffed the handle into it, then wrapped the outer ring with wire.
I tried poking the mud twice and it felt pretty good, but I don’t know if it would be useful in actual combat.
Zhao Yeqing was twirling the spear in an empty space, but in fact, she didn't know how else to give herself a sense of security except doing something like this.
The message notification sound on her mobile phone brought her back to her senses. Feng Chunyan would send messages to Zhao Yeqing from morning to night every day, and she would report her safety more than five times a day.
Turning on the speaker and listening to the old lady's chattering, Zhao Yeqing's expression softened unconsciously and her heart felt warmer. She raised her camera and took a few photos of her new vegetable garden and freshly picked loquats and sent them to her. Feng Chunyan was barely relieved and sent a few voice messages.
"My dear, you have to be careful when you are alone, eat well, and lock the door when you go to bed at night. Push a table behind the door."
'Are the things you bought before enough to eat?'
"There are fewer people infected now. If there is not enough, tell your aunt. I will ask your eldest nephew to drive out and bring you food. Don't worry about your aunt..."
In the second half of the last voice message, one can vaguely hear Feng Lixuan next to him questioning whether he is his biological grandson.
There should be no shortage of food for the time being. Zhao Yeqing took a look at the refrigerator. She didn't fill up the 300L refrigerator completely. There were some leafy vegetables and drinks in the upper refrigeration layer, which would probably last for a week. There was quite a bit of meat in the freezer on the lower layer. Because it could be stored for a long time, she had thought of filling it up as much as possible to avoid having to go down the mountain to buy more. Now it was an accident and she didn't know when order could be restored.
The vegetables in the refrigerator cannot be stored for that long even if they are eaten sparingly. The same goes for the cabbages in the cellar. The humidity in the south is too high, and the cellar is only lower in temperature than the ground. Even if dehumidifying charcoal is placed inside, the humidity is still not conducive to long-term storage of vegetables. So she plans to make sauerkraut and spicy cabbage from the cabbage while it is fresh tomorrow morning.
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