After the disaster

"Who are you looking for?" Qiu Cheng opened the door a crack.People are doing this now, if the person standing outside the door is a stranger, very few people will open the door of their house carelessly, so his behavior does not look weird.

"I live in 902. Thank you so much today. My son said that you helped him carry water." The woman said with a smile while looking at Qiu Cheng unobtrusively.

"It's just convenient, you're welcome." Qiu Cheng said lightly.Not only does his family have a spirit gathering array, but there is also a Chang whose origin is unclear. It is best not to have too many entanglements with these neighbors.

"This is some bitter wheat vegetables I dug up from outside today. It's not a good thing." The woman said, and handed Qiu Cheng a handful of wild vegetables.

"Thank you." Qiu Cheng took the handful of wild vegetables through the crack of the door.

"That's nothing, I'll go back first, you're busy." Seeing that Qiu Cheng didn't say much after taking the wild vegetables, the woman smiled kindly and ended the conversation.

When Qiu Cheng saw her leave, he quickly closed the door. Although this person came to thank him, he didn't mean to be tempting.

On the other hand, after the woman left Qiu Cheng's house, she also secretly breathed a sigh of relief. She just came back from the outside and heard her son say that the uncle on the fourteenth floor helped him carry water today. While being grateful, she was also a little wary .

Her husband goes to work in the city every day, and the rations he earns are not enough to feed their family of three. She used to work in the city, but that job ended recently, and she couldn't find another job for a while. I had no choice but to go out to dig wild vegetables with a few women and old people in their community.

The fields and hillsides on the outskirts of Xinnan City have long been rummaged, so they had no choice but to go a little further. Today they went to a town more than two hours away from Xinnan City. When the X virus broke out, At that time, many people died in that town, and later the temporary base was disbanded, and many residents of this town chose to stay in Xinnan City and let the city rearrange their residences. empty.

Because the town is so completely destroyed and there are very few residents in the town, Xinnan City has not yet arranged for a team to carry out post-disaster reconstruction work, and it is inconvenient to use electrodes for water. When it was arranged to go to the countryside to farm , and did not arrange people here.

There are large fields around this town. These fields have been abandoned for many years, and now they are covered with weeds, and there are many wild vegetables in them. Recently, many people come here to dig wild vegetables.

Because of the long distance, she took her son there before, which made the boy very tired, so she will not take him there in the future, and still lock him at home every day. When the couple were both working in the city, It did the same.

On this day, because there was no water at home, his son volunteered again, and he repeatedly promised that he would be very careful, go home after receiving the water, and would never stay outside, so they did not lock the door behind them.

After returning home, she heard her son talk about what happened today, so she dragged her weary pace and went up to the fourteenth floor with a handful of bitter wheat vegetables.

She came to deliver this handful of bitter wheat vegetables, on the one hand, to express her gratitude, on the other hand, she wanted to observe what kind of person Qiu Cheng was, and on the other hand, it was actually a warning, telling Qiu Cheng that they were parents She already knew that he had contact with her son. If Qiu Cheng was a bad person, if he wanted to attack her son, he would have to weigh it again.

Originally, it was more appropriate for her man to come forward, but she also knew that Qiu Cheng and the others would go out on a tricycle every evening, and when his man came back from work, they would not be at home.

This is how it is these days, people are full of vigilance, because there are always bad things coming out.Qiu Cheng and the others set up a stall in the night market, and they often heard that another corpse floated out of the Xinnan River today, or that young people from so-and-so's family went out to work during the day and returned at night to find that the old man had been murdered and the child was missing. Such frightening events.

The city has now strengthened its security management. Even the suburban neighborhood where Qiu Cheng and the others live can be seen to be patrolled by the police every day. Once a criminal is caught, the sentence will be severe.But even so, it still can't stop people from going astray one after another, unwilling to endure a hard life, and have malicious thoughts towards others.

After catching bugs on the crops on the terrace, Qiu Cheng saw that it was still early, so he took a sack and went out to cut a big bag of grass. When he came back, Qiu Cheng saw an old lady on the second floor poking her head. He stared at the sack on his shoulder inquiringly.

Facing the neighbors' curiosity and inquiry, Qiu Cheng also felt very headache. If he let them know that he would go out to mow grass every five days, he would probably guess that they were raising livestock upstairs.Ah Chang's goats didn't bark very much, the two big goats didn't make much noise all day long, and only the little goat would bleat once or twice in a low voice.If the residents downstairs didn't pay attention to observe, they probably wouldn't find anything, but if they thought about it, it might not be easy to hide it.

Qiu Cheng was preoccupied with feeding the goats in 1501, planning to buy this floor as soon as possible, as well as the fodder for the goats, if he could grow it himself in the future.

At this time, Qiu Cheng raised his eyes and just saw the sunlight shining into the room from the outside, and suddenly had an idea in his mind.The area of ​​the terrace and balcony is not enough. Maybe he can plant some shade-tolerant pastures in the house. If the sun is not enough, he can fill in the light.

Thinking about this, Qiu Cheng cast his eyes on the empty window frame. If a lower-hung window is made there, and the window glass is made of mirrors, then when the window is opened, the sun's light will shine on the mirror and be reflected into the room. In general, these reflected light should hit the ceiling of the house, or the wall facing the window, and it is not easy to shine on the ground, so one or two more reflections are needed.

Compared with bottom-hung windows, top-hung windows that can block dust and rain are more common in the market now. Bottom-hung windows are rarely used in residential buildings, especially those that open outwards. Qiu Cheng is a little worried that this window will more noticeable.

But if this idea can be realized, he can not only grow pasture in the house, but maybe he can also grow potatoes. Potatoes are shade-tolerant and high-yielding. Once they are planted in a large area, the speed of his acquisition of other houses on this floor will be greatly improved. accelerate.

Calculating his recent income, Qiu Cheng gritted his teeth and dug up several baskets of potatoes. These potatoes were smaller than the last batch because they hadn't fully grown yet, and looked tender.

That night they took a sack of potatoes to the night market. When they arrived at the stall, Qiu Cheng still roasted the sparrows first, and asked Ah Chang to watch the fire for him, and then put out the other things.

"Qiu Cheng, the stone mill is finished, and I'll spread it over there." Just as Qiu Cheng took a sack of potatoes out of the cart, Wang Chengliang came over.

"I'll get it later when I close the stall." It's been a few days, and Qiu Cheng almost forgot about it.

"Oh, okay. Because you said there is no rush, my brother will take his time. It took a long time, and the things are doing well." Wang Chengliang explained with some embarrassment.His second brother had to go out to work during the day, and he would play with the stone mill when he had time when he returned home at night. The stone mill was simple to say, but if it was really done well, there were still some tricks in it.

"It's okay, I don't need it urgently." He was really not in a hurry, or how could he forget it, Qiu Cheng grabbed a few potatoes for Wang Chengliang while talking, and said with a smile: "The batch of potatoes that just came in, you take them Try it, those three tortillas will be given to you later when you get the millstone, but there are none now."

"No, no, no." Wang Chengliang declined and walked away: "I still have something to do at the stall over there, so I'll go back first, and you remember to come and move the stone mill later."

Seeing that he was gone, Qiu Cheng threw a few potatoes in his hand into the sack, picked some small ones from it, and threw them into the stove to roast with the sparrows.

Qiu Cheng took some potatoes and put them on the wooden boards that were horizontal on the truck body, and put the rest under the wooden boards. Along with the potatoes, there were tomatoes, peppers, shallots, and leeks. An electronic said that the bag containing the voles was tied by Qiu Cheng with a rope and hung on the handlebar.

Ah Chang was guarding the stove in the open space behind the stall. He wrapped the two eggs in a waistband and wrapped them around his belly. He had to unzip the zipper from time to time and gently pull them with his fingers to turn them over. Ah Chang used to do this when he saw the birds in those trees hatching their eggs.

Knowing that Qiu Cheng and his stall have a few roasted sparrows every night, if some old customers want to buy roasted sparrows that night, they will come and wait at the right time, and pay for their two corn cakes early, and the sparrows will be roasted later. When they come out, there will be one of them, and how many sparrows are counted every night. After they are sold out, Qiu Chengcheng will no longer accept tortillas. Naturally, there will be no situation of making guests wait in vain.

"Boss, how do you sell these potatoes?" Soon, a customer who often came to buy roasted sparrows noticed that Qiu Cheng and his stall had added new products today.

"One catty of corn cakes is exchanged for one catty of potatoes." Qiu Cheng said.

Hearing that the price is so affordable, several people who were waiting for the sparrows to be roasted at that time were all moved. They gathered around to pick and choose, and each bought a few catties of potatoes. Anyway, this stuff is durable and stored well. Let it stand for ten and a half days. Moon is all right.

Although potatoes are not as filling as tortillas, they are more expensive than fresh ones. Everyone eats tortillas all day long, and it is good to change the taste occasionally.There are also potatoes sold in their night market, but the prices are generally relatively high, and the sources are also different. Some are bought by merchants from the north, and some are circulated through other channels.

Some scientists, senior doctors, politicians, and upper echelons of the military in the city live a better life than ordinary citizens, and they also enjoy certain rations. In addition to staple food, they usually have some vegetables.But these people are often family-led, and they can eat enough for themselves, and they can't ignore other relatives, so there are often people who will sell the rations and let these things circulate on the market.