Chapter 63: The Sudden Arrival of Extremely Cold Weather
Du Yue took out all the thick clothes that were needed for the extremely cold weather and put them in an empty s.p.a.ce in the inters.p.a.ce. At that time, she would be able to take the thick clothes out of her s.p.a.ce without any effort.
Du Yue even cleaned the furnace and placed charcoal, alcohol, and dry gra.s.s inside. Everything was ready. When the extreme cold arrived, she could just light a fire. Fortunately, due to the current weather, everyone slept during the day and woke up at night. It was reasonable to say that most people would still be awake when the extreme cold arrived. There should not be many cases of people freezing to death in their sleep.
Three days pa.s.sed by quickly. That night, Du Yue was too lazy to cook, so she brought out the spicy soup she had prepared earlier. She had just taken a bite when she suddenly felt a chill. Before she could take a bite, the steaming hot numbing soup had already cooled down. She had just taken out the bowl of soup. Under normal circ.u.mstances, it should not have cooled so quickly.
There was only one possibility, and that was the temperature had dropped. Du Yue immediately put the spicy soup and the small dining table into her inters.p.a.ce. She got up and turned off all the air-conditioning fans in the house. She also turned on the power and switched on the heating equipment. After that, Du Yue returned to her bed, lifted the blanket, and sat down. There were four small heaters in the room, and they were working at the same time, but Du Yue still felt cold all over. She took out the clothes that she had prepared in advance from her inters.p.a.ce and changed out of her short-sleeved shirt and shorts under the blanket. She put on the thermal underwear that He Xing had given her with her hands and feet that were already numb from the cold.
After putting on these clothes, she finally felt a little better, but it was still far from enough. Du Yue then put on a cashmere sweater and thick cotton pants. Finally, she put on a four-layer thick fleece nightgown that covered her ankles.
There was a hoodie on her pajamas, so Du Yue quickly put it on. The temperature setting of the four heaters was set to the highest, and Du Yue had changed into thick, warm clothes. She was finally not as cold as before, and she could feel her body warm up again. The heaters had also started taking effect, but compared to the sudden drop in temperature, the heat they provided was far from enough. Du Yue put on a pair of thick wool socks and crawled out of the blanket.
She put the summer sleeping mat on the ground into her inters.p.a.ce and laid out the cashmere carpet. Other than the area around the furnace that was exposed, the rest of the area was covered with carpet. This way, there was no need to worry about any accidents.
Du Yue took out a lighter and lit up the alcohol and dried gra.s.s in the furnace. These two things caught fire very quickly, and the fire was ignited in no time. The charcoal inside was all dry, so it gradually started to burn. Du Yue made sure that the things inside had caught on fire before she used an iron hook to swing the lid shut.
After the iron furnace was covered, the smoke produced by the burning charcoal would be discharged outside through the smoke pipe. This was the first time the furnace had been put to use after it was installed, so Du Yue only put a very small amount of charcoal in it to see how well the smoke pipe was sealed.
After making sure that there were no problems, Du Yue took the lid off and added more charcoal. She did not feel much when she was working, but when she was done and stopped, she suddenly realized that her hands and feet were cold.
Du Yue found a thermometer and hung it on the wall. Five minutes later, she checked again. The thermometer clearly stated that the temperature had dropped to -15 degrees. Who would have thought that just half an hour ago, the temperature in the room was -25 to -26 degrees? Du Yue took out a cotton mask and put on thick gloves and snow boots. She wrapped herself up like a bear before leaving the house with peace of mind.
However, the moment she stepped out of the bedroom, Du Yue was shivering from the cold. She was using all sorts of heating equipment in the bedroom, so the cold was still acceptable. However, the temperature outside the bedroom was merciless!
Even though she was wearing a cotton mask, Du Yue could still feel that every breath she took into her lungs was like ice shards. It was so piercing that her throat and nose hurt, and her hands and feet were getting stiffer and stiffer.
Du Yue was helpless. Even though she had made all the necessary preparations, her body, which had never experienced extreme cold before, could not accept the cold. Du Yue trembled as she strode toward the door. Before Du Yue could open the door, she heard a series of urgent knocks on the door, followed by He Xing’s anxious voice. “Du Yue! Du Yue! Quickly wake up! Du Yue!”