Disaster Apocalypse: Farming, Family, and My Hidden Secret Space-Chapter 89. Collapsed House

"You little clever one," Qi Shi couldn’t help but poke Hua Jin’s forehead while looking at her proud daughter.

"Even so, if you’re not completely sure, you shouldn’t easily test human nature. Jin’er, you’re still young, so let’s pretend this didn’t happen, but don’t do such things in the future, understand?" The old man Hua controlled his expression to become serious and spoke to his granddaughter seriously for the first time.

"Mm, mm, don’t worry, Grandpa, I know," she nodded. Anyway, she didn’t plan to sell any more recipes.

Seeing his granddaughter promptly agree, the old man Hua nodded in satisfaction and continued softly, "Grandpa isn’t blaming you. I know my granddaughter is filial and wants the family to live well, which is not wrong. The only mistake was not discussing it with us. After all, no matter how sensible you are, you’re still a child, and many things aren’t thoroughly considered."

Grandpa’s words touched Hua Jin’s heart, her proud and happy expression slowly fading away as she suddenly realized she might have been somewhat overconfident.

What if Luo Song was a hypocrite who was good at hiding? Just thinking about it sent a chill through Hua Jin.

She seemed to be too eager; she could have taken more time to understand before deciding whether to take the risk.

Grandpa is right; human nature is the most fragile to test, and such a big family cannot withstand a gamble.

Hua Jin broke out in a cold sweat and, getting serious, said, "Grandpa, Grandma, Dad, Mom, I’m sorry, I was wrong. I won’t do such things again in the future."

Seeing that his granddaughter truly understood, the old man’s serious expression disappeared, replaced by a smile. His smart granddaughter made it worth pointing these things out.

...

Meanwhile, despite the snow, Luo Song, after returning to the mansion, instructed the butler to prepare the carriage for departure.

He wanted to personally travel quickly back to the state city to hand over the recipe to his grandfather, Luo Song couldn’t be at ease until he did it himself.

Although it cost a lot of silver, it was a perfect icebreaker. With it, it wouldn’t be so hard to enter the residence of the Lord Governor.

The appearance of snow salt was an easy achievement delivered to the Lord of the state, how could he not accept it?

Of course, the Hua family had no idea about Luo Song’s eagerness to leave Shanggu Town.

The snowflakes continued to drift for several days, accumulating a significant snowpack on the ground, and the temperature kept dropping. The academy in town was also preparing for the holidays.

After all, trudging through thick snow for daily classes was quite difficult; they simply decided to start the break, which was almost always around this time each year.

So, on this day when Hua Yunao and his brother brought all their belongings back from the academy, no one in Hua Jin’s family found it strange.

If anyone was the least happy, it would probably be little Si’er.

With his elder brothers home on vacation, his days of disaster were about to begin. Just thinking about reading and practicing characters non-stop made little Si’er feel life was bleak, even his sister’s roasted sweet potatoes couldn’t console him.

In the days ahead, they truly hunkered down for the winter, even Hua Chengtian stopped his woodworking.

It was too cold; you couldn’t even open your hand.

The most the family did was gather around the brazier in the main room for warmth.

The initial novelty Hua Jin felt about the snow also gradually faded.

The thing she envied most every day was watching little Si’er, unafraid of the cold, always running outside, gathering his little village friends to play snowball fights like crazy.

She wanted to go out too, but she was afraid of the cold.

And it seemed like winter here especially loved snowing.

On another snowy day, even little Si’er was kept indoors. The whole family huddled in the main room warming themselves by the brazier.

Bored, Hua Jin leaned against the window, peeking through a crack at the white world outside, listening to Grandpa and Grandma reminisce about the past.

It wasn’t just Hua Jin; Hua Yunao and the others also listened with great interest.

"...."

"Grandma, was Grandpa really so brave and heroic at the time?" Hua Jin spoke with an adoring gaze at the old man Hua, causing him to inadvertently lift his chin.

"It was just so-so," the old man Hua grinned, his expression exceptionally proud.

"What nonsense," Grandma Hua chided her husband.

Hua Jin sidled up to the old man Hua with a gossipy look and nudged him, "Grandpa, tell us how you heroically saved beauty. Were you already infatuated with Grandma’s beauty, doing it on purpose..."

"Shoo, shoo, what on purpose... it was a coincidence," the old man Hua spoke with righteous confidence, though furtively glancing at his wife betrayed his bravado somewhat.

"Stubborn. I don’t know who was always secretly following me back then," Grandma Hua mercilessly exposed her husband’s secret.

"I... I was prote... protecting you. Otherwise, how could I have saved you?"

"Sure, and then you fell into the ditch yourself."

Hearing this, Hua Jin’s interest immediately piqued, "Fell into the ditch, Grandma, what happened, tell us."

At this point, Grandma Hua smiled despite herself while looking at the old man Hua, "He drove away two little rascals trying to rob us on the road and got so full of himself that he tripped himself into the ditch, and then..."

"It was just a slight trip, nothing serious, it’s all in the past, why bring it up... no more, let’s not say it anymore..." The obviously defensive old man Hua hastily interrupted his wife’s words, looking anxious, almost using his hand to cover her mouth.

Seeing the obviously cornered... ahem anxious Grandpa, Hua Jin and her brothers couldn’t help but snicker, even Hua Chengtian turned his face away.

"...Grandpa, I don’t believe it..."

In the midst of the fun, urgent shouting was heard from outside the Hua family gate, interrupting Hua Jin’s questioning fervor.

"Village chief, village chief..."

The old man Hua stood up, "Chengtian, go take a look?" He thought for a moment and quickly followed outside.

"What’s the rush?"

As soon as the visitor saw the village chief, he hurried into the courtyard, "Village chief, the house next door to old Zhao has collapsed, people are buried, my family is helping, you must call people to check it out."

"How could it collapse? What was old Zhao’s son doing?" The old man Hua asked angrily, turning to his son, "Chengtian, quickly gather some people to rescue."

Every winter, it was repeatedly emphasized not to be lazy, to sweep the snow off the roof diligently, yet some households always had a slothful streak, each year hoping to get by, and look where that led.

Hua Chengtian, aware of the seriousness, swiftly grabbed tools from the woodshed and quickly ran out of the house.

"Old man, what’s wrong? Whose house has collapsed?" Grandma Hua anxiously asked when she heard the noise.

"Old Zhao from the western end of the village," hurriedly leaving this phrase, the old man Hua anxiously followed the visitor toward old Zhao’s house.

Such a loud commotion in the courtyard, everyone inside the house heard it, and they all became a bit anxious.

A house collapsing meant the person...

"No, we have to go see." With such a major incident, how could Grandma Hua sit still inside?

"Mom, I’ll go with you."

The snow outside was too heavy, and Madam Qi was worried about letting her mother-in-law go alone.

"We’ll go too," Hua Jin and Hua Yunao’s siblings also stood up, Hua Jin, in particular, started to wrap herself tightly with scarves and hats.

Grandma Hua nodded; if they wanted to go, they could, the children were already grown, and even if they were stopped, they could manage on their own.

By the time the old man Hua reached the western end of the village, he saw his son leading villagers in clearing the collapsed house.