Country Love: Xie Dajiao, 37, is pregnant!

At this moment, every household in the village is in the same state of panic.

As dawn broke, the wind and snow continued unabated. The villagers gradually awoke, only to be stunned by the sight before them.

All the outward-opening doors were blocked by snow, and the elderly and women with little strength couldn't open them at all. They had no choice but to tear off the plastic sheeting sealing the windows and wade out.

Most of the village's makeshift warehouses, livestock sheds, chicken and duck coops, and vegetable sheds had their roofs collapsed under the weight of the blizzard, with the wooden supports either broken or leaning precariously.

The firewood, coal, and miscellaneous items piled up in the open in the yard were all buried deep in the snow and could not be found at all.

Xie Guangkun's situation was even more serious. The small storage room on the west side of his house was completely collapsed by the heavy snow, and all the mountain products stored inside were buried in the thick snow.

Xie Guangkun stood in the room, his face gloomy, muttering to himself incessantly:

"That's impossible! How could it rain so heavily? In previous years, it never rained like this during the first month of spring. This isn't right..."

Yongqiang's mother stood to the side, watching the disastrous scene, and couldn't help but sigh, muttering a complaint in a low voice:

"If you had listened to my advice yesterday and reinforced the structure beforehand, it wouldn't have collapsed like this!"

These words instantly enraged Xie Guangkun, who glared and shouted:

"You always act like you're so capable!"

Around 9 a.m., the snowstorm not only showed no signs of abating, but instead intensified, reaching its peak.

A strong wind of force 8 or 9, carrying dense snow, swept wildly across the entire mountain village. The snow fell in all directions, obscuring the sky and reducing visibility to less than five meters.

Standing in the yard, you can't see your own front door at all; the world is a vast expanse of white, with only the howling wind.

Suddenly, all the lights in the village went out instantly, resulting in a complete power outage.

The power pole on the main power line at the village entrance was smashed by a thick tree branch that was broken off by the strong wind, causing the power supply to the entire village to be completely cut off.

This plunged the entire village into crisis, and panic spread.

In rural areas, every household has a hand-operated well, so the water shouldn't be a problem. The real issue is heating.

The villagers were all fooled by the mild winter. No household had stockpiled that much coal. They usually bought about one ton each year and burned it sparingly. If it wasn't enough, they would buy less. But now, there wasn't much coal left over from the New Year. They had thought that with the weather warming up, they wouldn't need to burn coal for heating anymore.

No one expected the temperature to drop by more than ten degrees overnight. In temperatures below minus twenty degrees Celsius, it was impossible to stay indoors without burning coal, and people's hands and feet would go numb from the cold.

Every household began to frantically save coal, keeping the indoor temperature just warm enough. Everyone wore thick cotton-padded coats and trousers, but even sitting indoors, their hands and feet were still freezing, and they felt cold all over.

Zhao Si's family was in dire straits. He squatted on the kang (a heated brick bed), wearing bright red socks with tiny figures on the soles of his feet, wrapped in a thick cotton-padded coat, looking out at the swirling snow outside the window, his brows furrowed with worry.

"When will this snow stop? If it snows like this for another two days, the coal will be used up, and our family will have to tough it out. I don't want the two kids to get too cold. Maybe I should go out and borrow some coal."

"Who can lend you their house now?"

Zhao Yutian pushed open the door and entered the room:

"If this doesn't work, I'll go ask Brother Chen to borrow some."

"How are you going to get there? It's snowing so heavily outside. Let's wait a bit. This much snow can't last long. Maybe it'll stop soon. We'll talk about it when it stops."

The busiest and most chaotic place was Big Foot Supermarket. Xie Dajiao was afraid something might happen, so she came over early in the morning despite the snow.

The villagers braved the knee-deep snow, trudging through the snowdrifts to make their way to the supermarket.

Everyone had the same goal: to buy more food to prepare.

Xie Dajiao and Wang Yun were so busy they barely had time to breathe. The counter was packed with people, and the place was noisy and chaotic.

"Bigfoot! Get me some candles right now! The power's completely out, it's pitch black and I can't stand it!"

"Do you have any instant noodles in bulk? And biscuits! More biscuits!"

The villagers crowded in front of the counter, scrambling to buy the goods.

The dozen or so boxes of instant noodles that the supermarket originally had left were all snapped up in just half an hour, even those nearing their expiration date were sold out. In the end, even the two boxes of braised beef noodles that were a month past their expiration date that were left at the bottom of the box were still snapped up by people eager to buy them.

Xie Dajiao, seeing the expired goods, quickly reminded them loudly:

"Hold on, everyone! These two boxes of instant noodles are expired, what are you going to do with them?!"

"So what if it's expired! Instant noodles are fine!"

The villagers at the front simply reached out and grabbed the goods, threw down the money, and left.

Liu Neng squeezed to the front of the crowd, clutching the money anxiously, sweating profusely, and shouted loudly:

"Give me... give me a candle! And... give me a bag of fine salt! We're almost out of salt!"

Xie Dajiao, covered in sweat, said:

"Liu Neng, we're out of candles and salt! Look around, who buys them one by one these days? Everyone's buying them by the bag!"

Xie Guangkun happened to squeeze next to him, the two of them arm to arm, body to body.

"Why are you pushing and shoving! Can't you queue? You have no manners at all!" Xie Guangkun glared at Liu Neng and said angrily.

"Who pushed you! This supermarket is so spacious, what right do you have to tell me what to do!"

Wang Yun shouted until her voice was hoarse behind the counter, her face full of helplessness. Before long, everything in the supermarket was gone, not even a single snack was left.

Lin Chen was worried that something might happen to Xie Dajiao, so he braved the wind and snow to go out and meet her. Halfway there, seeing that no one was around, Lin Chen put her hand in his arms and covered it. Xie Dajiao was moved and started to make arrangements to have another child with Lin Chen.

Around noon, the blizzard unleashed its full power.

The gale-force winds of level eight or nine raged relentlessly, and chunks of snow pounded against the windows of every house, making a continuous, unsettling sound.

On flat ground, the snow is knee-deep, and in the low-lying areas of the village, the snow is waist-deep, making it impossible for people to pass through. Taking even one step outside is as difficult as climbing to heaven.

The usual lively sounds of roosters crowing, dogs barking, people talking, and children playing have all disappeared.

Only the howling wind and the sound of falling snow remained in the world, monotonous and oppressive, making one feel suffocated.

What's more terrifying than the bitter cold is the panic in people's hearts.

Most of the houses in the village are old-fashioned and stable on ordinary days. However, under the heavy weight of the accumulated snow, the beams and rafters could not bear the weight and kept making strange "creaking" noises, which made the people inside the houses tremble with fear.

No one dared to relax. Everyone kept an eye on the thickness of the snow on the roof. When they saw that there was too much snow, they quickly climbed up the ladder to clear it, fearing that the snow would collapse the roof. They were restless and unable to sleep all night.

Some elderly people are home alone and lean out of their windows, shouting for help to their neighbors, but the howling wind and snow are too loud for them to hear, leaving them isolated and helpless.

Liu Neng paced back and forth at home, anxious and uneasy.

The main house is safe for now, but the walls of the small side shed have cracked, and the snow is still piling up, getting heavier and heavier. Liu Neng is afraid that the entire shed will collapse, and the house will suffer as a result.

He was anxious and wanted to go out to clear the snow and find timber to reinforce the house, but as soon as he opened the door, a fierce blizzard rushed in, and it was impossible for a person to stand steadily in the snow.

Liu Neng sat on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), his face full of worry, sighing incessantly.

"What am I going to do... This is really terrible..."

"At this crucial moment, neither this girl nor her husband is reliable, and they don't even bother to come back and visit!"

Liu Yingniang couldn't help but complain:

"I really don't want to yell at you, but do you even have a brain? Look at all that snow! Is Zhao Yutian your father? They're lucky they even managed to get the Zhao family under control. Yutian's flower garden is probably ruined. Stop causing trouble!"

This time, Liu Neng didn't refute, but lowered his head and remained silent, feeling uneasy.

He peered out the window with difficulty, but could see nothing.

At this moment, the whole village is filled with fear and anxiety, every household has suffered damage from the disaster, and everyone is sighing in despair.

But Lin Chen's villa is a completely different world.

With continuous underfloor heating throughout the house, the room temperature is steadily maintained at 25 degrees Celsius. You don't need to wear a thick cotton-padded coat inside; a thin sweater is enough to make you feel comfortable and cozy.

The sealed glass perfectly blocked out the raging wind and snow outside, keeping the piercing wind out. Inside, it was quiet, with only faint muffled sounds.

The entire village experienced a power outage, but Lin Chen's house was the only exception. The backup power automatically switched on, the circuit was normal, the lights were on, and the closed-circuit television was still working. The signal was not affected by the blizzard and was continuously broadcasting news about the disaster caused by the severe blizzard in the province.