I survived the famine by scavenging and supported my family.

The next morning, Zhao Ningning got up from the warm space, put on her cotton clothes, and stepped out of the space, only to be blocked by a blast of cold air, which made her take a few steps back.

She immediately rubbed her arms, shivering from the cold. Unable to bear it any longer, she chose to return to her space and put on the fox fur coat she had placed there.

When she came out of the space again, Zhao Ningning felt a little better. She reached out and opened the door, but unexpectedly, snow blocked her way.

Outside the door, everything was covered in white, and large snowflakes were still falling from the sky. The snow piled up at the doorway was already half a person high, and now it stood like a low wall blocking the entrance.

"Sister?" Zhao Qi's voice came from the courtyard. "Why are you awake so early?"

"There were no cell phones to play with back then, so we just had to go to bed early..." Zhao Ningning said, "Brother, are you stuck in traffic over there too?"

"Hmm..." Zhao Qi said, "Wait for me a moment, I'm clearing the snow."

Zhao Ningning closed the door first. After a while, the sound of shoveling snow outside grew closer and closer. Zhao Ningning used a wooden shovel, which was used to turn grains in the summer sun, to clear a path between the two houses.

Seeing that Ningning was dressed warmly, Zhao Qi told her to stay in the house for a while, and that he would clear the path to the kitchen before they went to the kitchen together.

How could Zhao Ningning just wait idly? Among the ironware she bought in the prefectural city this time were shovels. She took one out, but the wooden handle of the iron shovel was half a head taller than her. She couldn't use it, so she tossed it to Zhao Qi and asked him for the wooden shovel.

The brother and sister shoveled into the kitchen together.

After selling ice cream and ice jelly recipes in Fengning County, Ning's mother tried various ways to nourish the whole family, and even taught her two children to box for self-defense.

When Zhao Ningning first transmigrated, she was pale and thin. Now, she has not only become fairer, but her cheeks have also gradually gained weight.

What makes Zhao Ningning happiest is that she has grown taller! She used to only reach her mother's elbow, but now she is taller than her mother's elbow.

Having exercised regularly, Zhao Ningning now had the strength to shovel snow. After shoveling for a while, she followed her brother to shovel the path leading to the main room.

The road hadn't been cleared yet, but the two adults got up.

Last night, Ning's father told Ning's mother about what he saw on the way to Fucheng. When Ning's mother heard about Zhao Ningning's clever fight against the thugs, she was so angry that she scolded Ning's father for being less vigilant than a child.

Ning was angry for half the night, and her father spent half the night coaxing her, so she finally got up late this morning.

Seeing that the children had already cleared a path in the yard, Ning's father put on cotton gloves, took the shovel from Zhao Qi's hand, and with one shovel stroke, a large chunk of snow was shoveled away.

"Wait a minute!" Ning's mother said, "I'll keep this snow."

Ning's father stopped shoveling snow and looked at Ning's mother. Ning's mother placed her hand on the snow, and in the blink of an eye, a large patch of snow suddenly disappeared.

Ning's mother's space was static; the snow remained the same even after being put in. After going back and forth like this several times, she became somewhat mentally exhausted. Fortunately, the snow in the yard had been mostly cleared away.

Zhao Ningning exclaimed with envy.

Although she also has "space," the snow melts as soon as it's put in, making the entire elevator lobby filthy, and she has to clean it up afterwards.

Ning Ma's space is the only "space" in the true sense of the word. It can divide the space into small pieces according to its own will to store things. It can also control the random placement of things.

You can access Ningma's space at will.

To store items in the space, you must touch the items. The only drawback is that you cannot take things out multiple times. Ning's mother's system will prompt her that she is running out of energy and ask her to rest before continuing to use it.

Zhao Ningning, however, has no such restrictions on entering and exiting the space.

She can use her space as a "door" to come and go as she pleases, whenever she wants.

After clearing the snow from the yard, Ning's mother was exhausted. Ning's father helped her back to the room to rest, and then took the two children to the yard to figure out how to clear the snow from the roof.

The snow on the ground was half a person high, and the snow on the roof was no less. If the snow was not cleared away in time, the snow layer would be too thick and would cause the roof to collapse.

Ning's family didn't have a ladder, but the Zhou family did. Ning's father thought he would take the two children to the Zhou family to borrow a ladder and also to check on their situation.

As soon as they opened the courtyard gate, the three of them couldn't help but sigh.

The roads outside are also blocked by heavy snow.

Fortunately, the Zhou family's house wasn't far from theirs. Zhao Ningning went back to get the wooden shovel and followed behind her father and brother, slowly clearing the way.

When they arrived, Zhou Jian was shoveling snow in the yard. Ningning and the others greeted him, and Zhou Jian quickly put down the shovel and came over to open the yard gate.

Holding shovels, Ning's father and Zhao Qi helped shovel the snow, while Zhao Ningning and Zhou Shi cleaned up the areas they hadn't cleared.

Many hands make light work, and in no time, the snow in the Zhou family's yard was shoveled into a pile and placed on the vegetable garden in the corner.

Zhou stood at the entrance of the main room and called for people to come and rest.

Ningning wiped the sweat from her forehead and sat down in the main room. Zhou brought her a bowl of brown sugar water and put it in her hand. Zhao Ningning did not refuse and sipped it slowly. After drinking it, her body felt incredibly warm, and her body began to warm up slowly from her stomach.

"When did you get back?" Zhou asked gently. "Your mother didn't even say a word. If she had, I would have given you a welcome feast."

"Grandma—" Zhao Ningning drawled, her voice tinged with a coquettish tone.

"We're a family, there's no need for that!" Ningning laughed. "We came back yesterday evening, and it was almost dark when we got back, so we didn't come back. We bought a lot of coal in the prefectural city. It'll be just enough for the winter. I'll have my uncle go get it later."

"That won't do." Madam He had heard of coal, which was something only wealthy families could afford; ordinary people couldn't buy it. She said, "It wasn't easy for you to bring coal back from the prefectural city all the way here. You're still young, and you can't let it get cold at night. Keep it for yourselves."

"I bought a lot! Don't worry about it, my mom will bring it over to you later, you'll have to accept it whether you want it or not." Zhao Ningning said domineeringly, and put the empty bowl on the table.

After the small talk, Ning's father told Zhou Shi the purpose of their visit and also asked her to help Zhou Jian sweep the snow off the roof, otherwise the roof would collapse under the weight.

He went out to take a look and was a little scared. He quickly asked Zhou Jian to get a ladder. The group held the ladder together, and Zhou Jian climbed up and used a bamboo pole to push the snow off the other side of the roof, where it fell into the yard with a thud.

Clearing snow is hard work. Zhou Jian swept the snow off the roof of the main room, and when he went down the ladder, he could barely lift his arms. Seeing this, Ning's father called him down and went up himself.

He was strong and swept the roofs of two houses in one go. Then Zhou Jian went up and they took turns sweeping the snow off the roofs.

Zhao Ningning couldn't help with the roof, so she could only shovel the snow in the yard. After resting for a while, Ning's father and the others picked up their shovels again to shovel the snow that had been swept down.

They need to finish their work as soon as possible; the snow on the roof is waiting for them to shovel.

After the snow in the Zhou family's yard was cleared, Ning's father took Zhou Jian home to work. He told his son to bring Ning and his family home for lunch.

Instead of Zhou Jian, Zhao Ningning arrived. Zhao Ningning was small and weak, and was sent to invite Madam He home for lunch.

Mrs. He couldn't persuade her otherwise, so she had no choice but to go with her little granddaughter.

Before lunch, Zhao Ningning returned to her space and took out two chickens, a whole lamb chop, a piece of pork tenderloin, and a piece of pork belly from the freezer.

Seeing frozen pre-fried mushrooms in the freezer on the other side, Zhao Ningning took them out as well.

We're having guests today, and fried mushrooms are a dish for kids. Half of the family are children, so this is perfect for them.

Carrying a bunch of things, Zhao Ningning emerged from the space.

In the kitchen, Ning's mother was guarding the door. When she saw that Zhao Ningning had taken a bag of fried mushrooms, she was startled. She helped to tear open the bag of fried mushrooms and pour them out. Ning's mother threw the plastic bag into her own space and tapped Zhao Ningning's forehead with her finger.

"You little glutton."

Since we were going to cook a big meal today, which would use a lot of oil, Ning's mother let her have her way.

While the others were still working in the yard, Zhao Ningning lit the fire. While the meat was thawing, Ning's mother fried the mushrooms and set them aside to cool.

The mushrooms were just fried, and the snow in the yard had been cleared. Ning's father brushed the snow off himself as he walked toward the kitchen.

"Oh dear! It's so cold!"

Stomping his feet at the door, Ning's father rubbed his hands together, washed them with hot water in the kitchen sink, and took over the task of preparing the vegetables.

Ning's father worked quickly and washed the meat. Zhou Jian squeezed into the kitchen, insisting on helping. Ning's mother had no choice but to give up her spot and let him help blanch the meat.

Zhao Ningning's job of tending the fire was also taken away by her brother. Helpless, she got up and went to the main room with her mother.

The courtyard was clean and tidy. Ning Ma invited Zhou Shi to go to the main room to warm themselves by the fire.

No one went there for half a day, and only charcoal embers remained in the brazier, occasionally glowing red in the wind.

As more firewood was added, the flames, heated by the high temperature of the embers, suddenly burst into flames.

Zhao Ningning stretched out her hands and warmed them by the fire. Ning's mother took out the melon seeds and candied fruit that Zhao Ningning had bought in the prefectural city and placed them on the table next to the fire pit, so that Zhou Shi could grab and eat them.

The kitchen was small, so when it was time to cook, Ning's mother would go to help, while Zhao Ningning would stay in the main room and chat with her grandmother.

Before long, Ning's mother brought the three main dishes that Ning's father had cooked to the main room: braised lamb chops, Sichuan pepper chicken, and sweet and sour pork tenderloin, all lined up in a row. Zhao Ningning's mouth watered.

On the other side, Ning's mother made a cabbage, wood ear mushroom and tofu stew, and brought it over along with some pre-mixed spicy and sour lotus root shreds.

Zhao Ningning couldn't sit still, so she went to the kitchen to help serve the rice, and sprinkled the salt and pepper seasoning for the fried mushrooms on top before taking it to the main room.

Finally, the steamed egg custard and pork tripe and chicken soup were served together. As Zhao Ningning served the food, she smelled the aroma coming from the kitchen and exclaimed how delicious it was.

Snow was still falling from the sky. Inside the main room, six people sat around a square table, happily eating with their chopsticks.

Zhou praised Ning's father for cooking, saying there was plenty of meat for a small group. Ning's mother kept piling food onto her plate, and Zhou quickly couldn't keep up, grabbing her chopsticks and hurriedly transferring the food to Zhou Jian's bowl.

Zhao Ningning was overjoyed.

After dinner, the snow outside still showed no signs of stopping.

When Mrs. He took her leave, Mr. Ning stuffed the gifts he had prepared in advance into their hands.

Holding a large package, Ms. He waved her hands repeatedly to refuse, but Ning's mother, without saying a word, directly grabbed her hand and made her take it.

"Mom! This winter is acting strangely. These are clothes Ningning and the others bought especially for you, so don't worry about wearing them!" Ning's mom said, "We have some too!"

Sometimes, the reluctance to accept favors isn't because of a lack of desire, but because of the fear of incurring too much obligation and being unable to repay it.

Ning's mother said, "I'll say it again, thank goodness you saved Ningning, otherwise I probably would have cried myself blind."

"Why are you saying that! Isn't Ningning my granddaughter too?" Mrs. He pretended to be angry. Ningning's mother shook her hand, "Then just accept it. I can't keep thinking about this day and night."

Neither of them could persuade the other, and in the end, Zhao Ningning pleaded and said that this was a gift she brought for her grandmother, and if her grandmother didn't accept it, she wouldn't want the cotton hat her grandmother would give her next time.

He accepted the gift, thinking that she would make some cotton gloves for Ningning and her family later, since there wasn't much work to do at home in the winter.

Zhou Jian carried the package, while Ning's parents helped haul a ton of coal over.

In the prefectural city, they bought a total of ten tons. The shopkeeper asked for 1,200 taels of silver directly. After looking at the price for a long time, Ning's father finally got it for 1,100 taels of silver.

This coal burns for a long time, so keeping it at home is a good addition for burning coal in winter.

Ms. He thought that the package would at most contain some cotton quilts, but when she opened it after arriving home, she was surprised to find that it contained a leather jacket!

Besides the leather jacket, there were also leather boots, a leather hat, a leather scarf, and gloves. He was speechless. Not to mention Shitan, even if you took this leather jacket to Fengning County, there would be very few families who could afford it.

This favor is too heavy.

in the afternoon.

The village headman summoned one person from each household to clear the snow from the road. Ning's father put on his cotton-padded coat and hat, picked up a shovel, and went out. Ning's mother leaned against the door frame, watching his back as he walked away, and sighed.

"It started snowing two days before you came back. I was worried that the snow on the road would be too thick and you wouldn't be able to make it back in time."

"Luckily we came back in time. If we had spent the night in the county town, we might not have been able to get back today." Zhao Ningning patted her chest, feeling extremely relieved.

It's unclear how long it will take for the official roads and side streets to be cleared. According to Ning's mother, the snow has been falling for three days straight, and it's unknown when it will stop.

There were many people in the village. Ning's father went out for an hour and then came back. He rubbed his hands together and asked Ning's mother how much charcoal they still had.

When it first started snowing, the family bought some charcoal, but not much, only 200 jin (100 kg). We usually kept it to burn in the room at night because it produced little smoke and was warm. We burned firewood in the main room because firewood was cheap. Before Ning's father and Zhao Ningning went to the prefectural city, they specially brought two truckloads of it to the family. Now, we still have a quarter of it left.

Ning's mother: "We still have fifty or sixty pounds of charcoal left, but we're running low on firewood..."

"The road has been dug out. Shall we go to town and buy some more?" Although it was a question, Ning's father looked at Ning's mother with certainty in his eyes.

"We can't do without wood and charcoal in the winter," Ning's mother nodded.

Zhao Qi was left at home to look after the house. Ning's mother and Zhao Ningning made room for each other, went to town to buy charcoal, and brought back three large cartloads of firewood, filling every room in the house.

Ning's mother was worried about buying too much, but unexpectedly, the snow kept falling and the temperature seemed to drop even lower.

About ten days before the Lunar New Year, Ning's mother woke up one morning to find a thin layer of ice on the basin of water in her room. As it grew colder, she had to take out the large fox fur quilt that Ning's parents had bought in the prefectural city and put it on top of the cotton quilt.

When they are in the yard, they can't even stretch out their hands; if they do, it's as if the cold wind will freeze them off.

Ning's father and Zhou Jian clean their roof and yard every day.