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

They carried things back and forth like ants moving house, placing them on the door panels and covering them with oilcloth. In the afternoon, more than a dozen families that were severely affected by the disaster also moved their belongings in large and small bags, but it did not attract any attention.

It took eight hurried trips back and forth to move all the stock, coal, firewood and some simple furniture in the cellar.

The remaining wood that is not easy to move and some wood that can be used for firewood will be kept for digging and moving tomorrow.

It has to be said that the various daily trainings conducted by the Su family in the past few months have begun to show results. Now it is not as painful for Su Yun to run 10 kilometers on the treadmill as before.

Alan finally settled down next door. Su Yun gave them a roll of plastic film. If there was any air leakage in the room, they could use the film to block it.

Dad Su replaced the film and said that if there was any leakage, he could fix it himself.

In order to make the two feel at ease staying here, Su Yun brought two side dishes and had dinner with them.

A dish of fish braised with pepper. The Su family caught the fish from the back mountain and didn’t eat much of it except by giving it away.

A vegetable and egg soup may look bland, but it is very rare for Alan. Apart from goat milk, her menu was very simple before.

All the sheep in her family were frozen to death last night and are now placed next to the kitchen. The Su family has been in the slaughtering business for decades, so they are very good at handling cattle, sheep and pigs, so they will help to deal with them tomorrow.

There was corn porridge cooked in the pot, and the portion looked quite large. Alan's father was thinking of sending half of the pot to the Su family, but then he saw Su Yun and Wang Jie coming over with the dishes.

Dad Lan's dinner tonight was homemade stewed soybeans with corn porridge to celebrate the fact that he was not buried in the snow. Although there was a bag of dried fish at home, he couldn't bear to eat it and hid it all away.

The four of them set up the table and chairs and ate directly in the small kitchen. There was a fire burning in the charcoal stove and the indoor temperature was kept at minus 20 degrees Celsius. Everyone chatted while eating and they were full in just 15 minutes.

Dad Lan was asked to put away the remaining dishes and eat them tomorrow. Dad Lan also gave Su Yun 5 kilograms of corn grits to take back and try.

Originally, he wanted to give them five bags of unhulled rice to take back as a reward, but Su Yun refused.

The government's relief supplies are becoming less and less. Previously, they came once a week, but recently they come once every two weeks. Each time, each person is given 5 kilograms of rice, 15 kilograms of coal and a bag of pickled mustard.

The villagers have basically relied on these relief supplies to survive after their food was eaten up.

After Alan moved in, Su Zhangming and Su's father went to help slaughter two sheep. The mutton was frozen shortly after it was cut up, so Lan's father directly gave the Su family the amount of a sheep, and Su Yun also accepted it, thinking to himself that he was preserving it for them.

Later, I went to the village entrance to clean up the old house. The bricks, tiles and wood were cleaned up and transported back to reinforce the old house.

Today happened to be the time to collect supplies. Su Yun, Wang Jie, Su Zhangming, Zhang Lili and Su Ma received half a month's supply for the family.

A total of 55 kilograms of rice, 165 kilograms of coal and 11 bags of pickled mustard tubers.

After receiving the things, the few people did not return to the village as usual. Instead, they walked along the provincial road towards Wangcun while no one was paying attention.

The view on both sides of the road was limited, all blocked by high snow walls. After finding a secluded place, Su Yun released another van from the space, and several people got in the car quickly and set off for Wangjia Village.

Xiaojing called Su Yun these two days and said that her due date had arrived and her stomach was starting to have some contractions, so Su Yun decided to go see her.

Wang Jie was driving the car, and Su Yun was sitting in the back seat, constantly picking things up in the space.

Among the supplies I received today, I gave the pickled mustard and coal to Xiaojing, and also found two sets of baby close-fitting clothes, two sets of thickened one-piece blankets, 5 kilograms of frozen mutton and a guide to raising a baby.

I also specially took out a big bag of clothes that Qiqi and her friends wore when they were children. To be honest, although they are old clothes, each one has been washed very clean and is 90% new, and looks no different from new ones.

In the past few years, children had too many clothes to wear. Su Yun and Zhang Lili were both shopaholics, so they wanted to buy all the cute clothes and hats for the children. However, children grow up quickly, and many clothes become too small after being worn only a few times.

There are also some old slings and gauze. There is no channel to buy diapers now. Before the natural disaster, I naturally would not give the old gauze to others, but in the current situation, I have to use the rags sparingly.

Fortunately, I had already asked Xiaojing to prepare a lot of baby supplies such as milk powder and bottles in advance, which should be enough for the child to be six months old.

Su Yun's consciousness kept sweeping through the space, and sometimes he would stop to ponder an object.

I saw my second baby’s half-old folding stroller, which can be used for both lying and sitting, and is quite practical.

Although I bought a lot of strollers in the supermarket last time, they were all brand new, so it is obviously more reasonable to give away the old ones.

The car slowly drove to the intersection of Wangjia Village, and the trunk of the van was already piled with more than half of the things to be delivered.

Xiaojing was walking back and forth beside the charcoal stove with her big belly. She looked tall and thin, but her belly seemed particularly big, which was worrying. In addition, her contractions had been particularly obvious in the past few days. Sometimes her belly felt tight and she had trouble breathing.

Wang Zhijie went to the town hospital several times in advance to inquire. Because the hospital is currently out of supply of various medicines, only doctors on duty are left in each department. Although the obstetrics and gynecology department and the emergency department are still accepting patients, the risk is much higher than before.

Wang Zhijie was worried that something might go wrong in the hospital, so he invited a midwife from the village to take charge and promised to give her ten kilograms of food and ten kilograms of coal.

The midwife was hesitant at first because she was worried that something might happen to Xiaojing due to her frail appearance. However, when she saw Aunt Wang’s generosity, her doubts immediately dissipated. She just thought that she should send Xiaojing to the hospital first, as it would probably not be her turn by then, so she could use some traditional remedies if anything happened.

The midwife did not dare to be negligent. She prepared the tools needed for delivery in advance in the past few days and visited Wang Zhijie's home every day to check on the pregnant woman.

The van stopped at Xiaojing's door, and Wang Zhijie quickly welcomed her in.

Su Yun asked them to open the gate directly and back the van into the yard.

The yard is more spacious than the last time I came here. The original cowshed is empty. It was probably demolished after the last wind.

The trunk looks pretty impressive with all the stuff piled up in it.

Xiao Jing's eyes suddenly turned red: "You always bring us these life-saving things. I'm worried that you won't have enough to eat. You have many people and many children. Keep them for Qiqi and the others to replenish their bodies. You must take them back later."

Xiao Jing felt touched and aggrieved. Why did she have to give birth to a child at this time? She always felt that she owed her childhood best friend.

Because of Su Yun, their family lived many times better than other families. Last time, he gritted his teeth and bought some coal and sent some to his parents' home. His parents were very surprised that they had so much coal and kept saying that he had a capable husband.

Later, Su Yun gave them a fishing net, and they learned how to fish. They also caught some fish and planned to keep them for their confinement.

My due date was approaching in the next few days, and my heart was beating like a bee in my throat. But when I saw Su Yun coming over, I suddenly calmed down a lot.

When Aunt Wang saw the large and small bundles of clothes and quilts on the stroller, she almost knelt down with excitement. She hadn't thanked Su Yun properly for helping her family with the coal last time, and now she had brought so many things. She felt really ashamed of herself. As a mother-in-law, she was not as well prepared as Su Yun.

During this period, I just exchanged food for some herbs, which I will use to bathe Xiaojing and the baby.

"Auntie Wang, don't be like this. These are leftovers from Qiqi and Bowei. We took them just in time for you to need them. If you don't mind, just use them." When Su Ma saw Auntie Wang was about to kneel down, she hurried forward and gave her a light support.

Aunt Wang was crying and had no way to express her gratitude.

"Sister, I...I won't be polite. We remember this friendship. We accept the clothes, but you have to take the food back. They are life-saving food and you can't take them." Aunt Wang wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes with the back of her hand, and started nagging Su Ma by pulling her hand.

Suddenly there were a few more people at home and there wasn't enough space in the kitchen, so everyone moved the charcoal stove to the middle of the living room and chatted around it.

After chatting for two hours, it was time for dinner. We cooked rice together, stewed fish with pickled vegetables, and made mutton soup.

During this period, except for Xiaojing who ate rice, everyone else in the Wang family drank porridge with pickled mustard.

The fish is for Xiaojing to nourish her body, and everyone else has always been reluctant to eat it.

The meat soup was made with the mutton that Su Yun brought this time. After the meal, everyone discussed the precautions and details of childbirth. As new generation mothers, Su Yun and Zhang Lili had many nursing tips that resonated with Xiaojing. Xiaojing, who had been full of curiosity throughout the afternoon, was finally less anxious.

Su Yun and Zhang Lili especially provided more detailed, considerate and specific tips on breastfeeding, body care, etc. They even talked about how to preserve the baby's umbilical cord and private issues such as how long it will take for menstruation to come after delivery and how long it will take to have sex.

Over there, Su's mother and Aunt Wang were chatting about how to raise the baby in the future, how old the baby would be, how old the baby would be able to roll over, sit, walk, talk, etc.

Wang Jie, Su Zhangming and the men of the Wang family talked about the more effective measures to keep warm in extreme cold. The extreme cold will last for at least half a year, so they must make good fuel plans and store as much food as possible.

Wang Zhihui had visited several small rivers and fish ponds near the Wang family's home. There was nothing to be gained by going there now, so he had no choice but to stay at home and accompany her during the birthing process.

After a lively chat in the afternoon, Wang Zhihui insisted on asking Wang Jie and Su Zhangming to become sworn brothers before leaving.

"I don't have many brothers and sisters. Now I am being taken care of by Brother Jie and Brother Zhang Ming. I am really grateful. I may not have other things, but I have strength. You can come whenever you call me. If you can use me, just let me know." Wang Zhihui now wished he could imitate the gangsters and perform a heroic act to prove himself.

From these few times of getting along, Su Yun could also see that the Wang family were all honest farmers, and they didn't have many schemes, so he wanted Wang Jie to guide Wang Zhihui more.

These days you can help for a while but not for a lifetime. Instead of always looking for opportunities to help you, it is better to let Wang Zhihui grow up.

Before leaving, I went to exchange the fully charged battery in the car with them, which was actually taken out from the space.

He also left Xiaojing a walkie-talkie that can be used for calls within 30 kilometers for emergency use, and taught them how to use it quickly.

Everyone in the Wang family thought that the Su family was simply amazing, as they had managed to get so much electricity and walkie-talkies at a time like this. However, when they thought about how Wang Jie had opened two companies in Shenzhen before, and how he must be a very capable person, they suddenly felt that they had gotten a great deal by becoming sworn brothers.

As they were getting ready to leave, Aunt Wang and Xiao Jing stuffed some food and candy into Su Yun's car. Although it was nothing compared to what Su Yun brought, the Su family didn't refuse.

Before dark, they returned to the Su family and put the half bag of chestnuts and ten kilograms of corn given by the Wang family on the shelves in the basement, and placed the candies directly in the fruit bowl in the living room on the first floor.

There are a lot of dried vegetables such as dried black fungus and some long-lasting ingredients on the shelves on the first floor of the Su family’s basement.

Several large freezers were brought back from the town and used as storage lockers. The low temperature of dozens of degrees below zero was much more useful than a refrigerator. The cured fish, chickens and ducks on the roof were all placed in the freezers.

There are also some commonly eaten lamb, beef and pork in the freezer to ensure everyone's dietary standards are maintained when Su Yun is not at home.

A small portion of the local supplies harvested in the past few months are stored on the first floor of the basement. The sight of the walls filled with supplies gives people a sense of reassurance.