Chapter 254 Reinforcement

Zhao Yeqing stood under the air conditioner vent and the 26-degree wind blew on his face.

It was so touching that I almost cried.

Mu Xi smiled and pulled her to the bed, "Don't catch a cold standing there for a while, go to sleep."

It can only be turned on for ten minutes at 26 degrees, and then it needs to be adjusted to around 30 degrees and set for an hour to avoid too much temperature difference.

Zhao Yeqing had a very satisfying sleep and was not awakened by the heat until seven in the morning. He slept for a full nine hours.

This was the deep sleep I hadn't had since the temperature reached 40 degrees.

The sun had already risen when he got up. Mu Xi got up early to make breakfast. While eating, Zhao Yeqing suddenly said, "I think we need to make some plans to reinforce a few houses before winter. The weather is getting worse and worse."

Mu Xi also had this idea.

"I was thinking I'd talk to you about this after I got the hay in today, especially the hay room. The temperatures have been so extreme this summer, and if the winter is just as extreme, I'm afraid the original wooden structure won't hold up."

The coldest temperature last winter was over 40 degrees below zero. If it gets over 50 degrees this year, I don’t know how we can get through it.

Even if there was a fireplace in the house, it might not be enough. They could gather around the fire to spend the winter, but there were so many animals in the house.

Zhao Yeqing finished the last bite of cold noodles and said:

"Then build another basement and install an exhaust fan in it, and move the cattle, sheep, pheasants, and other animals down there. Although there is less sunlight in winter, there is still electricity. You don't need to open the refrigerator, and there should be enough electricity to put in an exhaust fan and light bulbs."

The temperature underground is always warmer than that on the ground. We can build two more natural ventilation holes and add an exhaust fan, light a charcoal fire or burn firewood inside. The animals themselves have good ability to resist the cold, so they should be able to survive.

But if so many animals live in the basement, it would be hard to dig.

It seems that Zhao Yeqing's previous plan must be implemented. He will kill one sheep first, and then kill two more when the weather gets cold, leaving only enough for reproduction, and he can also dig less area.

As they were talking, they suddenly remembered something.

This sheep had already shown signs of movement when spring came, which was around February. This period should have been the time for birth.

After breakfast, the two walked into the sheep pen. They had isolated the ewe some time ago because they saw her belly getting bigger. However, it was too hot and too busy, so they didn't think about the specific time of the expected birth.

Zhao Yeqing put the ice basin on the ground, intending to feed the ewe that was about to give birth more refined grains.

Mu Xi also prepared drinks for the sheep. He did not have the conditions or experience last year, but later he read more notes and books and learned a lot. After the summer came, he picked a lot of motherwort and kept it, waiting to boil water for the sheep to drink before giving birth, which could help them recover after childbirth.

Motherwort is used fresh in spring. In summer, its stems and leaves will become lush, and the ones picked at this time are suitable for dried use.

Mu Xi harvested two baskets of vegetables, cut them into pieces, dried them, and took out half a pound to boil water.

There are only two pregnant ewes at home this time, so half a pound of motherwort is enough.

The sheep are being fed with delicious food and drinks and are growing very fast. The sheep that were born last year are now as big as adult sheep.

Wool grows fast. Zhao Yeqing touched the wool on the ewe and estimated that the time for shaving would be shortened. He would shave the ewe after she was out of confinement.

If the weather wasn't so hot, the sheep would have grown even faster.

There was also an ice basin in the cowshed. When the weather started to get hot, Zhao Yeqing was reluctant to go into the shed. There were more flies in the cowshed than in the sheepfold. He tried every way to get rid of the insects, but there were still some.

Maybe it's too hot now, so there are not so many flies.

The two of them will not come to milk the cow now. They have to give the cow enough rest and nutrition to prepare for the next "spring".

Zhao Yeqing estimated that he would not be able to wait until spring, and would be done when the weather got cooler.

Of all the animals, Xiaohong is the most difficult to deal with.

Raising horses requires a lot of meticulousness, and now the conditions are so harsh that we never run out of ice basins in the stable. We always put at least two or three in a day.

The entire freezer of the refrigerator is now filled with nothing but ice.

I don’t even know where to put the sheep after I kill it.

Zhao Yeqing thought of the several huge four-door freezers with a capacity of more than 900L in the hotels in the tourist area. It would be great if he could move one back and fill them with ice.

But this idea is just a random thought. The power of that thing is too high. It consumes three or four kilowatt-hours of electricity to run for an hour.

It’s already good enough that these two small solar panels can support these small appliances in the house.

When the sun sets in the afternoon, the two set out to collect all the hay.

The temperature is over 40 degrees now, but at least it's not too sunny, so I can still do some work.

Xiaohong hasn't been out for a long time. The hay is light, so it won't get heatstroke if you let it out to pull a few times.

It is definitely impossible to finish mowing the field in one day, and even if it could be done, the horse cannot work for so long.

After three days of mowing, just when the hay had been collected, the ewes in the sheepfold started to move.

With last year's experience, the two of them handled the situation more easily this year.

The delivery went smoothly and there were five lambs in total.

Mu Xi stayed to deal with postpartum matters, and Zhao Yeqing returned to the room to plan the reinforcement design of the new basement and several wooden houses.

The safest and most convenient way is to directly build a layer of cement red bricks on the outside.

However, there is only about half a meter of space in the middle of the rooms for people to pass through. If a wall is added in the middle, people can only walk from both sides to go to the backyard.

Unless the original wooden structure walls are demolished and rebuilt, that would be too much trouble.

She wrote down all the plans that were slightly reliable. She thought the most appropriate method was to directly add a layer of red bricks and cement, so she drew the blueprint first.

When Mu Xi came in after finishing his work, he saw her frowning brows, so he reached out and poked them, loosening the knotted brows. "Don't frown like an old lady. If you have any problems, tell me and we can solve them together."

Zhao Yeqing was struggling with his thoughts, and after hearing what he said, he was too lazy to refute him. He sighed and told all the problems, "The rooms are so big, and people go back and forth frequently in the front and back yards. If they are all sealed, it will be too troublesome to go around in a big circle."

The weather is hot now, and the water source that was used to divert water to the fields was already quite large, but it has gradually dried up in the past few days. Even the water in the fish pond has to be replenished with water from the well, and it is too troublesome to go back and forth.

Mu Xi's idea was even simpler and cruder.

"Now that we don't even have to buy land, there's no need to think too much about it. My idea is to use a large red brick structure to surround the rooms, and put up pillars at half-meter intervals in the middle. If there's not enough space, we can expand outwards. If there's enough time, I'd also like to build an enclosed passage in the backyard."

She was stunned, "What aisle?"