Chapter 57

At noon, Zheng Jiawang came out of the seed store.

As he reached the door, the property staff who had previously struck up a conversation asked, “How much did you buy?”

“Two pounds.” The recommended amount for planting oil wheat per mu is 75-100 grams, and he bought two pounds, which would cover ten acres of land.

“I bought two pounds as well,” the property staff sighed. The price of Oil Wheat 01 was 300 per pound. He had initially planned to buy 180 pounds, but since the seeds hadn’t gone into mass production yet, he could only buy two pounds with the property’s permission.

After chatting for a while, Zheng Jiawang rode his electric scooter back to Delong Property. Delong Community is a garden-style community with 1,200 households. When he arrived at the service station, many residents were handling their electricity bills.

Zheng Jiawang placed the seeds on the counter.

The front desk staff greeted him upon seeing the seeds: “Manager Zheng is back?”

“Yes, I’m back,” Zheng Jiawang replied.

Two residents who were paying bills looked at the seeds and asked, “Are these oil wheat seeds?”

Since the community’s greenery had withered, the topic of oil wheat greening had been a hot discussion in the resident group these past few days.

“I just bought them from the seed store. Our community has a limit of two pounds.”

“We’re really going to plant them?”

“We are.”

At 3:00 PM, the property staff arrived at the community’s jujube orchard with shovels and chainsaws. This is a 5,000-square-meter jujube orchard that was planted by the developers along with the community’s landscaping when Delong Community was built.

Delong Community had been open for ten years, and now the jujube saplings had grown from half a meter to three meters tall. There were over seventy jujube trees, and from a distance, it looked like a pure ecological forest park.

The pure ecological forest park was now a thing of the past. This May, after heavy rains, all the jujube trees in the orchard were destroyed. With the corrosion from acid rain, by July, the jujube flowers and leaves had all decayed. Forestry Bureau tests confirmed that the jujube trees were completely dead. Recently, dead branches had been falling from the trees, and after discussions with all the residents, the decision was made to cut down the trees and plant vegetables instead.

At 3:30, the workers cleared the paths in the jujube orchard and asked Zheng Jiawang, “Should we cut them down?”

Zheng Jiawang waved his hand. “Go ahead.”

The workers started cutting down the trees.

“Are they really cutting them down?”

“Sigh, what a waste of good trees…”

The noise was so loud that many residents came over to watch. Everyone had heard that the trees were going to be cut down, but seeing it happen in person made them feel uneasy.

“I came here last year to pick jujubes for soaking.”

“I dried some jujubes last year; there’s still half a bottle in my cupboard.”

“We were still playing chess here earlier this year…”

The residents had mixed feelings. The jujube trees flowered in May and ripened in September. Last year at this time, everyone was using sticks to knock the jujubes down, occasionally complaining about the branches pricking them. Now, less than a year later, everything had changed.

The process of cutting down the trees was tedious, and the residents stood by, watching. Dead branches were being carted away in batches, and by 9 PM, all seventy jujube trees had been felled. Over five hundred residents had gathered to watch, with many more standing on balconies to look down.

With so many people watching, Zheng Jiawang grabbed a megaphone and shouted, “Please step aside so we can move the trees out first.”

A path was cleared through the crowd. Half an hour later, the last batch of trees was moved, and the jujube orchard became a barren stretch of land.

“Does this mean there will be no more jujubes?” one resident asked.

“There won’t be any for the next two years,” Zheng Jiawang sighed.

These jujube trees were purchased from Zhongbei, and every summer and fall, they would often have caterpillars and bees. When people were in a bad mood, they would wish the jujube trees would disappear quickly. Now that the trees were actually gone, everyone felt a sense of loss.

Not only were jujubes edible, but the jujube flowers in the summer were also like works of art. Last winter, Delong Community had been featured in the Liunan newspaper for the [Jujube Tree Snow Scene]. They hadn’t paid much attention to it before, but now they realized that this winter, they wouldn’t be able to see the [Jujube Tree Snow Scene] anymore.

“Sigh.” Some sentimental residents had red eyes.

At 10 PM, the residents left reluctantly.

Once they were gone, the workers looked at the shovels and asked, “Should we take these to the service station?”

Zheng Jiawang waved his hand. “Just leave them here.”

The community had surveillance cameras, so they weren’t worried about losing anything.

The next morning, the property management began the soil turning and sowing work. Three days later, both the jujube orchard and the greenbelt areas on either side were planted with acid rain-resistant seeds. While this was happening in Delong Community, other communities like Qianfeng and Qianjia, as well as the city’s greenbelt, were also making serious preparations.

On September 20th, at Jinghe Chang’an Mountain Zoo, Zhao Chuangang was carrying a birdcage and skillfully walked over to a truck parked by the zoo. The truck’s door opened to reveal several square cages, each containing wild animals like skylarks and cuckoos.

Zhao Chuangang placed the birdcage inside and closed the truck door tightly.

The driver in the front seat glanced over and asked, “Is that all?”

“There are still three red-bellied pheasants. Once these are delivered, we’ll only have the number seven and nine enclosures left.”

Zhao Chuangang was a keeper at Chang’an Mountain Zoo, primarily responsible for the safety and feeding of birds like skylarks and blue peacocks. According to a report from Longxia Meteorological Station, from September 23rd to 30th, Jinghe would experience the Ha’erma rainfall, which would mark the fifth nationwide wave of acid rain.

Chang’an Mountain Zoo, located in the southern suburbs of Jinghe, covers more than 10,000 acres and houses over 20,000 wild animals. Upon receiving the meteorological news, the zoo immediately held an emergency meeting.

Chang’an Mountain is located at a higher elevation, so even if Jinghe were to be flooded, the mountain would remain unaffected. However, to prevent animals from being harmed by the acid rain, the zoo decided to move the animals from the lower-lying areas to safer zones. According to statistics, over 7,000 animals were being relocated, and since last Wednesday, they had been working to close the zoo and make preparations.

Zhao Chuangang returned to the zoo to grab some pheasants, and soon, three red-bellied pheasants were loaded onto the truck.

Over the next three days, the zoo conducted a large-scale animal relocation. The migration of birds like pheasants and peacocks was relatively simple, but for animals like tigers and bears, professionals had to herd them into cages and then transport them to specialized areas. Due to the heavy workload, they didn’t finish until the 22nd.

“How about some drinks at the Sichuan restaurant later?” Zhao Chuangang asked the driver after finishing his last task. They had been partners for many years and used to often grab drinks together after work.

The driver hesitated for a moment and replied, “Not going today.”

The price of Erguotou had gone up from eighteen to twenty-eight, and a plate of spicy chicken now cost fifty-eight. With no raise in salary but rising prices, he couldn’t afford it anymore.

Zhao Chuangang didn’t insist. He finished his work and left the office promptly at six o’clock.

Chang’an Ridge Zoo is located in the southern suburbs of Jinghe, thirty kilometers from the city center. Employees could stay in dorms or take the shuttle bus home. At 6:30, he arrived at the bus stop. In the past, around thirty to forty people would wait for the bus, but now it had surged to two hundred. These were the employees finishing at six, and there was another batch waiting for the 8 PM buses.

“Do you think we’ll get hit by the storm from the 23rd to the 30th? It won’t be as terrible as Longnan, right?”

“Who knows? The weather’s been gloomy these past few days.”

“Not sure when it’ll end.”

While waiting for the bus, zoo employees chatted casually. Since the 20th, Jinghe had been experiencing cold, damp weather. Now, as late September approached, many people had already started wearing down jackets. According to meteorological warnings, the temperature in Jinghe was expected to drop further over the next week. The temperature drop was linked to the decreasing vegetation and the El Niño phenomenon, which meant this winter would be colder than usual.

At 6:40, five buses arrived at the station, and everyone bundled up and got on.

At 7:30, the bus TV displayed a warning: [Longxia Meteorological Station: From tonight until September 30th, areas including Longxia, Jinghe, Qin Zhuang, and Shansheng in seven provinces will experience a Harma Storm. Residents in these areas should exercise caution and take safety measures…]

“This is so annoying,” the employees complained, clearly frustrated by the bad weather.

Zhao Chuangang looked out the window. The bus had just reached the outer ring bridge. As it was rush hour, the bridge was as congested as usual. The bus moved only two hundred meters in half an hour. When they passed the subway station, Zhao Chuangang saw the notice at the entrance: [Due to the Harma Storm, Jinghe subway will stop all operations at 9 PM on September 22nd. Passengers should inform each other and plan their travel accordingly.]

The notice had been posted on the 20th, and now many passengers were rushing to catch the last subway train.

“Sigh.”

Zhao Chuangang had initially thought about having drinks with his colleagues, but after the bumpy ride, he had lost all interest.

At 10 PM, Zhao Chuangang finally arrived home. He was from Yuncheng, Shan Province, and rented a place with his wife in a shared apartment near the Third Ring Road. When the Jinghe storm warnings came, they had thought about going back to their hometown for shelter, but Shan Province was also within the storm’s affected zone. Going to Longnan or Longbei would be expensive. They lived on the second floor, and after some analysis, they decided that staying in their apartment was the safest and most economical option.

Just as Zhao Chuangang stepped inside, his wife, Luo Li, asked, “Did your workplace give you time off?”

Luo Li worked as a delivery rider for a food delivery company. The couple had been married for five years but had no children, planning to save up before making any future decisions.

Zhao Chuangang poured himself a cup of hot water and replied, “We got seven days off, but the salary is still the same.”

“We got seven days off too, with a basic salary.”

They chatted for a while when a series of door-opening sounds came from outside. Their apartment was part of a shared complex, and each floor had more than thirty rooms, each around twenty to thirty square meters. The noise was loud, so after washing up, the two of them went straight to bed.

At 2 AM, the sound of rain was heard outside. Zhao Chuangang got up to check the window. He used a bottle cap to catch some rainwater, dipped his finger into it, and curiously tasted it.

The rainwater had a rusty, burnt taste, and he quickly spat it out.

Luo Li, hearing the noise, turned on the light. “Are you crazy?”

Zhao Chuangang was brushing his teeth in the bathroom. “I just wanted to see if it tasted like what people said online.”

Previously, during the storms in Longnan and Zhongnan, many netizens had complained about the awful smell of acid rain. He had prayed for the people in the disaster areas but was also curious about the actual taste of acid rain. Now that he had tasted it for himself, he found it even worse than what was described online.

Zhao Chuangang stood by the window for a moment, watching the rain, then crawled back into bed to sleep.

“I never imagined that one day, Jinghe would experience acid rain like Maricopa.”

“Reading the news wasn’t scary, but now that I’m experiencing it, it’s unbearable!”

“I was relieved about the time off, but now it feels like even being off isn’t enjoyable.”

Over the next three days, disaster zone netizens shared their experiences of living through the storm. They had prepared safety measures in advance and weren’t worried about their own safety, but the constant rain and dark clouds were overwhelming. Sometimes, at 2 PM, the clouds would swirl and look just like 2 AM.

At first, they found it interesting, but after three days of it, it became very frustrating.

“I just want to go back to work…” one netizen sighed.

The storm had knocked down three communication towers, leaving them with spotty signal. Many neighborhoods were experiencing power and water outages. No water, no electricity, no signal—they felt like they were barely holding on!

On September 30th, the storm finally stopped. As soon as it stopped raining, Zhao Chuangang ran out of the apartment.

It was cold, a bit too cold.

That was his first thought as he stepped outside. The area around the apartment was in a mess, and a cold wind howled, feeling like it was cutting straight through to his bones. An autumn rain brings a chill, but this year’s autumn rain… was too cold.