On the first day of the extreme cold, the rain stopped, followed by a sharp drop in temperature.
Overnight, it reached the lowest winter temperature here, minus twenty-five degrees Celsius. At this temperature, as long as you wear more clothes and put on a cotton jacket, you can still withstand it.
Going out is not impossible, but it’s really cold.
Fortunately, the cave is warm enough, and the family has always been concerned about the problem of temperature dropping. Since the first frost, every tent has been equipped with two thick quilts, so even if you feel cold while sleeping at night, you can quickly grab a blanket to keep warm.
As the temperature kept dropping day by day, before the extreme cold arrived, the village chief had already reminded the women in the village to make warm, thick winter clothes and bedding, and to increase the daily hours of firewood gathering, so as to stockpile as much wood as possible.
Luckily, everyone habitually listened to the village chief’s words, believing them without a doubt. The temperature indeed kept getting lower, and they hurriedly made winter clothes, added cotton to old quilts, or made a few more new ones.
Firewood was the same; the two-hour daily cutting turned into four hours. Almost the entire day, except for meals, the men were outside chopping trees and accumulating firewood.
The cotton was harvested before the heavy rain, the last crop of the year. According to the village chief’s instructions, every household planted a few plots, and every family opened a few acres of wasteland behind the village, with one or two acres used for cotton planting.
It was only at this time that the people of Hua Village realized how wise and farsighted their village chief was, his vision was indeed keen.
It was because of the village chief that they could live like human beings now. Though trapped on the mountain and unaware of the outside world, the village elders had experienced great disasters before. Moreover, the disasters back then were nothing compared to now. Everyone understood that their lives were truly saved by the village chief.
So, no matter what the village chief asked them to do, the village people almost never questioned it; they just did it.
Then, when the day of extreme cold arrived, everyone realized how deeply the village chief cared for them. On the second day after waking up under warm quilts, even with the extreme cold outside, almost every household sent a person with what they considered the best gift to the village chief to express their gratitude, braving the harsh wind.
Just when everyone thought it couldn’t get much colder, overnight, the temperature plummeted even more drastically, to a life-threatening degree.
Now it was almost unnecessary to go out. The biting wind, especially on the mountain, made it hard to open one’s eyes. Who dared to risk their life?
And so, the people of Hua Village began a special hibernation.
Luckily, the temperature in the cave was much higher than outside. With the charcoal accumulated from last year and the firewood cut recently, as long as you stayed inside, it wasn’t too difficult. Still, the door of the cave couldn’t be completely closed.
Even though every charcoal pan was burned completely outside before bringing it inside to avoid smoke, the number of households in the cave inevitably led to the presence of a charcoal smell. For safety, the cave door couldn’t be fully shut.
So, everyone specifically transported a large stone from the mountain to fix it in front of the cave entrance, trying to block some of the cold wind.
Yet, on the third day, the temperature continued to drop. Any exposed body part would instantly feel stiff, as if it wasn’t part of one’s own body anymore.
A quick measurement showed it had reached over minus forty degrees. This temperature had reached the extreme limit of the human body, and without an adaptation period, accidents were likely.
Because they were located in the northern area, their cold tolerance was naturally better. Huajin couldn’t imagine how people in the south would endure such extreme cold weather.
Huajin knew this wasn’t the end yet; the temperature would continue to drop precipitously, down to more than minus seventy degrees.
Sure enough, by the fourth day, the temperature dropped a few more degrees, and then the fifth, sixth, until the seventh day when it reached more than minus sixty degrees.
On the eighth day, the first thing Huajin did upon waking was to check the outdoor thermometer. But before that, she wrapped herself up into a ball, and even wore a down jacket under her cotton coat.
Luckily, she had grown quite a bit over the past two years, otherwise it would have been challenging to fit into her older clothes from storage. Of course, her grandmother’s and mother’s coats were crucial too. Fortunately, her winter clothes weren’t few, and she had some spared on purpose.
Adding a down jacket over the cotton clothes, wearing the rabbit fur hat made by her mother, and warmed by the rabbit fur scarf, she still froze when opening the door, as the outside’s bone-chilling cold blew and stiffened her body, seeping through any gap in the clothing, leaving only a sensation of an unbearable chill.
With her rabbit fur mittens, she quickly retrieved the outdoor thermometer and quickly closed the door, finally feeling alive again.
It’s unimaginable how in such freezing places like the Antarctic or Arctic, wild animals survive.
"Sister, what’s the temperature now?" Hua Dage and Hua Erge, who came out with Huajin, craned their necks to peer at the thermometer, harboring immense curiosity. Yet, even Hua Erge quietly held his curiosity, knowing not to ask as long as their sister didn’t bring it up. Especially when fresh fruits mysteriously appeared at home in winter, it was beyond explanation.
"Minus sixty-six degrees," Huajin exclaimed despite having prepared mentally, as the temperature was indeed dauntingly unlivable.
"Whew," Hua Dage and Hua Erge couldn’t help but gasp in shock.
"Is this damned sky joking with people or what?" Hua Erge couldn’t refrain from cursing the heavens, quickly muffled by Hua Yunao.
Though he too felt like cursing, some respect for fate remained necessary.
"Don’t speak nonsense," Hua Yunao pulled his brother back into the cave.
Though the space outside had been sealed with a door, a significant temperature difference remained between it and the cave, about thirty to forty degrees.
Previously, everyone had questioned why Grandpa and Dad added an extra stone barn under the rock. Now it was clear, not only that but charcoal burned in there daily.
"Did the temperature drop again?" Hua Laohan eagerly inquired the moment the three children came inside.
"Yes, yes, another ten degrees lower."
"Gasp, gasp..." a few more people audibly expressed their shock as the temperature further plunged.
"Sigh, it’s still dropping, is there truly no way out?"
It’s fortunate they had prior preparations in the cave; otherwise, living outside would have resulted in a grim fate.
At minus sixty degrees without sufficient cold-resistant clothing and enough warmth-providing firewood, how many could really survive?
Indeed, Hua Laohan was right, but he underestimated human adaptability and resilience. On the first two days of the extreme cold, those with extremely weak bodies were eliminated. However, by the third, fourth, and up to the eighth day, even those without caves, relying on makeshift shelters, warmed by campfires, continued to survive resiliently, striving to adapt to the harsh environment.