Chapter 2 Week 1: Supermarket life and death battle

There is a proverb: "The distance between civilization and barbarism is only a few meals". The city's food reserves are actually far lower than imagined.If you peel off the gorgeous and high-end commercial packaging, you will find that in terms of basic survival needs, the city is a terrible fat pig that does not know how to support itself and only consumes a lot. After the "Great Shutdown" on July 22, 201X, the packaging in Hong Kong began to dissolve. Aiqun is not an economics or sociologist, but she noticed the crisis earlier than many people because she is a housewife who deals with food, oil and food every day.When most people complained about things like no air-conditioning during a power outage, no water to take a shower, no access to work by MTR, no communication network, etc., Aiqun was worried about food and drink on the first day.

——A single mother, who supports herself and a pair of daughters on thousands of dollars a month, every meal is an imminent difficulty, and she is extremely sensitive to this crisis. Few people usually feel lucky that they live in Sham Shui Po, but this kind of old district is the only one that has not been completely conquered by the chain stores of large groups, and there are still some small neighborhood shops with bunk beds and upper floors. After the "big shutdown", no one opened the supermarkets in the area, but there were small shops selling food and daily necessities. Prices were quickly coaxed up.Aiqun didn't have much money left, and couldn't go to the tea restaurant in Tsuen Wan to work, so she snapped up a dozen loaves of white bread, a bunch of canned food and bottled water at several times the usual price.

——I don’t eat it, but my daughter has to eat it. Two days later, even the small shop was closed.The shopkeepers feel that something is wrong.The market shows no signs of recovery. Two days later, some people began to take the stored food and water to the street for speculation, and the price was several times higher, and some people were still interested.Aiqun felt chilled seeing this. ——I don't know if it's a psychological effect, or it's really not enough to eat. She feels that the eyes of people on the street have changed: a bit like a dog. Ai Qun passed by the electrical stall on Apliu Street and saw a crowd of people surrounding it.The shop owner found a diesel generator somewhere and connected it to the TV.Everyone was nervous to see if there was a government broadcast.

The brilliance of the screen set off an uproar of excitement.But no matter how the owner adjusts it, it is still snowflakes.He also connected the satellite dish to see if he could receive foreign reports, but none of the hundreds of Asian channels was connected. "Strange..." A middle-aged man in military uniform said in the crowd, "It seems that someone has jammed the satellite signal!" Aiqun didn't know what "jam" was, and the expressions of the people around her became more panicked. . "I heard that some people have been to the Government House and the Government Headquarters in person, but they are all empty..." "Who did you listen to? There is no phone, do you know what is going on on Hong Kong Island?..." "Where is the PLA barracks?... ..."

Everyone was chattering, Aiqun didn't fully understand, but he also understood how serious things had become: no one knew how long it would take for this big stop to be fixed, or if it would be fixed.Because no one who has made up his mind has come out to tell everyone what happened. The unknown is the scariest thing. Aiqun tightly held the wallet with only a few hundred dollars left, and continued to look for places to sell food on the street, constantly disappointed.She shuddered at the thought of only half a loaf of bread left in the house.Having been in Hong Kong for less than two years, she couldn't find anyone to help her—the only person she knew in Hong Kong was her husband who had run away.

——Isn’t this Hong Kong, the safest city in China?Will starve to death?Then why should I come down? Aiqun did not give up, and walked all the way to Cheung Sha Wan, looking for each street.Tired, hungry and thirsty, she had no choice but to go back in frustration after eleven o'clock in the evening, worried about her daughter. There was a large group of people booing in front.Many people were desperately walking towards the street ahead with shopping bags in their hands.Aiqun remembered: ahead, there is a "Parknya". She naturally followed the crowd and ran over. The crowd outside the gate of "Bai Jia" surrounded a middle-aged man.The man's white shirt was ripped to pieces, and his bloody face was terrified.Beside him was a handcart left on the ground.

He is the manager of this "Parknya" store. He wanted to sneak in to get food in the middle of the night, but he was recognized by the neighbors who had been guarding the supermarket all day. "Open the gates quickly! We want to buy something!" The crowd roared angrily. "Selfish! We have to eat too!" The manager couldn't resist the anger that seemed to tear him apart, so he unlocked the lock with a trembling hand and pressed the code for the gate.The electric gate was not raised a foot, and the people in the front row had already lowered their bodies and rushed in.Aiqun desperately squeezed in with the people, her body was suffocated.But when I think of my daughter who is starving at home, I feel abnormal strength.

After finally squeezing in, as long as she saw something edible and drinkable in her eyes, she desperately grabbed it and hugged it in her arms.In just a few minutes, both arms were covered with bloodstains from other people's fingernails. Seeing that there was nothing left to get, Aiqun hugged the food and began to squeeze towards the exit, while taking out banknotes.Many people are like her, holding things in one hand and money in the other, shouting anxiously: "I want to buy these! Collect the money!" This is a very strange reaction.They all forgot, there was no cashier at all.

Ai Qun felt something heavy pressing on her feet.She looked down. She's a bloody woman. Before Aiqun realized what was going on, there was a heavy sound, and she felt something violently exploded on her right forehead.There was a bright light in front of my eyes.The light fades.She vaguely saw a man in military uniform in front of him, holding a plastic bag with canned food in his hand.The bag was stained with blood clinging to the hair. Aiqun loses consciousness and falls.The food she was holding fell into the arms of others within seconds. More people fell down one after another. Banknotes slipped from people's hands and scattered all over the ground.No one picked it up.

The rationality and restraint of Hong Kong people are indeed very rare: it took almost a week after a city was completely "shut down" before the citizens really went into panic and riots.Hong Kong people will be proud of this after this incident is over. ——If, after the incident, there are still "Hong Kong people".