Country Love: Xie Dajiao, 37, is pregnant!

Xie Guangkun's family was also struggling. They didn't even need to go out; just looking at the scenery outside the window was enough to break one's heart.

Xie Guangkun leaned against the window, sighing and getting angrier as he looked out. He turned and began to berate Xie Yongqiang:

"I told you as early as winter to prune the thin and dense branches to lighten your load for the winter, but you wouldn't listen! Now look what's happened, they're all probably broken under the weight, all my hard work wasted!"

Xie Yongqiang looked out the window, his tone full of helplessness:

"With such heavy snow, pruning won't help. This is a natural disaster that hasn't been seen in decades. We're definitely not the only ones who have suffered damage. It's not that I didn't take care of things properly."

"All you do is use natural disasters as an excuse!"

Xie Guangkun glared at Xie Yongqiang:

"Tell me, ever since you got together with that widow, what good have you gotten? The irrigation canals and reservoirs have dried up, the wells are all dry, the hot springs you found belong to someone else, and now a snowfall has buried all your fruit trees. Why don't you realize this yet?"

Yongqiang's mother came in from the outer room, raised her hand and patted Xie Guangkun's arm, stopping him:

"What are you yelling about? It's like a wildfire burning chicken feathers, everything has its limits! It's better that no one is hurt! It's good that Yongqiang has become the vice president, so let's work hard next year, we can still manage without the orchard."

Xie Guangkun was rendered speechless by what he was being said and could only sigh as he looked out the window.

"Sigh, at least you still have a class..."

This blizzard completely isolated Ivory Mountain.

The once bustling village was completely silent. There were no children playing, no adults shouting as they worked, and only the howling wind filled the air, making it feel oppressive.

No one dared to sleep at night, or they took turns sleeping, constantly staring at the roof beams above their heads. The old wooden beams, weighed down by the thick snow, creaked and groaned from time to time. With each creak, everyone's heart tightened, fearing that something might happen to the roof.

As darkness gradually fell, the room became pitch black. A few candles were lit, and the people in the room sat quietly, silently enduring the oppression brought by the natural disaster.

As evening fell, the snowfall gradually subsided, but the cold wind grew even more biting, producing a muffled hum as it blew against the villa's exterior walls.

Xie Dajiao brewed a pot of jujube and ginger tea, and the group snuggled up on the sofa, covered with the same blanket, with the TV on in the background.

Xie Xiaomei was watching TV, Chen Yannan was leaning on Lin Chen's shoulder reading a novel, Wang Xiaomeng was slowly knitting a sweater, and Xie Dajiao was sitting to the side peeling pine nuts, occasionally feeding Lin Chen one.

"Will the snow stop completely tomorrow?" Wang Xiaomeng put down her knitting and asked softly.

"Definitely."

Lin Chen said:

"This kind of blizzard can't last forever. It's just that the snow is too thick, and the roads won't melt anytime soon, making them impassable."

"Sigh... I won't be able to deliver this for a while."

Xie Dajiao, sitting cross-legged, smiled and gently kicked Wang Xiaomeng:

"You kid, what time is it? You're still thinking about your business. If you don't get rich, who will?"

Wang Xiaomeng herself couldn't help but laugh:

"Even though we can't work for a while, I still want to keep paying the women in the factory. I can't let them suffer because of a natural disaster."

Xie Xiaomei teased:

"Wow, we've caught a conscientious entrepreneur!"

The women started playfully fighting again.

The temperature dropped again in the middle of the night, and the villagers huddled together in their blankets to keep warm. Everywhere they were exposed was cold, and their noses were red from the cold when they slept. If they heard the slightest noise from the roof beams, everyone would wake up instantly, their hearts pounding, for fear that the roof would suddenly collapse.

The farmers endured even more hardship, braving the biting cold wind to check on the livestock sheds. Seeing the cracked roofs and the shivering poultry, they felt both pain and anxiety.

The elderly in the village couldn't sleep all night, silently praying that the snowstorm would stop soon, and planning how to make a living in the spring.

There was no crying or complaining in the whole village; every household was silently enduring it.

Farmers have dealt with natural disasters all their lives, and they have long since developed resilience. Even in despair, they always hold onto one thought:

The snow will eventually stop; once we get through this, life can go on.

On the morning of the sixteenth day of the first lunar month, the heavy snowfall finally stopped.

As the sun rose into the sky, the snow-white world was illuminated by its dazzling light, and finally, there was movement in Ivory Mountain Village.

The villagers, shovels in hand, painstakingly dug away the snow in front of their doors. It took them a long time to create a narrow path that was barely passable. As they cautiously stepped out of their homes and saw the scene before them, everyone fell silent.

The world was a vast expanse of white, with fields, roads, and courtyard walls all filled with snow, making it impossible to distinguish the high and low gullies.

In some places, the snow is higher than an adult, and people can only barely pass by sideways.

Most of the barns, chicken coops, and pigsties in each household had collapsed. The villagers stood in their dilapidated courtyards, looking at the mess on the ground, speechless for a long time, their hearts filled with bitterness.

If you run into a neighbor, you can shout across the snowdrift:

How's your place?

"The warehouse is half collapsed, what about your house?"

"The wall is cracked; no one dares to live here anymore."

"Sure, I was planning to demolish the house for my son's wedding anyway, so I'll just consider it an early demolition."

"Haha, that's for sure, out with the old, in with the new."

He spoke jokingly, his tone carrying a hint of self-deprecation, a touch of helplessness, and also a unique optimism characteristic of Northeasterners.

Even if it collapses, as long as people are still alive, there is hope.

But when she turned around and squatted down, looking at her belongings buried in the snow, she couldn't help but tear up.

Zhao Yutian walked through the deep snow to the flower bed, looked at the completely broken steel frame, his legs went weak and he squatted down in the snow, feeling powerless and filled with despair.

Zhao Si silently lit a cigarette, and the smoke was quickly blown away.

Zhao Si comforted his son in a hoarse voice, saying that they would rebuild the shed in the spring and earn double the money next year, but the twitching corners of his mouth and the heartache in his eyes could not be hidden.

……

Changgui, wrapped in a military overcoat, went from house to house calling for help to save himself.

When the village lost power, he took a loudspeaker and went from house to house to check the situation, gathering many people together to assign tasks.

The crowd gathered in front of the snowdrift at the village office, their hands and feet frozen stiff, their faces grave.

Chang Gui, in a hoarse voice, assigned tasks:

"All roads in the town and county are blocked, so aid can't get in. We can only rely on ourselves. We're divided into three groups: one to check and relocate villagers in dilapidated houses, the second to clear snow from the main roads, and the third to check and reinforce livestock sheds. Our primary task is to save lives and minimize losses. Everyone, get to work!"

In this critical moment, no one shirked their duties or argued. Even Liu Neng, Xie Guangkun, and Zhao Si, who usually loved to bicker, all took shovels and worked alongside Lin Chen.

However, the snow was thick and heavy, making manual clearing extremely inefficient. It took more than 20 people half an hour to clear only a dozen meters of the main road at the village entrance.

Just as everyone was working hard, a mournful cry suddenly came from the south.

"Something terrible has happened! Old Mrs. Li's house has collapsed! She's still inside and hasn't come out!"

No sooner had the cry for help been heard than a tall figure rushed out, his steps steady, treading on the knee-deep snow with ease.

It had to be Lin Chen. He was dressed warmly, carrying only a shovel. The people behind him also realized what was happening and rushed over in full gear to help with the rescue.

Chang Gui said anxiously:

"Why is there a little girl crying?"

"She's Mrs. Li's granddaughter. She wanted to spend the festival with her grandmother in the village, but she ended up stuck here."

The villagers watching were extremely anxious and were about to dig with their tools when Lin Chen immediately shouted to stop them, instantly calming the panicked crowd.

"Don't move! The roof structure is unstable. Digging like this will cause a secondary collapse, and then we won't be able to rescue them at all!"

He quickly assigned tasks in a clear and organized manner:

"Two people come with me to pry this side open, widen the entrance, everyone else step back to the sides and clear the snow from the doorway. Whatever you do, don't shake the roof! Hurry!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Lin Chen strode forward; the snow was so deep it reached his backside.

The crowbar was precisely inserted into the gap between the rafters, and the arm exerted force to pry it open steadily. The heavy wooden rafters creaked as they were slowly pried open to make way for passage.

The two people who followed immediately stepped forward to assist, and in a short time they cleared a safe passage.

The room was pitch black, and nothing could be seen.

Without the slightest hesitation, Lin Chen bent down and crawled deep into the dilapidated building to rescue the person.

Chang Gui stomped his feet and shouted outside:

"Oh dear, Xiao Chen, why did you go inside!"

(Guess who the girl is? No prize for guessing!)