"Chasing a sheep?"

An Ning remembered the stiff sheep and asked curiously, "Why did you have a sheep?"

"Heh heh... it’s a long story."

Li Chengze gathered his thoughts before speaking. "I bought the sheep, thinking I’d bring it as a meeting gift."

An Ning’s expression showed she was waiting for him to continue, but he remained silent for a long moment.

"That’s your ’long story’?"

Li Chengze scratched his head, looking embarrassed. "I guess... it’s not that long after all."

"I bought a sheep, and as I was leading it along, it ran away, so I chased it. The more I chased, the more it ran, and the more it ran, the more I chased. I kept chasing it until I got lost."

"When I finally caught it, I fell right into a trap."

"The sheep was pinned underneath me. I was fine, but it died, and I couldn’t get out on my own."

As Li Chengze spoke, the fear of the heavy snow still lingered in his heart.

"I really thought I was a goner. The snow was falling harder and harder. I just watched as it covered my body, piling higher and higher."

"At first, I tried to clear it away, but eventually, I was too exhausted. I couldn’t sweep it away as fast as it was falling. I fell into despair."

"When I saw you all, I honestly thought I was already dead."

Having said it all out loud, Li Chengze felt the fear in his heart lessen, and he felt a bit of relief.

"You can stay here for the time being, in the same room as my little brother. Life in the countryside is very different, so you’ll need to get used to it slowly."

"As for your clothes, you can wear my little brother’s for now. We can’t find your suitcase at the moment."

An Ning wasn’t about to send a large group of people out just to find a suitcase.

Li Chengze nodded repeatedly. "I understand, I understand. It’s just some clothes, it’s not important."

"With this weather, no one else should go out."

He was genuinely terrified.

An Ning stood up and looked at the snow outside. Remembering something, she asked, "Do you still want that sheep of yours?"

"Huh?"

Li Chengze couldn’t follow her train of thought.

"I’m talking about your sheep. Do you need to perform some kind of rite for it? If so, we can give it to you. If not, I’m planning to butcher it for meat."

It took Li Chengze a moment to process, then, going with the flow, he said, "Let’s eat it! Eating it is a great idea!"

"The weather’s cold, so a bowl of mutton soup would be perfect."

At the mention of mutton soup, Li Chengze actually started to crave some.

"No problem!"

An Ning went out to find some people. Curious, Li Chengze peered out the kitchen window and saw the three men of the An family, plus An Ning, begin to break down the sheep.

Inside a shed, the group dehaired the sheep, scalding it with boiling water before skinning it.

After the hide was removed, a large axe started hacking away on a wooden block with a THWACK, THWACK.

The small sheep was divided into many parts.

An Ning brought out a basin of sheep offal and handed it to Lin Cuihua.

Lin Cuihua took a piece of caustic soda and began to clean it.

The entire family was at work. It was a scene the likes of which Li Chengze had never witnessed before.

Simple, genuine, and down-to-earth.

That evening, Anning’s house had mutton offal soup.

An Ning also sent a small pot over to Jiangxia’s house, returning the leather shoes at the same time.

Jiang Xia held the pair of leather shoes, looking them over from left to right.

"I’ll sell them to you. I can’t wear ’em."

"That works. It’s not like I can go out and buy any these days anyway."

An Ning saw no problem with it and paid him directly, buying them.

The leather shoes were back in An Ning’s hands.

"Jiang Xia, I wanted to ask, where did you buy that pig? And do you know where I can buy sheep?"

"Getting addicted to mutton soup, are we?"

An Ning first shook her head, then nodded.

"I want to buy two or three, prepare them, and give a small bowl to each family in the village. I want to express my gratitude to everyone who came out to help search in this weather."

"As for the pork, that’s just for my family. We’ll split it between my house and my uncle’s."

Jiang Xia understood.

"I’ll take you when the snow stops."

"Okay!"

Carrying the two shoes, An Ning left cheerfully.

She was so quick that Jiang Xia, who had been about to say something else, didn’t even have time to speak.

"She really is a whirlwind."

Jiang Xia carried the mutton soup inside. That night, he’d make some small flatbreads to soak in the soup.

Grandpa Jiang Xia had been standing inside, watching Jiang Xia and An Ning through the window.

With a knowing smile, he said to Da Huang, "Your little master is about to fall for it, you know."

Grandpa Jiang Xia saw it clearly. Jiang Xia’s actions were already ahead of his thoughts; he had started being good to that girl, but he himself was still completely clueless.

"Grandpa, we have mutton soup tonight!"

"Oh, wonderful! It’s been so long since I’ve had a taste of this."

The old man said nothing more, merely urging Jiang Xia to hurry up and make the flatbreads.

That night, warmed by the mutton soup, everyone slept very well.

When Li Chengze slept on the heated brick bed, he absolutely loved it.

Right now, he adored anything and everything warm.

Outside, the snow continued to fall.

The silent, dark night, the drifting white snow.

Layer upon layer upon layer, covering everything.

Around three in the morning, An Ning touched the tip of her nose. It was chilly.

But underneath her, it was incredibly warm, to the point she was even sweating.

Her body was hot while her nose and forehead were ice-cold—a world of two extremes, unique to sleeping on a large heated bed during a northern winter.

She started to turn over, but before she could, a loud RUMBLE startled her awake.

’An avalanche? An earthquake?’

An Ning didn’t know what it was. Her spiritual power immediately spread out.

It extended beyond the An family’s courtyard, spreading further and further.

"No—"

An Ning threw off her quilt, grabbed her cotton-padded jacket, and jumped to the floor without even putting it on. She grabbed her padded pants, pulling them on as she slipped on her shoes.

"Dad! Dad! An Laoqi’s house collapsed!"

An Ning pounded on the door, her voice a frantic shout, and ran outside.

Awakened inside the room, An Sancheng shot up in bed and hastily dressed.

"Those are my padded pants!"

Lin Cuihua was also in a panic. She snatched the padded pants from An Sancheng’s hands and pulled open the curtains. By the light reflecting off the snow, An Sancheng frantically pulled on his pants, grabbed his jacket, and ran out.

"Go wake up your oldest brother!"

"I know!"

Lin Cuihua quickly got up as well, ran out after him, and knocked on the window of An Guoqing’s house next door.

"Eldest! Hurry, An Laoqi’s house collapsed!"

By this time, An Ning had already charged over to An Laoqi’s home.

Aside from An Laoqi’s next-door neighbor, no one else had come out.

"Go get more people! I’ll rescue them!"

An Ning forcefully heaved at the timbers on top of the rubble. The neighbor, a man, came over to help.

But at that moment, the neighbor realized he wasn’t much help at all.

An Ning, all by herself, wrapped her arms around a log as thick as a person’s waist.

"AAAAH—"

THUD!

The massive log was forcefully thrown to the side by An Ning.

Seeing this, An Laoqi’s neighbor simply started moving the smaller pieces of wood.

More and more people arrived.

With their bare hands, they began to dig through the snow and mud, clearing away stones, straw mats, and pieces of wood.

Many hands make light work. They finally managed to pull all seven members of An Laoqi’s family out from the debris.

"Mom—!"

Three children rushed over, wailing, about to throw themselves onto An Laoqi’s wife.

"Don’t put pressure on her! She’s still breathing!"