My courtyard shelter

On the other side, Aunt Wang hurriedly returned home holding two buckets of milk powder.

"Mom, you're back." It was Aunt Wang's daughter-in-law Zheng Yan who spoke.

Zheng Yan occasionally brings her two children to live with her mother-in-law for a while, so that the children can get closer to her mother-in-law and at the same time pay attention to the old man's physical condition.

Aunt Wang's real name is Wang Xiujuan. She and her husband originally lived in her son's home. After all, the couple only had one son.

But later, Wang Xiujuan's wife accidentally slipped and fell in the bathroom. Because she found out too late, she was unable to rescue her.

Afterwards, Wang Xiujuan always blamed herself, and because she didn't want to be hurt by the situation, she insisted on moving out and living alone in the Xiangxie Family Community.

"Xiao Zheng, mom has bought milk powder."

When Zheng Yan heard this, she quickly stuck her head out of the kitchen and said in surprise: "Mom, where did you buy it?"

Wang Xiujuan put the milk powder on the sofa, wiped the sweat from her forehead, and replied:

"Do you still remember Aunt Zhang who I introduced to you before? She is the old Zhang who has triplets at home!"

When she mentioned the triplets, Zheng Yan suddenly realized: "I remembered, does their family live in the courtyard next door?"

"That's right, it's their home. I just came out of their home."

Zheng Yan wiped her hands, walked forward, picked up a can of milk powder, looked at it, and said in surprise: "Hey, why is it still a foreign brand?"

"Their family is not short of money. Isn't it normal to drink some imported milk powder?"

"Mom, that's not what I meant. Not all foreign milk powders are good. Some milk powder formulas are not suitable for us Daxia people." Zheng Yan explained patiently.

Wang Xiujuan was immediately unhappy. The milk powder she had worked so hard to find was actually rejected, so she asked with a straight face:

"Then what do you think we should do? Do you still want me to go back?"

"Mom, that's not what I meant."

Zheng Yan quickly denied it, and then expressed her thoughts: "We are not familiar with this milk powder brand, why don't we find someone to ask about it first?"

Wang Xiujuan felt that there was no need to make a fuss, but since her daughter-in-law insisted, she could not object, so she suggested:

"Upstairs in our house, your Aunt Sun's son is a manager. I heard that he works as a manager in a large supermarket. He must know this brand. Let's go to his house and ask."

"Okay!" Zheng Yan breathed a sigh of relief.

Half an hour later, Wang Xiujuan sat on the sofa with her little granddaughter in her arms, looking proud:

"I told you earlier, if my family is not short of money, how can I feed my child milk powder with problems?"

Zheng Yan smiled along with her as she poured the milk powder.

After all, she was in the wrong. The milk powder is good and the brand is a big one. However, it has always been a high-quality product in China and is not very famous.

…

In Yanjing in winter, it gets dark very early.

Just after six o'clock, Xu Dong took out the fully charged outdoor lighting, and it turned out to be broken when he pressed the switch.

I could only give up taking chances and light the candles obediently.

Xu Ma is cooking dinner on an alcohol stove. One stove is used for cooking and the other is used for cooking. The speed is not much slower than usual.

"Mom, is this brightness enough for me to order a few more?"

There were at least a thousand candles stored in the underground warehouse, and Xu Dong didn't feel distressed at all when lighting them.

"That's enough, Mom's eyes are fine!"

After Xu Ma finished speaking, she waved the spatula and kicked Xu Dong out of the kitchen because she thought he was in the way.

With nothing to do, Xu Dong moved two boxes of charcoal from the warehouse, totaling nearly 100 kilograms, and prepared to burn the fireplace in the living room in advance.

The fireplace is original to the house.

The original owner of the courtyard may have been influenced by the special era. Not only did he build a fireplace in the living room, he also built a fire pit in one of the bedrooms.

"Dad, what are you doing?"

The twins who were playing quickly noticed their father's actions and gathered around them. Even Father Xu was holding Dabao and watching the fun.

"Dad is lighting the fire, you two stay away, this is not fun." Xu Dong reminded.

The twins took two steps back when they heard this. The teacher in school taught them that children should not play with fire.

Father Xu asked, “Where did you get the charcoal?”

"I bought it years ago. I originally planned to have a family BBQ, but I never had time. I just couldn't turn on the air conditioner tonight, so this will come in handy." Xu Dong explained.

February in Yanjing is still very cold. The temperature at night can reach as low as ten degrees below zero. Nights without heating are really painful.

"What kind of charcoal is this? Can it withstand burning? Is the fire strong?" Father Xu asked again.

"Looking at the packaging, it is made of machine-made charcoal. Its characteristic is that it is very hot and should be very resistant to burning."

Xu Dong stacked several sticks of charcoal on top of each other, then dug out a large spoonful of solid alcohol and placed it at the bottom, and finally lit it with a lighter.

The flames lit up with a "bang".

In less than ten minutes, a blazing flame was ignited in the fireplace, and the temperature in the hall suddenly rose.

The Coco sisters took off their gloves one after another, and they squatted side by side in front of the fireplace to warm themselves up, their eyes almost squinting in comfort.

Father Xu smiled and praised: "This fireplace is well designed, so you won't have to worry about freezing when there is a power outage in the future."

Dinner was eaten in the living room. After all, it was much warmer here than in the dining room.

Xu Dong fed Dabao a small piece of tofu, turned to Xu's mother and suggested: "Mom, let's make a floor in the living room tonight, it's too cold in the room."

"Bulk the floor? Is that okay? Don't catch a cold."

Mother Xu was a little worried. In the traditional concept of Daxia, sleeping on the ground is easy to be corroded by the cold air, which is not good for the body.

"Okay, why not?"

Xu Dong then explained: "If you are worried that the floor is too cold, you can put a sponge mat on the floor. If it still doesn't work, put a few more layers of quilts on it. How to keep warm, it is impossible to freeze."

"Mom, Dongzi is right. Besides, Dabao and the others are too young to be cold. You are worried about leaving them alone in the living room, right?"

Yang Lina also agreed to sleep in the living room. Their whole family is from the south and really can't stand the night without air conditioning.

The temperature of more than ten degrees below zero is chilling.

"Okay, sleep in the living room tonight." Mother Xu finally agreed, mainly because she was worried about the triplets.

After dinner, the family began to decorate the living room.

Mother Xu first scrubbed the entire floor again, and then wiped it dry with a dry towel.

Next, the quilt was laid out. There were four layers in total: one sponge pad, one blanket, and two quilts.

In addition, everyone had their own quilt, covered with two quilts, which were clamped with large clips around to prevent air leakage.

The crib for the triplets was placed in the middle of the floor, just to separate the quilts of Xu Dong and his wife from those of Xu's father and mother, so as to avoid embarrassment.

"Keke, Lele, are you two cold?" Yang Lina asked again before going to bed.

"Not cold at all, it's just that the quilt is too thick and a bit heavy."

Coco propped up the quilt with her hands.

"Don't move around, sleep well, you won't feel heavy when you fall asleep." Xu's mother coaxed.

"Got it..."

In this way, Xu Dong's family spent the first night of the blackout.