Having gotten used to going to bed early and waking up early, Chen Shuning opened her eyes at six o'clock sharp. Since it gets light late now, she doesn't need to get up too early.
After opening her eyes and lingering in the warm bed for a while, Chen Shuning got up and folded the blankets.
Breakfast and lunch were prepared last night, so Chen Shuning wasn't in a hurry to cook after getting up.
First, he scooped out the burnt-out coal ash from the stove and poured it onto the ground in the backyard, then he added some more coal back into the stove.
Today, Chen Shuning was going to be away all day and didn't want to come back to a cold house. Instead of burning wood as usual during the day, he pressed coal briquettes. Coal briquettes burn longer, so the fire in the stove wouldn't go out when he returned.
After finishing all that, Chen Shuning started washing up, otherwise he would be covered in ash again. At this time of year, everything in the countryside is good: the air is fresh, the food is good, and it's good to hibernate. But the only problem is that cleaning out the ashes from the stove every day is too dirty.
When He Chaoyang was around, he did all these chores, so looking at the water in the washbasin filled with black coal ash, Chen Shuning started missing someone again.
After throwing the face wash, which couldn't be exposed to the light, back into her spatial storage, Chen Shuning scooped a basin of hot water from the pot and washed her face a second time. Otherwise, looking at the dark water, she always felt that she wasn't getting clean.
Fortunately, the stove was always running in winter, so we were able to enjoy hot water freely.
After washing up, Chen Shuning took out the ham and cheese sandwich that she had prepared the night before and kept in her space to keep it fresh, and began to eat it heartily.
During He Chaoyang's stay, the two of them ate Chinese breakfasts all the time, such as steamed buns, mantou, pies, and fried dough sticks.
Chen Shuning had been craving sandwiches and hamburgers for a long time. During this period, He Chaoyang kept an eye on her while she ate, so she couldn't eat less for dinner to save room for a late-night snack.
So, no sooner had He Chaoyang left than Chen Shuning couldn't wait to eat these things that weren't suitable to be eaten right now.
After finishing her breakfast to her heart's content, Chen Shuning had just put on her thick cotton-padded coat when she heard Liu Shumei calling her from outside. She quickly responded, put on her hat and gloves, picked up her small bamboo basket, and went out the door.
As I went outside, I saw that Zhong Lingling next door was also locking her door, and everyone else was also dressed warmly and waiting in the yard.
After greeting everyone with a smile, Chen Shuning locked his door, put the key in his pocket (actually, he threw it into his spatial storage), and then followed the group towards the back mountain.
It was only early October, but Heilongjiang Province already looked like winter.
In the bitter cold, the mountains and forests appear even more tranquil in winter.
Without snow, the clear streams of Daqingshan Mountain sparkled in the sunlight, and the distant mountains appeared even more precipitous against the backdrop of the blue sky. Although the trees on the mountain had lost their leaves, they still stood firmly in the cold wind.
The occasional squirrel leaping through the woods brings a touch of life to the quiet winter day.
The mountain path, free of snow and weeds, was easier to walk on than usual, but because of the cold weather and the extra layers of clothing, everyone's pace slowed down considerably.
After walking for nearly an hour and a half, the educated youth finally arrived at the hillside where they had gathered firewood the day before.
The men took saws to find sturdy dead trees, while the women carried bamboo baskets and scattered to search for any leftover mountain produce nearby. They also picked up some medium-sized dead branches to burn during the day.
Chen Shuning followed Wang Chunni and Xu Laidi toward a place that was said to have many pine cones.
Last night, just after Liu Shumei and Zhong Lingling left, Wang Chunni brought over a lot of pine cones, saying that she had discovered a pine forest and that many of them had fallen to the ground.
Pine cones are a great thing. Not only are pine nuts edible, but pine cones are also excellent fuel. Throw a few in when cooking, and the flames will be very strong, making them perfect for stir-frying.
So this is very popular in the village. Wang Chunni and Xu Laidi are living on their own, so they have to prepare their own firewood. Therefore, the two of them are even more tired than during the autumn harvest.
The two women weren't very strong, so they couldn't move the large logs. These days they mostly collected dry branches as thick as their arms.
This thing burns very quickly. Luckily, there are two of them, so they can take turns getting up in the middle of the night to add fuel to the fire. Otherwise, the two of them would have had a tough time this winter.
Seeing that Wang Chunni had obviously lost weight, Chen Shuning thought for a moment and then said, "Chunni, Lai Di, I want to go to town tomorrow. I want to see if I can buy some more coal at the black market. I have quite a lot of coal, but Brother He said it might not be enough to burn through the winter, so I want to go and see if I can buy some more. Do you two want to buy some too?"
Although Xu Laidi's family was not well-off, she knew what was important. It was only the beginning of October, and it was already this cold. If it got this cold in winter, wouldn't people freeze to death?
So she had discussed it with Wang Chunni earlier that morning, wanting to see if they could buy some firewood or something.
The two of them had been asking around the village for the past two days, but very few people in the village sold firewood. In winter, everyone was worried about not having enough firewood to burn, so who would sell it?
The two knew that coal was hard to buy, so they planned to wait until it got really cold in a few days and go to town to see if they could buy some wood scraps or charcoal.
So when Chen Shuning mentioned it, their eyes lit up, especially Wang Chunni, who was fed up with getting up every night to add fuel to the fire because it was so cold.
So he hurriedly replied, "Yes, yes, of course! Chunni and I were thinking of going to town last night. We were worried that coal would be hard to buy, but we thought we could at least buy some charcoal."
"But Shuning, do you know where the black market is?"
"I've never been there either, but last time I was strolling around town, I saw an alley that looked a lot like a black market, so I asked an old lady who came out of it, and she said that was the black market."
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