Chapter 299 Darkness
The principle of this floor heating is to use the smoke after combustion to be discharged from the channel, pass under the floor of the house, and increase the indoor temperature.
But now the smoke was pouring out of the passage, sucking the flames inside towards the cave entrance. Although it would not cause a fire inside, the flames were going inwards instead of upwards, and the pot placed above would not be able to boil water.
Mu Xi had never encountered such a situation before, so he quickly adjusted the direction of the fire, but it was of no use.
Zhao Yeqing heard the sound of Mu Xi tinkering with something beside the fireplace. He put down his phone and walked over. After taking a closer look at the situation, he took out a piece of iron sheet from the materials next to him.
This piece of iron was the leftover waste from making the pipe underneath. She inserted the iron into the stove exhaust passage, blocking the middle of the passage. Some gaps were left on both sides for the smoke to escape, blocking most of the suction in the middle.
As soon as the iron sheet was inserted, the flame returned to normal and was not sucked in again.
When Mu Xi saw the fire was rekindled and was about to put the pot on, he heard a noise outside.
"You cook the food first. I'll go see if the leopards have returned."
Zhao Yeqing nodded, and Mu Xi walked out.
It is getting late now and the temperature is getting lower. Several leopards have been going out to look for food recently and would only come back at night. They came back earlier today, probably because it was too cold due to the snow.
The temperature was estimated to be only minus fifteen degrees Celsius. Mu Xi could feel the coolness outside by leaning on the windowsill. It seemed that if the house wanted to be warmer, it would have to add another layer of thickness in these places.
He looked through the glass and saw the leopards jumping in from the fence outside. Huhu and Xuebing had already come in, and the last one was the male leopard.
Mu Xi sighed softly. The wall of their house could not protect against any agile animals. Having these three at home to spend the winter was a guarantee.
The three of them walked straight towards the brick wall, which meant that there was a gain today.
In the past, if he failed to catch any prey when he went out, Huhu would knock on their door to beg for food as soon as he came back. Today, he looked like he was very satisfied.
Mu Xi returned to the fireplace with peace of mind and saw that the soup in the pot had already boiled and was bubbling.
Zhao Yeqing put the white radish in. Compared with sliced radish, she prefers to eat white radish in chunks. It is cooked soft and tastes very sweet and juicy when bitten.
This means it has to be cooked for a long time, so she put the white radish in first and cooked it for more than ten minutes before adding other vegetables.
Their stove is underground, so if you want to eat the soup pot around the fire, you have to sit on the floor.
The floor is warm now and there is no need for cushions. The straw mat next to the fireplace has been removed for fear that it might catch sparks and catch fire.
Zhao Yeqing simply pulled the straw mat from the floor next to him and put it on the ground. After asking Mu Xi to bring in the slices of meat that were placed outside, the two of them sat down on the floor.
In winter, there is no need to go out to work on the farm, so physical energy consumption is less. There are plenty of vegetables and meat at home, so the two of them are too lazy to cook and just eat meat and vegetables to their heart's content.
The thin slices of meat were cooked after just a few dips in the pot, and two large plates full of heavy meat were eaten up.
After Zhao Yeqing finished eating the meat, he scooped a few spoonfuls of the pot bottom, which had turned from clear soup into broth, into a bowl and then blanched the vegetables in it.
If you want to drink the soup base for hot pot meat, you have to drink it before blanching the vegetables. The soup will taste different after blanching the vegetables.
Zhao Yeqing blew on the soup while drinking small sips, waiting for the Chinese spinach in the pot to be cooked.
The north wind outside the window suddenly blew up, and the glass began to tap against the window frame again.
Mu Xi: "Let's fix the window tomorrow. Put two nails on the wooden window frame and it should stop making noises."
Zhao Yeqing put the cooked chrysanthemums in the pot into the bowl and said, "When the weather warms up, we will repair the windows and see if we can expand them a little bit and replace the glass windows of the previous homestay in the tourist area."
The glass window over there is probably designed to allow tourists to sleep better. It uses triple-layer thickened glass, which is both thick and soundproof.
It definitely cannot be demolished now, and who knows when the snow outside will stop.
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The time that followed seemed to confirm Zhao Yeqing's worries. The snow fell heavier and heavier, and just like last year, it took a week before it gradually subsided.
All the livestock in the house have been driven into the basement. The temperature inside is neither cold nor warm, barely maintaining around minus three or four degrees Celsius, and there is no need to burn fire for heating.
The snow in the yard was gradually thickening and now reached the height of the middle of the calves.
“The snowfall doesn’t seem to be as heavy as last year?”
The two men had just finished feeding the livestock and were taking meat out of the freezer in the yard to prepare today's meals.
Mu Xi stamped on the snow a few times and replied, "Indeed, there isn't any, but the temperature hasn't gotten much warmer either."
Although the snow was lighter now, it had not stopped yet. The two of them hurried to bring the food into the house.
Zhao Yeqing returned to the house, put down his things, and went to the fireplace to warm his red, frozen hands.
"I don't know how long the cold weather will last this year. The snow seems to be getting lighter, but the weather doesn't look like it's going to be sunny."
Not only did it not seem like the weather was going to clear up, it actually got a little darker.
By night, the snow gradually stopped, but it was already dark and it was impossible to see what was happening outside.
When they woke up and looked outside, they couldn't believe it and checked the time several times.
Zhao Yeqing was stunned, and the uneasiness in her heart gradually grew. She looked at the empty darkness outside the window without turning her head, "Mu Xi... What time is it now?"
Mu Xi said in a deep voice, "9 o'clock."
"Is it 9 o'clock in the morning?"
"Um."
Zhao Yeqing closed his eyes and opened them again. It was still pitch black outside the window, without a trace of light.
The two men felt goosebumps all over their bodies, staring at the darkness and feeling a little scared.
Suddenly, there was a hurried scratching sound at the door outside. Zhao Yeqing was startled and her hair stood on end. Mu Xi hurriedly hugged her and said, "Don't be afraid. It might be Hu Hu and Xue Bing. I'll go check it out."
The lights in the room were turned on. Mu Xi put on his shoes and got out of bed. The light shone through the window into the yard.
The sudden light also slowed down the sound of scratching at the door.
Mu Xi looked out of the window next to the door with a gun in hand and saw three leopards outside the door. Then he opened the door, but still held the gun tightly in his hand.
I didn't feel relieved until I saw that the three leopards that came in were in the same condition as usual.
Maybe the darkness outside scared the leopards, so when they came in and saw the brightness in the room, Huhu and Xuebing walked to the bedside and acted coquettishly with Zhao Yeqing.
The two leopards still remembered that the previous rule was that they could not go on the bed, so they waited obediently by the bed to be stroked.
While stroking the smooth fur, Zhao Yeqing's mood did not relax at all as usual. His heart was in suspense and he did not feel at ease at all.
"What's going on?"
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