The night was cool and still.
She walked extremely fast in the pitch-black environment.
She soon arrived at a house, and she remembered that the house was inhabited by a rough-looking man named Huo Mingchen.
He made a living by hunting all year round. He was a reclusive man who rarely went out. Because his yard was always filled with various bloody wild animals, the villagers avoided him like the plague.
But Cheng Shanshan remembered that this person saved half the village when the flood first broke out, and then suddenly disappeared. No one knew where he went, and of course no one cared where he went.
When Cheng Shanshan climbed over the wall and went inside, she suddenly heard the sound of a knife being sharpened.
Although she was quite brave, the scene she saw next under the moonlight still made her hair stand on end!
The room was pitch black.
There was a pool of bright red blood on the ground, and a hairy, burly man was chopping at snow-white bones!
The sharp snapping sound caused Cheng Shanshan to instinctively step back, but she accidentally broke a tree branch on the ground. The sudden noise made Huo Mingchen raise his kitchen knife, look towards the door, and shout coldly, "Who's there!"
The door was suddenly flung open.
His menacing aura was chilling, and Cheng Shanshan tried her best to appear calm: "Cheng Shanshan, we're from the same village, you might have heard of me?"
Huo Mingchen's features were obscured by hair, but his displeasure was evident in his tone: "I only know that uninvited guests are always thieves. If you don't leave now, don't blame me for being impolite!"
"I just want to ask you to do something for me." To show her sincerity, Cheng Shanshan took out twenty taels of silver that she had prepared beforehand: "For that sake, could you give me some time to talk?"
Huo Mingchen brandished the blood-stained kitchen knife in his hand: "If you want to talk, come inside with me."
"good."
Cheng Shanshan immediately followed her into the house.
Once inside, Huo Mingchen lit an oil lamp, and she could see that the bones he had just chopped on the ground were from a cow.
She couldn't help but ask, "Why not cut these down in the yard, and not even turn on the lights?"
"I don't need a light."
Huo Mingchen turned his head, his disheveled face revealing a pair of eagle-like eyes that stood out sharply: "If you came in just to ask such pointless questions, then you can get lost."
"no."
Cheng Shanshan placed the silver on the table: "I want to hire you to help me. This is my sincerity fee. Of course, I won't ask you to kill or set fires. I just want you to help me build a house. The timeframe is 29 days. You can tell me how much you want and we can discuss it."
This statement clearly and simply explained the matter, but Huo Mingchen still didn't understand: "Why did you ask me to help you build a house?"
Cheng Shanshan explained, "Because you are strong, quick, not afraid of hardship, can do everything, and are a good person." She took advantage of the time before the natural disaster struck to build a shelter so that she could cope with the upcoming torrential rains and floods.
Faced with such heavy physical labor, she couldn't possibly complete it by herself alone, and finding someone else might not be reliable, but Huo Mingchen was different.
First of all, being able to save people in times of crisis shows that one's character is beyond reproach.
She had witnessed his abilities firsthand, so her praise was true.
"..."
Huo Mingchen frowned deeply.
It's clear they don't know how to respond.
Cheng Shanshan continued to state her requirements: "Actually, it's more like expanding the cave than building a house. You should be able to provide me with three habitable rooms, a small kitchen, and an outhouse. Make sure the ventilation is good and that there's a water source. Most importantly, outsiders shouldn't be able to enter easily."
Upon hearing this, Huo Mingchen sneered: "You've made a lot of enemies, so you're trying to live in seclusion?"
"You don't need to worry about that." Cheng Shanshan considered for a moment, "Ten taels of silver a day, what do you think?"
This amount is enough for an average family to live on for half a year.
The price is not low at all.
However, fearing that Huo Mingchen might disagree, she quickly added, "If you feel it's not suitable, I can add some more for you."
"No."
Huo Mingchen was quite straightforward: "Ten taels as you said, and tomorrow I'll take you to see the cave you mentioned."
"good."
Cheng Shanshan immediately beamed with joy.
With Huo Mingchen's help, it was like adding wings to a tiger for her.
The next morning, she gave Bai some brief instructions and hurried up the mountain.
As soon as she arrived, she saw Huo Mingchen waiting there. His towering figure and disheveled appearance were comparable to a robust and tall bear, which gave her a strange sense of security.
Soon the two arrived at a cave at the top of the mountain. It was pitch black inside, and they needed torches to see the inside.
After looking around, Cheng Shanshan asked, "Do you think it's okay?" Actually, she only knew that the person in front of her was very capable, but she wasn't quite sure what he would do. Now that she saw the interior environment and knew that the project was huge, she couldn't help but feel a little worried.
Fortunately, Huo Mingchen didn't say no. After silently drawing strange shapes on the ground for a while, he looked at her and said, "I can complete what you want in twenty-six days, but you need to give me three hundred taels of silver."
Cheng Shanshan immediately cupped her hands in greeting: "Alright, alright, then thank you for your trouble, Brother Huo."
After finalizing the arrangements for the shelter, she mounted her horse and headed to Lin'an City again. This time, she disguised herself as a purchasing merchant and went to the rice shop, ordering eighty shi of rice, fifty shi of flour, and thirty shi of millet.
These things cost three hundred taels of silver, but the thought that they would be enough for her and her mother to eat for a long time eased her anxiety considerably.
After Bai fell asleep that night, she went into the space to tidy up.
To make better use of the space and maximize the availability of supplies, she divided the interior into four areas.
The first one, the largest one, is for storing rice and flour. The second one, she plans to put vegetables in. The third one, she plans to put various clothes and winter supplies in. The fourth one, the smallest one, is for storing various self-defense weapons.
With such a clear plan, her purchasing schedule became more defined.
She set off early the next morning.
Her main purpose this time was to buy various fruits and vegetables. Since the items in her space would not rot, she bought them without any worries.
I bought directly from stall to stall at the market. I bought about 30 to 40 jin of pumpkin, potatoes, cabbage, green onions, eggplant, green beans, bok choy, pea sprouts, oyster mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, garlic, and various radishes.
Then came the dried vegetables, including green beans, dried bamboo shoots, dried cabbage, dried cucumber, dried shiitake mushrooms, and kelp. She ordered twenty catties of each of these. Of course, salt, an essential commodity, was also indispensable, so she went directly to the salt merchant's shop and ordered twenty sacks of salt.
These are not only enough for eating and daily use, but they can also be divided into smaller portions for bartering in the future.
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