The end of natural disasters: the daily life of child brides in ancient times

At this time, Lu Qingqing felt that her face was numb from the cold and her teeth were chattering. She tried to control it but felt her whole body trembling.

Grandma Qin and Qin Lang beside her were also shivering, their faces blue and purple from the cold.

Lu Qingqing called Qin Lang to hug Grandma Qin together, and the three of them moved closer to the fire.

I added another handful of straw, and as the flames rose, I felt a little better.

All three fires were burning brightly, and it took a long time for Lu Qingqing to recover.

It seems that this cold wave has passed.

Grandma Qin beside her was still shaking uncontrollably, so Lu Qingqing quickly set up a pot and boiled a large pot of brown sugar ginger water. After the three of them drank a few bowls of hot water, they finally felt a little better.

I didn't know if the cold snap would come again, and I didn't dare go back to sleep. I kept the three piles of firewood burning vigorously. It felt like an eternity, and finally, daybreak arrived.

The door was frozen by frost, and Lu Qingqing knocked hard several times before it opened the door.

A sharp cold wind blew in her face and she couldn't help but shiver.

Looking around, the entire farmyard was covered with a layer of frost, as if entering a world of ice and snow.

The snow on the ground retains its shape from being blown by the wind, with layers of wavy texture extending along the wind direction, and then being frozen during cold waves, forming regular patterns.

In the yard, the branches of the previously dead sycamore tree were covered with frost.

On the tree trunks, circles of ice patterns are like the rings of time, recording the low temperatures of the cold current.

On the roof, the accumulated snow was frozen into a whole layer of ice, which maintained its shape as it was blown by the wind.

Worried that the roof would collapse, Lu Qingqing settled Grandma Qin down and began to clear the ice and snow on the roof with Qin Lang.

Qin Lang knocked on the baffle, and the ice and snow made a crisp cracking sound, broke off and fell to the ground, shattering all over the ground.

The snow in the yard had frozen, so the two men had to use hoes and other farm tools to shovel the snow and push the broken snow into the ditch in front of the door.

When the two of them finished cleaning and returned to the house, they found that Grandma Qin looked a little unwell. Lu Qingqing was a little worried. She touched her forehead and found that she did not have a fever.

Thinking that eating something hot might help, I cooked a pot of millet porridge. After Grandma Qin finished eating, she seemed to be in better spirits.

Qin Lang looked at his bedridden Grandma Qin, afraid that she would disappear like his grandfather, so he began to stay by her side.

Grandma Qin looked at Qin Lang like this and comforted him softly.

At this time, the gong sounded in the village, calling the villagers to gather.

Grandma Qin asked Qin Lang to go with her to take a look, but Lu Qingqing refused. Qin Lang was in a bad mood and someone had to stay at home to take care of Grandma Qin.

She walked towards the village alone. The snow on the ground was frozen solid, and Lu Qingqing fell several times while going downhill.

I went to Zhuzi's house first and saw Zhuzi and his wife clearing the snow from the roof. The thatched roof was a little bent.

They were very happy to see Lu Qingqing coming.

"Daya, how is your family? Are Grandma Qin and Qin Lang okay?"

Lu Qingqing stepped forward to hold the ladder, watched Zhuzi's wife come down, and asked:

"We are all fine. How are Da Ni and Er Ni?"

Zhuzi's wife patted the broken ice on her body and said:

"Er Ni has been coughing for the past few days. Last night, I slept very late to take care of her. As soon as I felt cold, I lit a fire, which saved the whole family."

Seeing that Zhuzi and his wife still had to pack up, Lu Qingqing went to the village first.

The few families in the north of the village were all very quiet. Through the low courtyard walls, one could see their houses directly, and there were no signs of the snow in the yard being disturbed.

Lu Qingqing didn't dare to think too much. She passed by the old village chief's house. Fortunately, the gate of his house was open and she could hear voices coming from inside the house.

Lu Qingqing breathed a sigh of relief. Seeing the old village chief's wife packing up, she came in and greeted them. Then Lu Qingqing followed the old village chief and his group to the village entrance.

At the entrance of the village, the situation was better than Lu Qingqing had expected.

More than 200 young men and women from the village came, but very few elderly people and children came. I don’t know whether they didn’t come because they were afraid of the cold or they died.

Seeing that no one was coming, the village chief began to assign people in groups, several of them, to search from the south of the village one by one, and to go into any house that had its door closed.

Lu Qingqing and Zhuzi, together with a young man from the same village, went looking for it together.

The first house they visited was that of an old widower in the village. His wife and children had died early in life, and he lived alone.

Zhuzi climbed over the courtyard wall and opened the door. When he pushed open the door, Lu Qingqing was still startled even though she was mentally prepared.

Next to the stove, an old man, wrapped in a tattered blanket, huddled up, his hands still trying to light a fire, collapsed beside the stove. His body was covered in frost, his face shone with fear.

The firewood in the stove was not lit. Judging from the old man's actions, it can be inferred that he must have been woken up by the cold when the cold wave came.

But he moved too slowly, and before he could light the firewood, his body was already numb from the cold. The firewood was not lit, and he died shortly after leaning against the stove.

A few people rolled up the old man with a mat, placed him in the main room, and then went to the next house.

Passing by a house with its door open, Lu Qingqing saw a row of mats and quilts rolled up in the main room. She took a look and saw there were six of them.

I remember that when I was fetching water, I met the aunt of this family. She greeted Lu Qingqing with a smile and happily said that her daughter-in-law was pregnant.

And the woman and her child are now on a mat inside.

Lu Qingqing didn't dare to look any longer and walked forward quickly. From time to time, she could hear the sound of people crying on the road.

The cold wave took the lives of many people in the village, including children, young people and the elderly.

It was almost noon when they had searched every household in the village. The village chief counted the number of people killed by the cold snap and found that a total of 213 people had been killed.

Most of the dead were elderly people living alone, or entire families froze to death in their sleep.

However, there was only one family where the young man was still alive, while his parents had frozen to death.

Now the family has started a fight and has split up. The parents live with their youngest son, Lu Lianghe.

The eldest son, Lu Liangjiang, is now pulling his younger brother by the collar and punching him in the face and body, crying and shouting as he beats him.

Lu Qingqing had an impression of this family. The eldest son was honest and straightforward, while the younger son was sweet-talking, which made his parents favor him.

The customary practice in the village of dividing the family property is to follow the eldest son, and the family property is also divided more to the eldest son.

In order to give their younger son more property, the old couple divided up their eldest son's family.

The youngest son was a coward. When the cold wave came last night, he didn't dare cross the yard to the east wing to wake up his parents.

The old couple died in their sleep. The eldest son saw that his parents had frozen to death, while his younger brother and his family were alive and well, so he started fighting in anger.

Lu Qingqing didn't pay any more attention to these things. She was worried about Grandma Qin's health, so she hurried back.