Jiang Zhaonian and his wife were sitting on the kang (a heated brick bed) talking. There was an iron stove in the room, with its chimney sticking out of the window. With this iron stove heating the room, it was much warmer.
Jiang Zhaonian and his wife were very happy to see He Yuhan and Han Yixian arrive. "Yuhan, why did you come with such heavy snow? Quickly take off your shoes and get on the kang (heated brick bed) to warm up."
He Yuhan said, "It's okay, we're wearing a lot of layers, so we're not that cold. It just so happens that Brother Yi is off today, and I was worried because the snow has been falling for so long, so I came to check on him."
"Do we have enough coal at home? Should we buy some more?"
Jiang Zhaonian said, "We still have coal, so you don't need to worry about us."
Jiang Xiyue brought in two cups of brown sugar water and said, "Sister Yuhan, Brother Han, have some hot water to warm yourselves up."
He Yuhan took the water cup from Jiang Xiyue and drank the hot brown sugar water, feeling much warmer afterward.
He Yuhan took the things out of the basket and said, "I brought you some food. The weather is getting cold, so the meat will last longer."
As she spoke, He Yuhan took out two packets of pastries, one packet of brown sugar, one packet of white sugar, and one packet of wood ear fungus. There were also mushrooms, dates, dried vermicelli, and five catties of eggs. In addition to these, the basket that Han Yixian had carried contained five catties of pork, three catties of beef, five catties of rice, five catties of millet, ten catties of wheat flour, and ten catties of cornmeal.
All sorts of things were scattered on the kang (a heated brick bed) and on the floor.
When Jiang Zhaonian saw that He Yuhan had brought so much stuff again, he said, "Why did you bring so much stuff again? We don't lack food at home. Take it back quickly. You have elderly people and children at home, take it back for them to eat."
He Yuhan said, "We have all these things at home, so please don't refuse. You two should eat more nutritious food and take good care of yourselves so that Bowen and Xiyue won't worry."
Bowen will be back before the New Year. When he comes back, his qualifications will be different, his salary will increase significantly, and things will be much easier for the family.
Grandma Jiang held He Yuhan's hand gratefully and said, "Thanks to your help, Bowen would not have had such a good opportunity. Our family would not have such a good life either."
He Yuhan said, "That's because Bowen worked hard. We came here hoping Brother Yi could help us clear the snow off the roof. There's so much snow on the roof, and the house is old, we don't want anything to go wrong."
Jiang Zhaonian was also worried about this, but with elderly people and young children in his family, he simply couldn't manage it.
Jiang Zhaonian said, "Then I'll have to trouble Yixian."
He Yuhan and Han Yixian found the ladder together. He Yuhan helped hold the ladder while Han Yixian climbed onto the roof.
The snow was already quite thick, so Han Yixian used his tools to sweep the snow off the roof bit by bit.
He Yuhan also took this opportunity to sweep the snow in the Jiang family's yard into one place. She piled the snow in the vegetable garden so that it could be used to irrigate the garden when the snow melts next year.
Jiang Xiyue also joined Sister Yuhan in shoveling snow. She couldn't do anything about the snow on the roof, but she could still clean up the snow on the ground.
After Han Yixian swept the snow off the roof, he came down to help He Yuhan and the others with their work.
He Yuhan checked the Jiang family's woodshed and saw that there wasn't much coal and firewood left. It seemed they would have to send some over in a couple of days. It would be really tough without coal in the dead of winter. Firewood was also essential for heating the kang (heated brick bed); a heated kang was very comfortable to sleep on in winter.
While He Yuhan and the others were busy outside, Grandma Jiang looked at the pile of things and said, "Yuhan is such a kind-hearted girl. We are so lucky to have met her. We've probably lost count of all the things she's given us since we met. The junk you've given us isn't worth all that."
Jiang Zhaonian said, "Yuhan is a very kind-hearted child, and she doesn't want us to suffer any losses. We'll keep what she gives us, and I'll make up for it in other ways."
It's a good thing that Yuhan likes those old things. They're all things left by our ancestors, and it's better for Yuhan to keep them than to destroy them. If we don't want these things, Yuhan will feel embarrassed to ask us for help again.
Besides, our family needs these things. You need nutrition; you have to take good care of yourself. I wanted you to spend more time with me. How could you bear to leave me behind and go first?
Grandma Jiang knew her health was poor and she wouldn't live more than a few years without proper care. She wiped her eyes and said, "Of course I hope to stay with you for a few more years, and I also want to see Bowen get married and have children."
Jiang Zhaonian said, "Then listen to me and take good care of your health."
Grandma Jiang nodded, her eyes red.
She watched as the three people shoveling snow outside went down to make ginger soup for them. They could drink some ginger soup after shoveling the snow to ward off the cold.
Jiang Zhaonian then got up to pack up the old items he had collected for He Yuhan.
After helping the Jiang family tidy up and drinking ginger soup, He Yuhan and Han Yixian left the Jiang family home carrying the things Jiang Zhaonian had packed for them. Halfway there, the two entered a small alley and stored all the old items into their spatial storage. Then, He Yuhan took out some food she had prepared beforehand from her spatial storage.
When the couple arrived home, the snow was still falling, though it had lessened somewhat.
Han Xiao was playing chess with Gu Qishen in the living room, while Liu Zhongyi watched from the side holding a child. Wen Jinyu was sitting on the sofa nearby, knitting a sweater.
Seeing that Han Yixian and his wife had returned, Wen Jinyu quickly brought them two bowls of ginger soup that she had been simmering. "Drink this ginger soup to warm them up. Yuhan was sick last time because she caught a cold, so you have to be careful."
After drinking the ginger soup and resting for a while, He Yuhan cleaned and prepared the large bones and put them on the stove to start making bone broth. Hot soup is perfect for this kind of freezing weather.
Before long, the aroma of pork bone broth wafted out, making one feel hungry again.
He Yuhan kneaded a large piece of dough to make noodles for dinner, a hot noodle soup. With a bone broth base, it would definitely be delicious.
Han Yixian saw that such a large piece of dough would need to be rolled out at least three times, and he couldn't bear to see his wife suffer, so he took over the task of rolling out the noodles.
The delicious hot soup noodles with pork bone broth that evening made everyone sweat and feel warm all over. Even Xiao Xurui ate some noodles.
Wen Jinyu looked at her eldest grandson, who was eating with great relish, and laughed, "My eldest grandson wants to eat a little bit of everything now, especially meat. It seems he'll be a meat lover from now on. What will we do if there's no meat to eat later?"
Han Yixian said, "If you want to eat meat, our family can provide it. We won't let the children go hungry."
After dinner, Han Xiao called Han Yixian and He Yuhan into the small study and said, "An old friend from Wancheng called me today. He heard about our cotton situation and asked me to help him exchange some cotton. After all, this winter is tough, and everyone is trying to find solutions. Is it convenient for you? If it's too much trouble, I'll go back."
He Yuhan said, "It's not difficult. We still have cotton; they just need to transport it themselves. I heard that Wancheng has abundant seafood; they can exchange seafood for cotton."
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