"Uncle Zuo, you can't say that. It's our luck to meet you." Yang Lina said with a smile.
"Uncle, I still want to thank you."
Xu Dong asked again: "Uncle Zuo, how much grain does your rural area have now?"
"It's okay!"
The uncle nodded:
"The drought this year has been so severe that all the crops in the fields have withered. Fortunately, from the wheat and corn cobs harvested last year, every household has left hundreds of kilograms of rations.
In addition, we can still buy some food every month. No matter what, we can still survive this year, but it’s hard to say next year.”
"Are grain purchases restricted in rural areas now?"
“Purchasing restrictions are the same as in urban areas, but flour and rice are difficult to buy. Most of the supplies are potatoes and sweet potatoes.
Now that meat is expensive, everyone is happy to feed sweet potatoes to chickens, which saves time and effort and makes much more money than farming."
Xu Dong felt that reality was a bit magical. When did the disaster year actually become a new hope for farmers to make a fortune?
Yang Lina took the words and asked: "Uncle Zuo, do you still have chickens at home?"
"There are a dozen more, all half-grown chickens."
"Can you sell us two more roosters?" Yang Lina asked.
Without roosters, hens cannot hatch chicks, and chicken is also a good source of meat, especially big roosters, which are the most nourishing to the body.
"No problem, I also want to exchange for a few more cans of milk powder!" The uncle agreed quickly.
"That's great." Yang Lina said happily, "Uncle Zuo, how about this? You send me six chickens tomorrow and I'll give you three more cans of milk powder. What do you think?"
"Okay, uncle agreed."
Ten minutes later, the car finally arrived home.
"Uncle Zuo, it's cold outside, come in and sit down." Xu Dong pulled the uncle into the yard.
"Woof woof woof..."
"Mark, stop barking." Xu Dong comforted the dog.
The uncle seemed a little restrained. After chatting with Xu Ma for a few words, after getting the milk powder, he hurriedly threw down the two pullets, turned around and left.
Before leaving, both parties agreed to come back tomorrow morning.
Xu's mother untied the rope tied to the chicken's feet, put the two chickens into a large cardboard box, and then put some leftovers in it.
"Old man, don't go to the store tomorrow. Help me build a chicken coop in the yard. Make it as big as possible. There are six chickens in the back!"
Father Xu was a little reluctant, "Can't you buy a chicken coop online?"
"Isn't it too late? It takes several days to deliver the goods. The weather is so hot. The chickens cannot be kept together, as they are prone to plague." Xu's mother explained.
Father Xu had no choice but to nod and agree. Fortunately, there was no shortage of wood at home and it could be done in almost a morning.
Early the next morning, Father Xu got up at 5:30, brushed his teeth, washed his face, picked up the tools and started doing carpentry work.
Before ten o'clock, the chicken coop was built. Father Xu tidied it up and then went to work.
After another half an hour, the uncle finally arrived, and Yang Lina warmly entertained him.
"Nana, there are six chickens in the bag. I'm afraid the chickens will suffocate on the way, so I have to open the bag every ten minutes to let some air out."
Yang Lina poured the uncle a cup of tea, then looked into the bag and asked, "How many males are there?"
"Four males and two females."
After the uncle finished drinking the tea, Xu Ma handed him the three cans of milk powder she had prepared in advance.
"Sister, thank you. I checked the milk powder with someone yesterday. It is indeed good milk powder. Your family is kind-hearted." The uncle took the milk powder and said gratefully.
Xu's mother waved her hand, "Milk powder is for babies, so it can't be cheated. Our family never does such shady things."
The uncle planned to leave without chatting for a few words. Yang Lina personally sent him to the gate, and finally got him two bottles of mineral water.
…
It's almost time to get off work, and Xu Dong is packing his belongings. Tomorrow is the weekend, and he can relax for two more days.
The weather has been getting hotter and hotter recently, with the highest temperature almost exceeding 50 degrees. Hundreds of people die every day in Yanjing due to the high temperature.
He didn't want to go out at all, and he didn't want to stay at home and enjoy the air conditioning.
It's just that plans don't change quickly.
Before getting off work, Section Chief Li called everyone in the security department together and held a small meeting.
"Section Chief, is there another big leader coming to inspect?" Xiang Xin asked with a grimace.
Every time the boss comes to visit, the whole company has to be cleaned. Not only is it tiring, but you can't fish at work, which is the most annoying thing.
Section Chief Li glared at Xiang Xin, and then said: "We haven't held any team-building activities for a long time. Tomorrow happens to be the weekend. Do you want to go out and have fun together?"
"Section Chief, it's so hot now, why don't you give it up?" a male colleague whispered.
His words were unanimously recognized by everyone present. On a hot day, no one wanted to bother.
"Ahem..." Section Chief Li coughed to calm everyone down. In fact, he already had a solution to both problems:
"Don't worry, we are going to the beach near Jinmen this time. We can just take the opportunity to escape the heat."
"Wow, that's great. I've long wanted to go swimming at the beach." Xiang Xin said happily.
Xu Dong shook his head secretly. He really didn't want to go. He might as well stay at home and spend time with the children. But since it was a team-building activity, it was not good for him to be absent alone.
"Section Chief, how long will it take to go this time?" someone asked again, and everyone seemed to be very enthusiastic.
"The whole trip is two days and one night. We will leave tomorrow morning and come back the day after tomorrow. I have booked the hotel, and none of you are allowed to miss it!" Section Chief Li replied with a smile.
"Only fools are absent!" someone shouted.
Gao Yuemei raised her hand and asked: "Section Chief, can you bring your family members?"
"No, the bathhouse is so busy with tourists that it's hard to book a room. I finally managed to get three big rooms and brought my family with me. Where will they stay?"
"It seems so."
"Okay, at eight o'clock tomorrow morning, everyone will bring their luggage and gather at the north gate of the company." Section Chief Li explained.
"Section Chief, are we going by car?"
"Whatever, if you want to drive, you can drive. If you don't, you can take a colleague's car. I think Xiao Xu's car is very big. If any of you don't want to drive, you can get in his car."
Section Chief Li said this, paused and looked at Xu Dong and asked: "Xiao Xu, how many people can be seated in your car at most?"
"It can seat nine people." Xu Dong said helplessly. Originally, he wanted to ride on other people's cars.
The three female colleagues immediately clamored to take the Daben, and several older male colleagues had the same idea. After all, Jinmen is still quite far away, and driving by myself was too tiring.
"By the way, there is one more thing I forgot to mention. The bathhouse does not provide three meals a day, so we need to cook for ourselves.
I will take care of the rice. Everyone should bring as much ingredients as possible. Lao Gao is a good cook and I will let her be the chef when the time comes." Section Chief Li added.
"Okay, everyone must bring more delicious food." Gao Yuemei happily accepted.
"I wonder if I can get some meat?"
“There should be seafood for sale at the beach. It’s good to buy it and eat it now!”