After the disaster

Although he really wanted to go in and see what happened, Qiu Cheng still didn't stretch out his hand to push open the door. There is no electricity on their side, and the night is too dark. He is alone and has no weapons. Any risky behavior is unwise.

Qiu Cheng stood silently in the corridor with his ears up for a while, and after making sure that there was nothing wrong with it, he turned around and opened the door to return to his home, and quickly closed the door.

It was not until this moment that Qiu Cheng finally remembered that the pile of ashes he saw yesterday afternoon did not seem to be left by someone from long ago.

The rough house has no windows, and when it is windy and rainy, the house will become very humid and the wind will also enter. If it is true that the ashes left by people several years ago, it should have been dispersed by now, and it is unlikely that it will be ashes. It was as dry and tidy as he had seen it yesterday.

In the early days of the X virus outbreak, some citizens failed to catch up with the first round of evacuation due to various reasons. They were stranded in the urban area, surrounded by a large number of infected people. In the end, many people either became infected or became their rations. , There are also those who starved to death in their own houses.

In subsequent search and rescue and material collection operations, the military often brings back some survivors to temporary bases.But five years have passed, those who should be saved have already been saved, and those who should die should have died long ago, so who exactly lit the fire in the opposite room earlier?

No matter who the other party is, what Qiu Cheng cares most about is always the "Wood Repair Notes". Through the faint starlight, he can see that the green onions on the terrace are raised by more than a finger. Children grow fast, but they are too fast. Qiu Cheng believes that this must be the result of the spirit gathering array.

That night, Qiu Cheng didn't sleep well. Early the next morning, he took out a pen and paper from the drawer, sat in the dim morning light and copied the "Muxiu Notes".

Although judging from the way the other party stacked wood and books, it seemed that he only used these things as fuel, but just in case, Qiu Cheng decided to make preparations in advance, in case the other party came to him one day and asked him for the book. Qiu Cheng will definitely return the book without saying a word.

Before going to work, Qiu Cheng carefully pushed open the opposite door and looked. There was no one, and there was no trace of anyone staying there. Could it be that he was thinking too much?

With doubts, Qiu Cheng came to the community where he worked yesterday. After a day's hard work of more than [-] people in this community, some residents in this community have already started to get electricity last night, and the rest should be able to do it tonight. Power on.

That woman was already waiting there yesterday, and when she saw Qiu Cheng coming, she waved for him to come over.

"Is there any news so soon?" Qiu Cheng saw that the team leader hadn't arrived yet, so he walked over with confidence.

"What do you think of these?" Without further ado, the woman took out a cloth bag from her pocket, held it with both hands, and spread the broken jade inside on her palm to show Qiu Cheng.

"You took it back yourself?" Qiu Cheng raised his eyebrows. It seems that this person prefers to earn the price difference rather than the agency fee.

"My own." The woman habitually picked her chin.

Qiu Cheng couldn't deny it, and took a closer look at the handful of broken jade in her hand. It looked like about twenty pieces. Judging by the color and shape, it was probably a few broken bracelets and a broken jade pendant. The time is definitely not cheap, and it is probably because of this that they are still preserved after being broken. According to "Wood Repair Notes", such jade materials are very good for array formations.

"Two tortillas." It's just broken jade, even in a peaceful and prosperous age, it's not worth a lot of money at all.

"Four, these jades are of very good quality. Even if they are processed into jade beads or small pendants, they won't be too cheap." The woman obviously had already thought about the price she wanted and the reason for bargaining.

"Three, I'll give you two now, and when you get off work at night, you can ask me to get one more, and there will be no more." Qiu Cheng is very satisfied with the quality of these jades, so he is willing to increase the price.

"Three and a half, as you want." The woman put away the cloth bag, put on a non-negotiable gesture, and looked up at Qiu Cheng.

Qiu Cheng originally wanted to say a few more words, but when he looked at the woman in front of him, her tightly clenched fingers revealed the tension in her heart, obviously not as strong as she showed on her face, suddenly, he felt a little My heart softened, so the words I was about to say were typed in my mouth, and when I spit them out, there were only two words left.

"Okay." Qiu Cheng said.

"Well, you give me two tortillas first, and the remaining one and a half. Give it to me when I get off work at night, and show me your ID card first." The woman said as she flipped through her workbook, He took out a blank piece of paper from the folder, wrote an IOU on it, wrote down Qiu Cheng's ID number, and asked Qiu Cheng to sign on it.

"By the way, if you don't have enough to eat, it doesn't matter if you split it up in two days." The deal was concluded, and it was in line with her psychological price. The woman was obviously very happy.

"It's okay. When we get off work tonight, you can come to the gate of the community." Qiu Cheng doesn't like to owe people things.

"Do you still want broken jade in the future?" Seeing what Qiu Cheng said, the woman didn't refuse any more, and started thinking about the next business.

"I don't want it now, I will contact you again if I need it in the future." The broken jade bought today is enough for the terrace of his house. Qiu Cheng has no plans to expand the plantation in the short term, and he has no land to plant it if he wants to.

"This is the phone number of my sister's duty room. She works in the hospital. Her name is Shen Yue, and my name is Shen Xing." The woman wrote Qiu Cheng's contact information neatly, tore a note and handed it to Qiu Cheng. he.

"Okay, I'll go to work first." Qiu Cheng nodded to her, and after giving her two tortillas, he left quickly. It was almost time for work, and he had just seen the team leader of their electrician team He also came, and the other colleagues were basically already in place. He only started work the next day, and he didn't want to leave a bad impression on the team leader.

All day, Qiu Chengcheng only ate half a corn tortilla and two bowls of cornmeal paste with little water in the soup. He was so hungry that his chest stuck to his back, but he could still bear the hunger. When there is not enough, starvation is also a common thing.

During the first food crisis a few years ago, the entire base complained, and later some people even gathered a crowd to make trouble. I remember that the head of the base only said one sentence, and the chaos was completely quelled.

"Anyone who thinks this place is not good can leave at any time, and if there is trouble, they will be caught and thrown out."

Since then, even in the most difficult situation, no one dared to make troubles, even when they were about to starve to death, because even starving to death was better than being gnawed by monsters.

That night before Qiu Cheng opened the door and entered the house, he stood in the corridor and listened for a long time, but he still didn't hear anything, and it was the same for the next few days. He gradually felt relieved.

That "Wood Repair Notes" was re-copied by Qiu Cheng, and it was hidden in the computer case of his desktop computer. , Qiu Cheng also has a copy that he copied himself.

After a few days of busy work, Qiu Cheng ordered many wooden baskets on the balcony, some were single-layered, some were multi-layered, and several multi-layered baskets were placed around the terrace and near the wall, and the rest They are all placed on a single layer, and these wooden baskets are all padded with cloth. There are not enough old clothes in his house, and Qiu Cheng went out to pick up the tatters a few times.

When these wooden baskets were filled with soil, Qiu Cheng saved a few cornbreads by saving money. He planned to take time to visit the village near Xinnan City University. When the village was in full swing for post-disaster restoration, someone had already sent seeds to the villagers in the nearby Zhuangzili.

When the X virus broke out, the towns and villages in the suburbs also retreated to the temporary bases. Some of them were far away, and later a team was arranged to rescue them. At that time, all the food in the farmers' homes was confiscated and distributed by the temporary base. The base may have benefited them a lot.

Now that the entire Xinnan City is short of food, the nearby suburbs should not be too rich. Qiu Cheng felt that he would definitely be able to exchange some seeds or vegetable seedlings with these corn cakes.

When Qiu Cheng went out early every day and returned home at night to work as an electrician to save corn cakes, an uninvited guest would usher in every day on the terrace of their house.

"Snoring..." The uninvited guest curled up on the balcony full of wooden baskets and dozed off. When he was falling asleep, his body tilted and his forehead almost hit the wooden basket beside him. He stretched his hands neatly and turned over, then squatted firmly on the railing on the edge of the terrace.

"Huh..." After the drowsiness receded, he let out a soft breath, jumped off the railing again, walked to the original position, kicked the wooden basket dissatisfied, he hated these wooden baskets, they occupied where he slept.