Chapter 47 Chapter 47 [VIP]

The elderly couple in the house were so frightened that their legs and feet went limp, and they trembled as they called for help.

The huge noise reached the ears of everyone in the building.

Bai Zhuo, who was living upstairs with the old couple, frowned, picked up the Tang sword he used to show off when he was young, and walked out the door.

"You are trying to kill yourself." Bai Laosan's face changed immediately. He is the only child in their family.

"You bastard, this isn't the time for you to act up." His mother, Yi Zhenzhu, quickly ran to her son and tried to wrest the Tang sword from his grasp. But Bai Zhuo held on tightly, refusing to let go. Furious, Yi Zhenzhu slapped his hand. Her blow was a heavy one, a slap that left a mark on the face. But Bai Zhuo's grip tightened even more.

Bai Laosan, who knew his son's character well, suddenly felt his eyes darken. He pointed at his son's head and cursed, "It's okay if you're a jerk normally, but now you're almost a father, and you don't even consider the consequences of your actions?"

Bai Zhuo felt a little sorry for his wife's panicked expression. But he knew that if he wanted to protect his family in the long run, he had to go out today.

"Grandpa Yang and Grandma Zhang have been your colleagues and neighbors for decades. They've watched me grow up. When I was in school, every time you worked overtime, they would call me to eat."

"I can help Uncle Yang and others with other things, but this is a life-threatening matter! You are the only son in our family~" Bai Laosan, a grown man, was so anxious that tears were about to come out.

"If Mom and Dad encounter something and we stay at home and don't go out, then if someone breaks into our house in the future, no one will come out to help." Bai Zhuo slapped his parents' hands away and walked out resolutely.

Having been a thug in his youth and then a security guard, he had some fighting skills, but he also knew that two fists could not defeat four hands. Instead of going downstairs to confront the robbers, he went upstairs and knocked on the doors of other residents in the building. The building was inhabited by coal miners, colleagues and neighbors for decades. Although there were occasional frictions, the human connection was strong. With Bai Zhuo's persuasion, the young and strong men in the building gradually came out.

The men downstairs were probably doing a robbery for the first time. Seeing so many people approaching, they were clearly panicking. They gathered together, hunched over like a pack of rats. The leader, holding a knife, bluffed and threatened everyone to stay out of their way. But after a young man used a slingshot to knock the knife out of his hand, the whole group fell into disarray. The men inside seized the opportunity and defeated them one by one, quickly knocking several men to the ground.

Hearing the shouts outside that could not be stopped by the wind and snow, Bai Zhuo and others decided to take turns to stand guard downstairs.

From that night on, Pandora's box was opened in the town. Almost all the shops on the street were smashed and looted.

People would rob people in broad daylight. If they couldn't steal food, they would steal their warm clothes. As a result, frozen corpses were often seen in the corners of the town.

Initially, the police did their best to maintain order, but now, like cornered rats, people have lost their reverence for anything under the pressure of survival. As officers continue to be seriously injured and die, the police station finally closes down completely. Police officers are human too, with families to protect.

After the police station was closed, the cruelest side of the town was torn open, and everyone struggled to survive in hunger, cold and chaos.

Bai Yuegui sat beside her bed, holding her granddaughter, both wrapped in thick quilts. Her husband sat by the brazier, adding firewood and cooking porridge. The once clean and cozy, rustic-style bedroom had been transformed into a storage room, with the brazier in the center and coal, firewood, and other cooking utensils piled against the walls. Some of the firewood was still fresh, as if it had been chopped recently. The room was filled with smoke, but the windows were only slightly open.

"Okay, it's time to eat!" Guo Dongfang took out the small pot on the firewood. Inside was a pot of white porridge with an egg in it.

Guo Caiwei looked at the eggs in her bowl and sensibly put them to her grandmother's mouth first. Bai Yuegui twisted her face and said in a low voice, "Eggs make me choke. I don't like them. You eat them yourself." As she spoke, she took a sip of the porridge. It was boiling hot. When she swallowed it, the porridge went all the way to her stomach. Bai Yuegui sighed with comfort.

Guo Caiwei was about to get out of bed with the bowl in hand and walk to her grandfather's side. Guo Dongfang saw this and quickly shook his head to stop her, "Don't come down. You're cold now and no one will treat you. We don't need this at home, so just eat it yourself!"

Thanks to their stockpiling during the pandemic and their visits to relatives in the countryside before the snow began, they had enough to eat. But they didn't dare eat. After so much hunger, everyone's nose is as sharp as a dog's, and they can clearly smell even the slightest hint of oil or salt in the house.

Both of them are experienced and wise, how dare they get into trouble for a little greed?

So after that night, they stopped eating anything with a strong smell, and even kept their voices and movements very quiet at home, hoping to be ignored by everyone.

Seeing this, Amber Kuo ate her meal in small mouthfuls while nestling in her grandmother's arms. She is really a very good child. When the epidemic began, she was restricted to her home and could not go out. She never threw a tantrum. She followed her grandmother to do housework and study consciously every day. Now, not only can she not go out, but she also has to live like a mouse every day without making any big noise, and eats some tasteless porridge and paste. All this is very difficult for adults, but the little granddaughter has never complained. Bai Yuegui looked at her granddaughter who was becoming silent and thin day by day, feeling distressed and pity, and her heart was full of torment, not knowing when this day would end.

The whole family would be in a state of panic if there was any disturbance outside. She was always worried about her daughter who was a nurse thousands of miles away. She couldn't sleep all day and all night. In just a few days, her well-maintained hair turned half gray.

Compared to Bai Yuegui's torment in town, Bai He and his family were much happier in the village. They'd occasionally enjoy hot pot and bone soup. Su Xingye was a skilled cook and loved feeding Bai He, making small desserts and snacks every day, which Bai He and his two dogs enjoyed to their heart's content.

"You've been boxing for almost two hours now. Take a break," Su Xing advised, watching Bai He dodging and punching the wooden dummy in the living room. He also carefully removed the roasted chestnuts from the oven. These were wild chestnuts that Grandma Bai had picked in the mountains ahead. They weren't big, but they were very sweet, especially after being grilled over charcoal, making them soft and chewy. Both Bai He and Su Xing loved them.

"Yeah." Bai He stepped back and sat down next to Su Xing. He was wearing a sweater and his body was still steaming. Su Xing also brought him a cotton coat to wear and handed him a cup of hot tea.

Bai He looked at the medical book beside him and asked in surprise, "Where did you get it from?"

"Borrowed from Dr. Huang."

Bai He understood that Dr. Huang's father, who worked at the village clinic, had also been a village doctor. He knew various medicinal herbs and had some knowledge of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Dr. Huang's position as village doctor was also thanks to his father. However, his father died early, leaving him with limited knowledge of Traditional Chinese Medicine. He did learn some basic knowledge of medicine and nursing through organized training, and was able to handle minor ailments and pains in the village. His father's belongings had therefore remained unused.

Su Xingye has been working in the village clinic for the past few months. Doctor Huang knows Su Xingye's abilities. Based on his many connections, and seeing that Su Xingye is interested in traditional Chinese medicine, he generously lent Su Xingye the medical books and case records left by his father.

Bai He and Su Xing were close friends in high school. They visited each other's homes many times and knew each other's family situations very well.

Su Xingye's grandparents were renowned practitioners of Traditional Chinese Medicine. He grew up with them, learning a great deal from them. His grandparents had hoped he would enroll in a Traditional Chinese Medicine university, inheriting their legacy, but Su Xingye decided to pursue a medical degree.

"During the epidemic, medicines were already in short supply across the country. Now that disasters are happening so frequently, perhaps traditional Chinese medicine will play an even greater role in the future," Su Xing also explained.

Bai He nodded in agreement. Subsequent national construction and recovery efforts would be completely impossible. Furthermore, the air in the future seemed to contain a special substance that caused metals to decay extremely quickly, setting human technology back decades. Therefore, local traditional Chinese medicine would indeed play a greater role in the future.

Bai He ran upstairs and brought back a large pile of books and placed them on the table. They were all medical books, but most of them were second-hand. They were all recycled by Bai He from the garbage station.

In order to prevent himself from having too many random thoughts during his illness, Bai He bought himself a lot of books and tried to learn a lot of things.

He also read some Chinese medicine books, hoping to find a cure for his condition, but he soon gave up. Traditional Chinese medicine requires a long period of study and practice, something Bai He couldn't commit to. He subsequently sought treatment from a Chinese medicine practitioner for a year, and while the practice improved his health, it had little effect on his condition. Those books then sat on the shelf, gathering dust. Now that someone is reading them, it wasn't a waste.

The heavy snow isolated the house into an independent little world. The two people didn't say much to each other, but they got along more and more harmoniously, and their feelings continued to heat up.

One night, Bai He woke up and found that the biting cold that could not be eliminated no matter how thick the quilt was or how thick the clothes were had disappeared.

It’s heating up!!

Bai He suddenly realized that the temperature had risen by more than 20 degrees. He turned on the flashlight and shone it on the thermometer on the wall, which read minus 28 degrees Celsius.

Su Xing was also awakened by Bai He's movement. He squinted his eyes and asked dazedly, "What's wrong?"

"It's getting warmer. It's nothing. Just continue sleeping." Bai He pressed the quilt on Su Xingye's shoulders.

After spending so much time together, Bai He and Su Xingye's unfamiliarity with sharing a bed had faded. Now that they were close together, he no longer felt like he was being pricked by needles, unable to sleep all night.

"It's getting warmer." Su Xing's eyes widened, and then he suddenly became awake.