Shao Shengan and Shao Shengfei came back soon and wrote down a water-fetching schedule.
"The residents of each building have staggered water-drawing times, and the order is reversed after each of their turns." Shao Shengan posted the schedule behind the door.
After everything was done, the couple took their certificates and materials and went out together to the Housing Management Office.
There are a lot of people in the Housing Management Office. Apparently, there are many people like them who moved to the new community as soon as possible.
After queuing up and it was her turn, Qiao Qingqing did not rush to go through the formalities, but first consulted about buying a house.
"We want to buy a house that has not been allocated by lottery yet."
"Each household is limited to one set, and the price is one thousand kilograms of food or other valuable materials. We have someone here to estimate the price."
Qiao Qingqing asked if there was any reference for "valuable materials".
"For example, gold, gasoline, and some equipment used in production and life, such as generators..."
"Can I change my house? My family got the sixth floor. Can I change to the seventh floor? That is, the one above my house."
The staff should have dealt with this situation before. The people who came here in the past two days probably had these three needs: one was to get a property certificate, one was to buy or sell a house, and one was to change houses. However, other people did not want the top floor, but this family did the opposite. She felt strange, but still answered Qiao Qingqing's question.
"No, the selected house cannot be changed. You can sell it and buy a new one, but I have to remind you that the house selling price is half of that. Private transactions are not allowed. You can only trade it to our housing management office. Otherwise, we can't do anything if there are any problems with the house ownership in the future."
This is an unfair clause, but no one can object to it. No one can defeat the opponent.
Qiao Qingqing had no choice but to buy a new property. As the upstairs apartment in her house had not been sold yet, she decided to buy that one. She used gold to pay for the purchase and asked how much gold was needed to buy the two-bedroom apartment.
"500 grams."
Over the years, Qiao Qingqing had accumulated a lot of gold through trading, some of which she gave to the space and some of which she kept for herself, but it was still not 500 grams, only more than 230 grams. She decided to use other materials to make up the rest, and finally paid 50 liters of gasoline, 22 kilograms of corn kernels, 50 kilograms of rice, two sets of well-preserved cosmetics, and a full 20 kilograms of leech and cockroach medicine.
"What are these two bags?" The staff at the appraisal window frowned.
"Leech, cockroach."
The staff member's eyes widened and she leaned back subconsciously. Fortunately, her professionalism allowed her to swallow her scream. She squeezed out a sentence from her throat: "Is this valuable?"
Qiao Qingqing nodded seriously. "This is the freshest raw material that my family went through so much trouble to find for me. It is made by me personally, so it is of course valuable. Leeches have the effect of breaking blood and unblocking meridians, and are very effective in treating injuries from falls. The powder made from cockroaches is also quite effective in detoxifying and dispersing blood stasis. Together with other drugs, it can treat many common diseases in daily life."
"I see. Sorry, I don't know much about this. Please wait a moment. I'll ask my colleague to come and help with the estimate. We also have a pharmacist here."
"Okay, thank you for your help."
It was five hours later when I got the property certificate for Room 701, Building 20, Ping'an Community.
Shao's father and mother were waiting at the door, and their eyes lit up when they saw them come out.
"Done?"
"It's done."
Mother Shao clasped her hands together and said, "God bless you! Then go home. Your mother-in-law is waiting anxiously at home."
Just now, Qiao Qingqing went home to get the money for buying a house. She moved here with Shao's father and mother. The security in the new community is very good, and there was no danger along the way. The three of them moved the supplies here smoothly.
After returning home, Shao Shengan and his father drank some water and started to install the solar generator. After the installation, Shao Shengan started to install the circuit, sockets, air conditioners, lights... The seventh and sixth floors had to be arranged, and he had no time to rest. Shao's father helped him, tired but happy.
Before the sun rose, all the work was finally done.
"We don't need to install a water tank on the rooftop anymore. The water in the tank will go bad easily if it is left outside in the sun." Shao Shengan said to Qiao Qingqing.
"You're right. We can just put two buckets of water in the kitchen and bathroom for daily use." Qiao Qingqing looked around the house and said happily, "This is our home. We have a home again!"
The master bedroom on the seventh floor and the two rooms on the sixth floor are equipped with air conditioners. They can finally have their own private space without the whole family having to squeeze together.
Qiao Qingqing decided to live on the seventh floor with Shao Shengan: "We are young, so it's okay to climb one more floor."
Shao's father, Shao's mother and Qiao Songzhi had no objections, so it was settled. Qiao Qingqing helped them decorate the room, bed, bedside table, bedding, table, chairs... There were no wardrobes, so each room had two hangers for clothes, and a kettle and cups. Qiao Qingqing took away everything that was in Huacheng's room before, and displayed them one by one, and actually replicated Huacheng's home.
Qiao Songzhi touched this and that, his eyes turned red.
"Mom, things will get better and better." Qiao Qingqing put her arm around her shoulders, speaking in a relaxed tone.
Qiao Songzhi wiped his eyes casually and nodded with a smile.
The air conditioner started up, and the long-lost cool air slowly drove away the heat, and the room gradually cooled down. They ate in the room at 24 degrees Celsius, and they all felt that the meal was more delicious than usual.
After dinner, everyone went to take a shower. This was the first time the whole family took a shower on the same day since leaving Huacheng.
"I can have a good sleep during the day today." Qiao Songzhi sighed.
"Go to sleep! When you wake up I'll go out to look for a job. I feel this place is just like the Flower City of the past. There should be a lot of jobs to find." Father Shao said expectantly.
Shao Shengan could understand what his father meant. He meant that the new community had a sense of order before the natural disaster. With order, everything was safe and peaceful, so finding a job should not be difficult.
"Let's go find it together. Let's go to sleep first."
After sending Shao's father and the others downstairs, Qiao Qingqing and his wife returned to the seventh floor. The mat was warm and cool, and it was very comfortable to lie on. Qiao Qingqing sighed comfortably: "This is what you call a mat. The previous ones were just stone slabs. Lying on it is like having barbecue on a stone slab."
Shao Shengan narrowed his eyes and smiled: "That's right, I feel like my skin has become thicker and I'm not so afraid of the heat anymore."
He sat on the bed folding clothes, and Qiao Qingqing lay on her side looking at him.
"What are you looking at?"
"You look handsome."
Shao Shengan smiled again: "It seems that you are in a really good mood. This is the first time in all these years that you have praised me so directly."
"I'm so happy. I actually have two houses in the new community. Two houses." Qiao Qingqing turned over and lay in a spread-eagle position, looking at the ceiling, immersed in a drunken feeling of a dream come true.
Shao Shengan placed the folded clothes on the chair and hung the clothes that needed to be hung on the hanger. After he had finished tidying up, he lay down and spread his arms and legs like Qiao Qingqing.
"It's really comfortable. I haven't laid like this in a long time." He also sighed, absorbing the coolness of the mat. He felt so comfortable that his body was about to melt.
He kicked Qiao Qingqing's foot lightly, and Qiao Qingqing turned her head to the side.
"I'm so happy too."
Qiao Qingqing was stunned. Although her husband said he was happy, his eyes were sad.
"What's wrong?" She lay on her side facing him and held his hands.
"It's okay, I'm just happy."
Seeing that Shao Shengan was unwilling to talk, Qiao Qingqing did not continue to ask. Even the closest couples have to respect each other's spiritual world and leave some space for each other.
She yawned, "I'm so sleepy."
"Then go to sleep."
So she leaned against her husband's chest, closed her eyes, and soon fell asleep.
Shao Shengan looked at her sleeping face and felt very soft in his heart.
Since the last time he dreamed of Qingqing being disfigured and living alone in the eternal night, he no longer had such a clear dream. But the despair of the end of the world after the natural disaster had been deeply engraved in his mind. Until today, when they got the two property certificates of the new community and the family was still with each other, he finally felt that the stone hanging in his heart had fallen a little.
At least, he accompanied Qingqing through "half" of those lonely years in her previous life.
Life is so long and so short. As long as you overcome all the difficulties, your life will pass by.
He touched Qiao Qingqing's face and closed his eyes contentedly.
Living in a new community, looking at the newly built buildings, looking at the clean and tidy streets, and breathing the fresh air, it is easy to get addicted to it and have the beautiful illusion that the natural disaster is over and everything has started anew.
But the next moment, the heat will remind you that everything is not over yet.
After the sun went down, Shao's father and Shao Sheng'an could not sit still after coming back from fetching water. They were eager to go out and find a job. They had to be alone at home, so Qiao Qingqing asked Shao Sheng'an to take Shao's father and mother out for a walk first, while she and her mother looked after the house.
"I won't go. Let me rest for a while. Moving is too tiring. Sheng An, take your father and your older brother with you." Shao's mother waved her hand and asked Qiao Qingqing to go with them.
"I won't go either. I'll go shopping later."
Qiao Qingqing liked her new home very much. It attracted her more than going out shopping. She walked around the seventh floor, then the sixth floor, constantly adding things to make her home more comfortable and cozy.
She put a floor mat in the entrance hall and a three-layer stainless steel shoe rack on which she put new slippers. She put a table, chairs and TV cabinet in the living room, and then placed a TV and DVD player. She also placed a few photo frames on the empty space on the TV cabinet to hold wedding photos and family photos.
In the kitchen, she put down the stainless steel stove she had bought before the end of the world, the chopping board, kitchen knife, pots and pans, and a bucket with a lid filled with clean tap water.
In the bathroom, she looked at the clean squat toilet and felt emotional. Finally, she didn't need to use cat litter anymore! She put down the stainless steel wash basin, which could be used to wash hands, face and brush teeth. Seeing that the toilet was small, she found a narrow three-layer iron rack in the corner, put the toiletries and paper towels on it, and finally put down a bucket of water.
Since the mop, mop bucket and broom couldn't fit into the bathroom, she put them in the corner of the living room.
Seeing the originally bare, unfinished house become full of life, Qiao Qingqing felt a special sense of accomplishment.
For her, decorating a new home is a spiritual satisfaction and a filler for her regrets.
It was different for Shao's mother and Qiao Songzhi. The two mothers were concerned about the large amount of clothes, bed sheets, quilt covers, pillowcases, and bamboo mats that had been pickled and discolored by sweat and had accumulated in the past but had never had the chance to be washed. Having a rooftop again meant they had the opportunity to show their talents.
After Qiao Qingqing finished decorating the sixth floor, she returned to the seventh floor and saw her mother and mother-in-law working hard. Sheng An and her father-in-law only brought up two buckets of water, saying that each household could only bring two buckets a day. Knowing that the mothers had to wash, how could two buckets of water be enough? So she left a water tank for them.
When I went upstairs, I saw buckets and basins in the living room, all of which were filled with things. In order to save water, Qiao Songzhi and Shao's mother liked to add a small amount of laundry detergent to soak the clothes first, and then use the classic laundry rubbing artifact - the washboard to rub them. After rubbing, wring it out and rinse it with water again. The clothes will have a fragrance and will not feel greasy.
"The seventh floor is great, and it has an extra rooftop, so it's very convenient to hang things out to dry." Shao's mother said happily while rubbing the pillowcase, "The sun is so strong, it will be dry in a short time."
"That's right. There's an extra layer of insulation on the roof. The seventh floor isn't much hotter than the downstairs, so it's definitely habitable." Qiao Songzhi agreed.
"I'll help." Qiao Qingqing walked over with a smile.
Mother Shao looked up, smiled and shook her head: "You don't have to wash it, just put a few clothes drying racks on the rooftop, and there are clothes hangers."
"Then I'll hang the clothes out to dry. They're all wrung out in the big bucket over there."
Qiao Songzhi nodded: "Yes, there are sheets and quilt covers in there. Your mother-in-law and I wrung them out together. They are just a little big. I will go up with you to hang them up. Don't drag them on the floor and make them dirty."
Soon, the rooftop was filled with sheets and quilt covers. There was a slight breeze today, and they swayed in the dim evening sky, emitting the scent of laundry detergent.
Qiao Qingqing looked around and saw clothes and sheets drying on the balconies of several nearby buildings, so their house was not conspicuous.
Qiao Songzhi was sweating profusely from the heat. "It's still so stuffy even after the sun has gone down! Come on, let's go downstairs. I think these should be dried after we finish washing a batch!"
Sure enough, half an hour later, Qiao Qingqing came up to check and found that everything was dried by the heat. She quickly took it down, rolled it into a big bundle and carried it downstairs.
Night fell completely. On the rooftop of the seventh floor of Building 20 in Ping'an Community, clothes were hung densely in the darkness. Three waves of clothes were changed in rotation throughout the night. The last bucket of clothes was hung by Shao Shengan and Qiao Qingqing. She held a flashlight in her hand to illuminate him, and sat aside with a calm look in her eyes, watching him shake the wrung-out clothes and then stuff the hangers into the collars of the clothes.
"Have you found a job?" she asked.
"There are not many job opportunities. Maybe the economy will only improve after people settle down. I heard from my colleagues that there is a factory in the base, but I don't know what kind of factory it is and what kind of workers they will recruit." Shao Shengan pulled out a long-sleeved shirt from the bucket. Seeing that it was still dripping, he twisted it a few more times to squeeze the water in. The sound of water dripping, Shao Shengan's voice did not stop: "There is also a farm. Now there are several kinds of high-temperature resistant vegetables. The technology should be mature, and it must be put into large-scale production. Dad has always wanted to find a job. I think it would be great to go to the farm. I will pay attention to the news of the farm first."
"So what kind of job do you want to do?" Qiao Qingqing asked.
Shao Shengan also has a plan: "I plan to provide water and electricity for them. There will definitely be more and more people living in the base. Some people have better conditions and will definitely have a demand for water and electricity. They provide the materials and I will install water and electricity for them. Do you think it's okay?"
Qiao Qingqing smiled and nodded: "Okay, there are a lot of rich people in the new community. I was a tutor in my previous life. Even in the end of the world after a natural disaster, some families still pay great attention to their children's studies." Classes will never disappear, and the gap between the rich and the poor will be more obvious in the end of the world after a natural disaster.
"What about you? Are you still a doctor? Do you want to rent a shop? I'll find out if you need a license."
"Well, continue to study in this area, but you don't need a store. I can just set up a stall on the street in front of the community. What do you think about me putting up a sign with the words "Barefoot Doctor" on it?"
Her eyes sparkled with a playful cheerfulness. Shao Shengan was happy to cooperate with her and praised the proposal highly: "I'll write the sign for you. How about writing five words - Barefoot Doctor Qiao?"
Qiao Qingqing laughed: "Okay, then write five words, write them bigger or else it will be too dark at night for people to see them."
"We have solar lights. We will charge them during the day and turn them on at night to illuminate our stall so that passers-by can see it."
The rooftop was filled with the laughter of Qiao Qingqing and his wife. A new resident had just moved into 702 next door. The old lady in the house climbed up the stairs to the rooftop and said with satisfaction, "It's good to have a rooftop. It's not a big deal if it's a little hot. It's hot everywhere these days. It's great to have another rooftop. I'll plant some sweet potatoes and dry them in the sun."
She heard laughter from the rooftop next door, and her mood improved. She sighed, "It's so nice here. It's been a long time since I heard such happy laughter."
Chi Yuxiu brought up a chair and said, "Mom, we are cleaning the house downstairs. It's too messy. You can sit here for a while." She helped the old lady sit down.
"You sit down too. Your waist is not in good condition. Stop working."
Chi Yuxiu smiled and said, "It's okay. My waist feels much better now."
"You should rest more and don't get tired. It's a pity that Dr. Qiao and his family downstairs have moved away. It's so expensive to see a doctor now, and some even cheat you. Dr. Qiao downstairs is at least really capable. He really cured your waist, so it's worth it no matter how expensive it is." Mrs. Pei took Chi Yuxiu's hand and whispered, "I have a bracelet on hand, made of solid gold, which is very valuable. I'll give it to you in the future. Take it to the doctor and get your waist cured."
"...Mom." Chi Yuxiu's eyes were red. "No, my waist is already healed. Please keep the gold bracelet. I don't want it."
Mrs. Pei didn't care: "I'll keep it for you. It's all yours."
Downstairs, Pei Yan and his brother-in-law moved the bed upstairs from the first floor. Both of them were exhausted and sweating profusely.
"Brother-in-law, since your company asked you to move in, I have to help you prepare a dormitory. You're tiring yourself to death by doing this." The brother-in-law complained.
"Isn't this a dormitory? I think it's pretty good. From now on, I only need to climb the seventh floor. If I stay in town, I have to climb the nineteenth floor. Your sister and my mother can't go downstairs at all. It's too high. This place is so good. It's a newly built community with a good environment and good public security. It's not far from my workplace." Pei Yan wiped his sweat, "I'll go get you some water. After you drink some water, we'll continue moving."
Pei Yan's family took five days to move. He and his brother-in-law were the main workers. On the last day, his brother-in-law was so tired that he got heatstroke.
"Hurry up, go to the next door to find Doctor Qiao!" Mrs. Pei had already seen Shao Shengan going out to fetch water, and was very happy that Doctor Qiao and his family were next door to her. This was fate. Look, the benefits of having a doctor next door are obvious, isn't it being used now!
Chi Yuxiu hurried to Room 701 and knocked on the door. Qiao Qingqing had been quite experienced in treating heatstroke these days. After a few injections, Chi Yuxiu's brother woke up.
"The weather is too hot. You should work more slowly. Drink more water, especially salt water. Also, take more rest."
"Okay, okay! Thank you, Dr. Qiao." Chi Yuxiu hurriedly thanked him and was about to go into the room to get her payment.
Qiao Qingqing smiled and waved her hand: "I didn't expect to be neighbors with your family here. This is fate. Let's forget it this time."
Pei Yan knew that Qiao Qingqing wanted to make friends with their family, and he was very happy. His wife was in poor health and his mother was old, so it would be beneficial to make friends with a doctor. When he knew that Dr. Qiao lived next door, he thought about paying a formal visit to his family after the move was completed to build a good relationship.
"Yuxiu, listen to Dr. Qiao. We will be neighbors from now on and we have a long way to go." Pei Yan said with a smile.
Qiao Qingqing said goodbye.
Not long after returning home, Shao Shengan and his father also came back to find a job.
Shao's father announced happily: "I passed the interview and will be a sanitation worker in the future! The salary is not bad. I get 40 kilograms of rice and 5 kilograms of meat every month!"
Shao's mother asked hurriedly: "Where are you going to work?"
"We haven't recruited enough people yet. Many places are short of people. There are no sanitation workers in our community. I applied to work in Ping'an Community. The team leader approved it. I will officially start work tomorrow."
"This job is good, the salary is good and it's close to home. It's much better than working in a factory. I might as well go." Shao's mother was very tempted.
Just as Shao Shengan was about to speak, his father waved his hand and said, "What are you doing? I can do it. Last time you were so tired at the construction site, your back ached and it hasn't fully healed yet. You don't have to do it. I can do it!"
"Mom, you and my mom can help me set up the stall at home. I plan to set up a stall at the entrance of the community to treat patients." Qiao Qingqing suggested, "I can't finish some medicinal herbs by myself, you can help me grind them."
"Yes, yes, let's do it this way. Listen to Qingqing." Shao's father quickly responded.
"Okay." Shao's mother sighed.
Shao Shengan changed the subject and said that he had also found a job.
"Someone in the villa area wants to install water and electricity. I met the team leader at the construction site, the one named Qi Ming, and he introduced me to go with him."
"That's great!" Shao's mother immediately became happy. "Then you should work hard and bring everything with you. It's the medicine that Qingqing made to prevent heatstroke. I'll go pack your backpack for you now."
"And me! Hey, mother of the child, please clean up this for me as well..." Shao's father followed.
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