This pile of dried grass was cut and stacked when we moved. I'd wanted to burn this pile of weeds for a long time, but it hadn't snowed then, and I was afraid of starting a forest fire. Now, with snow all around, there's no danger of a fire.
As soon as the grass pile caught fire, it heated up the air around it.
At this moment, Mi Guo suddenly said,
"Sister, what's happening across the way? It looks a bit strange."
Gu Qingcheng looked up. Across the way was Prince Xia's Jinsha Mountain, a treasure trove of both gold and coal mines, the prince's money bag.
If this mountain belonged to Gu Qingcheng, she could lie down and do nothing.
Oh, no, there were still subsequent natural disasters; she would still have to flee.
Gu Qingcheng couldn't quite make out anything unusual at first.
How could a living person be suffocated by urine?
She casually took out a telescope from the Mountain Cat Supermarket and looked across.
Now it was clear.
Jinsha Mountain had been dug up by prospectors, leaving it patches of yellow and green. But now, something was stirring. From the summit down, it was moving with a steady, relentless force, as if unstoppable.
Gu Qingcheng gasped.
That was the snow line!
The snow line was advancing at an astonishing speed, moving forward with a "crackling" sound almost every second.
Not good!
The extreme cold was descending!
The advancing snow line was driven by the cold air front!
Gu Qingcheng felt a chill run down her spine. She never expected the extreme cold to arrive so abruptly.
She was very familiar with this scene, having seen it in the sci-fi movie "The Day After Tomorrow."
She was fortunate to have seen "The Day After Tomorrow"; if she hadn't remembered it so clearly, she wouldn't have reacted so quickly.
Truly, this was the first time she had witnessed such a scene in her life.
"Not good, run!"
Gu Qingcheng grabbed Mi Guo and ran, Wang Cai chasing them into the house.
Gu Qingcheng also shut the door behind her, as if that would stop the snow line's advance.
"Dad, Mom, the extreme cold has arrived!"
Gu Qingcheng shouted as she ran into the house.
"What? How do you know?"
Hu Lanfang, opening the door from the dining room, was a little confused by her daughter's shout.
Despite having prepared mentally, when faced with a real crisis, everyone's brain momentarily froze, unable to react.
"I saw it with my own eyes. It's going to reach us in less than five minutes.
We must be quick! Take action!
Let's all gather in the dining room to escape the cold. Bring all the charcoal braziers to the dining room, and the electric heaters, all of them, to the dining room. Be fast."
Although they had made thorough preparations, Gu Qingcheng's mind still felt sluggish, and she felt a little unsure of herself.
Gu Zhaobei and Hu Lanfang, though momentarily flustered, were more composed as adults with more life experience and immediately sprang into action.
Everyone's charcoal braziers were under their beds. They could hold 30 jin of charcoal, and they were all full. Solid fuel blocks for easy ignition were also buried underneath.
So, after the four charcoal braziers were brought to the dining room, Mi Guo was responsible for lighting them.
Gu Zhaobei quickly went to the backyard to fill the ground dragon furnace with more coal.
Hu Lanfang and Gu Qingcheng plugged in the electric heaters.
After plugging in the electric heaters, Gu Qingcheng realized that the electricity she had collected was only enough to power two heaters.
She couldn't help but regret it, wishing she had bought more solar panels to collect more electricity.
However, even though the electric heaters didn't warm up quickly, with the ground dragon heating, the room was quite warm. They even felt a bit too warm to wear their down jackets.
"Qingcheng, it's already very warm in here. Is this enough?"
Hu Lanfang asked uncertainly. She even wondered if her daughter had seen wrong; could the extreme cold be seen with the naked eye?
"It's hard to say. I don't know how low the temperature will drop in the extreme cold, whether it will be minus 40 degrees or minus 100 degrees. We have to do our best to survive!"
Gu Qingcheng's words struck a chord with everyone. Instantly, their hearts grew solemn, knowing this was a matter of life and death.
Hu Lanfang now preferred to believe rather than not.
If they didn't believe, and something went wrong, the entire family would perish.
It took time for the charcoal braziers to ignite. Mi Guo grabbed a fan and continuously fanned the already red embers.
This indeed worked, and the charcoal fire blazed much stronger.
Hu Lanfang also quickly helped fan the other charcoal braziers.
Gu Qingcheng pondered for a moment, then took out a few cotton quilts from the storage cabinet and spread them directly on the red brick floor. This would prevent the cold air from rising.
Gu Zhaobei finished adding coal and came into the house from the backyard. He was immediately warmed by the heat and sneezed several times.
The charcoal braziers burned brighter and brighter, making them feel like they were about to break a sweat.
Gu Zhaobei said, "Isn't it getting too hot?"
Gu Qingcheng remembered the snow line's advance. Based on its speed, it should have already reached Jinsha City below by now.
She quickly pushed open the door and walked out.
"Qingcheng, where are you going? Come back quickly!"
Hu Lanfang felt uneasy.
"It's okay, I'm just going to observe how far the snow line has advanced."
The snow line was the vanguard of the cold air. She needed to know its position to deal with it accordingly.
As soon as she stepped out, the cold was unexpectedly intense.
To say that before, they had shivered and complained about the cold, but in the face of this cold, they were like infants.
Before, when they said it was cold, their bodies could still move freely. But this cold could freeze a person's blood vessels and muscles, making movements sluggish.
This cold had substance, as if hundreds of pounds of lead had been placed on their bodies, heavy and anxiety-inducing.
Gu Qingcheng was grateful that she had been exercising tirelessly during this time, allowing her physical condition to withstand the current cold.
She walked with some difficulty out of the yard and used her telescope to observe.
It was the fifteenth of the month, and the moon was large and round. She could clearly see that the snow line in the distance had advanced to the foot of Jinsha City and was about to enter the city.
It would likely only take a few minutes to reach Cliff Mountain.
Gu Qingcheng rushed back into the house, shut the door and windows, told Gu Zhaobei to turn the electric heaters to their maximum setting, and urged them to fan the charcoal braziers vigorously to achieve the strongest heat.
"The extreme cold is arriving soon."
Gu Qingcheng said hurriedly.
In fact, even without her saying it, everyone could tell from her actions.
Fear was etched on everyone's faces.
This was the most severe situation they had faced since arriving here.
Moreover, there was nowhere to hide from this kind of disaster. If they could endure it, they would survive; if not, they would be frozen to death immediately.
"Everyone gather the heating equipment. We'll stay in the middle, close together."
Gu Qingcheng said after looking around.
Everyone made another series of urgent movements.
They gathered the charcoal braziers and heaters around them.
Gu Qingcheng thought for a moment, then took out two more down quilts.
Without a word, the family understood her intention.
Hu Lanfang gathered the quilts around herself and her daughter, pressing them close. Gu Zhaobei gathered Mi Guo into the quilt and held her.
The two adults acted like mother hens protecting their chicks, shielding their children under their wings.
In the blink of an eye, all these actions were instinctive reactions, completed in an instant.
And in the very next second, the snow line truly reached their doorstep.
Everyone held their breath.