However, the middle-aged woman cleared the snow differently than Guan Tong. She simply started the truck and slowly drove forward, reversed, turned the wheels a bit, drove forward, and reversed again.
She was using the truck’s powerful engine and heavy, tall tires to smash and crush the snowdrifts, packing them down firmly. It had to be said that this method was far more efficient than clearing snow by hand.
After they were done over there, the truck door opened, and the mother and daughter got out. They used small tools to clean off the tires.
At that moment, Guan Tong was clearing his own path. When the little girl saw him, she also grabbed a small shovel and started helping at the end of the path, digging out snow and tossing it aside.
Seeing this, Guan Tong felt it was only polite to walk over and say thank you, since she was offering to help.
The little girl grinned at him, showing her teeth, seemingly finding the whole activity very amusing.
Her mother, however, hurried over and said apologetically, "Sorry, I hope she isn’t causing you any trouble, young man."
"Not at all. I was just thanking your daughter for helping me clear the snow."
"This kid isn’t helping, she just thinks it’s fun." The woman sounded a little helpless. "It’s so cold, I told her to stay in the truck, but she insisted on coming out to play in the snow."
"It’s normal for kids to be playful."
After chatting like this for a bit, they gradually lowered their guards.
Over the past three days, neither side had done anything to make the other uncomfortable. This led them both to believe the other probably meant no harm and was just an ordinary person.
So, after talking for a while, they learned some basic information about each other.
The woman said her name was Wang Yan. She used to be a truck driver, but after the Apocalypse Rules appeared, she stopped working and stayed home to take care of her daughter.
Guan Tong also told her that he had been a third-year high school student, but with work and school suspended, he wasn’t in school anymore.
"It’s good that you made it to your third year of high school, young man." Wang Yan looked at her daughter, Chen Na, who was playing in the snow with the small shovel, and a worried expression crossed her face. "My girl here was only in sixth grade, she hasn’t even started middle school. I’m not very educated myself, how am I supposed to teach her in the future? And it’s not good for her to only take online classes and have no contact with other people."
"Maybe schools will reopen later," Guan Tong said. "They might just take a different form."
Wang Yan said, "A few days ago, I heard the government is opening a major academy in the Capital and recruiting from all over the country..."
"That’s an academy to help students develop their Psychic Power, right? It probably doesn’t teach other basic subjects."
"Oh? Is that so..." Wang Yan sounded disappointed.
Just then, Guan Tong asked, "Ms. Wang, I have a question I’m curious about, I hope you don’t mind."
"Haha, it’s fine. Go ahead and ask."
"The news that there’s less snowfall in less populated areas spread within hours of the rule’s appearance, right? Why did you only drive your daughter out here to escape the snow several days later, Ms. Wang?"
Hearing this, Wang Yan’s expression grew complicated. She looked like she wanted to say something but held back, unsure of how to put it.
At this, the little girl, Chen Na, who had been squatting on the ground playing in the snow, looked up, pouted, and said angrily, "It’s because people in the village were bullying us! That’s why Mommy took me and left!"
"Bullying?" Guan Tong was quite surprised.
He thought that communities like villages were different from cities. In the city, many people didn’t even know their next-door neighbors, living completely atomized lives. That was why they were more willing to follow official commands and act on government directives during a disaster.
But in a village, the residents saw each other all the time; basically, everyone knew everyone else. In a situation like this, they should have quickly banded together to face the disaster. How could bullying even occur?
Wang Yan hadn’t wanted to talk about it, but her daughter Chen Na had a quick tongue. She could only nod helplessly. "Some people saw that it was just the two of us, a widow and her child, and came to our house to take some food. They said they’d pay it back later, but..."
The little girl, Chen Na, huffed. "They robbed us! They took a case of instant noodles and a case of yogurt from our house. Mommy was saving those for me!"
"I can’t believe that happened."
"It’s true. A case of noodles and a case of yogurt isn’t a big deal, really. But I thought, it’s only been a few days and this is already happening. If we stayed, who knows if they’d come back to take other things..."
Wang Yan sighed as she spoke.
"To be honest, I’d be fine, but I couldn’t risk my daughter going hungry. So, I waited until night, and we left the village in the truck. I figured the truck had a full tank of gas, a strong engine, and high tires, so some snow on the road wouldn’t be a problem."
"I see..."
"Speaking of which, you’re pretty brave yourself, young man," Wang Yan said. "Daring to come all the way here from Yunhua alone. Yunhua is far from here, over seven hundred li."
"All for the sake of survival."
"Yeah. Ever since this rule came out, I don’t hope for anything else. Just being able to live is enough."
"Today is already the 9th. A third of the rule’s effective period will be over soon," Guan Tong said. "Based on the amount of snowfall here, as long as we clear it every day, we should be able to get through this safely."
Wang Yan nodded. "I just wonder how things are in the village, and in Yunhua, where you came from, young man. That’s a big city, the snow must be incredibly heavy there, right? After nine days of this blizzard, I can’t even imagine what the city must look like..."