However, Wen Qian's wishes were of little use, as it snowed again on New Year's Day, and this time the snow lasted for three days, a blizzard.
Many villages had already lost power, but at that time, Wen Qian and her family were removing snow from the roof of their house. If the snow was too thick, it could collapse the roof, and that was all they could do at the moment.
Snowfall would impede traffic, although there were not many people on the roads now, but some relief efforts were also obstructed.
At the same time, provinces and cities further south of An Province also began to experience a major drop in temperature.
The power of the Triple La Niña was stronger than ever before, and many southern cities had no concept of winter at all, one could say they basically had no winter.
Even with the occasional cold snaps in recent years, they had only bought a few extra pieces of clothing, who knew that people could freeze to death at this point.
Even the migratory birds that had flown south for the winter suffered heavy losses, a rare occurrence.
At this time, people faced a double blow from the virus and severe cold, and the entire Northern Hemisphere seemed to have fallen into silence.
Of course, the summer Southern Hemisphere was not doing much better either, with many medically underdeveloped countries losing not just individual lives, but entire villages, towns, or small cities.
Some people suspected that humans had angered the gods, while others said the Earth had begun a great purge.
In early February, people were still studying cases of those who had survived the grasp of the Grim Reaper, hoping to gain some insight.
The news brought a glimmer of hope, as people finally saw a glimmer of hope.
But by this time, the death toll had already stopped being publicly reported, or rather, it was difficult to count.
It was estimated that after this catastrophe was over, only a third of the people on Earth would still be alive, or perhaps even fewer.
Suicide rates were unprecedentedly high, and social unrest had also emerged in many countries, with an increased number of gun-related deaths.
The snow near Wen Qian's home was quite thick, so she didn't go out, planning to wait until the snow had mostly melted before leaving.
Wen Qian eventually planted a few strawberry seedlings in her flower pots, which she had sprouted from strawberry seeds. Although it was difficult, the thought of being able to bear fruit made her quite happy.
As for the chickweed, she had eaten two batches, but afterwards, because it was too cold outside, she could only put it on the windowsill, sunbathing it when the sun was strongest.
Wen Qian spent every day by the window, sometimes sunbathing, sometimes reading books, doing many things in natural light to minimize the use of electric lights and save electricity and fuel.
According to the climate records of Mangge City, Xia Province from previous years, Wen Qian also discovered that this winter had more rain and snow, and in the second year, when temperatures rose, the river network near her home might become denser.
The time when water resources would be most abundant for the whole year might be then.
Wen Qian comforted herself at home, waiting for spring when she could not only plant seeds but also forage for wild vegetables near her home.
Below the snow line of the Jade Mountain Range here, wild vegetables would grow, and edible plants could also be found on the prairies.
Some of them were plants that she had never seen or eaten before, and she was very curious about them.
This was the information she had found in the comprehensive wild vegetable guide book she had purchased earlier.
At first, she had only looked at the wild vegetable varieties within An Province, but when she reached Xia Province, she started to pay close attention to the wild vegetable varieties that could grow in Xia Province.
For her, anything that could be put in her mouth without spending money had to be collected and stored.
She even thought of heading towards the valley they had been in before, as she knew there were two relatively famous rivers there that might have fish.
Just as Wen Qian was longing for spring, by the end of February, people had finally made more breakthroughs in understanding the virus.
The spread of the virus had also been brought under control.
The initial chaos had subsided, and from then on, fewer and fewer people held on to false hopes that could lead to even greater disasters.
People had suffered major economic losses, coupled with the already poor economic situation, and the overall social atmosphere was quite gloomy.
If people were still worried about the economic situation before, now those who managed to survive were just grateful to be alive, who needed a bicycle?
But at the same time, there were no signs of spring coming. Theoretically, in many places, the temperature should have started to rise gradually, but it was still a cold winter.
Plants showed no inclination to turn green.
In early March, there was a bright sun, and Wen Qian thought the temperatures would slowly rise afterwards, only to have her idea dispelled by another heavy snowfall the next day.
She had thought she could start planting right away.
The ice and severe cold made it impossible for many farms to continue their operations. Food and vegetable prices typically rose a bit during this season, but now they had skyrocketed.
Some people could not even buy things with money because transportation was also a problem.
The convenient life that people had in their minds seemed to have regressed to the previous level of self-sufficiency, but what could be done?
Many city dwellers could not even leave their homes and could only rely on rations.
In mid-March, Wen Qian saw that she could finally go outside, so she climbed out with a ladder, put away the ladder, and started heading towards the pasture.
When she reached the old place, she found that her phone still had no signal, so she turned on the radio.
It was only from the snippets of news on the radio that Wen Qian learned of the terrible events that had occurred in the short few months since she had lost internet access.
If it weren't for the desolation all around, Wen Qian would have wanted to wear a mask herself.
Then she thought it would be better not to go to the pasture area or near the Jade Mountain Range for the time being.
It was best if she didn't encounter anyone.
By late March, temperatures started to warm up, but people still dared not leave their homes, fearing they would become the Grim Reaper's next harvest.
The treatment for this disease was still to try various known drugs, but developing a specialized treatment drug was an extremely difficult task.
Unfortunately, the lives that people managed to save came with very severe aftereffects, to the point that for many people, it would have been better to die.
The so-called improvement in the situation was merely that the existing cases had mostly passed away, and people had only managed to stop the further spread of the virus, not that they had conquered the virus, only that they had isolated it.
The impact of this virus on human society could be said to be unprecedented.
But the situation had not ended there, people's lives had become a mess, and society would not be able to return to normal functioning for a while.
They were still a long way from truly eliminating the virus.
