Chapter 61 Sandstorm
When the agreed date for exchanging supplies came, Liang Xianyue woke up in the morning, opened the curtains and was stunned.
The sky was still clear yesterday, but today there is a cloudy yellow outside the window. The strong wind blows violently on the ground, rolling up the sand and gravel on the ground, and those tiny gravels hit the glass, making a rustling sound. Even without opening the window, Liang Xianyue could imagine the choking smell of sand outside.
"Mom, when did it become like this outside?" Liang Xianyue asked Zhen Min, she slept well yesterday and didn't hear the sound of the wind blowing.
"Three or four o'clock in the middle of the night." Zhen Min was not sure about the exact time, "You change into thicker clothes later, the temperature has cooled down today." "Oh, good.
" Outside.
She suddenly remembered that today was the time to exchange supplies, and she felt bad: "Will the grain base send vehicles to transport supplies in this weather today?" It hurts so much on the face that I can hardly breathe. And I can't see clearly a few meters away, how can I send a car down in this kind of weather." "
That's really bad."
The reason for the sandstorm is very obvious. There is a lack of precipitation for months, the ground is already dry, and last year and this year everyone cut down too many trees to survive the severe winter, the vegetation coverage has been greatly reduced, and it has never appeared in the past few decades. Ancheng, which was in sandstorm weather, also encountered a sandstorm with such low visibility and such strong wind.
In such weather, I dare not go out at all, so I can only stay at home. Even though the doors and windows were closed tightly, Liang Xianyue could faintly smell a smell of earth. The only apricot tree left in the house was swaying in the strong wind, and the sand and gravel hit the leaves, making a fine sound.
"Will the apricots be scraped off?" There was only such a fruit tree left in the house, and there were still a few apricots on it that were not yet ripe. I thought about picking them in a few days, but in the end there was another sandstorm.
"Isn't there a lot of fruit trees planted on the island? Sooner or later you will be able to eat fruit." Zhen Min comforted her.
"Those fruit trees are still too young. They haven't grown fruit this year, and I don't think so next year. Only grapes are our hope. Although they only produced two or three clusters this year, I think they are growing well. They should be able to bear more fruit next year." Come."
It's so hard to eat some fruit.
The fruit trees that can bear fruit are too large to be transplanted, and the fruit tree seedlings will take several years to grow. When Liang Xianyue is craving fruit, he can only eat more cucumbers and tomatoes, and then dig out the dried fruit he bought before and eat two pieces.
Liang Xianyue stood in front of the window and stared at the muddy yellow world for a while, then turned her head and saw Zhen Min playing with a bag of dried pears, with a small handful of poria cocos beside her.
Seeing Liang Xianyue Wang approaching, Zhen Min explained: "I went out in the morning, and my throat is not feeling well now, I will make some dried Poria cocos pear soup later, let's all drink some.
" Wear a mask when you go out in the future, it should be better."
When people are exposed to sand and dust, the dust may carry various toxic chemicals or bacteria into the human body, causing various diseases. If it is a person whose respiratory tract is not healthy enough, the symptoms will be more serious, and the occurrence of sandstorms cannot be simply regarded as dust choking.
Dried Fuling pear soup is stewed with rock sugar. The soup tastes clear and slightly sweet, and has the effect of moistening dryness and relieving cough. All three of them drank the soup, and felt that the earthy smell in their mouths and noses faded slightly. The smell of the sandstorm is really pervasive. Even though the windows are not open, I still feel out of breath.
Zhen Min wanted Liang Xianyue to go back to the space, and found an excuse to ask her to do something: "Yueyue, go and get some Chinese medicines and ingredients that have the effect of clearing away heat and nourishing the lungs in the storage room, such as licorice and lilies. , if the sandstorm doesn't subside for a day, we need to drink more soup for nourishing the lungs and relieving cough."
Liang Xianyue was flipping through the shelves in the storage room. When she first started stocking up, she paid little attention to buying Chinese herbal medicines. She stocked up on western medicines. Later, when Liang Kangshi and Huang Yifeng went to the city to exchange supplies, Liang Xianyue remembered to get some Chinese medicinal materials and some medicinal seeds.
She took several suitable medicinal materials and put them in the basket at hand one by one, bellflower, licorice, poria cocos, lily, mint...
Among them, Platycodon grandiflora and licorice Liang Xianyue are still planted on the island, and they are not mature yet. Liang Xianyue uses the finished products that have been processed, and there are still many fresh mints. I have been drinking mint hydrolysis in summer. heat.
After sorting out these medicinal materials, Liang Xianyue brought out a lot of masks and two bottles of cough syrup.
—————
On the third day of the sandstorm, the sky is still a vast yellow, but the wind has weakened, and it is rare to feel the howling wind mixed with sand hitting the windows, but the dust in the air is still too much to make people uncomfortable .
Even if they stay at home and do not go out, Liang Xianyue's family is used to wearing masks. All three of them had a more or less uncomfortable throat feeling. Apart from hiding in the space, they could only block the gaps between the doors and windows of the house with wet cloth strips to keep out the sand as much as possible.
Originally thought that the team coming down from the grain base to exchange supplies would delay their departure in this weather, but unexpectedly heard the high-pitched sound of the horn outside. The general idea is that a material truck full of coal has arrived, and those who want to exchange coal can bring their own grain to the side of the road.
Liang Xianyue and Zhen Min looked at each other, and decided to go outside to have a look. Liang Xianyue wore two layers of masks, and found a pair of flat glasses to wear, and covered her head with a silk scarf.
Zhen Min said to Liang Kangshi: "Yueyue and I went out to have a look, you stay at home and don't move around if you have nothing to do." As soon as
Zhen Min opened the door, Liang Xianyue quickly slipped out next to her, turned around and quickly closed the door. Only when I went outside did I realize that the earthy smell in the air was even worse, making me want to keep coughing. Liang Xianyue cleared her throat to suppress the itching, and walked to the side of the road with Zhen Min.
There were indeed several large trucks loaded with coal parked on the side of the road, and Liang Xianyue didn't know how they repaired the road to allow such trucks to pass in such a short period of time. There are several large scales on the side of the road, and people who have rushed here have hurriedly brought food from their homes and are weighing it. The accompanying staff at the base next to them took a notebook to record the weight.
The villagers in Liangjia Village thought that there would be no supply trucks coming due to the sandstorm. Now that they heard the news, they were in a hurry to come to trade, for fear that there would be no coal to exchange if it was too late.
Liang Xianyue said to Zhen Min: "Let's also hurry up and bring the food in the wing room. But we have to pick off the loofahs on the vines first, or we don't have enough food. Then, mom, go to Uncle Huang's house and tell As soon as they hear the news that the coal can be exchanged, I'll go back and pick the loofah." "
Okay. I'll go to Lao Huang's house." Zhen Min's voice came from under the mask, muffled.
Liang Xianyue heard a lot of coughing around her. Everyone took out masks and put them on. Those who didn't have masks at home also covered their mouths and noses with scarves, but they still couldn't completely avoid the intrusion of sand and dust.
She hurried home, found a big basket, took a pair of scissors, and cut off the loofahs growing on the walls and shelves one by one and put them into the basket.
These loofahs are long and slender. Although it hardly rains, Liang Xianyue has been paying attention to watering the loofah vines. The size of the loofahs is not bad, but after the sandstorms of the past few days, there is a layer of dust sticking to them. Fluttering, without the appearance of the original water spirit.
Some loofahs grow on high places, so Liang Xianyue moved a stool to pick them, and they picked them right up to the half-collapsed wall. Liang Xianyue heard footsteps, and thought it was Zhen Min who came back, but when she poked her head around, it turned out to be Ji Mingcen.
"You're here in this weather?"
Ji Mingcen didn't wear a mask, but just covered his mouth and nose with a scarf, and Liang Xianyue took out a mask from his pocket and handed it to him.
Ji Mingcen took it and put it on before speaking: "I heard the news that the supply truck was coming down, and I thought that your family will also change coal. Uncle's injury is still not healed. I'll come and see if there is anything I can do to help."
The engineering team stopped working on the day when the sandstorm occurred. The dust was flying and the wind was violent. There was no way to make cement, and the same could not be done for other jobs. When Ji Mingcen heard the sound of the horn, he came out to take a look, and found that the trucks could not drive to the small roads in front of the villagers' houses, and could not unload coal nearby. The villagers can only carry the grain to the widest road in the village, and then carry the coal back. He thought that Liang Kangshi was still injured at this time, and there were only two mothers and daughters Liang Xianyue, so they ran over.
Liang Xianyue just wanted to refuse, how could he have the nerve to ask Ji Mingcen to help her family move things in this weather. At this moment, Zhen Min came over, just in time to hear what Ji Mingcen said.
Her eyes turned around between the two of them, and she suddenly said in pleasant surprise: "Xiao Ji, it would be great if you could help! I'm worrying, she is the only laborer in Aunt Yueyue's house, and she can't carry so much food. I want to help, but I can't leave Yueyue to work alone. Now that you're here, you can move my things with Yueyue." She looked at Liang Yueyue, "I'll go to your Aunt Jing to help She can't lift it by herself."
Liang Xianyue was stunned for a moment, Liang Jingna really couldn't do it alone, but my mother didn't plan like that just now.
Zhen Min had already turned around and left.
Liang Xianyue smiled embarrassedly at Ji Mingcen: "Then I will trouble you."
They planned to send the basket of loofahs that Liang Xianyue had just picked first. The basket is big and tall, filled with loofahs, and it weighs sixty to seventy catties. Each of them held the handle of a basket and walked towards the side of the road.
Liang Xianyue's house is very close to the roadside, but the place where the truck stops is more than a hundred meters along the road. There were several people recording the quantities on the scales. Liang Xianyue was standing behind a staff member. The staff member saw that he had just arrived, so he took the initiative to ask him: "Didn't you come here just now? Tell me your name and I'll give it to you." Register."
Liang Xianyue reported Liang Kangshi's name, and the staff opened another page, instructing the two of them to put the loofah on the scale. Time was tight and the task was heavy, and they were facing sandstorms, so no one wanted to stay outside for too long . I didn't care about the gross weight of the two catties, and went directly to the scale with the basket, and recorded the numbers.
The worker asked again: "Should the coal be counted together when the grain is brought over, or should I take it back now?
" Instead of running many times, it is better to bring the coal back after bringing the food.
She told the staff about her plan, and the man nodded, "Next time you come over, take a special basket for coal, preferably with a bigger mouth. We have run out of baskets here." Grain and coal are of course It can't be packed in one basket. The grain base has prepared some baskets. The people in front used them when they came to exchange coal. Liang Xianyue had to prepare them by himself.
Liang Xianyue agreed and walked home. The loofahs in the yard haven't been picked yet, but there are not enough left for one basket. Ji Mingcen took the empty basket and said, "You pick the loofahs first, and I'll fill half the basket with other things first." Staying outside in the windy and sandy
environment Feeling unwell all over, Liang Xianyue just wanted to hurry up, so she simply showed him the way: "Over there, there are potatoes on the ground in the wing room, you can just pick up one-third of the basket, and fill the rest with loofahs." Ji
Mingcen Walking towards the wing room, I saw that a simple granary for potatoes was built on the ground with shelves and barbed wire. The entire granary was suspended in the air, with a height of more than ten centimeters from the ground, to prevent mice. This simple granary is not very high, only reaching the waist. Ji Mingcen put the basket aside, and quickly picked up potatoes in it.
Not long after, Liang Xianyue came over with a large handful of loofahs, and she found an open basket to hold in her hand. The two went on to "delivery".
On the way, Liang Xianyue chatted with Ji Mingcen: "There has been a sandstorm these days, how are you doing?" "
Except for some troubles when cooking, everything else is fine." I can't go to the playground to cook, and I dare not drive The windows are ventilated. Although the classroom is empty and will not cause a fire, the gray smoke from burning wood cannot escape. Every time cooking is very choking, Ji Mingcen usually opens the classroom door when cooking, and then closes the window at the end of the corridor. Open it up and let some fresh air in without letting the sand and dust blow in.
"It's not enough to live in the classroom all the time. Have you inquired about renting a house in the village?" Liang Xianyue found it troublesome just thinking about it. It's okay to live in the classroom for a short time, and it's not convenient for daily life.
"There is no suitable one." Ji Mingcen shook his head helplessly, "After all, the earthquake just passed not long ago."
There are still many villagers in Liangjia Village stranded in the sixth junior high school, and they have not found anyone who can rent out the house, let alone a Ji Mingcen is an outsider.
"Then let me inquire about it for you, and maybe I'll find it."
They quickly walked to the door of the wing room, and first poured out the coal in the basket. Liang Xianyue's warehouse for storing coal and wood collapsed in the earthquake, and it has not been repaired until now. Before, she and Liang Kangshi cleaned up the collapsed roof and the fallen brick wall, and now the coal is piled up in the open air, covered with a rain cloth that was of no use.
Just lift a corner of the rain cloth and pour the coal in the basket directly into it.
Liang Xianyue was about to go to the wing, when she saw Ji Mingcen raised his hand to cover his eyes, he seemed uncomfortable.
"Is the sand blinding your eyes? Come in." Liang Xianyue dragged Ji Mingcen to the wing and closed the door behind his back.
Ji Mingcen's hand covering his eyes was pulled down by Liang Xianyue. "Don't rub it, your hands are dirty."
He saw that Ji Mingcen's slightly closed eyes were red, his lower eyelashes were wet with tears, and he was frowning with a very uncomfortable look.
"Let me blow it for you."
Liang Xianyue sat down next to Ji Mingcen, gently opened his eyelids and blew in. After blowing a few times, Ji Mingcen blinked his eyes, looked up at Liang Xianyue, his eyes were still reddish, but they could be opened.
The distance seemed too close, Liang Xianyue took a step back hastily, "Is it really healed, don't I need to go back and find some eye drops?
" foreign body.
Liang Xianyue took off the gauze around her neck and handed it to Ji Mingcen, telling him to follow his example and wrap the gauze around his head. In addition to wearing a mask and glasses, Liang Xianyue also wore a gauze scarf, which was passed under the eyes and above the mask, and when it was pulled behind the ears, covered the ears and tied on the back of the head. Although it looks strange, it can effectively prevent dust from entering the eyes and ears.
Because she was worried that dust would get into her clothes along the collar, she also wore one around her neck.
"Is that so?" Ji Mingcen took it and gestured twice.
"Pull it down a little bit." Liang Xianyue reached out and pulled the gauze tied by Ji Mingcen, and accidentally touched his earlobe. It was very hot, so it turned out that he wasn't the only one who felt embarrassed just now... She immediately withdrew her hand and looked at him. Look away, cover up your abnormality.
Watching Ji Mingcen tie the scarf, the two continued to carry potatoes.
This time, when she came near the truck, Liang Xianyue heard a quarrel.
While she was weighing herself for a while, Liang Xianyue figured out why the noise came from.
A villager brought several baskets of potatoes with a cart. When the workers loaded the potatoes into the cart, they realized that the layer exposed on the top of these potatoes was good. The bottom layer is also good, but there is a lot of rotting in the middle. The number is not too much, otherwise he wouldn't have waited for him to go back and forth a few times before discovering it.
But these rotten potatoes were mixed into the pile of good potatoes. If they were not picked out in time, the potatoes next to them would soon rot. This undoubtedly added a lot of workload to everyone. When the staff looked through the potatoes he had brought before, they also found that there were many rotten ones inside. Originally working in such bad weather, I was irritable and encountered troubles, which made the staff who handled it immediately burst into an unknown fire.
The staff accused the villager of deliberately shoddy, trying to cheat more coal. Villagers insisted they had no idea there was any rot in it, just a coincidence.
The two sides refused to give in to each other, so they quarreled.
Gradually, a group of onlookers gathered around. Liang Xianyue couldn't help but stop, and looked around from a distance, wanting to see how this matter would end.
A refined uncle who looked older than Liang Kang squeezed into the crowd, he said a few words to both sides, Liang Xianyue didn't hear clearly, but guessed it was some smooth talk. In the end, the villager seemed to promise that the next time the potatoes would be checked before they were packed, the uncle called the staff next to him over, and the two exchanged the books in their hands. The next time the villager came, he was looking for This staff member has been replaced.
After finishing these, the uncle squatted in front of the pile of potatoes and picked out the rotten moldy potatoes one by one.
Liang Xianyue looked back several times and remembered the face of this uncle. He should be the main person in charge who came down to exchange supplies this time, right?
She has been holding back some things in her heart, and she hasn't figured out what to do until now.
After moving back and forth for more than an hour, the amount of grain in the record book finally broke through one thousand catties, and there is still half of it to finish today's work. As soon as Liang Xianyue cheered up a little, she felt her palms burning. She took off the cotton gloves, and saw that the palms of her hands were red and the skin was a little shiny. They were rubbed back and forth with a basket, and if they continued to rub, they might form blisters.
Liang Xianyue rubbed her palm with some annoyance. Although his strength has increased, he has not yet become an indestructible body. The palm of his hand needs to be worn out.
Ji Mingcen saw it from the side and knew that Liang Xianyue was stronger. If he said that he had to carry the rest of the grain by himself, Liang Xianyue would never agree. So he suggested: " Why do
n't you find some soft cloth to wrap your palms first, because the material of the gloves is too rough."
Soft and slippery cloth.
Seeing Liang Xianyue wrapping the cloth strips around his hands, he was struggling to tie the knot with one hand.
Jiming Cen said gently: "Let me do it."
He tied the two cloth strips carefully, and carefully adjusted the position of the knot, so as not to increase the friction and make it easier to wear the knot after putting on the gloves.
"I should get you two strips of cloth." Liang Xianyue realized when she saw the wrapped cloth strips in her hands.
"Don't bother." Ji Mingcen spread out his palms to show Liang Xianyue the calluses on his hands.
Ji Mingcen's hands are quite beautiful, with slender fingers and well-proportioned flesh and bones, but thick calluses are formed on the palms and finger pulps.
Since Ji Mingcen said that he was a lawyer before, he didn't have these calluses back then. It's only been less than a year, and even most of the calluses on his hands came from Ji Mingcen's move here in the past six months.
At this time, Ji Mingcen had already withdrawn his hand, filled the basket, and called Liang Xianyue to come and try whether the palm of his hand still hurts.
Liang Xianyue worked with him to lift the basket, and found that it was much more comfortable after wrapping it in cloth.
I have been busy from two o'clock in the afternoon to four thirty, and finally replaced all the prepared food with coal. When leaving near the truck, Liang Xianyue saw many villagers who had just arrived after getting the news surrounded the truck that had unloaded coal and was ready to go back to the base with a full load of grain.
It's not for any other reason, but I'm just worried that if I miss today, the base will no longer come to exchange coal. Coal is the most important guarantee for the villagers to survive the winter safely. No wonder they are worried, fearing that they will miss this only chance.
The uncle that Liang Xianyue had met stood in the middle of the crowd and raised his voice to appease everyone, repeatedly repeating that the truck would come tomorrow unless the weather got worse, but that would only delay the time for material transactions, never Only this afternoon.
Seeing that everyone was still worried, he simply took off his belongings in the car, and said loudly to everyone: "When encountering such a sandstorm, everyone feels uneasy, and I am afraid that the coal consumption in winter will be delayed. I also know it. In this way, I will live in the village today. Now you don't have to worry that the truck won't come tomorrow, right?" When he
said this, the villagers were a little embarrassed, and rushed to say: "The leader lives in my house today, and my wife paid for it." Dumplings are the best!"
"Come to my house, I have a vacant house!"
The base staff on the truck looked at Zhong Deyuan hesitantly: "Chief Zhong...how can I do this?"
Zhong Deyuan turned around and said, "What's wrong, By the way, I can also check to see if there is anything wrong with the village's inspection of the number of poor households who moved to the base. Tomorrow, you will still follow the regulations I set before. I believe in your ability to work. You can handle the situation well."
This staff member has also been with Zhong Deyuan for a long time, and he will not be persuaded if he knows what he believes. This time he followed him to the village to exchange supplies. It was because the person in charge wanted to postpone it because of the weather. Zhong Deyuan was worried that the sandstorm would not disappear, which would cause panic in the village, so he led the team down in person.
But... well, the quota of impoverished households who moved to the base is not within the scope of your work!
But... well, the quota of impoverished households who moved to the base is not within the scope of your work!
He should go to live in the village chief's house, and Liang Xianyue guessed everything he saw. She touched a few bullet casings in her pocket. Is this worth the risk?