"Ugh, it's so hot!"
The siblings walked for less than fifteen minutes before feeling so hot they could hardly breathe.
"Let's go rest in that shady spot first!"
Fearing that the two of them would suffer from heatstroke, Xu Lai pointed to the shady side of an abandoned shop in front of them and said to her younger brother.
Then he reached into the backpack on his back and took out two bottles of mineral water that were refrigerated in the refrigerator of his space warehouse.
She handed a bottle to her younger brother, Xu Chao, then placed the sweet potato vines she had wrapped in her other hand on the ground, opened the mineral water bottle cap, tilted her head back, and gulped down half the bottle in one go.
"Iced water is still the most comfortable, but you can't drink too much iced water!"
Fortunately, the brother and sister were just walking at a normal pace and not doing any strenuous exercise, otherwise they would never have been able to drink ice water.
The brother and sister walked and stopped frequently, following the address posted at the entrance of the residential area. It took them an hour and a half to reach their destination.
"Why are there so many people?!"
Feeling dizzy from the heat, Xu Chao carried a bag of sweet potatoes in one hand and fanned himself vigorously with the other. Looking at the long queue in front of him, Xu Chao couldn't help but complain.
Unfortunately, the breeze generated by this "fan" was negligible.
Xu Lai was also a little confused as to why so many people were queuing up in front of the government supermarket.
According to the rules, today is the first day of work for everyone, and the work points card should only be issued to those who went to work after the work is completed on the same day.
Xu Lai and her younger brother Xu Chao were whispering to each other at the back of the line. A middle-aged woman in front of them was in a good mood, probably because she was about to go to the supermarket to exchange for the food she needed.
She overheard a conversation between a brother and sister behind her and kindly explained to them, "You two kids probably don't know this, but someone in my family went to work at a place arranged by the government today, and we really didn't have any rice to cook at home. That's why the government specially allowed us to get an advance on the work points from the first five days in exchange for some food!"
After explaining, the aunt looked at the government-run supermarket in front of her with gratitude and said, "The government is so good, it's so good that someone is in charge. Otherwise, my family would have gone hungry!"
So that's how it is. After hearing the aunt's explanation, even Xu Lai had to praise the government's good policies.
After the last natural disaster ended, the starving people were able to fill their stomachs and had hope for survival. Who wouldn't want to live a good life?
Fortunately, they arrived early today. Xu Lai and her brother had been queuing for more than three hours before it was their turn.
Upon entering the government-run supermarket, Xu Lai noticed that the large supermarket had several counters.
Some are in charge of selling grains, oils, soy sauces, vinegars, and salt; some are in charge of selling daily necessities; some are in charge of selling clothing, shoes, socks, and bedding; and some are in charge of selling medicines, etc.
Xu Lai observed the buying and selling process while waiting in line.
The process is actually very simple: people with work points cards can enter the supermarket and queue up at the counter of the corresponding category area to buy the products they need.
Once it's their turn, they go in, select what they want to buy, hand over their work points card, the sales staff registers it, weighs and packs the items, or simply packs them and hands them to the buyer.
However, judging from the people queuing in the supermarket, almost all of them are queuing to buy food, oil, and salt.
Xu Lai was there to "sell" things today. She told her younger brother, Xu Chao, to continue queuing in the grain and oil section, while she went to the front and asked an armed policeman who was maintaining order.
"Excuse me, does this government-run supermarket accept sweet potato vines and sweet potatoes that we grow ourselves?"
The uniformed policeman looked to be in his forties. He gripped his gun with both hands, and his sharp eyes scanned the queuing crowd like a hawk searching for rabbits in the grass.
"Did you grow the sweet potato vines and sweet potatoes yourselves?"
The policeman looked puzzled when he heard the little girl suddenly appear in front of him.
He worked most of the day at the supermarket and saw people coming to buy things with their work points. This was the first time he had seen someone come to sell things.
However, as a police officer, he was actually aware of some of the government's development plans regarding the post-disaster reconstruction work in City C.
The most important aspect of this plan is the rapid reconstruction of agriculture.
Agriculture needs to be rebuilt, and food and vegetable seeds are key.
Although City C had its own seed bank and grain reserves built before the natural disaster.
But with so many people in the city waiting for food to be cooked, the grain reserves won't be depleted for long.
Therefore, the government urgently needs to plant large quantities of grains and vegetables to ensure that it can continue to provide livelihood support for disaster victims.
Time waits for no one!
Today, this little girl actually said that her family grows sweet potato vines and sweet potatoes. Isn't that exactly what those people urgently need?
"You really have this?"
The patrolling policeman looked at the little girl in front of him, whose hands were empty, and asked her with some suspicion.
"I'm not lying to you, I really do have it. Please wait a moment, I'll go get it right away!"
Xu Lai knew something was going to happen the moment she saw the policeman's reaction.
So he quickly walked over to his younger brother, who was still in line, and let his brother, who was carrying things in both hands, follow him.
"Look, my brother and I just dug and cut these before we set off!"
As she spoke, Xu Lai opened the bag containing the sweet potato vines and sweet potatoes, showing the policeman the sweet potato vines wrapped in insulation cotton and the sweet potatoes placed in the bag.
"This is really good stuff! You two wait a moment!"
The policeman looked at the fresh sweet potato vines still damp with water droplets inside the insulation and the sweet potatoes still covered in soil in the bag, and said excitedly.
Three minutes later, Xu Lai and her brother saw a man who looked like a leader hurriedly follow the policeman out of the office.
"Where? Where are the sweet potatoes and sweet potato vines you mentioned?"
Seeing the man's anxious expression, Xu Lai quickly waved to him, "Here, here!"
After saying that, she and her brother reopened the two bags.
"These sweet potato vines and sweet potatoes are so fresh!"
Ignoring the mud on the sweet potatoes, the man who looked like a leader reached out and touched the sweet potato vines. He then bent down and took out a sweet potato from another bag that was longer than his hand. He examined it carefully and couldn't stop smiling.
"I never expected that, amidst more than a year of torrential rains and natural disasters, someone would actually grow sweet potatoes whose leaves can be eaten as vegetables and whose fruit can be eaten as a staple food."
Seeing the leader's extreme interest in the sweet potato vines and sweet potatoes, Xu Lai pressed her advantage, asking, "Can I exchange these for work points?"
"Yes, yes, we want all these sweet potato vines and sweet potatoes!"
With a wave of his hand, the man introduced himself to Xu Lai and her brother in a very friendly manner: "My name is Han Lei, and I am the director of the Guanwang Community Government Supermarket. You can just call me Uncle Han!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com