The laughter of the mother and daughter spread across the road, and a child who was being led by an elder stretched his neck to look curiously.
"Be good, we're almost at the farm," the elder reminded.
The child nodded quickly: "I'll be good."
The closer we got to the farm, the brighter the world became and the more people passed by.
"There are so many people here, some people are setting up stalls here!" Qiao Songzhi was surprised, this place seemed like a small market.
"Yes, after all, it's bright here. Even the market can't compare to here." The farm is like a natural artificial sun, attracting countless residents to move here. The security team has to increase its efforts to evacuate the crowd to prevent it from affecting the work on the farm.
Arriving at the farm gate, Qiao Qingqing went to a window to register as if she was familiar with the place and handed in five buckets of chicken manure.
"Today's exchange vegetable is a large winter melon. The weight of this chicken manure... counts as two winter melons for you. Do you want to exchange?"
"Change."
The clerk brought out two winter melons, one about 50 centimeters long and 30 centimeters in diameter, and the other even bigger. Qiao Songzhi hugged it tightly and felt it was heavy. Qiao Qingqing held the other one and put it on the car under the envious gaze of others.
The two dared not stay too long as they were carrying a treasure, and did not even go to the temporary market. They happily returned home with the winter melon. The security team patrolled intensively, and although there were some unfriendly eyes, the two had a smooth return trip.
On the way, Qiao Songzhi held the winter melon on his legs to protect it, for fear that the bumpy road would damage the winter melon.
"Qingqing, how do you know that the farm collects chicken manure for fertilizer?"
"I came to ask if they wanted chicken manure. Fortunately, the farm accepts it. Otherwise, I would have to find a way to ferment the chicken manure into fertilizer for my own use." Supplies are in short supply now, and chicken manure is also a valuable resource, so I can't bear to throw it away. "We don't grow many vegetables at home, and the chemical fertilizers I have stored are enough. Fermenting chicken manure is a bit troublesome and time-consuming, and it has a strong smell. It is not suitable for making at home. It is better to send it to the farm in exchange for ready-made vegetables and fruits."
Qiao Songzhi wrote it down and felt that she had learned something. Her daughter was really working hard to survive. She felt that although she was inexperienced, she could keep up with her daughter and learn and improve together.
She thought about it carefully, hoping that she could also find some inspiration to add supplies to her home.
Under the streetlight, a dark light flashed by. Qiao Songzhi sat up straight and looked back: "Qingqing, I think I saw some weeds. Can we take them home and chop them up to feed the chickens?"
A minute later, the tricycle backed up to the position where Qiao Songzhi had seen the weeds.
Sure enough, there was a clump of gray-brown plants growing in the corner of the roadside building. Qiao Songzhi hesitated and said, "It's dead. What a pity. In the past two years, it's either been hot or foggy and acidic. It's night just as I can take a breath. I haven't seen wild plants outside for a long time."
"It's not dead, it's still alive." Qiao Qingqing looked at the familiar plant in front of her. This gray-brown weed was one of the most common wild plants in the Eternal Night in her previous life. It tasted bitter, but because it didn't cause abdominal pain, it was picked and eaten by many people after being verified as non-toxic by the "Eternal Night New Plant Guide" released by the research institute. Qiao Qingqing had eaten a lot of it, of course. The supplies she earned from working were too little after all. The number of relief supplies distributed was not large, and they were distributed only once in a long time. Sometimes when she was really hungry, she would go outside to find weeds, grab a handful and chew them dry. The taste of dry grass and the bitter taste could barely soothe her stomach that was sending out hunger signals.
"Not dead?" Qiao Songzhi couldn't believe it, so she reached out to touch it. She was surprised to find that the grass in front of her was really not dead. It didn't have the thin and brittle feeling of dry grass leaves when crushed by fingers. However, the leaves were not thick either, and felt like a piece of flexible paper when pinched.
"This is a new variety that grew after the Eternal Night. There will be more in the future," said Qiao Qingqing.
Qiao Songzhi understood that without the sun, how could plants grow green? She asked from a practical point of view: "If I feed chickens, will they eat them?"
"I haven't tried feeding it to chickens, but I have eaten it before. It's non-toxic. Let's get some back and try it." Chickens living in a post-apocalyptic world have to eat a little bit of everything just like the survivors in order to grow strong and healthy.
The two men pulled up the weeds and put them together with the winter melon.
After returning home, Qiao Songzhi simply washed the wild grass, chopped it up, mixed it with the feed, and fed it to the five chicks in a compartment.
It is not yet clear what effect the new weeds will have on the chickens, but when patrolling the community, Qiao Qingqing and Shao Shengan would pick some and take them back to feed the chickens when they saw weeds in the corners.
Later, more and more new plants appeared in the dark corners, as if all the common weeds on the roadside had died out, and the new plants all looked unfamiliar. The new community had been relatively highly developed, with less wild land, and these plants grew mostly in the corners of buildings. Outside the new community, these plants grew wildly in unmanned corners, growing rapidly in just a few months.
The institute has started a new project to study new plants and analyze their safety. The "Eternal Night New Plant Safety Report" was promptly announced through the radio. Most new plants are non-toxic, but this does not mean that all of them can be eaten. Some will make your tongue numb after eating, and some will cause abdominal pain after eating... But outside the base, many people have already dug them up and eaten them before hearing the report. As long as you don't die from eating them, a little discomfort is nothing.
The weeds outside the base were quickly dug up. Spring soon arrived, and more weeds grew in the uninhabited areas of the wild, making them look mouth-watering. The spring breeze also brought vitality to wild vegetables. The field survey team of the Agricultural Science Institute brought back many new wild vegetables and informed the survivors through the radio.
Field collecting teams gradually took shape, and many people went out in groups to collect in wider areas, hoping to have enough food to eat this spring.
Qiao Qingqing and Shao Shengan had jobs, so it was unrealistic for them to go out to collect food in the wild, and it was even more unsafe for Qiao Songzhi and the others to go. Fortunately, there was enough feed at home, and she and Shengan could exchange their points for new feed made from crow and vulture meat from the supply truck, which was enough for raising chickens.
Chi Yuxiu later exchanged two chickens with Qiao Qingqing, one male and one female. The rooster died halfway through, so she exchanged for another one. Now, the chickens in her house have started to lay eggs. She and her mother-in-law are reluctant to eat the eggs for the time being, so they keep them for hatching chicks. The two families on the seventh floor raise chickens. It would be a lie to say that there is no smell, but they are all clean people and keep the chicken coop very clean. There is no smell on the sixth floor. The 602 family occasionally exchanges eggs with Qiao Qingqing's family. Qiao Songzhi will give the other neighbor a preferential price, so that the other party has no objection.
Seeing that Qiao Qingqing and her team had good results in pulling weeds to feed the chickens, Chi Yuxiu also wanted to give it a try. So when Pei Yan came home on his day off, he saw the chickens eating grass.
"Although there is no sun, there is still enough rain in spring. There are too many new wild grasses and vegetables growing recently. A friend of mine is in the field investigation team and has not been back for several days. I heard that he has been outside. These wild grasses are said to be variants of previous wild grasses. They grow into this color because there is no sun. There are many such cases in the wild outside. The field investigation team of the institute has brought back many new varieties. Now we are waiting to see if the institute can extract useful things from them. Without the sun, the farm's output can still be maintained, but it will not work in the long run. The cost of power generation and lighting is too high."
"It doesn't sound so bad. Although disasters keep happening, we can definitely find ways to deal with them, right?" Chi Yuxiu said softly.
"Yes, there is always hope." Pei Yan took a deep breath and smiled. "I heard that the new feed is very effective for feeding pigs and mice. It should also be okay for feeding chickens. I'll go ask around and get some for my family."
Chi Yuxiu said hurriedly: "If you have the chance, change more and I'll send some to the neighbors."
“It should be.”
A month later, Qiao Qingqing's family received a bag of feed sent by Chi Yuxiu.
Qiao Qingqing smiled and said, "I have one at home. I exchanged it with the points of the crossbow team."
Chi Yuxiu suddenly realized and felt a little embarrassed: "That was unnecessary."
"Sister Chi, please don't say that. I am very grateful that you care about us and send such expensive feed to my house. However, Sheng An and I both work in the crossbow team. We have some points that can be exchanged for feed. You can take this bag of feed back."
Since Qiao Qingqing already had one at home, Chi Yuxiu didn't insist.
"By the way, it's almost six o'clock. Do you and Auntie want to go downstairs to watch a movie?"
Chi Yuxiu asked: "Are your family members going?"
"My mother, mother-in-law, and eldest brother want to go. If you and aunt want to go, you can go with them. Members of our crossbow team will be there to guard."
Two months ago, projection programs began to be shown again in the open space at the community gate, just like during the thick fog period, at 6 p.m. every day.
"Okay." Chi Yuxiu nodded happily, "Then I'll tell my mother that there are fewer crows in the sky recently, and my mother should be willing to go down."
"It'll be fine. You can ask Auntie to go down and watch. It's impossible for residents to be chased by crows in front of our crossbow team."
Six months have passed since the eternal night fell.
For residents of the new community, life is not difficult. The security team patrols intensively, public security is fully guaranteed, and there are many jobs. As long as you are willing to endure hardships, you can always find a job. No longer getting light is not a problem. Can it be more difficult than the thick fog and acid rain? Now there are projection programs to watch, which is another hope in life.
Qiao Qingqing stood outside the crowd, watching the sky vigilantly, occasionally glancing at the projection screen in front of her. The screen was crowded with people, and everyone cherished the entertainment activities during this time period. In addition, what was being broadcast today was no longer the news broadcast but a comedy movie, so the atmosphere was very lively.
Although she could only see a little bit of the picture on the screen, Qiao Qingqing was also very satisfied. She knew that among the crowd and the guardians on the other side of the crowd were her most important people, and they were still accompanying each other in this long night, which was the happiest thing.
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