"Hey, they're back! Miss Song and Tantan are back!" Zhu Xiu had just stepped out of the cave when she saw the two of them returning in the dim night.

"Luckily we made it back before dark. We rushed back because we didn't want you to worry." Tantan carried a wild rabbit in each hand. Although her hair was tied up in a mess and her face was a little dirty, her eyes were shining and she was grinning from ear to ear.

Song Zhuiyan then came in, carrying six wild rabbits. She handed the rabbits to Zhu Xiu, saying, "Sister Zhu, please take these rabbits and clean them up to make soup."

"We've already stewed the wild boar meat. How about we save the rabbit for tomorrow?" It's getting late, and everyone is hungry. We can't eat wild boar meat and then rabbit meat; that would be too wasteful. With food shortages, we should be more frugal.

“Then let’s stew one first. Ah Xun wants to eat fresh meat, so don’t give him wild boar meat,” Song Zhuiyan said.

"It's good that you're back. Leave the rabbits to me, I'll take care of them. You guys eat first." Zhong Qingyi took all the rabbits into her hands, turned around and walked out of the cave.

There's a stream not far from the cave, and people have been catching small fish there these past few days, but they haven't had much success. They've only caught a few tiny fish, about the size of a finger, enough to make just one bowl of soup.

As soon as Zhong Qingyi stepped out of the cave, Song Zhuiyan followed him out, saying she wanted to help him deal with the rabbits. Zhong Qingyi knew she had something to tell him.

When they reached the stream, Zhong Qingyi killed a rabbit while asking, "What did you find today? Why did you take so long?" It couldn't have been just for a few rabbits after a whole day.

"Tantan and I climbed over to the other side of the mountain. There's a stone house there with three rooms and a main hall. It's been uninhabited for a long time. It's a great place to build a house and clear land. The terrain is even flatter than here. There's a waterfall not far from the stone house, and the stream must flow there..."

In short, someone used to live there, but the owner of the stone house left for some unknown reason, or perhaps died. It is now unclaimed. Song Zhuiyan and Song Tantan both liked the stone house very much and had already given it a quick cleaning, which is why they came back so late.

"What if the owner comes back?" Zhong Qingyi always had many concerns.

"So what? We can just return the house to the owner. We'll live there for him so the house will feel more alive and cleaner. There's no loss to us. The main problem is that the mountain roads are all blocked now. Who can get in?" Even if the owner of the stone house really does come back, it will be several years. Let's move in first and deal with the rest later.

"Brother Zhong, I just wanted to let you know. This stone house is for Tantan and me to live in. We can lend it to you and Axun for a while. Once you finish building your house next door, you can move out." They're not family, so they can't live together forever. If we lend it to them for a few days, there will probably be some gossipy people.

Zhong Qingyi paused for a moment, but quickly resumed his work as if nothing had happened. He suddenly realized that he had no right to ask Miss Song to do anything, and since she had already made a decision and was just informing him, it would be inappropriate for him to say anything more.

"Then thank you, Miss Song. Ah Xun and I will stay here for a while, and we will move out once the house is finished," Zhong Qingyi replied dryly.

"Don't mention it. We're helping each other out. I still have a lot of things I need your help with, so there's no need for all these thanks in the future." Song Zhuiyan was in a good mood, with a slight upturn at the corners of her mouth. Usually, she always had a stern face and looked very serious, so everyone was a bit intimidated by her. Actually, she has a very beautiful smile.

"What's wrong? Is there something on my face?" Seeing Zhong Qingyi glance at her several times, Song Zhuiyan touched her face in confusion.

"It's nothing, I just think you should smile more. You and Tantan are both very sensible."

Song Zhuiyan's eyes flickered. How could she not understand? She was actually thirty-three years old, and Tantan was actually twenty-three. Even if they dressed up as young girls, they would still look mature. The main thing was that neither she nor Tantan were the type to pretend to be young.

Her personality is completely opposite to her sister's. Song Zhuiyan's sister is very quiet and will occasionally act coquettishly towards her parents. Song Zhuiyan has been very independent since childhood. She rarely cries and will fight with boys. Even if she loses, she never cries. She will not tell her parents if she is injured. She will never ask others for help if she can handle things herself.

"I'm too busy. I don't have the time or the mood to keep laughing. That's something only idle people do," Song Zhuiyan replied indifferently.

Zhong Qingyi: "..." So you can only laugh when you're free?

"What's wrong with that? I'm busy fleeing all day, fighting and killing along the way. I can't even sleep peacefully. Who's in the mood to laugh?" Song Zhuiyan glanced at him and didn't continue the topic. She would never admit that she didn't like to laugh.

Although the journey was arduous, he always smiled in front of A-Xun. No one else smiled, and none of them were as serious as her. It was hard to describe, but Zhong Qingyi always felt that she was too burdened with worries and could not fully trust anyone. Apart from Song Tantan, she was wary of everyone else.

For the next few days, Song Zhuiyan took Song Tantan hunting early every morning and cleaned and tidied the stone house every day. After five days, Song Tantan felt that it was about time to move in, but there were some things that needed to be prepared.

This mountain is not only rich in flora and fauna, but also has many caves. Not far from the stone house, there is a cave that is quite spacious. It looks like someone deliberately widened the naturally formed cave, and it can accommodate at least a hundred people.

After discussing it with her aunt, she put five jin of old grain, five hundred jin of old rice, and some dark-colored clothes, sheets, and duvet covers in the cave. In order not to arouse suspicion, they even took off the zippers on the duvet covers.

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