Chapter 130 Coal Shortage

"We need to have a good meal tonight."

Hu Lanfang took out food from the storage cabinet.

The first thing she pulled out was a tray of rock-hard braised pig trotters, much to her surprise.

Gu Qingcheng said she had bought it from a restaurant that day, but it was frozen solid and inedible. It needed to be thawed first, so she quickly put it back.

The second time, Hu Lanfang took out a steaming bowl of ginger and shredded beef soup, rice, and still-hot dishes: sweet and sour pork intestines, dry pot eggplant, pan-fried fish, and stir-fried water spinach.

With the warming device for dishes, there was no need to worry about the food getting cold immediately.

Hu Lanfang went to the backyard to call Gu Chaobei for dinner.

Gu Chaobei was shoveling coal into the underground heating system.

Returning to the dining room, Gu Chaobei said with some concern, "It seems the coal we asked Boss Zhang to deliver earlier was still not enough. Burning it like this every day, I'm not sure if it will last a year."

Gu Qingcheng frowned, then looked up and saw Jinsha City across the way. Her eyes suddenly lit up, and she said, "Doesn't Jinsha Mountain have coal? Why don't we go and collect it ourselves."

"I think that's a good idea," Gu Chaobei said, his spirits lifting. "Why don't we go tomorrow? Prince Xia is busy tending to the disaster victims right now. I doubt he'll have time to deal with Jinsha Mountain anytime soon. We can take advantage of the opportunity to go into the mountain."

"That's true. Everyone is frozen to death now, and the city needs manpower. After things are tidied up in the city in a few days, he will definitely send people to take over Jinsha Mountain."

Gu Qingcheng agreed.

Hu Lanfang was worried and said, "Can't we not go? Can't we conserve and burn less? Maybe we can make it last a year."

"How can we conserve? We can't. Without coal to burn, we'll freeze to death. Relying on the charcoal from the supermarket for warmth is also quite difficult."

Gu Qingcheng was full of regret. At the time, she was afraid of arousing Zhang Laoban's suspicion, so she didn't dare to ask him to send more. If she had known that the extreme cold would come so soon, she wouldn't have worried so much. It would have been great if he had sent more!

Hu Lanfang was worried, but she also knew that having coal was their most important reliance for survival. If they didn't go to Jinsha Mountain to collect coal, they would be in danger if their fuel supply ran out in the future. She could only reluctantly agree.

Hu Lanfang had not asked about the situation of those suffering from the cold in Jinsha City.

In fact, seeing the relatively silent attitudes of her father and daughter when they returned, she had already understood.

However, suppressed emotions needed to be released after accumulating; they couldn't be kept bottled up forever.

As an experienced community cadre skilled in ideological work, Hu Lanfang had her own way of handling things.

While the family's situation was still unclear, they would temporarily gather in the dining room to eat and sleep, to conserve warmth, energy, and electricity.

Miguo had just recovered from a fever and didn't have much of an appetite, only wanting something bland.

So, Hu Lanfang rummaged through and found some plain stir-fried potato shreds, mushroom and bok choy, and scrambled eggs with tomatoes from the storage cabinet. She also took out a bowl of fragrant preserved egg and lean meat congee.

Seeing this, Miguo indeed seemed to have a better appetite.

Smelling the aroma of the food, Gu Qingcheng's mood improved slightly.

No matter what, their family had survived the extreme cold disaster. Now they could still sit together as a family and eat as usual.

That was good enough.

Many people pursued such a life for a lifetime without achieving it.

She should be content and grateful.

After dinner, Hu Lanfang brewed a cup of hot West Lake Longjing tea for everyone.

As soon as the beautiful glass cups were brought out, they immediately caught Miguo's eye.

Good heavens, were these jade goblets used by immortals? httpδ:/m.kuAisugg.nět

Before this, Miguo could never have imagined that he would be able to use such exquisite cups.

This was why he held the glass cup gingerly, as if cradling a fragile item worth a fortune.

Hu Lanfang poured the Longjing tea into the cups. After the hot water was added, the tea leaves stood up in the cups, tumbling and rolling, as if dancing a graceful dance.

Gu Qingcheng held the cup with both hands, sipping the fragrant green tea, and slowly relaxed her entire body.

Miguo, on the other hand, was engrossed in admiring the glass cup.

Then, Hu Lanfang asked about their experiences in Shacheng City that day.

Gu Chaobei, being an adult male with a medical background, was better able to process the scene. He nudged his daughter and said, "Qingcheng, you tell her."

Gu Qingcheng slowly began to recount the scenes she had witnessed on the road down the mountain.

It was then that she realized how vivid her memories of these events were.

She could vividly describe the eerie smiles of the innkeeper at the Yue Lai Inn;

She could describe the chefs in the restaurant, their knives poised mid-air as they were about to chop fish...

As Gu Qingcheng spoke, her eyes suddenly became moist.

"Qingcheng, you're crying."

Hu Lanfang felt heartbroken, but she didn't stop her. She just quietly handed her a tissue.

Gu Qingcheng quickly wiped away her tears. She felt much lighter after speaking about it.

Her mood had been heavy all the way back from the mountain.

However, the disaster was so widespread, and it was a natural disaster. She didn't know who to sympathize with or who to complain to!

But by confiding in her family and sharing her feelings, a hard core in her heart, as if frozen by solid ice, began to melt slowly.

Without her family's listening ear, this hard core might have accompanied her forever, freezing her happiness!

Now, the hard core was quickly melting...

"Qingcheng, we were also in great danger last night, but luckily we pulled through.

Fortunately, you and Miguo discovered the onset of the extreme cold in advance. If it had been like usual, just burning the underground heating system wouldn't have been enough to withstand the extreme cold.

We handled it very well. If it hadn't been for such thorough preparation, we would have been injured too."

Hu Lanfang comforted her daughter.

These words, though seemingly ordinary, were very important and affirmed Gu Qingcheng's efforts.

Gu Qingcheng was not a child, and she quickly felt the strength in her mother's words.

That's right, if they hadn't handled it properly last night, they would have frozen to death just like the common people down the mountain.

In the face of natural disasters, human strength is meager. One can only take care of oneself and one's companions first.

Gu Qingcheng's guilt and distress likely stemmed from the fact that she had foreseen the disaster but couldn't awaken the world.

Seeing so many people die from the extreme cold today, she felt too much guilt, leading to a moral backlash.

But now, after this cathartic processing, Gu Qingcheng also figured it out. She had indeed foreseen the natural disaster, but if she had told everyone in advance, would the common people have believed her?

They would surely have dismissed her as speaking nonsense, invoking superstitions and sorcery, and perhaps even sacrificed her to the heavens.

Although everyone prayed to gods and buddhas for divine revelation, if someone truly claimed to foresee the future, they would still think that person was mentally unstable...

Having figured it out, Gu Qingcheng felt a little more relaxed.

Gu Chaobei and his wife had been observing their daughter's emotions. Seeing that she had finally found release, they exchanged a smile.

Gu Qingcheng then told Hu Lanfang about collecting a large amount of supplies down the mountain that day.

"When the weather improves and becomes suitable for human survival, I will bring out these supplies and help everyone unconditionally," Gu Qingcheng said.