Chapter 135: Waiting for the Dawn

The vegetable garden was completely unrecognizable, with no other colors existing; the Snow had buried everything thoroughly, including the chicken coop nearby. Baifeng estimated that the chickens were likely all dead, but even if they were, the loss was not too great, as the cost of catching them was not very high.

Thinking this, Baifeng calmed his mindset, deciding that if they were dead, so be it. Just as he intended to head back, a tribesman said he had heard the sound of chickens. Baifeng also stopped to listen carefully, and indeed, there was a faint clucking sound.

In the end, everyone decided to dig it out together to see. The distance was not too far; if they were still alive, it would count as an unexpected harvest. If they were dead, Baifeng would simply boil chicken soup for the women in the tribe who had just given birth.

As they dug closer, everyone truly heard the intermittent clucking, indicating that at least some were still alive. Thus, everyone put in extra effort, hurrying to dig them out for rescue.

When they reached the spot, what made Baifeng very happy was that these chickens were actually all alive. Because they had to guard against things like weasels and foxes, the chicken coop where they slept at night had been built very high. Although their wing feathers had been clipped, they could still fly up if they flapped a bit.

Because the side with the door faced away from the wind, the chickens did not face the Wind and Snow directly. The Snow on the back side had already piled up, and there was also a high layer of Snow on top; only the front still had more than half the space not blocked by Snow.

This had effectively created a Snow house, which was actually warmer than the outside. With over twenty chickens huddled together in the small space, not a single one had frozen to death.

However, Baifeng did not dare let them stay there any longer now. He brought over a few bamboo baskets and put them inside. Baifeng intended to raise them in his own house first; the smell might be a bit unpleasant, but that is just how life is.

The frozen chickens were almost motionless when being caught. One would cup both hands over a chicken's chest, and at most, it would flap its feet once, then let Baifeng and the others carry it out. Unexpectedly, it was quite warm under the chicken's chest.

After covering the bamboo baskets with a layer of dry Grass, Baifeng had people quickly carry them back to his room. Perhaps they were too severely frozen and had not yet recovered; even after being given food, they did not eat.

The Snow showed no signs of stopping at all, and the Heaven remained dark and gloomy. The paths they had cleared were covered again with Snow that went over their feet. Even though the tribe had not suffered any losses yet, Baifeng was not happy at all; he did not know how long this disaster would last.

Moreover, the time when the Snow melts after the Heaven clears is the most terrifying; it is truly the extreme of cold. Even a wealthy tribe like theirs had to worry about not being able to endure it. If other tribes had not prepared enough food and firewood, they would likely not even survive until the time the Snow melted.

It was impossible not to go back now; everyone was extremely cold, including Baifeng. One by one, they could not even keep their snot from hanging, and their hands were completely frozen numb. Baifeng was better off; at least he had gloves. Other tribesmen had to wrap a corner of their clothing around their hands just to keep from getting frostbite right then.

He had people pile more Grass into the cowshed, almost forming two walls, and then added more coal to the fire—of course, this was far from the Grass. The temperature in the cowshed actually rose slowly, and the cows also got up one by one to start eating the Grass; after all, they would starve to death if they did not eat.

At this time, he had the tribesmen withdraw, as he dared not let them stay any longer. After giving everyone some instructions, he told them to hurry back to get warm. If they wanted to clear the Snow from their own kang openings, they could go themselves, or a few people could help each other.

Although Baifeng did not demand it, everyone still consciously cleared Baifeng's kang opening, then added firewood and a large amount of coal dust, so that it could burn for longer.

Baifeng did not worry about the others and hurried back to rest. His crown was aching from the cold, and the others likely would not stay outside for long either. Baifeng instructed them that for households with more than two people, they must take turns keeping watch so that the Snow would not bury their homes.

The firewood must not be cut off, and the fire must not be extinguished, otherwise they would freeze to death in their rooms. There were no bachelors living alone in the tribe; only Baifeng lived with two people, while others lived several to a room.

Once the door was closed, Baifeng did not want to go out ever again. In the room, there was porridge that Sui had specially boiled for him, not just white rice, but also lotus seeds and gorgon fruit. Baifeng did not like adding meat to porridge; it felt very strange, and he only boiled meat porridge when he was in a hurry to replenish his strength.

After drinking a bowl of hot porridge and eating a few pieces of meat, he was also roasted very hot by the Fireplace. It was just that his hands and feet were itchy; perhaps after this time, everyone in the entire tribe would get frostbite on their hands, and it would recur every Winter unless they took good care of themselves during the Winter.

Baifeng did not dare to close the wooden window because he had to keep an eye on the changes in the Snow at any time. With two layers of Glass, the wind could not blow in, and the temperature would not be lost too much.

Now, everyone in the Baifeng tribe who had gone out was roasting by the Fireplace in their own rooms. They felt their hands swelling and uncomfortable, and abnormally itchy; they were so swollen they could not even make a fist. Not knowing the reason, they could only endure it.

Sui had not gone out to work, so she still had plenty of energy at this moment. Baifeng felt he had overdrawn his body again, so he planned to sleep first to make up for it, and let Sui wake him when it got dark to switch for Sui to sleep.

Amidst the occasional clucking of the chickens, the sound of claws moving, and the snoring of the two little wolves sleeping by the Fireplace, Baifeng also entered dreamland very quickly.

Baifeng had a nightmare, a particularly strange, bizarre, and illogical dream. Moreover, after he remembered being woken up by the pain of being punched in the stomach, he immediately forgot the content of the dream.

Baifeng sat up in shock, discovering that the one who had punched him in the dream was Sui. She might have been sitting on the kang waiting to wake Baifeng, but the boring and pitch-black room really made it hard for one to keep their spirits up. He did not know how long Sui had held on, but looking at her now, she should have fallen asleep while kneeling, collapsing head-first onto Baifeng's stomach.

Now Baifeng had no sleepiness at all. Outside it was pitch black, and in the room, only the firelight in the cracks of the Fireplace was leaping. He helped Sui lie down so she could sleep properly. In a half-asleep, half-awake state, Sui also curled her legs and pulled up the quilt herself.

Baifeng was still worried, so he took a piece of firewood, melted some candle wax onto it, and lit it in the Fireplace. Baifeng then held this Torch and opened the door.

In an instant, the little wolves groaned from the cold, and Baifeng, wearing his robe, also had his goosebumps rise from the cold. Since the Snow had been cleared once, by now, if Baifeng stepped on it, he estimated there was another thirty centimeters of thickness. This was already much better than he had expected, and the wind was also smaller, and the Snow was not falling as urgently. How good it would be if the Snow stopped by the time the Heaven brightened.

Seeing that the problem was not too big, Baifeng poked the firewood into the Snow to extinguish the fire, then retreated and closed the door.

Now he had no sleepiness, but the night was still too boring. Thus, he moved a stool to sit by the Fireplace, and grabbed one—not knowing if it was Changwei or Laifu—at random, picking it up from the warm ground onto his lap.

The little wolf only protested symbolically, then found a comfortable position on Baifeng's lap and continued to sleep. Baifeng just sat there petting the wolf while burning the fire, waiting for the Heaven to brighten.