Reborn in 1985: Starting from Contracting a Ranch

Chapter 56 Heavy Snow

The next morning.

Shan Yaowen wasn't woken up by roosters or naturally in the morning; he was woken up by the cold.

In the early hours of the morning, he felt uncomfortable no matter how he tried to sleep wrapped in a blanket, tossing and turning and feeling cold.

When we opened the door, all we could see outside was a vast expanse of white; it wasn't daylight, but the glow of snow.

"My God! No wonder there wasn't a sound." After getting up and looking through the window paper at the outside situation, Shan Yaowen felt like his memory was playing tricks on him.

He remembered that in his past life, it snowed this heavily around New Year's Day. There was still a week or so left. Why was it different from what he remembered?

Did I remember it wrong, or was there a mistake in the rebirth process?

Without thinking too much, he only felt that the kang (a heated brick bed) had lost its warmth, so he quickly went to the stove and added some firewood.

Otherwise, my family members will wake up from the cold and catch a cold.

After putting out the firewood and getting dressed, Shan Yaowen wanted to push the door open to go out and take a look, but he couldn't open it on his first try.

He had to use both hands to barely manage to push the door open a crack, and then he saw that the doorway was covered in snow, much of which had been blown into the house by the wind.

Seeing this, Shan Yaowen knew why he couldn't open the door: the snow was blocking it.

Seeing this, he didn't push hard. He went back inside, found a shovel, and started scooping snow out through the crack in the door. After scooping more than a dozen times, he was finally able to squeeze through sideways.

When I went outside, good heavens, the yard was gone.

The snow was already knee-deep, and everything in the yard was completely covered by it.

"Ah Wen, up so early?"

When Shan Yaowu heard the noise, he got up and saw that, good heavens, he couldn't even see the road.

Is it still possible to go to the ranch?

"I was woken up by the cold." Shan Yaowen looked around. He usually slept in the sheep pen to keep an eye on the sheep. He didn't expect that he hadn't slept there all day yesterday, and that it had snowed so heavily.

"Let's shovel the snow and clear it out as soon as possible; there's still work to be done at the ranch."

After saying that, Shan Yaowu casually called out into the house:

"Mom, get up, the snow has blocked the door."

After everyone in the Shan family got up, they were speechless when they saw the scene outside. Then, men, women, and children all started working.

First, shovel the snow; you can't move around without shoveling it.

The father still has difficulty walking, let alone doing heavy work, so the task of cooking has been handed over to him.

The whole family pitched in to shovel snow, and my little sister was particularly happy.

Mom has dressed my little sister in the thickest clothes, with gloves, a hat, and cotton boots all on, making her look extra warm.

They kept insisting on building a snowman.

This time, Yaowen didn't go along with her. With such heavy snow, there was no time to play with her. However, he did give her a small wooden board to play with by herself, since he didn't expect her to do any work anyway.

"Damn it, this snow is going to bury me alive."

"Dashan, how's your family?"

Hearing the shouts from the man next door, Aunt Lan's family, Shan Yaowen leaned on his shovel and replied, "Same here, the door was buried, we almost couldn't get out."

"Oh, it's Wen. How's your place?"

"No major problem, we're getting ready to shovel snow. Uncle, where's your place?"

"The shed collapsed."

Upon hearing this, Shan Yaowen moved towards the wall, then stepped onto a millstone that had been piled up in the yard and climbed over the wall to peek over.

The house next door really did collapse, but it wasn't the house itself, just a shed near the wall.

"Is he alright?"

"no."

"Clear the snow first. If this snow isn't cleared, it will be difficult for people to walk."

"We're working on it now. I wonder how long this snow will last?" the man muttered as he went to get his tools.

This heavy snow came rather suddenly. Everything was fine yesterday, but the amount of snowfall in one night was equivalent to that of the previous three or four days.

And there was no noise at all; there was no sound of wind, thunder, or hail; it just snowed heavily.

After a while, voices began to return to the village.

Every household in the entire production team got up, and a lot of noise came from the courtyard, including exclamations and curses.

Of course, there were mostly sounds of people working, the constant sound of shoveling snow, and many people throwing snow off the roof.

On the Shan family's side, Shan Yaowen was shoveling snow on the roof. Standing on the roof, you could see that many people from surrounding houses had also gone up onto their roofs, and then the people on the roof started shouting:

"Everyone, young and old, clear the snow from your roofs first, so the houses don't collapse!"

"Old Song, do you need to call me that? Everyone knows who I am!"

"Be careful going up onto the roof. Only one person can go up; it's slippery, don't fall!"

"It won't fall, it's very stable."

"With your old arms and legs, you could fall even walking on flat ground. If you don't have time to do it, I'll shovel it for you."

"Get lost, mind your own business first, don't ask me for help later."

"..."

While shoveling snow, everyone chatted, which was one of the few moments of enjoyment while working.

Before long, smoke began to billow out of the chimney.

The stove was lit, and the kang (heated brick bed) was warm.

Breakfast was simple: corn porridge with cornbread, along with some pickled cabbage and pickled cucumbers.

After finishing eating, we continued shoveling snow.

The two brothers from the Shan family were naturally the main force in shoveling snow, and the women were not idle either.

The chicken coop, stable, and other structures all need to be cleaned up.

"Sigh, there were only three chickens to begin with, and one of them froze to death." When Shan Yaowen was shoveling snow around the chicken coop, he stepped on something soft. He dug through the snow and found a chicken, frozen solid, a lump of ice.

There was a saying that raising 5 chickens was communism, while raising more than 5 chickens was capitalism.

So their family, and indeed not only their family, but almost every household in the village, only raises five chickens.

It's such a shame that this old hen, which was still laying eggs, froze to death.

"Sigh, it's a pity, but it seems like we can raise more now, and hatch more broods when it warms up next spring." Shi Fang, heavily pregnant, was still cleaning up the ice shards in front of her house.

"Yes, Mom. My ranch is big, so I'll raise more, maybe a hundred of them."

"Why keep so many? Ten or so is enough. They're enough to lay eggs and feed the chickens. If you have a hundred, they'll tear the grass bare."

"With so many chickens, they can dig up not only the grass but even the grass roots."

After making breakfast, Mr. Shan, having nothing else to do, moved a chair to the doorway and sat there, watching the people bustling about in the yard, somewhat lost in thought.

"This is as heavy as the snowstorm seven or eight years ago."

"No way." Shan Yaowu glanced into the distance. He knew about the snow seven or eight years ago. He was not married then, and when he was fifteen or sixteen, he saw such heavy snow for the first time.

That snow caused four houses to collapse in the village, and people were almost buried inside.

More than half of the sheep on the pasture froze to death, and countless trees on the mountain were broken by the weight of the falling trees.

As everyone worked and talked, Shan Yaowen dug open the chicken coop and saw four other hens huddled together, shivering but still alive.

He reached in and grabbed one; the chicken feet were icy cold, but the chicken itself was warm.

The chicken coop is fairly warm, but that one just got itself killed and ran out.

"Mom, there are still 4 left. We should keep them indoors in this weather."

"Yes, we have to put them in, otherwise if it snows for a few more days, there won't be a single one left." Mother Shan patted the snow off her clothes and took the four chickens into the house.

"This chicken poops everywhere inside the house. Let's get a basket, line it with straw, and tie it up inside."

"Alright."

It took the Shan family a long time to clear away the snow, and they also laid a circle of straw around the stable.

Since there was no plastic sheeting at home, they could only use straw tied with rope to surround the area. To prevent the horse from freezing to death, Shan Yaowen added two or three layers of insulation.

After settling things at home, Shan Yaowen went to check on the pasture again, and thankfully the sheep pen was alright.

When we were shoveling snow in the sheep pen, Gou Dan and Shi Zhang both came.

After finishing their work at home, they had nothing to do, so they came to help at Shan Yaowen's ranch and didn't finish until noon.

"You were right to have foresight, cutting down all the trees around here." Gou Dan rubbed his hands together. "Otherwise, if the trees fell, the sheep pen would be destroyed, and your sheep would be in trouble too."

"Of course, I've already decided to open a ranch, how could I not think it through?" Shan Yaowen put the shovel in the hut. "With this much snow, things might go wrong in the village this year."

"One of them has already collapsed, the third team. When I arrived, the Party Secretary had already led people to help."

"With this snow, there's really nothing to do. Even those who go fishing in Sandao Lake can finally relax."

When the heavy snow came, everyone was busy shoveling snow and doing disaster relief. No one went fishing, especially in the Sandao Lake area where the snow was 30 to 40 centimeters thick. Fishing required shoveling snow and then breaking ice, so no one wanted to go.

In the past, families would only stop their busy work during the holidays, but this year, with the heavy snow, there's not much to do, and everyone is staying home to hibernate.

"Is there anything fun to do here?" Shi Zhang was getting a little bored after helping to clear the snow.

"I have another deck of cards at home, want to play some cards?"

Shi Zhang was about to agree when Gou Dan looked at Shan Yaowen warily.

"no."