With the tofu ready, it was time for Song Qiu'e to shine.
My daughter wanted stuffed tofu, so I made it!
However, stuffed tofu requires pork belly, so Xu Haiguo took out a piece of frozen pork belly from the freezer in his space, thawed it, and then minced it into meat paste.
After Song Qiu'e seasoned the minced meat, everyone worked together to make a hole in the appropriately sized cubes of tofu and stuff them with meat.
Everyone loves fried tofu, let's make it!
The fried tofu is fried until tender, and it tastes especially good when dipped in sugar.
Fried tofu that's a little overcooked is especially flavorful when added to hot pot.
Wrap the tofu in cheesecloth and squeeze out the water. Add chopped ginger and salt, shape into small, egg-sized balls, and fry them into tofu balls. They taste quite good.
Lunch was practically a tofu feast, featuring fried tofu, braised tofu, stuffed tofu, and cold tofu salad.
After finishing the sumptuous meal, Grandpa Xu put two pieces of tofu in a bowl and asked Xu Lai to send them out of the space. He wanted to give one to each of his old squad leader, Grandpa Xiao, and Grandpa Lu.
The peaceful days didn't last long. Two and a half months of high temperatures caused water evaporation to accelerate and intensify, leading to high-temperature drought disasters in most parts of the country.
The government, fearing it would cause panic among the people nationwide, did not broadcast much about the drought situation in various regions.
However, netizens from various places posted photos online of their local land cracked so dry that a foot could fit on it, forests dying in large areas, and even rivers and ponds drying up.
As for the Changyan River, which runs through City C, the water level is visibly dropping every day. So far, the water level of the Changyan River has dropped by two-thirds.
Xu Lai and his team even went to the Changyan River to take a look at this.
When a person stands in the Changyan River, the average water level is below an adult's thigh.
While the people were worried, they all jumped into the Changyan River to catch fish.
Xu Lai and the others received this news on the second day after they went fishing.
Before dawn, Grandpa Lu took a bucket and a net to find Xu Lai and Grandpa Xiao.
So Xu Lai, Xu Haiguo, Grandpa Lu, Grandpa Xiao, and Li Qingya took an electric tricycle to the riverbank.
As everyone was catching fish in the water, suddenly a red flame shot straight into the sky from the southwest.
What happened there?
"It looks like there's a fire!"
For a moment, everyone who was fishing or netting in the water stared intently in the direction of the fire.
"That's Wangtaishan! There's a fire at Wangtaishan!"
Xu Lai spoke to the people around her.
Wangtai Mountain is the largest mountain in City C, and also the largest forest in City C.
The area around Wangtaishan, including the surrounding area and the surrounding ground for several miles, is called Wangtaishan Forest Park.
Unexpectedly, the park caught fire, and the flames spread like a giant dragon soaring through the air, seemingly about to engulf the entire Wangtaishan area.
"Although the wind isn't strong right now, almost all the trees on Wangtai Mountain have been scorched to death by the sun. This fire probably won't be easy to put out!"
"Yes, we've been using firewood from Wangtai Mountain for cooking lately. The pine trees there have all dried up and died, and the pine resin has been released by the hot sun, making them even more flammable!"
A few people not far from Xu Lai were also talking about Wangtai Mountain.
Xu Lai and his group had been to Wangtai once before during the torrential rain and floods. They had also gone on an adventure to the oil refinery not far from Wangtai Mountain.
"Oh no, it would be terrible if this fire spread to the oil refinery not far from Wangtai Mountain!"
Normally, there is a long buffer zone between the oil refinery at the foot of Wangtai Mountain and the forest on Wangtai Mountain.
However, from the torrential rain disaster to the current high temperature, this isolation zone has long been occupied by all kinds of garbage and even dead branches and leaves washed in by the flood.
Moreover, no one lived near Wangtaishan at that time, and there was no guarantee that the garbage there would be cleaned up.
If no one cleans it up, and the fire spreads there, it could cause an explosion if there are any hazardous materials left behind at the refinery.
Xu Lai realized what was happening and immediately took out her phone from the waterproof bag hanging around her neck, making a call to the patrol headquarters in City C.
I dialed for a long time, but the line was always busy.
"Sigh, someone from our neighborhood went to Wangtai Mountain to chop firewood today!"
"Sigh, which neighborhood doesn't have people chopping firewood? Those who went to Wangtai Mountain to chop firewood today are going to be unlucky!"
On the shore not far from Xu Lai, a few people who had just arrived to catch fish in the water said with regret and a bit of helplessness.
The natural gas pipeline has not been restored since it was destroyed by floods during torrential rains.
Even now, in urban residential areas, people still cook by burning firewood.
With so many people burning firewood, the trees and firewood near the neighborhood have long been cut down.
Now, if we want to cook, we have to go to Wangtai Mountain, which is even further away, to chop firewood.
If even the trees on Wangtai Mountain are burned to death, where will these city dwellers get firewood to cook?
The fire on Wangtai Mountain grew larger and larger, and the people fishing in the Dayan River stood up and stared at the raging fire on Wangtai Mountain.
"Look! There's an airplane over the forest at Wangtai Mountain!"
Hearing the exclamation, Xu Lai and the others looked up in the direction the man was pointing, and sure enough, there were three orange helicopters circling over Wangtai Mountain.
Giant water buckets were hanging below the three helicopters. When the helicopters reached the area where the flames on Wangtai Mountain were moving forward, the water from the giant water buckets was poured down from above.
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