Because of the tight schedule, Jiang Zhi postponed the house repairs for her family and Xiao Man's family until next year, but the necessary materials have already been purchased and piled up in the village.

The mountain road was slippery, so Jiang Zhi, Er Rui, and Xiao Man didn't go into the village. Instead, they stayed on the mountain to renovate their own house.

The room where Xu Errui and Qiaoyun lived was a converted coal shed, which was low and cramped.

Moreover, after two years, the bark and straw on the roof also need to be replaced.

As Xiao Caixia grew older, the small room could no longer contain her.

This winter, Errui and Xiaoman repaired more than a dozen houses in the village, and they have gained a lot of experience in house repair.

So this time, I'm going to build two rooms.

With construction halted in the village, Li Laoshi, the foreman, lost his job, but he didn't remain idle.

He drove his old mule up the mountain once a day to transport green tiles, and from time to time he had to fight against wild boars that appeared halfway, so angry that he shouted that he would tie a basket of tiles to the pork belly as well.

Jiang Zhi's family decided to renovate their house, but instead moved it down the cliff.

The old house was kept as a workshop, so it would be convenient to do whatever we wanted.

Although transportation is inconvenient when living in the mountains, I'm quite satisfied with everything else. I can do whatever I want without worrying about being spied on.

It's also convenient to obtain various medicinal herbs, just like picking vegetables in a garden.

Over the past two years, several large trees in the woods not far from Xiaoman's home have been cut down, creating a gentle slope clearing.

First it was used to pile up wheat straw, then it was dug up and then paved with gravel and yellow soil little by little to create a flat ground.

Now that the space has been cleared out to build houses, the two families can live closer together.

Being 20 or 30 meters apart allows them to take better care of each other, and the two children can stay together all the time.

Jiang Zhi, Qiao Yun, Chun Feng, Er Rui, Xiao Man, and Xu Da Zhu, who has difficulty moving around, are all busy.

Adobe bricks, appropriately sized stone slabs, and then bricks are laid with straw and mud.

It was still drizzling and foggy, with a cold wind whistling, but everyone was busy as bees.

Errui and Xiaoman were carrying logs, wearing only light jackets and sweating profusely.

Xu Dazhu sat on the wooden scaffolding, deftly laying stone bricks, while Chunfeng accurately delivered straw and mud in a bamboo basket to his side.

Grandpa Xiaoman was also plastering the mud wall nearby.

Qiaoyun and Jiangzhi were busy moving stone slabs from the bottom of the cliff. These were stones that everyone had picked up and piled up there over the past year when they came and went on the mountain.

Peiqi, who already weighs 200 pounds, is at home at this time, humming and whimpering as she turns over the stone slabs, looking for insects hidden inside.

Jiang Zhi filled the basket on its back with stone chips, and Peiqi stood obediently, looking like a hardworking and honest person.

Actually, even though the wild boar is behaving so well now, Qiaoyun has already complained about it several times.

For the past month or so, Jiang Zhi has been staying in the village and the city, rarely returning to the mountains.

Peiqi was also not at home; the longest she had been missing was ten days.

"Mom, is Peiqi leaving? At first, this little guy would come home to eat every day, but for ten days he wouldn't eat anything at all. He only came back when you came back!" Qiaoyun asked worriedly.

Peggy is a wild boar, and everyone knows she'll eventually return to her herd. Wild boars are free and unrestrained.

Now they have two sows at home, and Peiqi still wanders around outside.

Jiang Zhi looked at the few small wounds on Pei Qi's body that had already healed and shook her head, saying, "I'm afraid we won't be leaving now. If we do, we'll have to wait until next year."

Qiaoyun asked in surprise, "Why?"

Jiang Zhi said, "It has already participated in a martial arts contest to find a husband. Look at all these scars on its body; they are its merits."

Wild sows go into heat in December, and Peiqi, being in the prime of her youth, couldn't resist the call of love. She must have already returned to the herd and fought for her hormones.

It's a pity whether he actually slept with a beauty.

After Qiaoyun understood what had happened, she laughed so hard she could barely hold the stone: "No wonder Peiqi came back looking dejected and lying there without moving. Now she's obediently working at home. She must have lost the fight."

Indeed, a 200-pound wild boar may look imposing, but it is no match for a 400- or 500-pound wild boar.

Hearing herself being mocked, Peiqi grumbled in dissatisfaction, and with a flick of her long snout, she lifted the nearby stone slab high into the air.

Li Laoshi drove the old mule up the mountain, unloaded the tiles, and let the mule graze freely. He didn't go to see everyone repairing the house, but went straight to Xiaoman's grandmother's kitchen.

He knew that Grandma Xiaoman was definitely making something delicious again.

After winter began, the fire in Xiaoman's kitchen never went out.

There's no wild boar meat this year, only smoked rabbit, smoked chicken, and a few pieces of cured meat.

The fire in the kitchen was burning non-stop. Today, Xiaoman's grandmother wasn't making meat soup, but rather sweet potato candy for her two great-granddaughters.

I sprouted wheat a few days ago because the sprouts are key to making sweet potato syrup.

Early this morning, Xiaoman's grandmother washed a basket of sweet potatoes, chopped them into small pieces, and put them in a pot to cook until they were soft and tender.

Then, chop the malt into dregs and put them into the boiled sweet potato soup. When Li Laoshi arrived, it was just in time to filter out the soup dregs.

At this moment, there was a wooden basin on the ground, with a basket containing straw supported on the basin by a wooden stick.

Nearby, Nini and Xiaocaixia were huddled together by the stove to warm themselves by the fire.

While watching my great-grandmother boil sugar, I secretly roasted corn kernels for myself, getting my mouth full of black ash.

"Honestly, come and help me scoop it up!"

As soon as Li Laoshi entered the door, Xiaoman's grandmother, flustered and busy, started assigning him tasks.

Li Laoshi loved doing this kind of thing the most, and stepped forward with a grin: "I'm a master at making sugar, and I produce the most sugar with my hands!"

He scooped water from the vat next to him to wash his hands, then immediately took the large wooden ladle to scoop the boiling sweet potato residue from the pot and poured it into the basket, ladle by ladle.

The steaming soup residue was separated by straw, and the water used to cook the sweet potatoes flowed through the straw into the wooden basin.

The sweet potato pulp and the previous malt residue were separated on top and became food for Peppa and her two little friends.

While the sweet potato soup dregs needed to be filtered, Xiaoman poured a bowl of corn kernels into the empty pot, preparing to pop the corn: "Honest, add some firewood to the stove!"

Li Laoshi shooed the two little figures, who were already covered in smeared cat-like marks, away: "Nini, you're eating all these unripe things, or your tummy will hurt. And Xiaxia, if you eat these too, your grandma will make you eat grass soon!"

The two little girls covered their mouths and ran off laughing!

Grandma Xiaoman then realized that the children had been stealing her corn, and couldn't help but laugh and scold, "You two greedy cats!"

The corn kernels were poured into the pot, and soon the popping sounds attracted Nini and Caixia back. They each filled a bag and went out.

After popping the popcorn, the next step is to boil the sugar.

Pour the broth filtered from the wooden basin into a pot, stir constantly, and simmer over high heat until the broth thickens and coats the spoon.

The excess syrup was put into jars, and the rest left in the pot was not wasted.

Pour the popcorn into the pot and mix it with the remaining syrup. Shape it into balls, and you'll have rice candy.

By the time the house repairmen finished work in the evening, Xiaoman's sweet potato candy and rice candy were ready.

A small jar of reddish-brown, sticky syrup only requires a small bamboo skewer to stir it, and a thick layer will coat the child. It tastes fragrant and sweet, enough for the children to enjoy for a long time.

The rice candy was a bit hard; Jiang Zhi almost couldn't bite into it.

Several young people, however, loved them. Each of them grabbed one and gnawed on it vigorously, even shouting that they would save some to eat again tomorrow!

Life is like eating rice candy.

It's hard yet sweet, sweet yet bitter, because... the sugar stuck to the bottom of the pan at the end was a bit burnt!