Chapter 17 Collecting Heating Supplies
Even though it was already past 5 a.m. when he went to bed, Song Zhao still got out of bed as soon as the alarm rang at 6:30 a.m., turned it off, and didn't disturb the person sleeping soundly next to him.
After quietly getting up and washing up, Song Zhao walked back to the bedside. Gu Yanzhi felt the bed behind her sink slightly in her sleep, and then a warm, large hand gently stroked her cheek.
"Zhizhi, get up, we're going out today," Song Zhao called softly.
"Mmm~" Gu Yanzhi rubbed her head against Song Zhao's palm and let out a soft moan before slowly opening her eyes.
"Zhao Zhao, good morning!" As soon as Gu Yanzhi opened her eyes, she saw the gentle face of her beloved. All her weariness seemed to disappear, and her mood became cheerful involuntarily.
Song Zhao leaned down and kissed her forehead: "Get up quickly, we need to go out and find fuel today."
Gu Yanzhi hummed in agreement, then lingered in the warm blankets for a while before sitting up.
"Sis, come and have breakfast!"
When Gu Yanzhi finished tidying up and walked out of the room, Gu Yanlin and Song Zhao were already sitting at the dining table waiting for her.
"What would you like to eat for breakfast?" Gu Yanzhi asked as he walked toward the dining table, searching his space for breakfast options.
In the end, Gu Yanzhi chose the classic combination of jianbing guozi (Chinese crepe), youtiao (fried dough sticks), and soy milk. Today was another very tiring day, and he didn't know when he would be back, so he needed to eat something filling for breakfast.
Because the space is always still, the food is steaming hot when it enters and when it is taken out, saving them a lot of time.
During breakfast, Gu Yanlin recounted their achievements from the previous night.
The night was too dark and too cold, so no one ran too far. They mainly called out to a few buildings around their building, and the people who were called out actively joined in the operation, which resulted in notifying more people than expected.
And as expected, some elderly people and children in the family were already frozen to death when they woke up the younger people in their families to open the door. If they had been any later, it would have been too late.
There were a few other houses that were relatively far away, and no one responded after knocking on the doors for a long time. When the group finally pried open the locks and went inside, the people inside were already dead.
According to residents of their building, one of the victims was a family of four. They had moved in recently and hadn't brought much with them. When people saw them, the family of four were only covered with thin summer blankets. They had been freezing for too long and ultimately couldn't be saved.
This made Zhong Junfeng and Yin Meng, the young couple, feel both sympathy and relief. Luckily, they met good people; otherwise, they probably wouldn't have made it through last night.
Because it was already winter in City C, and with the continuous heavy rain and no sunshine, the temperature was several degrees lower than at the same time in previous years. Everyone had put on their thick winter quilts early, which is why only a few families had problems, which was a stroke of luck amidst misfortune.
After a good breakfast, they put on temperature-regulating clothes, then layered a winter coat over them, paired with heated boots, grabbed an empty backpack, and headed out.
The wind felt like knives as soon as they stepped out of the building. Song Zhao quickly put the scarf, hat, and gloves on Gu Yanzhi before fully arming herself.
Before leaving, Gu Yanzhi glanced at the thermometer again. The temperature was still at -30 degrees Celsius, much better than Gu Yanzhi had imagined. However, for City C, a southern city where the winter temperature normally hovers around zero degrees Celsius, this was an unprecedented disaster.
They left home just as 7 o'clock was about to arrive. As the three of them walked down the stairs, they knocked on the doors of each floor and called out to the people on that floor. This was something Gu Yanlin had discussed with them yesterday, to reduce everyone's waiting time and keep them from getting too cold.
Everyone was dressed very warmly, and Zhong Junfeng and Yin Meng even put on all the clothes they could wear to barely keep out the biting cold.
The weather was very cold, and the cold wind that hadn't slept long woke everyone up and their drowsy minds were instantly refreshed.
Everyone was in a good mood. The continuous heavy rain stopped last night, and today is the first sunny day in two months. The sun even came out after a long time.
As we went down, we could faintly hear laughter and cheers coming from downstairs.
Looking down from the window in the stairwell, a group of children were playing, skating, and frolicking on the ice. People around them were also gathered together, chatting and laughing, enjoying this rare sunny day.
"Uncle Zhang!" Gu Yanzhi suddenly called out, stopping Uncle Zhang, who was leading the way and was about to continue walking.
As everyone looked on with puzzled expressions, Gu Yanzhi spoke up again, "Don't go any further, let's split up."
A look of understanding flashed in Uncle Zhang's eyes. Seeing that Uncle Zhang understood her meaning, Gu Yanzhi resumed her languid expression, showing no intention of explaining further to everyone.
Uncle Zhang stopped stepping onto the next step and said, "There are too many people downstairs. We made too much noise last time, and many people probably haven't forgotten it yet. Having so many people going out together will attract attention."
"Luckily, Xiao Gu reminded us in time, otherwise something bad would have happened," Uncle Zhang said, giving Gu Yanzhi a thumbs up.
After hearing Uncle Zhang's explanation, everyone suddenly understood. In this special period, it is indeed necessary to act more cautiously to avoid unnecessary trouble.
"Sister Gu is right, we can't take the risk," someone agreed.
"So what do we do now?" the other person asked.
“Let’s split up and leave in groups. When you go out, try to chat as much as possible, making it seem like you’re just going out for some fresh air,” Uncle Zhang suggested. “That way, you won’t attract the attention of others.”
The group split into four teams: Gu Yanzhi's family in one team, Zhang Qian, Zhuang Nanyang and Gao Zhi and his wife, and Yin Meng and her husband in another team, Sister Li and Uncle Zhuang and his wife in another team, and Uncle Zhang and Aunt Zhang in yet another team. They walked out of the building chatting and laughing as if they were going shopping or taking a walk together.
Throughout the journey, everyone acted naturally, trying their best not to attract attention. They chatted, laughed, and joked, as if simply enjoying this beautiful sunny day.
Furthermore, they deliberately took different routes to avoid revealing their shared destination.
Finally, they successfully met in a secluded corner about 1 kilometer away from Building 10.
The destination of this trip was still Songshan, which we had wanted to go to to salvage supplies during the previous rainstorm. It is located at a high altitude, and if you want to find timber in City C, Songshan is the place to be.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
