The next day, everyone planned to go out again. This time, Qiao Qingqing and her husband went along. When Shao Shengan went down to look for the gas tank, Qiao Qingqing was looking for branches underwater nearby. By the time Chen Binggang and the others dug out the gas tank, a bundle of branches was piled on the family's speedboat.
"Why are you looking for this thing? Are you trying to light a fire? There's too much smoke!"
"It's okay. I have an old-fashioned stove at home. I can put it on the terrace and use it without worrying about the smoke." Qiao Qingqing explained, changing the subject. "How many cans did you find?"
Speaking of this, Zheng Tiehui could not hide his joy on his face: "I finally pried open the door of the store, there are so many inside, I can't count them, I only dragged one can up. I won't say more, I have to go again."
"Someone is watching us through the window over there." Wang Jiale took off his diving goggles to rest, glanced around and said softly.
"Just look, if they are capable they can come and take it carefully." Chen Binggang took a short break and jumped into the water again, leaving his son Chen Chenglei to watch the things.
"I'll go again." Shao Shengan exchanged glances with Qiao Qingqing and entered the water again.
Qiao Qingqing stopped going into the water and focused on guarding the gas tank and branches on the speedboat. Suddenly, she heard the sound of water in the distance. She turned around and saw someone swimming towards them. She immediately tensed her muscles and held the jungle knife at her waist. She bought many weapons, but the one that satisfied her the most was this jungle knife. When she lived in the safe base, a neighbor woman had such a knife. It was convenient for hiding and stabbing. It was extremely sharp. With one cut, as long as the force was controlled accurately, it could easily chop off the claws with bad intentions. At that time, she only had a kitchen knife with a notch. After years of use, it had lost its sharpness and needed to be chopped several times when used.
She grasped the hilt of the knife as if she were putting on armor.
The visitor was unaware of the murderous intent she was trying to suppress under her calm eyes, and waved at her from a distance: "Beauty! Hey beauty! Can you help me?"
A total of three people swam over, one middle-aged man and two young men, and they seemed to have good swimming skills.
"Stop, don't come any closer!" Qiao Qingqing waved the branch twice to warn.
"Hey, beautiful lady, don't be so fierce, let us get on the boat first——"
"Stop, stop! She's got a knife out!"
Qiao Qingqing pointed the tip of the knife at them: "Stop, don't come over."
Three men floated in front, and the leader explained: "We don't have bad intentions. We just saw that you have diving equipment and wanted to ask for your help. We are really not bad people. Put down the knife first!"
"Stand back three meters."
The three of them did as they were told.
Only then did Qiao Qingqing put down the knife and asked them what kind of help they wanted.
"We are residents of this area. You should be too. You look familiar to me. Yes, yes! I want to borrow two sets of diving equipment from you. Do you think it is convenient for you?"
"You can borrow it, but I'll give you something in exchange. Do you have any gold jewelry?"
When Shao Shengan pulled up the first gas tank, Qiao Qingqing had already accepted a gold ring and rented out a set of diving equipment. After listening to Qiao Qingqing's explanation, Shao Shengan said he would not go down again: "It's not safe to leave you alone. Fortunately, they didn't rob you by force."
Qiao Qingqing didn't say that she was not afraid even if they wanted to rob her, and nodded obediently.
Chen Binggang, Zheng Tiehui and others went back and forth several times and were exhausted and out of breath.
"I saw other people also going to look for gas tanks. It seems that if we don't get enough this time, there will be no more in the future." Zheng Tiehui said as he dived into the water again.
"I won't go. I'll leave some for others." Chen Binggang looked at the three gas tanks with satisfaction. Seeing that there were branches on Qiao Qingqing and the others' speedboat, he thought that this was also a good resource. So after taking a rest, he dived nearby to cut branches.
Sitting in the speedboat, Qiao Qingqing could see that more and more people were coming out to move around. Everyone used various tools to move on the water and occupied different waters to search for supplies.
There were sounds of water and shouting everywhere, and this scene was the same as the most common scene in her previous life, which made her feel anxious about what day it was. But as long as she turned her head and saw her husband sitting next to her, her heart settled.
After returning home, Qiao Qingqing discussed with Shao Shengan to dismantle the solar generator and its supporting facilities and store them in the space: "I am afraid that when the temperature drops sharply in the future, I will not have time to store them, and the equipment will be frozen and damaged. When the temperature rises sharply and the sun comes out, I will not be able to use it."
This is indeed a big problem. Qingqing said that the temperature will drop to minus 60 or 70 degrees Celsius, and there will be no sun. Shao Shengan can't imagine what a desperate and terrifying scene it will be. But people can't always live in fear, they have to focus on the present.
After listening to Qiao Qingqing's words, Shao Shengan felt that it made sense.
"The master left the instruction manual, and I asked my mother to give him a red envelope and bought him a notebook. If you need more information, I bought them all. They are all e-books with pictures and texts. Sheng An, you had good grades in science when you were in school, and you often got full marks in physics. This job can only be done by you, I can't do it."
Shao Shengan felt that the responsibility was great, and he responded seriously: "I will study it carefully, don't worry, I will take it apart carefully, and put it back exactly when I need it in the future."
Qiao Qingqing smiled and looked at him with tenderness and trust.
The next day, Shao Shengan was invited by his neighbor to go out to look for wood. Qiao Qingqing was in the kitchen early in the morning, thawing the frozen buns and dumplings bought from the food factory. All the steamers in the house were used, and the whole kitchen was filled with steam.
She was preparing for the eternal night and great earthquakes to come.
Countless darkness will breed in the eternal night. Every time you light a fire to cook, the flames and the aroma produced by cooking will attract vultures like rotten meat, bringing countless dangers.
In those days, Qiao Qingqing lived stealthily like a rat. The crisis of survival came not only from the shortage of food, but also from other humans with bad intentions - humans had malicious malice, including dirty malice towards women and greed for food.
This time, their family prepared enough food, but if they acted carelessly and acted as if they had no shortage of supplies, danger would come knocking on their door. So Qiao Qingqing decided to prepare all kinds of cooked food, cook the frozen buns and dumplings purchased in advance, and make twice as much food every time she cooked and store it in the space. There were still seven years before the Eternal Night, so she had enough time to prepare.
"There are so many flocks of birds these days. It seems like they are flying from the north. Look! Another flock is coming!" Shao's mother frowned.
Qiao Songzhi sat on the balcony with her knitting a sweater. When she looked up, she felt that the flock of birds in the distance was dark and pressing on her heart like a dark cloud. She sighed, "Nothing is normal now." She knew that this was related to what her daughter said about the big drop in temperature in the future. It must be colder in the north, so the flock of birds migrated south.
"The kitchen smells so good. What is Qingqing doing?" Shao's mother sniffed.
Qiao Songzhi smiled and said, "She loves to think about food. She must be making steamed buns. I can smell the fragrance of steamed buns."
"Mom! I've watered the green onions!" Shao Shengfei came down from the attic to report to his mother, who praised him.
"Where are my brother and sister?" Shao Shengfei looked around.
"Sheng An has gone out to look for branches. Qing Qing is in the kitchen. Be careful not to run too fast!"
Shao Shengfei pushed open the kitchen door and came in, poking his head in: "Sister! What delicious food are you cooking?"
"Brother, I want to pickle some radishes. Can you help me wash them?" Assigning work to Shao Shengfei.
Shao Shengfei was happy to help. He sat on a small stool and carefully scrubbed the radishes. Qiao Qingqing then taught him how to cut the radishes: "Just cut them this big."
He placed the radish that Qiao Qingqing had cut on the chopping board and cut it carefully, trying to cut it exactly as Qiao Qingqing instructed. Qiao Qingqing occasionally glanced at it and continued her work with confidence. When the steamed buns were finished, she put the buns into the space before she heard Shao Shengfei coming into the kitchen, leaving only one for lunch.
After wiping her hands, she began to prepare lunch. She opened four packets of vermicelli and soaked them in water, preparing to make fried vermicelli at noon.
"Sister, it's done!"
"Okay, thanks, big brother. Can you give me the salt shaker?"
Shao Shengfei looked carefully and picked up the wrong candy jar at first, but then he picked up the right one.
Qiao Qingqing soaked the radish cubes with salt and told Shao Shengfei to watch over them: "Tell me in 30 minutes, okay?"
"Can!"
Thirty minutes later, Shao Shengfei called her immediately. She poured out the water from the basin, drained the radish and put it into a small ceramic pot, and then prepared the sauce. Shao Shengfei was tall, and he sat and stretched his neck to watch her movements: "Sister, that's spicy, very spicy!"
"Yes, this is chili pepper. Step back a little to avoid being splashed." Qiao Qingqing chopped the chili pepper and then chopped garlic slices, coriander, and shallots. She then added oyster sauce, sugar, white vinegar, and a little salt to the cooled syrup, and poured the chopped ingredients into it. Finally, a large bowl of sauce was poured into the jar, just enough to cover the radish. After sealing the jar, Qiao Qingqing asked Shao Shengfei to put it in the corner of the kitchen.
"Sister, when can I eat radishes?"
"Leave it for a day, and you can eat it tomorrow night."
"What delicious food are you making? I can smell it." Shao Shengan came in, all wet.
"You're back? Go take a shower and change clothes first. I've steamed some buns, fried some vermicelli, stewed some sweet potato soup, and fried some crispy pork!"
"That sounds great. I'm going to take a shower first. Brother, go help Dad carry the branches to the terrace."
Shao Shengfei liked being assigned tasks the most, so he immediately nodded and rushed out.
"Did your brother scold you?" Shao Shengan came closer and asked in a low voice.
Qiao Qingqing laughed: "You know my brother's temper. Just now, he was helping me cut radishes. I pickled a jar of radishes. Here, it's over there."
"It must be delicious. I'm going to take a shower first. Let me fry the crispy pork. Leave it there for me."
For lunch, we had fried vermicelli with sweet potato soup and crispy pork, and everyone enjoyed it very much.
"Other people's food is definitely not as good as ours. Our food is no different from usual. This morning I heard from Brother Wang downstairs that they have too many family members and their food reserves were all eaten up a long time ago. Now they just eat compressed biscuits soaked in water and made into paste every day. They say they eat so much that they can't even poop."
After Shao's father finished speaking, he was hit by Shao's mother: "We are eating! What nonsense are you talking about!"
"Oh my bad, my bad. I won't say any more - this fried vermicelli is really delicious. Qingqing's cooking skills are just great, haha."
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