I survived the famine by scavenging and supported my family.

She entered the space, threw the peach pits and trash together, and then the bag of trash disappeared, and the space suddenly upgraded!

"It's still related to garbage." Zhao Ningning explained her thoughts, and Ning's mother and Zhao Qi both agreed with her idea.

"Why don't you try throwing a peach pit?" Ning's mother was excited, thinking about all the rooms in the house waiting to be unlocked. "Xiao Qi, bolt the front door. Xiao Ning, try it now!"

Zhao Ningning nodded, and after the doors were closed, she flashed back into her spatial dimension.

The plate of peaches that had just been washed was still in the elevator lobby. Zhao Ningning picked one up and placed it where the trash had disappeared.

no change.

After waiting for a while, Zhao Ningning placed the peaches one by one in the elevator lobby, spaced one square meter apart.

There has been no change.

—Does it have to be a peach pit?

Zhao Ningning ate a clean peach and then put the peach pit away one by one, following the same method she had used before.

There was still no movement in the space.

This won't do. She began to review all the actions she had taken when she entered the space.

The peach pit was tossed onto a sack of wasteland, and then it disappeared along with everything else… Right! Both the sack and the wasteland are standard “trash”! The peach pit was probably “recycled” by the system along with the sack of trash, right?

Zhao Ningning rushed out of the space, not having time to talk to her family, excitedly went back to her room to get a burlap sack, stuffed some unwanted things into it, went to the kitchen, stuffed in a pile of vegetable leaves that had been thrown away that morning, and then flashed back into the space.

Zhao Ningning placed the bag of "trash" back where it had been, and held her breath for a moment—the trash remained unchanged.

—What happened?

"This system is such a rip-off! It didn't even provide an instruction manual!" Zhao Ningning roared inwardly, carrying a plate of peaches as she walked out of the space dejectedly.

"How is it?" Ning's father asked, and before he could finish speaking, Ning's mother gave him a gentle push.

"It's okay, Ningning. It's probably like our system upgrade; the system is gradually granting you permissions," Ningning's mother comforted her.

The four members of their family each have a different system and a different way of upgrading. Ning's father upgrades by increasing the number of fishing spots, Ning's mother's space expands as long as she puts things into it, and Zhao Qi upgrades by repairing different items.

Zhao Ningning, on the other hand, hasn't changed much except for checking the garbage in Xinyuan Community every three days.

Hearing her mother's comforting words, Zhao Ningning nodded, slowly eating a peach. Suddenly, she remembered something and asked, "Mom, do you remember what time our neighborhood's garbage is collected?"

Ning's mother recalled, "It must have been before eight o'clock... I had run into the cleaning staff a few times when I left earlier."

"Do you think we have to wait for the garbage collector to come before the bag of trash will be taken away?" Zhao Ningning took a bite of peach. "I was standing at the front door just now, and I saw on the wall clock that it was a little past 7:50."

It must have been past eight o'clock when she was in the elevator lobby figuring out how to trigger the unlocking conditions.

"That's possible. Anyway, you should try more comparisons. The point of an experiment is to try more things," Zhao Qi said. "You've already tried blank samples, peach samples, peach pit samples, and even garbage samples. Try them again when the garbage collectors come tomorrow."

Zhao Ningning nodded.

The next day, Zhao Ningning got out of bed early in the morning, carrying a large bag of trash, and solemnly placed it at the elevator entrance.

Around 7:30, the trash suddenly flickered a few times and disappeared from its spot.

At the same time, a system notification popped up in front of Zhao Ningning's eyes:

[System: Congratulations, host, for unlocking a new area: the washbasin]

Upon seeing the notification, Zhao Ningning quickly opened the door and went inside, carefully walking towards the sink. This time, she was not stopped.

"You can go in!" Zhao Ningning was overjoyed. After the initial surprise, she turned on the tap, and the water from the sink gushed out, feeling incredibly refreshing on her hands.

Zhao Ningning happily left the space and told her family about the unlocked area.

Ning's parents were happy for their daughter for quite a while.

In August, Ning's mother went to the county town to buy bottles, filled ten bottles with the floral water, and brought them to Qingfeng Tower. Duan Dongjia was very interested and bought them directly for two hundred taels of silver.

Ning's mother didn't need to stockpile food this time; the family already had enough to eat for a year. She used the money to buy various nourishing Chinese herbs for her family, made soups and stews every day, and occasionally invited the Zhou family over to eat.

In September, the heavens still did not send rain, and the riverbed gradually dried up, becoming only half a foot wide, and could dry up at any time. Several disputes broke out inside and outside the village over the water source.

In October, thanks to Ning's mother's careful care, the millet in the field finally sprouted some seedlings, but they looked thin, weak, and yellowish, as if they were about to die at any moment.

The weather was still as hot as summer, and ice cream and ice jelly were selling very well in the county town. Zhao Ningning also contributed the recipe for pearl milk tea, and Duan Dongjia took the recipe and gave her fifty taels of silver.

At the end of October, Granny Qian, who had been imprisoned the longest, was finally released by the county government. The two families met on the road. Granny Qian had her head down, seemingly lost in thought. Ning's mother pulled Ningning away from them.

In November, the temperature suddenly dropped, and overnight it seemed as if we had jumped directly from summer to winter.

Caught off guard, many families in the village fell ill from the cold.

Early in the morning, Zhao Ningning crawled out of bed, felt the weather outside, grimaced as she put on her clothes, shivered, and after a while, she opened the door and went out.

The temperature in the yard was even lower, and the grass in the corner was covered in white frost. Zhao Ningning squatted down to take a look and found that it had been frosted over!

"Ningning, come quick, it's cold outside!" Ning's mother called out, and immediately closed the door after Zhao Ningning went into the kitchen.

"Here, wash up with hot water." Ning's mother scooped a ladleful of hot water from the small pot into a basin. Zhao Ningning washed up and wiped her face with a towel.

"Don't go to town to buy things later, it's too cold." Ning's mother pulled her daughter to sit in front of the stove. The warm flames licked the bottom of the pot. Zhao Ningning warmed her hands with the fire and shook her head, saying, "I'd better come with you, otherwise you won't be able to put all the things in."

After thinking about it, Ning's mother agreed. After the family finished breakfast, Ning's father and Zhao Qi also wanted to go.

After more than three months, Ning's father's leg has almost fully recovered, but he still can't walk much. Today, he can take an oxcart to town, so Ning's mother no longer objected.

It had been a long time since the family had gone shopping together. Ning's father was not usually one to stay idle, but today, once they got to the point, he started chatting with Zhao Ningning the whole way.

When they arrived in town, Ning's mother wanted to go to the fabric shop to inquire about cotton, only to learn that cotton prices had risen.

It used to cost only thirty coins, but now it has risen to fifty coins, almost a 50% increase.

Because of the sudden drop in temperature, the villagers who came to buy cotton hesitated immediately upon hearing the price.

Ning's mother squeezed through at the opportune moment, "Shopkeeper, we have a large family, please give us two hundred catties of cotton."

The four of them each had two pairs of quilts and a mattress, and they used up almost all of the 100 jin of cotton. They needed to find someone to make some thick clothes for the rest. The weather was too abnormal, and Ning's mother felt that something was wrong.

In town, anyone who can afford fifty catties is considered a big customer. The shopkeeper told Ning's mother to wait in the back while the waiter weighed the cotton. Ning's mother paid ten taels of silver and had the waiter take the cotton into an alley.

Zhao Ningning stuffed the cotton into the space, but it was almost too much to fit in the elevator hall. She opened the door to the entrance and put out two packs, which was just enough to allow people to pass through.

On the way back, Ning's mother didn't say a word. After we got home and put the cotton down, she said, "Old Zhao, I still feel uneasy."

"If you want to buy more, we'll buy it," Ning's father reassured his wife. "The cotton won't run away; if it gets hot, we can use it slowly until it's all used up. If it gets cold..."

Ning's father recalled that when they were in modern times, the family went to Northeast China for a trip. The temperature was below minus twenty degrees Celsius, and without masks, their faces would almost freeze off.

"Buy more, and also some grain, salt, and sugar," Ning's father said. "I'm not worried about not being able to finish it all, I'm just worried that this awful weather will make it harder to go out and buy things later."

The ground is frosty, and it's not far from snowing. If it does snow, the roads will be covered in snow, and it won't be easy for the family to go out.

Ning's mother nodded, and after putting down their things, the family went to the county town together. Sure enough, the prices of everything except cotton, cloth, firewood, rice, oil, salt, and grain had all increased.

There were still 280 taels of silver left in the house. Ning's mother took out 150 taels and exchanged them for grain. She also bought 100 catties of cotton, oil and salt, and went to the West Market to buy meat. Zhao Ningning and Zhao Qi accompanied her the whole time, storing the items into their spatial storage every now and then. Finally, they met up with Ning's father, who was going to the clinic, and the family went home.

Worried that the family might get sick in the cold weather, Ning's father asked Dr. Cheng to prescribe some commonly used medicines, one for adults and one for children. That way, if anyone got a headache or fever while staying at home in the freezing cold, they could brew the medicine themselves.

Back home, Ning's mother sorted the things, putting some in Ningning's room and some in her storage space. She also set aside thirty catties of cotton and two pieces of meat, which she then took to the Zhou family under the cover of night.

Not daring to let the villagers know that they had bought so much cotton for the winter, Ningning's family had to learn to make quilts themselves. Fortunately, Ningning's father had learned a few tricks from Ningning's grandmother when he was a child. He asked Ningning's mother to clean up the main room, lay out a clean straw mat, then a bed sheet, and then sit in the main room, fluffing the cotton with cotton rope, pairing two pieces of cloth together, sewing the four sides closed, and then securing the middle.

And just like that, a cotton quilt with meticulous stitches was made.

Only two beds were made for the first batch. At night, Ning's mother went to sleep with Ning, while Ning's father squeezed in with his son.

Quilts can be made at home, but no one knows how to make padded jackets. Ning's mother had no choice but to take the cotton and ask He's for help.

Just as Mrs. He was thinking about how to repay the favor of those thirty catties of cotton, her daughter came to her door, and she immediately took over the job of making cotton quilts.

While the weather wasn't too cold, Zhao Ningning took her father to the mountain to collect firewood.

After being exposed to the sun all summer, the branches on the hill behind Wangli Village were brittle and dry, and many trees had died in the same spot. Zhao Ningning could only lament that her space was too small to hold so many at once.

All I could do was work with Ning's dad to cut down the thicker branches, cut them into sections, put them in the space, and then carry them home to split them into long enough pieces to burn.

People in Fengning County thought the sudden drop in temperature was just an unusual weather event.

Unexpectedly, snow began to fall in the sky when November was only halfway through.

Looking at the snowflakes in the yard, Ning's parents pulled their two children into the main room to warm themselves by the fire.

"Mom and Dad, this weather is so weird! It's snowing in November, what about December?" Zhao Ningning said. "I've heard that it usually snows in late December or early November!"

"And it feels so cold..." Zhao Qi rubbed his hands in front of the brazier. "I asked Uncle Zhou Jian, and he said that this year it not only got cold early, but it's also colder than usual."

"How about we build a heated kang bed at home?" Zhao Ningning put her hands in her pockets. "Like the ones in Northeast China, where smoke wafts underneath and people sleep on top."

"Alright, let's set up the kang (heated brick bed) first, and then when it cools down, we'll share a room." Ning's mother nodded approvingly at her daughter. "Ningning, you're so quick-witted! How come I didn't think of the kang?"

"Hehe..." Zhao Ningning laughed shyly. Having lived in the south since she was a child, she used to love watching short videos of people from Northeast China hibernating in winter. She could even tell you a thing or two about the tricks of making a heated kang bed.

Without further ado, after the snow stopped, Ning's father made arrangements to buy bluestone slabs. Ning's family wanted to be on good terms with the Zhou family, and after Zhao Ningning explained the benefits of a heated kang (a traditional Chinese bed-stove), Zhao's mother also agreed to build one at home.

Ning's father took Zhou Jian with him to the brick kiln next door to order bricks. There weren't many bricks needed for the kang (heated brick bed), so one cartload brought them back. The village headman saw that Ning's house was a mess and came over to ask him about it. After thinking about it when he got home, he decided to build a kang for himself too.

When the village chief's family saw that the village head's family was doing this, they followed suit, and other families in the village who had some savings but were afraid of the cold followed suit.

At least a third of the households have built kang (heated brick beds). Regardless of whether the kang is good or not, it will generate heat even without smoke. As long as you add firewood before going to bed, you will feel warm all night long.

With the arrival of December, Fengning County experienced several heavy snowfalls, and all the families who had built kang beds exclaimed: "It's so comfortable to have a kang!"

Old Zhao's family.

When the villagers started building their kang (heated brick bed), Granny Qian thought she would join them. However, during the three months she was imprisoned, Zhao Wenyuan stole thirty taels of silver from her money box!

She needed to use the remaining money to buy more grain. The family had sold out of grain, enough to last until the end of the year. If she didn't buy some, the whole family would go hungry during the New Year.

Being frugal, Granny Qian moved the money box to a more secluded spot.

She had been waiting for the price of grain in town to drop, but with the heavy snow, the price of grain not only did not drop, but rose to twenty coins per catty!

You should know that when her family sold grain, white rice was only sixteen coins a pound!

With the New Year fast approaching, the family's rice jar was empty. After Old Man Zhao urged her repeatedly, Granny Qian finally reluctantly took out an ounce of silver from her box and clutched it in her hand to buy grain.

At this time, the price of white rice had risen to 22 wen per jin.

Granny Qian naturally couldn't bear to buy white rice, so she weighed out some coarse flour and coarse grains, cut off a piece of meat only two fingers wide, and took it home, which she considered her "New Year's treat".

Meanwhile, on Ningning's side, after several months of hard work, Zhao Ningning finally unlocked the fifth area on the winter solstice!