Chapter 59 - 59

Chapter 59 Facing Extreme Cold 3To prepare for the extreme cold, a room was cleared out when supplies were being prepared and filled with many large barrels of drinking water, about 100 barrels in total.Lin Xiuxiu tried her best to use as little water as possible when cooking, while still making sure everyone was full – she really racked her brains.This ensures that everyone can have two full meals a day. The third meal is when everyone gathers together to eat some compressed dry rations, so that they won't get hungry at night.The coal fire in the stove must not be extinguished; everyone must keep an eye on it. If even this little bit of warmth were to disappear, the room would become a giant icebox.If anyone gets too cold, they can lie down on the kang (heated brick bed) for a while until they warm up, then it's the next person's turn.This went on for three days straight; the temperature inside the house only dropped, never rose. Every night, I had to carry two buckets of water to the stove, otherwise we wouldn't be able to use it when it was time to cook.When Su Xiaoyu first started sleeping with Gu Lingxiao, she was still somewhat reserved. However, as the temperature grew colder at night, she eventually had no choice but to curl up in the man's arms to sleep, feeling warm only when he held her tightly in his embrace.Gu Lingxiao didn't think much of it. He felt guilty that his younger brother was so cold and wished he could give him all the warmth he had.Jin Jun is having a tough time. He can only look but not eat. Even after he can be held, he can't do anything else. If he doesn't sleep at night, he gets dark circles under his eyes. So these past few days, he's been trying his best to fall asleep as soon as he closes his eyes.It's a little easier to stop thinking about those messy things.A week passed in the blink of an eye, and the sun still hadn't appeared. Everyone could only tell from the time on their watches that seven days had gone by.More than half of the dumplings and steamed buns in the refrigerator have already been eaten.They couldn't keep eating like this. Before going to bed that night, Lin Xiuxiu took out a piece of meat and put it in a bowl, planning to stew some meat with potatoes for everyone the next day.So that day, the house was filled with the smell of meat, and a group of people gathered around, their eyes fixed on the meat in the pot.Steam was billowing out, and soon the steam rose to the roof.Only then did they realize that the roof was frozen solid, with a thick layer of white frost, which they hadn't noticed before.Jin Jun pulled out a few cans of his secret stash of beer from under his bed, took them out and placed them next to the stove, saying to his brothers,"How can we have meat but no wine? I'll bring out my secret stash, and we'll all take turns drinking it.""Great! You still have some in stock?" Liu Haipicked up the beer and looked at it, not knowing that it was already frozen solid.He definitely had to open it and take a sip; he hadn't dared to drink much water these past few days, and his lips were already chapped.I just drink more water with my meals and try to reduce the number of times I need to go to the toilet.Because of the cold weather, excrement from the toilet can only be collected together and piled up in the corridor. Since it's cold, there's not much of a smell.When the weather gets warmer, the first thing I'll have to clean up is this pile of garbage outside. Just thinking about it gives me a headache.We stewed the meat first, then cooked the rice. There was no other way; we only had one stove, so everyone had to wait patiently.It took another half hour before we were able to eat hot rice.Lin Xiuxiu gave Su Xiaoyu the most meat, which made Jin Jun jealous again. But then he remembered that Jin Jun liked Su Xiaoyu, and that little bit of jealousy disappeared.Once someone is targeted by the boss, they can't escape no matter how hard they try. These days, it doesn't matter if they're male or female; as long as they resolve their personal issues, isn't that fine?Su Xiaoyu was unaware that sleeping in the same bed with Gu Lingxiao these past few days had stirred up such thoughts in the minds of these men.As I was eating rice, I noticed something was wrong; the rice was getting colder and colder.This is a sign that the temperature has dropped again."The temperature seems to have dropped again, and by several degrees at once."The vegetables in the dish solidified at an alarming rate, covered with a layer of white oil.It's something that will happen in a few dozen seconds."My hands are so numb!" Liu Hai felt he couldn't hold the chopsticks anymore and threw them away.With his other hand, he quickly put down the rice bowl.Gu Lingxiao sensed something was wrong and quickly threw a few pieces of coal into the stove to make the fire burn brighter.Then he instructed them, "Stand up and stop eating. Go back to your rooms and move your mattresses to the living room, and move the sofa and chairs from the living room back into your rooms."Upon receiving the instructions, everyone immediately followed them, realizing the seriousness of the situation.First, we moved the sofa and stools back into the room. Then we went back inside to get the mattress. The floor was too cold, and without a mattress, lying on the floor would only make things worse.The living room is small enough to fit only three mattresses. Luckily, there's a small communal pit where everyone can sit and warm up when it gets cold.So everyone ended up living together in the living room, and the doors inside the house were closed to reduce air circulation.After a short period of exercise, everyone was exhausted and could only sit on the mattress, while some lay down and crawled into their sleeping bags.Su Xiaoyu and Lin Xiuxiu busied themselves cooking a large pot of ginger soup, which everyone drank, and only then did they feel warm again.The temperature inside the room dropped noticeably and quickly; the hot ginger soup turned lukewarm in the blink of an eye, which is enough to show how fast the temperature dropped.Many people felt a bit of numbness in their limbs, and their dexterity had noticeably slowed down.Upon discovering this situation, Gu Lingxiaoimmediately said,"When you're sleeping, you can't all be asleep. You have to keep one person awake. If you notice anything wrong, do everything you can to wake them up."Everyone nodded in agreement with the proposal.The temperature remained like this until evening.Lin Xiuxiu noticed that the water was boiling much slower than during the day, so she promptly filled everyone's thermos cups with water.Then I used the remaining water to cook noodles with some braised beef. Since I couldn't slice it, I cut it into pieces and cooked it thoroughly so that each person could have a piece.Let everyone eat slowly; having something to eat is better than having nothing at all.Today, we burned more coal than usual. The temperature around the stove was still bearable, but if we went back to our rooms to sleep now, we might never wake up. Everyone realized the seriousness of the situation.Gone was the playful banter from before. In the extreme cold, Lin Xiuxiu had intended to play a song to liven things up, but the tablet's battery died shortly after she turned it on.Helpless, all I could say was, "How about this, everyone say what they want to say, it's better than just sitting there doing nothing!"The suggestion was well received, and gradually more people started talking about it.Before we knew it, we were talking about something unforgettable for everyone.Jin Jun said, "I killed someone for the first time when I was 17. At that time, I felt utterly hopeless, and my whole mind was buzzing. I felt like I couldn't make it through."Later, Xiao Hai comforted me, telling me that those were bad people, and that we were protecting our country and carrying out missions for the nation, and that those people deserved to die.He even drank with me, and on the way back, the team leader cornered him and made him stand upside down against the wall for three hours.