Heavenly Blessed Baby: Fleeing Famine, Busy to Prosper!-Chapter 29: How Cold Must It Get?

The entire family in the courtyard fell into silence, with only the crackling sound of burning wood breaking the stillness.

The children who were playing and chasing each other sensed that something was off and stopped, looking eagerly at the adults around them.

"Dad, what should we do?"

Qi Ercai broke the silence, asking his father.

As he spoke, everyone else turned to look at the old man.

Qi Zheng held his smoking pipe, unsure whether to take a puff or to knock it out and put it away.

After a long while, Qi Zheng beckoned to Qi Manman, "Manbao, come to Grandpa."

Qi Manman glanced towards the woodshed and then, without looking back, shuffled his short legs and ran towards Qi Zheng.

Yi Meng, worried about the poor light at night and the child tripping, followed along.

Qi Manman threw himself into Qi Zheng’s arms, looking up with big watery eyes, as if about to cry at any moment.

That little expression made Qi Zheng instantly decide, "We’ll take all the firewood!"

"Grandpa is so good! Manbao loves Grandpa!"

Qi Manman’s face immediately broke into a smile.

Everyone looked at each other, a bit surprised.

Was the decision just made like that?

Even though they had five wooden carts, there were many people in their family and a lot of belongings, and no one wanted to part with anything.

So, even five wooden carts might not be enough.

Now, they even had to load so much dry firewood, requiring at least one cart to be dedicated to carrying it.

Isn’t it a bit too frivolous?

Qi Dafu scratched his head and said, "Dad, we can still pick up firewood on the road, why not..."

"I said to load it, so it will be loaded. If you don’t want to, you don’t have to move!"

Qi Zheng glared.

Normally, it’s Mrs. Qi who glares and yells in the family, although Qi Zheng is the head of the family, he rarely gives orders in such a manner.

In an instant, Qi Dafu was stunned.

Qi Ercai hurried to mediate, "Dad, my brother didn’t mean to load nothing at all, why don’t we finish loading everything else first, then whatever space is left we can use for the firewood, and we can load as much as fits. How’s that?"

This suggestion made everyone nod in agreement.

We can’t leave behind other household items just for some firewood, right?

After saying to load everything, Qi Zheng began to regret.

But he couldn’t bear seeing his precious granddaughter’s teary eyes, so he didn’t change his mind. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

The second son’s words actually gave him an out, making him less embarrassed.

"Ahem!"

Qi Zheng cleared his throat and said, "Everyone go to bed early! Get up early tomorrow to load the carts."

After speaking, Qi Zheng carried Qi Manman to his own room.

Yi Meng was a bit anxious, "Dad, Manbao..."

"Tonight, Manbao will sleep with your mother and me. Alright, put out the fire and go back indoors!"

Qi Zheng walked away without looking back.

Qi Manman lay on his grandfather’s shoulder, looked at his own mom, thought for a moment, and then grinned, showing off his little rice teeth, even waving his chubby little hand, "Mom, I’m sleeping with Grandpa and Grandma tonight!"

Well, this little girl seems to have defected, not even thinking about sleeping with her mom.

Yi Meng didn’t know whether to laugh or be angry for a moment.

But her father-in-law had already spoken, and as the daughter-in-law, she couldn’t go to her in-laws’ room to fight for the child just to sleep with her daughter!

Everyone knew the firewood matter would proceed according to Qi Ercai’s suggestion, and having worked hard the whole day with a journey to take tomorrow, no one felt like chatting, so they extinguished the fire and went their separate ways.

The Qi family’s courtyard fell into silence.

In Qi Zheng and Mrs. Qi’s room.

Mrs. Qi washed Qi Manman’s face and feet and let the little one lie on the kang.

Qi Zheng dried his feet, waited for his wife to finish washing, then took the wash water outside.

The old couple have lived like this their entire lives, even in their youth.

Mrs. Qi would bring in water, wash, and then Qi Zheng would take it out to dispose of it.

Even with children and grandchildren, they continued like this, never needing the kids to serve them.

Because of their example, when their sons got married, they did the same.

No one saw anything wrong with the men of the household disposing of wash water.

When Qi Zheng came back, Qi Manman was sitting on the covers watching Grandma pack things.

She seemed a bit tired; her big eyes were noticeably dull.

Qi Zheng, worried he’d get no answers if the child fell asleep, quickly got on the kang, called the little girl to him, and softly asked, "Manbao, tell Grandpa, why insist on loading those firewood?"

Qi Manman tilted her head, thought, and then gave a little yawn, finally saying in her childish voice, "It will be cold, very cold, suddenly cold."

"When will it be cold, do you know?"

Qi Zheng asked again.

Qi Manman’s eyes were increasingly hard to keep open, but she still tried hard to answer, "After it rains, it gets cold. Grandpa, it’s so, so cold, many people just lay on the ground sleeping, couldn’t wake them even if called."

After speaking, the little one slumped right onto the kang.

Qi Zheng was about to say more when he saw the little one was already softly snoring.

Mrs. Qi, while tidying up, was listening to the conversation between the grandfather and granddaughter.

Seeing the precious granddaughter asleep, she quickly put down her things, carefully laid the little one flat and covered her with a blanket, then turned to Qi Zheng with a worried face, "Old man, they say an autumn rain brings a chill, could it be that after the autumn rain there’s frost?"

"It shouldn’t just be frost."

Qi Zheng couldn’t help but reach for his smoking pipe to light it, but Mrs. Qi slapped it away, "Smoke, smoke, smoke what? Don’t you see Manbao there?"

In his lifetime, Qi Zheng had gotten used to taking a puff when deep in thought, doing so when his sons were little, and again with his grandchildren.

But upon hearing his wife’s words, he immediately set the pipe aside, sighed, and said, "Think about what frost is like, no matter how cold, it wouldn’t be so cold that people lay on the ground and couldn’t be woken up."

After a pause, Qi Zheng glanced at Qi Manman with a complex expression, then said in a lower voice, "I reckon when Manbao says they can’t be woken, she means someone froze to death."

"What? How cold must it be then?"

Mrs. Qi almost cried out in shock but quickly lowered her voice after letting slip a "What."

Qi Zheng sighed, "I don’t know exactly how cold, but since Manbao said so, it must be not far from the truth. Old woman, I feel this journey we embark on will not be easy!"

As he spoke, Qi Zheng leaned against the wall, his eyes empty as he stared at the ceiling, enveloped in sadness.