The timeline system has gone awry; they insist that steamed buns are a magic pill.

"Knock knock knock..."

"Third brother, get up quickly."

Li Qingqiu was startled. What happened? He quickly put on his tattered coat and ran to open the door. "Second Brother, what happened?"

"Something terrible has happened."

Li Qinghua said urgently, "The team's cowshed collapsed, killing several oxen."

"What? How did it collapse?"

Li Qingqiu hurriedly put on his coat, pulled up his trousers, and slipped on his worn-out cotton shoes. The oxen were the most important part of the collective wealth.

The Lijia'ao Brigade has a total of more than 1,000 mu of land, of which paddy fields account for two-fifths, dry fields and hillside land account for three-fifths. Apart from some small plots of land and high hillside land, the cultivation and transportation of the other plots all rely on oxen.

It's no exaggeration to say that the oxen are the lifeblood of the team. If a few of them were killed, that would be a serious matter. You have to understand that the entire brigade only has eight oxen, and two of them are still in their late twenties. They probably can't be relied on for plowing the land for the next year or two.

"It's from the weight of the snow."

"Just a moment ago, the snow started falling very heavily."

Li Qinghua was still shaken. "Thankfully, our house is alright. Dad, my second brother, and my fourth brother are hauling snow away. Oh my, you wouldn't believe it, it snowed a whole stack of snow in two hours. This isn't just snow, it's like God is dumping snow on us!"

"More than ten centimeters thick in two hours?"

Li Qingqiu shuddered; this must be a massive blizzard. "Weren't there patrol teams? Didn't they spot anything?"

"The patrol team didn't notice at first, and by the time they went to call for help, it was too late. The cowshed, several shacks, and even the thatched huts of the commune members had already collapsed. The patrol team would definitely prioritize the people, and by the time they finished and remembered the cowshed, it was too late."

"Well, it's not surprising. The cowshed was cleared of snow this evening, so there wasn't much snow on it. Who would have thought it would snow so heavily in such a short time?"

Li Qinghua handed the wooden stick to Li Qingqiu as he spoke. "Let's go home, the two of us. We'll leave things here with Mom and Dad and Lao Si."

"OK."

Although it was the middle of the night and unusually cold, there was no other way. We lived in a communal community, and with such a big incident, everyone had to send someone to help. The two men, carrying oil lamps they had made themselves, went to the brigade's livestock farm.

The bachelor uncle in charge of raising the cattle cried like a child, and the cart driver, Li Guaizi, also had a long face. He was usually in charge of driving the oxcart and had a deep affection for the cattle.

"Uncle, how is it?"

"Sigh, three were killed and two were injured."

Good heavens, more than half of them have been killed or wounded. Li Qingqiu also checked on the situation of the team's oxen on the way. This is going to be troublesome in the spring.

"Let's clean it up first."

Li Fuyuan's face was extremely grim, and so were those of Li Dajun, the militia captain and patrol leader, and Li Qingjing, the leader of the first night patrol team. "Has Old Knife Head arrived yet?"

"Go and call them."

Old Knife Head was in charge of slaughtering pigs in the team. As for slaughtering cattle, it was only once every few years. Cattle had to be registered and had a cattle certificate. If you wanted to slaughter a cattle, you had to submit a report. The commune did not have the right to approve it casually.

Slaughtering pigs is relatively easier. After submitting an application and paying the fee, the brigade approves it, and the commune usually doesn't stop you. You can get a permit from the food station and slaughter the pigs as long as you don't sell them to the public. However, this doesn't apply to draft cattle.

Oxen are important means of production and important collective property. It is absolutely forbidden to kill oxen without a legitimate reason. As for now, they have been smashed to death, but there is nothing that can be done. We can't just throw them away.

Of course, Li Fuyuan wouldn't get away with killing so many people. The commune's criticism was the least of his worries. No wonder Li Fuyuan looked grim. Not to mention him, all the brigade cadres who rushed over had gloomy faces.

"Next year, our brigade will probably have to tighten its belt and live frugally."

A good ox costs a thousand yuan, and at least three must be bought in the spring, which adds up to three thousand yuan. The brigade is not well-off to begin with.

"Sigh, we'll have to eat coarse food and wild vegetables too."

"What's wrong, Second Brother? The team is buying cattle, what does that have to do with us?"

Li Qingqiu hadn't considered the intricacies of the situation, but Li Qinghua whispered, "Think about it, three thousand yuan is going to be spent in the account all at once. This was originally calculated as work points, but with three thousand less, the work points are probably worth even less."

Li Qingqiu thought about it and realized it made sense. With over a hundred households in the brigade, each household would lose an average of twenty yuan. No wonder everyone was sighing; it was a matter of vital interest. "If there's another heavy snowfall like this, the wheat will freeze and the grain production will decrease. Our brigade might face famine."

Good heavens, famine? Li Qingqiu, who had transmigrated, had no real understanding of this term. After all, as a post-2000s generation, his parents were civil servants and university teachers. They weren't exactly wealthy, but they had no worries about food and clothing.

"Let's get to work."

After clearing the snow from around the cowshed and setting it up, Li Qingqiu worked until dawn. He stretched his body. "Finally finished, Second Brother, I'm going back to sleep now."

"Okay, you can go back now."

As for slaughtering the cow, Li Qingqiu was too tired to watch. He went home and fell asleep immediately, sleeping until noon. When he opened the door, he saw that the snow was still falling. Although it wasn't as heavy as the night before, it was still quite heavy, and the snow on the ground was already more than a foot thick.

Stepping outside, I found that the snow around the house and yard had been cleared, and the road to the brigade had also been cleared. The brigade had organized people early in the morning to clear the snow from several main roads.

"Third Uncle, you're awake?" Several little girls chased each other, having a snowball fight. The children had no idea how much trouble the heavy snow had brought.

Are you cold?

Li Qingqiu glanced at Li Xianshu and Li Xianqing, whose little faces were red from the cold, along with the three little girls, Yanzi.

"It's not cold."

Kids really have a lot of energy. Li Qingqiu tightened his tattered cotton-padded coat and went into the yard. Li Fuhai was still busy skinning rats. After the skinned rats were tanned with Glauber's salt, they were propped up with bamboo strips and hung under the eaves. The Glauber's salt tanning was done by Shi Lanhua. No one else in the family knew how to do it. Only his sister-in-law had learned a little bit from Shi Lanhua.

"Mom and Dad."

"You're awake. The food is keeping warm in the pot. Your second brother has already eaten; you're the only one left."

"Understood."

Li Qingqiu arrived at the kitchen, opened the straw-woven pot lid, and found a bowl and chopsticks, two steamed buns, a chopstick of pickled vegetables, and a pickled chili pepper in the pot.

"Mom, when did Second Brother come back?" Holding a bowl in one hand and munching on a cornbread in the other, occasionally taking a bite of pickled chili pepper, he squatted by the stone orchid and watched his mother tanning leather.

"An hour or two later than you."

"Oh, where's the fourth one?"

"Back to the commune. Sigh, with such heavy snow, the roads are going to be difficult to travel."

Shi Lanhua sighed, but there was nothing she could do. As a commune cadre, she had heavy responsibilities, and no matter how heavy the snow was, she couldn't let it delay her work.

"Yes, with such thick snow, the roads are difficult to walk on."

After finishing his cornbread in a few bites, Li Qingqiu put the bowl and chopsticks back in the pot. "Mom, I'm going out for a bit." He had promised to go to the educated youth settlement for snake soup yesterday, and also, he was worried about something happening at the settlement after yesterday's heavy snow.

The landlord uncle's thatched hut collapsed, and so did the bachelor uncle's shack. "By the way, Mom, have you checked on Grandpa and Grandma's house?"

"Your dad went to check, it's nothing. Your grandpa just pooped twice in the middle of the night."

"That's good."

Relieved, Li Qingqiu quickly left the courtyard and hurried to the educated youth settlement, where he saw Yin Yi standing on a long bench, pulling snow. "Busy?"

"It's you, Li Qingqiu."

Yin Yi continued pulling the snow, while Li Qingqiu sat on the long bench and pressed her head down. "Are you alright here?"

"It's nothing serious, the firewood storage shed just collapsed under the weight of the firewood."

Yin Yi blushed slightly. "And, the outhouses have also collapsed a bit."

"The outhouse collapsed?"

The woodshed collapsed, so what? But the outhouse collapsed—what are we going to do now? "How badly did it collapse?"

"fine."

Yin Yi pulled the wooden shovel a few times, and most of the snow was off the roof. She wiped the sweat from her forehead. "I just tried shoveling the snow. I'll use this for now. Luckily, there aren't many people around here."

"That's not a big deal. How about this, I'll help and see if we can set it up simply first."

Li Qingqiu had little experience in setting up the shed, so he could only say that he would do a simple setup first and ask his parents later. He figured it wouldn't be too difficult.

"Thank you."

Yin Yi felt that Li Qingqiu was not as unreliable as the rumors suggested; he was actually quite nice. "By the way, I saved some snake soup for you; it's in the pot." She clapped her hands, got off the long bench, and swung her braid around.

As Yin Yi entered the house, Li Qingqiu took a steamed bun out of his pocket and handed it to her. "It was a surprise for you, but it's a bit cold. You can steam it later."

"Meat buns?"

Yin Yi's eyes lit up, and she instinctively wanted to take it, but then she realized, "No, I can't accept this."

"Don't be so polite with me. It's a deal: you treat me to snake soup, and I'll give you a surprise."

Li Qingqiu shoved the cooled agar-agar nutmeg into Yin Yi's hands. "Where are the bowls and chopsticks? I've been looking forward to your snake soup all day."

"Please wait a moment."

Yin Yi fetched a bowl and chopsticks and filled Li Qingqiu's bowl with snake soup. Li Qingqiu took it; it was piping hot and smelled wonderful. "It tastes really good, fresh and tender."

"It would be better if it were missing some seasonings."

Yin Yi was not entirely satisfied, or rather, it was not a perfect score for her.

"We have limited resources, there's nothing we can do, we'll have to take it slow."

Li Qingqiu stirred the snake soup. To him, the soup tasted excellent, cooked to perfection, and the snake meat was incredibly tender and flavorful. "Regarding the winter vegetables you mentioned last time, we can try to find some winter bamboo shoots in the mountains, but the rest will depend on luck."

"I was just saying."

Yin Yi didn't really expect to find these ingredients. The two chatted for a while and ate snake soup. Li Qingqiu helped Yin Yin clean the roof of the outhouse little by little and simply built a roof with wooden sticks and laid some straw on it.

"Just use this for now, I'll talk to the team about it later."

The brigade is very busy right now. The cowshed has caused such a big incident, and several thatched huts have collapsed under the weight of the snow. They probably won't have time to take care of the educated youth settlement for a while, especially since there is only one educated youth, Yin Yi, at the moment.

Thank you.

"Then I'll head back now."

Before leaving, Li Qingqiu completed the sign-in.

[Sign-in successful. Sign-in location: Temporary training camp for immortal disciples. Obtained: Immortal Disciple's Portable Bag. Points +2]

"The bag that educated youth carried?"

Li Qingqiu muttered to himself what this was. He decided to go home first and take a look. Back in his small house, Li Qingqiu took the disciple's personal bag from the storage shelf. It was a small package.

"So many...good things?"