Chapter 86: A Bystander in a Post-Apocalyptic Novel (Part 5)
For the next few days, Jiang Yue drove her electric car to and from get off work. She was busy as a dog every day. She didn't encounter any difficult tasks at work, but they were very tedious and repetitive. The good thing was that Jiang Yue's patience had improved a lot. Brother Wang had praised Jiang Yue for this several times. Sometimes when she encountered unreasonable people, he would get very angry, but Jiang Yue could still explain to them with a smile.
Jiang Yue and her colleagues weren't the busiest. The busiest were those patrolling and mediating disputes. They were so busy they barely had time to rest or eat. Compared to them, I felt much better off. I had lunch at the station, but food is rationed these days. I was lucky to get a meat dish today; it was mostly cabbage and potatoes.
After returning to the office after lunch, Lin Xiao brought up the matter of treating everyone: "Xiao Yue, all the new colleagues have to treat everyone to a meal when they get their salaries. When are you going to treat everyone to a meal today?"
Jiang Yue thought for a moment and suggested, "You can't get anything good to eat out these days. It might be just like the cafeteria, or even worse. How about this, I'll bring some snacks over tomorrow and treat you to snacks instead?" The three people in the office all agreed, since that's the situation now, and eating out is not as good as snacks.
So the decision was made, and after a short rest, I got busy again, and before I knew it, it was time to get off work.
The first thing Jiang Yue did after getting home was to charge the car. She put her things inside, ate dinner, went to the warehouse, found some snacks, packed a few gift bags, and added some cigarettes and alcohol. Of course, the director's gift was much more generous than everyone else's.
The next day, Jiang Yue drove her new car to the office with a large gift package. She arrived at the company half an hour early. After parking, she gave one package to the gatekeeper and received a promise from him that she could call him anytime and he would reserve a parking space for her. Then she took the rest of the gift packages to her office.
When she went in, Brother Wang was already there. Jiang Yue quickly asked Brother Wang for help, and the two of them made several trips before finally getting it done. Jiang Yue gave one of the gifts to Brother Wang and received a big smile from him. Afterwards, Jiang Yue carried several gift bags and gave them to the people who had helped her before. After giving them all away, everyone started going to work, which made the most of the time difference.
Five minutes before work started, Lin Xiao and Zhou Xue arrived at the office. Lin Xiao saw the gift bag next to the desk, opened it, and asked Jiang Yue, "Xiao Yue, did you bring all of this?"
Jiang Yue nodded: "One for each person, with some snacks, cigarettes and alcohol inside. You two get an extra set of cosmetics, but don't tell anyone."
"Isn't this too expensive? It must have cost a lot of money!" So many snacks would last me a long time. In the current situation, this stuff is much more valuable than a meal.
Jiang Yue shook her head modestly and said, "It's not much. I used to run a small farm and originally planned to open a convenience store, but the farm was gone and everyone was laid off. There are still some snacks and such left, which is just enough for everyone to share."
"I knew it! You can't buy all these snacks anywhere now. Sigh, when will we be able to buy whatever we want like we used to?" Lin Xiao sighed.
Jiang Yue sighed as she looked at Lin Xiao. This was nothing yet; the hard times were still ahead. But it was still much better than the original world's storyline. At least now, despite the hardships, you could live with dignity.
The three chatted for a while before Director Su arrived. He specifically came over to ask Jiang Yue how she felt about working recently. Jiang Yue said it was all good and suited her well. Then she gave the gift bag to Director Su: "Director Su, everyone gets one of these. They're just some snacks, nothing expensive."
Director Su glanced at the other three people in the office. Seeing them nod, he gave them a nod and said, "Okay, I'll accept it. But try to be more discreet next time. It's not good if others see it." After returning to his office, Director Su also asked Jiang Yue on WeChat. Jiang Yue told him who she had given it to. Director Su instructed her to be more discreet next time, as this would probably let the whole institute know. News spreads very quickly, and it would have a bad impact.
Jiang Yue told Director Su that she remembered and wouldn't do it again. Jiang Yue knew what Director Su was worried about, but she didn't care. She didn't plan to work at the station for long anyway. The situation hadn't stabilized yet, so Jiang Yue just planned to stay here temporarily. Although the situation was different now, and there was a chance that contract workers could become permanent police officers, Jiang Yue wouldn't lower herself and make herself unhappy just for a job.
After this incident, Jiang Yue gained a little fame, though not to the point of being universally known. Some people came to ask if they could buy some items with points, but Jiang Yue explained that they were all stock and were already sold out. After refusing some people, no one bothered her anymore.
Time flies, and it's already October. The weather has been quite cold since October, almost like December in previous years. Water, electricity, and gas prices have all increased, and the increases are quite astonishing.
The water price has risen the most dramatically. The previous tiered pricing system has been abolished and replaced with a uniform price, which has increased from about 2 yuan to 5 or 10 yuan per ton. And this month, the water price is 100 yuan per ton. In addition to water, electricity prices have also risen sharply. In Jiang Yue's area, it is already 5 yuan per kilowatt-hour. According to this price, a normal household uses about 300 kilowatt-hours of electricity per month, so the electricity bill will be 1,500 yuan per month.
Not to mention the heating fees. In areas with centralized heating, it's not so bad, but people like Jiang Yue with detached houses have to buy coal and firewood themselves. Fortunately, Jiang Yue has stockpiled a lot. There are two large piles of coal and a lot of wood under the wall, as well as gasoline and diesel. Jiang Yue will definitely have no problem heating up in the extreme cold, and she may not even be able to use it all.
Fortunately, Jiang Yue built a high enough wall that the outside couldn't see inside. Otherwise, if someone had seen it, they might have come to cause trouble. After getting off work, Jiang Yue tidied up the things in the yard. She noticed that a sandstorm was coming. Today, when she came back, the air was filled with yellow sand. Her phone weather app also sent a notification that a big sandstorm might be coming, telling everyone to be prepared.
Jiang Yue tidied up the yard and moved everything into the garage. The garage was built quite large to prepare for such situations. Jiang Yue's garage is designed to withstand earthquakes and is constructed of reinforced concrete. Even if the house she lives in collapses, she can move here to live. After tidying up the yard, she went inside, closed the doors and windows, took out a hot pot base and ingredients from her spatial storage, and then took out a tablet, found a TV series, and started eating.
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