After the disaster

After working for a few days, Qiu Cheng and the others finally planted the rice. 1507 is located at a corner of the [-]th floor. The load-bearing capacity is quite good, but Qiu Cheng did not dare to let go of filling soil and water inside. The rooting of rice is not very deep, and the soil layer does not need to be too thick, and the water depth only needs to be controlled at about five centimeters.

At this time, the steel plate doors they ordered before have also been installed. The three steel plate doors are all translational, and the door locks have a high anti-theft factor. In addition, several very strong buckle locks are installed inside the door. With these buckles, no matter how strong the lockpicking ability is, it is impossible to open these doors from the outside.

Qiu Cheng was very satisfied with the three steel doors, but after paying this sum of money, the little cornmeal he had accumulated before was used up, so he had to grind the corn kernels he harvested last time, because corn kernels are more expensive than cornmeal. They are more resistant to storage and are convenient to dry. Qiu Chengcheng didn't wear them until they were needed.

The corn stalks in 1501 were also pulled out by Qiu Cheng and the others. There were very few corn cobs that were broken off, and there were not many corn kernels on the corn cobs. bag of corn kernels.

The wooden baskets used to grow corn and the wooden baskets on the terrace were all planted with peppers by Qiu Cheng. The reason is that the spicy cabbage pickled by his family tasted very good. Qiu Cheng wanted to grow more peppers and dry them in the sun. Chili, it is best to grind it into chili powder for future use.The wooden baskets on the balcony are all planted with Chinese cabbage.

Qiu Cheng is currently applying waterproof grout to 1504. He plans to apply two layers of waterproof grout first, and then nail a floor at a height of more than ten centimeters from the ground, and spread soil to plant peanuts.In this way, even if they sometimes water too much and the excess water drips onto the floor, it will not damage the floor.

As for peanuts, Qiu Cheng heard that they are relatively shade-tolerant, so he wanted to try various kinds of them. If they are planted well, he can extract some peanut oil in the future. He really has had enough of the days without edible oil. He didn't even know what cooking tasted like, so Qiu Cheng also wanted him to eat something good.

That evening, Qiu Cheng cut a piece of spicy cabbage and cooked a pot of soup with two potatoes. When the soup was done, he cut another piece and let it cool down for stirring, and sprinkled a handful of chopped garlic leaves.

This spicy cabbage soup is very good. It is a hot, sour, hot and thick pot of soup. When the pot of stir-fried dumplings was just made yesterday, Qiu Cheng also made such a pot of soup. The two of them made a big bowl each. Then I dug a spoonful of hot and soft stuffed dough into each of the two bowls, and ate it with chopsticks.

Today, these stir-fries were cold. Qiu Chengcheng cut them into small pieces and added them to the soup. They tasted good. They each ate a bowl of soup and ate some corn tortillas, then packed up and went to the night market to set up a stall. .

They hadn't been to the night market for a few days, but this time they came out, in addition to tomato chili sauce and pickled green onion leaves and pickled leeks, they also brought out half a bucket of spicy cabbage. With such a big bucket of spicy cabbage and no refrigerator, Qiu Cheng was worried that they would still go to the night market. It broke before I finished eating it, so I packed some and kept it at home, and took the rest to the night market to sell.

When they arrived at their stall, Lao Hu still made room for him. After they set up the stall, Lao Hu and Qiu Cheng bought a can of pickled leeks. Cheng Duo weighed some for him, made another spoonful of soup, and handed it to him in two white plastic bags.

"This spicy cabbage tastes good! It's not cheap for you, kid. How much water is a catty of cabbage? It costs two tortillas." Lao Hu reached out and tore a piece of cabbage out of the bag, rolled it up and handed it to his mouth for a bite. , with a crunching sound, smacked his lips, shook his head and sighed.

"I also put a lot of ginger and garlic, these things are not easy to handle now." Qiu Cheng said.There are really few ginger and garlic on the market now, and some are expensive. Most people are reluctant to buy them, so the sales are mediocre.

"Indeed, everyone is afraid of famine these days, and it's too late to grow food. Who grows ginger and garlic?" After Lao Hu sighed, he said to Qiu Cheng, "I asked someone to get a batch of soap these days, and I plan to go to the north to touch it." Try your luck, the leftover salt is more affordable, do you want it for you?"

Qiu Cheng thought that the amount of salt used to make pickles by himself would not be bad, so he agreed: "Okay, when the stall is closed, weigh it to see how much there is."

"That's good enough. After a while, brother, if I come back with good things from the north, I will never forget you." Seeing Qiu Cheng agree, Lao Hu was very happy.

The cornmeal and tortillas he earned some time ago had been changed into soap by him, and now there is still some salt left, and he intends to sell them as travel expenses. Although money can be used to take the train, but when he gets to the place, he needs to take a short bus or Taking a tricycle, people don't recognize money, and it takes several days to go back and forth, and there will always be some expenses for meals and accommodation on the way.

There is still a big barrel of salt left, which doesn’t look like much, and it will take a few days to sell it. Time is money, and Lao Hu is also very anxious. Seeing Qiu Cheng right now, he agrees. Where is he unhappy.

It was just decided here, and Wang Chengliang also came over there. Some time ago, Qiu Cheng talked with him about harvesting voles, but it was always raining at that time, and voles were not easy to catch. The sun is out these days. The whole family went to the field to look for vole holes when they had nothing to do. After a few days, they caught some and planned to send them to Qiu Cheng together. The night market is not very convenient, because they don't know when Qiu Cheng will open the stall. .

"There are four big ones and five small ones. Are you at home at noon tomorrow? My brother will send them to you then." Wang Chengliang said.

"At home at noon, when was the last time?" Qiu Cheng thought for a while and asked again: "Can you ask your family to send another cart of wood?"

"Okay, or half a ton?"

"It's still half a ton, and it's still the fifteenth floor."

"Then I'll tell them."

Not long after, some regular customers discovered that Qiu Cheng and the others were out of the stall tonight. At first, one or two people came here sporadically, and then gradually there were more people. Qiu Cheng and his tricycles were surrounded. Cans of pickled green onions and half a barrel of spicy cabbage are also very popular.

"Two catties of spicy cabbage."

"Hey, get me some more soup."

"Why haven't you been out of the stall these days?"

"When is the next time?"

"Which day? Saturday, will there still be spicy cabbage then?"

There were many people, and things sold out quickly. After a while, all the things brought out that night were sold out. Qiu Cheng bought all the salt from Lao Hu's stall as he said before, and then went to Lao Feng's house On the stall, I changed some cornmeal.

Lao Feng and the others are still setting up the stall, but the tortillas and cornmeal on the stall are obviously not as high as before, and his two nephews have not come out, so only Lao Feng and his son guard the stall.

After changing the cornmeal, Qiu Cheng rode a tricycle slowly through the night market. He passed by the seed stall last time without stopping. Qiu Cheng is going out tomorrow, so he plans to stop by the morning market. This guy who buys seeds in the night market The stall did not give him a good impression, and it always felt unreal.

After passing the three-way intersection, the number of stalls gradually decreased. Originally, the two intersections on the east and west sides were quieter, but the only street that was really lively in the night market was the street north of the three-way intersection.There are some stalls here and there on the side of the road, mostly selling sundries, and with few pedestrians, this section of the street looks quite wide.

Qiu Cheng put one foot on the pedal, and was just about to step on the tricycle at a faster speed, when he inadvertently saw an old man lying on the ground with a child squatting beside him on the train station square on the left, although this street is deserted , but there are also street stalls or people shopping nearby. At this time, everyone just pretends not to see it.

If it had been in the past five years, Qiu Cheng would not have dared to take care of this kind of thing, not afraid of anything else, but afraid of being stuck and unable to get rid of it.But it was different now. He hesitated for a moment, then turned the car around and turned onto a cement road west of the railway station square. The place where the old man fell was also on the edge of the square. Qiu Cheng rode the car beside them. stop.

"What's the matter?" Qiu Cheng raised his voice and asked the old and the young on the ground.

"No, nothing, nothing..." The old man lifted his arm weakly.

"You can't just lie here, the night market will be gone soon." There are so many people in the night market right now, it's still safe, and after a while when all the people are gone, there's no telling what will happen to the old and the young.

"It's okay...it's okay..." The old man just hummed like this, as if he was afraid that Qiu Cheng would get their ideas.

"Go back early if you have nothing to do, you can't spend the night in this place." Qiu Cheng reminded again kindly.

"Yes, I have to sell the bugs before going back." At this time, the child next to the old man said softly.

Sell ​​bugs?Qiu Cheng thought for a while, and it seems that he has never heard of anyone collecting insects in the train station square these days. When the armyworm broke out, the train station set up a few stalls. At first, it was Ai Wenhai and his family who set up a stall. Later, others followed suit, but recently there have been fewer bugs, and there have been fewer stalls.Firstly, the pest infestation has become lighter, and everyone’s desire to eliminate insects is not so urgent. Secondly, even if you set up a stall to collect insects, you can’t collect much all day long, so they gradually stopped.

"How many bugs do you have?" Qiu Cheng asked.

"There are a lot." The child looked up at Qiu Cheng. At this time, Qiu Cheng finally saw her facial features clearly. Although she had short hair, she could still tell that she was a little girl, and there was not much flesh on her face. , so thin that only those big eyes are left.

"Come on, go through the scale and see how many there are." Qiu Cheng said as he got out of the car, moved the electronic scale off the car, placed it on the ground, turned on the power, and pointed to the scale platform, motioning for her to put it on the scale. Put the bugs on.

The little girl tightly hugged the red plastic bucket in her arms, looked at Qiu Cheng warily, and did not move.But his grandfather tried his best to support his body at this time, half sat up from the ground, raised his hand and said to his granddaughter: "Weigh it, and see how many there are."

This old man thinks more clearly than his granddaughter, they are old and young, they are strong and strong, so what if they want to rob them?He himself doesn't care, anyway, he is already half buried in the ground, but his granddaughter is still so young. With his granddaughter today, he has no intention of being a strong bone.

Besides, it's a bucket of worms, people may not be interested in it yet, this time this young man doesn't sound like a bad person, maybe they met a good person today?

This said, even the worms and the bucket weighed nearly four catties. Qiu Cheng took them four cornbread from the back of the car: "I'll collect these worms. Where are you going to spend tonight?"

"I'll go to the police station in a while." After the old man finished speaking, he saw the four corn cakes his granddaughter took from Qiu Cheng, and quickly said, "This is too many, I have too many."

"It's okay." Qiu Cheng waved his hand, moved the electronic scale to the car, and put the bucket of worms on the car, and the bucket will not be returned to them. In this night market, one corn tortilla can buy a lot of food. Big, new and strong buckets, they are so old, they don't look good quality, not worth anything at all.

Turning the tricycle around, Qiu Cheng didn't leave immediately, but waited for a while at this intersection until he met two patrolmen, explained the situation of the old and the young to them, and watched them get in the patrolman's car and go Went to the police station, and then left.

From the beginning to the end, Ah Chang just watched silently. He didn't quite understand what Qiu Cheng did, but he felt very at ease. Being by Qiu Cheng's side made him feel very safe, as if he would never have to worry about being hurt. .