The next morning, when Lu Qin opened the curtains, he felt dazzled.
When I looked outside, it was snowing.
In October of previous years, Rongcheng still wore light clothes.
Lu Qin shivered and immediately put on her clothes and went downstairs. Her mother just came out of the kitchen with two bowls of porridge. When she looked up and saw that Lu Qin was awake, she said, "Xiao Qin, put on more clothes. It's snowing outside and you're freezing."
Seeing the thick layer of snow outside, Lu Qin felt anxious. She remembered that in her previous life, the snow lasted for more than twenty days and accumulated to a layer of more than one meter thick.
Because of the heavy snow, many vegetable markets were closed. From the day the snow began, it became difficult to buy anything at the market. It also became difficult to cook at home.
At first, she still went to work because the company cafeteria still provided meals, and she could also pack some to take home, enough for her and her mother to eat. But as time went on, the cafeteria could no longer provide meals. From then on, it was difficult for the mother and daughter to buy food with only money.
"Mom, I'm going to the market to see if I can buy some vegetables!"
"Hey, why don't you have breakfast before you leave!" Liang Shuyu looked at his daughter who hurriedly put on a down jacket and went out without washing her face or eating. He felt helpless and could only nag: "The ground outside is slippery, be careful!"
Lu Qin took the key and went out. The wind was biting cold outside. She took out her cell phone and saw that the temperature was already minus eleven degrees Celsius.
Because he didn't have a car, Lu Qin rode a shared electric bike towards the vegetable market.
The market was sparsely populated, and several stall owners were already packing up their things and preparing to go home.
Seeing a little girl, a kind stall owner said, "Little girl, you're late. There's nothing left. Go back quickly. Oh, this damn weather, it's freezing."
Lu Qin felt a little helpless, but still walked deeper into the vegetable market.
After a round of shopping, she only bought four pig's trotters and a piece of pork fat. This was the butcher's gift to keep for his family, but she begged him to buy it back at a high price.
Just as she was about to leave, someone patted her on the shoulder. Lu Qin turned around and saw the stall owner who had just spoken to her: "Little girl, I have three bundles of green onions here. They're not real vegetables, they're grown in my greenhouse. I see you haven't bought anything in a while. Six hundred yuan, take them."
Lu Qin looked at the three bundles of green onions in front of him. Although the green onions were a little frozen, they were obviously fresh. One bundle weighed about one and a half pounds. Before it was put on the shelf, it would have cost only ten yuan, but now it costs two hundred yuan. However, Lu Qin thought this price was a good deal, so he quickly paid for it and kept thanking the stall owner.
"Thank you, Auntie. We don't have anything at home. It's snowing and I don't know what to eat next. I'm really worried."
"Oh, they say the weather is going to change. I'd better buy as much as I can. It will be fine after we get through the winter."
The aunt is probably an optimist. Lu Qin couldn't bear it. If the aunt knew that this severe winter would last for at least ten years, how would she react?
After chatting for a while, Lu Qin learned that the master had a greenhouse at home where he grew onions and that he would come to sell a batch tomorrow, so Lu Qin made up his mind.
Although green onions cannot be considered a real vegetable, we are almost running out of green vegetables, so who cares?
So she made an appointment with the aunt to buy onions tomorrow.
"You have to come early. They're all sold out before six o'clock today."
Lu Qin naturally nodded in agreement.
Carrying the harvested pig's trotters and green onions, Lu Qin rode his bike back home.
It was only seven o'clock now. Antu Town was not big, and many shops along the way were closed. Only one breakfast shop was open. Lu Qin went out without eating and was already hungry, so he turned into the breakfast shop.
Maybe it was too cold, and there were not many customers in the breakfast shop, so Lu Qin ordered two servings of dumplings.
"One hundred and sixty per basket." The proprietress said without raising her head.
The price is indeed high, but considering the current prices, I feel a little relieved.
When the proprietress saw that Lu Qin didn't bargain, she looked at her twice.
"Hey, don't complain about the high price. The prices of rice, flour and meat change every day. We have no choice. If we continue like this, we will have to close tomorrow."
Lu Qin nodded. The inflation in the past year was really severe. She ate the dumplings while watching the proprietress busying around.
There was a little girl in the store, who seemed to be the boss's daughter, fiddling with something in a kettle.
Watching the child fiddling with his things, the boss lady scolded him, "Stop fiddling with that! You can't even go to school, so how are you supposed to turn in your homework? Besides, it's so cold, how can mushrooms grow there? Your teacher is so bored."
The little girl pouted, looking reluctant, but she didn't stop spraying water in her hands.
Lu Qin was stunned and realized that this was probably a handicraft homework done by a child in kindergarten. What the little girl was fiddling with was nothing but mushroom buns.
She remembered that in later generations, families that had the conditions to heat themselves almost all grew hydroponic vegetables or mushrooms at home.
After the end of the world, fresh vegetables are really rare. The vegetables cultivated and sold uniformly at the base are very expensive. If you have the conditions to grow them at home, although the quantity is small, it is still enough to occasionally improve the family's meals. It is even a good choice to exchange them for some supplies.
Lu Qin was very moved.
No matter how much you stock up, it is not as good as having continuous output.
Now that she has no shortage of fuel, she believes she can still heat a room, so she plans to buy some seeds, hydroponic equipment, mushroom bags, etc., and study indoor cultivation.
Thinking of this, Lu Qin finished a tray of dumplings in a few bites, packed the rest and left in a hurry.
When I got home, I handed the things I bought to my mother and said, "There's nothing at the market, so I bought these things. Mom, what do you think of this?"
Liang Shuyu glared at her: "You only know how to eat. You are such a grown-up girl, but you don't know how to cook."
Lu Qin scratched her head embarrassedly: "Mom is here, and she cooks so well, I can just eat it."
"The porridge is still on the table. I've heated it up for you. Go and have some to warm you up. I think the shallots are good. I'll chop them up and freeze them for easy storage. Oh, and there's some lard? That's perfect. Let's boil some lard. It keeps for a long time. Tonight, I'll fry some chopped shallots with the lard. Mom will make some hand-rolled noodles, and we'll have scallion noodles."
"Okay!"
Lu Qin thought of the hand-rolled noodles made by Liang Shuyu. They were chewy and fragrant. Paired with chopped green onions fried in lard and a little soy sauce, they must have been incredibly delicious.
Lu Qin swallowed.
Lu Qin also did not forget to deliver the express every day.
While going to the toilet, she came to that space on a whim. Looking at the dazzling array of express parcels on the shelves, Lu Qin chose a medium-sized one. When she opened it, she found two cans of adulteration powder.
This is a great nutritional supplement.
Lu Qin happily took it out and stored it in the pile of supplies upstairs.
The basement was well-proofed against moisture and had been occupied by the various coal fuels she had bought, so the two rooms upstairs, the larger one was used as a bedroom, and the smaller one was used as a place to store food.
The public security in Rongcheng Base is still guaranteed to a certain extent, especially in the area near the military district, so Lu Qin is not afraid of food being stolen.
The next day, Lu Qin got up early again and arrived at the vegetable market at 4:30. It was indeed different from yesterday. It was as busy today as it was yesterday.
It was still dark, but there was already a thin layer of snow on the ground. Everyone was waving their hands full of money, rushing to buy various food.
Relying on her petite figure, Lu Qin squeezed in from the middle. Two hours later, she came out with her hair in a mess, holding the spoils.
Today's harvest was pretty good. She bought a total of six tomatoes, four cabbages, two pounds of frozen shrimp, three pounds of pork, and also bought five bundles of green onions and two bunches of coriander from the aunt yesterday.
She didn't like cilantro very much, but the green vegetables looked pleasing to the eye, so she bought it anyway.
After she delivered the things home, she went out to the supermarket again.
The supermarket is now only open three hours a day, and the last time she went, there was nothing left; even the instant noodles were sold out. She heard that supermarkets are now implementing purchase limits, but there were still a lot of people going there. She hadn't wanted to go, but considering the current situation, she was free anyway, so she felt more at ease buying a little more.
As a result, I didn't buy anything in the supermarket, but when I passed by a pharmacy on my way back, I did buy some vitamins and frostbite cream.
These things are in short supply now, and Lu Qin thinks it is worth buying some.
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