Our neighborhood has been transported again.

Chapter 37 The Horned Eagle's Small Backpack
Qin Ziwen usually leaves early and returns late, so he doesn't have much contact with his upstairs and downstairs neighbors.

I took the opportunity to meet him today.

Upstairs lived a middle-aged couple. The man had short hair and was slightly overweight, while his wife, wearing glasses, had a refined appearance. Behind the man, a little girl clung to him, peeking out timidly at the scene below.

Perhaps Qin Ziwen's tone was too harsh when he spoke to his younger brother, because after making eye contact with him, the little girl fearfully hid her head behind her father's clothes.

Downstairs was a man of medium build with gray hair, next to his son. His son was about the same height as him, with a youthful face, like a high school student. After making eye contact with Qin Ziwen, his gaze was somewhat unfocused.

The door to room 501 was tightly shut, and there was no sound from the room across the street.

The downstairs neighbor then took his son home; judging from the sound of the door closing, it should be 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, "There aren't many left."

The man lowered his voice and 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 give in exchange?"

The man asked hopefully, "Do you need some toilet paper? I also have some commonly used medicines at home, such as cold medicine, anti-inflammatory drugs, and Yunnan Baiyao, any of those will do."

Qin Ziwen didn't understand: "Can't you trade these things downstairs? Medicines like these are considered hard currency."

The man smiled wryly: "It's a hard currency, but it's not a necessity for healthy people. Not many people ask about it, but the prices are outrageous. Many people think that a cold is a minor illness, that they can just tough it out for a couple of days and drink some hot water, and that many people have some spare medicine at home."

Qin Ziwen glanced at him, "My price won't be high either."

The fat man forced a smile: "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, "There's a mercury thermometer."

"Two more boxes of cold medicine and two more boxes of anti-inflammatory medicine, how long are they left?"

The man said, "It still has at least a year left on the shelf life."

"Three catties of meat."

The man upstairs's smile became forced.

His wife's expression changed slightly; the price was below his expectations.

Although fresh meat is a rare commodity in our neighborhood now, it's not impossible to obtain with a little effort.

After all, there is a river nearby where you can fish, catch crabs and shrimp, and if you're lucky, you can even find snakes and eels in the crevices of the rocks. There are field mice and insects in the grass around the neighborhood, and some of the bolder ones even team up to set traps and hunt in more distant places.

Moreover, as long as you can overcome your inner hurdle, many cooked insects are also a source of high-quality protein.

The real difficulty is that the community has a large population. With so many people, the average amount of meat that each person gets to eat is very little.

The couple did try to find food outside, but their ten-year-old child was growing and had a big appetite, and there were also two adults in the family with big appetites. After a few days, they were running out of food and their income was insufficient.

"Could you have more?" He was a husband and a father, and in front of the two people he loved most in his family, the man was almost begging.

The little girl grabbed her father's arm and whispered, "Daddy, I'm not hungry."

Qin Ziwen glanced at the man and said, "Four catties. I don't have much fresh meat left. Xiao Wu, go and get that piece of meat."

Qin Ziwu understood what his elder brother meant. A few days ago, when they hunted the male crocodile leader, the two of them received more than ten kilograms of meat.

After two days of consumption and trading, there's not much fresh meat left, only four or five pounds, but there's still plenty of smoked meat.

Carrying the reddish meat, in front of the family upstairs, I used a scale to weigh out four pounds.

Looking at the four pounds of meat that had been divided up, the man was somewhat dazed. If this were before he time-traveled, buying four pounds of meat at the supermarket would have been easy, and his family would have finished it in two days.

But now, this is the only way to trade. Qin Ziwen said, "You have to eat this meat quickly. It's been more than a day since it was taken off, and it will probably spoil if you don't eat it soon."

The man quickly nodded: "Understood."

After completing the transaction, Qin Ziwen left the medicine and mercury thermometer at home.

These products of modern industry are basically limited editions. Unless you can get them in the daily draw, they are used up one by one. It's not a loss to keep some at home. He had only moved a few days ago and hadn't prepared any medicines or similar items beforehand.

After completing these transactions, Qin Ziwen returned to his bedroom, where the harpy eagle, having finished its fish, was wiping its feathers.

"Brother, are we going to draw a map today?"

"Ah."

Qin Ziwu held up a finger: "I actually have a good idea."

"You said."

Qin Ziwu put his hands in his pockets and said, "Hehe, this eagle can fly, right? Let's hang a camera around its neck, then let it fly around in the sky once, and we'll have video to record."

"Wow, you've actually started thinking! Let me think about it." Qin Ziwen felt that his brother's idea seemed feasible at first glance, and it could greatly reduce his workload and risks, since he wouldn't have to go into the wild himself.

But there are two key points.

First, he didn't have a camera.

2. How to fix the camera to the harpy eagle so it doesn't fall off.

The first point wasn't difficult; Qin Ziwen thought of his cell phone.

You can use your phone to take pictures, since phones are pretty much useless anyway, so it's good to put them to good use.

The second point is how to secure the phone to it so it won't fall off.

Qin Ziwen pondered, "How can I prevent my phone from falling?"

Qin Ziwu, with his wild imagination, suggested, "Why don't we let it carry it?"

Qin Ziwen was speechless: "I think it would be more reliable to have it carry you flying."

Qin Ziwu smiled sheepishly; he had only said it casually.

I glanced at the eagle's big claws.

It's long and sharp, so it would be unstable to hold a smooth phone, not to mention that it would face strong air currents and change positions when it's flying in the air.

"Make it a small X-shaped crossbody bag, put the bag on its chest, and leave a small round hole for the phone camera. Hmm, that should work. It would be best to sew it in with a needle and thread."

Qin Ziwen thought it was feasible more and more, but he didn't know how to sew, so he would have to find someone who did.

But it's not difficult. He's not making anything particularly challenging, and he doesn't have strong requirements for aesthetics. As long as the size is right and the materials are sturdy, that's fine.

Then I went upstairs to Deng Guang's house and was pleasantly surprised to learn that his sister-in-law knew a little about needlework and that there were some needles and thread at home.

Qin Ziwen stated 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 existence of the harpy eagle, she did not make a fuss. Instead, she followed Qin Ziwen's instructions and used scissors to cut up jeans and old clothes to sew a small backpack that the harpy eagle could hang on its chest.

"It's done. 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 eagle, which flapped its wings several times in the small living room, but the phone on its chest remained firmly in place.

(End of this chapter)