After the disaster

The car rental company that Qiu Cheng went to was not too far from the Jiayuan community. It was just at an intersection not far west of the train station. There used to be a gas station and a car repair shop there. Started a car rental business.

The process of renting a car went smoothly. Qiu Cheng fell in love with a very ordinary pickup truck. The rent was one catty of cornmeal a day, and the fuel fee was extra. The owner of the car rental company sold Qiu Cheng a pot of gasoline for ten catties of cornmeal. When he came back Then see how much gasoline is left, convert it into cornmeal and return it to Qiu Cheng.

As for the deposit, it is unnecessary. Qiu Cheng took the 1406 real estate certificate and his own ID card with him, handed it to a younger brother of the car rental company to copy a copy, signed a car rental agreement, and then drove the car directly. gone.

The next morning, Qiu Cheng and the others got up at three o'clock in the morning. The two first fertilized and watered the crops at home, and prepared enough food for the chickens for a day. The goats and fish didn't need to worry.

Before four o'clock, Qiu Chengcheng and Ah Chang loaded the family's spicy cabbage, potato and corn noodles into the pickup truck, started the car and drove out of Jiayuan Community.

From Xinnan City to the provincial capital, it takes more than three hours by train, and it takes about two hours by car on the expressway.Because Qiu Cheng was worried about spending the night outside, and the crops at home could not be separated from people, so they went out early that day, and Qiu Cheng even put aside his practice for a rare time.

Ah Chang was sitting in the passenger seat, looking around curiously. It was still dark when they went out, so even if he pressed his face to the car glass, he couldn't see the scenery clearly. By that time, the sky was getting brighter.

The gates of the toll booth were wide open, and no staff were seen, so Qiu Cheng drove the car directly onto the expressway.After driving on the expressway for about an hour, they reached the border of their provincial capital. Qiu Cheng turned the car to a nearby intersection. From this intersection to the central area, it was still about an hour's drive.

In the gray sky, Ah Chang looked curiously at the dilapidated houses on both sides of the road. In the chaos five years ago, the disaster situation in the provincial capital was obviously much worse than that in Xinnan City, but even so, There are still a lot of people here now. At five o'clock in the morning, many people are already catching insects and pulling weeds in the fields beside the road.

Driving further into the city, there are more dusty factories on the side of the road. In some factories, the sound of machines running can still be heard. I don’t know if the workers have not left work last night, or today’s morning shift has already started.

After Qiu Cheng's car entered the urban area, there were more and more pedestrians on the road. Occasionally, some cars could be seen, but the main ones were bicycles and tricycles.

"Fried dough sticks! Fragrant and crispy fried dough sticks!" On a bridge where people come and go, several young people are selling fried dough sticks. They set up a stove and oil pan here, and sell fried dough sticks while frying them. The scent wafted half a street away.

Ah Chang put his face on the car glass, staring at the fried dough sticks on the oil pan leaning against the black wire shelf. He had never eaten that, and it looked delicious.

"How do you sell the fried dough sticks?" Qiu Cheng parked the pickup truck beside the fried dough sticks stand.

"Five hundred." A young man slapped him.

When Qiu Cheng heard this, he was about to say that the electricity bill is only three yuan a degree now, and then he quickly remembered that he had sold two tomatoes for 100 yuan.

Even in the current Xinnan City, it is almost impossible to buy food with banknotes, but even if someone sells it, like these young people in the provincial capital, who sell deep-fried dough sticks for 500 yuan a piece, there are a few new ones. The citizens of Nanshi can afford it.

Speaking of which, the reason why electricity and water fees can be set so low is that the state apparatus has played a big role in the middle. Behind the scenes, the government does not know how much subsidy it has given to the power company and water conservancy company.

However, the benefits of connecting water and electricity are also obvious. If there is no water or electricity, the factories they saw along the way just now will not be able to operate, and the productivity of the entire society will recover extremely slowly.

"Two." Ah Chang had just confiscated his box of red notes, and Qiu Cheng decided to be more generous to him.

"Okay." Soon someone from the stall brought them two deep-fried dough sticks, took Qiu Cheng a stack of red tickets, and then asked them, "Would you like two cups of soy milk? 100 yuan a cup."

"I want a cup." Qiu Cheng said as he drew another banknote and handed it over. After a while, the soy milk was also delivered, and they started the car and left the bridge.

"Here." Ah Chang took out one of the two deep-fried dough sticks in his hand and handed it to Qiu Cheng.

"Eat it, I'll drive." Qiu Cheng leaned over and took a bite, signaling him to eat by himself.

Then Ah Chang stopped looking at the scenery outside the window, and looked at Qiu Cheng while biting the fritters. After eating, he was very happy, as if he was happier than eating it in his own stomach.

Qiu Cheng also hadn't eaten deep-fried dough sticks for many years. The tortillas he had gnawed at the temporary base for so many years were much better now, but there was still no trace of oil and fine grains.

"After the peanuts and soybeans are collected, we will fry fried dough sticks at home and eat them." After eating a whole fried dough stick, Qiu Cheng still felt a little unsatisfied.

"It's a lot." Ah Chang licked his fingers and said.

"When the time comes, I will fry ten for you." Qiu Cheng said.

"Twenty." Ah Chang compared his fingers.

"Row."

Qiu Cheng was quite familiar with the provincial capital, so he asked a few people on the way, and heard that the busiest area in the provincial capital is the train station area, so he drove there.

Along the way, they saw a lot of stalls selling things, some of them bartered, and some used banknotes, but the prices were very high, and they had to send out a few red notes every now and then.

When we got to the train station, there were very few people who used banknotes. Many of the stalls here were foreigners, and most of them only recognized food.

There was a street next to the train station where many sellers of agricultural products gathered. Qiu Cheng and the others found a place to park the car there, and did not move the contents of the car down. They only poured some potatoes out of the sack and put He opened the vat containing spicy cabbage, took half a piece of spicy cabbage out of it, put it on the lid of the bucket that was upside down, cut it into small pieces with a pocket knife, and put a toothpick beside it.

"Spicy cabbage spicy cabbage, sour and crunchy spicy cabbage." In order to sell things early, selling is a must.

"Are you new here today?" Qiu Cheng just yelled twice, and a man came over, took a tooth, stuck a piece of spicy cabbage in his mouth, chewed it, and said, "The taste is not bad. , give me two catties."

Qiu Cheng packed two catties for him according to his words, and the man took it and left without asking the price or offering money.

Ah Chang had never seen anyone who dared to snatch it from their stall, and was about to pounce on that guy to look good, but was grabbed by Qiu Cheng.

"The one just now was Boss Bai. You two didn't know each other when you first came here, right?" said the 50-year-old stall owner next to him.This person sells jars at a stall, and there are many jars, large and small, on the side of the road. There is also a truck parked next to it, which seems to be from other places.

"Who is he?" Qiu Cheng asked him.

"Our street, and that street over there are all his territory now, don't worry, he took your spicy cabbage, and today's booth fee will be waived for you." The stall owner said.

"How much is the booth fee per day?" Qiu Cheng asked again.

"That's not necessarily the case. It depends on the size of the stall. Generally, you just take something from the stall. Big stalls get more, and small stalls take less. Some things they really don't like, so they just accept corn cakes." The stall owner said. These things are obviously very familiar.

"Have you been setting up a stall here for a long time?" The other party was enthusiastic, and Qiu Cheng didn't want to ask what he wanted to know, so he would stop answering him, and it was inevitable that he would have to chat with him.

"I've been guarding here for more than a month." The stall owner yawned and asked Qiu Cheng, "Do you want a jar? I'll exchange a jar for spicy cabbage with you. It's enough for a catty. You can pick any jars below [-] centimeters on my stall, but actually, the ones over [-] centimeters are not worth much, it’s just that it took a lot of oil to transport them all the way.”

"Okay, I'll buy some more from you when all the things are sold out." The jar is just right for Qiu Cheng, as pickled vegetables usually spoil quickly in plastic buckets , it can be stored for a longer period of time in the jar.

"That's a good relationship. Let me see what you have in this car. Oh, spicy cabbage and potatoes. These two things are very easy to sell. What price do you want to sell?" He bought the jar, and the stall owner immediately became more energetic. He ran to the side of the pickup truck to have a look, and when he saw these two things, he was even happier.

"It's all the same price, eight taels of cornmeal for a catty, and these pickles, eight taels of cornmeal for a can." After spending the cost to transport things to the provincial capital, the price will always increase.

"It's not too expensive. In this provincial capital, there are quite a few people who are willing to eat. If you meet the right person, they might all be rounded up at once." The stall owner now finds Qiu Cheng and the others very pleasing to the eye, and he really can't speak cheaply against his conscience, he can only say that it is not too expensive.

"Spicy cabbage, sour and crunchy spicy cabbage, come and take a look if you pass by, and taste it for free..." The stall owner who sold the jars also hawked for them.

The charm of free tasting was too great. Soon, many people gathered around Qiu Cheng's stall, and these onlookers attracted another big customer.

Although this big customer didn't give them a round with a wave of his hand, he also bought two large barrels of spicy cabbage in one go.The spicy cabbage is ready to eat after being marinated. Qiu Cheng can’t take out the spicy cabbage one by one and weigh them dry. A few catties.

It didn't take much time after that, all the things on their stall were swept away.Spicy cabbage, which was secretly considered expensive by the stall owner next to it, was the fastest-selling one. Sure enough, as some people said, there are many people with money and food in the provincial capital, but they are more willing to eat it. It used to be in Xinnan City Potatoes, which sell very well, are selling slowly this time, mainly because potatoes are too common in the provincial capital, and Qiu Cheng’s family is not the cheapest, but fortunately, their fresh potatoes have less worm eyes, and in the end they are still fresh. All sold out.

After selling out the things at his own stall, Qiu Guo bought several jars from the stall next to him as he said before. The ones were [-] centimeters high, and he bought five in total, plus another one that was exchanged for spicy cabbage. , a total of six, even if there are more of them, this pickup truck can't fit.

After buying the jar, Qiu Cheng asked the stall owner where there was an oil press machine. Their peanuts and soybeans would be harvested in a few days. If they bought an oil press machine, they could press the oil by themselves.

I heard from the stall owner that the machine sellers were not here, they were going to the North Bus Station, so Qiu Cheng and the others drove there. There were six large jars in the pickup truck, and the cornmeal was placed in the truck. back seat.

"Ginseng is on sale! Ginseng is on sale! Homegrown ginseng is sold cheap!" There is a lot of traffic in the area around the train station, and the road conditions are bad.Qiu Cheng and the others moved slowly along with the traffic. At a corner, they saw a small green truck parked on the side of the road, and several tall northerners were selling ginseng here.

"Hey, buddy, do you want to buy some ginseng?" A young ginseng seller saw Ah Chang looking towards them, and immediately came over to sell them. They set up a stall here because they saw that this place is prone to traffic jams. They're selling it car by car just like they are now.

"?" Ah Chang turned to look at Qiu Cheng.

"Let's buy a few. It's the most affordable to buy now. We are ginseng farmers. These ginseng are all grown in our own ginseng garden. There are red ginseng, white ginseng and American ginseng. This American ginseng was introduced at a high price. , As a result of the chaos a few years ago, the sales were cut off, and I couldn’t chew it all by myself. You said, take it out and sell it cheaply, buddy, do you want some? This stuff is the most invigorating, I There are six-year ginseng and eight-year ginseng here, and there are more than ten years of ginseng, and there are also wild ginseng..."

The ginseng seller spoke very fast and sneaky, and his words were very clear, like a storyteller, with great energy, Ah Chang's face was fresh when he heard it, and he couldn't help turning his head to look at Qiu Cheng again.

"Are there any ginseng seeds?" Qiu Cheng didn't want to spoil his interest, but both of them are in good health and don't need supplements at all, so they planned to buy some ginseng seeds and go back to plant them. If they grow well, it will be good, but if they don't grow well, it's okay It doesn't matter much.

"Yes, there are ginseng flowers and ginseng seeds. A pack costs 2000 yuan. How many packs do you want?" The ginseng seller also saw that Qiu Cheng was the one who made up his mind.

"Just one bag." Qiu Cheng counted twenty banknotes for him as he said, took a small paper bag handed over by the other party, opened it, and found that there were more than 30 ginseng seeds in it. Ginseng seeds are only sold for the price of four fried dough sticks, which is indeed very affordable.