Xia Lunong ran back home quickly, picked up the basket, and brought back some sauerkraut and radish buns.

He had refrained from eating at noon, originally intending to save it for the evening, but now it was just right for entertaining guests.

After packing the buns, he walked to the door, then remembered the fermented bean curd in the cupboard, and simply turned around to get some more.

The dishes in the cafeteria tonight were Chinese cabbage and stewed tofu, both of which were rather bland, and went perfectly with the fermented bean curd.

He rushed to Yan Xinian's house excitedly, only to find that in addition to the Chinese cabbage and stewed tofu, there was also a dish of steamed egg with minced meat on the table.

The smooth and slightly yellow steamed egg was covered with a thin layer of yellow-brown meat sauce, and there were bright red pepper rings and green onions as garnish.

Xia Lunong's eyes were glued to the stewed eggs, and he felt very hungry all of a sudden.

Yan Xinian waved his hand, signaling him to hurry over and eat. "You ate late today, are you hungry?"

"Yes." Xia Lunong was very honest. "I'm very hungry."

Yan Xinian and Xia Huoqu were good friends. Xia Lunong almost grew up under each other's noses. He treated him as another brother and didn't care about what he said.

Yan Xinian smiled and asked him to sit down. He took a spoon and scooped a large spoonful of stewed eggs with minced meat for him and put it in his bowl. "Eat it if you're hungry."

Xia Lunong thanked him, picked up the bowl and ate quietly beside him, while Xia Huoqu and Yan Xinian were chatting.

Xia Lunong said, "I thought you guys would be back last week."

"We accidentally provoked a group of wild boars and were chased to Ximen Mountain. We went around in circles, otherwise we would have been back a few days earlier."

"A group?" Xia Huoqu frowned, "Hasn't the area around been cleared? Where did the wild boars come from?"

"It's hard to say, maybe they moved from somewhere. We killed four last time, and there are still a few left. When I'm free, I'll take a bow and arrow and go kill them."

"Aren't you going these days?"

"Not possible these days. Didn't Lao Du and his team always want to build a hydroelectric generator? I just received a letter these days saying that there is a small hydroelectric generator in Yangjiaoao. It doesn't seem to be broken. I plan to take people to take a look."

Xia Huoqu glanced at his brother and frowned, "Yangjiaoao has never been cleaned up? There must be a lot of mutant plants and animals in it, right?"

"It shouldn't be too many. Yangjiaoao is not a big place and can't form a complex ecosystem." Yan Xinian said, "With our skills, we should be able to get out safely if we bring more people."

Xia Huoqu pursed his lips and fell silent.

Yan Xinian didn't say much, just scooped stewed eggs for them and asked them to eat more vegetables.

Xia Lunong felt that both of them were worried. She looked at one and then the other, but she didn't say anything and just ate her meal.

After dinner, Xia Lunong took the initiative to clean up the dishes and went out.

Yan Xinian and Xia Huoqu were sitting in the house, waiting for him to come back. The atmosphere between them was strange, as if they had quarreled.

In Xia Lunong's memory, the relationship between the two had always been very good. From childhood to adulthood, they had almost never had any conflicts. They were not brothers, but they were better than brothers.

He was also jealous and felt that his brother was better than Xinian and that he had to queue behind.

Seeing Xia Lunong coming back, Xia Huo said, "Xiao Nong, go to bed first. I'll chat with your old brother."

"Oh." Xia Lunong agreed, looked at them, and whispered, "Don't quarrel."

After that, Xia Lunong ran away. The atmosphere was too strange.

Xia Lunong was now accustomed to this kind of work and rest schedule. After brushing his teeth and lying on the bed, he wanted to wait for his brother to come back and ask about it. Unexpectedly, after waiting for a while, he fell asleep with the sound of insects.

The next morning, Xia Lunong woke up, brushed his teeth, washed his face, fetched water, and swept the ground. When his brother came back with water, he didn't bother to gossip, but said, "Brother, I'll go to the field to check on the vegetables I planted yesterday!"

Xia Huoqu picked up a piece of clothing and threw it to him, "I'll go with you."

The two brothers ran to the field with hoes on their shoulders.

It was just dawn, and the morning dew condensed on the grass leaves. Xia Lunong walked on the ridge of the field, his trousers and legs were soaked. If he rolled up his trousers, he was afraid that the grass leaves would scratch his skin, and he was also afraid of being bitten by the insects in the grass, so he had to endure the wetness and move forward.

When he arrived at the field, the vegetable seedlings planted yesterday seemed to have grown, and the stems and leaves were still full and firm, with no signs of wilting.

Xia Lunong heaved a sigh of relief and went down to the field to check everything. She soon discovered that the vegetable seedlings had not grown much, but a layer of green grass sprouts had grown on the ground that had just been turned over yesterday. It looked a bit like grass that looked far away but not close.

"This grass is growing too fast."

Xia Lunong bent down and pulled the newly grown grass. Unexpectedly, the grass leaves were very tender and the root system was well developed. She could only pull off the tip of the leaves on the ground, and could not pull it up by the roots.

"Wow!" Xia Lunong was unconvinced and dug with a hoe, "This grass is too cunning."

Xia Huoqu looked around, turned back, watched his movements, and said, "Don't worry about it. When farming, you should focus on the big and let go of the small. As long as it doesn't hinder the growth of vegetables, you can ignore it."

"But this is too depressing." Xia Lunong used the hoe to dig the grass roots into several sections, "If you don't pull it out completely, won't the grass compete with the vegetables for fertilizer?"

"Not much. Besides, there are grasses everywhere. It's useless to pull weeds every day. The wind will blow and the grass seeds will all fly over. It's almost over."

Xia Lunong knew to put away the hoe and said with a breath, "Well, farming is really not easy."

"Nothing is easy." Xia Huo said, "The soil is a little dry, we can water it again today."

Xia Lunong quickly picked up a wooden spoon and followed his brother to fetch water for the vegetables.

They didn't plant many vegetables, so watering was easy.

Xia Lunong remembered the topic his brother and Yan Xinian talked about last night, and asked curiously, "Is the base really planning to build a hydropower station?" "We

don't know if the unit can still be used. Let's talk about it after we bring the unit back."

"What if it can be used and we bring it back?"

"Then build it. There are many towns nearby. If the base really has electricity, it will be convenient to get some machines back and do everything."

Xia Huoqu didn't want to talk about it. "It's not easy to get the unit, don't tell anyone yet."

Xia Lunong patted his chest and promised, "I will definitely not tell anyone, I'll just talk to you." After

they finished watering the dishes and went back, Yan Xinian was weeding in the open space in front of the door.

Xia Lunong greeted him, "Brother Xinian. Have you had breakfast?"

"No, I'm waiting for you guys." Yan Xinian straightened up, his tall figure cast a long shadow in the morning sun, "Xiao Nong, aren't you going to farm in front of and behind the house? You can use the land here too."

Xia Lunong looked up at his brother.

His brother nodded and said to Yan Xinian, "When the crops are really grown, I'll share some with you."

Yan Xinian smiled, leaned the hoe against the wall outside the living room, scooped water to wash his hands, "What do you want to eat in the morning? I'll go get breakfast."

Xia Lunong looked at him, "Here I go, Brother Xinian, what do you want to eat?"

"Anything is fine, just pick it up." Yan Xinian went back to the house, took out a stack of meal tickets and handed them to him, "I want an extra steamed egg."

Xia Lunong glanced down and only took the two on top, "Then I want a basic set meal and a bowl of steamed egg."

One meal ticket for the basic set meal and one for the steamed egg, so two meal tickets were just right.

Yan Xinian gave him the remaining meal ticket, "Take it, I'm going out soon, and I won't be able to use the meal ticket here."

Xia Lunong put his hands behind his back, "There's no time limit for the meal ticket, you can use it when you come back, brother Xinian."

Xia Huoqu strode out of the house, glanced at them, frowned and said, "What's the point of saying you won't need it so early in the morning? It's unlucky."

Yan Xinian said, "What do you want to eat? Order more."

"The basic set meal is fine. You don't have to go out, and you don't have to eat anything special." Xia Huoqu turned to Xia Lunong and said, "It's getting late, go to the cafeteria first."

Xia Lunong took note of his brother's words, went back to the house to get his own meal ticket, picked up the bag, and went to the cafeteria to get food.

After walking a distance, he looked back and saw his brother talking to Yan Xinian. His brother looked a little irritable, and Yan Xinian's expression was quite calm.

I don't know what they were talking about.

Yan Xinian is back, and Xia Lunong feels like another brother has returned. Even though he didn't do anything special, he felt at ease.

In addition to the sense of security, there was also a bit of jealousy that he himself couldn't figure out.

Yan Xinian was the founder and leader of the entire base.

Xia Lunong soon discovered that many people had entered Yan Xinian's house, including many unfamiliar faces.

Most of these unfamiliar faces were tall and had a fierce aura.

Liao Cheng said that these were all gatherers. They usually made a living by going out hunting and collecting supplies. Those in beast form were generally more powerful and lived a better life.

Xia Lunong couldn't imagine it at all.

However, these people were kind and would basically nod and say hello to him when they saw him, and sometimes even say a few words.

Besides staying at home, Yan Xinian sometimes goes out and walks around the base.

Xia Lunong observed quietly and felt that the people in the base were quite awed by him.

Yan Xinian actually had a good temper. When he had nothing to do, he and the Xia brothers cleaned up the front and back of the house.

Xia Lunong planted strawberries, watermelons and other fruits in the cleared wasteland. He also built a rack beside the house and planted lentils, bitter melons and loofahs.

People are busy, and time flies quickly.

In the blink of an eye, it was mid-March.

It was raining that day, and the brothers came back from the fields wearing hats.

Xia Huoqu stood in front of the yard, washing his hands and feet with the rainwater, and soon his hands and feet turned white.

Xia Lunong also wanted to wash, but Xia Huoqu didn't let him, and only asked him to use the water from the thermos to mix some warm water for washing.

The two brothers washed each other, one under the eaves and the other in the rain.

After washing, Xia Huoqu returned to the eaves with a damp body, took off his hat and leaned against the wall, and said casually, "I'm going out with your old brother tomorrow."

Xia Lunong paused, he hadn't heard his brother mention this for several days.

The wind blew over, making him feel cold, he shuddered, then raised his head and asked, "Are you going to find generator components?"