Candide in Chronology is on strike

There were more than 200 kilograms of sweet potatoes. Qin Xi grated a hundred kilograms of them and cut them into pieces and steamed another fifty kilograms. These were all to be dried, and the remaining fresh sweet potatoes were kept for the three of them to eat.

Most of the other people in the village made the same choices as Qin Xi, either shredded or steamed and dried, in order to better preserve these hard-won sweet potatoes.

The steamed sweet potatoes were sun-dried for five days until they were completely dry and hard, like stones, unable to be bitten. Qin Xi was satisfied and put them into the bag and put them in the grain box.

From then on, early every morning, Qin Jiang and He Yuan went to fetch water. Qin Xi and Tang Ying cooked at home. After breakfast, they went to the forest to collect and chop firewood, and they were very busy.

Because of the bad weather, the small trees in the forest died directly because they were covered by the big trees and could not get sunlight, and their root systems were shallow and could not absorb water. This greatly stimulated the enthusiasm of the villagers to go into the mountains. After all, these dead trees The small tree is the best wood!
Not only the small trees, but also the branches at the base of some big trees were withered. These could all be chopped down by someone who could climb the tree.

In addition, bark, pine cones, tree roots, etc. will not be spared. Everything that can be burned has been taken back by the villagers in every possible way.

To be honest, in just half a month, Qin Xi and Qin Jiang filled up the woodshed at home. This result was beyond their imagination.

There was no room left at home, so like Tang Ying and He Yuan, they piled the firewood they got back against the big pine tree in front of their house. At most, they put a few dry straws on it, which also had the effect of keeping out wind and rain. On rainy days, they could also go to the tree. Bring firewood back from below to burn.

Time soon came to September, and the reservoir's spring could no longer hold up. It was about to bottom out, and people who went to fetch water immediately lined up. After all, the amount of water at the outlet was only that much. It's big, so there's only so much water. Unlike before, where you could just throw the bucket down to get water, now you just use a ladle to scoop out the water inside.

Therefore, people waiting in line deeply hate the queue-jumping person. It's okay if no one makes a fuss. Once the fuss is over, the queue-jumping person will instantly understand what it feels like to be criticized by thousands of people.

Generally speaking, the situation is not too bad. Although everyone is not eating very well, has lost a lot of weight, and has become darker, order is still there. As long as social order is still there, there will be no chaos.

On this day, Qin Jiang, Qin Xi, Tang Ying and He Yuan went to the mountain to chop firewood as usual.

But as soon as we walked into the forest, we could see something was wrong with the naked eye. There were too many caterpillars in the forest, black and brown with spots, which made people's skin crawl.

Although there were many caterpillars in the forest before, they were not so numerous that they could be seen everywhere.

Now, there seemed to be a dozen or so of them crawling in front of them, and there were caterpillars crawling everywhere on the trunks, branches, and even on the pine needles and leaves.

Although the girls Qin Xi and Tang Ying were not afraid of caterpillars, there were so many caterpillars that appeared in front of them that they felt a little frightened.

“I don’t know where these caterpillars come from?”

"We will climb up the tree later and cut the branches. We won't lose caterpillars while cutting, right?"

"This is too scary. I can't even imagine that scene." As she spoke, Tang Ying hugged her arms and shook her body.

She is a girl, and she has a natural dislike for these fat, spiky reptiles. If she sees them at home, she will trample them to death. Now that there are caterpillars everywhere here, of course she feels scared.

"I don't know if this is the case in this large forest, or if there are just a lot of bugs here?" Qin Xi said with a frown.

She stayed away from these bugs because they were ugly and because she was afraid that the caterpillars in the forest were poisonous.

"There's nothing special about this place, it should be like this." "It's great now. The water shortage is imminent. If there is another insect plague in the forest, how can we survive this day?" He rolled his eyes. , Tang Ying said very unhappy.

The crawling caterpillars that appeared in front of her now were not the end, but the beginning of everything. According to their reproduction rate, it would be a matter of time before they covered the entire forest. By then, could the forest still be entered?

Tang Ying shuddered when she thought that she would stay away from the forest because there were too many caterpillars in the forest and there was no place to set foot. She didn't want it. This was too scary.

"You must pass!"

"How about we go separately and look around in the forest. If it's like this, we won't be able to cut the firewood today." Qin Xi suggested.

If there were as many caterpillars in the forest as here, it would be like a rain of caterpillars when the pine branches were cut, that would be too scary, she refused.

We have a lot of firewood stored at home. If we don’t cut any firewood this year, we will burn some of it, so there is no need to worry too much.

Besides, you don’t have to go into the woods to cut firewood. The bushes and thorn bushes on the roadside can be cut down and brought back to be used as firewood.

Don't look at the word "thorn" in the thorn bush. There are thorns, which can be used to burn fire. If you are lucky, you can also find plump white insects on the branches that are cut back. She dare not eat these, but her brother She loves to eat, and Qin Qing also likes it very much. She also said that it is the most delicious when roasted, but it is more troublesome when chopping thorn bushes.

Of course, if it wasn't troublesome, it wouldn't be her turn to chop down the thorn bushes.

"Okay, let's take a look separately! We have them all, then go back." Qin Jiang followed Qin Xi's words and said.

The situation is not good and is becoming more and more abnormal.

Tang Ying and He Yuan nodded, indicating agreement.

So, the four of them each found a location, walked inside for a minute or two, and then exited. There was no need to look at anything inside, it was all like this, there were a lot of caterpillars.

"What should I do? This caterpillar can't crawl, so just crawl into the village!" As soon as Tang Ying thought of this possibility, she wanted to run to the town to live far away from these ugly bugs. .

"No, they have been wandering in the forest. We didn't see any caterpillars on the mud road that separated the forest from the village. From this, we know that these bugs should not escape." Qin Xi hopes this I found that she was not talking nonsense.

After all, her house is located in front of the forest, and the distance between the two will never exceed ten meters, which is about seven or eight meters. If the caterpillar army enters the village, their family will definitely be the first to suffer.

"I hope so, otherwise, I would even want to run away."

As long as there were no bugs around, nothing else mattered to her.

(End of this chapter)