Chapter 169: Chapter 169: Comfortable
Shen Baoying chimed in, "Exactly. The snow’s almost stopped. Maybe it’ll be just like before, and the temperature will shoot right back up."
Jiang Si sighed. "Let’s just hope we don’t get another blizzard."
’A little snow and a drop in temperature were one thing, but a blizzard powerful enough to capsize the Icebreaker was the real danger.’
Around eight in the morning, the moderate snowfall tapered to a light flurry. Outside, the world was once again blanketed in a thick layer of snow. They had to take this chance to clear it off the Icebreaker.
Otherwise, if it froze solid, it would be difficult to remove, and the deck could collapse under the weight.
Everyone was experienced. They opened the bay doors, drove an ice-clearing vehicle onto the deck, and began gradually pushing the snow overboard.
It took a considerable amount of time to clear the snow from the deck.
But that was just one task among many; everyone still had other conditions on the ship to check.
The troop of monkeys seemed spooked, so Shen Baoying had to use food to calm them. Zhang Qingfang needed to check on the greenhouse and clean the chicken and duck coops. Niu Niu and Lu Zhifeng went to prepare food for the moose, and Jiang Si had to care for the four newly hatched Vulture chicks.
Bo Xi, meanwhile, was assigned the task of making lunch.
He knew how to cook Western food. Fortunately, the cold storage and pantry were fully stocked with fresh produce, seasonings, and all the necessary cooking equipment. Bo Xi baked cheesy bread, made pasta, fried steaks and eggs, and tossed a vegetable salad.
By the time he was done, no one else had returned.
Bo Xi then fixed a bowl of food for Big Black and Little Black. He’d had a sheepdog once, but... someone had eaten it.
Big Black and Little Black weren’t picky. After a few sniffs to confirm there was no danger, they started eating, tails wagging.
Bo Xi patted their heads. Just then, Zhang Qingfang was the first to return.
The power had suddenly gone out last night, causing the temperature in the greenhouse to plummet. Many of the vegetables had been affected and were about to die.
She had grabbed a box and started harvesting the vegetables that were still edible, but there were so many. Everyone else was busy and no one was around to help. When she saw Bo Xi, the two began to communicate in broken English.
"You eat?" Zhang Qingfang asked.
It took Bo Xi a moment to process, then he shook his head. "Not yet. Waiting for everyone."
"You hungry?"
"Not hungry."
"Good. You come help."
She wanted to ask Bo Xi to help her harvest, but she suddenly forgot the English word for "vegetables" and held her tongue.
’Anyway,’ she thought, ’if I just take him to the greenhouse and mime what to do, he’ll get it.’
When Bo Xi arrived at the greenhouse, he saw that the cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplants, green beans, and cowpeas on the trellises all showed signs of frost damage.
They should have been fine to keep growing for a few more days.
But after being frozen and then suddenly exposed to the restored high temperature in the greenhouse, some of the cucumbers had started to turn watery.
If they weren’t picked right away, they would spoil before long.
That would be a terrible waste.
To Zhang Qingfang, this produce was her most precious treasure.
’The more they could grow, the less Jiang Si would have to cultivate in her personal space, which would ease her burden.’
Bo Xi had helped pull weeds and stake pepper plants before, and he’d found it rather interesting.
Now, seeing so many plump fruits and vegetables waiting to be picked, he was eager to give it a try.
But after picking for over forty minutes with no end in sight, his arms began to feel stiff and weak.
In contrast, Zhang Qingfang, despite her age, had more energy and stamina than he did.
Bo Xi gritted his teeth and kept working.
Thankfully, after she finished feeding the Vultures, Jiang Si came back and found lunch all prepared, but the cook was nowhere to be found. She tracked them down to the greenhouse and told them both to eat first, which made Bo Xi let out a sigh of relief.
’If only I had the power to control monkeys,’ he thought.
He mulled it over and decided Qin Shen’s special ability must be controlling monkeys.
’But since the monkeys were currently spooked and couldn’t help with the chores, he was the one forced to take their place.’
As everyone gradually returned and gathered at the dining table, Bo Xi felt a bit apprehensive, worried that they wouldn’t like the food he’d made.
Surprisingly, even though the pasta had been reheated, it was still delicious. Shen Baoying’s steak and pasta was also very tasty, but you could always tell it had been made by a Chinese person.
It was probably a difference in technique, resulting in a different flavor from the same ingredients.
Jiang Si exclaimed in praise, "This is delicious!"
Everyone else praised it too. "Mmm, this is really, really good!"
"You’re supposed to dip the bread in the sauce, and then eat it with a bite of pasta, right? That’s how they do it on TV."
Niu Niu asked curiously.
She was young but smart, and her English was the best of the group; she could already communicate quite fluently with Bo Xi.
Bo Xi was happy to hear that everyone was enjoying his food. "Yep, that’s how you do it. You can also have it with roasted potatoes."
He had felt that lunch was already substantial enough, though, and hadn’t wanted to be wasteful, so he hadn’t made any.
After some lighthearted chatter, Jiang Si turned to Qin Shen. "What’s the situation with the engine? Is it broken, or is the fuel frozen? Did you try the de-icer?"
Qin Shen shook his head. "It’s malfunctioning. It’ll take a few days to fix."
Everyone stared, stunned. Jiang Linhai asked in amazement, "You know how to fix engines?"
’Is there anything my son-in-law can’t do?’
’It feels like he’s even more capable than Jiang Si.’
Even Jiang Si was surprised. ’I know so many things because I lived an extra ten years in my past life, honing my skills through all sorts of hardships.’
’For Qin Shen to know this much... could it be that he’s reborn, just like me?’
Jiang Si had always believed that she was the one who’d created a butterfly effect, which was why Qin Shen had come into her life and why his body had coincidentally mutated.
But thinking about it now, everything about Qin Shen made it seem like he was even more familiar with survival crises than she was.
She narrowed her eyes slightly, glancing at Qin Shen a few times, and considered whether she should probe him about the past life.
’After all, I’ve never mentioned mine.’
Qin Shen nodded humbly. "I know a little, but not much. The repairs might be complicated, so I’ll need to look up some information."
The Icebreaker’s library and its digital archives contained repair diagrams and troubleshooting guides for engine failures in extreme cold.
It was just that the English was highly technical; even if it were translated into Chinese, Jiang Si wasn’t sure she would be able to understand it.
’If Qin Shen can understand that, it’s far beyond just knowing "a little".’
’He’s being far too modest.’
Jiang Si felt a secret swell of pride in Qin Shen’s competence.
Even though the snow stopped, the temperature only rose to around fifty degrees below zero, and the surface of the ice froze solid once more.
Meanwhile, Zhang Aihua and his group were holed up in a cave they had diverted a hot spring into, where the temperature remained a steady twenty-something degrees.
Although they were worried about the ceaseless snow, they had stockpiled plenty of sea fish, sea vegetables, snake eggs, and snake meat—enough to last them for at least a month.
Their only concern was a slight shortage of firewood. But fortunately, with the hot spring diverted into the cave, some of the vents produced water that reached seventy or eighty degrees. Even without a fire, they could cook their food directly in the hot spring water.
The idea to divert the hot spring into the cave had been an offhand suggestion from Zhang Yiwen to Zhang Aihua.
He had been on a trip with Song Yufang once and had curiously tried out a cave hot spring.
The group in the cave was living more comfortably than Jiang Si, who had to constantly worry about the power going out.
