Seeing that no one objected, Wang Lun gestured to Liu Ruoxi, "Go to bed and rest early, we have to keep watch for the rest of the night." As for the pots and pans, he left them to Li Ling and Liu Ruoling to take care of. After saying that, he stood up, went to the water that had been prepared, washed his hands, quickly finished his simple washing, and went straight to the bed, where he fell asleep immediately.
Seeing this, Liu Ruoxi quickly gave some instructions to Li Ling and Liu Ruoling, then went to wash and tidy herself up. After a few moments of washing, she went to rest on the kang (a heated brick bed). At this moment, only Li Ling and Liu Ruoling remained, having eaten their fill. They decided to sit a little longer, as it was still early and they could rest a bit more. After quite some time, Li Ling and Liu Ruoling began to gather the scattered bones. They collected the bones in one place, and at the same time, filled an unused iron pot with snow and placed it over the fire pit, using the fire to melt some of the snow for washing the pots and pans.
Li Ling and Liu Ruoling worked frantically for a long time, finally cleaning up the mess left after the meal. Now they could finally take a short break and catch their breath.
By the end of the day, all four of them were exhausted and utterly worn out. From dawn till dusk, they had hardly had a moment of peace and comfort to rest.
Looking back on today's experiences, it has truly been busy yet fulfilling! At dawn, Liu Ruoling was startled to discover a pack of wolves attacking the camp gate. Thanks to the early detection, a major disaster was averted. Once confirmed, everyone quickly got up from the warm heated kang (a traditional heated platform bed), showing no reluctance to linger there, and fearlessly confronted the wolves.
After a fierce battle, the wolf pack was finally driven back. After resting for a while until dawn, the four began to dispose of the wolf carcasses. This work continued until nightfall. However, by the time all this was done, a whole day had passed.
Throughout the long day, the four of them barely stopped for a moment, constantly busy. Wang Lun and Liu Ruoxi were relatively better off, having already settled down to rest on the earthen bed. However, Li Ling and Liu Ruoling needed to continue their vigil for a while longer, as they were responsible for keeping watch during the first half of the night, and this could not be taken lightly.
After everything was tidied up, Li Ling and Liu Ruoling had nothing left to do. But once they had some free time, things got a little tricky—before long, both of them started to doze off. Their eyelids kept bumping against each other, and their little heads drooped down little by little like chickens pecking at rice.
Finally, Liu Ruoling couldn't hold on any longer and fell heavily to the ground. The sudden fall caused her considerable pain, but it also dispelled her drowsiness, making her much more awake. At the same time, the heavy fall also startled Li Ling, who immediately perked up upon hearing the noise.
Upon hearing the sound, Li Ling quickly turned to look in the direction of the noise and saw Liu Ruoling lying on the ground in a disheveled state. Startled, she quickly stood up, walked to Liu Ruoling's side, carefully helped her up, and asked with concern, "Ruoling, how are you? Are you hurt?" Liu Ruoling gently shook her head, indicating that she was fine.
Li Ling breathed a slight sigh of relief, then advised, "Ruoling, why don't you go and rest? You've done so much today, you must be exhausted, and you got up so early, you must be sleepy. Go and rest, I can watch over things here." However, Liu Ruoling firmly shook her head and retorted, "Sister Li Ling, don't just talk about me, aren't you exhausted yourself? If I go to sleep, you'll be keeping watch alone. I bet it won't be long before you collapse to the ground like me. I'm okay, at least you can help me up. But if you fall, there won't be anyone to help you up, so don't just lie down and fall asleep." After saying that, Liu Ruoling laughed.
Li Ling was somewhat embarrassed and annoyed by Liu Ruoling's words, because she had almost dozed off just now, and being exposed made her blush slightly. She reached out and lightly patted Liu Ruoling, muttering, "Hmph, you think you know everything?" Liu Ruoling smiled mischievously and replied, "Hehe, of course I know!" Li Ling laughed helplessly and scolded, "What do you know? Stop talking nonsense, come sit down for a while, let's chat, time will pass quickly."
Liu Ruoling gently shook her head and said softly, "Sister Li Ling, I think it's better not to sit down. You might fall asleep again in a little while. It wouldn't be good if you fell again." After listening, Li Ling thought for a moment and agreed, so she slowly stood up as well.
After standing there for a while, Li Ling felt a bit silly and said, "Are we just going to stand here like this? Isn't that a bit boring?" Liu Ruoling blinked, her mind racing, and suddenly she had an idea. She excitedly suggested, "Sister Li Ling, how about we go to the door and build two cute little snowmen? Let them guard the door for us." Li Ling thought about it for a moment and found the idea quite interesting. Besides, she couldn't find anything else to do for fun right now, so she readily agreed.
Then, the two carefully half-closed the door, allowing the bright firelight from the hearth to shine through the crack and slightly illuminate the area in front of the door, while blocking most of the cold air from entering the house.
What they didn't know was that while they were engrossed in building that adorable snowman, Wang Lun was in a delicate situation. Because he was at the end of the kang (heated brick bed), less heat was reaching him, and the homemade window, being right next to him, wasn't very airtight, allowing cold air to pass through.
Normally, Wang Lun could sleep comfortably with just a blanket and the warmth from the kang (heated brick bed). But now, with the door slightly ajar, cold air slipped into the room. This cold air was directed directly at Wang Lun. The combined effect of these three factors caused a chill to creep over him. In his sleep, his body instinctively moved towards the warmth.
So the question arises: where is the warmest spot on the kang (heated brick bed)? Undoubtedly, it's the headboard! But unfortunately, Liu Ruoxi is positioned between Wang Lun and the headboard. To make matters worse, Liu Ruoxi is occupying the large, warm quilt that belongs to Li Ling and the other two all by herself. In that unnoticed moment, Wang Lun quietly approached the quilt and, like a kitten, slipped inside...
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