CH 107

After the Mid-Autumn Festival, Lu Qingjiu started to prepare for winter. The winter in Shuifu Village was harder than he had imagined, and this year's situation didn't look any better than last year's, so it was better to get everything ready for the family early.

The weather had not yet cooled down enough for some foods to be stored, so Lu Qingjiu stocked up on dry goods and other supplies that could be easily preserved, such as oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar and coal, which were sure to be used in everyday life.

The generator Lu Qingjiu wanted to buy was not yet available in the town, so he went to the city and bought one.

Apart from the most important item, the generator, Lu Qingjiu also bought a lot of quilts, bedding and duvets for the family, as well as coal for the kang, which he ordered directly from a coal seller in the town. Lu Qingjiu also bought a number of small items such as candles, batteries, lamps and torches, so that if the generator failed, the family would not be left in the dark.

In the town, Hu Shu saw Lu Qingjiu hauling bags and bags to his home, and it was strange to see all these unusual daily necessities, saying that it was still early in the winter.

Lu Qingjiu said, "That's not true, you should also remember to stock up on food."

Hu Shu said in horror, "Are you serious? Shu immediately became nervous, "It's really the end of the world."

Lu Qingjiu was squatting on the ground choosing duck eggs when he heard Hu Shu's tense tone and said, "What are you so nervous about?"

Hu Shu says: "Of course I'm nervous when it's the end of the world."

Lu Qingjiu said, "Don't you think I'm joking with you?"

Hu Shu: "" he was silent for a moment and asked carefully, "You're really joking with me"

Lu Qingjiu looked helpless. He could only explain the situation in Shuifu Village, saying that he would not be able to come to the town after the snow, so he had to prepare a lot of supplies for the winter, and that there was nothing wrong with saying that it was the end of the world.

Hu Shu was relieved to hear this, and enthusiastically told Lu Qingjiu that if there was anything he could do to help, he should let him know.

Lu Qingjiu waved his hand to indicate that he could go, he hadn't chosen his duck eggs yet.

The best duck eggs for salted duck eggs are sea duck eggs, which have a red oil that bubbles out when chopsticks are inserted, and ordinary duck eggs, which Lu Qingjiu likes, but Bai Yuehu and Yin Xun are both less interested in the mouldy-looking eggs, which is a rare occurrence.

Apart from duck eggs, Lu Qingjiu also bought a lot of dry goods from the town, dried seafood was a must, such as squid, sea cucumber, shrimps and seaweed, and a lot of other things.

Lu Qingjiu spent almost 50,000 to 60,000 on these things, including the better kind of generator, which together with the diesel cost 30,000 yuan. Fortunately, the family is not short of money and their bankbook is looking better because of the increased production of hairspray.

Yin Xun looked at Lu Qingjiu, who was as busy as a small ant on the move, and said, "There are still two months to go before winter, why is he so busy?

Lu Qingjiu said, "Who knows, if winter comes early and they have nothing to prepare, they will freeze to death in Shuifu Village. Yin Xun said it would be fine, but the autumn harvest festival was coming up and asked Lu Qingjiu if he would go.

Lu Qingjiu thought about it and decided not to go, as he had gone last year to get to know the villagers better, but this year he found it strange to be with them as there was no one alive. Yin Xun understood this, so Lu Qingjiu organised his own festival at home when it was almost time for the autumn harvest festival. He bought a large pig's head from the town, brought it home, put incense on it and began to worship Yin Xun, the god of the mountain.

Yin Xun is a little embarrassed by Lu Qingjiu next to him.

Lu Qingjiu brined the pork and ate it, and it tasted very good. Apart from the pigs, he plans to raise two more lambs so that by this time next year, they will be able to eat their own fatty roast lamb.

Zhu Miaomiao wanted to come here for the National Day, but she had to work overtime, so she had to make a tearful appointment for next year. The National Day was the last holiday when we could come to Shuifu Village. By New Year's Day, Shuifu Village was already covered in snow, so people couldn't get out and couldn't get in.

Autumn is a very satisfying time, when the crops and vegetables are ripe and the fruits are hanging on the branches, and the most beautiful of all are the full, round persimmons that grow in the east of the village, tempting people to pick them. Lu Qingjiu found a nice afternoon and went to pick persimmons with Bai Yuehu. The two of them picked two big baskets and Lu Qingjiu wanted to eat as many as he could and use the rest to make persimmon cakes, but when he looked at Bai Yuehu, who was eating the persimmons without even peeling them, he finally gave in and said: " Fox, you can save some, we can make persimmon cakes with the extra."

"Okay." Bai Yuehu agreed, "I'll have a basket."

Lu Qingjiu is now at ease.

The persimmon cakes need to be dried well to make them easier to store and eat, but this year there has been very little rain and the sun has been very good, so they should be fine. Lu Qingjiu has brought forward all the things he was supposed to do in November, buying meat and sausage casings and preparing to start making bacon and bacon. This year he is also planning to make bacon from beef, which is much more flavourful than pork and, importantly, doesn't need to be cooked or steamed to be eaten straight away. The meat is salty and chewy, and it's a great snack while watching TV.

In addition to the bacon, Lu Qingjiu also makes a lot of bacon ribs, which can be kept at home for a long time without worrying about them going bad.

Probably busy for a whole month, transforming

Lu Qingjiu, the hamster, has finally filled their home to the brim, to the point where there is no gap in the fridge freezer. Lu Qingjiu cleaned out the cellar again and planned to buy cabbages to put in the cellar when the temperature dropped a bit more, as last year they bought too little and had to save on food. In addition to cabbage, sweet potatoes are also essential, as they are easy to store and are very good for hunger, but the point is that they are home-grown and taste very good. During the days of harvest, Bai Yuehu would carry several sacks of sweet potatoes to the house, and it was only with great difficulty that all the sweet potatoes were collected from the fields.

All the preparations had been made, but the rest had to wait for the temperature to be more suitable, and in late October Lu Qingjiu was miraculously free.

With nothing else to do, he began to watch television with Yin Xun every day. Bai Yuehu had little interest in such entertainment, preferring to lie in the courtyard in the sun with nothing else on his mind.

"It's boring." Yin Xun slumped back in her chair, "Can't we do something exciting and thrilling?"

Lu Qingjiu glanced at Yin Xun: "What kind of thrilling and exciting activity?"

"I don't know." Yin Xun said, "It's so boring now, if we wait until it snows, we'll be bored to death."

Lu Qingjiu said, "I've prepared quite a few books, do you want to read them?"

"No." Yin Xun refused.

Lu Qingjiu felt that Yin Xun was just plain twitchy and gave him a sidelong glance, "Then let me teach you an activity that will pass the time and make money at the same time."

Yin Xun: "blah blah blah"

Lu Qingjiu said, "You wait."

The next day, Lu Qingjiu went to the town to buy tools and put them in front of Yin Xun and Bai Yuehu. Yin Xun was stunned at the sight of them, but Bai Yuehu did not recognise them and poked the ball of thread and two needles in front of him, saying, "What is this?"

Lu Qingjiu said, "Sweater thread."

"Why did you buy jumper yarn?" Yin Xun said, "Do you know how to knit a jumper?"

Lu Qingjiu says he doesn't know anything about knitting, but that's okay, he also has a book of knitting patterns, and if Yin Xun wants, he can even download tutorials online - in short, there's always more ways than difficulties.

"Look, if you're bored, you can knit a jumper, and when spring starts, you can sell it in town for money." Lu Qingjiu explained in a very understanding way, when in fact he really thought that Yin Xun's idle shit look was very unpleasant.

Yin Xun :""

Feeling insulted by his manhood, Yin Xun forcefully refuses Lu Qingjiu's offer, and Lu Qingjiu doesn't mind, but puts both the needle and the ball of yarn in a prominent place.

On the afternoon of the third day after Yin Xun's refusal, Lu Qingjiu took a long nap and got up from bed in a daze to see Yin Xun hunched over his shoulders doing something, he came closer and found Yin Xun studying the flower colours and immediately tried to put down what he was holding when he heard his footsteps, but it was too late.

"Is there anything you want to say?" Lu Qingjiu asked him.

"It smells so good." Yin Xun said sadly, pinching her jumper needle.

With the colder weather, there is much less to do, no more weeds will regenerate in the yard and there are no more insects to be found. The ground does not need to be sown or watered, and as the temperature drops, the whole order of the world seems to gradually freeze.

Winter is also a time when nature rests, I guess, and everything is quiet, even the air smells lazy.

Lu Qingjiu had been waiting for the first snow, which he thought would fall at the end of November, as it did last year, but he never expected it to fall at the beginning of November. Because of the snow, Lu Qingjiu made a trip to town to buy all the vegetables and fruit he needed and hauled them home to keep in the cellar. But the snow was not accompanied by the coming calm, but by another fire.

There was a fire in the city, in a relatively isolated warehouse, and unfortunately there were no casualties. But the fire was different from any other fire, as Zhu Rong is said to have found a trail of dragons at the scene of the fire. At first they thought the traces were only of the candle dragon, but when Bai Yuehu went there, he discovered that they included not only the candle dragon, but also Lu Qingjiu's grandfather, Ao Run.

Yet it is not clear why both of them were in one place at the same time and why they created the fire.

Lu Qingjiu had not heard from his grandfather for a long time, since he had been broken by Zhu Rong, he had disappeared from sight and no one knew where he had gone.

Lu Qingjiu was dressed heavily, but still felt cold.

Zhu Rong came to Shuifu Village before the mountains were closed and gave Lu Qingjiu a large bag of what he said was a very special ginger tea, which Bai Yuehu said was a combination of Zhu Rong's power to warm the body and make Lu Qingjiu's winter less difficult.

Lu Qingjiu huddled in a ball, breathing white: "The snow has come down early."

Bai Yuehu said, "Well, it's quite early."

Lu Qingjiu said, "I haven't eaten the lamb yet this year, but it's okay, I have a lot in the fridge, it's just not as good as the fresh ones."

Bai Yuehu said, "It's okay, I like it all."

The first snowfall was not too heavy and the trail was barely passable, so Lu Qingjiu was glad that the first snowfall had only stopped for a day before the second one came down.

The snow was so heavy that it drifted like a curtain, enveloping the whole world, and you couldn't even see anyone more than five metres away from you. As the snow fell, Shuifu Village fell into an eerie silence, with not a single villager to be seen outside. Lu Qingjiu was curious as to where the villagers had gone, so he brazenly climbed over the fence into Li Xiaoyu's house next door to see what they were doing in winter.

Lu Qingjiu had a hard time climbing over because he was dressed too thickly, but he fell into the snow, leaving a full buttock mark in the snow. There was no light in the house.

"Lu Qingjiu shouted twice, but naturally no one answered, so he reached out and pushed the door, only to find that the door to Li Xiaoyu's house was unlocked and he had pushed it open.

Yin Xun, who was standing by the fence and watching, asked, "Is there anyone in the house?"

Lu Qingjiu said, "No one is there, only his door was left open."

Yin Xun said, "You want to go in and see it?"

Lu Qingjiu said, "I don't think anything will happen." Bai Yuehu was still at home, but he had no interest in getting involved in Lu Qingjiu's idle behavior, just like Yin Xun, so he sat in the courtyard with a handful of fried melon seeds and watched Yin Xun and Lu Qingjiu fool around.

"I'm going in." Lu Qingjiu summoned up his courage.

He pushed the door open and saw that the house was dimly lit and did not look like it was occupied. The electricity had not yet gone out in the village, so Lu Qingjiu reached the switch on the wall next to him and turned it on, and the house was enveloped in a warm light.

Lu Qingjiu thought that Li Xiaoyu's family had just disappeared, until he reached the bedroom and looked inside, and was taken aback by the scene in the bedroom. There were several people lying upright on the bed in the bedroom, wearing thin autumn clothes and not covered with anything to protect them from the cold. It seems that the villagers of Shuifu Village do not disappear in the winter, but lie in bed for the winter until the warm spring breeze melts the cold snow and they get up.

Lu Qingjiu, seeing this scene, turned away and hurriedly climbed back over the fence to his house.

Yin Xun says: "What do you see?"

Lu Qingjiu rubbed his red, frozen hands and described the situation in the house.

Yin Xun was a bit uncomfortable, saying that they would just lie in the house for the winter

"Well." Lu Qingjiu said. Lu Qingjiu said, "No wonder the whole village is so quiet in winter, I thought last year that everyone was afraid of the cold and didn't want to go out. After rubbing it slowly, Lu Qingjiu's hand soon regained its warmth.

"Had enough of playing," Bai Yuehu asked.

"That's enough." Lu Qingjiu replied dutifully.

"Go back to the house when you've had enough." Bai Yuehu said, "It's too cold outside and it's going to snow again later."

Lu Qingjiu responded, but didn't move his feet. He was worried that if it snowed again, he might not even be able to leave the door, so he might as well stand outside for a while to get some fresh air while the temperature was still okay. Lu Qingjiu was startled by Bai Yuehu's action and said, "No, no, I'll go alone."

Bai Yuehu didn't listen at all and carried Lu Qingjiu into the house, closing the door with one hand.

Yin Xun stood outside the door, feeling really cold, even if his body was cold, Bai Yuehu and Lu Qingjiu had to feed him dog food, making his fragile heart cold.

After being carried into the house, Lu Qingjiu was stuffed with a huge bowl of ginger soup by Bai Yuehu, and under Bai Yuehu's glare, Lu Qingjiu had to drink it all. Although Bai Yuehu is usually quite indifferent to everything, he is not at all sloppy when it comes to Lu Qingjiu's health.

Lu Qingjiu's body warmed up quickly and a blush rose to his cheeks as he put the bowl down and said, "When will this winter ever end?" To be honest, the thought of having to spend most of his time in the house for a whole few months made him feel uncomfortable all over.

Bai Yuehu said, "This winter is going to be a bit long."

Lu Qingjiu sighs.

Bai Yuehu said, "But I will always be with you."

Lu Qingjiu couldn't help but laugh at his words, just as Yin Xun came in from outside the house, and he casually said, "Oh, the child is already so old, and you're still talking about this, shame on you."

Yin Xun: ""Are you two finished?

The generator they bought soon came in handy and within days of the snow falling, the public power supply to their place was cut off. Along with the public power supply, the TV signal and internet connection collapsed and in less than a month they were completely isolated from the world.

Yin Xun was the one who found his interest, knitting a jumper with great interest and even taking out a soft ruler to measure Lu Qingjiu's height to knit him a jumper.

Lu Qingjiu has mixed feelings, saying that knitting is so much fun

"Do you want to try it," Yin Xun says, "it's really addictive."

Lu Qingjiu: "Try"

Yin Xun: "Come, come, I'll teach you, start like this"

Bai Yuehu sitting next to me: ""Is it really fun?

When Zhu Rong came to Shuifu Village one day to look for Bai Yuehu on some business, he knocked on the door and no one answered, so he came straight in and saw three big men sitting on the bed with their heads down, happily knitting a jumper. They looked up at the sound of their voices, and all three pairs of eyes fell on Zhu Rong at the same time.

"Excuse me," Zhu Rong said, not knowing what to say.

Lu Qingjiu silently put down the jumper in his hand, he was trying to knit a pair of ear cuffs for Bai Yuehu's furry ears these days, and was in the middle of knitting them, so he could only pretend that nothing had happened and said, "No, no, just say what you want."

Zhu Rong was silent for a moment: "It's not a big deal."

Bai Yuehu continued when he heard that it was no big deal and focused on the jumper needle in front of him, he intended to knit a jumper for Lu Qingjiu, the family's money was all earned by Lu Qingjiu, he usually only brought back some fresh food, there was nothing he could give Lu Qingjiu, now he suddenly found himself with a special gift for his lover, he was happy. He was so happy to find a special gift for his lover that it didn't matter what Zhu Rong had come for.

The room was quiet for a few moments and the atmosphere became more and more awkward, but finally Lu Qingjiu couldn't take it anymore and got up with an awkward smile and asked Zhu Rong if he wanted to have lunch before he left, which he was planning to do.

Zhu Rong thought about it and actually agreed to it.

Bai Yuehu was not happy to hear that Zhu Rong wanted to have lunch here, but Zhu Rong had been invited by Lu Qingjiu, so he could not just kick him out, so he looked at him with an unkind eye. Zhu Rong had long been used to Bai Yuehu's food protection, so he didn't care at all, and even sat down next to Lu Qingjiu naturally.

"Let's have pork and vermicelli stew today." Lu Qingjiu calculates the recipe, "And a cold one with shredded seaweed and fried bacon."

Zhu Rong said, "Whatever you want, make it as easy as you like."

"Then you can talk, Yin Xun, come and give me a hand." Lu Qingjiu called on Yin Xun, leaving Bai Yuehu and Zhu Rong alone in the room.

"You like life in the human world," Zhu Rong asked after Lu Qingjiu had left.

"You don't like it," Bai Yuehu asks rhetorically.

Zhu Rong smiled as he said, "Naturally, I like it." Or else he wouldn't have worked so hard to keep it all together.

"What's wrong." Bai Yuehu asked.

Zhu Rong sighed, a little tired between his eyebrows, and said, "It's nothing serious."

Bai Yuehu frowned slightly, not believing Zhu Rong's answer, but Zhu Rong was not going to go on, and the two were silent until Lu Qingjiu came in and said that the meal was ready, breaking the silence.

"I'm happy to see you like this." Zhu Rong concluded, "How wonderful it would be if all dragons, like you, could meet the right person."

It's just a shame that miracles wouldn't be miracles if they kept happening.

What the author has to say: Bai Yuehu: This is our token of affection

Lu Qingjiu took the jumper and went to change into it with mixed feelings.