Chapter 26 New Year
During my days of relaxing, I spent my time petting cats, walking dogs in my online space, growing vegetables, and feeding the animals in my ranch. Every day was fulfilling and busy, and soon it was New Year's Eve.
The day before, Liu Yao invited Yu Miaomiao and Lu An to have New Year's Eve dinner at their place. Yu Miaomiao and Lu An thought about it and agreed. It wouldn't hurt for just the two of them to have dinner alone, and they weren't afraid of being alone, but they weren't against being with the Liu family either.
On New Year's Eve, Yu Miaomiao thought for a moment and prepared a bag of chocolates, which she put in a red bag as a "red envelope" for the little girl.
Lu An cooked three dishes at home: braised pork, winter melon and pork rib soup, and sweet and sour fish. It's Chinese New Year, after all. You always have to eat something good to feel that the future is promising and there is hope for the road ahead.
"Sister, are you home?" Liu Yao knocked on the iron gate. Lu An opened the security door and went downstairs. Ma Jiang darted to the iron gate and waited to pounce on Liu Yao after the door was opened.
During this time, Liu Yao would occasionally come over to play with the dog in the stairwell on the 17th floor, and the relationship between the child and the dog was extremely good.
Carrying the plates, the two prepared to leave.
The dog wanted to run along too, but was stopped. It felt so wronged. Before the apocalypse, it didn't get this treatment. Its owner would take it everywhere it went.
However, the dog gradually began to understand that things were different now than before, so it was no longer as carefree about going out as it used to be.
Never mind, let's go back to playing with the cats. Thinking this, I turned around and started circling around the cats. Tuanzi and Yuanzi: Meow, go away.
When we got to the 16th floor, we saw He Xin busy preparing food. She was using an outdoor stove to fry eggs because it was too cold. The eggs had to be kept in the tent and taken out only when needed, otherwise they would freeze solid.
The neighbors on the 16th floor rarely showed up, but they never made things difficult for the family. They just let them go out. Occasionally, when the family brought back good supplies, they would share them with the residents on the 16th floor. This is how a balance was maintained.
Seeing that they were carrying several dishes, Grandma Liu came out of the tent, took them and brought them inside, smiling and saying, "So much delicious food, I wanted to invite you over, but you've gone to so much trouble."
Fortunately, the common areas of the apartment complex where Yu Miaomiao and her friends lived were relatively large, so the one-bedroom tent in the elevator lobby wasn't too crowded. Meals were arranged in the tent's "living room," which had an electric heater on, so it wasn't too cold or too warm.
When they didn't see Liu Pei for half a day, they asked Yao Yao where her father had gone, but she remained mysterious and didn't say anything.
Around 6 o'clock, Liu Pei finally returned from outside, looking travel-worn, carrying two bulging bags on his back.
They found a lot of supplies some time ago, but dared not bring them all back. The principle of "one should not have the heart to harm others, but one should not be without the heart to guard against others" is eternal. So they secretly found a place to hide them. Today is the New Year, so Liu Pei went outside to retrieve some of them.
He pulled out a large bag of vermicelli, two bags of beef jerky, a self-heating hot pot with tomato and beef brisket flavor from his backpack, a large bottle of frozen Coke, and then a bag of sunflower seeds and a bag of peanuts.
Yu Miaomiao noticed that there were 7 boxes of self-heating hot pot, so it seemed that someone else was coming tonight.
Just before dinner, the tent was pulled open again, and He Liang came in from outside, carrying several cans of tuna and a dozen beers.
"I'm sorry I'm late." He Liang remained a man of few words, and naturally sat down next to Grandma Liu after putting down his things.
"Now that everyone's here, let's get started!" Liu Pei smiled and raised his glass. Everyone else followed suit, raising their glasses to celebrate the first Spring Festival after the apocalypse. They were grateful that they could still have enough to eat and wear in this post-apocalyptic world.
Everyone praised Lu An's cooking after eating it, which made her a little tipsy, and she even drank a couple more glasses of wine than usual.
"This braised pork is something only heaven can offer!" Everyone hadn't had any meat in a long time. After the apocalypse, let alone pork, the outside world was a vast expanse of white where you couldn't even see rats. All you could see were frozen human corpses.
They had wondered where the animals had gone, but they dared not think too deeply about it, always feeling that something terrible was waiting for them.
"The base is now open, and the aid station has recently started registering the number of refugees. We will be moving to the official base in Ningcheng soon. Do you plan to go to the official base?"
He Xin wiped the tomato juice off Liu Yao's mouth and asked Yu Miaomiao in a casual manner, while Liu Yao looked at her expectantly.
They shouldn't have been curious about other people's plans, but Ayao loved her two older sisters and didn't want to be separated from them. So she forced herself to ask.
"It's not confirmed yet. It seems the military is also setting up a base. We haven't made up our minds yet." Lu An and Yu Miaomiao really hadn't decided yet. Both the official and military options had their advantages and disadvantages.
The official base is easy to enter, and the supplies collected upon entry are relatively small; each person only needs to hand over 1 kilogram of food or other essential supplies.
Military bases are difficult to enter due to their high requirements. To enter a military base, one must hand over twice as many supplies as at an official base. Each person must hand over 3 kilograms of food or other essential supplies.
Moreover, it's not just about supplies; you also need some special skills or knowledge. Otherwise, in military bases, ordinary people are called vagrants and are required to participate in the construction of military bases and do a lot of hard and tiring physical labor.
For this reason, the Liu family could not go to the military base. They needed to preserve their supplies for their future lives and could not use them all to pay for the entrance fee. Even if they managed to pay, life inside the base would be very difficult.
"It's safer to stay at a military base. Things are very chaotic right now. Have you heard that the military is recruiting patrol teams? If you pass the patrol team's assessment, you can bring your whole family to a military base. Not only will you receive supplies and food every month, but you'll also be provided with accommodation."
He Liang, who hadn't spoken all night, couldn't help but speak up. He had already planned to go to the military. After careful comparison, he felt that the military base had a greater advantage in the post-apocalyptic world.
There are fewer troublemakers in places where there is military presence, making it relatively safer and providing more protection in case of danger.
He spoke eloquently, and everyone agreed, but not everyone has the right to choose.
Liu Pei and his companions are neither too old nor too young. They heard that the patrol team's recruitment requirements are quite high, requiring them to pass a high-intensity physical fitness test and free-fighting training.
Although they are both a bit better than the average person because they often participate in outdoor sports, passing these tests is still extremely difficult.
Including He Liang himself, he is an IT person who doesn't exercise much and dedicates all his time to coding. It would be an almost impossible task for him to pass the test and join the patrol team.
As the conversation progressed, everyone fell silent, for this meant parting ways. After tonight, each would embark on different paths, and in this apocalyptic world, whether they would ever meet again was uncertain.
"Hey, let's think about something happy. At least we're happy together right now!" Live for today, and it's not so bad to not worry about tomorrow sometimes.
Outside, snow was falling heavily, but inside, people were drinking and chatting. No one mentioned the apocalypse anymore; they only talked about everyday things.
Everyone has their own worries, and this wine tastes somewhat bitter. I don't know if it's because it's too cold or because I already have some bitterness in my heart.