After everyone finished breakfast, they continued clearing the snow.
This continued for several days in a row; the heavy snow kept falling and showed no sign of stopping.
During the day, the group worked tirelessly to clear the snow, without daring to stop.
If the snow isn't cleared away promptly, it will be much more difficult to clean it next time.
The snow outside the courtyard is now up to their thighs. Neither Lu Chuan, Xu Han, nor the Taoist priest and Grandpa Zhao have ever seen such heavy snow.
It seems this is indeed a snow disaster. Fortunately, there are almost no people left at the foot of the mountain now. If this had happened in previous years, how many more lives would this heavy snow have claimed?
It was already the twelfth day of the first lunar month in the blink of an eye. The heavy snow had lasted for seven days. When Xu Han woke up this morning, she found that the snow outside had gradually stopped.
Only a few small snowflakes were still slowly drifting down from the sky. "It looks like the snow will stop today."
"It must have snowed more when we woke up this morning; it's snowing less now," Lu Chuan replied.
"The snow wasn't very deep last night, and it will be cleared soon," Grandpa Zhao said.
"Finally, I don't have to clear the snow anymore. I've been shoveling snow every day for the past few days, and my arms are about to give out," the Taoist priest complained as he shoveled snow.
"Almost there, almost there, we've finally made it through. Next comes the even tougher snow melting period. Fortunately, there's not much snow in the yard right now, we just need to clear it today, and there won't be too much mud and water when it melts," Xu Han said.
"I'm afraid we won't be able to go up the mountain for a while. The snow outside is so deep, it will definitely take a long time to melt."
“Then let’s not go outside. We have enough water and food now, so there’s no need to go outside,” Grandpa Zhao said.
"Hmm, let's see if any fresh wild vegetables come out after the snow melts, then we can have a change of pace." Xu Han was already looking forward to digging for wild vegetables.
There aren't many vegetables left in the space, and the kinds of vegetables I like to eat are almost gone. It's time to replenish some fresh vegetables.
"This year's rainfall is too heavy, so there's definitely no way to plant anything. Even if we did plant, there probably wouldn't be a harvest. We'll have to rely on wild vegetables from the mountains for the rest of the year," Grandpa Zhao said.
"By the way, I was thinking of growing some vegetables to eat this year. Since we might not be able to eat them if we grow them in the ground, let's make a few big wooden boxes and put them in the corridor to grow them!"
"That way, it won't get wet in the corridor when it rains, and it can get some sunshine when it doesn't rain. We're sure to get something out of it eventually," Xu Han suggested.
“Okay, we have plenty of wood at home anyway, so we can make a few to try. We can’t grow other things, but vegetables have a short growth cycle, so this is definitely something we can grow,” Lu Chuan said.
"After we clear the snow off the roof and in the yard, let's take advantage of the time now and try making a few."
“Okay, let’s make a few to try first. If it works well, we’ll make more wooden boxes. There are a lot of hallways in the house, and we can grow quite a few in the boxes. It’ll definitely be enough to eat,” Xu Han said.
"I'll do it after I finish clearing the snow," Lu Chuan replied.
After everyone had finished discussing, Xu Han stopped talking and went into the kitchen to eat breakfast.
After Xu Han finished breakfast, Lu Chuan and the others cleared all the snow off the roof.
Xu Han helped shovel snow, and then they started carrying snow outside.
By noon, the snow had completely stopped, but the sky was still overcast.
But judging from the current situation, it seems unlikely that it will snow again today. If all goes well, the sun will come out tomorrow.
After lunch, the group gathered in the main room of the backyard to make a large wooden chest together.
Each box is about 1.5 meters long, 80 centimeters wide, and 30 centimeters deep.
They made about six large wooden crates before stopping.
"The boxes are finished now, but the temperature is too low, so the vegetables definitely won't grow."
"When the weather gets a little warmer, we'll put the seeds inside and scatter them. We'll move them outside when the temperature is higher," Xu Han said, looking at the newly made box from left to right.
"We don't understand this either, you two just keep an eye on the planting." The Taoist priest waved his hand dismissively.
"Yes, we'll plant more of your favorite water spinach then," Lu Chuan said to Xu Han.
"Okay, we'll also plant some romaine lettuce and bok choy," Xu Han said with a smile.
Everyone spent the afternoon making all the large wooden crates. It wasn't dinner time yet, so the group quickly moved to the woodshed.
There was still a lot of firewood that hadn't been properly processed last time, and it was all piled up in the woodshed and wood storage room. There was also a lot more in Xu Han's space.
Since I have some free time recently, I'll chop all the firewood and put it in the woodshed first. It will be more convenient to burn it later, as I won't need to chop firewood anymore.
We'll stock up on more firewood when the weather clears up. There will definitely be more rain in the summer. We've only stocked up on half a room's worth of firewood so far, which is definitely not enough for the whole year.
The household needs a lot of firewood, whether for cooking, boiling water for bathing, etc. It's better to stock up on more, since there's space to store it now. Firewood is an essential household item, so even if you stock up too much, you won't have to worry about using it all up eventually.
Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned. I thought it wouldn't snow today, but in the evening, light snowflakes started falling again, thankfully not heavily.
I don't know if it will rain again tomorrow; all I can do now is hope it won't.
Who knows how long it will take for this deep snow to melt! If it continues to snow, the snow will probably be waist-deep, making it even more difficult to walk.
"It's snowing again." Xu Han looked at the snow outside, her face no longer showing the excitement she had a few days ago when it snowed, but instead filled with worry.
"Judging from the sky, it shouldn't rain too heavily anymore," Lu Chuan replied.
"I don't know how it is in other places. After the heavy snow blocked the mountains, we couldn't get any news from the outside world," Xu Han said as she gently patted Mu'er to put her to sleep.
"Don't think about it. Natural disasters are beyond our control. We should be grateful that we survived the drought; life will definitely get better from now on," Lu Chuan comforted him.
“That’s true. We are lucky. If it weren’t for the Taoist priest and Grandpa Zhao, we probably wouldn’t have been able to survive in these deep mountains.” Xu Han’s melancholy expression changed, and she said with a smile.
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