After lunch, my grandpa rested for less than ten minutes before going to work.
In the words of grandma:
"Your grandpa is becoming more and more like a workaholic."
Ma Lingling thinks there is nothing wrong with being a workaholic, at least he is not short of money.
At her age, she is the most sensitive to trends and has the strongest desire to compare, and she never has enough money.
When she first came to Yanjing, she was planning to work in her grandfather's shop during the summer to earn some pocket money, but her grandmother refused to agree, so she had to give up.
In the afternoon, Ma Lingling took a nap for two hours. During this time, the outdoor temperature was as high as 47 or 8 degrees Celsius. Unless there was air conditioning, she could not do any work.
After getting up from her nap, she first went to the kitchen to wash her face with cold water, then took out a bottle of Ice Cream from the refrigerator, drank it in three gulps, and then burped several times.
It's so cool, this is the feeling I want.
Fortunately, her grandmother's house used to run a convenience store, and now there is no shortage of snacks and drinks at home. Ma Lingling felt that her two little cousins were living in a honeypot.
"Lingling, wake up. Grandma has stewed white fungus and lotus seed soup. It's very sweet. Do you want a bowl?"
Xu's mother is used to taking care of the triplets, so she doesn't usually take naps.
Ma Lingling touched her belly and smiled bitterly: "Grandma, why didn't you tell me earlier? I just drank a bottle of Coke and I'm full."
"You kid, why are you drinking so much Coke? It has no nutrition at all. Drink less next time." Xu's mother educated.
"I know, grandma, you are dressed so formally, where are you going?" Ma Lingling asked curiously.
Xu's mother smiled and replied: "We haven't gotten together for a long time. Your grandma Wang invited me for afternoon tea. Do you want to come with me?"
Ma Lingling went to Wang Xiujuan's home once, and she was very generous. She gave her a big red envelope worth 1,000 yuan when they first met.
"Okay, grandma, wait for me, I'll go change my clothes."
Ma Lingling was worried about how to pass the time in the afternoon. The age gap between her and her little cousins was too big, and she was too embarrassed to grab other people's tablets, so they couldn't play together at all.
As for mobile games, she is really not interested in this, otherwise her academic performance would not be so outstanding.
Half an hour later, Ma Lingling accompanied her grandmother to Wang Xiujuan's house. Since it was a party, they must not be the only ones here.
"Lao Zhang, you brought Lingling, welcome." Wang Xiujuan greeted with a smile.
"Hello, Grandma Wang."
"What a good boy. Come and sit with me more often when you have time."
Wang Xiujuan is a more traditional person, and she especially likes juniors with good academic performance, otherwise she would not have given such a big red envelope in the first place.
"As long as you don't find me annoying, Grandma Wang."
Wang Xiujuan said angrily: "How can you find it annoying? It's not too late for me to welcome you!"
After being polite and waiting for another ten minutes, everyone finally arrived.
Different from the afternoon tea time in foreign countries, Wang Xiujuan and the others held afternoon tea, which was mainly for leisure and exchange of important information, so those present were all people with backgrounds.
Even Xu's mother, her family is a billionaire, and her son works in an electric power company, so she is no worse than others.
As the organizer, Wang Xiujuan first said: "Starting from next month, the supply of rice and flour in the capital may be gradually reduced, and the proportion of corn and potatoes will become higher and higher in the future."
"how so?"
"The situation is getting more and more serious. We are doing pretty well here in Yanjing. I heard that in some remote areas, even sweet potatoes are in short supply." Wang Xiujuan sighed.
"Old Wang, my next-door neighbor went abroad the day before yesterday, to the other side of the ocean. Do you have any channels to find out what's going on there?"
One look at this auntie with her wavy hair showed that she also wanted to go abroad.
An aunt who spoke very slowly introduced:
"I do know something about this. The situation on the other side of the ocean is not much better than ours. There have been several rounds of 'zero dollar purchases' incidents in the past.
You also know that they don’t ban guns there, and we Daxia people, who are not familiar with the place there, if you ask me, it’s better to stay in the country!”
"The key is that it's hard to say domestically. With such a large population, hundreds of millions of tons of food are consumed a year. I think it's even more shocking."
Numbers don't lie, and what the big wave said makes sense. Even if Daxia's emergency food reserves are sufficient, it can only last for two years at most.
What to do after two years?
Xu Ma said at this time: "Don't worry too much, my son just came back from Tianjin, where a seawater desalination plant is being built, and the scale is said to be scary.
No matter how serious the drought is, we have figured out a solution. I think it is better to stay in the country. Anyway, I will not go abroad even if I die."
“I’ve also heard my friend mention this. The project in Tianjin will be completed by the end of the year, and by then it will be able to meet the daily water needs of 30 million people.
Moreover, the next second phase of the project will start soon, and the scale will be even larger than the first phase.
Not only that, similar desalination plants are blooming almost everywhere in coastal areas. Lao Zhang is right, we don’t need to worry too much.”
"To put it lightly, we all came from that era. Anyway, I am not optimistic..."
"Forget it, let's not talk about it anymore, who of you can get cans? My son is going to the south for duty, and I want to get him some cans to take with him."
"I stocked some before, how many do you want?" Da Lang asked.
She wants to go abroad, and she will definitely have to get rid of a large part of the supplies in her hands.
"Bring me a box! I can't afford more. What do you want to exchange for?"
"Can I pay in gold?"
"Okay, I still have some jewelry there, I'll give them all to you."
Wang Xiujuan took the opportunity to interject: "Can you also sell me a few boxes? I can also use the jewelry to pay the bill, and I can also help you get air tickets or boat tickets."
"Of course it's no problem. As long as I can get the tickets, I can give you a 20% discount." Da Lang said boldly.
At the end of the tea party, no one was able to convince anyone. The only consensus everyone reached was that no matter whether they were going abroad or not, they should seize the time to make final preparations.
Ma Lingling listened carefully on the sidelines, but the more she listened, the more frightened she became. It was an eye-opener for a high school student who had never heard anything outside the window.
It turns out that the outside world has changed drastically without even realizing it.
The apocalyptic plot that originally only appeared in movies is actually happening now.
She was very confused at this moment. Her status as a top student, which she was originally proud of, seemed to have suddenly lost its meaning at this moment.
On the way home, Xu's mother looked at her silent eldest granddaughter and couldn't help but worry: "What's wrong? Wasn't she fine when she came?"
"Grandma, is it true what Grandma Wang and the others said about the end of the world?" Ma Lingling asked worriedly.
"Of course it's not true. How could the end of the world happen? It would only be a drought for a few years at most, not that serious." Xu's mother comforted her.