November 28th, Tuesday.
The normally bustling Yanjing City became exceptionally quiet today.
The streets were sparse with people and vehicles, all hurrying along.
Even the most relentless sweatshops had taken the rare step of giving their workers a day off, allowing them to work from home.
At seven o'clock in the morning, in the Yanjing Military Sub-district in the capital's outskirts, Zhang Beixing awoke from his sleep.
He stretched comfortably and rubbed his eyes.
Looking out the window, he saw that a night had passed.
Outside, a heavy snowfall had commenced.
Accompanying the thick snow was the HOWLING of gale-force winds.
CLICK.
BANG! BANG!
THUD! THUD!
The dormitory door opened, and Martial Uncle Liu Pan walked in, his hat and clothes covered with snowflakes.
He patted his clothes and stamped his feet.
The snowflakes WHOOSHED off him, scattering all over the floor.
Liu Pan clutched his frostbitten hands around the scalding hot radiator pipe.
