Doomsday Paradise

Chapter 104 Collecting corpses for relatives and friends

The happiest thing about Qiao Miwei recovering from illness is Qiao's father and Qiao's mother. Qiao Miwei has been ill recently, and now they all feel that their daughter has become much more fragile than before. Now that she finally recovered from her illness, she is very happy .

In the past, Qiao Miwei organized a lot of production, but now the cabbage on the shelf has grown juicy, and because of the small space, when sowing the seeds, I deliberately sprinkled more, and the cabbage is crowded together. When eating together, you only need to pick them at intervals. In addition, with the guidance of Uncle Seven, the hunting skills of many boys in the village have increased to varying degrees. Today's hunting team has been divided into two teams, and the first team is still led by Uncle Seven. The leader usually goes deep into the mountain forest, setting large traps to catch animals such as rabbits and pheasants, and the other team intercepts at the foot of the mountain those animals that cannot survive on the mountain and are forced to go down the mountain.

Now there is a circle of air-dried meat hanging on the roof of the cafeteria. Although the severe cold outside is getting worse every day, and the outdoor temperature has dropped to nearly [-] degrees, people's hearts are full of warm hope.

The cotton coats and other things made by the women organized by Qiao Miwei were very useful. Now everyone who goes out has a set of utensils ranging from hats and scarves to gloves, knee pads, and hand stoves. The extra two or three hours outdoors also increases the time spent working outside.

People were very grateful to Qiao Miwei, and when they learned that she had recovered from her illness, they came forward to visit her one after another. However, Qin Zhiyuan was very protective, and anyone who was going to have a long chat with Qiao Miwei was stared at by him. Hairy all over, had to leave quickly.

Qiao Miwei's legs haven't recovered yet, so she usually still lies on the bed. At this moment, she finally couldn't bear Qin Zhiyuan's actions, so she turned to face his arm and pinched it. It's a pity that Qin Zhiyuan is full of tendons, as long as he Stretching her muscles, Qiao Miwei couldn't pinch even if she wanted to, but she was exhausted anyway. She knew that Qin Zhiyuan was deliberately teasing her, so she let go and turned to do other things.

Qin Zhiyuan teased her a few times but didn't get a response and had to go out pitifully.

The continuous earthquakes that lasted for nearly two months finally stopped. It was like sitting in a car all day and suddenly your feet landed on the ground, but you can’t get used to the down-to-earth feeling. When shaking, take things carefully, and take every step slowly but steadily.

After dinner that day, Qiao Miwei said to everyone, "The earthquake hasn't come for several days. I'm afraid it's completely over. Let's go back to the village to clean up the ruins starting tomorrow. The villagers' bodies should be disposed of as soon as possible."

Qin Yulin pouted disdainfully, "It's so cold outside, it's so difficult for everyone to go out once, and it's too late to find food. Who has the time to collect corpses, anyway, it won't rot in such cold weather, so just throw them away."

As soon as these words fell, everyone in the room looked at Qin Yulin with hostile eyes. No matter whether they wanted to go out to collect the corpses for the villagers, they were their relatives and friends. Qin Yulin's words really disrespected the dead. If he didn't respect other dead people during his lifetime, then he wouldn't be able to gain respect from others after his death. The dead are the greatest. Qin Yulin's words really provoked public outrage.

Qiao Miwei didn't want to discuss this issue with Qin Yulin, but explained, "The weather today is too extreme. If the temperature rises suddenly after this sudden cold like last time, then the villagers' corpses may rot. There will be a plague, and then we will all be in danger."

This makes sense. After all, no one can guarantee that the current weather will continue to be cold. Now that the earthquake has stopped, let's act quickly.

So from the next day, everyone except the firewood-cutting team, the water-taking team and the hunting team went to the village. The first thing to do was to clean up the corpses buried in the ruins, and then dispose of them either by cremation or burial. Qiao Miwei's legs were still not recovering, so she was left in the cafeteria to look after the house, and she was assigned two assistants to prepare two meals a day.

In order to save food, people take the initiative to change three meals to two meals. If they are really hungry, they tighten their belts or drink water to fill their stomachs. Although they only save one meal of food every day, due to the large number of people, they just save A lot of food.

Ever since Qiao Miwei fell ill once, she was able to calmly face the fact that Taoyuan disappeared. Every day, she tried to test the gate of Taoyuan with her hands three or five times a day. She hoped that Taoyuan would return to her side just like when it suddenly appeared. .

Because there is only a short four or five hours a day to see the weak sunlight, coupled with the severe cold outside, so the progress of returning the village is very slow, but people do not complain, they buried their family members under the houses After the remains were dug out and sorted out, they were cremated collectively. It took almost three days of firewood. After the cremation, Wu Hong found a decent bottle and grabbed a handful of the ashes mixed with everyone, put them in, and buried them in the land before the ruins of the ancestral hall. superior.

Qiao Miwei also went there that day. She stood far away at the foot of the mountain, leaning against Qin Zhiyuan behind her, watching a group of people standing in front of the ancestral hall cry silently, sending their family members away. The two village chiefs got together and made a decision. They planned to unite the village. No matter which village they belonged to before, no matter what conflicts they had before, they will be written off from now on. Going on, Qiao Miwei discovered that several marriages had been quietly arranged in the crowd. They were all men and women who had lost their spouses. Although there was no wedding or banquet, everyone wished them well from the bottom of their hearts.
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"Dad, only half of the temple here has collapsed, we can go in and hide for a while." Said a young woman in the group of Mahayana temples far away in Fangcheng.

The woman's father turned to look at the half-collapsed temple and hesitated, "Why don't we go in, what if it collapses again?"

The woman next to him hugged her shoulders and said tremblingly, "Collapse, it's better than freezing to death. I really can't bear it." After saying those words, she slipped into the hall.

The young woman hurriedly shouted, "Mom, slow down, take a look before going in."

The three of them entered the main hall cautiously, with the wall covering them, the cold wind could not blow them, and the three of them immediately felt a lot warmer. The young woman looked for wood to make a fire to keep warm, moved the collapsed wooden shelves together, and took out her pocket The lighter in the car was aimed at the wood for a long time but did not light the wood. The woman looked distressed and grabbed the young woman's hand, "Wait a minute, find some firewood. The lighter is hard to find, so don't waste it."

The three of them turned their heads back and forth to search for something that could ignite the fire, and suddenly the yellow cloth on the collapsed incense table in front of the hall came into her sight, "Use this, the cloth is easy to touch." She bent over and walked over to grab it The corners of the cloth began to be pulled out, but unfortunately the yellow cloth was pressed by a thick and long vermilion pillar and it was difficult to move. She pulled the cloth several times but it didn't move at all, so she had to turn around and say, "Come and help me People can't pull it out."

After hearing this, both of them went over to help, one helped pull the corner of the cloth, and the other lifted the pillar. The man said, "I'll call one, two, three, let's work hard together."

After he finished speaking, he began to yell the number, and when he yelled three, he suddenly exerted force, the pillar creaked and turned a small angle, and the yellow cloth was dragged out with a whoosh, the man let go of the pillar, staggered, kicked When he reached a pool of incense ash under the pillar, he took a step back and lowered his head to pat the incense ash on the shoe, before going back to light the fire.

Finally, the firewood was lit, and the temperature brought by the fire dispelled the cold. The three hugged their shoulders and tried their best to get closer to the fire. The woman took out three potatoes from her backpack and still roasted them in the fire. She sighed for a long time, " Qiao Ming, why do I feel that it is impossible for us to find your brother if we go all the way? Besides, the weather is so cold now, I am afraid that we will die on the way before we reach the place. "

The man named Qiao Ming was silent, but kept poking firewood with the branch in his hand.

The young woman on the side asked curiously, "Dad, what kind of people are uncle and his family like?"

Qiao Ming was silent, he left his hometown when he was young, and now so many years have passed, he doesn't know what his brother's family is like now, but when he thinks of Qiao Bin and Chen Xuehua, his eyes are full of nostalgia, maybe he is really old, He no longer escaped as he was when he was young, and he misses his hometown very much. If there is no apocalyptic disaster this time, he is ready to go back to his hometown. He misses the old bridge next to his home and the sweet potatoes baked by the roadside in his hometown. , still miss...his family, although the way of returning is a bit different now, but he keeps saying in his heart that even if he dies, he will die in his hometown, but as he gets closer and closer to home, he can't move anymore. Perhaps this is the timidity of being close to home.

Seeing that her man didn't speak, the woman threw down the branch in her hand and complained, "When I was young, I told me that I had broken with my family, and now I'm still coming back. If they don't recognize you, I'll see what you do, and then go back. If I quit, I might as well just freeze to death here."

Qiao Ming was upset by what the woman said, so he waved his hand impatiently, "Okay, okay, can you calm down for a while, if you still have energy, then don't eat this potato first, so as not to waste it."

The woman shut her mouth and turned her head to the other side, snorted, thought for a while and said to her daughter, "Xue'er, eat first and go to sleep when you're done."

The young woman named Xue'er shook her head and said, "Mom, no need, you go to bed first, I'll watch over it." The weather was too cold, and the three of them took turns watching over the fire to keep it from going out when they were resting at night, otherwise the whole family would suffer. May freeze to death.

The woman shook her head and said, "Silly girl, you can only get better skin if you go to bed early. Even if conditions don't allow it, mom can still satisfy you by sleeping. Don't blame mom. Seeing that the world has changed, our family will live a better life in the future." I'm afraid life still depends on you, you just protect your skin for us, ah."

(End of this chapter)