Chapter 41 Plans Can't Keep Up with Changes
At dinner time, they still ate porridge made from coarse grains and steamed buns made from coarse grains, with only pickled vegetables and slices of cured meat on the table.
This meal was a way for Bai Tang and his friends to improve their health by eating coarse grains, but it was a rare delicacy for Pingping and An'an, the siblings.
After all, before Bai Tang and the others arrived, the two of them would go hungry for three meals out of every one they ate.
After dinner, they all went back to their own rooms to rest that night.
Bai Tang originally planned to go to the new house the next morning to arrange the furniture and do some renovations.
But when everyone went out in the morning, all they saw when they stepped out of the house was a vast expanse of white snow.
Unexpectedly, a sudden blizzard struck. The snowplows at the base couldn't keep up with the speed of the snowfall, and for a time, the roads were impassable.
The blizzard had already reached as deep as an adult's calves, so Bai Tang's plans to renovate her new home had to be put on hold. Plans can't keep up with changes, and no one expected such a sudden blizzard.
Now they have no choice but to stay indoors. Although there is electricity in the base, there are no electronic entertainment options.
Lin Fan, Lin Feng, Lin Zhou, and Bai Jiyang couldn't stay idle inside, so they helped Pingping clear the snow from the yard.
Lin Fan even went up to the roof to clear the snow, and then saw that other neighbors were also clearing snow from their roofs, afraid that the snow would collapse their houses.
Bai Tang was momentarily worried about her newly purchased house, but unfortunately, the snow outside was too thick and there was no road. There was nothing she could do but wait for the snow to stop so that the snowplows at the base could clear a path for her to walk on.
They helped Pingping clear the snow and even built a giant snowman in the yard ☃.
Bai Tang and Gu Yanxu were in the kitchen; they couldn't take out any food that shouldn't be there in front of the two children.
So Bai Tang pretended to go to the SUV to get ingredients for lunch.
Bai Tang took some dried vegetables, a box of instant noodles, ten sausages, and a few cans of fish. She planned to have a simple meal of instant noodles for lunch.
When An'an saw that Bai Tang had taken a lot of things, she quickly ran out of the house to help. She also wanted to work and didn't want to be treated as someone who just wanted to freeload.
An'an asked Bai Tang, "Sister, let me get you some."
Bai Tang understood what she was thinking, so she said, "Okay, thank you An'an. Just help your sister take this bag of vegetables inside."
A bag of dried greens doesn't weigh much; it's just the right weight for a five- or six-year-old girl to carry.
Bai Tang, with a bag in her left hand and a bag in her right, called out to Gu Yanxu, "Brother Xu! Brother Xu! Husband! Come help me carry these things inside, I can't carry them all, I'll have to start a fire later."
Gu Yanxu was starting a fire in the kitchen when he was surprised to find that Bai Tang had brought a whole box of instant noodles and so many other things.
Hearing Bai Tang call him, Gu Yanxu hurriedly went out and took a box of instant noodles and ten sausages from Bai Tang's hand. Bai Tang only had a few cans of food left.
Gu Yanxu said, "Let's go inside. It's too cold outside. Let them go crazy."
Bai Tang turned around and instructed the people shoveling snow outside: "Be careful not to catch a cold. Once you've shoveled enough, go inside to warm up."
After saying that, Bai Tang went inside and waited for Gu Yanxu to make lunch.
Because there were many of them, Gu Yanxu opened twenty packets of instant noodles, just in case there wasn't enough to eat later.
I soaked the dried greens in hot water to rehydrate them, and then cut two sausages to mix into the instant noodles.
Once the water boiled, Gu Yanxu put the pre-opened instant noodles into the water, added the chopped greens, and then added the sliced sausage.
With a mix of meat and vegetables, instant noodles can be considered a nutritionally balanced meal.
The instant noodles were cooked in no time, and Gu Yanxu went outside to call people in to come in and eat.
Bai Tang and Ping Ping helped serve each person a bowl of instant noodles, adding more if needed.
First, I cut up the remaining sausages, then opened the cans of fish I had brought, and ate them as two dishes.
During the meal, Pingping said, "Sisters, why don't you eat less? If you keep eating like this, you won't have anything left to eat."
Bai Tang said, "You and your sister can eat without worry now. We're adults now. After we finish eating, we can earn contribution points ourselves."
Bai Tang thought: "The parents of the two children are far away at the base in Beijing. In order to ensure the survival of the base, they are researching crop cultivation in Beijing."
It's unacceptable for parents to work so hard on the front lines while their children's lives are ignored back home.
Anyway, I'm capable of taking care of two more children now. They don't eat much, and I'm already supporting so many people, so two more kids won't make a difference.
She was rescued by Mu Mu and given a second chance at life. She hoarded so many supplies so that she could live a comfortable and carefree life even in the apocalypse.
Bai Tang didn't have any grand ambitions for the apocalypse, nor did she want to build any base. She just wanted her family to live together peacefully.
Anyway, she has so many resources, so what if she's a little arrogant, a little lazy, or not doing her job properly? It's perfectly normal, okay?
She's not living for others to see; she can do whatever she wants.
Gu Yanxu's words brought Bai Tang back to the present: "Let's go see the new house before it snows."
Bai Tang snapped out of her daze and said, "Okay, I hope the houses at the base aren't shoddy constructions. I don't want my newly bought house to go down the drain like this."
Three more days passed, and the heavy snow finally stopped. Early in the morning, they heard the rumbling of snowplows outside. The heavy snow these past few days had exhausted the snowplow workers at the base, who had been working day and night.
After Bai Tang and his group had a simple breakfast, the dedicated snow removal workers outside had cleared a path that was barely passable.
Bai Tang decided to walk to the new house and courtyard to see how it was doing.
Gu Yanxu and the others went along too; Pingping originally wanted to go and help as well.
Bai Jiyang said, "It's so cold outside, you stay home and look after your sister. Just lend us your snow shovels."
So Bai Tang took the can of food out the door, then turned around and put it in her space for Mu Mu to keep her company.
She was worried that Guantou would scratch Pingping and An'an, since Guantou was a stray cat and they weren't familiar with each other.
So I simply told Mumu to let it play with the canned food for a while.
Then Bai Tang and the others each carried a snow shovel and walked through the thick snow toward their new home.
There were also many people shoveling snow manually on the roads inside the base. They were all temporary hires, and the base would pay them contribution points.
Relying solely on snowplows for snow removal would be too much work, and the base doesn't have much gasoline storage, so the authorities hired some manual laborers.
It took them about forty minutes to reach the courtyard. The snow at the entrance had already been cleared by a snowplow, so they wouldn't be unable to open the gate.
However, when Bai Tang took out the key to open the door, Lin Fan and the others were still surprised by the snow in the yard.
Fortunately, the main gate was designed with a small door; otherwise, with the main gate opening inwards, they might not have been able to open it due to the snow layer being as thick as a person.