Chapter 107
"Why did Jiashu return to the community when he was fine?" Chen Cong was also confused.
"Hey, he's not going back to the community, he's going back to Qingshan Town. It's all because of his well-drilling team!"
Hearing her daughter's question, Cheng Ru stopped making dumplings and started nagging while standing at the table: "Didn't Jiashu's well-drilling team move its headquarters to Qingshan Town? They said there were many projects there and it was easy to find work.
As a result, now that water has been delivered, no one is digging wells anymore. Everyone in their team has dispersed, and everyone in the headquarters has also moved away.
But as soon as he came back that day, someone came to him and said that their valuable machines were at the headquarters and someone had to go over to look after them.
In the end, I don’t know how they discussed it, but in the end they decided to let Jiashu go over there and watch.
I told him not to go, but Jiashu said he was familiar with the place and the team couldn't send anyone else because everyone else had families and he was young and not married yet.
Oh, if you don’t have a family, you don’t have family members! Other people are not family members?! "
The more Cheng Ru spoke, the angrier she became, and at the same time she felt a little uncomfortable.
She actually understood Jiashu's thoughts. There were too many people living here, and Jiashu didn't want to cause trouble for everyone.
The child felt that he was an outsider and a guest from the beginning to the end, and was always afraid of making things difficult for others because of himself.
But in fact, no one in the family really treated him as an outsider.
"If he wants to go, let him go. He is in his twenties."
The old man walked out holding Shanshan's hand and continued talking.
"Besides, Wei Yan is still there. They know each other so well that they will take care of each other. Even if things get bad, he will go back to the community. Nothing will happen."
"I have sealed all the houses in the community. I don't even have a place to live when I go back." Chen Cong muttered softly.
I didn't dare speak loudly, for fear that my mother would hear it and become more worried.
But she was not too worried about Jiashu. According to what she saw on the way back, although the flood was inevitable, the government's arrangements were good and there would not be much danger.
Besides, Jiashu is a grown man and has been through a lot, so there is no need to worry too much.
Gu Kai and Shi Chen, brother and sister, came back at noon the next day.
When they came back, they told everyone that their work had been completed and they didn’t need to go out again in the short term.
On the same day they returned, other family members also brought back the same news in the evening, saying that the project at the supermarket was completed and they didn't need to go there again in the near future.
This is actually good news, but everyone felt heavy in their hearts after hearing it.
Because they know that the government is afraid that the residents will be in danger and is trying to prevent them from going out.
This also means that the heavy rain will not stop in the short term, and the government actually has no good solution for such flood disasters.
All we can do is preserve our strength and wait patiently.
The rain quickly flooded the fourth floor.
The room that Chen Cong and his companions had entered and exited before was completely buried under water.
The rain was still pouring down, and through the rain curtain one could see that the outside had turned into an ocean.
The rubber boats that were once frequently seen are becoming less and less common. Occasionally, one or two will pass by, and you can vaguely see that the people sitting on them are soldiers.
They should be patrolling and rescuing people.
It became quiet outside again. Apart from the sound of the rain, no other sound could be heard.
All residents living below the sixth floor were taken away, probably to a temporary accommodation nearby.
Residents on the lower floors began to feel anxious, fearing that it would soon be their turn.
Although people didn't go out much because of the heavy rain, there were few people walking on the stairs.
But everyone can feel that indescribable pressure.
Tongtong and Shanshan no longer ask to play in the rain, and the two children have even lost interest in their favorite cartoons and Lego blocks.
When there were no adults supervising me, I would sit quietly on the balcony and look out through the glass.
Although he was still young, there was a hint of worry between his brows.
Because citizens had been organized to fight floods and rescue people before, and all residents who participated would be given double the usual amount of food.
So at the beginning, every household still had some food.
But the rain kept falling, the water level kept rising, and slowly, everyone started to panic.
Zhou Ying came and knocked on the door early that morning. After opening the door, Chen Cong could see that she looked very unhappy.
"What's wrong?" she asked out loud.
Zhou Ying's voice was filled with anger: "The vegetables downstairs were stolen!"
Chen Cong and his family lived on the 19th floor. In addition to the two houses opposite, the four houses on the 18th floor were also purchased by the government.
These houses were previously used as accommodation for young soldiers.
Because of the recent flood, the young soldiers have not returned to live there, so those houses have become vacant.
Almost all the people in the Shen family who were capable of taking charge had been transferred away by the government, and Zhou Ying and her husband had no one to discuss matters with.
After discussing it, the couple decided to plant vegetables in all the houses.
They naturally knew the effectiveness of the formation, and that was why they did not want to leave those houses abandoned.
So when Xiao Liang came last time, they specifically told him about this idea, and Xiao Liang immediately agreed.
There was no need to worry about not having the key, as Tongtong was at home. So during the days when Shen Cong went to the Provincial Library, the couple, together with Shen Xi and Shen's father, did this big thing together.
They planted vegetables on all six houses.
Even when they went out to work later, they did not forget to pick up the vegetables in the house. After more than ten days, the fast-growing green vegetables, such as lettuce, had become green and were about to be harvested.
But this morning, when Zhou Ying went down to water the plants, she found that all the green vegetables were gone!
"I don't know who is so heartless! In three or four days, the vegetables will be fully ripe. Now is the best time to weigh them. It would be too heartbreaking to pick them now!"
Zhou Ying was so angry that she couldn't sit still, and even her voice became much higher.
"Who picked it? How did they get in through the door?" Chen Xi heard the conversation and followed them out.
When the lock was opened, she and her son went together. The iron chains for the interlocking door were all made of Tongtong.
Chen Xi knew very well how thick the chain was, and it would take some effort for most people to open it.
"It must have been taken down by someone in our building. No one else could get through. They used pliers to cut the chain. Well, I'm not saying this, it must have been done by the family on the 13th floor. They rely on having three full-time workers and are usually very arrogant in this building.
If it weren't for them, even an ordinary person wouldn't be able to cut the iron chain!"
"It's hard to say. They have three full-time workers. Logically, they shouldn't be out of food now, right?"
"Who knows? What if they don't know how to save?"
…
Several people are still discussing.
Zhou Ying was very angry at the moment, and her voice became louder and louder, until the whole family heard the news and came out to express their concern.
Chen Cong's mind was focused on the food shortage.
It has been raining heavily for fifteen days.
Even if the government had provided some subsidies before, the residents would have some surplus food, but not much now.
Now it was just stealing some vegetables, and from the deep tone in Zhou Ying's words, it could be heard that even though it was stealing, the other party was actually still restrained.
They only stole those that were about to mature, and left the seedlings untouched.
What does this mean?
This means that the other party is really short of food.
If this continues, the same thing will definitely happen again, and more and more.
"Zhou Ying, we haven't been home much these days and don't know the situation. Do you know if there are people living upstairs who have completely run out of food?" Chen Cong asked.
"I'm not sure. People in this building don't interact much. At most, we just say hello when we meet each other on the stairs. I don't know much about it either.
But I know that many people are concerned about the vegetables on our top floor. In the past few days, several families have come to ask if we can sell the vegetables upstairs. "
That's it.
Now the city has been advocating citizens to grow vegetables according to local conditions. It can be said that every household grows vegetables, the only difference is the amount they grow.
But basically they can ensure self-sufficiency in their own vegetables.
Therefore, if there is no food shortage, few people would ask to buy vegetables.
Chen Cong bit his lower lip, weighed it in his mind for a long time, and then suggested: "Why don't we sell vegetables?"
"Selling vegetables?" Everyone in the family looked at her in surprise: "What vegetables are you selling? We don't have many vegetables at home!!"
"We sell vegetables from the top and eighteenth floors. We pick the ones that are almost ripe and sell as many as we can. We don't charge money, we just collect points. We sell them for the government. The vegetables upstairs were originally from the base anyway."
Seeing that everyone was looking at her, Shen Cong explained again: “I don’t know when the city will start distributing relief food. If it doesn’t, it will definitely cause panic among people again.
We can’t say what the situation is like in other places, but at least everyone in our community knows that we have a vegetable base on the top floor.
If you are extremely hungry, someone will definitely think about you.
Our family plus Zhou Ying's family may seem like a lot of people, but we really don't have much fighting power. If people from the community come in groups to forcefully buy vegetables, can we protect them?
Since we can't protect it, we might as well just sell it.
I thought I should hold on for a few days, and the government would definitely take action. It was called selling vegetables, but in fact it was just to calm my anxiety.
If we give everyone a little hope, life won’t seem so hard.”
"I think it's okay. If there's not enough food, I can just produce some temporarily. At least we can get through this period." Gu Kai was the first to express his support.
"You say yes to whatever Shen Cong says. Your vote doesn't count at all. Dad, Uncle Gu, what do you think?" Shen Xi asked.
“I think it’s okay.” Father Shen spoke immediately and also expressed his support.
Others also expressed their opinions, and no one objected.
In this case, everyone took action immediately.
Gu Kai, Shi Chen, Zhou Ying and Liu Xiaofeng went to the top floor together to count the harvestable vegetables.
For some that were still a few days old, Gu Kai immediately used his supernatural powers to ripen them immediately to ensure the quantity for exchange.
After a busy period, they harvested more than 200 kilograms of sweet potatoes, more than 150 fist-sized potatoes, in addition to a batch of loofahs, cucumbers, eggplants, beans and more than 20 pumpkins...
Although the quantity is not too large, it is enough for emergency use.
After determining the variety and quantity of vegetables to be harvested, Shi Chen and Liu Xiaofeng ran downstairs and knocked on the door to inform the neighbors of the news.
Of course, I also told you the standards for redeeming points.
Although there was a flood outside, the exchange rate was the same as when people went out to buy groceries at ordinary times, and there was no price increase. However, because it was a special period, purchases were limited.
Each family can purchase three to five kilograms of vegetables per day, depending on the number of people living there.
And the daily supply is fixed and first come first served.
As soon as this notice was issued, the whole building was in an uproar!
Although Shi Chen specifically stated when notifying everyone that the official exchange would not begin until 10 o'clock, it is still in preparation.
But after receiving this news, many people rushed directly upstairs.
I wish I could stay at the corridor entrance on the top floor right now, for I’m afraid that if I go there in the afternoon I won’t be able to queue up and exchange anything.
Chen Cong installed an iron-railed anti-theft door at the entrance of the 18th floor corridor, mainly because he was afraid that too many people would squeeze in and the situation would be out of control.
Then they placed a table behind the iron gate, with an electronic scale provided by Chen Cong on the table, and the harvested vegetables were placed in baskets around the table.
It is in such a simple environment and with only a few kinds of vegetables that people see hope.
The dull atmosphere that had lasted for several days suddenly changed. Neighbors who usually just nodded to each other soon started chatting and laughing while waiting in line.
The points system in Bac Ninh City has been implemented for a long time and has now become a very mature model.
Not only all the laborers, but almost every resident in the city has a copy.
Only if you have spare energy and can go out to work, how much you work will be reflected in your scorebook.
So Chen Cong and the others suggested using points to exchange for vegetables, which is a way that everyone can afford.
There are actually not many neighbors in a building. The residents below the fifth floor have all been relocated. The residents above the eighteenth floor are government buildings and the Shen Cong and Shi Chen families, who are not involved in the exchange.
So there are only about forty households and about two hundred people living in the entire building.
Based on five kilograms of vegetables per family, the dishes they prepared should be more than enough.
But what Chen Cong and his friends didn't expect was that the news spread like wildfire, and soon everyone in the community knew about it.
There were no rubber boats, so residents from the opposite building even came over in their children's bathtubs to exchange food.
Finally, some people came here with rafts made from broken wood and foam boxes.
It was not until four o'clock in the afternoon that the exchange work was finally completed. All the vegetables they prepared on the first day were exchanged, not even a single green vegetable seedling was left.
"Fortunately, there are only four buildings in our community. If there were two more, we wouldn't have enough food to prepare."
Thinking about the heated scene just now, Liu Xiaofeng said with lingering fear.
"There's not a shortage of food, it's just that the way they came here is too unsafe." Gu Kai frowned.
Bac Ninh is not a coastal city, and no one would have kayaks or anything like that at home.
It would be nice to have a swimming ring for a child.
Just now, in order to come over to change the dishes, they used all kinds of strange means of transportation, some of which looked okay, but some of which really made people's hearts jump to their throats.
I was afraid that if I didn’t see it, the so-called boat would capsize.
"I'll go back and look around. I remember we bought a rubber boat in order to go out and play. I don't know if it's still there." Chen Cong said thoughtfully.
Gu Kai looked at her.
He knew that Chen Cong must have meant to look for it in the space, but when the family purchased these supplies, they had made a list.
Anyway, he didn't see any rubber boats in the list.
But he certainly won't say it.
On the contrary, Shi Chen, who was standing next to him, became excited after hearing this: "Auntie Shen, please look for them. If you can find them, I will row the boat to deliver them to them!"
Children are always most interested in things they have never played with before.
Shi Chen must have been envious of the little soldiers rowing their boats on the water every day.
Having never experienced a flood in his previous life, Chen Cong had not prepared too many things needed for a flood.
But she was frightened by all kinds of disasters and was always afraid that some unknown disaster would suddenly happen.
So, although she didn't make any special preparations, she still bought a lot of swimming rings and life jackets.
Shencong also bought two rubber boats, not the professional ones, but when she placed the order, she specifically bought the six-seater ones.
This at least ensures that if there is any danger, a family of ten will have enough space to sit.
After returning home, Chen Cong went straight to the top floor and checked the small warehouse that was specially built.
Gu Kai went with her.
To outsiders, it seemed that they had cleaned out the warehouse, but in fact, Chen Cong took out the items he had purchased previously from the space.
In addition to the rubber boat, she also took out two foam swimming rings and a life jacket from the space.
When Shi Chen saw these things, his eyes lit up!
He immediately took the rubber boat and the air pump and ran back home, and started inflating it on the spot with Liu Xiaofeng.
Zhou Ying, on the other hand, praised Chen Cong a lot, saying that she had vision and was well prepared, and she said everything nice about it.
Of course, everyone is used to such compliments and has become immune to them, so they are no longer particularly touched.
That afternoon, Gu Kai ripened all the unripe vegetables on the 18th floor.
Because when these vegetables were planted, the flood had already come.
Zhou Ying and his wife no longer planted too many fine vegetables, such as beans, tomatoes, and cucumbers.
Apart from the green leafy vegetables that were stolen before, they planted potatoes, sweet potatoes, and pumpkins, which can be used as both vegetables and staple foods.
Sure enough, as soon as these dishes were brought out, they were welcomed even more warmly by people.
Shi Chen finally got what he wanted and could now row a rubber boat to deliver vegetables to several other residential buildings.
Those dishes were weighed and packaged in advance by Chen Cong and his team.
Deliver it to the entrance of another building, and the people there just need to bring their points book over to redeem it directly.
On the third day, more people came to exchange their coins.
In addition to Fulin, people from some surrounding gathering places also began to rush over after hearing the news.
The amount of vegetables that each household could exchange increased from five kilograms to three kilograms.
But even so, the vegetables that previously took about five hours to exchange can now be exchanged in less than three hours.
Various homemade boats that came to exchange vegetables lined up on the water.
Gu Kai began to work extra hours, and other people in the family also worked later and later.
There is no other way. In order to save Gu Kai some energy, everyone hopes to do more to the best of their ability and make him work less.
…
This kind of life lasted for another week.
Although we have repeatedly told everyone that the total number of vegetables supplied each day is limited, if the gathering point is too far away, please do not come here, otherwise we cannot guarantee the supply even if you come here.
But we can see that more and more people come here every day.
Fortunately, just when everyone was about to give up, the government rescue team finally arrived!
First, there were more and more rubber boats that had almost disappeared before.
The young soldiers and government volunteers drove boats and used loud speakers and whistles to notify various gathering points, asking everyone to go to the nearest temporary relief points as a family to collect food.
In order to ensure safety, the collection times at different gathering points are specially stipulated.
When the news spread, everyone cheered.
Those who had been trapped at home for a long time all leaned on the windows, banging pots and clapping to express their joy.
With the support of the government, Chen Cong and his colleagues’ vegetable exchange work has finally come to a temporary end.
It was at this time that all the staff finally felt unprecedented fatigue.
Everyone was sitting, leaning, or lying down, no one cared about their posture, and everyone was so tired that they didn't even want to talk.
If it weren't for the fact that they had to struggle to get up and collect relief food, no one would have bothered to move for the sake of this family.
The food provided by the government’s relief food is actually similar to that provided by Shen Cong and his team.
Early compressed biscuits and luncheon meat had long since disappeared.
The relief food that had been distributed in advance were all potatoes, sweet potatoes, pumpkins and the like, which were obviously temporarily transferred from various bases.
But the more things like this there are, the more reassured people feel after receiving them.
Because for everyone, biscuits, instant noodles, and luncheon meat are already non-renewable resources, so eat less of them.
When you think that you will never have it again, you will inevitably feel nervous when holding it in your hand.
And these vegetables will give people hope.
Because it can be grown.
And since the government is able to distribute them as relief food, it at least shows that they can be guaranteed in large quantities.
When life is too depressing and the future is too bleak, a little light and a little hope can rekindle people's fighting spirit.
The government didn’t distribute much, and a family might only get a small bag after rowing back and forth for an hour or two.
But just this small bag of things calmed people's hearts, and the panic that had spread before slowly disappeared.
And even more exciting things are yet to come.
No one remembers who discovered it first.
After forty days of heavy rain, one morning, someone in the yard shouted in surprise: "The rain has stopped!"
Everyone who heard the sound was immediately awakened from their dreams.
After getting up, everyone did almost the same thing: opened the window and looked outside.
Then people were surprised to find that it was not a prank.
The sound of rain, which had become so familiar to people that people even ignored it, was gone. The heavy rain had really stopped!
Although the sky was still a little gray and the dark clouds had not completely dispersed, sunlight could be seen pouring out from the gaps in the clouds.
Every dark cloud seemed to be rimmed with gold.
The author has something to say:
Thank you to the little angels who voted for me or irrigated nutrient solution during 2022-08-21 23:12:07~2022-08-22 23:42:09~
Thanks to the little angels who irrigated the nutrient solution: PXQ 20 bottles; Sunny, Ni Tu Bie Lai 10 bottles; Yi Yang Qian Xi, Wen Zi Xiao Tou Ming 5 bottles; Wow 4 bottles; Bai Tian 2 bottles; Material Qing Yu, Peachi- 1 bottle;
Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!
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