Zhang Xiaoqiang sat in the driver's seat of the three-wheeled farm vehicle with an opened mahogany box on his knees. The gun was shiny black and felt heavy in his hand. There was a black five-pointed star engraved on the handle. This was a "54" pistol, also known as the "Black Star" pistol in Hong Kong movies.
Although the gun was older than Zhang Xiaoqiang, the original owner of the gun had maintained it well. There were almost no traces of age. Zhang Xiaoqiang pulled the bolt, aimed at the small tree in front of him, and pulled the trigger.
"Ka!"
The sound of the gun firing could be heard. Zhang Xiaoqiang was very satisfied with this unexpected harvest. With this gun, he had an additional insurance for his life. However, there were not many bullets left. After filling three magazines, there were only about 50 bullets left.
After inserting the magazine into the gun handle, Zhang Xiaoqiang raised the "54" pistol and aimed around. As long as it was a man, there was no one who didn't like guns. Especially for a newbie like Zhang Xiaoqiang who had only touched toy guns, it made him even more excited.
"Uncle, did you find this thing in there?" Yang Ke-er had an eager look on her face.
"Kids are not allowed to play with guns!" Zhang Xiaoqiang said as he put the gun behind his waist.
Yang Ke-er was even more depressed.
Rice, coarse grains, beans, vegetable oil, and cured meat were all loaded into the truck and transported to the cave. The platform that was more than 500 square meters became crowded from the previous empty space.
The harvest in the small village was quite abundant. Before the outbreak of the virus, it was close to the end of the year. Every family was slaughtering pigs and smoking meat. Now, it was all Zhang Xiaoqiang's gain.
"When can we finish eating?"
Looking at the mountain of smoked meat in front of him, Zhang Xiaoqiang was worried. Nowadays, every family in the village fed pigs. Coupled with the price of pork, each family had to feed at least three or four pigs, and some even had to feed more than ten.
Although some pigs would be sold before the end of the year, they would at least keep one or two pigs for the New Year. On average, every family had at least 150 pounds of smoked meat, and this did not include the dried fish, chicken, duck, rabbit, and lamb legs.
"Five is five, two is ten, three is five is fifteen, four is five is twenty is one?"
Zhang Xiaoqiang looked at the dozens of smoked pig heads, hundreds of smoked pig trotters, and even more pork ribs piled up in front of him. He felt a little numb, and even became confused when he did his accounting.
Finally, the amount of smoked meat and cured meat was counted. There were about ten thousand catties of smoked pork and nearly a thousand catties of other cured mountain products.
Fresh meat was rarely eaten in the countryside. They usually ate their own cured meat and would only go to town to buy it during weddings and funerals.
A year's worth of meat for more than a hundred people piled up together was a spectacular sight.
Zhang Xiaoqiang calculated that he and the little girl could eat for a hundred years.
However, smoked meat and dried meat could not be stored for a hundred years. Even two years was somewhat unrealistic. The city was occupied by zombies and the animals gradually mutated.
The resources in the post-apocalyptic world would only become more and more scarce.
Zhang Xiaoqiang's heart began to bleed at the thought of so much rotten bacon.
Suddenly, the scene of him going to his grandmother's house as a child flashed in his mind.
In the 80s, the living conditions in the countryside were not good, and it was difficult to eat meat. His parents brought Zhang Xiaoqiang and his younger sister to the countryside to visit his grandmother. His grandmother took out the smoked meat that she usually could not bear to eat to entertain them. At that time, Zhang Xiaoqiang had not seen his grandmother for a long time. He wanted to be closer to her, so he followed her around until he saw his grandmother digging out a piece of golden colored smoked meat from the chaff.
He asked his grandmother why she hid it in the chaff. After listening to her explanation, he found out that the smoked meat stored in the chaff could be preserved for a long time. It could even be stored for seven or eight years. Some people even hid it for more than ten years, and the taste did not change at all when eaten.
"Haha, chaff!" Zhang Xiaoqiang thought of a solution. "Let's go. While it's still early, let's go out again!" Zhang Xiaoqiang said excitedly to Yang Ke-er.
"Huhuhu … Uncle, you bullied me. I'm still so tired that I can't straighten my back. Look, the skin on my hands is broken!" Yang Ke-er showed her hands to Zhang Xiaoqiang with a sad face.
"It's fine if you don't go!
You won't have any meat to eat in the future! "Zhang Xiaoqiang used his killer move.
"Huhuhu … You only know how to bully me. I'm still underage." Yang Ke-er complained as she followed behind.
"Underage?
Damn, you minors have done all the things that adults should and shouldn't do. Underage?
Hmph! "Zhang Xiaoqiang thought bitterly.
The three-wheeled farm vehicle made a "tutu tutu" sound as it drove to the village. The zombies under the bridge had already stood up. Smelling the smell of humans, they gathered under the bridge and pushed each other. Zhang Xiaoqiang didn't care about them. The embankment on both sides of the river was high and steep. Even a normal adult man wouldn't be able to climb up.
Not to mention these zombies that couldn't see!
According to the established procedure, they parked the vehicle and entered the house. They started to search for the target goods and moved them.
The chaff was stored in the storage room or next to the pigsty. Farmers usually used it to feed their pigs.
Zhang Xiaoqiang moved the goods on the ground while Yang Ke-er arranged them in the vehicle.
"Uncle …" Yang Ke-er called out to Zhang Xiaoqiang who was preparing to move the goods again.
"What?" Zhang Xiaoqiang stopped and glanced at Yang Ke-er. He took out a cigarette from his pocket and wanted to rest for a while.
"Uncle, can I go upstairs?" Yang Ke-er pointed at the small building and said.
"What for?"
Zhang Xiaoqiang was very puzzled. Because the food and smoked meat were usually stored in the kitchen or in the storeroom, the two of them didn't need to go upstairs.
"Yes, I'm running out of that thing. I want to go upstairs to look for it in the bedroom." Yang Ke-er thought of something and looked at Zhang Xiaoqiang with an unfriendly expression.
"Phew!
What is it?
Tell me! "Zhang Xiaoqiang exhaled a mouthful of smoke. He was a bit annoyed.
"You're so annoying, Uncle. You're so bad. It's the thing you used to fish for zombies!
Eh … your expression was so wretched! "Yang Ke-er said shamelessly.
"Go, go!
Find more, that thing is very important! "Zhang Xiaoqiang's expression was also very wretched.
"That is a big killer!" Looking at Yang Ke-er walking into the small building, Zhang Xiaoqiang began to recall the previous scene.
"What?
Something called Archimedes said, give me a fulcrum and I can pry up the earth. I said, give me a sanitary pad and I can make zombies jump off the building! "Zhang Xiaoqiang was very proud of himself.
"Of course it has to be fresh!" Zhang Xiaoqiang concluded in a wretched manner.
"Uncle, come quickly, there's something good!" Yang Ke-er shouted from upstairs.
"Did you find a hidden treasure chest?" Zhang Xiaoqiang walked upstairs.
Looking at everything in front of him on the second floor, Zhang Xiaoqiang thought he walked into a supermarket. The living room on the second floor was about 70 to 80 square meters. The walls were filled with rows of shelves. The shelves were filled with all kinds of groceries. There were all kinds of camouflage training uniforms hanging on the walls. There were even old-fashioned green military uniforms and blue military pants.
Presumably, they were sold to farmers to wear when working in the fields.
Walking into the living room, Zhang Xiaoqiang carefully looked around. Yang Ke-er was happily picking and choosing from the shelves.
There were nine shelves placed in the four corners of the room. One shelf was filled with liberation shoes, training shoes, and high rubber shoes. Another shelf was filled with brushes, towels, soap, laundry detergent, etc. There was also a small hardware shelf. There were screws, switches, wires, light bulbs, electrician's knives, etc. Women's "thing", toilet paper, shampoo, etc.
Zhang Xiaoqiang even saw a shelf filled with men's underwear, women's underwear, and all kinds of socks.
"How many days have I not changed my underwear?"
Zhang Xiaoqiang recalled. Although he had changed his clothes twice in other people's house, he could not wear other people's underwear. Seeing clean underwear, Zhang Xiaoqiang felt itchy in his crotch.
The other shelves were either farm tools, snacks that children liked, school stationery, school bags, and so on. Finally, he saw a glass counter for cigarettes. There were not many types of cigarettes. Some were three or four yuan, and some were five or six yuan. The better ones were only ten yuan. However, under the counter, he found ten packs of Yellow Crane Tower that were sold for eighteen yuan.
It seemed like they were preparing to sell welcoming cigarettes during the Chinese New Year.
The little girl, Yang Ke-er, found a backpack out of nowhere and kept picking and choosing.
Zhang Xiaoqiang shouted to Yang Ke-er, "Stop picking and move everything back!"