Chapter 51 Sweep The Snow
Wu Xiyuan still wanted to continue, but Su Jiuyue had lifted the quilt and said, "I'll go and return back the bowl to mom."
Before she got off the edge of kang, Wu Xiyuan took the bowl out of Su Jiuyue's hand and told her, "I'll do it. It's cold outside. You had better stay inside."
Wu Xiyuan walked out before Su Jiuyue was about to declined him.
In a little while, Wu Xiyuan came back, snowflakes attached to his clothes.
Su Jiuyue helped him pat off the snow and urged, "Come and sit on the kang too. It's cold to stand still."
The room window was papered in two layers and the curtain was drawn tightly. Even so, the cold wind still came in from time to time through the cracks on all sides of the room.
Without being reserved, Wu Xiyuan took off his smock immediately and crept into the bed.
"Don't hug me!" Su Jiuyue protested.
Wu Xiyuan didn't let go of his arms and explained, "You're so afraid of cold. You see, my body is warm enough to warm you up."
...
The winter night was extraordinarily long. Outside the house, all had been blanketed by an overnight snow.
Be that as it may, many people still got up early at dawn.
People knew that once they opened their eyes, they had to search the food to feed the whole family. They might not find anything to eat if they chose to search food outside but what they knew more clearly than that was the whole family would starve if they kept staying at home.
When many others had put on padded jackets with a bamboo basket on their backs, aiming at searching food in the mountain, Su Jiuyue just woke up.
Su Jiuyue awoke feeling a bit drowsy. A long time had passed before she became refreshed.
With her heart beating fast again, she sat up from the kang and cleared her thoughts before putting on her clothes one by one without any expression.
Her noise woke up Wu Xiyuan who was sleeping aside. He opened his eyes and saw Su Jiuyue, smiling at her brightly, "Good morning! My honey!"
Su Jiuyue was fastening straps of her clothes and said, "You can sleep a little longer. It's too cold outside. I'll boil the water for everyone to use."
Wu Xiyuan didn't sleep a long time ordinarily and he didn't get the habit of staying in bed longer in the morning. Hearing Su Jiuyue was about to boil the water, he got up from the bed quickly.
"Let me make a fire for you!" he said. At the moment, Wu Xiyuan was like an industrious kid with much energy.
Then, here's a scenario that one made a fire for the other one to make breakfast.
By the time the rest of Wu family got up, Su Jiuyue had sat on a small stool outside the room, chopping the wood.
Wu Xiyuan wanted to help her but was refused and asked to sort out the woodpiles by the side.
Liu Cuihua first came out and used hot water to wash up. Then her second son Wu Ercheng also got up. Liu Cuihua told him, "Ercheng, later you just went up to the roof and sweep the snow. It's been snowing so heavily for several days. I'm afraid the roof will collapse."
Wu Ercheng had just woken up, and after hearing his mother's words, he answered in a low and muffled voice, then ran towards the backyard's toilet.
Su Jiuyue was chopping the wood in the yard. Hearing this, she stopped for a while and then made up her mind after pondering.
It didn't take long for Wu Ercheng to wash up and plan to sweep the snow with a tool, but he was stopped by Su Jiuyue. "Second elder brother, please sweep the snow later. Let me chop the remaining wood firstly." Su Jiuyue explained.
Roaming over Su Jiuyue, Wu Ercheng thought she was so petite that even chopping wood could be a tough work for her. Thinking of it, Wu Ercheng just told her, "You just go back into the room. I'll help you chop the rest of wood after sweeping the snow. It's a breeze for me."
However, Su Jiuyue persisted, "Second elder brother, you haven't used breakfast, have you? It's not too late to work after breakfast. I can handle it by myself."
On one side, Wu Xiyuan who kept sorting out the woodpiles also agreed, "I'm here too! Second elder brother, I can help my wife! I'm really good at this!"