Chapter 39 Purchasing Persimmons and Basement

Thanks to Gong Zhili's daily efforts, the west half of the first floor of the warehouse has been filled with neatly stacked firewood.

Even though it was going to be burned soon, Gong Zhili still chopped and stacked the firewood neatly out of some kind of obsessive-compulsive disorder.

There was no room to store more firewood in the warehouse, but she didn't stop stockpiling. She simply piled firewood under the corridor outside the west door.

Well, she might be a bit of a hoarder.

It was fine to stockpile food and supplies, but it was not good to keep sweet potatoes and pumpkins together with apples. She first put these two on the second floor of the warehouse - the second floor was now quite empty, except for the screens and bundles of plastic sheets placed against the wall, the rest was the empty floor and the shelves she had custom-made.

She placed the sweet potatoes and pumpkins on the shelf. There was nothing wrong with leaving them there. When the temperature got lower, she could roast the sweet potatoes into dried sweet potatoes, or grind them into sweet potato powder. If she was more careful, she could just wrap them in wood ash and newspaper and let them stay there.

But Gong Zhili was far from satisfied with just hoarding this little food. She had observed that there were few greenhouses in the village, so there would definitely be no fresh vegetables to eat in winter. The village chief said that the villagers basically ate pickled vegetables in winter, either air-dried radish slices or pickled in rice bran barrels. Persimmon cakes and dried sweet potatoes were also sources of vitamins in winter. Some people also buried cabbage in snow piles. Although the outer leaves would be frozen, the inner core could still be eaten.

Of course Gong Zhili would prepare a lot of pickled vegetables, whether it was kimchi or rice bran pickles, but how could she only eat these things in winter!

She herself doesn't accept it, and it's not healthy for children to eat this kind of food all the time.

At this time, you can still dig some bamboo shoots in the mountains, and persimmons can be picked and made into persimmon cakes. The harvest of hawthorns, oranges, grapefruits, and chestnuts will gradually be finished. By then, there will definitely be a lot stored at home, and they will have to be placed in different environments. It’s a headache just thinking about it.

She initially thought of digging a temporary cellar for winter use, but later she thought of a permanent solution and decided that digging a basement would be the best solution.

Of course, she also used unconventional methods to dig the basement, but she had a very deep control over the land, and she could clearly see where was suitable for building a basement near her home. Now it happened to be avoiding the rainy season and the frozen soil period, so the time was just right, so she decided to do it. She first went to a construction store to place an order for building materials, and then started digging in the selected place.

The place she chose was the southeast corner of the house. There was a steep slope there, with huge stones supporting it at the bottom. The stones were seven or eight meters deep underground, almost the size of a small hill. She was eyeing the highest point of the steep slope, which was level with the foundation of the house. From there, she started digging to the huge stone that served as the foundation, which was almost two meters high.

In terms of its height from the horizontal ground, it is not underground, but relative to the house, it is a basement!

You can also install a door and a ventilation fan, making it a perfect storage room!

She did what she said. This morning, apart from watering the grass, she went to dig soil in the afternoon. Part of the excavated soil was filled into the lakeside, and part was filled into the southernmost terraces and lakeshore, further expanding the planting area.

The two children lay on the railing on the southeast side of the house and watched her digging and transporting the soil, and they were once again worried about why they had not grown up yet.

But the next day, Gong Zhili put the digging work aside.

This is a big project, we just need to finish it within October, or we can continue after they arrive.

She carried the frame and brought the twins to the orchard.

Both children wore small helmets on their heads: the kind that elementary school students wear. Their tasks were very clear. Gong Zhili used a modified bamboo pole to clamp the persimmon branches, and they waited for the right moment to pick up the fruits.

Gong Zhixiang thought about bringing out a ladder, but the land in the orchard was not flat, so she simply cut down another bamboo, split the top, embedded a hardwood fork in it, and wrapped a hemp rope around it to reinforce it. Then, the targeted branch would be broken off cleanly and crisply.

Collecting fruits is always exciting. They picked all the persimmons on the tree that were not fully ripe. They couldn't pick ripe persimmons like this. Gong Zhili simply threw away the bamboo pole, climbed up the tree and picked a few herself. The three of them shared the sweet and juicy ripe persimmons.

The activity that night was to tie persimmon cakes while watching TV.

A peeler with a plastic handle is used for peeling, which is easy for children to operate. Gong Zhili is also responsible for the final finishing. She scrapes off the remaining peel, leaving only a T-shaped stalk on the fruit stem, and ties a loose knot on the stalk with a hemp rope soaked in salt water. When stringing the fruits together with a single rope, keep some distance between them so that they will not stick together when drying.

The process of stringing the fruits is very therapeutic. When the last orange-red "hanging curtains" are hung on the bamboo poles, it looks like a harvest that brings joy and excitement.

Every morning, Gong Zhili moved the curtain to the east balcony and hung bunches of persimmons on the beams with a clothesline. At noon, he lowered the reed curtain under the eaves to block the overly hot sunlight. Nanako and Mimiko liked this persimmon curtain. Hearing that Gong Zhili pinched the persimmons with his hands every day, they took on the task without hesitation and stood on a stool to slowly pinch the persimmons every day.

Because the basement has not been built yet, Gong Zhili now makes kimchi and rice bran pickles from the vegetables she buys in the village. Every time she goes to the village to purchase, she pushes back a lot of vegetables in a cart.

Nanako was curious: "Do we have to eat so much in winter?" She and Mimiko were both children, and seeing so many large jars of kimchi, they couldn't help but feel awe: How long will it take to eat so much kimchi?

Gong Zhili touched his chin and said, "If you eat kimchi hot pot in winter, you'll burn it off very quickly."

Mimiko: "Kimchi hot pot? What is that?"

Gong Zhili counted them off: "In winter, of course we eat stews and hot pot. The weather is so cold that I don't want to prepare so many dishes. It's best to just cut them up and cook them directly."

To finish off a hot pot meal, you'll need instant noodles or udon. If you have flour at home, you can make your own noodles, but the reason remains the same: who wants to knead, roll, and cut noodles in the freezing winter? Of course, you'd buy machine-made noodles.

Those noodles don't have much chewiness, but they're good enough for hot pot.

She was planning to leave the village soon and borrow Mr. Suzuki's truck to buy some things at a large supermarket in the town.

Hmm? Can she leave the village on her own? Of course she can. She just didn't need to leave before.

When she mentioned that she was going to leave the village, the village chief and several other villagers who managed the village were more nervous than her. Mr. Suzuki went to check the truck overnight and even wanted to send the truck to the repair shop for inspection first, but Miya Chiri said that she would be leaving the next day, so he could only focus on checking the brakes and escape windows.

Before going to bed, Gong Zhili noticed him testing the brakes of the truck and couldn't help wondering: Is going out with her such a scary thing? Why would he check a place like this?

The twins ran around the room excitedly, sometimes going to the closet to choose clothes to wear tomorrow, and sometimes asking her if they could go buy new picture books tomorrow.

Miya Chiri agreed. This time when she went to the town, besides food, the main purpose was to buy enough daily necessities for herself and them.

As soon as she comes of age, she will get a driver's license and buy a car so that she can take them out traveling in the future.

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The feeling of leaving the village was wonderful. After being away from the village, she could feel the presence of that land more. The entire island country was dark in her consciousness, and only that land was shining.

The land under her feet had no connection with her, and the strange feeling made her think: How did she get that piece of land in the first place? Could she use the same method to occupy, no, contract the land near the village?

She didn't dwell on this issue for long. After entering AEON, all she could think about was shopping, shopping, and shopping!

After finishing her food and clothes shopping, Mr. Suzuki helped her load the shopping bags into the car. She continued her shopping spree with the twins in the building. Aeon had so many things she hadn't anticipated before arriving. She even bought a VCR in the electronics section! She also bought a set of recordable discs. She decided to record the recently aired "Shakugan no O-na" when she got home and delete her supporting role!

As for clothes, she bought all the underwear, shoes, socks, coats, pants and skirts for the whole family to wear in winter, and then started to choose nice clothes for the children: children's clothes are always made very cutely, and she was willing to spend the money.

She bought long-lasting foods like instant curry packets, solid curry cubes, frozen dumplings, seaweed flakes, and oolong tea leaves. She also bought a tatami vacuum cleaner and a bathroom mat. She also had her eye on a wall-mounted folding ironing board, which she installed herself, along with a matching iron. She also bought one of those cute coin purses for each member of the family. She added a food storage container with a drainer to the kitchen, packed lunch boxes for the twins for school, and bought an ice shaver and a picnic basket. She also bought a lint roller, which she never knew she'd need, and a sewing kit with tools far more complete than a child's playhouse set. She also bought three hanging mosquito nets and three sets of small pottery shovels, and went on a magazine shopping spree.

Her shopping ethic was truly astonishing, and the AEON staff speculated that she was a recent mover and probably had nothing at home, which was why she bought so many and varied things.

When Gong Zhili was halfway through her shopping, she started to wonder if Nanako and Mimiko were tired. However, the two children were very interested in shopping. Their faces were full of energy from beginning to end and they didn't look tired at all.

Even Mr. Suzuki was a little tired after transporting goods several times. He was shocked that the twins had such unreasonable physical strength at such a young age, and he was worried that others would notice the incongruity in them.

Gong Zhili put the last few shopping bags into the truck bed and asked him, "What are you worried about?"

Suzuki hesitated to voice his concerns.

The twins immediately took Gong Zhili's hands and hid behind her.

Gong Zhili glanced at him and said, "They won't have any problems when they are with me. Since I brought them out, I won't let them down."

Suzuki asked awkwardly, "Then, how do you do that...?"

Gong Zhili: "You don't need to worry about this. Okay, go back."

She patted the heads of the two children and said, "Pack your things when you get home."

Suzuki was still confused and worried at first, but after driving back to the village, his mood gradually calmed down. As usual, the village could give him the greatest sense of security. Here he did not need to guard against those uncertain factors that would bring unrest.

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The author has something to say: Why was I late for a few minutes today? First, I was too excited about the holiday and played games, and the only thing I wanted to do was play for a while. Second, I was too engrossed in complaining to my sisters. I regret it.