"Let's stay in Langya Village another day and get everyone together to spend a day clearing the road first.
"That way, we'll save ourselves plenty of effort when we set off tomorrow, and we might really make it to Suoyi Village in one push before dark.
"Spending the night in a warm village and getting a comfortable, uninterrupted sleep would be far better than lying out in the wilderness with the sky for a blanket and the ground for a bed, suffering through that misery!"
The two men had voiced two different opinions, and the others began buzzing like headless flies again, arguments rising one after another.
This time, Niu Ergan gave them no more time to debate. He banged hard on the table again and raised his voice. "Quiet down, everyone! Hear me out!"
Only after everyone fell silent did he continue, "Actually, I've run into this before. Twice before, we had snow this heavy in Langya Village.
"Once, we stubbornly pushed ahead and set out that very day.
"The other time, I listened to everyone and spent a day clearing snow in the village before leaving the following day."
"And how did it turn out? After all that trouble, the results were pretty much the same.
"Both times, we reached Suoyi Village on the afternoon of the third day.
"The only difference was that when we pushed ahead, we spent an extra night freezing on the road and suffered a fair bit, though we did save a little on village expenses.
"The second time, we rested up in the village, put in some extra effort on the road the next day, and pushed straight from Langya Village to Suoyi Village in one go."
"So everyone has a point." Niu Ergan looked around before making the final decision. "But