Meng Er didn't even look at Zhao Xiaoxiu, but glanced at Sheng Qingyang briefly, and waved to her in what he thought was a cheerful and friendly manner, saying, "Hi!"

Hearing Zhao Gang's footsteps coming from the stairwell, he turned and disappeared.

"Your face is red." Zhao Gang stretched out his finger, as if he had discovered something amusing, and poked Meng Er's face, asking in surprise, "It's so hot, do you have a fever?"

Meng Er grabbed his hand and pulled him outside, glancing back excitedly towards the kitchen as they walked, and asked in a low voice:

"Who is that woman in the kitchen? How old is she? Is she married?"

Zhao Gang: "Sheng Qingyang, the master of the Small Sleeve Sword Technique, twenty-four years old, unmarried, she's not a gentle woman. And... you're not worthy."

"I'm not good enough for her?!" Meng Er's tone unconsciously rose two octaves as he glared at Zhao Gang defiantly, explaining, "I didn't even intend to pursue her, so how am I not good enough for her!"

Zhao Gang stared at him without saying a word.

Meng Er paused for half a second, then realized what was happening and slapped his own mouth. Damn it, he had accidentally blurted out the truth.

The two men stared at each other in silence for a long time until Meng Da appeared, breaking the tense atmosphere.

Meng Da: "This morning we'll cut down the wood, and this afternoon we'll measure the distances to see whether we'll build a suspension bridge or a floating bridge by piecing together rafts."

"Brother Gangzi, luckily your evolutionary ability is tentacles, which can extend a long distance, otherwise we wouldn't be able to build this bridge."

Meng Da walked ahead, talking to himself.

Little did they know that their younger brother was caught in a deep internal struggle of resentment because of Zhao Gang's words, "You are not worthy."

However, once they reached the poplar grove, Meng Er no longer had the energy to let his mind wander.

The three men raised their axes and began to work with them, clanging loudly.

Sheng Qingyang didn't stay long before returning home. She was going to take a stroll through the forest area in the isolation zone to see if she could find anything unexpected.

Zhao Xiaoxiu also wanted to go, but Sheng Qingyang refused her without hesitation, saying, "The snow is thicker than a person; you can't leave."

"Then, then when the snow melts, Master, can you take me with you?" Zhao Xiaoxiu said hurriedly.

Sheng Qingyang nodded, turned around and strode away.

"Yay!" Zhao Xiaoxiu happily clenched her fist, hoping the snow would melt quickly.

Unfortunately, the weather forecast shows that today and the next few days will be cloudy.

But she was not discouraged. She turned around, grabbed the hoverboard, and ran to the next room to find Sister Miaomiao. She then called over Sister Monkey, who also grabbed the hoverboard. The two of them sat on the hoverboard together, and she directed Sister Monkey to lead them to the riverbank.

When passing by the pond, Zhao Xiaoxiu made a point of taking a look.

The water in the pond was still, and a thick layer of ice had formed on the surface, covered with snow. Peter Pan was still hibernating inside, showing no signs of waking up.

Zhao Xiaoxiu swept the snow away, lay down on the ice and peered inside, and could vaguely make out a black outline.

"Sigh~" Zhao Xiaoxiu sighed regretfully, she couldn't bring Peter Pan along to play.

"See you in spring," she whispered as she lay on the ice.

Standing up, spreading their arms to maintain balance, they slowly moved to the riverbank, climbed onto the suspension board, and the monkey and two babies arrived at the riverbank together.

Zhao Gang and his two companions had almost finished preparing the materials. Meng Er and Meng Da stood at one end of the poplar grove, while Zhao Gang stood at the other end of the territory. They were measuring the width of the river with a long hemp rope on both sides.

Zhao Xiaoxiu called out "Dad," and Liu Miaomiao followed suit, quietly calling him "Uncle."

Zhao Gang turned around and smiled at them in response, then turned back to continue taking measurements.

After exchanging greetings, the two little girls jumped off the suspension board, found a safe open space, and each got a bucket and a small shovel to play freely in the snow.

When they get tired of playing, they watch what the adults are doing and occasionally offer their own whimsical ideas.

Although none of them were adopted by the adults, they were very engaging.

By evening, the basic structure of a suspension bridge had emerged.

After actual measurements, Zhao Gang finally decided to combine the suspension bridge and the pontoon bridge.

Solid load-bearing piles were driven into both sides of the riverbank, and then two suspension handrails made of hemp rope were connected to them.

Next, seven pieces of wood, each five meters long and one and a half meters wide, were pieced together. The joints were secured with long hook nails, and then ropes were used to connect the handrails and the bridge deck. This way, even if the current is strong, the rafts will not be washed away.

By the time we finished doing all that, it was completely dark.

The next day, Zhao Gang and his two companions used the thick wooden planks they had prepared when building the fence to lay flat on the connected raft bridge, and a suspension bridge spanning 38 meters was completed.

The load-bearing suspension cables on both banks are also designed to be adjustable, and can be raised and lowered according to the river level to ensure that they will not be submerged by the rising water.

Under normal circumstances, suspension bridges float on the river surface, allowing the buoyancy of the water to support most of their weight.

If the river water is much lower or higher than the riverbank, it can be raised to suspend it above the river surface, ensuring pedestrians can pass.

Once the bridge was completed, Zhao Xiaoxiu was the first to test it, running back and forth several times until she was extremely satisfied.

What surprised her most was that nets had been added to both sides of the bridge, so she didn't have to worry about falling into the river while running.

However, the drawbacks of suspension bridges are also obvious: they sway violently when the wind is strong or the current is rapid.

But compared to the time spent taking the detour, this minor drawback is nothing.

It used to take half an hour to walk to the poplar forest, and even if you cycled quickly, it would still take more than ten minutes.

Now it only takes half a minute to cross the bridge.

The two tenants were secretly envious when they saw the bridge, and they also hoped that they could build their own territory as soon as possible.

They didn't dare to hope for something as good as number 13; they just wanted a safe haven of their own where their family could live happily.

Perhaps it was the actions of Zhao Xiaoxiu's family, who were building walls and bridges, that provoked them.

Seeing that the snow had stopped falling, Qiu Bai and Wang Xiang, a married couple, went out early and returned late every day, starting construction on their designated territory, No. 2.

Jiang Ning and Liu Chuan left the elderly and children behind and began taking their repair tools and patrolling their territory number 16 every day in a patrol car, actively preparing to move into their new territory after the snow melted.

The area in front of Zhao Xiaoxiu's house became lively again. The lords who had been hibernating were finally willing to come out of their homes. After all, in this planting area where entertainment was scarce, it was really hard to get through the days without electronic products to keep them entertained.

Everyone came to charge their devices again. Some plugged them in and asked Zhao Gang to watch over them before heading into the mountains to hunt.

Those with deep pockets, such as Dongfang Ling and Bai Cailing, as well as the trio of Zhang Lijun, would sit there all day with their appliances plugged in.

Bai Cailing and Wen Fei still don't get along, but they're the most gossipy of all, always bringing everyone the latest news from various bases.

Dongfang Ling hadn't appeared for a long time, perhaps afraid that he would become tongue-tied from not speaking for too long. He would occasionally chime in, which would make the atmosphere awkward, but he would be brought back to life by Bai Cailing's high enthusiasm.

"By the way, did you know that the biotechnology company is planning to build a small research base in our planting area?" Wenfei suddenly asked.

Zhao Xiaoxiu, who was squatting under the mutated pine tree playing hide-and-seek with her sister Miaomiao, suddenly perked up her ears.