dognovel Chapter 826 Great Cooling Down
Chapter 826 Great Cooling Down
Qin Lang took out the cotton-padded coat between the two layers of quilts, put it on in bed.
Seeing that Qingqing was about to get up, he quickly stopped her.
"Qingqing, don't come out yet. I'll heat up the kang (heated brick bed) and the stove."
"Wait until it's warmer inside before you come down."
As they spoke, they had already reached the stove.
Upon opening the iron plate blocking the stove opening, it was discovered that the coal inside had been completely extinguished.
Mingming even got up again in the middle of the night to add firewood.
At the time, I didn't feel the temperature had dropped much.
It seems the temperature only started to drop close to midnight.
While pondering this in his mind, his hands never stopped moving.
Scoop out the ash from the bottom of the pot and put it in a winnowing basket.
Then they stuffed wheat straw into the stove, lit it with a tinderbox, and slowly added thinner pieces of firewood on top.
Before long, the fire was relit.
While waiting for the coal to light, he dragged the stove from the corner to the middle of the room.
Put the burning charcoal from the hearth into the stove.
Finally, a kettle was placed on top.
After finishing her chores, Lu Qingqing got dressed and got up.
The two put on their hats, scarves, gloves, and handkerchiefs that were placed on the kang (a heated brick bed), and then went to the door.
They lifted the blanket used to block the wind and removed the wooden stick blocking the door.
I tugged at the door a couple of times and found that the gaps along the edge of the door were frozen solid.
Qin Lang tried pulling the handle a couple more times and found that he really couldn't open it.
Seeing this, Lu Qingqing went forward to check on the frozen door.
The situation this time is much better than the previous cold wave.
This time, apart from a layer of frost on the door, the ice is only slightly thicker in the gap between the door and the frame.
The only concern is that this time the wooden door is more dilapidated.
For future use, it is best to use gentler methods to break the ice.
Lu Qingqing directed Qin Lang to move the lit stove to the doorway, allowing the heat from the stove to slowly melt some of the ice.
In addition, she took out a large bucket of hot water from her storage space.
Qin Lang and he each took a ladle and began pouring water onto the ice in the cracks of the door.
After watering it a dozen times, the ice on the door frame showed obvious signs of melting.
However, as the hot water flowed down the door, it slowly froze into ice crystals.
Seeing this, Qin Lang went to fetch a broom and a winnowing basket.
Lu Qingqing poured water on top, while he swept the water away from below.
We pay particular attention to freshly frozen ice crystals.
Within seconds of it forming into slush, sweep it away with a broom.
The two of them worked for quite a while before they finally opened the door.
As soon as the door opened, a strong gust of cold wind swept in.
It's so cold outside!
Lu Qingqing felt her mask was completely frozen through, so she turned around and shrank back into the house.
After closing the door slightly, he took off the thick cotton gloves on his hands.
Instantly, two thicker masks appeared in his hands.
She handed one of them to Qin Lang, saying, "It's too cold outside, and the previous masks weren't enough. Wear this one."
As he spoke, he took off his face mask and put on a thicker one.
After putting on the thick mask, she adjusted it again.
Only after making sure he was completely covered from head to toe did he reopen the door.
At this time, the snow in the yard was thick.
There was a lot of snow piled up on the eaves, indicating that the snow hadn't stopped since yesterday.
She grabbed a snow shovel from beside the door and started pushing snow as she walked forward.
When we arrived at Old Man Zhuang's house, we knocked on the door and heard Old Man Zhuang's groggy voice from inside.
"What's wrong? Oh dear, why is it so cold!"
Lu Qingqing explained the situation through the door.
Upon learning that Old Man Zhuang was alright, they went to Sun Yue's door and found her asleep there as well.
He didn't wake up until they knocked on the door.
Old Zhuang and Sun Yue, who live in separate rooms, will face the same problem.
The door couldn't be opened, and the fire in the stove inside the house had gone out.
The two had no choice but to start by lighting a fire, raising the room temperature while simultaneously boiling water to pour on the door.
As for Lu Qingqing and Qin Lang, they couldn't help.
There was no other way; when they first settled in the courtyard, the door to their house was too dilapidated.
They then fixed a layer of bedding to the outside of the doors of the three rooms where people lived.
Another layer of oilcloth was placed over the mattress to protect it from rain and snow.
This tarpaulin protects against rain and snow, but not from heat!
Therefore, knowing that the people inside the house were safe.
The best option is to slowly pour it in from the inside.
As for Lu Qingqing and Qin Lang, they didn't stay idle either, and went straight to the stable.
Perhaps because the temperature inside the stable wasn't too high, the door to the stable wasn't frozen shut.
When the two pushed open the door and went inside, a bunch of horses were huddled together.
Even the usually arrogant Little White was now squeezed among a group of horses.
Upon seeing them enter, it cried out a few times, sounding somewhat aggrieved.
When Lu Qingqing saw it get up and come over, she patted its big head to comfort it.
Qin Lang walked around the stable to make sure no horses were injured before returning to tinker with the stove that had long been extinguished.
In the past few days, they would fill the stove with coal before going to bed and then seal it with only a small gap.
In this way, the coal in the stove can burn all night.
However, this way, the temperature inside the stable won't be too high.
Qin Lang then checked and found that the stoves in the stables were all out.
Seeing the horse huddled together, he took a winnowing basket for charcoal and went back into the house to get some burning charcoal.
After working for a while, the two finally managed to get all the stoves in the stable lit again.
As the temperature gradually rose, the horses in the shed got up again and began to eat.
At this moment, Sun Yue had already opened the door and walked out of the house.
Now, only Old Man Zhuang's door remains frozen.
He was inside frantically scooping water to thaw the ice and then sweeping it away.
Lu Qingqing was just thinking about whether she should help pour some hot water under the door when she heard a knock on the door.
"Grandpa Zhuang, Brother Sun, Brother Lu, are you up yet?"
Hearing the sound of wheat ears outside the door, Lu Qingqing hurried to open it.
The door opened, and Mai Sui, wearing a half-new thick cotton-padded coat, was wrapped up tightly.
He was standing outside the door with a snow shovel, looking somewhat worried:
"Brother Lu, the temperature dropped in the latter half of last night. Did you all get up to add firewood?"
Lu Qingqing let the person in, closed the door, and then said:
"I got up in the middle of the night to add firewood, but the fire went out by morning!"
As soon as Maisui entered, she took a snow shovel and started shoveling snow.
He shoveled as he walked toward the door.
When they reached the middle of the courtyard, they found several people gathered around the door of Old Man Zhuang's house.
I asked around and found out that the door was frozen shut.
This situation doesn't exist in her family.
However, she was suddenly woken up by the cold in the middle of the night last night.
I added more firewood to the kang (heated brick bed), and with that little bit of residual heat, I managed to get through the morning.