Chapter 61: Winter is coming
Gong Zhili took the cookbook home, put it aside, and dealt with the potted plants at home first.
The strawberry seedlings need to be repotted, the succulents are placed in the living room, and the potted plants around the house are moved to the former utility room, which is now the small study.
Even though she had no experience of spending winter in the village before, she followed the villagers' example and reinforced the roof structure, reserved space for snow removal, and cleaned the roof gutters to prevent ice from clogging them. At the same time, she and the villagers bought anti-cold sealing strips and installed them in the gaps between doors and windows to prevent cold wind from entering. She also installed anti-cold and windproof panels outside the north-facing main door, hung thick warm curtains, and wrapped the exposed pipes with insulation membranes.
Someone in the village had bought a diesel snowplow, but Gong Zhili thought about it but decided against it—she felt it wouldn't be needed. After all, if she cleared the snow, what would happen if they wanted to come for a winter training sprint? She had to leave something for them to do. So she prepared a lot of snow shovels, snow rakes, and snowmelt.
Not to mention the chicken and duck sheds, she drove new piles and pillars outside to reinforce the overall structure and made a roof with a large slope. The original structure cannot be said to be weak, after all, it has withstood several storms, but the weight of the accumulated snow cannot be underestimated. If it collapsed all at once, the chickens and ducks inside would be wiped out.
Considering that people would need to go to the basement to get things in winter, she also repaired the path to the basement.
Because her home is on a terraced field, she paved all the paths between the terraces with anti-slip ropes made of straw, and installed wooden handrails on one side of the path.
The vegetables in the fields were all harvested. She thought for a moment and called Wu Tiao to ask, "Are you still doing sprint training recently?"
Gojo said briskly, "Do you have any heavy labor to do there?"
Gong Zhili: "Before the ground freezes, we need to plow the fields deeply, clear the grass roots, and cover them with straw. It's incredibly labor-intensive, and time is tight. Do you want to make an appointment this month?"
Gojo Satoru seemed to ask a few questions on the other end of the phone, then replied, "They said they're all going next Saturday, but it's a little too cold in the treehouse. Could you please renovate the treehouse?"
Gong Zhili: "Ah, it turns out that sleeping in the tree house was a bit too much last time."
Gojo Satoru: "Anyway, please, we'll be there next Friday night~"
Gong Zhili didn't have to worry about tilling the land for the time being, but the insulation of the tree house...
She returned home with a heavy look on her face.
Tsu Miki was the first to notice that she seemed to be worried about something. After spending these days together, she was able to ask at the first opportunity: "Sister Zhili, are you worried about something?"
Hearing Tsumiki's question, the children playing in the living room all looked up.
Miya Chiri sat down cross-legged, fiddling with Hisahito's airplane model, and said, "My brothers and sisters are coming to stay this Friday. The tree house is too cold. We need to think of other ways."
It’s not that she couldn’t wrap the outside of the tree house with a few more layers of wood, but considering the cool nature of the tree house in the summer, she had to start from the interior.
However, there is no electrical wiring in the tree house, and windproof oil lamps are still lit!
"How do you think we should keep warm indoors?" Gong Zhili asked. Since she couldn't think of anything at the moment, she decided to listen to the children's ideas.
Yuji immediately raised his hand: "Fix the fireplace like we did in the living room!"
He loves the fireplace at home. He always watches when the stove is lit, and he is even learning how to light it recently.
Mimiko said, "The heater took a long time to repair. There's not enough time."
Nanako: "Hang thick curtains like in our house?"
Gong Zhili: "That's fine. After all, there's no glass inside. Let's install it this time and then hang thick curtains."
This way, the sun shines in during the day and it blocks the wind better than wooden boards at night.
She peeled a piece of tangerine and put it into Nanako's mouth as a reward.
Tsu Miki whispered, "Is it okay to put a sleeping bag in the room?" She got along well with the girls in the village and learned some knowledge about camping.
Gong Zhili's eyes lit up: "Sleeping bag...camping...tent!"
She wouldn't have to sleep in a sleeping bag in the tree house, but having a tent would be both windproof and warm! And she wouldn't need to put a heater or kerosene stove inside - those things would be a bit dangerous in a tree house.
She happily put the remaining half of the mandarin orange into Tsumiki's hands: "It's solved, you are really good, Tsumiki!"
She immediately went out to the village to ask who could help her order a batch of small tents.
At this moment, I am very glad that each bedroom was made spacious when the tree house was built.
The children who stayed at home all stared at the mandarin oranges in Tsu Miki's hand.
Yuji: "Sister Tsu Miki..."
Mimiko: "Sister Tsumiki, I'll trade this mandarin orange with you."
Fushiguro Megumi also raised the mandarin orange in front of her: "I want to exchange with you too."
Tsu Miki refused with a smile: "I'll just eat this."
Before this Friday, Gong Zhili had been busy renovating the tree house, and had asked professionals from the village to install glass and thick curtains.
There were a lot of trivial things this week, so Gong Zhili had less time to chat with her friends. When they met again on Friday, Gong Zhili found that Tianlizi had actually gotten tanned at this time!
"Although you're not much darker, but you're really different from when I saw you last week..." Gong Zhili said, "Did you go tan?"
At that time, few Japanese people would take the initiative to tan themselves. The foreign fashion did not seem to be what Riko liked.
Tenriko was about to burst into tears: "I didn't go to the tanning booth or anything, I got this on the top of the mountain!"
"We've been running up the mountain every morning this week and then doing basic training at the top," Huihara explained.
Even though the autumn sun is less powerful, it's understandable that your skin will turn a slightly tan if you're on the top of a mountain with no shelter.
Holding a lollipop in her mouth, Ieiri Naoko comforted her schoolmate, "You look healthy."
Tenriko practically collapsed in frustration. "Has your skin become healthy-looking?" She grabbed Gong Zhili's hand. "Zhili, do you have any whitening ointment? How can you be so fair even though you work in the fields every day?"
Gong Zhili: "Even though it may seem unfair to you, I really am the type of person who can't get tanned."
However, after being exposed to the sun, her whole body will turn red and she will be easily sunburned.
Riko pouted: "That's great——"
It was already dark, and Gong Zhili led them to the tree house. "It's fitted with glass and thick curtains, and the bedding has just been dried in the sun. Clang clang—if you still feel cold at night, you can set up the tent!"
Everyone in the college following her fell silent.
Gong Zhili: "Huh? Don't you think this idea is genius?"
Ieiri Shoko: "I don't mind. Kuroi didn't come this time, so it's fine for Riko and I to sleep in the same tent."
Riko nodded, she really liked the senior school girl at home.
Miyajiri: "So Nanami and Haibara, Gojo and Geto sleep in the same tent, that's perfect."
The expressions on these four people's faces suddenly became wonderful.
Gong Zhili wondered: "But you two slept in the same room before."
Nanami closed her eyes and said, "The space between a room and a tent is quite different."
That distance is too close.
Gosho was also resistant: "The tent is so small, Wu will definitely squeeze me to the edge of the tent."
Miyajiri: "Then Haibara and Gojo will go together, and Nanami and Geto will go together. It's up to you guys to decide."
Gojo Satoru, who was fiddling with the tent in the room, said: "Don't be bothered so quickly!"
Gong Zhili: "Anyway, I leave it to you!"
Gojo Satoru stood up and said, "Let her get away."
Ieiri Naoko picked up the short Yuhito and said, "It's okay. She left the hostage behind."
The "hostage" Yuji Itadori was very happy: "I want to learn how to set up a tent!"
Gojo Satoru lowered his head: "So you're going to stay and cause more trouble, too, Kei?"
Megumi Fushiguro: "I want to learn too."
Fushiguro Miki: "We will just stand by and watch!"
Nanako and Mimiko were also peeking at the door, and they seemed quite interested in the tent.
Since the children wanted to see, they had no choice but to set up the tent and move the bedding in.
The result is of course -
"Hahaha, it's so warm in here!" Tiger Stick crawled around in the tent, "I want to sleep in a tent too!"
Megumi Fushiguro sat in the tent, touching everything with Itadori, feeling very fresh.
The tent quickly grew into a cluster of children. Ieiri Naoko sat cross-legged in the room, which was much warmer because there were so many people, and asked, "Why are you so anxious to go back?"
Mimiko raised her hand: "Sister is making pineapple buns!"
Gojo Satoru was originally sitting cross-legged on the ground, but he jumped up upon hearing this: "Pineapple bun!"
He pushed open the window and a cool breeze blew in. Geto: "Hey, go out the door!"
When Riko sneezed, Ieiri Nishiko quickly closed the window, thought for a moment, and said to the curious children who came over, "This is not good. Don't learn it."
She looked at the innocent faces of the children and said to Tiantian, "You are a little weak."
The children didn't sneeze when they were suddenly blown by the cold wind, but although this younger generation looked much stronger, he was actually not as healthy as the children living here.
"Perhaps it would be better for Riko to live in the village," Ieiri Shoko said. "Chiri will probably take good care of her."
Geto Summer Oil: "She takes good care of everything."
Riko is excited: "Can I live in the village?"
Considering his future plans, Geto Suguru said regretfully, "It's a pity that at the moment, Riko, you are growing faster over there." He did not mention Fushiguro Shier's name, for fear that it would remind Megumi of his family and affect his life here.
The others had also reached a consensus on this before they arrived. Upon hearing this reason, Tenriko didn't feel depressed for long. She immediately cheered up and said, "Then I'll come back when I'm stronger!"
Huiyuan looked down and said, "Aren't we going down?"
Tsu Miki remembered: "Sister's pineapple bun seemed to have reached a critical moment, so she told us not to go down, but Gojo brother..."
They looked at each other, and Nanami Kento said, "Can we still save them if we go down now?"
Geto Xia Yu hesitated: "Satoru hasn't been kicked out yet, so it's not a big problem, right?"
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The author has something to say: Time alone~
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