The couple held hands and ran quickly towards the small wooden house at the entrance of the village. To them, that place was their home, which could shelter them from the wind and rain.
The strong wind blew heavy snow down, and the two people covered their eyes with their arms and ran forward desperately.
Large white flakes drifted down from the sky, swirling swiftly on the wind. A strong gust of wind would lift the snow from the piles high into the air, where it would swirl with the new snowflakes, which would collide with each other in the air like a tornado.
The rest of the houses in the village seemed to disappear in the dancing snow, and everything on the ground was gone.
The two of them tried their best to run back to their cabin before getting lost. Chu Beichen pushed Su Nian inside and then used all his strength to close the door. "Oh my god, the storms come so fast in this place!"
If they didn't understand what a storm was before, their experiences during this period perfectly explained the meaning of a storm.
A layer of white frost formed on the small wooden board blocking the window, and large flakes of snow came in through the gaps. Su Nian found an old fur and plugged the gap tightly to keep the cold wind out.
Chu Beichen quickly added firewood to the fireplace, and then lit the kerosene lamp. The flame of the kerosene lamp began to flicker, and soon the room became bright.
However, at this moment, the wind and snow outside the house were raging, and the roaring sounded like a pack of wolves howling around the cabin.
Chu Beichen looked at the cabin trembling in the storm with some uneasiness, then hugged Su Nian in his arms and comforted her, "Don't be afraid, everything will pass!"
The best way to fight darkness and fear is food.
The two of them quickly cooked a bowl of soup and heated the mushroom pie that the village chief had brought on the fireplace.
This mushroom-stuffed pancake looks rough on the outside, but the aroma it emits after being heated is extraordinary. No wonder the village chief said that this mushroom-stuffed pancake is a specialty of their village.
Su Nian sniffed it and said with a smile, "This pie smells like matsutake!"
After a while, the soup was ready and the stuffed pancakes were heated up. The couple started to eat. Sure enough, the stuffed pancakes were filled with the best-tasting matsutake mushrooms, which are the most exquisite and expensive ingredients in modern times, but for people living in the cedar forest, they are just ordinary ingredients for making pies.
The couple thought it was an ordinary night. After finishing their meal and cleaning the house, Chu Beichen suggested that they could take advantage of their free time to check the warehouse.
The two men tied large flashlights on their shoulders and went out hand in hand. The biting cold wind blew in their faces, and the night seemed to be coming early.
In the darkness, Chu Beichen suddenly pointed at the fence at the door and said to Su Nian, "There seem to be a few dark shadows over there!"
The two of them covered their eyes and looked towards the fence together. Sure enough, they saw several shadowy figures there.
A blizzard had already started at this time. Could it be that a villager came to look for them?
The two men struggled to walk to the fence with doubts in their hearts to check. They were surprised to find that there were several large animals standing next to their fence wall. These animals were somewhat similar to red deer, with huge antlers on their heads.
These elk seemed to have lost their way in the snowstorm. They all closed their eyes tightly, lowered their heads and leaned against the fence, standing there not daring to move.
Chu Beichen reached out and touched it. The sika deer did not resist or run away. Chu Beichen did not feel any signs of human domestication such as a bridle or reins on it.
"Su Nian, these seem to be wild elk. Let's let them in and lock them up in our barn," Chu Beichen said as he prepared to open the gate of the fence.
The couple quickly put the elk into their yard and closed the fence gate. They guided the elk into the empty barn in the wind and snow.
They pulled in a total of five elk. After entering the barn, these helpless animals opened their eyes and stood docilely but uneasily in the middle of the barn.
The cattle shed is made of logs, and is even stronger than the wooden house where Chu Beichen and his friends currently live, but its warmth retention is slightly worse.
Now the sturdy wooden door kept the blizzard out tightly, and the people and animals in the barn relaxed.
Su Nian looked at the five sika deer carefully and found that only one of them was a tall male deer, the others were all female deer, and the smallest one seemed to be a fawn.
"Oh my God, they look like a family," Su Nian liked animals by nature. Seeing how well-behaved these animals were, he couldn't help but reach out and touch the ears of a doe. The doe was very docile, and didn't hide or avoid him. She even rubbed her head against Su Nian.
"It just so happens that we have a barn at home that can shelter them from the snowstorm," Chu Beichen said with a smile, and added, "If we still can't find prey in a few days, we can kill one and eat it!"
"Oh my God, you actually have such a terrible idea. You'd better go hunting honestly!" Su Nian didn't want to eat such a cute animal. She hurriedly urged Chu Beichen to go with him to the storage room to get hay, and prepared to boil snow to melt water to feed these sika deer.
The roads were breathing out white smoke, and because of their presence the barn didn't seem cold at all.
Chu Beichen found a pitchfork in the corner of the wall. He used it to clean the barn. He first picked up the wet hay on the ground and threw it at the door. Then he forked out the remaining hay in the trough and spread it on the ground so that the elk could lie down in the warm and fluffy place to sleep.
Then the couple took some fresh hay from the storage room and put it in the troughs until all four stone troughs were full. The sika deer were not shy and soon started eating the fresh hay.
At this time, the water in the house had melted. Su Nian poured the warm water into the basin. Several sika deer seemed to be very thirsty and immediately gathered around to drink.
Seeing that the sika deer had drunk the water, Su Nian finally breathed a sigh of relief, because even in the barn, the warm water would freeze in no time.
The temperature outside the barn was at least -40 degrees Celsius. There was no fire inside, so the temperature was around 0 degrees Celsius at best.
At this time, Su Nian thought of the existence of Huichun. In such bad weather, it would be great if there was Huichun. Even if she just ate it as a fresh vegetable, life would be much better.
Su Nian couldn't help but have an idea. Tomorrow, when the storm is a little smaller, she will definitely look around in the yard and choose a place that is easy to dig. What if she finds something?
By the time the sika deer was settled, it was completely dark.
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