But what should we give them?
Giving them fresh vegetables, eggs, or meat is definitely not an option, as that would reveal that their small yard is well-stocked, and it wouldn't be good if the neighboring community, lacking supplies, started targeting them one day.
Giving compressed biscuits seems a bit too inappropriate.
The neighborhood across the street doesn't lack these things.
Grandpa Gu thought for a moment and replied, "I saw that they wanted to grow vegetables before, and they even demolished a building. But I don't think they know how to grow vegetables very well. The first batch was trampled by zombies, and the second batch didn't even sprout. Why don't we teach them how to grow vegetables? After all, it's better to teach a man to fish than to give him a fish."
Qiao An'an thought this was a good idea.
The reason why people's hearts are not as pure as they used to be in the end times, apart from those who are inherently evil, is mainly due to the lack of food necessary for survival.
If they could teach Chenzhou and his family how to farm, ensuring the residents of the community would have enough to eat and drink, they would naturally stop eyeing their small courtyard. This would both repay the kindness of providing medicine and alleviate the threat to the community, which would be a win-win situation.
So the next morning, Qiao An'an contacted Shen Zhou via walkie-talkie and told him that she could teach them how to farm.
Shen Zhou was very grateful and said that he would definitely do his best to help if needed in the future.
Although Qiao An'an downloaded many books on planting and animal husbandry at the beginning of the apocalypse, many of the methods described in the books required modern advanced technology and were no longer suitable for the apocalypse.
Qiao An'an wasn't very skilled at farming either; she learned a lot from Grandpa Gu Bei.
So the task of teaching Chen Zhou and the others how to farm fell to Grandpa Gu Bei.
Grandpa Gu Bei told Shen Zhou that they hadn't built ridges when they planted the land before, which was not good for drainage. When it rained for several days in a row, the vegetables would easily rot. He suggested that they divide the planting area according to the vegetable variety and dig drainage ridges: "It's actually very simple. Just dig a ditch about ten centimeters around each plot of land."
After hearing this, Shen Zhou immediately called seven or eight burly men to dig the ground as Grandpa Gu Bei had instructed.
Grandpa Gu Bei said that the weather was too cold, and if they wanted to grow vegetables and fruits now, they would have to build a greenhouse. He suggested that most families in the community have plastic wrap, and they should sweep downstairs to collect the plastic wrap and build a greenhouse so that they could grow vegetables even in winter.
The dozen or so people in the opposite neighborhood don't lack supplies.
However, the apocalypse had been going on for almost half a year, and they mainly ate canned food, dried fruit, and compressed biscuits. Vacuum-packed braised food and instant noodles were luxuries for them. They were very happy to be able to eat fresh vegetables. In less than an hour, they found a lot of plastic wrap in the remaining three buildings. Some of the plastic wrap had already been used, but no one would buy only one box of plastic wrap. After the apocalypse, there was no electricity, so no one used this stuff. Therefore, many of them were still unopened.
In addition to the residents' supplies, they also found cling film from the previously abandoned property supermarket, totaling about 500 boxes, most of which were extra long, 300 meters each, enough to make a greenhouse.
The only headache for them was how to support the greenhouse from all sides.
Without a point of leverage, there's no way to apply the plastic wrap.
Later, it was Aunt Fang who came up with the idea: "When we demolished Building No. 3 before, there were a lot of discarded building materials, including a lot of steel bars. Why don't we use those steel bars to make supports for the greenhouse?"
While people from the opposite residential complex were gathering to dig out steel bars from abandoned building materials, the people in this small courtyard were already preparing for lunch.
Although Qiao An'an was a little reluctant, she still scooped out two crucian carp from the pond to make braised fish for Ya Ya.
Yaya had a fever again last night, but the temperature did not exceed 39 degrees Celsius. After taking antipyretics, the fever subsided quickly.
Although Aunt Fang said this was normal, children's colds and fevers usually last 2-3 days, and as long as the fever is not persistent or reaches 40 degrees or above, there is no need to worry too much.
However, Qiao An'an still felt sorry for Ya Ya. In just one or two days, Ya Ya's chubby little face had become thinner, so she specially made braised fish, which Ya Ya loves.
I picked out the fattest and least bony part of the fish from the belly, removed the bones, and put it in Ya Ya's bowl.
Seeing that Yu Yaya was eating happily, and even calling out to others while eating: "Sister Yu, Brother Gu Bei, my mom's braised fish is the best, you should try it too."
Chi Xiaoyu doesn't like to eat fish, so she just nodded lightly and went back to picking out her favorite dishes.
Gu Bei then placed the fish on his grandfather's plate, saying, "Grandpa, eat more fish. Fish is good for calcium."
Qiao An'an liked Gu Bei more and more the more she looked at him. She wondered when her daughter Ya Ya could be as filial as Gu Bei.
Just then, Ya Ya suddenly picked up a fish head and put it in Qiao An'an's bowl: "Mommy, this is your favorite fish head!!!"
Gu Bei was quite surprised to see that Ya Ya actually gave the fish head to Qiao An'an: "If you like fish heads, it has to be the kind with chopped chili peppers. Who would like this kind of small fish head with no meat?"
Ya Ya said confidently, "Mom likes it. Every time we eat fish, Mom says she wants to eat the fish head."
Upon hearing this, Gu Bei immediately applied the knowledge he had learned from his Chinese textbook: "That's because your mother didn't want to eat the fish herself, so she saved it for you. We all learned that lesson in our Chinese textbook!"
Ya Ya blinked her little eyes as if she understood, then put some of the fish from her bowl into Qiao An'an's bowl: "Ya Ya doesn't want Mommy to give all the fish to Ya Ya, Ya Ya wants to eat the good food with Mommy."
When Qiao An'an first moved to the small courtyard, she spent all her money on renovating the house. Her live streaming career was just starting out, and she hadn't earned much money yet.
Therefore, their lives were rather frugal.
In order to get Ya Ya to eat more, she told Ya Ya that she didn't like to eat fish, only fish heads, and that she didn't like to eat meat but only liked to gnaw on bones.
She hadn't thought anything of it before.
It wasn't until she saw the sensible Gu Bei that she realized she had spoiled Ya Ya too much before. Confucius said, "It is not scarcity that is to be feared, but inequality." Thinking of this, Qiao An'an picked up the fish that Ya Ya had given her, ate it, and then nodded approvingly at Ya Ya: "The meat on the belly of the fish is really delicious, thank you for sharing, Ya Ya!"
While Qiao An'an and the others were eating, the residents across the street had already found dozens of steel bars in the pile of abandoned building materials.
Judging from the framework they've set up, it must be at least an acre in size.
Indeed, having a large group makes one more powerful.
Gu Bei looked on with envy: "It has to be our neighborhood! The open space is so big! How much corn can such a huge greenhouse grow?!"
Grandpa Gu Bei replied, "One mu of land can yield at least 500-700 jin of corn, but we don't need to envy them. They have more people and eat more, while we have fewer people and eat less. Besides, we have a back mountain that they don't."
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