vrcanaries Chapter 215: Extreme Cold Doomsday: Daily Life in the Basement
Chapter 215: Extreme Cold Doomsday: Daily Life in the Basement
For the next period of time, the whole village crowded into the basement. Although it was a little noisy at times, it was generally harmonious.
Originally, due to the avalanche, many people's houses were damaged. They should have been heartbroken and helpless. However, with the examples of Li Yue and Zhou Zhuyuan, everyone tried to laugh off the hardship and comforted themselves, thinking that as long as no one was hurt, it was fine.
In addition, Jiang Jiang promised that since this was a natural disaster, she had bought an insurance policy when the factory was being built and the house was being repaired. After the disaster was over, she might be able to claim the insurance and reduce the losses.
In fact, Jiang Jiang knew clearly that even if he bought insurance, he would not be able to afford the compensation for such a global disaster even if all insurance companies went bankrupt.
But her words did make the whole village feel better, and everyone felt that there was hope for the future.
"It's okay that this house collapsed. If the old one doesn't go, the new one will come. I've worked outside for two years and saved 10,000 or 20,000 yuan, which is just enough to build a grand new house for my family."
Xu Dazhuang put aside his bold words. If he wasn't curled up in bed, maybe some aunties in the village would be interested in him and introduce their daughters or nieces to him.
"You are the only one who is meddling in other people's business." Old man Xu glanced at the unruly Xu Dazhuang, and the depression in his heart eased a little.
Yes, it’s okay if the house is damaged. At most, you can buy some cement bricks and repair it yourself. As long as everyone is safe, that’s all that matters.
The men and women of Qingshan Village have learned a lot from the construction team recently, and have no problem repairing the houses in their own village.
This way, you spend less money.
The atmosphere in the entire Qingshan Village became relaxed. Yes, suffering a disaster is not a big deal. Everyone is safe and sound. This is the greatest blessing.
"Yes, K."
"Wang Bang!"
"You lose again. Come on, it's my turn."
In the bright basement, a group of men on the left are playing poker. The loser will go to the generator and step on it for ten minutes. Then the next person will take over. The loser will be responsible for cleaning the basement.
Others gathered around the people playing chess and gave their opinions.
In the middle, there is a group of middle-aged women leading their young wives to knit sweaters or sew shoe soles.
The yarn they used was the one Jiang Jiang brought back last time. It was a large box of yarn, enough to keep them busy for a long time. Not to mention, many people had bought material before, so they just happened to have some free time.
They were busy with their hands and their mouths were never resting. They were gossiping and laughter could be heard from time to time.
On the far right is a paradise for young people, with people playing flying chess, Gobang, and Monopoly in an endless stream. Jiang Jiang can even hear the sounds of girls jumping rubber bands.
"Weaving flower baskets, weaving flower baskets..."
Jiang Jiang put the book on her face, closed her eyes and meditated. In the noisy and warm environment, she slowly fell asleep.
"Boom~"
A loud noise was heard, and Jiang Jiang, who was sleeping soundly, was awakened.
The light in the basement flickered twice and then stayed on.
Everyone has become accustomed to it. Every now and then, there will be a loud noise outside. No one knows whether a piece of the mountain has collapsed or a small avalanche has occurred.
There was only a few seconds of silence before they continued with what they were doing.
At noon, everyone started cooking.
Due to lack of space in the basement, they cooked the food in the charcoal factory and brought it down.
"Quack, quack, quack."
"Cuckoo."
In the corner of the factory, a group of chickens and ducks were nesting in the hay. When they saw someone appear, they started to call out.
"Well, these uncles haven't eaten yet."
Jiang Jiang followed him upstairs and fed the chickens and ducks some food.
As the temperature continued to drop, each household's chickens and ducks could no longer be kept in the cellar, so they were simply brought to the factory, surrounded by fences, and sprinkled with dried corn kernels or rice every day.
The chickens and ducks were all moved in, and Wangcai's family, who had appeared at other people's places, also moved to the factory and faced the cages with chickens and ducks from across the room.
Every day Jiang Jiang opens the cage and lets them move around nearby.
To everyone's surprise, these foxes seemed to have become smart and knew that they could not touch the chickens and ducks in the captivity. At most, they would just come nearby to smell the scent, startle the chickens and ducks, and then leave.
Although they had the luxury of placing a stove near the chicken coop, the severe cold still took the lives of some chickens and ducks.
When chickens and ducks show signs of being frozen to death or frostbitten, they will become food for the people of Qingshan Village the next day.
Jiang Jiang also got a lot of chicken wings and chicken legs.
In recent days, Jiang Jiang discovered something strange. Every day when she let Wangcai's family go for activities, Wangcai and the fox mother would walk around the factory obediently, leaving their own scent and then return to their warm nest, but the fox father would run out of the factory like an arrow.
Jiang Jiang was not worried that it would never come back after it left, after all, its wife and son were still in his hands.
What she was worried about was that Fox Dad came back later and later every day, and every time he came back he was covered in snow and shivering with cold. What if one day he went out and never came back?
Moreover, it didn't go out for hunting. In the animal world where survival is paramount, Jiang Jiang couldn't understand what the fox father had to do that would make him brave the severe cold and abandon his wife who was about to give birth and his young son to do it.
The situation was the same today. As soon as Jiang Jiang opened the cage, Fox Dad jumped out without even eating.
Jiang Jiang shook his head and did not stop the fox father from leaving. Instead, he took better care of Wangcai and the fox mother whose belly had grown a lot bigger.
"Jiang Jiang, let's go, the meal is ready, let's take it down."
After Jiang Jiang finished feeding the chickens, ducks and foxes, the meals for the people on the other side were also ready.
The daily meals are relatively simple. Just cook some dry rice and a big pot of vegetables. Today's dish is pork, cabbage and vermicelli stewed with meat, vegetables and soup, which is enough to meet the needs of most people.
The pork in the village comes from local pigs raised by the villagers. They are not fed with feed normally, so the meat is tender and tastes much better than the feed-fed pigs and water-injected pigs in the city.
Jiang Jiang can eat two big bowls of rice.
Just like the cow in Old Man Xu’s house, this pig can no longer be raised and can only be killed first. Pork will not go bad no matter how long it is stored.
There are still tens of thousands of yuan left in the village's account. Zhang Qiang originally planned to keep it for future emergencies in the village, or to distribute some things during the New Year and other festivals, but now it comes in handy.
The cows of Old Man Xu and the pigs of Wang Jin were all bought by the village, and the pork and beef were eaten by the whole village.
In such cold weather, if you don’t eat some meat, you may not be able to survive.
Jiang Jiang took out his cell phone, took a look at it, and put it back into the space.
Today is January 30th, and there are still five days until the Chinese New Year.
The really cold time has not yet arrived.