With such a major incident in the village, the mine naturally couldn't operate normally.

Director Song was a fairly humane foreman; upon hearing about the situation, he immediately sent a message to Head Zhao, suggesting that the affected villagers could postpone their visit for three days until their homes were settled.

He Tiantian and Erhua's mother could also take a vacation.

After a busy afternoon, we finally got all the women, children, and infants settled in. They were all from the same village and knew each other.

Therefore, even if you are staying with someone else, you can get along well with the host family.

After settling everything in, Zhao Xiaohe hurried to report the situation to his father.

Zhao, the pavilion chief, nodded in satisfaction, but... now there were only five rooms left, and deciding who to house them was quite a headache. If they weren't allocated properly, it would give others cause for gossip.

"Dahai, go and call all those rough old men over here. I have something to say to them."

Zhao, the village head, stood with his hands behind his back under the old locust tree. Snow was still falling from the sky, and the thick snow that had accumulated on the tree kept falling. Some of the snowflakes landed right on the back of Zhao's neck, and the icy coldness was quite a biting sensation.

Seventy or eighty men arrived almost simultaneously, their faces no longer ashen. As long as their wives and children were settled at home, they didn't care what happened to them.

Zhao Tingzhang explained everything, and he thought it would be handled well, but to his surprise, the men below didn't seem to mind at all.

Wang Dazhuang stood at the front and shouted, "Chief, I'm strong and healthy, I can live in a cellar!"

In winter, every household digs a cellar behind their house to store food for the winter and prevent it from freezing.

“Dazhuang, you’re talking like someone’s unwell. I’ve never been sick, and I live in a cellar!” Another man stepped forward from the crowd.

Zhao, the village head, nodded in satisfaction. These people had all fled famine twenty years ago. At that time, he single-handedly took them in despite the objections of others.

In retrospect, his approach was correct; these people who had suffered were more united than the original villagers of Changfeng Village.

He Tiantian stood aside and listened. She never expected that in this cold and indifferent Changfeng Village, the first person to move her would be the poorest and most backward household in the village.

It seems that her previous understanding was incomplete; there is no necessary connection between human kindness and poverty.

“Chief, living in a cellar is definitely not an option,” He Tiantian stepped forward and voiced her opinion. “Our village has many cellars, but they are not suitable for living in.”

"Huh? Maruko's mom, what do you mean by that?" Wang Dazhuang scratched his head, completely puzzled.

Everyone looked at He Tiantian, completely bewildered.

“The cellars in our village are deep. People can go in for a short time, but if they stay for a long time, they will easily run out of oxygen, which can be fatal.” She looked at the cellar and saw that there was only a small ventilation opening at the top, which was far from enough.

"What...what are you missing? What was that thing you just mentioned called, Maruko's mom? I've never heard of it." Liu Yonghe scratched his head.

He Tiantian continued to explain, "If a person stays in a cellar for a long time, they will feel difficulty breathing, chest tightness, and their life will be in danger."

People are sleeping soundly late at night, and by the time it's discovered they're lacking oxygen, it's too late to save them.

Zhao Tingzhang understood, and he thought to himself: "Wanzi's mother really knows a lot!"

"What should we do then? We can't just let these men sleep in the snow in this freezing weather, can we?" Zhao Tingzhang looked at He Tiantian, feeling that Wanzi's mother already had a better idea.

He Tiantian looked into the distance. In the village, the autumn rice had been threshed, and the straw was piled up behind the houses, layer upon layer, high and sturdy.

She remembered that when she first came into this world, she even stole straw from the neighbor's house.

So she had an idea. "Chief, do you think we could make a hole in the pile of straw and sleep there?"

This is essentially a small hole, with straw on all sides and a straw mat underneath. In well-off families, a quilt can be placed inside, making it incredibly warm and cozy at night.

"Yeah! Maruko's mom is so smart, how come we didn't think of that?" Wang Dazhuang smiled sheepishly.

Zhao Tingzhang finally breathed a sigh of relief; this was indeed a good idea. Now that every household had a haystack, they could choose some of the thickest ones to rest and move into.

He Tiantian was embarrassed by the praise, "Oh, I just remembered it on the spur of the moment. Because I make beds out of straw for the children to sleep on."

Her family initially had no beds or blankets; if it weren't for this straw, they probably would have frozen to death long ago.

Zhao Tingzhang walked shakily to He Tiantian and said, “Wanzi’s mother, you’ve suffered so much raising your two children. Don’t worry, when the village builds houses next year, everyone will help out and build one for you too.”

“Okay, then I thank you very much, Director Zhao.” He Tiantian happily agreed; she had long had the idea of ​​building a house.

However, building a house is a complicated process. It requires making adobe bricks and digging a foundation. Without dozens of laborers, it would be difficult to build one.

All the affected villagers have been settled, and Zhao Tingzhang, exhausted after a day and a night, finally returned home.

Liu had already prepared a meal at home. She carried a bowl of buckwheat noodle and wild vegetable porridge to Zhao Tingzhang and said, "Old man, please eat something. You've been working so hard for so long, your body can't take it."

Zhao, the pavilion chief, took the bowl and squatted down to drink it sip by sip. He was already past his prime and didn't have a good appetite anymore.

Liu took out the embroidery work from the inner room and sat in the main room to start working by the light from outside.

"Old woman, this time we were really fortunate to have Wanzi's mother's idea, which solved a big problem. As the village head, I feel very guilty!" Village head Zhao sighed. He had heard a lot of prejudices about Wanzi's mother in the village before, but now it seems that they were not true.

Liu also felt this deeply, "Wanzi's mother just didn't meet a good mother-in-law. You know what kind of person that old woman Zhao is. Looking at the whole village, who dares to say a bad word about her?"

"I heard some things when I went to deliver the handkerchiefs these past few days. That old woman Zhao is still going from house to house complaining about her daughter-in-law. The things she says... are so filthy, it's unbearable to listen to."

After Liu finished speaking, she shook her head helplessly.

She had met He Tiantian and naturally knew that Wanzi's mother wasn't that kind of person. But those who weren't familiar with Wanzi's mother were all misled by Old Lady Zhao's words.

Zhao Tingzhang suddenly slapped his forehead, as if he had remembered something.