Entering Winter

“Has he left?”

“Yes, he has left,” Jiang Danhe replied with a relaxed nod.

But in the next instant, he felt a chill on his back. He turned around slowly and saw Xiaoguo’s smiling face, which was only a fist away. She looked beautiful and scary at the same time.

“… I’m hungry. Let’s eat.”

Jiang Danhe slowly stood up and lowered his head to dust himself off. Without looking at Xiaoguo, he walked straight into the house.

As long as they didn’t make eye contact, she wouldn’t ask him about it.

Seeing him tripping over himself, Xiaoguo couldn’t help but laugh. How silly! To think that he was such a scaredy cat. Xiaoguo shook her head and got up to close the door.

Then, she walked to the big basket that he had carried back. Only then did Xiaoguo realize what he had brought back.

There was a pile of green chestnuts in the basket. Xiaoguo rummaged around and realized that there were also white pears below the pile.

Looking at the basket of chestnuts and white pears, Xiaoguo felt a lump in her throat. So he had gone out to do this…

After dinner, the three of them lay on the bed. Everyone had taken their shower and were huddled together, enjoying each other’s company. Zhuang Zhuang was the one having the most fun.

Knowing that they were going to part ways the next day, the three of them did not feel sleepy. Even Zhuang Zhuang, who usually fell asleep the moment his head hit the pillow, stayed up until midnight.

—-

The next morning, Xiaoguo woke up and made a hot meal. She made use of whatever ingredients she could find in the house and made them into various dishes for breakfast.

The plain porridge and vegetable porridge were cooked with the remaining meat broth from the night before. Other than the sour and spicy shredded potatoes, there were also a few plates of cold dishes. The boiled eggs were made from duck eggs. There were also mini buns and steamed meat dumplings. Xiaoguo had cooked a little of everything she could.

“Whoa, Mother! Our breakfast is too sumptuous.”

After washing his hands, Zhuang Zhuang eagerly sat down and waited for dinner. His big eyes darted around as he tried to scan through the food with his eyes.

“When your father gets here, we’ll start eating.”

Xiaoguo helped Zhuang Zhuang to roll up his sleeves. At this moment, Jiang Danhe had finished packing and arrived at the dining table with his bag in hand.

“Mmm, how fragrant.”

Jiang Danhe sat on a chair and took in the visual feast, just like Zhuang Zhuang. Then, he started eating.

“Here.” Xiaoguo handed the porridge to Jiang Danhe. “Eat to your heart’s content so you won’t miss home.”

As Xiaoguo spoke, she pushed all the dishes towards him.

She still remembered attending boarding school since she was in junior high. At first, she went home once every two weeks. Later on, she went back once a month. After she entered university, due to her studies and the distance from home, she went back once every two or three months. At that time, her mother and father always prepared a table full of delicious food for her when she returned home and when she had to go back to campus. In her mother’s words, “Eat to your heart’s content so you won’t miss home.”

Now that Xiaoguo had prepared a table full of food, she was also feeling the same way.

While they were eating, Xiaoguo could vaguely hear the sound of footsteps and horses’ hooves at the door. She looked at Jiang Danhe, who was still eating, and more or less guessed that it was one of his men.

After dinner, Xiaoguo reluctantly sent Jiang Danhe off with Zhuang Zhuang. She didn’t know how he had conveyed the news to Zhuang Zhuang, but the boy was very calm when he bade goodbye to Jiang Danhe.

Looking at how Jiang Danhe was looking back repeatedly at them, Xiaoguo’s reluctance to part with him was mounting. However, in order not to embarrass herself, and not to let Jiang Danhe worry, Xiaoguo forced herself to smile and wave at him. She signaled to him with her eyes. “Remember to miss me.”

She knew that Jiang Danhe would definitely understand.

As expected, as soon as she finished speaking, Jiang Danhe grabbed the rope with one hand and gripped the horse’s belly. He waved at her vigorously, as if telling her that he would.

Xiaoguo smiled widely when she saw this. She wanted Jiang Danhe to remember her smile.

She had done it. When Jiang Danhe thought of that smile again in the future, it would still send ripples through his heart.

—-

“Mother, the river in the village has frozen.”

Zhuang Zhuang ran in with a flushed face. He was wearing a simple cotton outfit that Xiaoguo had made for him.

As soon as he entered the house, he stomped his feet because of the cold air outside.

Xiaoguo closed the door tightly. When she saw Zhuang Zhuang, she quickly handed him the hand stove in her hand. “Didn’t I tell you not to go to the river?”

“Brother Xiaohu wanted to go skating, so he brought us to see if there was any ice. I didn’t go down. When they saw that the river was frozen, they went ahead to play. I watched from the shore for a while before coming back.”

Zhuang Zhuang explained. He was a good child who listened to his mother. He definitely wouldn’t do the things that his mother didn’t allow him to do.

“Good son!”

Xiaoguo was overjoyed and rewarded Zhuang Zhuang with a head smack.

“Huh, Mother?”

Zhuang Zhuang covered his head and looked at her aggrievedly. He didn’t understand why he was getting smacked when he had been good.

“Acting?” Xiaoguo didn’t even look at him. She hadn’t used much strength. How could it hurt?

“Hehe.” Seeing that his little trick had been exposed, Zhuang Zhuang immediately hugged Xiaoguo and acted cute in front of her.

Amused, Xiaoguo hugged him back and looked at the bare scenery outside the window. It was already December. Unknowingly, Jiang Danhe had been away for more than a month. She wondered if the capital looked the same.

As expected, there were different sceneries in every season. In spring and summer, everything looked green and lively. In autumn, it would be yellow and glowy. In winter, everything looked bare. The trees would be bare, and the ground would be bare. Xiaoguo didn’t know if it was because of these two factors, but when she looked at the air, she thought that it felt bare too.

It hadn’t been too cold last month. Xiaoguo didn’t expect that in the blink of an eye, it was December. It was as if a switch had been turned on. Overnight, the temperatures had dropped drastically, completely catching her off guard.

For Xiaoguo, who was very reliant on the air conditioner and heater, the current conditions were hard for her to bear. It was pretty unexpected for her. She didn’t freeze to death during the apocalypse but in the ancient period, she was so cold that she didn’t want to leave her bed. If it weren’t for the fact that Zhuang Zhuang was still young, she wouldn’t have been able to get over the cold. In fact, she would have put him in charge of preparing all three meals each day.

At the thought of this, Xiaoguo wrapped herself tightly in her ultra-thick cotton clothes. Due to the cold weather, the last time Xiaoguo went to the county city was two weeks after Jiang Danhe left.

More than once, she was glad that she had stocked up on grains early for the winter. When she went to the county previously, she bought a lot of vegetables and meat. When she returned, she deliberately vacated the donkey cart and made another trip to the county to buy an entire carriage of cotton. When she was about to travel back to buy some coal, she was informed by Mrs. Yang that the village will order coal in bulk and distribute it to the individual households.

At that time, Xiaoguo thought to herself that it was good. It would save her the trouble of hauling coal back by herself. But who would have thought that each family was given only such a small amount of coal. Although the distribution occurs once every seven days, for Xiaoguo, the amount she received for seven days was not even enough to last her for three days.

She had no choice. Although she did try to ration the coal, she was really freezing.

In order to keep warm, she stayed up all night to make hats, jackets, pants, and socks that were all padded with cotton wadding. From whatever that could be worn from head to toe, she made them as thick as she could.

At Zhuang Zhuang’s suggestion, Xiaoguo also sewed cotton coats for the puppies, the cows, and the donkey. Although she knew that they were not afraid of the cold, she still sewed them under Zhuang Zhuang’s pleading. She also made coats for all the chickens and ducks. After all, everyone should be treated fairly.

In addition to this, she and Zhuang Zhuang also spread a thick layer of hay over their nests. This way, their bodies and nests would be kept warm. That made Zhuang Zhuang very happy.

There was still a lot of cotton and fabric left. The fabrics were mostly cheap ones that she had bought together with the cotton wadding. Xiaoguo had bought a lot of them, but they were not meant for making garments. Instead, she was going to make curtains out of them.

She cut the fabric into pieces that were slightly larger than the door and window respectively. Then, she stuffed the springy cotton in and sewed everything up. After which, she secured them on all the doors and windows with nails. The kitchen and bathroom were not left out. Just like that, the house was completely airtight. Once the stove was lit up, the temperature in the house would be more comfortable.