"I still have my older sister, and my mother is in good health, so she doesn't need me to take care of the family for the time being. If I really get infected, I can just go to quarantine for half a month~" Qing Shan laughed heartily and changed into another set of protective clothing.
Because they didn't know how terrible this super flu would be, and based on the experience of previous years, the town officials, while not stopping their trade activities, did make some demands of the town—
Contactless transactions are possible, but just in case, from the day the ship reaches the other side, the people on board cannot disembark and must stay on board for a full two weeks.
This is another reason why Jiang Yu didn't let Shan Yan get on the boat.
They have three children; they can't have two adults trapped on this boat.
Jiang Yu grew up on the boat, was a good swimmer, and was familiar with the conditions of this river. He was more suitable than Shan Yan for this mission. Even if Shan Yan was worried, there was nothing he could do.
Fortunately, from that day on, they were able to glance at each other through the glass of the cockpit every day when they were carrying items onto the ship.
Yes, at this moment, Jiang Xiaoman and the others did not know that in the next half month, this civilian boat would become the largest source of living supplies for tens of thousands of migrant workers in the industrial zone!
However, to everyone's amusement and exasperation, during the second round of supplies procurement, the community secretary across the street, blushing, made a new procurement request to Jiang Xiaoman—
"Xiao Jiang, I see so many fishing boats over there, is that a fishing village?"
"I wonder if the local fishermen have any dried fish or anything like that left? Could you help us buy some?"
Wait a minute! Didn't you say the dormitories in the industrial area don't have kitchens? How are you going to eat the dried fish you buy?
"Oh dear, it's not for us to eat, it's for the medical staff who came to help us. Our people overheard them chatting privately and saying they wanted to eat the smoked dried fish from their hometown."
"Xiao Jiang, tell me, these people risked their lives to help us. We may not have any other good things, but we should at least find a way to let them have some of this smoked fish, right?"
I see!
"Secretary Sun, please wait here, I'll go make you some smoked fish!"
Several villages near Jiang Yu's village rely on fishing for a living. If the fishermen can't sell the fresh fish they catch, they usually turn them into salted fish and keep them to sell later, so there is no shortage of salted fish.
However, locals rarely eat smoked dried fish.
But this thing isn't difficult to make; it's just a matter of smoking the marinated dried fish again.
Just then, Jiang Xiaoman had emptied the vegetable gardens of several nearby villages in the past two days. Since everyone was idle at home and had nothing to do, they immediately took action when they heard that the other side was going to buy a large amount of smoked dried fish. Since they had some dried fish at home, they went to cut some pine branches to smoke it.
It doesn't matter if there are no dried fish; there are plenty of fish and shrimp in the river. Just cast your net and catch a few.
While Jiang Xiaoman was busy preparing for the next batch of supplies, on the other side of the river, Secretary Sun was leading people to repackage and distribute the supplies.
The supplies that Jiang Yu and his team delivered this time consisted of two parts: a home care package that Jiang Xiaoman had previously purchased online, and fruits and vegetables that the community had funded for bulk purchase.
"Tsk tsk! This is authentic farm-style cooking! Secretary, look, isn't this the kind of local sandy-fleshed tomato we ate when we were kids?"
"And this cucumber, it's a genuine local cucumber! Only two yuan a pound? That's so cheap!"
"Don't even mention it! The day before yesterday, our community residents did a group purchase. A few potatoes, a cabbage, two cucumbers, a bunch of rotten celery, and some onions and peppers—it looked like the garbage that supermarkets used to throw away, and that bag actually cost eighty yuan!"
"It's already good enough if we can even buy it. In our old neighborhood, the grandmas are reluctant to spend money, and they can't even get a group purchase..."
The community workers, holding the fresh vegetables that Jiang Xiaoman and her team had brought by waterway, were almost tempted to embezzle a little if it weren't for their strong professional ethics.
"We owe them a huge favor this time. Once this is over, if there are any projects that can help them, our community should try to find a way."
"Right, right! When delivering supplies, let's first give the heads of each company a heads-up, or maybe we should just put up a banner?"
"Okay! Hurry up and order a few banners. Otherwise, they'll put in a lot of effort and we won't even get a thank you."
In the community, staff members worked diligently to distribute the supplies, and volunteers drove small trucks to deliver the supplies to various factories overnight.
With tears in their eyes, Hou Xiaoqing and her best friend received the home supplies package they had managed to snag from Jiang Xiaoman from community volunteers.
Although the two of them only managed to grab one serving, at a time like this, having anything to eat at all is already a blessing.
"Quick! Open it up and see what's inside!" Song Yue, his best friend, urged from the side.
"No rush, disinfect first!" After saying that, Hou Xiaoqing skillfully took out a spray bottle filled with disinfectant and sprayed half a bottle of disinfectant onto the cardboard box on the ground from all angles.
The outer cardboard box was all wet.
After waiting a few minutes, Hou Xiaoqing put on the disposable protective gloves provided by the community, carefully opened the package, and took out the items from the box one by one.
They lived in factory dormitories, which were fire-prevention facilities with no kitchens and no cooking allowed. At most, they could secretly cook instant noodles in a small electric cooker. So, the two of them were fighting over single-serving supplies that didn't require cooking.
Wow! These are glutinous rice balls and cloud cakes?
"There are also two large bags of kimchi here, vacuum-packed. This is good; we can put them in the small refrigerator."
"There are also two large jars of mushroom sauce and two packets of pickled cowpeas below."
"What? Pickled green beans? Waaaaah! This must be the legendary life-saving side dish!"
"Let's open one bag first, find an empty can to put it in, and eat one at a time. That should last until the packaging is lifted..." Hou Xiaoqing thought of the white steamed buns she ate a couple of days ago, and her face turned pale.
Who would have thought that in this day and age, someone would almost starve to death in a big city?
Fortunately, the kind-hearted Xiaoman overcame all difficulties to bring them life-saving vegetables at this critical moment!
Actually, it's not that we haven't had any food these past few days, but the incident happened so suddenly that the factory is barely managing to keep the workers from starving. I heard that the vegetable market has been closed, and the canteen can't buy any vegetables even with money. They can only steam some buns and rice for everyone at each meal and give each person a bottle of Lao Gan Ma chili sauce.
After eating steamed buns with Lao Gan Ma chili sauce for two days in a row, the workers' complexions were as dull as Lao Gan Ma's.
Even so, they didn't dare to eat to their heart's content. They would only pick out a tiny bit with their chopsticks at each meal, just to savor the flavor, for fear that if they ate it all, they would only be able to eat plain steamed buns.
After taking all these things, Hou Xiaoqing originally thought that was all.
To my surprise, after peeling back the cardboard, there was a huge bag of fried dough twists and the like underneath!
Perhaps worried that it would be crushed if placed on the top layer, they specially made a cardboard divider. After taking it out, except for the bottom layer which was slightly broken due to the bumps during transportation, most of it was still intact.
Smelling the aroma of fried food in the air, Hou Xiaoqing and Song Yue couldn't help but tear up.
Fried foods, which I normally wouldn't touch to lose weight, have now become a luxury that money can't buy...
Chapter 178
Just as the W City industrial zone was busy distributing supplies, Jiang Xiaoman and Shan Yan worked together seamlessly. One of them was responsible for leading his apprentices to weigh, pack, and move the supplies, while the other was responsible for taking orders online and contacting community volunteers on the other side.
Upon learning that they were transporting supplies to the other side of the river, all sorts of rumors circulated in the town.
Although most people felt that Jiang Xiaoman and his group had done a good thing, some people worried that if they transported supplies back and forth like this, what if they also brought the flu virus from the other side of the strait?
Someone even called the town to report Jiang Xiaoman and his gang, saying they were profiting from the national crisis.
They say they're supporting their brother city across the street, but who doesn't know they're making a fortune reselling supplies online?
In times like these, if we really want to help people, shouldn't it all be free?
The town's officials were speechless when they received the tip-off call.
I hate people who make empty promises about donating money.
You're the kindest! You're the most generous! You always ask others to donate supplies worth hundreds of thousands, but how much have you donated yourself? Ten or twenty yuan? Surely not just fifty cents?
However, as township officials, they are not allowed to argue with people on the phone, since the hotline for receiving public inquiries is recorded. However, Jiang Xiaoman and her team delivered supplies to the other side by water, which was also tacitly approved by the township.
We are all Chinese compatriots. It's one thing for you to be afraid of death and not dare to do volunteer work, but are you also trying to stop others from joining you in giving up?
Therefore, after hanging up the phone, the township officials carefully recorded the contents of the report.
Then it was submitted to the leader through the normal procedure.
Oh, the leader went to a meeting in the county?
Let's wait for the leaders to return and then hold a meeting to discuss how to respond to the public's opinions.
What? You're asking why law enforcement didn't stop Jiang Xiaoman from selling things across the street?
I'm sorry, but we live in a market economy now, and the law protects every law-abiding businessperson. Jiang Xiaoman clearly marks the prices and does not engage in price gouging or take advantage of customers. The people across the street also purchased through legitimate group buying channels, and none of them have reported it. Why are you, an outsider, meddling in this?
Could it be that they're jealous because Jiang Xiaoman and the others made money selling things?
The town suppressed the matter, clearly indicating that it was inconvenient for the government to intervene, so it tacitly allowed private forces to support other provinces and cities. Jiang Xiaoman was very clever; seeing that the town had tacitly approved, she immediately expanded the scope of the purchase.
The area near Laoshan'aozi, which is Shanying's hometown village, has been included in the second batch of centralized procurement points.
Don't be fooled by how poor the people in Laoshan Valley are; they know how to use their limited savings to feed their whole family as much as possible.
Shan Ying's older sister suggested that since they couldn't cook in the dormitory, they could make cornbread and send it over.
Their sweet potato noodles and sun-dried potato chips can also be used as staple foods.
Cut a few slices of cured pork and half an onion, stir-fry them in a pot until cooked, then add water. After the water boils, add the soaked sweet potato noodles and cook until soft. Season with salt. If you like spicy food, you can also add a spoonful of chili oil. A bowl of convenient and delicious sweet potato noodles is ready.
There are even more ways to eat potato chips. You can braise them with pork belly, chicken, or duck. If you really can't buy any of those, you can slice some ham and stir-fry them. Or you can take apart a self-heating hot pot, soak some vermicelli and potato chips in it, and cook them together to make a big pot.
Worried that some fans might not know how to eat the food after receiving it, Jiang Xiaoman specially filmed a video to introduce how to eat the dishes in their home care package.
This is incredible! Fans from other provinces are drooling. While wiping their drool, they are leaving a lot of comments in the comment section, asking Jiang Xiaoman if she can sell the unsold gift packs to them if she can't deliver them to H Province.
Although they are not in the lockdown area, they really want to eat the local farm dishes in Langshan!
You little rascal, Xiaoman!
They keep it hidden away all the time, only bringing it out to sell during times of great disaster?
Just because they are free from illness and disaster, does that mean they don't deserve to eat the local specialties of the people of Langshan?
"Hehe~ I was actually planning to start selling locally produced sweet potato vermicelli and potato chips this fall, but isn't this just a coincidence?" Jiang Xiaoman chuckled as she replied to each comment in the comment section.
"As everyone knows, there's a shortage of supplies in H Province right now. Let's give them emergency supplies first, and once this is over, we'll definitely arrange for everyone to receive supplies after autumn!"
That's more like it!
The fans, satisfied, fell silent and then offered "insincere" consolation to the fans in H province who were staying at home in the comments section: "Even though you can't come out, you've still managed to enjoy the local specialties of Langshan that we can't!"
Isn't this a blessing in disguise?
After posting the video, Jiang Xiaoman stopped caring; he had more important things to do.
They gathered a bunch of dried goods from Laoshan Aozi, including sweet potato vermicelli, dried potatoes, and other dried sweet potato products. They also bought several thousand kilograms of fresh potatoes from the villagers, along with the smoked dried fish they had previously ordered from Jiang Yu's village, and packed them all up and sent them to the other side.
The medical workers who came to provide support were busy on the front line. The community secretary organized manpower to distribute the newly arrived supplies while making phone calls to familiar hotels in the area for help.
The auntie at their community canteen can only cook a few home-style dishes at most, but these dishes are to be made and sent to the medical staff who are providing support. At least they should have some "taste of home, right?"
When the hotel heard that the community was looking for a chef who could make smoked fish, and that it was for the medical staff who came to provide support, they immediately took action. It just so happened that their chefs were still stuck in the hotel and couldn't do business for the next few days anyway. It was their honor to be able to make something delicious for the medical workers!
That evening, the medical staff who were assigned to support the industrial park received an exceptionally lavish meal. Although the food had cooled down a bit due to the long time that had passed, it was still clear that the rice was made from high-quality fragrant rice.
The food in the boxed lunch was also very carefully prepared, as if they wanted to pile all the delicious food into it. All five compartments were packed full, including honey-smoked fish, braised lion's head meatballs, stir-fried cured pork with green peppers, scrambled eggs with tomatoes, and braised pork with preserved vegetables.