Chapter 13: Fifty Degrees Below Zero
Almost immediately after the first level cold warning was issued, several cities in the north began to relocate their cities. Pingcheng was among the first to be relocated. Today, the temperature in Pingcheng has reached minus 70 degrees Celsius, even during the day.
Gu Nian's great uncle's family also received a notice from the neighborhood committee, asking them to submit the number of people who will be relocated as soon as possible.
Now the whole country is ravaged by snow and wind. Trains are very likely to derail, and airplane visibility is extremely low in the snow and wind. These two means of transportation have all been suspended. We can only use modified snow buses for transportation, and all tires have been replaced with widened and reinforced rubber tracks to ensure that the vehicles can drive normally in the snow.
Such modified buses can only carry 80 passengers, so each parking space for the relocation is very tight. Many people even exchange tickets from others at high prices, just to hurry to the south. I heard that the temperature in the south is at least 20 degrees higher than Pingcheng.
Because of this, the migration to the south is arranged on a voluntary basis. Each household will report the number of people moving to the neighborhood committee, which will then communicate the migration time. There will also be weight limits on each person's luggage to facilitate migration.
The house of my uncle was as cold as an ice cellar. Energy was becoming increasingly scarce, and the water and heating supplied by the municipal government could not be supplied freely, so the temperature in the house could only be raised by about 20 degrees. Therefore, my uncle's family of three squeezed into the master bedroom, turned on the air conditioner and two small solar heaters, but even so, the temperature in the house was only around minus ten degrees.
My eldest uncle, eldest aunt and their son Gu Shengsheng wrapped themselves in three layers of thick clothes, but still felt freezing cold.
In the induction cooker on the wooden table, today's breakfast, stewed radish and cabbage, is being cooked. In Pingcheng today, affordable goods are in limited supply, and if you want to buy some delicious food, you have to pay a high price. The eldest uncle is used to being stingy, and every day he only lets the eldest aunt buy affordable goods that are limited by the government, and is determined not to buy food at a high price and store it at home.
When Gu Shengsheng saw the radish and cabbage, he started crying, "Eating these again? I want to eat meat!"
The eldest uncle frowned, and for the first time he didn't indulge Gu Shengsheng's temper: "If you don't want to eat, then don't eat! Let's see how long you can starve! Do you know how much electricity costs every month!"
Seeing that crying was useless, Gu Shengsheng knew that these were the only things he had to eat today, so he had no choice but to pick up the bowl and eat angrily.
The eldest aunt whispered, "Hubby, why don't we move to the south? I heard it's warmer there, and the food supply is better than in the north."
The eldest uncle knew that what the eldest aunt said made sense, but when he thought about moving to the south, his heart ached. His own house and the house he bought from that dead girl Gu Nian were both in Pingcheng! If he went to the south, he couldn't take the house with him! The cash at home couldn't buy many things now. If he went to the south, wouldn't all his life savings be gone? The eldest uncle felt more and more heartbroken the more he thought about it. He gritted his teeth and cursed: "Go to hell! Don't you think about it? The temperature in the south is only 20 degrees higher than here. What's the use! You have to sleep in a big bunk bed when you go there. It's better to be comfortable at home."
Seeing that her uncle was angry, her aunt didn't dare to say anything more.
My eldest cousin had a fierce face and cursed in his heart those cowards who wanted to go to the south. He just couldn't believe that the temperature could remain like this.
One day, the temperature will rise again! By then, he can even get the demolition compensation! The thing that the eldest uncle was most proud of in his life was that there was nothing he couldn't take advantage of. He firmly believed that this time was the same. Whether it was Gu Nian or Gu Nian's dead father, they were destined to be sucked by him. But what he didn't know was that it was because of his stupid arrogance that his family eventually died of hunger and cold in Pingcheng.
-------------------------------------
The temperature won’t stay this way forever.
Gu Nian was cooking in the kitchen while thinking. This cold wave will eventually be accompanied by an extremely beautiful and extremely dangerous ice fog, bringing the Blue Water Planet to an extremely deep cold of minus 100 degrees. This is also the biggest crisis in Gu Nian's mind. She doesn't even know if the things she prepared can survive this cold wave.
But let's not talk about the future crisis. For now, Gu Nian is living comfortably in the villa. The temperature in Jiangcheng is minus fifty degrees. Gu Nian turned on the floor heating of the entire villa and used the villa's solar energy and wind power generation system to supply electricity. The temperature in the whole house has been heated to 20 degrees above zero, which is as comfortable as spring. Nowadays, Jiangcheng has not only begun to strictly limit the electricity consumption of each household, but the electricity bill has also increased to more than five times the original. Many families are living in misery and have to live together in one room. If there are few people, it's okay, but if there are too many people, it's really tortured. Gu Nian can only be thankful that he spent a lot of money to renovate the villa at the beginning, so that he can now live a self-sufficient life without power restrictions.
Gu Nian had braised beef noodles for breakfast. The smooth noodles were cooked, scooped out, and drizzled with a spoonful of beef stew broth, and then neatly stacked with a pile of fat and lean beef brisket, and then topped with blanched fresh green spinach, which made people's appetites grow.
After breakfast, Gu Nian went to the gym. She opened the curtains to let the sunlight in and started her morning exercise.
She set aside a gym on the first floor of the villa. As the end of the world approaches, physical fitness must be exercised regularly.
Gu Nian sat on the futon, her breathing was sometimes heavy, sometimes shallow, sometimes rapid, sometimes slow. If you listen carefully to her breathing, it can even make your blood boil, and you feel indescribable discomfort in your heart. The imperceptible chill flowed into her body with her breath, and Gu Nian felt more and more energetic, and her whole body was stretched out, as if she was soaking in a hot spring. Her skin surface also slowly sweated, bringing out dirt from deep inside her body.
About an hour later, Gu Nian suddenly realized that today's breathing technique could only be practiced to this point, and her body had reached its limit. She opened her eyes, got up from the mat, and hurried to the bathroom to take a shower. Since she discovered the cold energy in the air, her ancestral breathing technique really worked. After each practice, a lot of dirt would flow out of Gu Nian's pores, just like the legendary rebirth. Gu Nian felt that her bones were getting lighter and lighter, and there was a faint divine light flowing between her eyebrows, accompanied by her constantly breaking through strength and eyesight.
There were two 60-jin dumbbells next to her. Gu Nian lifted them with both hands easily, as if she was lifting mineral water. She was a little shortsighted, but as long as she focused her eyes, she could see everything a hundred meters away as if she had a telescope. There was also an indoor horizontal bar against the wall. Gu Nian pulled the horizontal bar with both hands and lifted it up. When she pulled the horizontal bar to her abdomen, she bent her legs and jumped, and suddenly stood on the horizontal bar lightly.
Gu Nian had never thought that she would be able to do such a difficult move one day. She even had a strange idea that if she continued to practice like this, she might be able to fly like Superman and do anything.
Shaking her head, Gu Nian got rid of this strange idea, went to the bedroom to change into thick clothes, and covered her head and face with a hat and scarf, leaving only her eyes exposed. She put all the fresh vegetables picked from the farm into her backpack, and planned to go out for a trip.
Gu Nian drove to the supermarket. This big supermarket is now a material supply point for the nearby community. No matter how cold it is, nearby residents must come here every day to buy limited supplies. Therefore, since some time ago, a small market has suddenly emerged in the underground parking lot of the supermarket. Everyone gathers here spontaneously to exchange the items they need.
Gu Nian went straight to the small market. She found an empty spot at the back, spread out a layer of plastic paper, and laid out the vegetables in the basket on it. She also put up a paper sign next to it that read "Exchange for Chinese medicinal materials or medicinal seeds."
The vegetables she displayed were fresh and juicy, and they made people salivate at first sight. They were rare nowadays. You know, the limited supply of materials usually consisted of vegetables that were easy to store, such as carrots and potatoes. The spinach, cabbage, and cauliflower that Gu Nian was selling were rare. You either had to exchange them with credit points from the official website or spend a lot of money to buy them. What's more, the vegetables that Gu Nian displayed were so fresh.
If we talk about what people envy the most now, it is those who have flower pots on the balcony or land in the yard. They can grow vegetables by themselves. Although only one or two out of ten plants can survive, they are still worthless, right? It seems that this girl can grow vegetables at home. Maybe she needs a greenhouse to grow such good vegetables.
Of course they didn't know that Gu Nian had a farm space, and if the vegetables he grew were not sold, they would go bad.
At that moment, several people came forward to discuss the exchange with Gu Nian. Although what they took out was not Chinese medicine, Gu Nian also exchanged it for some fresh meat and some of her favorite snacks. After all, what she had stored were some canned meat. As for the others, she didn't need them and had to politely refuse.
Gu Nian waited for a while, and actually waited for a middle-aged man whose family ran a Chinese medicine store. He asked Gu Nian about her requirements, hurried home to get the herbs and seeds, and replaced all the remaining vegetables of Gu Nian in one go.
During this period of time, Gu Nian often came to set up a stall like this. She bought a lot of Chinese medicines and had already obtained all the Chinese medicines used in the cold-proof soup. Thinking that the farm kitchen might need other Chinese medicines in the future, Gu Nian simply exchanged all the other common Chinese medicines and seeds. Anyway, her vegetables were in short supply, so it was easy to exchange some things now.
Seeing that all the vegetables he brought had been replaced, Gu Nian left the market and drove to the winterization warehouse.
Gu Nian studied engineering in college and was good at circuit maintenance, so she applied for an electrician job on the Jiangcheng app and was eventually assigned to be on duty in the power supply room of the cold-proof warehouse. Since she didn't have to repair circuits outside, the job was not busy and the corresponding salary was only 20 credit points a day, unlike some plumbers who went out for maintenance, whose salary started at 200 credit points.
However, Gu Nian did not lack supplies that could be exchanged for credit points. She just wanted to save some credit points for emergencies.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
