The temperature in Beijing was getting lower in late November, and Jianshu had already put on thick cotton clothes and trousers.

On a rare day off, Jianshu struggled out of bed, put on his clothes, had a simple breakfast, and prepared to go out.

After locking the door, Jianshu walked slowly towards the grain and oil store with a basket on his back.

Looking at the deserted alley, Jianshu felt a little emotional.

She still remembered that every time she went out, she would see a group of old men and women sitting together in the alley, busy knitting sweaters and making shoes, and chatting about the gossip of the neighbors.

Whenever I see Jianshu, I greet her enthusiastically, and she responds with a smile.

But such a scene has not been seen in recent times.

I don’t know if it’s because the weather is getting colder, or because everyone is still scared by what happened in the Li family last time, but they all stay at home obediently.

And now the doors of every household are no longer open like before, but are tightly closed.

When Jianshu first moved here, he still kept the habits of his previous life and kept the door closed.

Later, after a long time, I learned from everyone else and kept the door open whenever I stayed at home.

Alas, I don’t know when the atmosphere will return to what it was before. Jianshu feels a little uncomfortable.

The weather was too cold, and the gusts of biting wind felt like knives scraping against my face. The big trees on the roadside were dancing wildly in the wind, and their branches were whipping in the air like whips.

In such weather, Jianshu would never dare to ride a bicycle out, otherwise he would fall after just two steps.

Even when she goes to work, she walks most of the time because safety is the most important thing.

After struggling forward in the cold wind, it took Jianshu longer than usual to finally reach the nearest grain and oil store.

The month is about to end, but she has not used up all the food coupons in her hand. Those food coupons have a time limit and are valid for one month. They will become invalid after the expiration date.

In order to avoid wasting expired coupons, she had to get up with her tenacious willpower and go to the grain and oil store to use up all the grain and oil coupons that were due to expire at the end of the month.

There weren't many people outside the grain store today, so Jianshu walked to the end of the line and started queuing.

Looking at the crowd in front of her, she felt very emotional. This time was good, there weren't many people, and it would be her turn soon.

The reason she thought so was because she still remembered vividly the experience of queuing to buy food a month ago.

I still remember that it was Aunt Chen who came to see her in the evening and asked her to go to the grain and oil store to buy sweet potatoes the next day.

At that time, Jianshu didn't know what sweet potatoes were. Seeing Aunt Chen's happy expression and thinking that the next day was the weekend anyway, he agreed.

When the lady came to ask her to line up in the early morning, she regretted it. It was too early and she was so sleepy.

Unexpectedly, when I told Aunt Chen about it, she said it was not early and if I went too late I might not be able to buy it.

When I got there, I saw that there were already hundreds of people queuing up in front of me. Did they all start queuing yesterday?

After waiting for a long time, the line behind him became longer and longer, and when there was no end in sight, Jianshu saw a large truck with a trailer pulling the goods over.

At this time, employees of the grain store had already arrived, and a group of people were unloading the goods, while others were maintaining order.

After all the sweet potatoes are unloaded from the truck, it is time to officially sell them.

Jianshu and Auntie Chen were at the front of the line, so it was their turn soon.

When she got closer, Jianshu realized that the sweet potato was actually the red potato, which she called "tiao" in her hometown.

She learned from Aunt Chen that during the three-year natural disaster, every household had to calculate their food supplies, but even then, there was no guarantee they would have enough to eat until the end of the month.

So, in those days, sweet potatoes became a lifesaver. One kilogram of food coupons could buy five kilograms of sweet potatoes. Five kilograms of sweet potatoes was much more than one kilogram of grain, and they were especially precious when food was scarce.

Every household wanted to buy sweet potatoes. Whenever they heard that sweet potatoes would be available the next day, people would get up in the middle of the night to line up, for fear that they would not be able to buy them if they were too late.

Although the situation is not as difficult as it was back then, people who have experienced those days still rush to buy sweet potatoes when they are sold. This has become a habit.

Anyway, there is no way it will be wasted. Apart from anything else, boiled sweet potatoes are loved by both adults and children.

However, the supply of sweet potatoes is limited. You can't buy as much as you want. One person can only buy two or three kilograms of food coupons.

Jianshu used her food coupons, food vouchers and some money to buy ten kilograms of food. She was not short of food, but since she was already here, she couldn't make a wasted trip. That would be a shame for her waiting in line for so long, so she had to buy something to take back.

On the way back, she smelled the aroma of boiled sweet potatoes from many people's homes nearby. She was so greedy that she went back to learn how to make it from Aunt Chen.

Jianshu, who was queuing in front of the grain store again this time, was very glad that there were not many people in front of her, otherwise she would have been blown silly by the wind.

The line moved quickly, and Jianshu bought the remaining supplies and left the store.

On the way back, I passed by Jianshu in the department store and went to the place where non-staple food was sold and bought all the remaining non-staple food supplies.

After returning home with a full load, Jianshu touched his face and felt nothing. Then he suddenly realized that his hands and face were frozen, cold and without any temperature. How could he feel anything?

But my face is stiff after going out. I forgot about it when I went out today. Next time I must wear a scarf.

When the weather is cold, you want to eat something hot, and mutton is a good tonic in winter, so she decided to have carrot stewed with mutton for lunch.

Jianshu entered the space. This dish has a strong smell. She would not stew it in the kitchen outside. Now she makes things with strong smells in the space.

Stewing mutton is quite time-consuming, so Jianshu stewed it in advance and then left it alone.

After the weather got cold, she basically seldom went out, and even her visits to the Zhao family became much less frequent.

Zhao Mingze told her that she only needed to visit him once every two weeks, and he would check her progress and teach her some new moves.

Since he didn't need to go to Zhao's house today, Jianshu practiced boxing in his own space.

After more than a month of exercise, combined with the function of the spiritual spring water, Jianshu has clearly felt that his physical fitness has improved a lot.

I can really feel my own progress, which makes me more motivated and interested in practicing Jianshu.

She is not one who likes to give up, but if she doesn't feel any progress for a long time, she will lose the motivation to continue.

An hour later, Jianshu stopped, went to the kitchen, and put carrots into the pot to stew with the mutton.

The climate inside the space was adaptable and not as cold as outside. After exercising, she was sweating all over and felt sticky, which was really uncomfortable.

I took a shower and changed my clothes. When I came out, the mutton in the kitchen was already stewed.

Jianshu took out the mutton and put it in the electric hot pot, brought it to the dining table, and plugged it in.

I took out the firewood rice that I had cooked before. The steaming hot carrot stewed with lamb was paired with rice with rice crust. The taste was really amazing.