NDHSD Chapter 23

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            ◎ Happy 23rd Day: New Shopping List ◎

If the faucet is frozen, just pour some boiling water on it for a few minutes, and the faucet should work normally again.

But occasionally, there are also times when you hit the jackpot.

That is, when a certain area's water pipe freezes, it directly leads to a water outage in that area.

At this point, unlucky individuals will discover that they have already used up all the hot water in their water bottles, and water still won't come out of the faucet. They are then forced to go out and buy water, enjoying washing up with freezing water at minus seven degrees Celsius.

According to the experience of the older generation, considering the current temperature, there will definitely be lucky winners hitting the jackpot tomorrow.

After all, during the construction of South City, no one could have predicted that it would experience winter temperatures of several tens of degrees below zero.

Jiang Muyun took a screenshot of the community group and posted it in the 15th-floor group.

【Little White Taking West University Exam Tomorrow: @All members, do you have buckets at home? I'll fetch a few buckets of water and you can come to my place after work to get them.】

【ZJH Still Not Awake: Grateful heart.jpg】

【An: Grateful heart.jpg】

【Little Bin: Grateful heart.jpg】

Jiang Muyun didn't know if there would be a water outage in South City, but in her past life, once the water was cut off in West City, it never recovered.

The city infrastructure in South City might be slightly better in terms of anti-freezing measures compared to West City, but it definitely didn't reach the level of northern cities.

Moreover, the temperature had already started to drop, and the severe drought should also arrive as scheduled. By that time, even having an extra bottle of water could save lives.

Jiang Muyun gathered the water buckets from several households and filled them up by connecting two water pipes, one in the washroom and one in the kitchen.

The water flow from the faucet had already decreased, and Jiang Muyun had to use a hot towel to restore it to normal.

The buckets from both houses were not large, and it took about ten minutes to fill one bucket. By the time the air conditioner had raised the temperature in the house a bit, all the buckets were already full.

Jiang Muyun took the filled water buckets one by one and placed them near the door. Then she went to the bathroom and took a hot bath.

Originally, there was only a shower in Jiang Muyun's house, but later, because Grandpa Jiang's health was not good, Jiang Muyun secretly used the prize money from a competition to buy this thermostatic bathtub.

Now it seemed necessary for her to fit this bathtub into her space and take it wherever she went.

Taking a hot bath in the middle of winter allowed the warmth to spread directly from her feet to the top of her head, making her feel so comfortable that she could forget everything.

Jiang Muyun checked the time and realized that, after all the busy work, it was almost dawn outside.

After tossing and turning all night and then soaking in the hot water, Jiang Muyun felt that all the bones in her body had turned soft and that the cold had been completely expelled from her body.

She stretched herself comfortably and reached out to pick up her phone.

Jiang Muyun leaned in the bathtub and checked the weather forecast. She found that, according to the forecast, the temperature would remain at a minimum of minus twenty to thirty degrees for the next month.

Even in West City.

Jiang Muyun took a screenshot of the weather in West City, opened QQ, found the West University public wall, and sent a message to the opposite side.

【Screenshot.JPG, I want to ask if there are any experts from the Department of Earth Sciences here. What's the deal with this temperature drop? QAQ West City has been below minus twenty degrees for over a month. Is this really Blue Star? QAQ I just started my graduation thesis, and the Blue Star climate will not directly usher in a new era, will it? QAQ】

【International convention of hiding, thanks in advance, Wall Wall. QwQ】

After sending the message, Jiang Muyun lingered in the bathtub for a while, until her skin wrinkled slightly from the water. Satisfied, she wiped the water droplets off her body and quickly jumped into bed.

How could one not get into bed after taking a hot bath in the winter?

After getting into bed, Jiang Muyun took out her phone and opened QQ on the West University Public Wall, watching as the number of comments below her post today skyrocketed.

It seemed that after experiencing the bizarre temperature drop last night, everyone's enthusiasm for surfing the internet had skyrocketed.

Uncle Party members can be found everywhere, even at West University.

However, the students at West University usually referred to them not as "uncles" but as "our professors" or "our mentors," which made their credibility soar.

Jiang Muyun opened the comment section, and the beginning was filled with struggling students lamenting their thesis and a few top students attempting to analyze the reasons for the temperature drop.

There were also many off-topic comments, with people banging on tables and angrily asking why it was so cold but still no snow.

As she scrolled further, it was dominated by the Uncle Party.

Messages like "Our professor said this might be the resurgence of the Little Ice Age," "My mentor sent a message in the group today, saying that this might not be the lowest temperature," "Has no one seen the Vice Dean's friend circle? It seems like he's implying extreme heat after extreme cold," and other similar messages.

Jiang Muyun, as the reborn one, was amazed by all of this.

The predictions of mentors, professors, and vice deans seemed to be getting more accurate with each one, and the students' comprehension skills were not to be underestimated.

Is this the power of knowledge?

Before she could steer the topic in that direction, others were already making rough predictions about the situation for the next few months.

Or perhaps, because West University was one of the top global universities, the scholars there had access to more information than ordinary people like her?

Well, after experiencing such a sudden and bizarre temperature drop, the official authorities in China should be gathering top scholars to explore the cause of this anomaly.

In her mind, Jiang Muyun applauded these top scholars while using one hand to tap and swipe on her phone screen.

First, she took a long screenshot of the discussions among West University students regarding the temperature drop. Then she opened Weibo and found a few popular and humorous bloggers she had selected before.

Based on the different styles of these bloggers, Jiang Muyun made several posts with different titles.

《Friends of Applied Meteorology, are your theses okay?》

《Our mentor says it's so cold, he took a sick leave for himself.》

《Where's the snow? Where's the snow in the south?》

When she submitted the posts to the university bot, Jiang Muyun found that she didn't need to submit them herself because someone else had already done it.

It can only be said that it is well-deserved as one of the top universities in the country, and its name comes with popularity. There are always people paying attention to it.

These days, when it comes to the fastest and widest spread of topics, apart from social events, it's all about various funny jokes and memes. 

After all, the pursuit of happiness is also human nature.

A few Weibo posts related to current events went out, and the number of comments and shares skyrocketed. 

Numerous meteorology students howled and screamed, mixed with the analysis of knowledgeable individuals, as well as office workers and students sharing news about school and company holidays.

Of course, the hottest topic was the desire for snow among Southerners. 

Although it didn't snow in previous years, it was never this cold! 

When the temperature reaches minus twenty degrees and freezes people into popsicles, and yet there is no snow? 

Isn't that just being unreasonable?

Jiang Muyun watched the comments of the bloggers rapidly increase, and the topic #BringMeSnow trended on the hot search rankings.

The art of creating memes lies in its speed, and she was very satisfied with the speed of this topic's spread.

But now that there was some popularity, the reach of the discussion was not broad enough. If she wanted to move on to the next step, she needed to let the topic ferment a bit longer.

Jiang Muyun's first attempt could be considered successful. 

After confirming that she had set the rhythm in motion, she happily put away her phone and took out her shopping list from her space.

At this point, Jiang Muyun feels very grateful for her habit of putting things in her space, as now she doesn't need to crawl out of bed.

This list was compiled when she was in West City, and the items that had already been hoarded were crossed out, making it look somewhat messy.

The remaining items that weren't crossed out were either too expensive to afford, such as car batteries and liquefied gas.

A 100 AH, 12 V electric vehicle battery can store more than one unit of electricity. When several of them are connected in parallel with fuses and inverters, it instantly enables electrical freedom. It has the advantages of being compact, quiet, and space-saving, making it an essential product for households in the post-apocalyptic era. Apart from being expensive, it has no other drawbacks.

To buy enough of these batteries that she needed, she would have to spend at least hundreds of thousands of yuan.

Jiang Muyun would have to be crazy to spend that much money.

The same goes for liquefied gas.

In addition to these expensive items, there were others that couldn't be obtained through legal means and were difficult to obtain through illegal channels. They could only be considered after the order collapsed, like firearms.

Jiang Muyun turned over and pulled out a hardcover notebook. She recopied the missing items and wrote down a rough plan for obtaining these supplies with the ideas she could think of at the moment.

After a few days, when things outside get chaotic, she can easily grab the supplies and take advantage of the confusion.

The supplies that needed to be obtained after the order completely collapsed would be put aside for now.

After organizing a brand new list, Jiang Muyun felt refreshed and put away the paper and pen in her space.

She absolutely wouldn't leave behind things that would be difficult to explain if discovered outside.

*** 

1. "Uncle Party" (舅舅党) is a term used to refer to middle-aged or older men who are active users of QQ, a popular instant messaging platform in China. They are often characterized by their conservative viewpoints, nostalgic tendencies, and sometimes perceived as being out of touch with modern trends. The term is used humorously to describe this particular demographic of QQ users.

***

Author's note:

After reading the news about pharmacies being robbed yesterday, I felt like the apocalypse was happening around me. I hope the pandemic will be over soon. Wishing everyone all the best.

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BTSFVI Chapter Sixty Seven

Read/BTSFVI/Chapter 67

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        Chapter 67 Fishing for Yellow Eels

After Ye Yaodong finished speaking, he was about to turn around and go home, but Ah Zheng held him back. "Why are you in such a hurry? Don't we know that when the water level rises, we can't see the holes? Little Xiao said he went to the paddy fields yesterday to inspect the drainage and noticed many newly dug yellow eel holes along the edge of the ridge furrow. It's probably because the fields got flooded, so the eels found new holes. He figured that since the typhoon had just passed, everyone must be busy cleaning up at home, so he waited until now when the sun isn't so strong to come and get us."

"That makes sense. Did you bring the hooks and earthworms?"

"Yeah, we brought them. Do you even need to ask?"

"Well, wait for then. I'll go change into a pair of rain boots and grab a bucket."

He hadn't caught yellow eels in decades, so he was quite interested. It was one of the few hobbies he had as a countryman.

After they set out, he curiously looked at Little Xiao and asked, "Were there many fish in your paddy fields yesterday?"

"It was alright. We had crucian carp, common carp, and grass carp. The grass carp were pretty big, but the other fish were quite small. I don't even know where they came from. Do you guys want them? If you do, come to my house and take them. They're so tasteless, I don't know why my dad bothered bringing them home."

Everyone shook their heads. At this time, people from the coastal areas didn't really like eating freshwater fish. They felt that the taste of freshwater fish was too earthy and strong.

Only Ye Yaodong boldly said, "If you don't want them, I'll take them. I'll come to your house later to get the grass carp and crucian carp, but I don't need the common carp."

He didn't like eating common carp. He preferred braised crucian carp and crucian carp tofu soup. Braised grass carp was also good.

Yesterday, his brothers went to the fields to inspect but didn't mention catching any fish to bring back. They probably thought the fish were too small, and they were also accustomed to eating seafood, so they didn't find freshwater fish tasty.

The group of people strolled leisurely onto the road and continued walking in the direction of Dongqiao Village. The fields of their village were located at the junction with Dongqiao-Baishan.

It was just early July, and the rice seedlings hadn't been transplanted yet. The fields were empty and barren. The late-season rice wouldn't be transplanted until the middle to late July.

Walking in the muddy field, Ye Yaodong looked at the mud on his shoes and was glad he wore rain boots.

Actually, May is the best time for catching yellow eels. During that period, the weather warms up, and the water temperature rises. The eels emerge from their winter burrows and gather in the fields, ponds, and shallow water areas to search for food and fatten up. Their appetites are strong at this time, making it the best season for fishing.

Little Xiao set down the bucket. "You guys take care of the fishing rods and earthworms. There are empty bottles in the bucket. Pour some earthworms into each bottle and distribute them among yourselves."

Their fishing rods were very basic, just something they made themselves. It was a small wooden stick tied with a line and a fishhook. Despite its simplicity, it could still be used multiple times.

Ye Yaodong took one of the small wooden sticks from their bucket and threaded an earthworm onto the hook at the end of a bamboo stick. The earthworm was securely hooked without exposing the tip of the hook. The others also started threading their earthworms and began searching for a good spot to start fishing.

"Let’s act separately."

"As per the usual rule, let's see who catches the most. The person with the fewest catches will have to drink and wash the dishes next time!"

Oh, so there's this rule too. He almost forgot about it.

In the water, yellow eels usually make holes in the soft mud or inhabit natural mud or stone holes. So, to catch yellow eels, the first thing you need to know is how to find their holes.

However, not all yellow eels have ventilation holes because the mud not only houses yellow eels but also small worms and insects. Their holes are interconnected, allowing them to share the neighbors' ventilation. During nighttime feeding, they might not always come out from the same spot.

Sometimes, the eel holes can be obstructed by a patch of grass or when the water is not clear enough, with many little floating lotus leaves around.

However, there must be yellow eel holes along the muddy banks. At this point, you have to rely on your fingers to find them. Using your index or middle finger, insert your hand into the bank at an angle of 30 to 45 degrees, about 5 to 10 centimeters above the waterline.

Suddenly, it feels empty inside the hole. When you remove your finger, you can see water inside, indicating a large empty space where you can dig and fish. This means you have found the yellow eel's nest. Sometimes, there may be bubbles on top, and if there are bubbles, then it's the legendary "guarding nest”, the nest-protecting hole of the eel.

There are also visible holes that can be identified with the naked eye. They are located within an 8-centimeter range below the waterline, and with careful searching, they can be spotted.

Just as Ye Yaodong took a few steps, he noticed several smooth and round holes around the muddy bank at his feet. They were roughly the thickness of his thumb. He was about to put his finger into one of the holes when he heard Little Xiao exclaim, "I've caught one!"

"Oh? It's quite big. Looks like it weighs around half a jin!"

Ah Wei also exclaimed with joy, "I've caught one too! It seems a bit small."

"I've caught one too!"

While everyone was having a successful catch, Ye Yaodong remained calm. With the tip of the hook pointing downward at the mouth of the hole, he teased the eel for a while. He could clearly see water flowing in and out of the hole, and he even heard a faint "pop" sound.

It's hooked!

He managed to catch an extra-large yellow eel, estimated to be around seven taels in weight. It looked incredibly thick.

Typically, wild yellow eels have a size of around two or three taels. It is rare to come across yellow eels weighing four taels. This one he caught is truly exceptionally large.

After several decades, due to the pollution and destruction of the environment caused by human production and livelihood, wild yellow eels in rural fields have become increasingly scarce. Eels of such a large size are usually bred in captivity.

Luck was on his side as he managed to catch such a large one on his first attempt. Ye Yaodong was instantly filled with excitement. He placed it in the bucket and continued baiting, moving on to the next hole.

At this time, there were plenty of yellow eels in the fields, making it easy to catch them. It didn't require much effort, and many of the holes along the ridges and ditches were newly formed. Some even had traces left behind by eels searching for food, making them easy to identify.

After catching only two, Ye Yaodong already spotted two nesting eel holes, as evidenced by the presence of foam at the entrance.

He didn't bother baiting these particular holes because after catching the yellow eels, the eel eggs inside the holes or the newly hatched baby yellow eels would eventually die off. 

Sustainable development!

Why eliminate future generations?

In the future, wild yellow eels will become increasingly scarce!

He slowly moved to a new spot, and the yellow eels in the bucket kept increasing in number. There were large ones and small ones, with the largest belonging to his first catch, while the smaller ones weighed around two or three taels each.

After using up all the earthworms in the can, he straightened his back and stretched, feeling a bit lazy. The sun was also about to set.

Shouting to his friends squatting or standing not far away, "Hey, the sun is setting, let's call it a day and go home for dinner!"

"There are only two earthworms left, let me finish fishing!"

Ah Guang yelled and continued squatting down. The others, regardless of whether they had finished fishing or not, started heading out.

"How many did you guys catch?"

"15!"

"16!"

"13!"

"Oh~ you wash the dishes! I caught 18!"

"Really? Let me see... It seems like you caught more than us. If I had known, I would have taken a couple more earthworms!" Ah Zheng sighed.

"Don't worry, there's still Ah Guang." Ah Zheng called out to Ah Guang, who was standing up in the distance. "Ah Guang, how many did you catch?"

"With these two, I’ve caught 16!"

"Alright, I'll do the dishes next time."

Honor the bet and accept defeat!

"Hurry up, let's head home for dinner. We're all starving, and it's perfect to cook them in a stew."

This bucket already weighs 5-6 jin. Ye Yaodong quietly counted the number of people in his mind; there are 17 people in the family, just enough for each person to have one, and there will even be one left over.

(end of this chapter)

***

Z's corner:

Oh and I think I'm going to change my updating time to this. The old schedule just isn't working for my current job

Update 17/08/2023:

Welp I suddenly got a call saying that I got accepted to a diff job 3 hours ish after an interview. I'm currently in training and the work time is normal, 8 hours. But the time it takes for me to go home from the place I'm training at is 2 HOURS by bus. And yea I'll probably be too exhausted until the 25th. I'll resume BTSFVI chapters when I finish my training. See you then peeps (*・ω・)ﾉ

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BTSFVI Chapter Sixty Six

Read/BTSFVI/Chapter 66

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        Chapter 66 Teasing His Wife

As soon as Ye Yaodong returned home, he quickly took a shower and then went to his room to educate his two children.

"Oldest, you don't know how to swim, right? Do you want to learn?"

"I want to, Dad! Ah Hai can swim, so I want to learn too!"

The other child, Ye Chengyang, was jumping on the bed and shouting, "Me too, me too!"

"Do you want a beating? You better stop jumping on the bed or else I'll teach you a lesson," Ye Yaodong glared at the little guy, then turned to his eldest son and asked, "Did you get scared when you saw that child drowning earlier?"

Ye Chenghu shrank his neck and recalled the scene on the beach just now. He hesitated and said, "Dad, if I learn how to swim, does that mean I won't drown?"

"Unless you fall into the deep sea where nobody can find you, and you're too exhausted with no floating object to support you, under normal circumstances, you won't drown." 

"I'm scared..."

"What are you afraid of? You're a boy. With me teaching you, nothing will happen to you.”

He was also afraid that his children would be mischievous and learn by themselves at the beach. Although in his previous life, both children knew how to swim without anyone teaching them, who knows if things would change this time? After all, today he saved that child. 

With him teaching, he would feel more at ease.

"Yes, let your dad teach you how to swim. You are not allowed to go to the beach and learn by yourself like your older siblings."

Lin Xiuqing nodded vigorously beside them. Just now, on the beach, she was extremely worried, afraid that it would be her own child drowning. People living by the sea should know how to swim.

"Until you learn how to swim, none of you are allowed to go into the waters without an adult present. If I find out, I'll break your legs.”

Ye Chenghu shrank back and weakly replied, "I understand, Dad."

"If there's no fishing trip tomorrow, I'll take you to learn how to swim. Okay, go play now.”

Feeling liberated, Ye Chenghu excitedly jumped off the bed, and Ye Chengyang followed suit, startling Lin Xiuqing. She quickly caught him.

"You silly boy! What's your brother doing? Why are you doing the same? Can you even jump like that? Ye Chenghu, come here. As an older brother, you should set a good example..."

Knowing that his mother was scolding, the fool still went on. Ye Chenghu slipped away without looking back, leaving Ye Chengyang behind, crying and shouting to wait for him.

Lin Xiuqing was furious and gave her younger son a couple of hard spanks before letting him go.

Boys are tough and don't cry or make a fuss. Despite being so young, he quickly ran off.

Only then did she turn to Ye Yaodong and said, "Teach me the moves you did at the beach just now!"

"You want to learn?"

"Just in case. Living by the beach all the time, you never know when it might come in handy."

"Alright then, lie down and I'll demonstrate it for you."

"Um!"

At first, Ye Yaodong was earnestly explaining to her how to perform first aid, where to place the hands for compression, and she was listening attentively. But it didn't take long for things to go astray.

"Where are you placing your hands?"

"Aren't I teaching you?"

"Step aside, is this how you teach? Is this the right position? You're clearly just rubbing..." Lin Xiuqing lowered her voice, afraid of being overheard.

"Don't move! CPR should be performed for at least half an hour. Don't give up until there are no signs of life..."

"Forget it, get out of the way. I need to help Mother cook..." She was practically being crushed underneath him, yet he had the audacity to speak nonsense with a serious face.

"There is Eldest Sister-in-law and Second Sister-in-law!"

"They went to the pier to sell goods..."

"I helped you earn another 40 yuan today. Don't you think you should show some appreciation?"

With both hands pressing against his shoulders, Lin Xiuqing gave him a fierce glare. "Wasn't it me who discovered it?"

"But I also put in effort! I caught the blue crabs, and I caught the sea bass too!"

So annoying!

Ye Yaodong looked at her with a mischievous smile as she widened her eyes. Then he turned his head slightly, bringing his face closer, urging her, "Come on, show some appreciation quickly, and I'll let you go cook. Otherwise, if our two sons come in and see, they'll start making a fuss again!"

His own wife, wouldn't it be fun to tease her a little? Watching her lively and expressive face, he was also quite delighted.

But how could Lin Xiuqing let him have his way?

She pressed her palm directly against his face, forcefully pushing him towards the side of the pillow, then straddled him.

He groaned and held onto her slender waist, not allowing her to escape, and whispered, "So you like it this way, huh?"

Lin Xiuqing's cheeks flushed immediately. She tsked at him, quickly rolled off the bed, casually ran her fingers through her hair a few times, and then rushed out.

Meanwhile, Ye Yaodong leisurely raised his feet, rested his hand behind his head, and hummed a tune. If he hadn't intentionally let go, would she have been able to escape?

His father went to the sheltered harbor to sail, and he wasn't sure if they would go out to sea tonight. He planned to take a nap and rest.

But just as he fell asleep, he was awakened by his wife. "Your friends are here to see you."

Rubbing his sleepy eyes, he grumbled, "How could you bear to come and wake me up? Weren't you just hoping to say that I'm not home?"

Lin Xiuqing said angrily, "Then I'll just tell them straight up that you're not home."

If it wasn't for the fact that his friends had been doing some useful work during this time and occasionally went to the homestead to help, she wouldn't have come to call him. She would have definitely told them directly that he wasn't home!

Ye Yaodong pulled her and said, "Don’t, I'm up. Let me see if they have some money-making opportunity for me."

"Forget it, when you guys get together, it's either playing cards or eating and drinking. How can there be any money-making opportunity?"

"Who said there isn't? Didn't I give you nearly 400 yuan the other day? Maybe there's something good again."

"That was luck, you just happened to catch something while fishing."

"Well, it still made some money, didn't it?"

Lin Xiuqing didn't argue with him. After all, it wasn't long until mealtime, and he didn't have any money in his pocket. "Come back early for dinner."

"Um."

He quickly fastened his belt and hurriedly ran out. Behind him, his mother was nagging, "It's already 4 o'clock, and you're still restless, running around when it's almost dinner time..."

At the entrance, Ah Guang and the others were standing or sitting awkwardly, waiting there.

"What's the matter? I was sleeping.”

Ah Guang stroked his chin and circled around him, leaving him somewhat bewildered.

"What are you doing?"

"We heard that you showed great powers this afternoon by saving Secretary Chen's grandson, so we came to pay our respects."

"It's gonna cost you, two cents for a glance!"

"Pfft, thinking you're a celebrity or something!"

Little Xiao laughed and said, "Let's go, it's already 4 o'clock, don't waste any more time."

Yao Dong was pulled along, feeling puzzled. "You still haven't told me where we're going."

"To catch some yellow eel, wanna come?"

"Crazy! It rained heavily during the typhoon a few days ago, and the water levels in the fields and ditches have risen. Fishing with a thread? You can't even see the holes!"

Isn't it a waste of time to go there? It's better to stay at home and sleep. This bunch of idiots!

(end of this chapter)

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1.

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Z's corner: