Every morning, Cheng Yan would first go to the construction site to keep things in order. After Ruyi and Xu Cui finished preparing the food at their stall, the food stall would be handed over to Lin Xiaoman. Then, the two of them would take the day's grain and rent a mule cart to the construction site to exchange it with Cheng Yan.
In the afternoon, Xu Cui went back to the Cheng family home to deal with the rabbits and chickens. Occasionally, Cheng Yunping would come to pick Ruyi up from school when he had time. If he didn't have time, Ruyi would go home by herself. Anyway, she was traveling with the refugees and craftsmen, so there was no danger.
Cheng Ruyi's lunch plan consisted of two multigrain steamed buns or pancakes for each person, plus a serving of green vegetables and a serving of meat, ensuring a balanced diet. Every few days, she would secretly add some Bigu Dan (a traditional Chinese medicine) powder to the food to ensure everyone's physical and mental strength during this period.
It wasn't just because she had a sudden burst of maternal love; it's just that the consumption of the fasting pills had gradually decreased over the past period, and there were currently more than a dozen left. Since they were just sitting there anyway, it would be more worthwhile to take them out and use them to improve the workers' efficiency.
Because the Cheng family provided fairly generous meals, more and more workers eventually switched to not asking for wages but requesting two meals a day, which Cheng Ruyi agreed to. In the end, only a few people still chose to silently eat dry rations on their own, focusing solely on getting paid, including the conspicuous father and daughter.
As Cheng Ruyi watched their increasingly thin figures, her compassionate heart almost overwhelmed her, but considering it was their choice after all, she decided to respect it.
As the days passed, by mid-November, the house was beginning to take shape. Ruyi inquired about the progress with the old craftsman and learned that, barring any unforeseen circumstances, it would be completed in a month.
She was overjoyed that the house she had designed was almost finished and the toilet she had been longing for was finally going to be usable soon. However, she was surprised when her joy turned to tragedy and an accident occurred.
Cheng Ruyi was inspecting the construction site when she suddenly noticed that a pile of timber by the roadside was not placed securely. If a passerby accidentally bumped into it, an accident could easily occur. Just as she was about to walk over to warn the people around her, the timber was bumped by a passing worker, shook a few times, and then collapsed with a crash, about to bury several workers who were working underneath.
Cheng Ruyi felt a chill in her heart. The distance was too far, and even if she ran as fast as she could, she probably wouldn't make it in time.
Oh no, something terrible is about to happen!
After the people standing around realized what was happening, they rushed over to help. However, they discovered that the timber had not crushed the workers underneath, because a small figure had single-handedly held it up!
This tiny figure turned out to be the girl from that tall, thin father and daughter pair.
The girl's name is very ordinary, Meng Daya. She is actually younger than she looks, only fourteen years old. Over this period of time, everyone has learned that the father and daughter are much stronger than ordinary people. However, the current situation shows that Daya's strength is much greater than they imagined, so they were all shocked.
After everyone rescued the three people under the logs, Meng Daya slowly raised herself up and easily pushed all the logs back to their original positions.
After Meng Daya turned around, she found that everyone around her was staring at her. She was familiar with this kind of gaze, so her usually indifferent and calm eyes revealed emotions for the first time: annoyance and regret.
Cheng Ruyi was standing not far away at that moment, so she could see the girl's expression clearly. After thinking for a moment, she pulled Xu Cui over and asked the people who were almost hit, "Are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?"
Seeing that the others shook their heads, she had them helped up, then turned to Xu Cui and said, "It's really unsafe to leave these timbers piled up like this in a place where people come and go. Aunt Cui, please move them to the back."
Xu Cui agreed, then picked up a piece of wood in each hand and left with a composed gait.
The onlookers couldn't help but marvel: those were pieces of wood that required two men to lift each one, were women these days really that strong? Or were they just too naive?
Then Ruyi casually picked up a piece of wood and said, "It's alright, it's alright. Everyone, stop crowding around here. Go do what you're supposed to do. Don't even think about slacking off. If the progress is delayed, I won't be giving out lunch!"
When everyone saw that even the landlord could lift a piece of wood by himself, they suddenly felt a little numb. So what if a few women were a little stronger? It didn't concern them. Lunch was more important.
So the group quickly dispersed and went back to their own work.
The little incident at the construction site passed by just like that. When someone occasionally mentioned it afterward, everyone just treated it as gossip and no one took it seriously.
After distributing dinner that day, Cheng Ruyi and Xu Cui were about to leave when Meng Daya suddenly jumped out from the side and blocked their way, startling them.
"Mrs. Cheng, thank you!"
After Meng Daya finished speaking, she bowed and then ran away quickly, ignoring the reactions of the two people left behind.
"Hey, isn't this the girl who saved someone today? She almost scared me to death in the middle of the night. Is she hiding here to thank you? Thank you for what? It's not like you saved anyone."
Watching Daya's departing figure, Ruyi couldn't help but sigh, "It's nothing. She showed off her skills to save someone today, and I guess she was afraid of being too conspicuous, so I helped her cover it up."
"Oh, I see. Speaking of which, that girl is quite skilled and strong, but she looks rather thin. I wonder if she's had enough to eat. Sigh..." Xu Cui felt more and more sorry for this family as she spoke, but considering that most refugees were like this, she could only sigh at the unpredictability of the world.
Based on her observations over the past few days, Ruyi was certain that Meng Daya was not only strong, but also seemed to know some martial arts. What was previously just her suspicion was finally confirmed today.
This family is a bit complicated... Maybe she could try to be nice to them?
Okay, actually she was just envious of other people's kung fu!
Since her physical flexibility improved, she hasn't had any way to learn how to use it. Apart from jumping on the roof every night, she really doesn't know how to practice her movements.
She had considered finding someone to teach her, but unfortunately, there were no security escort agencies or martial arts schools in Huai Shan County. In her limited information, the only family that might be skilled in martial arts was the Zhang family at the dock. Although she didn't know how skilled the thugs under the Zhang family were, she was certain that their character was not good, and there was absolutely no need to provoke them.
Cheng Ruyi even considered going to the deep mountains and wilderness to catch animals. There are countless agile animals in the forest, and fighting with them might actually train her skills. Aren't the heroines in novels able to easily kill a few bears or tigers and sell them for a few hundred taels of silver?
Unfortunately, she has been so busy these days that she has no time to go out, especially since her home is in the county town, which is far from the deep mountains!
In fact, she had tried staying up all night to sneak out into the mountains, but found the city gates were closed. She didn't dare try to break through the city gates, and the city walls were too high for her to climb...
So she had waited so long for this moment, and now that a suitable target had finally appeared, she naturally didn't want to let it go.
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