Chapter 13

The Red Star Lake was wide, and the area close to the military factory was just the shallowest and smallest area.

The deepest place was fifty meters, and the place where the reed cluster hid the iron boxes was thirty meters deep.

Fortunately, dams were built, so even if the water rose, it would be fine here.

But what if the water came out from underground?

It was like many rural areas near the river in the north of the city. Every year when the river thawed, the cellar at home would bubble with water.

Lu Qiao considered it and whispered: "I heard that the opening mechanism is the warehouse where the steel billets were first placed. I don't know the specific location, but as long as it's opened, the lake water will come in, unless the entire warehouse is blown up."

Lu Qiao looked at the dumbfounded Old Lu and said indifferently: "Actually, I also heard it in a muddle. Dad, don't you think it's strange? I heard it on the other side of the wall. When I turned around, it was empty, and I didn't see anyone."

Old Lu grabbed a handful of hair.

His brain was a bit messy from what his daughter said.

"Anything else?"

Lu Qiao shook her head: "No."

Old Lu stood up. How should he handle this matter?

Lu Qiao yawned: "I feel it should be those retired old men who love to tell stories talking nonsense. Maybe I walked slowly, and by the time I turned around, they had already gone home. Dad, I'm sleepy, I'm going to sleep."

After saying this, regardless of how Old Lu reacted, Lu Qiao went straight back to the bedroom.

Nothing else was important. She thought the military representative office and the security section could find out.

The main thing was the heavy rainstorm in a week.

But this, it was just doing one's best and listening to fate.

Lu Qiao flipped through the books Director He gave her, "One Hundred Thousand Whys," "Fun Mathematics," and a book "Beautiful Ocean."

The "One Hundred Thousand Whys" of the 1970s was different from the "One Hundred Thousand Whys" of the future.

This book was quite hardcore.

It was almost teaching you how to use a bamboo pole to poke down an airplane.

Lu Qiao flipped through it with great interest and finished reading it unknowingly.

Her reading speed had always been extremely fast; saying she read ten lines at a glance was about the same.

The military factory's electricity was quite stable, but in this era, as a family quarters, it often had power outages.

When the power went out, Lu Qiao had almost finished reading, thinking about when to go to the research institute.

But in a short while, sleepiness struck. The tabby cat jumped in from the window and curled up beside Lu Qiao. Lu Qiao stroked it unconsciously, furry and soft, and soon, one person and one cat fell into a deep sleep.

Old Lu, however, tossed and turned. Meng Xia was annoyed: "Why don't you sleep? Don't you have to go to work tomorrow?"

Old Lu didn't tell her the truth and could only close his eyes and pretend to sleep.

Who did Qiao hear it from?

How could she only hear the sound but not see the person?

Old Lu was also a straightforward person. He didn't think about what he couldn't figure out. The focus was on the heavy rainstorm in a week.

Well, think of a way to tell Old Jia.

He was the deputy section chief of the security section, and he could manage this matter too.

——

Old Lu was blocked by Old Jia in the cafeteria, pulled him to a corner to sit down, lowered his voice and said: "I want to tell you, maybe there will be a heavy rainstorm here in a week. Do you want to make preparations in advance?"

Old Jia was stunned for a moment: "The weather forecast didn't say so." Afterward, he remembered that the weather forecast in this era was sometimes inaccurate, so he hurriedly asked: "Where did you hear it?"

Afterward, he remembered Old Lady Lu: "Did Grandma tell you?"

Old Lady Lu had only stayed in the city for half a year, and the rest of the time was in the countryside. She was very good at looking at the weather.

Old Lu nodded vaguely.

——

Lu Qiao was shaken awake by her third sister.

She sat up and looked out the window with a dazed look.

She didn't know what time it was, but the sun was already high.

Sigh, her alertness had decreased. Otherwise, she would have discovered it when Lu Qiaoling came in.

Sure enough, a comfortable environment makes people lose their fighting spirit.

"Second Sister, we've all finished lunch and you're still not awake, you're really lazy."

Afterward, she turned and left, muttering: "In the countryside, food is often not enough to eat. How come you're like this after coming back? Is it that I was born to be hungry?"

Lu Qiao:...

The harvest in the hometown hadn't been good these years. Every spring and early summer, many families were cut off.

But the Lu family in the city added two more mouths, and Old Lu and Meng Xia had to go out to borrow food.

She washed up and strolled to the kitchen.

Salt, sauce, and vinegar were not lacking.

Food... there was only a bowl of millet and half a bag of corn flour.

Although it was a single-story house, the courtyard was small and there was no place to plant vegetables, only a little scallion planted in a wooden trough in the corner of the wall.

There was half a bowl of lard in the cupboard.

No eggs, no meat.

The Lu family always had to endure these last few days of the month.

Actually, it wasn't just the Lu family; many families were like this.

Lu Qiao drank a bowl of corn flour porridge with pickles and ate a steamed bun. Speaking of which, the eldest sister-in-law's cooking skills were really good.

But this steamed bun was too rough.

It felt like it was scratching her throat when swallowing.

The matchboxes Meng Xia and the others were pasting today, Lu Qiao was really getting more and more skilled.

Meng Xia didn't expect her second daughter's speed to be so fast, and she said happily: "Qiao's hands are so flexible, she does it so fast. Tomorrow I'll take more."

Lu Qiao wasn't sure if she could obediently paste paper boxes at home.

Strolling around these two days, Comrade Meng Xia had long been dissatisfied.

If it weren't for Grandma saying that she annulled the engagement and was in a bad mood and needed to vent, she really wouldn't have been able to go out.

Thinking of this, Lu Qiao put down the paper box in her hand and said: "Mom, I want to go to the neighborhood office to open an introduction letter."

Meng Xia heard about Lu Qiao's plan yesterday and felt that she was doing thankless work.

The old ladies in the family quarters were stingy, petty, and calculating.

No matter how you exchange it, they would feel they were at a loss.

And if it was really brought back, would it offend the non-staple food store?

"Will it work?" Meng Xia asked worriedly.

"I'll try, it doesn't matter if it doesn't work."

——

Lu Qiao really went to the neighborhood office.

She let Director Hu write like this: To the responsible comrades of the Guzitun Brigade Office, this is to introduce Comrade Lu Qiao and others from the Xiang Yang Neighborhood Office's Voluntary Convenience Service Station to go to your place to handle vegetable material exchange matters.

Director Hu asked Lu Qiao suspiciously: "I don't know that our neighborhood office has a voluntary convenience service station?"

Lu Qiao smiled with curved eyebrows: "I thought about it, no matter what you do, having a name will make things go more smoothly. Besides, this is voluntary. It exists when it's useful, and is put aside when it's not. No establishment, no employees, no salary, nothing is affected."

Speaking of this, Lu Qiao paused, looked at the gray-haired Old Hu, and said cleverly: "Of course, Director Hu, if you don't find it convenient, you don't have to write it."

Director Hu blinked his eyes.

Looking at the energetic Lu Qiao, he thought in his heart, many people said Lu Qiao annulled the engagement and must be dying of sadness, but isn't this state quite good?

This introduction letter was no problem, he could open it.

Director Hu opened the introduction letter readily, stamped it with the official seal, and then handed it to Lu Qiao: "If it works, it works. If it doesn't, come back, but don't make mistakes."

Lu Qiao: "Don't worry, I remember all the clauses regarding this."

(End of chapter)