When Zhang Yuzhen, Zhang Shumei, and Lin Yuting arrived at their destination, they immediately put their luggage inside the house. There weren't many people there, so each person had their own room.
After tidying up the house and putting away the luggage, I realized that the snow was so heavy that the kang (heated brick bed) was still cold. The temperature inside the house felt about the same as outside.
Upon seeing Xiulan, Zhang Yuzhen asked, "Hello, I'm new here. I don't have any firewood for cooking or heating the kang (a heated brick bed). Could you lend me some?"
“No problem, I’ll get you some firewood, but it’s too cold here in winter, and we don’t have enough. Go find the team leader tomorrow and see if he has any extra, since the winter here is so long,” Xiulan said to the three of them.
"Okay, thank you so much. If it weren't for you lending us the money, we would have suffered tonight," Zhang Yuzhen said gratefully to Xiulan.
Xiulan had a good impression of her, after all, she was a polite girl who wouldn't take advantage of others and was very sensible.
He was also thinking that with a few more people coming, they could go picking wild vegetables together in the future.
Xiulan knows everything that's happening in the village now. After all, she doesn't plan to go out now and just stays at home. It would be a good thing if she could have a companion to go with her.
Zhang Shumei and Lin Yuting were quite happy to see the firewood; at least they could cook dinner tonight without freezing.
The weather here is cold not only outside, but also inside the house, which serves as a windbreak. The temperature inside isn't much warmer than outside, so firewood for heating is naturally even more important.
"Is this borrowed? What are we going to do tomorrow?"
"It's too cold, we can't keep borrowing things."
The two of them sighed a bit, realizing that constantly borrowing firewood wasn't a long-term solution.
"Xiulan just said that we should go see the captain tomorrow. We just arrived, so the captain will figure something out for us. Let's hurry up and get ready."
Hearing what Zhang Yuzhen said, the other two were also a little worried. They could only borrow some more food, since the winter here was quite long and they wouldn't have enough to carry with them.
The two of them were unprepared. They knew the winters here were cold, and they thought their blankets were already quite thick, but when they arrived, they were still surprised by how much colder the blankets were.
In the middle of the night, two of the three people started to have high fevers. After all, they had come through wind and snow that day, and it was indeed very cold. It was normal for them to get chilled.
However, both of them were asleep when they developed a fever in the middle of the night, and luckily there was a thoughtful person there.
The next day, Xiulan saw that two people were still not up, so she went to check on them and found that they had a high fever. She hurriedly went to call for help, since no one had any medicine and they still had to find the captain.
These days, even a fever or a cold is no small matter, and Xiulan was running quickly in the cold wind.
The team leader went door to door asking if anyone had medicine for the two girls, and their fever finally broke by noon.
That afternoon, Guo Fengshou brought them firewood and food, as the weather was too cold and he was worried that their illness might worsen.
The three of them also need to be careful with their spending and eating, as there's still a while before spring arrives.
"Thank you, Xiulan. It's all thanks to your thoughtfulness. If it weren't for you, we don't know how badly we would have gotten sick."
"We've all left our hometowns, so we should help each other out when needed. You don't need to thank me. I might need your help in the future too."
Everyone nodded in agreement. After this incident, they had become more familiar with each other and had a very good impression of Xiulan.
After a while, the three of them gradually recovered and adapted to the weather.
With nothing much going on in the winter, these people were planning to chat and catch up, so Zhang Shumei asked them, "Were these the three of you all originally?"
“No, there was another one who got married and is living a happy life now,” Lin Guodong said as he watched them work.
"She got married, so why isn't she going back to the city? Why is that?" Li Yuting asked them curiously.
“We don’t know either, they’re both doing well,” Zhou Guangfu chimed in.
He felt that since she was already married, there was no need to discuss her anymore. It wouldn't be good if others found out. He knew that if even one person couldn't keep their mouth shut, the whole village would know the next day.
Finding they hadn't gotten any information, the girls lost interest and went back to their rooms.
I'm planning to ask the villagers about this once spring arrives and work resumes. It's always good to know more about it.
Xiulan wanted to say something, but then decided against it. They didn't know anything about the situation, and it wouldn't be good if word got out.
Zhang Yuzhen had just returned to her room and wanted to have a drink of water, but when she saw that the water was ice-cold with ice crystals, she felt heartbroken.
Shivering from the cold, all I could do was light the firewood. I thought to myself that I should write a letter to my parents when spring comes, to see if I could mail them a thicker quilt.
The three of them ate something, but it quickly got cold. This was because the house was heated by firewood; without the warmth, the food would have frozen immediately. For a moment, everyone was silent, thinking that they could go back to the city as soon as possible.
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