This information surprised Yan Zheng and Jiang Xi for a moment.
Yan Zheng put down what he was holding, frowned, and said, "Explain in detail."
Yan Jing'an added, "In the past few years of cold waves, the lowest temperatures have been in November and December, which are also the most difficult times for people to endure."
As he spoke, Yan Jing'an's gaze was somewhat unfocused, as if he were looking through walls and mountains, back to the days when he struggled to survive in the snow.
"Once mid-December is over, temperatures will start to rise from minus 60 degrees Celsius, and by late January, the global average temperature will rise to above minus 30 degrees Celsius."
He had talked too much and was a little out of breath, so he gasped for air a few times.
Jiang Xi handed him a glass of water.
Yan Jing'an took the cup, sipped his drink, and continued, "In late January and early February, in some warmer areas, the temperature hovers around zero degrees Celsius at midday. Flash floods and floods mostly occur during that time... cough cough."
"Many people died, so many people."
Everywhere there were bones washed up by the flood, soaking in the icy water, impossible to retrieve.
Thinking of this, he coughed until his face turned pale, and Jiang Xi could almost hear the wheezing coming from his chest.
She frowned as she looked at Yan Zheng.
Even though she wasn't a doctor, Jiang Xi knew that the voice didn't sound good.
A pang of reluctance flickered across Yan Zheng's heart.
That won't work.
He had previously thought that as long as he kept warm and ate well, Yan Jing'an's illness could be cured slowly, but the environment here made him question it.
To keep warm, firewood was always burned in the house. Although it was warm, it produced a lot of smoke, and the windows and doors were all closed, so even with a chimney, it was of little use.
The humidity in the room was also much lower, and even Jiang Xi often said that the room was very dry.
Such air quality is not good for Yan Jing'an's respiratory illness.
This seems to be an unsolvable problem.
It's snowing heavily outside now, so it's too late this year.
He thought that if Yan Jing'an could pull through, when the brick house was repaired, he would definitely build a fire wall for the northwest.
Having made up his mind, Yan Zheng said calmly, "Let's not talk about that now. Let's eat first when you're awake."
Jiang Xi took the braised duck out of the pot.
Then Yan Zheng stir-fried another dish of wild scallions and wood ear mushrooms, using very little lard and salt, which was just right for the patient.
When the dishes were served, Yan Jing'an hesitated for a moment before deciding not to get up. Then, thinking about his persistent cough, he said, "I won't get up. Just serve me a bowl separately."
Before he could finish speaking, Yan Zheng paused for a moment while serving rice, glanced at him sideways and said, "You're not seventy or eighty years old anymore. You don't need someone to serve you food. Come to the table and eat by yourself."
Yan Jing'an was surprised to be rejected so decisively. Feeling extremely wronged, he got out of bed, washed his hands, and sat down at the table.
Jiang Xi was distributing chopsticks, glancing at Yan Zheng every now and then at Yan Jing'an, whose eyebrows were drooping.
Finally, I couldn't help but shake my head at their stubbornness.
They were clearly trying to help each other, so why did their words always sound so awkward?
After dinner, Yan Zheng went to the blacksmith's shop again and brought back the hammer, shovel, and rake from that room. He then found a stone and sat down inside to polish them.
The cold wind howled outside, sometimes making the windows rattle. Yan Jing'an had slept all day and was now awake, but he was too lazy to muster any energy and could only lie on the bed.
Jiang Xi sat in front of the stove and continued crocheting sweaters and scarves.
The three of them chatted idly by the light of an oil lamp.
As they talked, they somehow ended up talking about Jiang Xi from this world.
Yan Jing'an looked at the identical face in front of him, his thoughts drifting back to the past.
He didn't say anything, but Jiang Xi could sense that he was looking at another person through her.
Jiang Xi tried to speak: "What kind of person is she?"
It would be a lie to say I wasn't curious.
In a parallel world, there is an exact replica of herself. Lately, she has often wondered what Jiang Xi is like here.
Yan Jing'an did not answer her immediately, but thought for a long time before slowly speaking.
"She was a troublemaker in school, but she became much more stable after graduation. She is my best friend. She studied finance in college and could have worked for the largest investment bank in the country, but then my father got sick and I lost my agent."
"I replaced two more later, but neither was ideal. One of them even secretly accepted advertisements behind my back, which caused me to get injured on the field."
"After she found out, she took on the role of agent without saying a word."
Yan Jing'an still remembers asking Jiang Xi, "With such a bright future, why are you following me?"
Yan Jing'an will never forget her answer. That day, the two of them were at a barbecue restaurant downstairs from their home. Jiang Xi was smiling happily, holding a glass of draft beer in her hand and chewing on peanuts.
He casually told him, "This is an investment. I won't spend a penny, and I'll even get a salary. In the future, I'll invest in a world champion. That's better than joining any company."
When this was mentioned, Yan Jing'an looked a little downcast. They had gone through a long journey together to reach this point.
Yan Jing'an continued, "Speaking of which, you two have quite different personalities. She's been a troublemaker since she was little, and none of the boys in the neighborhood are as good as her. But Uncle Jiang sent her to learn some martial arts. The older she gets, the more unruly she becomes."
"It seems that all the troubles in the world are nothing to her. She never worries about whether things are worth doing, and she never cares about the opinions of those around her."
As he spoke, Yan Zheng seemed to recall something amusing: "I remember she once said: 'Anyone who disagrees, either keep quiet or come at me. If you think she can suffer in silence, screw your daydreams.'"
Hearing this, Jiang Xi couldn't help but smile.
She never imagined that she would be like this in another world; it was a magical feeling.
If she had to use one word to describe herself in this world, she felt that "chivalrous" would be the most appropriate word.
Jiang Xi suddenly felt a desire to get to know this world.
Yan Jing'an continued, "That's how she became my agent. She was very responsible and resourceful. In just one year, my commercial value doubled under her management."
“Some people tried to poach her, including my competitors, who even offered much higher prices than I did, but she rejected them all.”
"Later, she got a boyfriend."
At this point, Jiang Xi subconsciously glanced at Yan Zheng, and both of them showed surprise in their eyes.
Jiang Xi sighed deeply; she really was different from herself.
Yan Jing'an saw their reactions and laughed, saying, "It's unbelievable, isn't it? Just like I said, our relationship is more like family and friendship. You don't know, she used to beat me until I cried a lot when I was a kid."
"Back then, I told myself every day not to find a crazy girlfriend like her."
When he mentioned happy times, he couldn't help but smile, coughed a few times, and rambled on for a few more minutes.
"Her boyfriend works in finance. They were supposedly college classmates. Jiang Xi likes him and has introduced me to him many times. The two of them are indeed a good match."
"He's tall, energetic, knows how to speak and act properly, and is calm and collected. You can tell at a glance that he's a worthy opponent for her, and luckily he's good to her too."
He reluctantly agreed to the marriage.
Of course, there were also moments of inner grumbling: "Two foxes have gotten together."
Yan Jing'an continued, "They got engaged on their twenty-fourth birthday, and later..."
At this point, his voice suddenly trembled, and he couldn't quite bring himself to say what followed.
In a flash, that suffocating feeling returned. He tugged at his collar, but there was nothing there; he was just instinctively scratching his neck.
I couldn't breathe; it felt like I was drowning.
Yan Zheng was the first to react, grabbing Yan Jing'an's hand and patting his back.
After a long ordeal, Yan Jing'an, his face covered in cold sweat, finally recovered and fell into a deep sleep.
Jiang Xi was quite frightened: "What happened?"
Yan Zheng said in a deep voice: "ptSd".
"That is, post-traumatic stress disorder."
Jiang Xi also felt sad for him, and could imagine how much his friend's departure must have affected him.
The heavy snow lasted for a day and two nights, and the north wind howled against the windows.
It wasn't until the next morning when the snow outside showed signs of stopping.
Pushing open the door, the yard, which had been swept, was now covered with ankle-deep snow, which crunched underfoot.
When the weather cleared up, Jiang Xi listened to Yan Zheng's words and told Yan Jing'an to wear thick clothes and open the straw curtain and door to let the room air out.
The sun shone brightly outside, its rays illuminating the pristine white snow. Against this backdrop, the jujubes on the trees appeared even redder. This precious beauty finally offered a respite to my spirits, which had been heavy for two days after the blizzard.
I've been cooped up in the house for two days straight, and the house is also getting quite hot from burning firewood all the time.
Jiang Xi always felt that her throat was uncomfortable.
Looking at the bright red dates on the tree, she suddenly wanted to eat date and yam cakes.
If you put it in the refrigerator, it will be chilled and smooth, perfect for relieving heat.
She looked at the jujube tree outside and thought, "Why not try using sweet potatoes instead of yams?"
Yan Jing'an hasn't had much of an appetite these past few days, so why not make something sweet and add some honey?
You can also brew some honey chrysanthemum tea, just to soothe his lungs.
So Jiang Xi grabbed a tree branch, trying to shake some jujubes down. The jujube tree branch was covered with snow, and when she shook it, the white snow mixed with the jujubes fell down, and Jiang Xi's head and shoulders were covered with chunks of snow.
She brushed the snow off her body. The snow warmed her hands, which were covered in water. She shivered from the cold and quickly tightened the scarf around her neck.
The dates fell onto the snowdrift and then down the slope to the ground. Jiang Xi wrapped them in her cloak, picked them up, washed them, and steamed them with sweet potatoes in a pot.
Before long, the whole house was filled with the aroma of red dates. After the red dates and yams were cooked until soft, the pits of the red dates were removed and mashed, and the yams were peeled and mashed into yams paste.
Next, put the jujube paste into an earthenware pot and stir-fry it over low heat, then add a small piece of lard.
Animal fat has no flavor; its main purpose is to enhance the aroma of the filling and prevent it from sticking to the pan. Stir-fry the jujube paste until the moisture evaporates, then add a small amount of honey after removing it from the pan to enhance the flavor.
After the taro is mashed into a paste, it is repeatedly pounded with a wooden mallet, and the starch inside will gradually become more elastic.
She learned this from her grandmother. Originally, she was supposed to add some glutinous rice flour to make the pastries softer and chewier, but conditions didn't allow it, so she had to use this traditional method.
Once everything is ready, divide the mashed sweet potato into equal-sized balls, wrap each ball with date paste filling, and then press it into a patty.
Each palm-sized, snow-white dough ball is placed on a flat basket, looking plump and adorable.
Jiang Xi left the prepared jujube paste and sweet potato cakes in the freezing cold for about ten minutes.
She picked it up and took a bite. The outer skin was soft and chewy, while the filling was sweet, delicate, and rich in jujube flavor.
It was slightly chilled from being brought in from outside, but when paired with chrysanthemum tea with a little honey, it didn't feel cloying at all. One sip and my throat felt refreshed.
Jiang Xi shared the food with everyone, and Yan Jing'an, who hadn't been eating properly for the past few days, actually ate four of them.
But since this stuff is cold in nature, Jiang Xi was worried that his stomach wouldn't be able to handle eating too much, so she forcibly put it away.
After breakfast, Yan Zheng's sharpened rake finally came in handy.
He shoveled the snow from all the yards and also used a rake to gather up the broken wood and branches in the yards, piling them together to use as firewood.
All the other useful items will be put together. When spring comes next year, we'll tear down all these courtyards and rebuild them.
Everyone knows that it's not as cold when the snow is melting as when it's snowing. The sun is out now, and it looks like a bright sunny day, but actually, this is when the temperature is at its lowest.
When Yan Zheng was tidying up the yard, the rabbit fur gloves without finger separation became quite useless. Later, for convenience, he simply worked with his bare hands. However, after only one day, he developed frostbite on all five fingers.
He tried to hide it that night, but Jiang Xi still saw it. She felt terrible and annoyed that she couldn't knit gloves.
She applied lard to Yan Zheng's chilblains and said dejectedly, "Spring is just around the corner, and if these chilblains stay, they'll be even harder to heal."
When I was little, I was always playing in the winter and didn't feel cold. I often got chilblains all over my hands, and my grandma would rub them with rendered lard.
Nevertheless, every spring, chilblains remain itchy and painful, lasting for several years.
Yan Zheng didn't take it to heart, smiled and said, "It will be cleaned up in the next two or three days. When the snow melts, there won't be water everywhere, and the house repairs can start sooner."
He spoke lightly, but Jiang Xi took it to heart, and she tossed and turned all night, unable to sleep.
Finally, she didn't know where the inspiration came from, but in the middle of the night, she suddenly became terribly awake.
Since she couldn't knit the whole hand, she decided to crochet the finger covers for the five fingers separately, making them denser, and then crochet the ones for the palm as well. Finally, she would sew the finger covers and palm covers together.
This idea excited her greatly, and once she had a solution, she immediately wanted to try it out.
To save on lighters, the oil lamp was lit in the house 24 hours a day, so she simply stopped sleeping, took out her sewing basket, sat down in front of the stove, and began to knit five-finger gloves.
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