Grandpa Lu looked at the living room window and said with some regret.
The area near the window is directly exposed to the outside, so the temperature there is arguably the highest.
With the air conditioner on and the outside temperature so high, the power consumption increases.
"Old man, this is easy. I can just take an old air-conditioning quilt, turn it into a thick curtain, and hang it on that wall!"
When Grandpa Lu's wife saw that her husband was frowning, she told him her idea.
When I lived in the countryside, every summer, the peddlers who came from village to village to sell popsicles would wrap the styrofoam boxes containing the popsicles in thick cotton quilts.
Their daughter-in-law, Leng Jiajia, was placing her sleeping daughter on the inside of the living room sofa.
Hearing her mother-in-law's words, she couldn't help but smile and praise, "Mom is so thoughtful!"
Although her in-laws came from the countryside, she had to praise their survival skills, which were beyond those of most people, since the natural disaster struck.
My father-in-law demonstrated his skills in catching fish with nets during the torrential rain disaster, as well as his woodworking skills using simple tools after the water, electricity, and gas were cut off. He even managed to grow potatoes, sweet potatoes, and vegetables at home using flower pots, plastic basins, and soil from discarded jeans...
And then there's my mother-in-law's skillful hands. She can not only sew clothes, but also make handmade cloth shoes. My daughter An'an's clothes and shoes were all handmade by my mother-in-law during this natural disaster.
In addition, my mother-in-law is also skilled at making dried vegetables, dried fish, and pickled vegetables, which allows her to preserve excess food in the home in the least costly way.
The saying "Having an elder in the family is like having a treasure" is not just a random saying.
These two elderly people are truly full of wisdom about life.
If it weren't for her parents-in-law, Leng Jiajia couldn't imagine how her family would have survived this natural disaster.
After the insulation in the living room was installed, Old Mrs. Lu started making quilts and curtains.
Grandpa Lu, who had no work to do for the time being, sat on the sofa and drank water.
He glanced at his sleeping granddaughter and lowered his voice to tell his wife and daughter-in-law about owing the Xu family 1,500 work points.
"We need to think of other ways to earn more work points and pay back the work points we owe as soon as possible. At this critical juncture, who doesn't need work points?"
I wonder what kind of work can I do to earn work points in this sweltering heat?
As Grandpa Lu felt the cool air blowing from the air conditioner in the living room, he looked out the window at the still extremely glaring sun and suddenly had an idea.
"Jiajia, do you think it would be feasible for us to make some ice and sell it in the neighborhood?"
Grandpa Lu looked at his daughter-in-law with anticipation. He remembered that in the period dramas he used to watch, wealthy families would take ice from their cellars and store it indoors to cool down.
In their city of C, the power system can only supply electricity to residents for four hours, from noon to 4 pm. At other times, even if the weather is very hot, everyone has to bear it on their own.
How can anyone withstand such heat?
If they could produce some ice, their business would surely be booming.
"Dad, I think this is a great idea!"
Leng Jiajia also considered the feasibility of this business, and her expression became quite excited.
"Although we have solar power at home, which allows us to freeze ice cubes in the freezer, the amount of ice produced is still too small!"
And it takes a long time.
"It's a pity," said Grandpa Lu.
He grew up in the countryside and only attended primary school for two years. He could barely read, so he didn't have any better ideas about making ice.
But Leng Jiajia is different. She graduated from university with a bachelor's degree and, like her husband Lu Ping, was a science student, specializing in biochemistry.
Upon hearing about ice making, the first thing that popped into her head was the chemical method: "Ice can be made with saltpeter!"
"Although saltpeter can be reused, the amount of ice that can be made from one pound of saltpeter is pitifully small, so it's not feasible to make large quantities of ice with saltpeter!"
Leng Jiajia changed the subject and pointed out the shortcomings of using saltpeter to make ice.
"Jiajia, do you still have the ice maker you used during your postpartum period?"
When ice-making was mentioned, something suddenly popped into Old Mrs. Lu's mind. She slapped her forehead and looked at her daughter-in-law with excitement.
My daughter-in-law gave birth to my eldest granddaughter during the hottest days of summer, when she was in her postpartum period.
The air conditioner in the daughter-in-law's bedroom was directly facing their bed. At the time, they were worried that their daughter-in-law and granddaughter would not be able to stand the air conditioner blowing on them for a long time, so their son brought back an ice maker that had been used by who knows how many times.
They placed buckets of ice in their daughter-in-law's bedroom to cool it down.
"Yes, it's still in the storage room. After I finished my postpartum confinement, I was planning to resell this ice maker, but I got delayed by other things and it's been sitting in the storage room ever since!"
When Leng Jiajia heard her mother-in-law mention the ice maker, she was also very excited.
He immediately stood up from the sofa, strode to the door of the storage room, and opened it.
This is called a storage room, but it's actually a children's room. My daughter is still young, so it's temporarily being used as a storage room.
Upon opening the door, she immediately saw the ice maker inside.
Before his daughter-in-law could give any instructions, Grandpa Lu hurried to the storeroom and together they pushed the ice maker out.
The ice maker was equipped with casters at the bottom, and the two of them easily pushed it into the living room.
Fortunately, this thing is not very big.
"Shall we test if this ice maker still works?"
Grandpa Lu looked at the ice maker and couldn't wait to plug it into the socket connected to the solar power equipment.
"Dad, this ice maker is a bit too powerful. If we use it, we can't use the air conditioner and refrigerator at the same time!"
Leng Jiajia reminded Grandpa Lu.
But as soon as she finished speaking, she deftly unplugged the air conditioner and refrigerator.
Anyway, we've put up insulation in the living room, so the air conditioning will last for a while. Even if it affects my daughter's sleep, it's more important to make sure the ice maker works properly.
Grandpa Lu had used this ice maker before, so he immediately fetched some spare water from the kitchen and filled it into the eight ice compartments inside the ice maker.
This ice maker can produce eight bars of ice at a time. He remembers that each bar weighs twenty pounds and takes four hours to make. It can make ice six times a day.
After he poured the water into the container, he put the lid on the ice maker.
"The red light is on! The red light is on!"
After the daughter-in-law plugged the ice maker into the power strip, the three of them—Grandpa Lu, his wife, and their daughter-in-law—stared intently at the indicator light on the ice maker.
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