Chapter 141

“It’s snowing.”

…

Just as Zhou Hai looked up, snow began to fall across Longbei. This heavy snowfall hadn’t come without warning. A week earlier, the Longxia Meteorological Bureau had issued an alert: between November 25 and December 30, the country would experience widespread blizzards, with temperatures dropping as low as minus seventy-two degrees Celsius.

Three years ago, people might not have grasped what minus seventy-two degrees really meant. But after enduring two consecutive years of brutal winters, everyone now had the same thought: this winter was going to be tough.

“Stock up on napa cabbage and park your car in the garage.”

“Buy ready-to-eat meal packs in advance and prepare bottled water—pipes freeze easily.”

“Charge your phones and tablets, and download some movies if you can…”

…

This time, there was no need for reminders from Longxia. Residents across the country had begun preparing for winter on their own.

…

On December 5, as snow blanketed the nation, Han Donglei had just woken up when he heard Wang Mei chopping filling in the kitchen.

The two of them worked at Liaohe Steel. Since November 25, the city had issued a work stoppage notice. Learning from the past two years, Liaohe had begun stockpiling food and water before the snow hit. Han Donglei and Wang Mei had been married for twenty-three years. Their daughter was in college in Harbin, and their parents lived back in their hometown village. Over the past few days, they’d been keeping in touch with both sides, and everyone was safe for now.

The chopping in the kitchen was loud. Han Donglei shuffled in wearing slippers. “You’re making dumplings?”

Wang Mei kept chopping. “They’re for my mom.”

“You’re bringing them over later?” The snow had already reached the second floor. It was just as outrageous as the previous years.

Wang Mei hummed a little tune. “I’ll take them over once the snow stops.”

Han Donglei understood. Wang Mei was bored and needed something to do. They’d been snowed in for ten days. It wasn’t just Wang Mei—he was going stir-crazy too.

Han Donglei opened a news site. All the headlines were about the global blizzard. This storm had been caused by the clash of warm and cold air currents, and it was affecting 70% of the world.

After browsing for a while, he opened the neighborhood group chat.

“Day 10 of staying home. 【Check-in】”

“A beautiful morning, sending my best wishes to everyone. May the new year bring…”

“I run a small business: cleaning services in Building 102, meal delivery, closet organization.”

…

Besides the usual check-ins, some residents had spotted a business opportunity and started their own ventures.

Han Donglei scrolled through the messages, then jumped on the bandwagon: “Day 10 of staying home…” He never thought he’d be this bored.

As people chatted, someone tagged the group: “@Everyone, has anyone bought the Constant Temperature Series? The rooftop’s a blast.”

The Constant Temperature Series, originally called the Ice Storage Series, was a portable ice storage device developed by the Longxia Academy of Sciences. After further R&D by tech companies, Longxia had launched over a dozen products like temperature-regulating shoes, pants, and hats.

The Constant Temperature Series could be set anywhere between -30°C and 50°C. With reasonable prices and a wide temperature range, many people had already bought them during the summer. Now, with snow falling nationwide, some residents were buying backups just in case.

The Constant Temperature Series had become an essential item for both summer and winter.

Currently, the product had an 87% adoption rate in urban areas and 52% in rural towns. Because many elderly and children were left behind in the countryside, the government had provided subsidies. Township governments had set up assistance centers where qualified households could rent Constant Temperature Series products at low prices. Longxia’s goal was simple: to help the entire nation survive the winter of 3030.

After the resident tagged the group, replies came flooding in—

“It’s snowing out there, how are you partying?”

“Where would you even go?”

“With snow like this, you’re not going anywhere…”

…

Then someone suggested, “Build snowmen on the roof?”

To prevent heavy snow from collapsing rooftops, Wangwang Property Management had already coordinated with volunteers from each building to clear the roofs. Volunteers swept the snow twice a day, and their wages came from the community maintenance fund. After ten days of snowfall, the rooftops weren’t too heavily burdened.

“How about each building makes one?”

“Should we have a snowball fight?”

“Snowball fights are too dangerous. Building snowmen sounds perfect!”

“Let’s do a snowman competition, one per building!”

…

The residents got more and more excited.

With the excellent insulation of the Constant Temperature Jackets, many residents had already been going up to the roof to play in the snow. Most went up as family units for walks, but this would be the first collective event.

The more people, the livelier it got. Half an hour later, after a lively discussion in the group chat, Wangwang Community officially announced the Snowman PK Competition!

During the Hugua H1 protection period, the community had one strict rule aside from wearing Constant Temperature Jackets: everyone had to wear a Hugua Mask.

“Where’s my mask?” Han Donglei sat up from the couch after reading the announcement.

“In the mask box by the door…” Wang Mei replied casually.

Han Donglei grabbed a mask and, before long, was fully geared up with mask and snow boots.

“Heading out?” Wang Mei noticed the movement.

“The neighborhood’s holding a snowman contest.” Han Donglei explained what he’d read in the group chat, then asked, “We having dumplings for lunch?”

Wang Mei shut that down immediately. “They’re for my mom. Don’t get any ideas.”

“Got it. We’ll make our own when I get back.” He pulled out Wang Mei’s mask and laid out her clothes and pants too.

Both of them worked at Liaohe Steel and had saved up over the years. When the Constant Temperature Series hit the market, they bought sets for their daughter and their parents. Three minutes later, Wang Mei, still a little dizzy, was bundled up in her Constant Temperature Jacket. To protect it, she wore a down coat over it, making her look even more like a panda than a real one.

Ten minutes later, the two of them climbed up to the roof.

Seven other residents were already up there, enjoying the buzz. When they saw Han Donglei and Wang Mei, they greeted them warmly—

“Han-ge and Sister Wang Mei are here!”

“Bundled up tight!”

Everyone here worked at the Liaohe plant, and they’d known each other for over a decade.

After some small talk, Han Donglei asked, “Are we each building our own, or making one together?”

“I’ll ask.” Someone sent a message to the group chat, then said, “It’s by building. Each building submits one snowman for the competition.”

Currently, constant temperature gloves on the market ranged from 1,000 to 3,000 yuan per pair. Mid-range brands like Changxing and Damai had brought prices down to around 500. Due to the recent economic crisis, the constant temperature market was even more competitive than the smartphone market a decade ago.

By 10 a.m., the group had settled on a snowman design and got to work rolling snowballs.

Building 112’s snowman theme: a tank.

Han Donglei and his downstairs neighbor worked together on shaping the tank’s body. As he packed the snow, he said, “These gloves are amazing…”

He’d set the gloves to twenty degrees. Inside, they were toasty warm, but the outer surface stayed at normal temperature, so the snow didn’t melt in his hands.

“These pants are amazing too,” the neighbor said, showing off his trousers.

He had bought a pair of Dongshan pants for 2,300 yuan. At first, he felt the pinch, but after wearing them for half a month, he realized they were warmer than ten pairs of down pants. Not only did they keep him warm in winter, they even felt like air conditioning in summer. One pair of pants carried him through all four seasons.

The more he talked, the more enthusiastic he became. Then he sighed, “A couple of years ago, we wouldn’t have dared to come out like this…”

Longbei’s winters are brutally cold. When the season hits, people tend to stay put. It’s not so bad in the cities, but in the villages, where the heating is poor, many elderly folks spend all 24 hours of the day sitting on the heated brick bed. In past years, the average winter temperature in Longbei dropped to minus fifty degrees Celsius. This year is still cold, but with the Constant Temperature Series, it’s like carrying a portable hand warmer. Not only are they not freezing, they don’t even need blankets at night.

As they chatted, the tank snowman was finally taking shape. After everyone added some finishing touches and detailed patterns, a tank-shaped snowman slowly emerged through their collective effort.

At 2 p.m., the tank snowman was officially completed.

The neighbor recorded a full video of the tank from every angle and posted it in the residents’ group chat: “Building 112 completed ahead of schedule.”

Because the heavy snow would accumulate on the rooftops, the judging time was set for 3 p.m.

“That fast?”

“There are even two brooms stuck on the tank.”

“You guys really went all in on the details!”

“Way better than our rabbit snowman. We broke the ears…”

…

As other residents compared their own snowmen, compliments started pouring in.

Twelve buildings participated in the event. At 3:30 p.m., the first prize was announced: Building 113.

Building 113 had built a snowman general. The details were rich and well-crafted, and it was unanimously voted the best by all the residents. Building 112’s tank won third place.

“Not bad,” everyone said, quite satisfied with their building’s prize.

Just then, someone across the way waved. “Hey!”

“What’s up?” someone from Building 112 called back.

“Stand next to the snowman. I’ll take a photo for you.”

With the zoom features on smartphones these days, it didn’t take long for a group photo of Building 112’s snowman to appear in the chat.

The photo was taken from the rooftop of a high-rise. In the image, the residents of Building 112 stood on a snow-covered rooftop, surrounded by a vast expanse of white. The entire scene had the poetic feel of a lone man in a snowy wilderness.

“That turned out pretty well.”

Everyone was pleased with how the photo came out.

By 5 p.m., the snow was falling harder, and everyone headed back inside.

“That was refreshing!” Maybe it was the afternoon spent outdoors, but Han Donglei felt completely relaxed, body and soul.

At 8 p.m., just as he was about to watch the news, someone tagged everyone in the group chat again: “@All Residents, go check the Liaohe public account!”

Han Donglei opened the local public account—

Liaohe Platform: “On the afternoon of December 5, our city’s Wangwang Community held a snowman-building competition. Residents participated with great enthusiasm, and even while enjoying the fun, they didn’t forget to wear masks…”

After the event ended, one of the residents had submitted footage of the snowman contest, and to everyone’s surprise, it actually got featured.

Han Donglei chuckled as he read the post.

At the end of the article, he spotted a group photo. On the far right was himself.

He had thought the snowman event was just a little side activity. But by 10 p.m., as he scrolled through the news again, he found more and more stories about snowmen—

“Flying Snowman in Changle Village, Su Province—built by the entire village!”

“We made a husky! Gao Yang in Yun Province presents the Husky Snowman!”

“Qin Province…”

…

The internet was flooded with snowman photos of every kind.

In the past, when it snowed heavily, people wanted to build snowmen, but the freezing weather made it nearly impossible. Now, with the Constant Temperature Jackets, pants, gloves… everyone was bundled up in the Constant Temperature Series like they were carrying a personal heater, making snowman-building a cozy activity.

In the south, where some residents had never even seen snow before, people were spending twelve hours a day on the rooftops playing in it. As more and more snowman photos appeared online, at 10 p.m., Longbo Dragon Sound announced a new event: the Snowman Challenge.

Rules for the Snowman Challenge: Residents could post photos of their snowmen with the hashtag #SnowmanChallenge to enter. Winners would be determined by online likes and ratings. The contest would run until midnight on December 30, and the most liked entry would receive a commemorative prize.

The prizes were limited-edition plush toys. Though not expensive, they greatly boosted everyone’s enthusiasm.

Over the next two days, more and more people across the country joined the competition.

It became the most enjoyable snow battle they’d ever had.