In normal times, a toddler over one year old would still be drinking formula and eating specially made snacks bought from baby stores.
These calcium-fortified milk biscuits are usually given to older children.
But in this special time of extreme scarcity of daily necessities, this bag of biscuits and two cartons of pure milk are extremely precious.
Children as young as An'an need calcium supplements, and these biscuits and milk are just the right amount to help her get the necessary nutrients.
"Lai Lai, thank you so much! We don't know what to say!"
Lu Yongbing and his two companions thanked Xu Lai repeatedly.
After playing with An'an for a while, Xu Lai got up to say goodbye.
Seeing this, Lu Yongbing told Xu Lai about his plans for the afternoon: "Lai Lai, I'm planning to go to that reservoir in the suburbs again tomorrow morning to try my luck. Do you want to come?"
Following his family's advice, Lu Yongbing resigned from his government job, but he didn't want to stay at home and live off his savings.
Today he needs to hurry outside to get some soil to plant the sweet potato vines that Xu Lai sent, and tomorrow morning he'll go fishing while it's still cool.
Anyway, he has a fishing net. If he's lucky enough to catch a lot of fish, he might be able to take them to the community government's supermarket to exchange for some work points.
Xu Lai's family has a pet named Wanzi, a meat-loving glutton. The fish they had stocked up on had long been eaten up by them and Wanzi. When she heard Grandpa Lu's invitation, she agreed without hesitation.
Back home, I thought about going to the reservoir in the suburbs tomorrow, and realized that walking alone wouldn't be enough.
Xu Lai recalled that when she brought her second uncle to the city, she had placed the electric tricycle he used in the countryside into her spatial storage.
This electric tricycle can carry people and goods without being too conspicuous or attracting attention.
So he went into the space to inspect the tricycle and charged it with the space's solar energy.
The next day, at the crack of dawn, Xu Lai went downstairs early to a secluded spot and took out the fully charged electric tricycle from her spatial storage.
Then they drove the electric tricycle downstairs to wait for their second uncle and the others.
Besides her and Grandpa Lu, Second Uncle and Grandpa Xiao also went to the reservoir in the suburbs today, making a total of four people: three elders and one young man.
When Grandpa Xiao and Grandpa Lu got off the bus and saw the electric tricycle behind Xu Lai, their eyes lit up.
"I thought we old folks would have to walk there today, but we never expected to get a ride in Lai Lai's tricycle!"
After spending more than a year together, Grandpa Xiao and Grandpa Lu had always known that although Xu Lai was young, he was very capable.
So they wisely didn't ask where she got the tricycle.
"That's right, it would probably take us half a day to walk there. Now, with this tricycle, we can save a lot of effort and time!"
Grandpa Lu said with a smile, carrying a net in one hand and a bucket in the other.
"Are you three gentlemen seated? Once you're all settled, we're off!"
Sitting in the driver's seat, Xu Lai turned to look at the three old men already sitting in the back of the tricycle, carefully gave them some instructions, then reached out and turned the key to turn on the switch, holding the handlebars with both hands, and drove towards the reservoir in the suburbs.
More than an hour later, they finally arrived at their destination.
Because we set off early, it's still dark, the sun hasn't come out, and the weather isn't very hot yet.
The reservoir is still full of water. The fish have been underwater all night, and this is the time for them to swim to the surface to breathe oxygen and forage for food.
Xu Lai turned on his flashlight and shone it on the water's surface, where he could see fish surfacing.
"Let's cast our nets while no one's around!"
Grandpa Lu rolled up his trousers, picked up his net, and walked to the reservoir dam. He then began to exert force to throw the net into the reservoir.
A few minutes later, Grandpa Lu began to close the net.
Pulling a net is hard work.
Seeing this, Grandpa Xu and Grandpa Xiao quickly went over to lend a helping hand.
When the net was pulled up, there were several crucian carp about the length of chopsticks, as well as some river shrimp, lobsters, and crabs.
There are far fewer fish here than last time I came!
Seeing this, Grandpa Lu sighed and began to collect the fish from the net into the bucket.
Although the number of fish in the reservoir had decreased significantly, Xu Lai noticed that the three old men all had expressions of "guessing it out" on their faces.
It seems that many people from this area have come to this reservoir to catch fish.
At this time, what everyone lacked most was food, as the crops in the suburban fields had long been drowned by the flood.
To fill their stomachs, everyone tried every means to find food outside, and naturally they wouldn't let go of the fish in the reservoir.
In fact, the fish, shrimp and crabs raised in Xu Lai's pond of about 100 square meters have grown quite a bit.
In particular, the fish fry I bought, such as perch, crucian carp, grass carp, and black carp, have grown to three to five pounds.
However, the fish inside are not yet very big, and the weather will soon get hotter and hotter, and the water in the reservoirs and ponds in the wild will evaporate. At that time, the food for the growing meatballs, whose appetite is constantly increasing, will have to be replenished by the space.
Therefore, the fish in the spatial pond have not moved yet.
After casting their nets a few times on the embankment with little success, the group boarded a tricycle and moved to a more secluded location.
Sure enough, the terrain there was steep, so it was estimated that fewer people usually came here to fish. The three old men cast their nets and caught four or five fish weighing seven or eight pounds each.
The three elderly people and the young man kept busy as the sun rose from the horizon to its zenith, and more and more people came to the reservoir to fish.
As the weather gets hotter, the three old men jump into the reservoir to cool off when they can't stand the heat.
"Sisters, you'd better hurry up and leave! When we came over, a few people were eyeing your electric tricycle!"
As Xu Lai was lifting the fish that the three old men had caught onto the tricycle, a familiar voice rang out.
Following the sound, Xu Lai discovered a boy with a buzz cut lurking in the reservoir just two meters away from her.
"It's you!"
Xu Lai recognized the boy in the water as the brother and sister who had given her two extendable stun guns when they first came to the reservoir to fish.
"Did you come here specifically to deliver this message? Where's your sister, Xiaoyou?"
Xu Lai never expected to run into an acquaintance again by the reservoir after so long.
"Don't worry, sister, my sister is staying with the people in our village!"
The boy in the water wiped the water off his face and said anxiously to Xu Lai, "Sister, you two need to hurry up and leave. Those eight people about fifty meters to your left have been watching your two electric tricycles ever since you came here."
I was just swishing around when I overheard them talking about robbing your electric tricycle. I recognized you in the water, so I swam over to check, and sure enough, it was you!
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