The original doors and windows of the house were already damaged and dilapidated, so Yan Zheng simply took them all down and started dismantling them with a hammer. After dismantling the wooden parts, he went to dismantle the walls that had already collapsed.

Fortunately, the main beams of the house were not damaged, and only some of the walls needed repair. In this kind of demolition without compromising the load-bearing capacity, brute force cannot be used alone. When demolishing to the window, it may be necessary to use a flat iron hammer.

Once all the walls have been smashed and the doors and windows have been removed, the broken bricks and clods of earth will be collected and removed.

The final step is to dismantle the earthen stove and wall frame in the kitchen.

It's true that working on a construction site is the most tiring thing. In just five or six days, the three of them were exhausted with aches and pains in their backs. Jiang Xi, in particular, couldn't do the demolition work, so she followed behind picking up bricks, stones and planks. After a few days, she could feel her arms trembling when she went to sleep.

After everything that needed to be dismantled was dismantled, Yan Zheng tapped the bricks that had been drying to make sure they were ready to be fired. He then moved all the dried goods and baskets from the pottery kiln to another room, clearing out a large area for firing bricks.

Brick firing takes 24 hours, and the yellow brick houses have basically been demolished. For a while, things were finally less rushed, and Jiang Xi sighed at how hard-won these past two days had been.

Yan Zheng is a restless person, and he went to the lakeside early in the morning.

By this time, the river had mostly thawed after the weather warmed up, and the reeds and cattails that had been frozen over began to sway again. A gust of wind blew, making a rustling sound along the lake.

Yan Jing'an tried to make a fish trap like before, and casually threw two wild birds into it.

When I went there in the late afternoon, I caught half a basket of miscellaneous fish. They were fish that had been frozen all winter, each weighing about a pound and they were all plump and strong.

When I got back, the house was so hot from firing bricks that even people wearing sweaters were sweating.

Yan Zheng simply took off his sweater and wore only a short-sleeved shirt.

Heat a pan with lard, fry a bowl of cleaned mixed fish, sauté scallions until fragrant, add various seasonings, and simmer a pot full of mixed fish stew.

Hunting has been difficult lately, and with the house repairs taking a tight timeframe, Yan Zheng hasn't had a chance to go out and hunt fresh game. So, he's been eating the cured meat, cured pork ribs, and salted fish that he prepared earlier.

This kind of thing is quite delicious when eaten occasionally, but it gets tiresome if you eat it for a long time. In Jiang Xi's words, it makes people feel dry.

A pot of fresh mixed fish stew, with its flavorful broth and fragrant meat, is so delicious that you won't want to put down your chopsticks, and the fish and meat will be gone in no time.

Jiang Xi ate a large bowl of root and potato rice, leaned against the wall contentedly, and sighed while drinking hot tea, "Spring and summer are still the best."

Yan Zheng, who was standing to the side, smiled and said, "When I went to the lake this morning, I saw that there were more wild ducks than in winter. Once the house is cleaned up, we can go find wild duck eggs and also have fresh duck and chicken to eat."

Who isn't excited about spring?

After the yellow bricks were fired, they were left to dry for two days. During this time, Yan Zheng and Yan Jing'an made three windows and three wooden doors.

In principle, cement should be used for bricklaying. However, since raw materials are limited, we have opted for a less desirable alternative: sticky loess mortar, which also offers a certain degree of strength and durability.

The first thing to be built was the part of the exterior wall that had been demolished, followed by the stove, fireplace, and floor tiles. Only after the basic structure of the house was completed could the brick bed that Jiang Xi mentioned be built.

In each of the two bedrooms, a 1.6-meter-long, knee-length brick bed was built. With the remaining bricks, Yan Zheng simply built two more wall frames in the kitchen.

Finally, doors and windows were installed.

It took about another week to repair the entire house and kitchen.

When you're working, you only know you're tired and don't realize how fast time flies.

Once everything was finished, Jiang Xi noticed that the willow trees outside had already sprouted tender green buds, and only then did she belatedly realize that it was time to plant the seeds.

As evening approached, he went to take another look at the railway.

Fortunately, the water in the paddy field hadn't completely dried up, and it was still a bit muddy when you stepped in it. Even if we had to wait a few more days to sow the seeds, it wouldn't be too late.

After dinner, Jiang Xi took out all the vegetable and flower seeds she had collected last year.

She sat at the table, listing the seeds as if they were her own treasures: "These are cucumber seeds and soybeans. They are the seeds of a wild vegetable, the kind of crunchy, slightly sweet wild vegetable we eat."

Yan Jing'an, who was standing nearby, overheard this and said, "That's a sweet potato."

"Sweet cabbage?"

Jiang Xi repeated it, thinking to herself, "This name is really interesting."

Yan Jing'an said, "We eat a lot of it in big cities and often use it to make pickles, but we didn't eat much of it last year."

Upon hearing that it could be made into pickled vegetables, Jiang Xi's eyes lit up. She said, "It's because it wasn't common last year, and I couldn't bear to eat it. I waited until it produced seeds before I got this half packet of seeds."

As she spoke, she cherished it even more and carefully wrapped it up again.

She then pulled a white cloth bag from under her basket. Jiang Xi said, "These are tomato seeds."

"And these flower seeds, you brought them out of the woods last time. You said they were a kind of yellow and pink shrub. I'll plant them around that brick house in a couple of days."

Yan Zheng, who was washing dishes, dissuaded her from this idea: "It's fine to just plant it in the yard. Don't plant it under the wall. There are a lot of snakes, insects, and rodents in this forest. If you plant it under the wall, a snake might climb up and into the house."

Thinking of the red-striped snake they encountered when they first entered the forest, Jiang Xi immediately got goosebumps and shook her head, dismissing the idea.

She continued tidying up the other things, but as she did so, she felt like she had forgotten something. After thinking for a while, she finally realized it when she saw the sweet potato on the stove.

She patted her head: "My taro, I forgot to dig up the taro."

Yan Zheng wiped his hands and said, "What's so difficult about that? We haven't finished digging up all the wild onions yet, and I'm planning to go back again."

Another reason is that their tubers have run out. Now that it's hot, some tubers have sprouted early. Now that the soil has thawed, he needs to go back and dig up some more tubers.

You can live without meat, but you can't live without carbohydrates. If you lack carbohydrates, you'll feel weak all over within three days.

Thinking of something, Jiang Xi said dejectedly, "I'm afraid I'll have to make two more trips."

Yan Zheng raised an eyebrow, glanced at her, and asked in his eyes why.

Jiang Xi said, "We're almost out of salt. Although we made a lot last time, we also pickled a lot of things last autumn."

Yan Zheng nodded, sat down, poured himself a cup of hot water, and said, "Anyway, the yellow brick house will need to air out for a few more days. Why don't we go back in the next couple of days, boil some salt, dig up some sweet potatoes, and bring back all the mountain taro and taro we had before?"

Yan Jing'an, who had been silent for a long time, said, "I'll go too. I'm much better now, so I can go for a walk."