The two walked through the streets, their footsteps crunching on the snow.
The city was still silent.
Thinking of the bustling crowds and cheerful laughter that once filled these streets, and then recalling how everyone had frozen to death in their homes, a sense of desolation washed over her.
"It's a shame we don't have sled dogs. Otherwise, we could hook up Wangcai to a sled and train him as a sled dog, what do you think?"
Gu Chaobei broke the silence, his tone light.
He was trying to lighten Qingcheng's mood, fearing she might sink into a state of despair, and deliberately said something to relax her.
"Wangcai only knows how to eat, how could he pull a sled? If you made him pull a sled, he'd argue with us!"
Qingcheng imagined the scene and couldn't help but laugh.
They trudged through the snow, one foot deep and the other shallow, hurrying along, and finally reached the foot of Yaoshan Mountain.
As they climbed halfway up the stone steps, they looked back down and were surprised to see a light still on in Jinsha City, with wisps of smoke faintly rising.
Judging by the angle, it should be Prince Xia's mansion.
"It seems Prince Xia is very generous this time, providing both rescue and food, drink, and shelter."
Gu Chaobei sighed.
"He's so rich, he should have the means. Besides, if he doesn't save them, he'll have no one to exploit later."
Thinking of what she had seen in the gold and coal mines, which were merely part of Prince Xia's daily life, Gu Qingcheng couldn't help but sigh. No wonder people say the richest aren't merchants but mine owners.
As long as they control the mining rights, they can lie back and reap profits every day, and their wealth will grow naturally.
Just as they reached the top of the stairs, they heard a creak. The courtyard gate opened, and Wangcai, like a bolt of lightning, rushed out and pounced on Gu Qingcheng, almost knocking her to the ground.
"Wangcai, be careful!"
Hu Lanfang called from behind. She and Mi Guo had both come out.
"Why are you only back now? It's already dark!"
Hu Lanfang scolded angrily.
Gu Chaobei's heart ached upon hearing his wife's trembling voice, and he quickly tried to appease her, saying:
"We encountered some things on the way, which delayed our return."
"You two..." Hu Lanfang sighed, seeming to want to scold them, but then she forced a smile and said, "It's good that you're back safe."
In this icy and snowy weather, the father and daughter endured hunger and cold for the sake of their family. How could Hu Lanfang bear to blame them? She quickly called them inside.
Her voice had been a bit loud just now; wasn't it out of anxiety?
She wanted to be a gentle mother and wife, making their home their sanctuary.
Mi Guo was also sensible, tugging at Gu Qingcheng's sleeve and following her into the house.
As soon as they entered the dining room, it felt as warm as spring. Gu Qingcheng's entire body was numb from the cold, and now she felt alive again.
She took off her coat, kicked off her spiked shoes, changed into warm slippers, and sat down comfortably on the floor covered with quilts, saying:
"This is so comfortable. Home is the best."
"Alright, hurry up and eat. You two haven't eaten yet, have you?"
Hu Lanfang could imagine that in the icy and snowy weather outside, even food would turn into icicles if taken out. How could they eat well?
"Okay, Mom, what are we eating?"
Back home, Gu Qingcheng's voice immediately softened, losing the firm and mature demeanor she had when she and Gu Chaobei were transporting a body on the boat.
Who isn't a child at home?
Even an eighty-year-old baby is still a child in front of their hundred-year-old mother and can act spoiled.
"Let's have hot pot. It's so cold, it'll warm you up."
There was no other choice; in such "cool" weather, hot pot was indeed the best option.
Fortunately, they all loved hot pot; they wouldn't get tired of it even if they ate it three meals a day.
Hu Lanfang, having made up her mind, casually took out various ingredients from her daughter's storage cabinet.
She could share the storage cabinet with her daughter. All day today, she had been taking out small items from the cabinet every hour.
Seeing that the storage cabinet was working normally, she felt reassured.
Didn't the system say that if Qingcheng had an accident, the storage cabinet would disappear, and she wouldn't be able to take things out?
Being able to take things out meant her daughter was fine.
If she hadn't had this indirect way of knowing her daughter was safe, she would have gone to Jinsha City to wait for them after they returned so late.
Wangcai watched the bubbling hot pot broth, circling around the table, drooling.
Hu Lanfang couldn't bear it, so she threw it a piece of beef and said:
"Wangcai, eat up, this is yours!"
Wangcai was very pleased and began to eat heartily from his own food bowl.
Mi Guo, seeing his sister return, felt as if his sky had brightened and said with a smile:
"Before you came back, Mom kept going out to look. She went out more than ten times. I was afraid she would get cold and tried to persuade her, but she wouldn't listen."
Gu Qingcheng raised her eyebrows upon hearing this and said:
"Mom, you don't need to worry about us so much. Everything went smoothly today."
"How can I not worry? I'm not afraid of other things, but encountering people is an unpredictable variable. Honestly, if Prince Xia finds out we're living so well, won't that be dangerous?"
Hu Lanfang voiced this concern.
The family sat around the hot pot and began to eat.
Mi Guo, after a day of rest, had an appetite. He sipped the lean meat porridge that Hu Lanfang had prepared for him in small mouthfuls, listening to their conversation.
"I suspect that in a few days, Prince Xia might also think of us and send people to investigate. If we're in too good a condition, it will surely arouse suspicion. Why don't we block the path up the mountain? What do you think?"
Gu Qingcheng suggested.
"Block it? How do we block it?" Gu Chaobei asked.
"We can pour water on the steps and the slope, turning them into solid icicles. That will make them retreat." Gu Qingcheng proposed her idea.
This inspiration came from Qingcheng's own experience.
Every time she went up the mountain after the extreme cold, with every step she took, she felt like she was going to slip. Fortunately, their professional equipment was good enough to prevent her from falling flat on her backside.
Hu Lanfang said, "That's a good idea. If they can't climb up, they won't have to waste too much energy on us."
"Okay, we'll do it tomorrow. The best thing now is to be isolated from the world and have no contact with the outside," Gu Chaobei said.
As for how they would go up and down the mountain, Hu Lanfang also had a solution.
They could buy a rope ladder used by mountaineers from the sporting goods store. When going down, they could use it for leverage.
After they descended, the people above could pull the rope ladder up.
When coming up, they could use whistles to signal, and those at home could lower the rope ladder.
If the whole family were to descend, wouldn't they have climbing spikes? They could just hammer them into the ice; they were very sturdy.
Didn't programs like "Man and Nature" often show climbers sleeping while hanging onto spikes halfway up a mountain?
"My mom is so smart."
Gu Qingcheng flattered her with overly affectionate words.
She realized that her parents' intelligence was truly a perfect match.
Before, she had felt that her mother, a community cadre, looked up to her father, a highly accomplished medical student, a little.
Now she realized that there was a reason her parents got together. Her father studied the art of healing and saving lives, while her mother studied the art of survival in the human world.
Neither of them was inferior to the other; their roles were just different.
The matter of traveling up and down the mountain was thus decided.