readsfreenovel Chapter 548 North Gate
Chapter 548 North Gate
Those displaced people went to other satellite cities. Even if someone got sick or infected, the outbreaks would occur in other districts and wouldn't affect Number Five.
No wonder these people are so happy.
Xu Xiaoyan leaned against the headboard, her thumb still hovering over the phone screen, her gaze fixed on the densely packed replies in the post.
Some people are glad they chose the right satellite city to settle in, while others are mocking those who chose number two, three, six, and seven, wondering how they feel now.
Some people are analyzing the scoring criteria for this evaluation and speculating whether there will be a reshuffling next year.
The entire forum was filled with an almost boiling excitement, as if everyone felt they had won the lottery.
She put down her phone, walked back to the window, pulled back the curtains, and looked downstairs.
Under the streetlights, the groups of people were still talking and laughing. One young man even took out his phone and played some cheerful music, and a few people next to him swayed and hummed along to the rhythm.
She stood by the window for a while, and couldn't help but smile slightly. Today was indeed a day worth celebrating.
The next morning, just as dawn was breaking, Xu Xiaoyan woke up. She turned over, reached for her phone, and glanced at the time; it was a little past six.
She decisively threw off the covers and sat up; she had important business to attend to today.
Xiao Wang and Xiao Lin confirmed with her when they finished work yesterday that everything would be finished by tomorrow afternoon, at which point the whole house would be ready for occupancy.
Now that she has a house and has moved in, the next thing to think about is the plot of land in the yard, which is nearly 300 square meters.
When she was choosing the house type, she deliberately left a large open space, thinking that she could plant something in the yard in the future.
But when she went to see it in person that day, she noticed that the soil in the yard was quite poor. The yellowish-brown soil was exposed on the surface and felt hard when stepped on, clearly lacking nutrients.
Planting things in such soil, let alone bearing fruit, is a problem even if the seedlings can sprout.
Fortunately, she had already come up with a solution: the humus in the mountains and forests is the best natural fertilizer.
Year after year, fallen branches and leaves accumulate and rot, eventually forming a thick layer of dark brown soil.
It is rich in organic matter and microorganisms, and can greatly improve soil quality when mixed into ordinary garden soil.
Outside the north gate of Satellite City No. 5 lies a continuous mountain range. The weather was nice today, so she decided to go up the mountain early to dig up some humus.
Xu Xiaoyan ate five simple cabbage and pork dumplings for breakfast.
Then he changed into a set of durable clothes: a dark gray long-sleeved work shirt, black work pants, and a pair of thick-soled hiking boots.
Then he took out a woven bag, work gloves, and a folding entrenching tool from his storage space, stuffed them into his backpack, slung the bag over his shoulder, and went out.
When I came out of the guesthouse, there weren't many people on the street yet; only a few early risers were taking a walk on the main road.
She walked north along the main road. The further north she went, the fewer people she was around. The buildings on both sides of the road gradually became sparser, and the streets became more and more empty.
After walking for about forty minutes, there were hardly any pedestrians left on the road.
This phenomenon is not surprising, as the south gate of Satellite City No. 5 is closer to the main urban area of Qing City.
The vast majority of the migrant population came from that side, so the flow of people, shops, and living facilities are concentrated in the southern half of the city.
The north gate is surrounded by desolate mountains and undeveloped wasteland. Apart from a very few people with special needs, who would go in this direction for no reason?
After walking for about half an hour, she finally saw the North Gate, which was simpler than the South Gate and had fewer fancy decorations.
It's a grayish-white concrete structure with a thick steel beam across the top, bearing the words "North Gate of Satellite City No. 5" in red.
Four soldiers stood at the entrance, dressed in neat military green uniforms, with duty equipment clipped to their waists. They stood ramrod straight, their eyes warily fixed on the direction of entry and exit.
A metal security gate, similar to the one Xu Xiaoyan passed through when entering the city, was installed in the passageway in the very center of the city gate.
There should be identity verification and security checks for people entering.
But the path leading outwards is much wider, with no security checks or personnel blocking the way; it's an unobstructed passage leading directly to the open wilderness outside the gate.
Xu Xiaoyan understood the principle of "strict entry, lenient exit" and walked towards the exit without hesitation.
The four soldiers glanced at her but did not stop her or even ask her any questions.
She strode out of the city gate, her feet stepping on a simple path of gravel and mud, where the cement road had turned into a rough road.
After walking a few dozen steps further, the gravel path disappeared, replaced by soft, damp grass.
Looking back at the north gate behind him, the figures of the four soldiers had shrunk to four small gray-green dots.
Xu Xiaoyan withdrew her gaze, no longer looking back, and strode towards the continuous mountain range ahead.
After exiting from the north gate, she walked along a barely discernible dirt road for about ten minutes until she reached the edge of the mountain.
Looking up, the mountain is not very high, and its slope rises gently without being steep.
The vegetation consists mainly of low shrubs and wild grasses, with a few crooked pine trees scattered about, their canopies not very dense.
She squatted down and pressed the soil around her feet with her palm. The yellowish-brown surface soil was dry, and it took a lot of effort to dig a small hole with her fingers.
The soil was very sticky, clearly not the loose, humus-rich soil she was looking for.
"I still have to climb a bit higher," Xu Xiaoyan muttered to herself, stood up, dusted off her hands, and began climbing up the hillside.
The road on the hillside was not easy to walk on; there were no steps or paved paths, only dirt roads worn into the ground.
The gravel and loose clods of soil were mixed together, making it easy to slip when stepping on them.
She slowed down, making sure each step was firm before shifting her weight, and occasionally using one hand to grab a tree trunk or a large rock to maintain her balance.
After climbing for about ten minutes, she looked back down and saw that the outline of the North Gate had shrunk to a small gray-white square.
As you continue climbing, the vegetation begins to change.
The low grasses and shrubs gradually increased, and instead of growing in scattered clumps, they covered the hillside in patches.
Vines twined around the tree trunk, and a thick layer of fallen leaves covered the ground, making it soft and spongy to walk on.
The smell in the air has changed, from the initial dry, dusty smell to a wild, mountain scent mixed with the fragrance of grass and trees and the aroma of damp earth.