The dog, thoroughly terrified by the "monstrous beast," was now meekly silent, not daring to bark. Only after being put into the down jacket did it cautiously tiptoe around the room.
Its timid demeanor was utterly devoid of its usual arrogance, making it inexplicably amusing.
As the charcoal fire was lit, the room's temperature gradually rose, eventually reaching 5 degrees Celsius.
On any other day, this would be an indoor temperature that would make one shiver with cold, but for the Gu family at this moment, their lives were undoubtedly saved.
Gu Qingcheng couldn't imagine if the ordinary people toiling outside could withstand this sudden, fatal blow.
"Sister, why do I feel so cold?"
At this moment, Mi Guo suddenly said.
Seeing him shivering and speaking with a tremor, Gu Qingcheng felt a bad premonition and stepped forward to touch his forehead.
He was burning up!
It seemed Mi Guo couldn't withstand the sudden drop in temperature and had developed a fever.
This was understandable. Since they had time-traveled here, they had known about the coming disaster and had been desperately trying to replenish their strength, eating meat and fish daily. Even under the watchful eyes of the villagers, they would secretly add extra meals, consuming high-protein, nutritious food.
They had put in considerable effort to strengthen their originally frail bodies.
Coupled with the black chocolate provided by the system, their physical condition was already significantly better than that of ordinary people, allowing them to withstand the sudden extreme cold.
Mi Guo, however, had only recently come to their home and started eating well. His body hadn't fully recovered yet.
For the past seven years, he had constantly been on the verge of starvation and freezing, with poor physical condition and no system assistance. Developing a fever was already considered mild.
If he were still with his uncle, without any means of staying warm, Mi Guo would likely have frozen to death.
Gu Chaobei's doctor instincts kicked in. He used a thermometer to measure Mi Guo's axillary temperature: 39.5 degrees Celsius. He indeed had a high fever.
At this point, medication was necessary to reduce the fever. Otherwise, if the temperature continued to rise, he could suffer from febrile convulsions or brain damage.
"Quick, cover him with the quilt. Qingcheng, get the Tylenol. I'll give it to him," Gu Chaobei said.
Gu Qingcheng immediately retrieved hot water from the storage cabinet, along with children's Tylenol.
Thinking about the medication, she suddenly remembered that Mi Guo was only seven years old. In their home country, he would still be a little flower needing careful nurturing.
However, here, his behavior was often like that of an adult.
Realizing this, Gu Qingcheng felt a pang in her heart, a maternal tenderness welling up.
This child Mi Guo had truly been through a lot.
Measuring out the Tylenol according to his age and weight, Gu Chaobei helped Mi Guo sit up, gave him the medicine and hot water, then let him lie down and covered him with the warm down quilt.
"Sister, I'm sick. Am I going to die?"
Mi Guo seemed very vulnerable at this moment.
"Of course not. You just have a fever, silly. You'll be fine after taking some fever reducer," Gu Qingcheng reassured him softly.
"Thank you, sister."
Seeing that the whole family was surrounding him and not showing any displeasure because he was sick, Mi Guo slowly relaxed and closed his eyes to sleep.
A while later, the fever reducer began to work, and a slight sweat broke out on his forehead. Gu Chaobei used a hot towel to wipe his sweat and placed a dry towel on his back to prevent his clothes from becoming soaked.
After an hour of fussing, Mi Guo's fever finally began to subside.
The fever had consumed a significant amount of his energy and stamina. After the fever broke, he entered a state of comfortable sleep.
Gu Chaobei measured his temperature again. It had dropped to 37 degrees Celsius. Although his temperature wasn't completely normal, the high fever had stabilized.
Gu Chaobei finally breathed a sigh of relief and said,
"He's fine now. This is a reaction to the severe cold and his weak constitution. Sigh, this child has had it tough. We need to give him more nourishment once his cold is gone!"
Hu Lanfang said, "We should eat some warming lamb. But not for the next two days; he just had a fever, so it's not good to supplement immediately."
Speaking of food, Gu Chaobei suddenly felt hungry.
Indeed, earlier Qingcheng and the others had a good meal of beef brisket, but they had only eaten dumplings.
After expending so much energy fighting the extreme cold, they were naturally hungry now.
Especially after extreme tension, relaxation made one crave food!
"Qingcheng, how about we make a lamb hot pot first? It's freezing cold, and we need to nourish ourselves. And let's have a couple of ounces of baijiu," Gu Chaobei suggested.
Gu Qingcheng naturally did not object.
She prepared the hot pot.
She took out the hot broth base that had been simmering, along with lamb slices, beef slices, tripe... In short, after surviving the near-death experience, a good meal was a must. Moreover, how could they not have a bottle of Maotai?
When Gu Qingcheng revealed the Maotai, Gu Chaobei's eyes lit up, and he smiled at his wife, saying,
"Afang, is that okay?"
What was this?
Such a mushy old couple!
Gu Qingcheng could hardly bear to listen, yet she felt an inexplicable warmth in her heart.
Having survived this life-and-death ordeal, seeing the couple still so loving and devoted was wonderful!
Because of this great life-or-death crisis, the slight unpleasantness brought by Sun Sanniang had vanished.
That matter was caused by Sun Sanniang's forceful intervention. Neither of them was at fault, and Gu Chaobei was even more innocent.
But the thought of him attracting a vixen who dared to come to their doorstep and provoke them made Hu Lanfang hold her breath. She couldn't possibly tolerate it.
Even if they managed to drive away the mistress with their combined efforts, she would still find Gu Chaobei to settle the score and vent her accumulated anger.
But thankfully, the sudden extreme cold had turned their minor disagreement into dust in the face of a life-threatening test.
Mi Guo slept soundly. Gu Chaobei ate some hot pot and then checked his temperature again, saying with satisfaction,
"He's fine now. His temperature has returned to normal."
"This child was terrified earlier, but if we hadn't had fever reducers on hand, it would have been quite dangerous." Hu Lanfang also breathed a sigh of relief.
"We need to prepare a set of common medicines for Mi Guo from now on, as well as compressed biscuits and chocolate. He can't share ours, so this is how we'll do it," Gu Qingcheng said.
"Yes, absolutely. It can save his life at critical moments." Gu Chaobei nodded in approval.
Gu Qingcheng checked the thermometer again. The outdoor temperature was maintained at minus 55 degrees Celsius, while the indoor temperature had risen slightly to around 8 degrees Celsius.
However, because the doors and windows were sealed, and the coal and heater were continuously supplying warmth, the perceived temperature was still bearable.
To guard against the return of the extreme cold, the family discussed taking shifts to sleep, with one person remaining awake to constantly monitor the indoor thermometer.
If the temperature dropped drastically, they would wake everyone else up to respond.
Otherwise, if everyone fell asleep and the temperature dropped rapidly again, and the charcoal fire went out, the electric heater stopped working, and the temperature fell to a certain point, people could die.
Gu Qingcheng took the first shift, as the second and third shifts were in the dead of night and the most difficult to endure. Gu Chaobei and his wife deliberately left those for themselves, assigning their daughter the easiest shift.