Rebirth in the end times: The whole family keeps a low profile

On the first day of the Lunar New Year, everyone has nothing to do, and the villagers will come out to wish each other a happy new year. Su Yun's family does not have many relatives in the village. Apart from visiting little grandfather and little grandmother's house every year to wish each other a happy new year, they will also visit Alan's house. Little grandfather is grandfather's younger brother and father's uncle. Little grandfather's family has a large old-fashioned rice mill. Su Yun remembers that when he was a child, the villagers would go to little grandfather's house to process rice, and they only had to pay some electricity bills and labor fees.

Later, when I grew up, every household had a car and everyone went to the town to grind rice. The rice mill in my grandfather's house was left idle and became a complete decoration.

My little grandmother is Su Yun’s grandmother’s younger sister. My mother told me that it was my little grandmother who acted as a matchmaker and introduced her to my father.

Su Yun's grandfather passed away unexpectedly many years ago, and his grandmother also died from a fall a few years ago, so Su Yun's only relative in her grandmother's family is her little grandmother.

Dad Su brought his family of 11 and took the New Year's goods that had been prepared long ago, including a Wangzai gift package, two boxes of milk, two packs of noodles, two bottles of white wine, a box of biscuits, a live duck and several red envelopes, and went to the grandfather's house first to pay New Year's greetings.

My grandfather's son, Uncle Zhibang, also came back with his wife and children to celebrate the New Year, but my father's two cousins ​​did not come back to celebrate the New Year. Fortunately, they were married in nearby villages, so it was convenient to travel.

Normally they would come back to pay New Year’s greetings on the second or third day of the Lunar New Year, and stay with their children for a few more days.

After a few pleasantries, the grandmother gave some gifts in return when she left, which were also biscuits in gift boxes and some homemade vermicelli. She also gave red envelopes to each of the four children of the Su family.

I went home again and got the same New Year's goods to visit my grandmother's house to pay New Year's greetings. My grandmother's house is at the entrance of the village, about 15 minutes' walk from Su's house.

My grandmother gave birth to four children, two boys and two girls. My two cousins ​​separated, one raised my grandmother and the other raised my grandfather. My two cousins ​​married far away and never came home all year round. Even during the Chinese New Year, I couldn't see them. Su Yun almost forgot what his cousins ​​looked like.

Even though Su's mother had called these two cousins ​​several times some time ago to ask them to come back early, it was of no use. These two cousins ​​were married in other provinces and sometimes only came back with their children once every seven or eight years. They would leave after staying for only a few days and could not be kept.

I walked along the village road and met many people who were out strolling and paying New Year's greetings. Many of them were carrying large and small bags of gifts to visit their relatives in the village. It was very lively for a while.

It is quite common for grandparents in the village to live in the same village. The older generation likes to marry people from the same village to strengthen the relationship.

After greeting everyone along the way, we finally arrived at my grandmother's house. My two cousins ​​were as warm and sincere as ever.

They get up early and work late every day in the village to farm and support their family. During holidays, they occasionally go to the town to help Su Ma with housework and earn extra money. Over the years, their lives have gradually begun to get better.

The little grandmother looked older than last year, and her back was bent and she couldn't straighten up. Su Yun learned from casual conversation that her waist hurt a lot when she stood up straight. In the past, injections could relieve the pain, but now even injections are useless. She kept saying that she didn't know how many years she could live. The family comforted her, saying that the children and grandchildren had grown up, so she could rest assured in her old age. Su's mother looked at her sick aunt and thought of her mother again. She felt a little sad, turned around and wiped her tears, and didn't dare to speak again, for fear of crying in front of the younger generation.

The little grandmother held Su Ma's hand and kept sighing that thanks to her help over the years, the family is getting better and better. Even Su Yun's cousin is preparing to get married. Su Yun's cousin is usually lazy like a child who never grows up. When he was a child, he liked to sneak out to the Internet cafe to play games. He has been slacking off since he graduated from junior high school, like a devil. Later, he was called by Su Zhangming to help slaughter cattle and slowly became better. Now he listens to Su Zhangming in everything, so Su Zhangming usually takes him with him when he does some odd jobs. It is said that he just got a girlfriend this year. The girl works as a nurse in the town. She is small in stature. Su Yun has never seen the girlfriend of this cousin, and wonders if he will have the chance to see her again in the future.

After paying New Year's greetings, the group walked around the village, chatting, bragging, and visiting friends they were familiar with. Mother Su went to the home of Wang Qiaoqiao, who she got along well with, to chat gossip with Aunt Qiaoqiao.

Su Yun brought Wang Jie and the children to visit Alan's house to chat. Alan and her father are introverted so her family only has a few guests a year. Every time Su Yun visited them, they were very happy and always made some snacks for Su Yun and the others to satisfy their cravings.

Su Zhangming brought Zhang Lili and her son to visit Brother Tan's house. Tan Chuang's younger brother Tan Hai and Su Zhangming were classmates and they got along well. They would often make appointments to eat, sing and drink together, so not long after they met, they prepared some snacks and ate while bragging. Zhang Lili was afraid that Su Zhangming would say something wrong after drinking, so she stayed with him the whole time.

Su Xiaogu didn't like socializing, so she took her cousin home early to warm herself by the fire and watch TV. They agreed to come back at lunch time. Su Xiaogu reprocessed the leftovers from yesterday's New Year's Eve dinner, trying to avoid waste, calling it "surplus every year" and saying that there is always surplus food to eat every year. Eating old dishes in new ways gives them a new taste.

The temperature dropped by two degrees today. It can maintain 3 degrees in the daytime with the sun, but minus 5 degrees at night. The tap in the Su family's kitchen has been running with a small flow of water, and a large water tank is used to store water. This is mainly to prevent the low temperature from freezing the water pipes. Ten years ago, every household paid to build a main pipeline and a large water reservoir at the spring in the back mountain. The main pipeline connects the end of the village to the head of the village, and after the water meter is installed uniformly, each family connects the water pipe to the household.

The Su family’s old house and new house each have a water meter. The old house uses ordinary water pipes, while the new house uses new thickened PPR hot water pipes, which are not easily frozen in winter and are more cold-resistant, high-temperature-resistant and durable.

While the tap water is still usable, Wang Jie pulled Su Zhangming and Su's father a few days ago to insert the Jimmy thin tube that he had bought long ago into the tap water inlet pipe from the main pipe. It took him a long time to get it done. In the future, if the water pipe is frozen, they can just pour hot water into the Jimmy tube to thaw it, but the prerequisite is that the main water pipe in the village is still usable.

Su Yun was supposed to be on duty at the checkpoint at 4 p.m., but Wang Jie took over. Su Yun specially changed him into a polar warm suit bought online, top-grade warm, windproof, waterproof and non-slip mid-calf boots, leather and fleece gloves, a black warm down jacket, and a leather hat. He went out on duty fully armed. The person on duty with him tonight was Aunt Meng, who runs a convenience store in the village. Aunt Meng and Meng Zhe are relatives, but Su Yun did not ask what the relationship was.

Su Yun delivered a meal and brought a thermos of thermos to Wang Jie once in the evening and never went there again.

Sister Meng's store is located in the most central location in the village. It is the gathering place of gossip in the village. Su Yun hates gossip the most. After experiencing his previous life, he now dislikes chatting with people he is not familiar with. If he meets aunts and grandmas who like to chat in the village, he will avoid them.

Back then, Su Yun chose to marry the penniless Wang Jie, and was often laughed at by these aunties and grandmas behind her back.

Wang Jie himself was aware of this. Many people were waiting behind his back to laugh at him. He couldn't even invite many tables of people to his wedding banquet. He had no idea about the complicated interpersonal relationships in Xinxu Village, so he always kept a distance when talking and chatting with others. He didn't want to make people feel left out, but he also didn't get too close.

I chatted with Aunt Meng for a few insignificant words that night, then checked the news on my phone to see if there was anything unusual in the weather forecast.

At 11 o'clock in the evening, extreme weather occurred on a foreign island. A visible white cold air came from the sea surface, the temperature dropped sharply, the waves in the shallow area of ​​the island froze instantly, and even the rolling waves were quickly frozen. Some people were awakened by the cold, while others with poor immunity were directly frozen to death at home.

The temperature was frozen to minus 1 degrees Celsius in just one minute. Community workers have set up an emergency team to knock on doors to remind people.

The pictures accompanying the trending searches are truly heartbreaking, with the waves on the beach frozen in the rolling state, a scene that is both beautiful and eerie.

It’s finally here! This is the first extreme cold event to break out on the Internet.

Wang Jie looked through the comments.

Tintin, who has a low sense of humour: Oh my god, it looks like the end of the world. I’ve seen the movie “The Day After Tomorrow” before, and it had this scene. Tell me this isn’t a special effect, it’s so scary.

Big Baby: I dare not imagine it, I hope they can get through it.

Sister Lisa: It makes me feel cold just looking at it. I saw the video and the birds flying in the sky were frozen into ice lumps and fell down.

Flying Fish: Is this what I can feel? I have never seen minus 30 degrees Celsius. It is very cold here even if it is just below zero.

Invincible Little Bean: I have never seen snow. I pray for snow. I really want to build a snowman.

Mermaid line and vest line: the victims are so pitiful.

Perfect Me: The temperature in our Northeast also drops below zero every year, but I have never heard of anyone freezing to death. This is too weird.

Mermaid line and vest line: If the outside temperature drops rapidly, the human body's heat production and heat dissipation will be unbalanced, which will cause the body temperature to drop rapidly. If it is below 35 degrees, hypothermia will occur, which can easily cause death.

An Onion: The above person gave a correct answer, but isn't this island in the subtropical area? I passed by it when I was traveling before, and the average temperature there in winter was more than 30 degrees Celsius. I can't understand why it suddenly dropped to minus degrees Celsius. It's really weird.

The perfect me: I have heating at home, so I’m not afraid of minus 60 degrees Celsius.

Wet Heart: I feel so pitiful without heating. I want to buy a heater and rely on it to survive this winter.

Tintin, who has a low sense of humour: Don't you think it's like the end of the world? I've seen a movie with this scene before, where people are frozen into popsicles outdoors and crumble into slag when touched. I'm going to buy more charcoal...for barbecue.

......

Wang Jie wrapped himself tightly in his extreme cold windproof jacket, with several heating pads stuck inside to keep his whole body warm. He sighed in his heart that Su Yun didn't know what brand of warm autumn clothes and trousers she bought, which felt light and kept the warmth. He turned his head to look at Aunt Meng next to him. She had been stamping her feet all night and was too cold to talk.

At this time, the village group message kept ringing, saying that someone from the village ahead was trying to break through the checkpoint.

Tan Chuang wrapped himself in a military coat and hurried over, only to find that it was Taozi who was riding an electric bike and carrying a suitcase.

On the evening of the first day of the Lunar New Year, a woman returned to her parents' home late at night carrying a suitcase. It was really curious. After some questioning, I learned that Taozi and her husband had an unhappy marriage. Her in-laws were very picky about her. She had endured it for the sake of her children all these years. Tonight, the couple had a quarrel over some things and were about to divorce. Taozi was so angry that she packed her luggage and slammed the door and left.

Taozi's family also rushed over. Taozi's mother cried and wanted to take her daughter home. Taozi's brother also said that the whole family would be quarantined at home for 3 days and promised not to go out. Fortunately, the green code displayed on Taozi's mobile phone was also the latest date. After weighing the pros and cons, Tan Chuang decided to let Taozi go home for self-isolation. The above epidemic prevention policy is that people from the village can only enter but not leave, and non-people from the village are not allowed to enter. This married daughter is not considered an outsider, and when the time comes, just put a quarantine note on her door.

Early in the morning on the second day of the Chinese New Year, quarantine strips were posted on the front and back doors of Taozi's house, and everyone automatically walked around them.

In previous years, many married daughters would return to their parents’ home on the second day of the Lunar New Year to pay New Year’s greetings. Those who married nearby would bring their families back with them. However, this year, everything is quiet everywhere. The government encourages villagers to stay at home as much as possible to celebrate the New Year to reduce the risk of infection.

It will be extremely cold tomorrow. Su Yun packed up some of the unused winter clothes, shoes and socks at home and bought two sets of warm autumn clothes to give to Alan. Yesterday, he went to visit Alan's house. Alan and his daughter were wearing the old clothes that Su Yun gave them two years ago. Their coats were washed white and had several patches on them. Su Yun knew that they were reluctant to spend money on food and clothes. Lan's father was always saving money to take Alan to the hospital for another operation, so they had been living an extremely tight life over the years.

However, Su Yun secretly consulted her friends in the hospital about Alan's case. In Alan's case, another surgery would be futile and would only be a waste of time and money. However, Su Yun did not dare to tell them the truth. She did not want to extinguish the light in their hearts.

Alan and Su Yun often played together when they were young. Both Alan and Su Yun were disabled later in life. When Alan's father was young, he accidentally injured his right eye while working on a construction site, which led to blindness. Alan herself was normal when she was a child, but she was hit by a car when she was in elementary school and failed to receive medical treatment in time, leaving her with sequelae. The displacement of the pelvis caused slight atrophy of her left leg, so she walked slower than ordinary people. These accidents caused the two of them to have very inferior and cowardly personalities, fearing that they would be disliked by others. Gradually, they became like invisible people in the village, and they rarely went out except for farm work.