"It smells so good, can you smell it?" Zheng Liangying asked in Room 802.
"What's that smell?" Mrs. Zheng frowned.
"It's just a fragrance, a very fragrant smell, I can't tell what it is, what kind of meat is that smells so good——"
Mrs. Zheng sneered, "Who else can eat delicious meat these days except ours? You must be smelling our braised pork."
Zheng Liangying frowned. The meat at home was not very fresh. She thought it smelled bad. But she didn't want to argue with her mother. When she heard her mother complaining about the cold, she had to close the balcony, leaving only a crack for ventilation.
The wind was so strong tonight that it was blowing everywhere like needles. The plastic film wrapped around the windows was rustling. In order to avoid the cold, every family closed their doors and windows. If it weren't for the fear of carbon monoxide poisoning from burning fires in the house for heating, everyone would have wished to leave no gaps at all.
After Qiao Qingqing's family finished their reunion dinner, it was completely dark. In this weather, there was no need to keep vigil. After dinner, everyone took a rest and went to bed.
Qiao Qingqing tossed and turned and couldn't sleep, so she went to the balcony to measure the outdoor temperature.
"It's minus fifty-one degrees Celsius." She turned and said to Shao Shengan.
"It's three degrees Celsius lower than the same time yesterday. This winter has been so hard to endure. As you said, the big drop in temperature has come earlier, and perhaps its duration will be shortened." Shao Shengan tried to be optimistic.
"I hope so."
Listening to the whistling wind outside the window, Qiao Qingqing slowly fell asleep.
On the first day of the new year, there was no festive atmosphere at all, only endless coldness.
"Sheng An and I will go get the supplies today. Dad, you take a rest."
Father Shao was worried: "It's colder today than usual, and the wind is strong. Can you make it?"
Qiao Qingqing nodded: "I'm wearing thick clothes, I'll be fine."
The wind blew all day without stopping, and Qiao Qingqing and Shao Shengan struggled to move forward in the cold wind. The wind was too strong to wear skates, so she tied crampons on the soles of her shoes, but she still walked very slowly in the strong wind.
"Be careful!" Shao Shengan shouted.
Qiao Qingqing made a gesture to reassure him.
There were many people walking against the wind like them. One person accidentally fell and rolled for several meters before stopping. His screams and cries of pain could be heard in the wind.
It took almost forty minutes to walk to Jinyuan Primary School.
"You take a break, I'll go and queue up." Shao Shengan said.
"Let me line up with you. It doesn't matter where we stand."
The line was very long. While waiting in line, Qiao Qingqing observed the people who received the supplies first and found that today's supplies were a little different.
"Today's supplies should be instant noodles and ham. There seems to be a package in pink packaging, but I don't know what it is." Shao Shengan also took a few looks.
"You'll know in a moment." It happened so long ago that Qiao Qingqing couldn't remember it.
When it was Qiao Qingqing's turn, the other party looked at her ID card and gave her a bag of five instant noodles, a bag of ham and two bottles of water, and finally a pack of sanitary napkins.
Qiao Qingqing thanked her and put the things away.
It turns out the pink package is a sanitary napkin.
She asked for details, and the staff said that it was divided according to age, and only women aged 14 to 55 were entitled to sanitary napkins. In this way, Qiao Songzhi and Shao's mother had no share of sanitary napkins. When leaving, Qiao Qingqing heard a man asking, "Why doesn't my mother have any?"
The staff's explanation was blown away by the wind: "...over 55 years old...supplies are scarce...understand..."
"But my mother still..."
Qiao Qingqing turned around and saw that the man's face was flushed and he was awkwardly gesticulating and saying something to the staff.
She pulled Shao Shengan: "Wait a moment."
The man quickly received the supplies and left the team, but he did not leave. He stood aside and looked around. A young couple came out with the supplies, and he quickly went up to them, gestured, and took out the sausage. The young man shook his head and took his wife away.
"I'll switch with you." Qiao Qingqing went over.
The man turned around in surprise. Qiao Qingqing saw his face up close and estimated that he was in his thirties.
"Girl, are you really going to change it for me?"
"I'll trade with you."
The man was a little happy, but also a little embarrassed. After all, it was embarrassing for a grown man to talk to a young woman about sanitary napkins. "Thank you! Thank you! I'll give you some ham instead. Ham is delicious and nutritious."
Qiao Qingqing nodded: "I have some at home, I'll give you this pack for a little cheaper. I don't like ham, just give me a pack of instant noodles."
"One pack?"
Seeing Qiao Qingqing nod, the man was very surprised. He looked at Qiao Qingqing's face and saw that she was sincere. He understood that this was her kindness, and hurriedly thanked her: "Thank you, thank you sister."
After changing, he stuffed the things into his clothes, smiled embarrassedly at Qiao Qingqing and Shao Shengan, and walked away with the supplies on his back with a red face.
"Come on, let's go home."
Shao Shengan picked up the scraps of paper that the wind had blown onto her hat, and said with a slightly curved eye: "Let's go."
On the way back, they encountered some troubles. At a corner, three men surrounded them, and Shao Shengan's aura suddenly changed, and he subconsciously stopped Qiao Qingqing behind him.
"Put your things down and get out of there!" The leading man banged the steel pipe in his hand, and the only pair of eyes that were exposed showed ruthlessness.
The other two people slowly approached Qiao Qingqing and the others, surrounded them, and also held machetes and iron rods in their hands.
Shao Shengan squeezed Qiao Qingqing's hand, then responded loudly: "Okay, let's go."
Qiao Qingqing followed Shao Shengan's actions, took off the backpack on her back and placed it carefully on the ground.
The weapons in the hands of the three men all drooped a little, and they had obviously relaxed their vigilance, thinking that the couple could not do anything. Shao Shengan took Qiao Qingqing's hand and walked towards the path they made way for. Qiao Qingqing lowered her eyes and looked at her and Shao Shengan's hands tightly clasped together.
She exhaled softly and followed him obediently.
The cold wind blew, and she couldn't help blinking to relieve the itchiness in her eyes. Her long and curled eyelashes trembled. Although her face was covered, when she walked past the robbers, the man glanced at her casually and his eyes suddenly widened.
"Boss." The man gestured excitedly to the leader, "She's a beauty!"
Shao Shengan heard it, grabbed Qiao Qingqing's hand tightly and left quickly.
The leader waved his hand: "Beauty can be used as food or as a tool."
"Boss, I don't even have a wife. You all have wives but I don't."
The leader was getting impatient: "You've never seen a woman in your entire life, okay, stop in front, I have something to tell you!"
Shao Shengan was so angry that his eyes were bloodshot. How could he be willing to stop? Instead, he walked faster.
Three people from behind caught up with them. They were wearing roller skates and they quickly caught up with them.
"Put on your shoes and run first!" Shao Shengan said to Qiao Qingqing, pulling out the self-defense baseball bat from his waist and turning around to rush towards them.
He hit the man in the front with a stick, and the man screamed and bent over to retreat, hugging his arms. The leader was very angry and swung the steel pipe to hit Shao Shengan on the head. Shao Shengan had never been in a fight before, so he just relied on instinct to avoid it, and he also had to distract himself to see if his wife had run away. He remembered that there was a third person, and that third person -
"Ah!" With a scream, the third person fell to the ground with a bloody head. A pair of shoes with crampons stepped on the person's neck, making the person gasp for air. Where Shao Shengan couldn't see, Qiao Qingqing grabbed the other person's hand and threw him over her shoulder. She also distracted herself to see the situation on Shao Shengan's side. Seeing that Shao Shengan seemed to be stunned, and someone behind him hit the back of his head, she quickly shouted to remind him.
"Watch your back!"
Shao Shengan finally came to his senses and narrowly avoided the leader's attack. Qiao Qingqing kicked the defeated opponent hard, and when he saw that he had fainted, she picked up his machete and went to support Shao Shengan.
She stabbed the leader in the stomach with great accuracy. Because he was wearing thick clothes, the blood did not flow down for a while. However, there were bright red marks on the machete in Qiao Qingqing's hand, which quickly froze into red blood clots in the cold wind. She stared at the other party, moving her feet and approaching. At this moment, she was completely different from usual. No one could see her beauty from the only eyes she showed. They could only feel the murderous intent in her big eyes.
That was the hungry wolf in the ice and snow, with an eager, direct and cruel desire to attack when it saw its prey.
The leader covered his stomach and spat, "Damn it, you little bitch are looking for death!"
Qiao Qingqing seemed to smile disdainfully, she rushed forward, and Shao Shengan could only grab the edge of her clothes.
“Qingqing!”
Facing Qiao Qingqing's attack, the leading man was obviously very angry. He shouted and rushed forward. He was wearing skates, which obviously gave him an advantage in movement. Qiao Qingqing did not compete with him in agility. She stood firm, first dodged the opponent's stick, turned around and used force on her waist, turned around and kicked him, kicking him backwards and falling to the ground. Taking advantage of the victory, Qiao Qingqing threw the machete in her hand.
"ah!"
The man rolled over to avoid the attack, the tip of the knife pierced his clothes, and cold sweat dripped from his forehead.
Pulling out the knife for self-defense from her waist, Qiao Qingqing drew the knife out of its sheath. The sharpened jungle knife flashed with a cold light. She approached step by step. The man hurriedly stepped back, looking around for his weapon.
"Don't move!"
"Girl, beautiful girl, don't get excited." The man quickly raised his hands in surrender. "Look, we didn't do anything to you two young couples, but you two beat us up instead!"
Shao Shengan, who was standing by, was shocked and immediately came forward to support. Qiao Qingqing threw the rope to him and said, "Tie them up."
“That one ran away.”
Qiao Qingqing looked behind her and saw that the man who was hit in the hand by Shao Shengan at first tried to use his left hand to take the weapon to help, but the situation changed drastically in a short period of time, so he chose to escape.
"It's okay. They must know each other. Tie him up and take him to the Jinyuan Primary School supply ship and let them handle it."
"Hey, beauty! Beauty! Sister! We really didn't mean it. We just wanted to make some extra money because of the pressure of life. Please don't be so heartless!"
"Shut up." Qiao Qingqing picked up a steel pipe and hit him with it, successfully knocking him dizzy and he stopped talking disgustingly.
She picked up her things again, took off the skates of the two robbers and planned to give them back to 701 and 702 downstairs, but before that, she and Sheng An could use them first. The two put on their skates and dragged the robbers to Jinyuan Community, attracting many onlookers on the way. After seeing the armed police, Qiao Qingqing told them what happened, and the two robbers refuted that it was a misunderstanding and that it didn't happen.
“I have a video.”
Qiao Qingqing took out her cell phone and opened the video, which captured the third person who escaped.
The two robbers were speechless for a moment.
The armed police detained the robbers. On the way back, Shao Shengan didn't say anything, just held her hand tightly. Qiao Qingqing was also silent all the way. The smell of blood lingered in her nose. She knew it was the smell of blood left by the knife on her waist. Her pounding heartbeat gradually calmed down. Qiao Qingqing thought, as long as Shao Shengan held her hand, she would not be lost.
When they got home, the couple's slightly disheveled appearance made their family members a little worried. Shao Shengan said lightly: "We encountered a robbery. We must be more careful when we go out next time."
Amidst the concern and care from their family members, Qiao Qingqing and her friends took a shower and changed their clothes.
"Mom, what are you doing?" Qiao Qingqing asked with a smile.
"I'm making buns. It's winter now, and it's a big natural freezer." Qiao Songzhi replied, nodding her chin and motioning Qiao Qingqing to sit down and talk.
"Your mother-in-law went to wash clothes. Qingqing, tell me the truth, did you really get robbed? I saw Sheng An's face was as black as rags, but you are still smiling."
"It's not good for me to smile. Do I have to cry?" Qiao Qingqing joked.
"Stop laughing, it's so ugly."
Qiao Qingqing stopped laughing and lowered her head to play with the hem of her sweater: "Nothing, I really encountered a robber, I beat the robber and stabbed him, Sheng An must have been a little scared."
Qiao Songzhi was also frightened. She couldn't help but look at her daughter. Even though she looked bloated after wearing so many clothes, her exposed face and hands showed that her daughter was not a strong person. Fighting with robbers? The scene was terrifying just to imagine. She asked in a low voice, "Did you win?"
"Well, we won."
"It's good that you won! Sheng An must be worried about you. You haven't recovered yet. I told you to exercise when you have free time these days, doing push-ups and sit-ups, and you can persist for a long time. It seems that exercise is effective, which is a good thing. I will practice with you later. If I encounter any problems in the future, my bones can still bear it." Qiao Songzhi breathed a sigh of relief.
Qiao Qingqing felt more relieved: "Then I'll take you to practice together."
After chatting for a while, Shao Shengan came out. He seemed to have sorted out his mood and greeted Qiao Songzhi with a smile.
After lunch, Qiao Qingqing went downstairs to give two pairs of skates to Grandma Wang, and then went home to join the army of making dumplings.
While Shao's mother went to the bathroom, Qiao Songzhi whispered to Qiao Qingqing, "The water in my second bedroom is frozen. Go collect it later."
The weather now is a natural freezer. Qiao Qingqing didn't prepare ice cubes for the hot summer weather before, and planned to wait until the temperature dropped to make it, which would save more money. Her mother lives in a room by herself, and no one usually goes in. She cooperates with the second bedroom to freeze ice cubes.
Hearing this, she nodded: "Then I'll collect it later."
"Okay, just put the new bucket in after you collect it. I'll watch it."
Just as the mother and daughter finished their conversation, Shao Shengan said outside:
"I'm taking out the trash."
Qiao Qingqing quickly turned around and said, "I'll go too."
During a flood, people throw garbage around randomly, and the water will take everything away. Now that the flood has frozen, people dare not throw things downstairs casually, and gradually the uninhabited areas nearby have become garbage disposal points. The two threw away the garbage and went home. On the way, Shao Shengan stopped and looked at her: "Qingqing, I feel useless."
"You are the best Shao Shengan, and no one can replace you in my heart." Qiao Qingqing stared into his eyes.
To Qiao Qingqing's surprise, Shao Shengan's eyes turned red, and his eyelashes were soaked with tears. He wiped his eyes vigorously with his sleeves and pressed Qiao Qingqing into his arms. Qiao Qingqing leaned quietly on his chest and hugged his waist.
"I will protect you and this family well from now on, and I won't let you suffer."
Qiao Qingqing's nose also felt sore. She knew that Shao Shengan was talking about his previous life: "It's hard to support it alone. Let's protect this family together."
"Okay, let's work together."
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