After finishing the meal, the lights in the house were turned off. To save energy, only one candle was lit in the middle of the round table. The visibility was not very good, but Qiao Songzhi knew that if she took it back, her daughter would definitely take it back. If she made a big move and her in-laws saw it, it would be embarrassing. She had no choice but to eat it herself.
Later, she told Qiao Qingqing that she wouldn't have to do this in the future: "There's no shortage of food and drink at home, so why am I lacking that piece of chicken leg? You can eat it yourself in the future. Your mother-in-law is doing you a favor, you should appreciate it."
"I appreciate it, but I don't like the chicken in the chicken soup. I only like to drink the soup. Mom, please help me eat it." Qiao Qingqing hugged her mother and acted coquettishly. Qiao Songzhi soon couldn't stand it anymore. A smile appeared in the corners of her eyes, but she said disdainfully: "You are still picky at this time. Hurry up and change this bad habit."
"Change, change, change. I'll change it later."
On the second night after the temperature dropped, the lowest temperature at night dropped to minus 40 degrees Celsius. Shao Shengan got up to check the lines, and Qiao Qingqing went to the second bedroom and the attic to check before she felt relieved.
"The line is okay. Come here, I'll hold you." Shao Shengan crawled into the quilt and motioned Qiao Qingqing to lean on him.
Qiao Qingqing squeezed into his arms, feeling the warmth coming from the quilt and Shao Shengan's body, and soon fell sleepy.
Shao Shengan patted her back gently, and she fell asleep without knowing when.
Downstairs, Grandma Wang and her family couldn't sleep at first. One was sad that a relative had passed away, and the child was unwell. Another was that it was freezing cold and they couldn't adapt to the temperature. Their hands and feet were like lumps of ice, so how could they sleep? Until Grandma Wang's granddaughter, Wang Jiaxin, said in surprise, "Why do I feel that the room is not as cold as before?"
"It's cold everywhere, Mom, it's still very cold." Grandma Wang's great-granddaughter complained of the cold.
"I actually feel a little warmer, and the air isn't as cold when I breathe it."
"Aunt, I felt it too. It's warm up there," said Wang Jiale's daughter.
"I'll get up and take a look!"
Grandma Wang said to her, "Stop struggling. You've wasted all the heat I've accumulated with great difficulty."
Wang Jiaxin tucked the quilt into place and put on her clothes shivering. She looked up and reached upwards. An idea suddenly occurred to her and she quickly moved a chair and stood on it.
"Why are you still moving the chair? It's dark in the room, be careful!"
Unexpectedly, the granddaughter was not satisfied with climbing on the chair. She got out of bed, knocked on the door next door, and called her husband over.
The whole family was excited by her tossing and turning, but Wang Jiaxin was very excited and just said, "Wait, wait for my discovery!"
The family lit candles, and at Wang Jiaxin's request, her husband supported her on his shoulders and stood on a chair. Grandma Wang was about to faint watching from the side, and kept telling Wang Jiale to hold her brother-in-law well: "Don't fall!"
Wang Jiaxin held her breath and finally touched the ceiling as she wished.
"Put me down!"
After coming down, she lowered her voice and told her family as if she had discovered a treasure: "The ceiling is hot!"
Everyone was surprised and then didn't believe it.
"It's real, go and feel it for yourself if you don't believe me!"
Wang Jiale carried his wife on his back, and his wife also confirmed that the ceiling was hot. They tried both rooms and found that they were hot.
“It’s amazing.”
"Isn't there a fire burning upstairs?"
"That's impossible. It's impossible for the whole ceiling to be warm when burning fire." Wang Jiale asked Grandma Wang, "Grandma, didn't you say that Xiao Qiao's family was renovating a few months ago? Did they install floor heating?"
Grandma Wang thought hard and shook her head: "I didn't ask, but there was a lot of clanging. They moved the water tank up, and there was a big box, but I didn't know what it was."
Wang Jiale was a little disappointed.
His daughter suddenly said, "Dad, I heard Aunt Song downstairs say that Aunt Qiao's family has floor heating. What is floor heating, Dad?"
Wang Jiale was pleasantly surprised: "It seems to be true! Our family is really blessed."
My uncle sighed, "We don't have floor heating at home. Even if they have floor heating, how much warmth can it bring to our home?"
"It would be great if the temperature at home could rise a few degrees. Although it's below zero, there's still a difference between minus 40 degrees and minus 30 degrees. Okay, I'll take the thermometer and go next door tomorrow to find out how many degrees the temperature is in their room at night." Wang Jiale has grown a lot and told the children at home not to tell anyone.
"Otherwise I'll throw you out and make you popsicles!"
The children covered their mouths.
"Okay, okay, these are good children and they won't say anything nonsense. I will teach them." Grandma Wang said.
"Go to sleep. We have to collect firewood tomorrow."
The next day, Wang Jiale went to room 702 next door to inquire.
"I don't have a thermometer at home. It's just cold, so who cares what the temperature is!"
Wang Jiale went to room 802 to ask Zheng Tiehui.
"Damn it, I checked before I went to bed last night. It was minus 43 degrees Celsius. I couldn't sleep the whole night. I was freezing!" After complaining, Zheng Tiehui asked curiously, "Why are you asking this?"
"I'm just curious. Your house is on the eighth floor, and mine is on the seventh floor. Will the temperature be different on different floors?"
Zheng Tiehui sneered: "How much difference can there be? It's not like there's a difference of dozens of levels."
Wang Jiale went to visit Qiao Qingqing's home again. When he opened the door, Qiao Qingqing knew from his eyes that the Wang family already knew about it. She had nothing to worry about, so she smiled and asked him what was the matter.
Wang Jiale saw that she was frank and didn't seem to be afraid of him telling others. He smiled bitterly in his heart. Why would he tell others? Wouldn't that hurt others and not benefit himself? Qiao Qingqing seemed to have a good relationship with her grandmother. This friendship was rare, and he didn't want to take advantage of it. It was their ability to turn on the floor heating in 801, and it would be great if their family could get some of the heat.
"We are going to look for wood. Do you want to come?"
"I won't go to my house. I picked up some wood before, which is enough for now."
"That's good. I'll go downstairs first. Uncle Zheng opened the iron door. Remember to lock it."
Qiao Qingqing locked the door and returned to her room. Shao's father was lighting the coal stove on the balcony and the escape window was open for ventilation.
"They are all cigarettes, cough cough." Shao's mother coughed, "Do you know how to light it? If not, I'll do it."
"How can I not know how to cook it? Look, it's lit!" Father Shao closed the stove door and told him to let it simmer inside for a while.
"I'll get some sweet potatoes and throw them in to stew together," said Qiao Qingqing.
Shao Shengfei was happy when he heard about roasted sweet potatoes: "Okay, okay!"
Qiao Qingqing went to the kitchen to get some sweet potatoes and found a few thin ones. Shao's father took them and put them into the oven one by one.
When Shao Shengan said it was time for breakfast, the unique sweet aroma of roasted sweet potatoes emanated from the oven.
"It smells so good. Is it cooked?" he asked.
Father Shao shook his head with experience: "It's still early, it will be almost time after breakfast."
"It's fish porridge again today? It smells so good. Sheng An's cooking skills are getting better and better." Qiao Songzhi praised.
Today’s fish porridge still has a lot of ginger added, making it spicy and delicious.
"I also added some chili, just a little bit. Can you tell?" Shao Shengan asked with a smile.
"It's a little spicy, but delicious." Qiao Qingqing nodded. "Eating something spicy can keep you warm, but it can also cause you to get angry easily. Plus, we use floor heating, so it's too dry. I'll boil some honeysuckle water for you to drink later."
"Add rock sugar!" Shao Shengfei said hurriedly.
"Got it. I'll add lots of rock sugar."
"Don't listen to Feifei. Eating too much sweet food is not good for you. Qingqing, just add the right amount." Shao's father patted Shao Shengfei's head.
After breakfast, the sweet potatoes were ready, and everyone got one. It was really hot, so Qiao Qingqing tossed them with her left and right hands. Shao Shengan took it and peeled it for her, put it in the bowl, and then inserted a spoon: "Eat it."
"It's quite sweet, and it tastes like childhood." Qiao Qingqing said nostalgically. She looked at Shao Shengan, and Shao Shengan remembered the things that happened when they were young. Which day in high school was it? It was probably a weekend. They were both boarding students. He invited Qiao Qingqing to eat roasted sweet potatoes. He took her to dig a pit on the hillside near the school, collect firewood, and roast sweet potatoes... The sweet potatoes were sent from home to her aunt's house, and he secretly kept two.
"Do you still remember?"
Qiao Qingqing squinted her eyes and took another bite, but didn't respond to him. The sweet and soft sweet potatoes bloomed on her taste buds, simple and delicious. As she ate the sweet potatoes, she seemed to have returned to that autumn. It was the first time she had eaten such sweet potatoes. It was so amazing, so fun, and so delicious. Her mother was very strict with her, and she was also strict with herself. For her, this experience of hiding under the hillside to dig a pit and burn a fire to roast sweet potatoes was unprecedented and a happy memory worth remembering and cherishing.
"So many people are walking outside, wow, that person can fly!" Shao Shengfei was sitting on the balcony eating sweet potatoes and suddenly shouted.
Qiao Songzhi leaned over to take a look: "Oh, he is wearing roller skates, he is skating really fast."
"What are ice skates?" Shao Shengfei asked, looking up.
Facing Shao Shengfei's big eyes, Qiao Songzhi felt regretful, so she said gently: "It's a pair of shoes that can be used to skate on ice. After putting them on, you can fly like that person outside."
Shao Shengfei was even more eager: "Does our family have it?"
"We have it at home, too."
Qiao Qingqing took out the skates and skating sticks, one for each person. She originally wanted to buy a snowmobile, but then she thought, it would be fine to use the other supplies, but buying a snowmobile would be too ostentatious and not very useful. They would probably only live in this renovated house for the next few years, and there would be no need to go out for long distances. And for longer distances, they could use skates. It would be better to buy a few more bags of rice with the money for the snowmobile.
"If you go out normally, wear snow boots if you are not in a hurry, or wear skates if you are in a hurry. The weather is nice today, let's go downstairs and practice. Big brother hasn't come downstairs for a long time, mom and dad, let big brother come with us."
Finally the whole family came down.
Except for Qiao Qingqing and Shao Shengan, no one else had any experience. Qiao Qingqing taught Qiao Songzhi and Shao's mother, while Shao Shengan took care of his father and Shao Shengfei. The family started practicing in the open space of the community. Perhaps it was because humans have a desire to conquer the earth and fly. Soon Qiao Songzhi and Shao's mother found the fun of gliding. After mastering the skills, they couldn't wait to glide on their own. Qiao Qingqing followed them closely and helped them up when they were about to fall.
On the other side, Shao's father had a difficult time learning. When Shao Shengfei was able to slide freely, he still had to hold on to the wall to move slowly.
“Where did you get these roller skates? They’re so cool!” Grandpa Wang’s nephew, Wang Jiale’s cousin, shouted from the balcony.
Shao Shengan nodded at him but didn't answer.
The uncle thought about it and went back to the house to ask Wang Jiale if there was an ice rink nearby.
"Yes, there are, but they are definitely under the ice."
My uncle sighed, "If I had known this would happen, I would have used my savings to buy him thousands of pairs of skates!"
His granddaughter interrupted: "Buy cake and instant noodles!"
This sentence made the children in the family drool. The uncle regretted it and interrupted: "If there is no skates, then there is no skates. We don't need to go far and we won't need them."
Grandma Wang said quietly, "Skates slide fast. If we go out in the morning, can we go back and forth during the day?"
Wang Jiaxin suddenly understood what grandma meant. Her heart ached and her eyes turned red. "It should be possible. Fushan, Fushan is not far away..." She looked at Wang Jiale expectantly. Wang Jiale nodded immediately. "I'll go ask. I'll borrow from Xiaoqiao and the others!"
downstairs.
"Sheng An, I want to go see Wenwen." Qiao Qingqing slid over.
"I'll go with you."
After practicing for two hours, Shao's father and the others were tired. Qiao Qingqing sent them upstairs and packed some things to go out. Shao Shengfei looked at them expectantly: "Can I go?"
Qiao Qingqing thought about it and nodded.
It turned out that Shao Shengfei and Shao Shengan were brothers. They were very talented in ice skating and had mastered it after only two hours of learning. They did not fall behind while skating on the ice and their expressions were very relaxed and happy.
Qiao Qingqing led the way in front, Shao Shengfei followed behind her, and Shao Shengan was at the back. They avoided obstacles and pedestrians and moved very quickly.
This time, it can be called a "long trip". Qiao Qingqing and the others were dressed very tightly, with only their eyes exposed. Tired of gliding, feeling that the hot air was too stuffy and difficult to breathe, Qiao Qingqing pulled down the part of the fleece windproof hat that covered her face a little to breathe in some fresh air. The cold wind blew, and Qiao Qingqing felt her throat dry and itchy after taking a breath, so she had no choice but to cover her nose again.
While skiing, she was holding two ski poles in her hands. In front of her was a large flat ground without any obstacles. She bent down slightly and poked the ground with her poles. The metal tip of the pole rubbed against the ice, and she used the force to speed up and slid a long distance.
It took them an hour to reach Yuan Xiaowen's relative's house. The speed was slower than when they used the speedboat, but it was acceptable. It would take more than two hours to get there if they just walked.
"Wenwen is in the hospital."
Yuan Xiaowen and his wife and his parents-in-law were not at home, so they were received by a relative. The relative was shivering with cold and explained: "The temperature suddenly dropped that night, and Wenwen saw blood... Yanhai took her to the hospital. The situation is not good, alas!"
After asking for the address, Qiao Qingqing rushed to the hospital with Shao Shengan.
There were unexpectedly few people in the hospital, which Shao Shengan found strange.
"Many people died that night." Qiao Qingqing said. Shao Shengan felt heavy-hearted after hearing this.
After asking at the front desk about the ward, Qiao Qingqing saw the haggard and weak Yuan Xiaowen. Yuan Xiaowen moved her mouth and tears fell: "Qingqing, godmother, you can't do it."
She was so sad and in pain that Qiao Qingqing couldn't help but have tears in her eyes.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
