Chapter 37 The Horned Eagle's Little Backpack
Qin Ziwen usually left early and returned late, so he didn't have much contact with his upstairs and downstairs neighbors.
Taking advantage of today's opportunity, he met them.
Upstairs lived a middle-aged couple; the man had short hair and was slightly overweight, while his wife wore glasses and had a refined appearance. Behind the man, a little girl clung to him, peeking out timidly at the downstairs neighbors.
Perhaps Qin Ziwen's tone had been too harsh when speaking to his younger brother, because after meeting his gaze, the little girl fearfully hid her head behind her father's clothes.
Downstairs lived a man of medium build with graying hair, next to his son, who was about the same height as him, with a youthful face, like a high school student. After meeting Qin Ziwen's gaze, the son's eyes darted away.
The door to apartment 501 was tightly closed, and there was no sound from the apartment across the street.
The downstairs neighbors then took their son home; judging from the sound of the door closing, it must have been apartment 401.
Just as Qin Ziwen was about to close the door, his upstairs neighbor suddenly spoke up: "Hey handsome, do you have any extra food? I can trade something for it."
Qin Ziwen shook his head and said, "Not much left."
The man's voice lowered, and he pleaded, "I was right there when they were killing the crocodile a few days ago. If I were younger, I might have joined in, but I'm older now, and I have a wife and children at home."
"What are you going to trade?"
the man asked hopefully. "Toilet paper, do you want some? I have some common medicines at home, cold medicine, anti-inflammatory drugs, Yunnan Baiyao, anything will do."
Qin Ziwen didn't understand: "You can trade these things downstairs, right? These kinds of medicines are considered hard currency."
The man smiled bitterly: "They are hard currency, but they're not necessities for healthy people. Not many people ask about them, but the prices are outrageous. Many people think a cold is a minor illness, just tough it out for a couple of days, drink some hot water and it'll be fine. Besides, many people have some spare medicines at home."
Qin Ziwen glanced at him, "My price won't be high either."
The man forced a smile on his fat face: "I know, I understand, as long as it's not too outrageous, I can accept it."
Qin Ziwen asked: "Do you have a thermometer?"
The man nodded quickly, "I have a mercury thermometer."
"Two more boxes of cold medicine and two boxes of anti-inflammatory drugs, how much longer do they last?"
the man said. "They all last at least a year."
"Three pounds of meat."
The man's smile upstairs became very forced.
His wife's expression changed slightly; this price wasn't what he expected.
Fresh meat is a rare commodity in our neighborhood, but it's not impossible to obtain with a little effort.
After all, there's a river nearby where you can fish, catch crabs and shrimp, and if you're lucky, you might even find snakes and eels in the crevices of the rocks. The grass around the neighborhood teems with field mice and insects, and some bolder individuals even go out in groups to set traps and hunt.
And if you can overcome your psychological hurdle, many cooked insects are also a good source of protein.
The real difficulty is the large population of the neighborhood; with so many people, the amount of meat available to each person is very limited.
The couple has tried to find food outside, but their ten-year-old child is growing and has a big appetite, and the family also consists of two adults with voracious appetites. After a few days, they're running out of food.
"Could you have more?" he pleaded, almost begging, before the two people he loves most in his family.
The little girl grabbed her father's arm and whispered, "Daddy, I'm not hungry."
Qin Ziwen glanced at the man. "Four jin. I don't have much fresh meat left either. Xiaowu, go get that piece of meat."
Qin Ziwu understood his older brother's meaning. A few days ago, when they hunted the crocodile leader, the two of them got more than ten jin of meat.
After two days of eating and trading, there wasn't much fresh meat left, only four or five jin, but there was still a lot of smoked meat.
Carrying the reddish meat, in front of the family upstairs, he used a scale to divide it into four jin.
Looking at the divided four jin of meat, the man was a little dazed. If it were before he transmigrated, buying four jin of meat at the supermarket would be easy; the family would finish it in two days.
But now, he could only trade in this way. Qin Ziwen said, "You need to eat this meat quickly. It's been over a day since we took it off, and it'll probably spoil if we don't eat it soon."
The man nodded quickly, "Understood."
After completing the transaction, Qin Ziwen left the medicine and mercury thermometer at home.
These products of modern industry are basically rare; unless you get them in the daily draw, they're gone with every use. It's good to keep some at home, especially since he hadn't prepared any medicine before moving.
After completing these transactions, Qin Ziwen returned to the bedroom, where the harpy eagle, having finished its fish, was wiping its feathers.
"Brother, are we going to draw a map today?"
"Yes."
Qin Ziwu held up a finger: "I actually have a good idea."
"Go ahead."
Qin Ziwu put his hands in his pockets, "Hehe, this eagle can fly, right? We can hang a camera around its neck and let it fly around in the sky once, then we can record video, right?"
"Wow, you're actually using your brain! Let me think about it." Qin Ziwen thought his brother's idea seemed feasible at first glance, and it could significantly reduce his workload and danger, since he wouldn't have to go into the wild himself.
But there are two key points.
First, he doesn't have a camera.
Second, how to secure the camera to the harpy eagle so it doesn't fall.
The first point isn't difficult; Qin Ziwen thought of his own cell phone.
He could use the phone for filming, since it was pretty much useless anyway, so he might as well put it to good use.
The second point is how to secure the phone to it so it doesn't fall.
Qin Ziwen pondered, "How can I keep the phone from falling?"
Qin Ziwu suggested, "How about letting it hold it?"
Qin Ziwen was speechless: "I think letting it carry you while you fly would be more reliable."
Qin Ziwu chuckled sheepishly; he was just saying it casually. He
glanced at the harpy eagle's large claws.
They were long and sharp; using them to hold a smooth cell phone would definitely be unstable, not to mention the strong air currents and changes in posture it would face while flying.
"Make it a small X-shaped shoulder bag, placed on its chest, with a small round hole for the phone camera. Hmm, that should work. It'd be best to sew it with a needle and thread."
Qin Ziwen thought it was feasible more and more, but he didn't know how to sew, so he needed to find someone who did.
But that wasn't difficult; he wasn't making anything particularly difficult, and he didn't have high requirements for aesthetics, as long as the size was right and the materials were sturdy. He
then went upstairs to Deng Guang's house and was pleasantly surprised to learn that his sister-in-law knew a little needlework and had some needles and thread at home.
Qin Ziwen told her his request.
Xiao Xuemei readily agreed and then went to Qin Ziwen's house, where she saw the horned eagle in the living room.
Although Xiao Xuemei was surprised by the horned eagle's presence, she didn't make a fuss. She simply followed Qin Ziwen's instructions, using scissors to cut up jeans and old clothes, and sewed them together to make a small backpack that the horned eagle could hang on its chest.
"It's finished. Do you see if there's anything that needs adjusting?" Xiao Xuemei stood up and wiped the fine sweat from her forehead.
"Move a little." Qin Ziwen patted the harpy eagle, which flapped its wings several times in the cramped living room, but the phone on its chest remained firmly in place.
(End of Chapter)