After the disaster

In the early morning, Ah Chang slowly opened his eyes in the morning light, and tilted his head to scan the position beside him. Sure enough, Qiu Cheng was no longer there. He yawned and sat up from the bed, touching the two coins in his pocket. The eggs still remained silent. Qiu Cheng said that they might be broken, but Ah Chang knew that was not the case. He could feel that the chick was about to break its shell soon.

Ah Chang carefully arranged his hair in front of the mirror. He patiently stroked and smoothed the messy locks on the top of his head until they became docile. Then he walked out of the room in satisfaction. out.

At this time, Qiu Cheng was sitting near the balcony door meditating, with a sofa cushion under his buttocks, cross-legged, with the seal of Yuan Ming on his hands, his body was neither bent nor bent, his head Neither low nor high, his eyes are slightly closed, and he is obviously in meditation at this time.

Ah Chang walked up to Qiu Cheng silently, squatted down slowly, and looked at the man who was practicing meditation in the morning light. In his eyes, Qiu Cheng was also very good-looking when he was meditating. The field seems to have settled down, so natural, so natural that it almost blends with the leaves and fruits on the terrace, Ah Chang doesn't like this.

After watching for a while, Ah Chang finally walked away awkwardly. No matter how long he squatted there, Qiu Chengcheng would not open his eyes to look at him, which made Ah Chang feel a little discouraged.

Ah Chang first went to the [-]th floor to pull weeds, catch bugs, and water the crops planted on the terrace and balcony. It stopped raining yesterday afternoon. They didn’t water the crops last night. Come here today. At first glance, the soil in many wooden baskets was half dry.

Then Ah Chang took the caught bugs and pulled weeds to 1505, and fed them to the fish in the fish pond. There are four kinds of fish in their fish pond. Crucian carp is the smallest but the most vicious. As soon as it is sprinkled, they flop and start grabbing food, turning up many white splashes on the water surface.

Grass carp is gentler, dragging the grass he dropped to swim around the pool, pulling and eating. Several corners of this room are also planted with grass, and some grass leaves hang down in the fish pond. It is a pity that the grass does not grow into the water very much, and it is not easy to eat it. They still prefer the grass that Qiu Cheng and Ah Chang feed every day.

Ah Chang squatted on the wooden basket and looked at the fish for a while, finally swallowed his saliva and stood up, went to the balcony and adjusted the angle of the mirror, so that the newborn sun sprinkled the sunlight inside the room, under the golden sunlight , the whole room looks sparkling and very beautiful.

After finishing this, Ah Chang walked out of the fish pond on steps made of upside-down wooden baskets, went to the next door to cut some grass, fed it to the goats living in 1501, and then went downstairs.

The crops on the terrace of their house also need to be taken care of. The peppers and tomatoes on the terrace have recently produced fewer and smaller fruits. Qiu Cheng has already planted new ones and said that the old ones will be removed in two days. Unplug it.

The pumpkins, loofahs, and bitter gourds that were planted before have also grown. The loofahs and bitter gourds have already been picked once, after the rain stopped yesterday, but Qiu Cheng hasn’t had time to use them for cooking. Ah Chang still doesn’t know what they taste like Yes, the pumpkin was still green. Qiu Cheng said that he would eat the old pumpkin after it turned yellow.

After finishing these tasks, Ah Chang fed the voles again, and then dragged a sofa cushion to Qiu Cheng's side, nestled on the floor and took a nap in boredom, he turned over on the floor for a while, and lay down again and again. Picking the two eggs in the pocket, I always feel that time passes very slowly.

"Are you hungry?" After eight o'clock in the morning, Qiu Cheng finally came out.

"Hmm." Ah Chang responded aggrievedly.

"What do you want to eat today?" Qiu Cheng asked him.

"..." Ah Chang said nothing, he wanted to eat the fish upstairs. When he ate the tortillas for the first time, he still thought they were delicious, but after eating them, he didn't like them so much, they were thick and hard. , it’s really not delicious, but apart from cornbread and cornmeal, they have nothing else to satisfy their hunger.

Qiu Cheng knew that he was tired of eating cornmeal tortillas. In fact, he was already tired of eating tortillas. He ate tortillas for longer than Ah Chang. Since he lived in the temporary base, he could still see them in the first year. Some rice and white noodles gradually decreased, and finally they all planted corn, because corn has a high yield and grows fast, and it is not too difficult to maintain.

I heard that wheat is also grown in the north, but rice is seldom heard. Qiu Cheng misses the fragrant steamed buns and sweet and delicious rice very much now.

Now that the weather is fine again, Qiu Cheng plans to plant another crop of potatoes. When he buys both 1510 and 1512, the entire [-]th floor will be theirs. Get some delicious food for yourself and Ah Chang.

They still ate cornbread in the morning. Qiu Cheng made a pot of soup with a loofah picked yesterday afternoon. big bowl.

After eating, they took out the last two bananas and peeled them to eat. The two of them turned on the TV and ate the bananas bit by bit. Qiu Cheng didn't like bananas in the past, but now they feel very sweet in their mouths. .

"It's over." Ah Chang looked at the banana peel in his hand and sighed regretfully.

"I'll buy it next time." Qiu Cheng took the banana peel in his hand, and put it together with his own in the two field mouse cages by the wall. The field mice in the cages also like to eat banana peels, and they put them in every time. , will be eaten clean by them.

In the evening, Qiu Cheng and Ah Chang took the batch of pickles and sauces they made recently to the night market to sell. It rained continuously for the past few days, but now it finally cleared up, and many citizens came out early to visit the night market , It's not dark yet, the night market is already very lively.

Qiu Cheng rode a tricycle through the three-way intersection and drove towards the place where they usually set up a stall. Ah Chang squatted by the side of the cart, staring at the things in the cart to prevent them from being touched by others.

"You boy, why did you come here? I thought you made a fortune and don't plan to set up a stall anymore?" As soon as Qiu Cheng arrived at the stall, he saw Lao Hu set up a tricycle next to their stall. Between the stalls of Qiu Cheng and Wang Chengliang.

"When did you come back?" Old Hu said some time ago that he was going to sell salt, but Qiu Chengcheng hadn't seen him for a long time.When the location of their stall was settled before, Lao Hu also came to look at it once, but he didn't expect him to put the stall here.

"I got off the train yesterday afternoon, no, I haven't been out of the stall for a few days, and my original place was taken by someone, so I just ran over to be your company." Old Feng's original place was good, at the intersection of the three forks The middle position, once he left, was naturally taken by someone else.

"How much salt did you sell this time?" Qiu Cheng had already seen several large plastic buckets on his tricycle at this time, and the lid of one of the plastic buckets was opened, and the salt in the bucket was spiky. The next few plastic buckets are covered with lids.

"Hey, just sell back more than 200 catties. I have no capital and can't get it back if it's too much." Old Hu laughed.

"How do you sell this salt?" Qiu Cheng has made a lot of pickles recently, and he has almost used up the salt that he sorted out from Ah Chang's strongholds.

"It's cheap, one tortilla is one catty." Lao Hu said immediately.

"So cheap?" Qiu Cheng also felt a little surprised. At this time, he had already set up his own stall. He went to look at the batch of salt brought back by the old Hu seller, but he couldn't see any way, so he had to ask the old man again. Hu Dao: "Why is it so cheap?"

"Naturally, it is cheap. This salt is different from crops. The crops are planted now, and it will take at least a few months for the harvest to be harvested. The salt can be processed with seawater. They have nuclear power plants and wind power plants along the coast. , and I’m not afraid of running out of electricity, as soon as I turn on the old machines, production resumes.” At this time, Lao Feng from the stall next to him also came over.

"Tsk, it's not as easy as you said. Their local power station sends incoming electricity and transmits it to the north. It's not just for local people. There is a quota for how much electricity a salt farm has in a month." Lao Hu was a little upset when he was said to be so worthless.

"It's really so rare, so tell me, why is it so cheap?" Lao Feng knew that the price of salt was cheap, and Lao Hu is not the only one who goes to the coastal areas of Xinnan City to sell salt. one.

"If the factory can't pay the wages, the salt will be paid. They will receive a few orders from the mainland every month, and exchange some grains to distribute rations to the workers. The rest will be distributed to them. Salt, let them find their own channels to sell , It just so happens that us small businessmen want less goods, so we take goods from them, and bargaining is troublesome." Old Hu said.These days, nothing is easy.

"The coastal areas are developing better than ours now?" Qiu Cheng couldn't help asking.

"That's for sure. When will the coastal areas not develop better than ours? If nothing else, just talk about those guarding the saltworks. Even if they don't grow crops, they won't starve to death. To be honest, how many people have died in our city over the years? People? Although it is said that there are not many people who starve to death directly, everyone understands in their hearts that if it is not because of lack of food and weak body, how can so many people die?"

Speaking of this, the atmosphere became a little silent. When it comes to the outbreak of the X virus and the years of living in the temporary base, no one can relax.

After a while, when the sky darkened, there would be more people visiting the night market. Qiu Cheng opened a can of each of several pickles and sauces, and put a can of toothpicks next to them, and asked the customers to use the toothpicks to pick out the sauces and taste them.Qiu Cheng's skill in making sauces is average, that is, it is salty enough and spicy enough, and the ginger and garlic that should be added are also very refreshing. The onlookers picked a little bit with a toothpick and put it in their mouths. .

The price is also very reasonable, about [-]ml canned bottle, only two corn tortillas per bottle.Such a can of pickled vegetables can be eaten by ordinary people for several days, and as long as two tortillas are needed, families with a little bit of life can also be willing to do so.

Before nine o'clock, Qiu Cheng and the others sold out all these pickles, and even the three bottles that were opened for people to taste were bought by the last customer at a relatively low price.

Before closing the stall, Qiu Cheng went to Lao Hu's stall and bought twenty catties of salt from him. In two days, the batch of Chinese cabbage he had planted earlier could be harvested. Qiu Cheng planned to make them into sauerkraut. The main thing is to eat it yourself, and you can sell part of it if you can't finish it.

On the way back, he passed by the store with the words "flour" and "soybean" posted on the door. Qiu Cheng couldn't help but stopped the tricycle and asked Ah Chang to guard the tricycle outside, and he went in by himself.

"How do you sell the flour?" Qiu Cheng looked around, and there were three men standing in the shop, the oldest one was about 60, the youngest was about thirteen or fourteen, and the other looked in his early forties , tall and thin, with a light forehead.

"Five catties of cornmeal per catty." Among them, a middle-aged man in his early forties came over to greet Qiu Cheng, while the other two, one old and one young, did not move.

Seeing that Qiu Cheng didn't speak, he quickly said again: "It's not easy to buy flour now. We have spent a lot of money to get these products from the north. These noodles are all good noodles. If you don't believe me, you can buy a catty first." Go back and taste half a catty."

"Do you still have vinegar here?" Qiu Cheng didn't answer his question. He just discovered that this store not only has flour and soybeans, but also soy sauce, mature vinegar, sweet noodle sauce, and soybean paste. They are all packed in jars of different sizes. There is a red paper with the name written on it.

"They were all brought back from the north, and now these things are very rare here." The shop owner's tone was not without complacency.

"How do you sell aged vinegar?" Qiu Cheng asked him again.

"Three catties of cornmeal and one catty."

Qiu Cheng thought for a while and said, "I want half a catty of flour and two taels of mature vinegar."

"Okay, do you have anything for vinegar?" Although half a catty of flour and two taels of mature vinegar are not too much, but there are few people who can afford these things these days, and Qiu Cheng's way of buying is not bad. It looks very poor.

"No." Qiu Cheng shook his head.Then I watched as the store owner first weighed half a catty of flour for him, put it in a fresh-keeping bag, took out a bottle of mineral water that looked fairly clean, inserted a funnel, and poured it into the flour with a small bamboo tube. Two tubes of mature vinegar were poured into the funnel.

After buying flour and mature vinegar, Qiu Cheng was in a rather happy mood. He planned to make dumplings for Ah Chang tomorrow. They had leeks at home, so they could be stuffed with leeks.

But this good mood didn't last long. As soon as he left the night market, Qiu Chengcheng found that they were being targeted. Qiu Cheng turned his head and looked at those people, and found a group of young people who seemed to be under twenty. Eight or nine, they also noticed that Qiu Cheng had turned his head to look at them, but they didn't care, and laughed loudly.

Ah Chang, who was squatting on the back of the car, also began to feel a little restless, and the group of people following their tricycle obviously had bad intentions.Ah Chang has never fought against such a large opponent before. He has only dealt with voles, sparrows and fish. Suddenly he has to fight against such an enemy of his own size, which makes him feel a little nervous, and the number of opponents is still so large. many.

Qiu Cheng deliberately accelerated the speed of his bicycle, trying to get rid of the group of people behind him, but he couldn't, he was fast and they were fast, but at this time, another patrolman on the street didn't see him.Qiu Cheng guessed that he must have been targeted by them when he went to buy flour in that store just now. Anyone who can afford flour these days must be a fat sheep in their eyes.

There was another intersection ahead. Qiu Cheng was very familiar with this area and knew that this road led to the river, so he turned across it without thinking. He couldn't bring this group of evils into their community.

Sure enough, the group of young people in the back quickly followed up, and speeded up, constantly getting closer to Qiu Cheng and the others.Qiu Cheng was riding a tricycle, and he couldn't beat them no matter what. It seemed that tonight's fight was settled. After thinking about it, he simply stopped the car.

At this time, they had already reached the Xinnan River, fearing that the tricycle would fall into the river in the chaos, Qiu Cheng smoothly pushed it into the field on the other side.Ah Chang Qiu Cheng got out of the car, and he got out of the car too. Seeing Qiu Cheng pushing the tricycle into the field, he also extended his hand to help, and then followed Qiu Cheng every step of the way, with a string coming out of his throat. A string of uneasy growls.

"Yo, don't run away?" Seeing Qiu Cheng and the others get out of the car, the group of gangsters laughed arrogantly. They had voted a few times before. Two, the gap in strength between the two sides is simply overwhelming.

"If you want to run, you have to be able to run."

"Fuck, grandpas are still hungry, why are you so embarrassed to eat white noodles? How fucking shameless!"

"Hand over everything obediently, Grandpa won't touch you today."

"What nonsense are you talking to them? Take the things first, I think they have a lot of good things in the car."

"Stupid, this stuff is nothing, we have to go to their house to see it later."

In the eyes of these people, Qiu Cheng and the others are now fish on their chopping board. Qiu Cheng doesn't think so. It's time to accept your fate obediently, however, this time is different from the past.

Before they approached, Qiu Chengcheng took the lead to kill them, and Ah Chang followed closely behind without hesitation. The light was poor at night, and there were no street lights in this area by the Xinnan River, because there would be no one at night. Come to such a dark place, there is no need to waste electricity.

At this time, by the moonlight, Qiu Cheng could still see these gangsters clearly, and these seventeen or eighteen-year-old boys were indeed a bit ruthless. It's hard to stumble, but whoever is afraid of whom, the grandson who is afraid, deserves to be hungry, and everyone puts on a desperate posture.

Qiu Cheng was not good at fighting in the past. As a child in a single-parent family, in order not to worry his mother, he rarely caused troubles.At this time, he was wrestling with a group of gangsters, hitting with his fists, kicking with his feet, and hitting with his head, as long as he could use it, he used it. Although he has a little cultivation, he is not a master of martial arts. In the middle, I also suffered a few blows.

"Tear!" Qiu Cheng heard the sound of the blade slicing through the fabric. He moved in the opposite direction as fast as he could for a few minutes, and then felt the warmth on his arm, and some liquid slipped along the skin. down.

"Aww!" Ah Chang pounced to this side, and slammed the gangster with the knife onto the road.

"A Chang!" Qiu Cheng yelled, raised his legs and kicked a gangster who was still fighting with him into the water, then walked over quickly, grabbed Ah Chang's clothes, trying to put him in the water. Pulled away from the bastard, but he pulled twice, but Ah Chang still didn't move.

"A Chang!" Qiu Cheng sternly shouted again. He didn't want to kill anyone, and he couldn't kill anyone. There are nine people in total. If one is killed, the rest will be witnesses. Did you kill it?

"Roar!" Ah Chang turned his head and yelled at Qiu Cheng, his red eyes were full of murderous intent.

"Let go of him quickly." Qiu Cheng slowed down his tone, he could see clearly that the bastard on the ground was almost out of breath at this moment.

"..." Ah Chang didn't speak or move, but when he met Qiu Cheng's gaze, his originally determined eyes finally softened, and those eyes full of killing intent were slowly being wronged And unwilling to fill up.

"Good boy, be obedient." Qiu Cheng wiped the top of his head, and stretched out his hand to pull him up from the bastard.

"Cough!" As soon as Ah Chang stood up, the gangster coughed vigorously. He really thought that the lunatic would kill him just now. Although they usually do evil, they have never seen such a direct killing intent, especially For himself, at that moment, he was really afraid.

However, his nightmare did not end there. After Ah Chang stood up, Qiu Chengcheng squatted down beside him, stretched out his hand and took the dagger in his hand, and then without blinking, he went straight His neck was tied down.

"Ah!" At that moment, he was completely shrouded in the shadow of death.

"Ding!" The tip of the knife pierced the concrete floor, making a not-so-clear sound, the blade brushed against his neck, scratched his skin, and a few drops of bright red blood slid down the blade.

"Next time, I'll kill you all and throw you into the Xinnan River." Qiu Cheng's emotionless voice rang in his ears.

Qiu Cheng didn't want to kill people, he didn't want so much blood on his and Ah Chang's hands, if possible, he still hoped that he could use legitimate channels to deal with these gangsters, but he couldn't call the police, he didn't want to bring any harm to Ah Chang. Dangerous and uncertain.

This fight frightened the group of gangsters. Even if they were still able to move, they all lay on the ground pretending to be dead and did not dare to get up. The one who was kicked into the water by Qiu Cheng just climbed to the shore, They didn't dare to go into the water right away, until Qiu Cheng and the others left, they walked towards the main road supporting each other in twos and threes.

Qiu Cheng checked the wound on his arm. It was not very deep. He asked Ah Chang to push the tricycle out of the field, and the two walked back to Jiayuan Community.

Back home, the wound on Qiu Cheng's arm had basically stopped bleeding. He cleaned it with clean water, and sprinkled some anti-inflammatory and hemostatic powder. When he was injured while working in the temporary base, he also prepared the standing medicine A few things, I remember the last time he was cut open on the back of the head, and the scab formed after sleeping, but this time the injury was much milder, Qiu Cheng didn't plan to go to the hospital.

"Woo..." Ah Chang was very anxious just now on the road, and he looked restless when he returned home. At this moment, he forgot all the things he had learned from Qiu Cheng during the past few days, like a head The wounded beast circled around Qiu Cheng, whining lowly.

"It's okay." Qiu Cheng turned to comfort him instead.

"..." Ah Chang didn't speak, he cautiously approached Qiu Cheng's injured arm and looked up, then looked up at Qiu Cheng with a look of bewilderment.

"It's okay..." Qiu Cheng raised his uninjured arm and reached out to touch his face.

"!" Ah Chang's eyelashes trembled, and tears rolled down his cheeks. He raised his eyes to look at Qiu Cheng, so fragile and helpless.