Chapter 8 Chapter 8 Warehouse and Refrigerator
The next morning, the sunlight climbed up the window sill and slipped into the bedroom, where it was divided into long and thin spots of light by the curtains. The cool morning breeze blew the bamboo curtains gently, and the spots of light on the ground also swayed gently. The fragrance of roses outside the window flowed in along the window frame.
——You can’t sleep with the windows open when the weather gets cold.
The child was still sleeping. Gong Zhili got out of bed quietly, washed, put on his clothes, and took out all the clothes hanging in the room and hung them on the wooden rack in the open space.
She sensed someone coming from the west gate, so she went around from the open space on the south side, scaring the villager.
A villager who was older than the village chief walked towards her and said respectfully, "Good morning, Lord Gong, I am Suzuki Masaru."
Gong Zhili nodded: "Good morning, what's going on?"
Suzuki said, "Thanks to your support, Lord Gong, I plan to open a small shop in the village and sell some agricultural tools and seeds. Is there anything you need to purchase? The purchase costs will be funded by the village, so you don't have to worry."
Gong Zhili didn't answer his question, but instead asked, "How long can this small shop last? If the losses continue, our life, which has just started to improve, will soon fall to the ground."
Suzuki Masaru's face lit up with a smile so bright it almost looked smug. "Actually, after signing the contract with you, I won the lottery! This must be the blessing of the gods and you! Even if it's a loss, it would be enough to keep my store in the black for decades!"
Gong Zhili was silent.
She thought about the little cash she had in her hands and the savings in her account that she wasn't sure whether she could access, and she felt jealous.
Suzuki patted his chest and assured: "So, Lord Gong, please feel free to ask for anything you need. We will definitely do our best."
Gong Zhili didn't hesitate and said, "The purchase list for seeds is with the village chief. I also need to buy some kitchen seasonings, hangers, tablecloths, medicines commonly used by children, chickens and ducks that can be raised, and are furniture like refrigerators included in the purchase?"
She realized that morning that if the wild vegetables and other meats she picked were not put in the refrigerator, their shelf life would be very short.
Suzuki, still taking notes, said, "It's all right. I just changed the truck, so the refrigerator can be brought directly to the village."
Gong Zhili pulled out the list from his mind again: "What about furniture like tables, chairs, and cabinets?"
Suzuki looked up and said with a smile, "The Ito family in the village is a carpenter, and the Kato family is a bamboo weaver. If you need anything, we can make it in our village, and we can even take your measurements. Is it urgent?"
This plan was obviously more to her liking. Gong Zhili said decisively, "If possible, let them come and take measurements today. I need a lot of things."
Suzuki was putting away his notepad when he said respectfully again, "Then I'll bring back the items you need as soon as possible."
He turned and walked away along the wooden trestle bridge.
Most of the to-do items in Gong Zhili's mind became "in progress", and the other small half were what she had to do today.
After such a delay, the children at home had already woken up and were helping each other get dressed in the bedroom.
Seeing Gong Zhili come in, the two kids became even more flustered. Nanako tried hard to help Mimiko's head out of her short-sleeves, but she didn't realize that it was the cuff. Mimiko also cooperated very well and pulled hard at the short-sleeves to squeeze her head out.
Gong Zhili: "That's not the collar. Straighten your clothes first and put them on slowly."
Her tone was calm, without ridicule or blame, as she instructed them to get dressed and said, "Next, wash your face and brush your teeth. Choose the colors of your toothbrush and cup, and don't mix them up."
Now that they are up, breakfast can be made.
She washed the rice, cut the taro, and simmered them in a clay pot. Since there were no red dates, she had to add some white sugar.
Then she took out the remaining pine mushrooms and hairy straw mushrooms, added oil to the pan and stir-fried them to remove the water, added some salt to season, and then served them. She heated the oil again, cracked the last three wild duck eggs, and fried them. She liked to eat fully cooked fried eggs, but children might prefer runny eggs, right?
Forget it, just fry them all. I can teach them how to fry eggs themselves later.
Gong Zhili doesn't think children can't enter the kitchen. Where she used to live, children had to do everything themselves...
Hmm, I remembered something else.
In a good mood, she served breakfast and gave them instructions after they finished eating: "Your task today is to continue picking reeds, but you can't go too far and can't get too close to the water. Is that okay?"
"Yes!" The child answered with still great confidence.
She put the straw hat she had woven yesterday on the wooden rack to dry, then put on the apron that the village head's wife had put in the package, tied up her long chestnut hair with a branch she had picked up, put on the mask and gloves that were also prepared by the village head's wife, and prepared to enter the warehouse to start sorting.
Nanako, holding a small basket, stood on the steps and looked at her worriedly: "Miya-sama, can we help?"
Gong Zhili waved his hand: "Go pick some reeds."
The two sisters had no choice but to walk towards the reed field, looking back every few steps.
Gong Zhili first opened the windows on the first floor of the warehouse to ventilate the room and let in sunlight.
The largest pile in the barn was hay and neatly chopped firewood. Gong Zhili stacked them all against a wall, thinking that the winters here must be very cold, otherwise the previous owner would not have stored so much firewood. It seemed that she would have to chop some dry firewood every time she went up the mountain.
She had just stacked the firewood and hay along the entire wall, clearing a large area and creating a firewood wall that would comfort even a hoarder, when a voice came from outside: "Master Gong, are you there?"
She walked out of the warehouse, and the two people outside were obviously shocked by her drastically changed attire, but when she approached, they immediately lowered their heads and introduced themselves.
"My name is Ito Takeshi, and my family has been carpenters for generations."
"My name is Kato Osamu. My family used to weave bamboo, and now I'm planning to open a bookstore..." The latter said with trepidation, "But I haven't forgotten the craft of making furniture with bamboo!"
After listening to them, Gong Zhili looked at the measuring tools in their hands and said, "Then I'll have to trouble you."
She led the two of them in through the west door and, standing at the entrance, said, "We need a low bench here to use as a shoe-changing bench."
The living room needs a large wooden table as a dining table, and eight bamboo chairs. The bedroom on the first floor and the room on the second floor need wardrobes. She also ordered bookcases, bedside tables, coffee tables, low tables, bamboo high legs, high-legged desks... The fact that she could make so many requests at once must be because she has been wandering around the house these past two days and already has a rough arrangement in her head. Let's take this opportunity to prepare everything!
After the two craftsmen recorded the types and sizes of furniture she needed, they said goodbye to her in a hurry, muttering "It's time to get busy" and "Hurry up."
Gong Zhili returned to the warehouse and continued to clean up.
By the time the alarm on her cell phone rang, she had collected a dozen or so farm tools from the warehouse. Some were rusty, but still usable. She also collected several large bamboo plates, which were perfect for drying mushrooms.
When the alarm clock rang, she went to the lake to call her two children home.
She washed the bamboo plaque first and let it hang on the wooden rack to dry for a while. Then she went to the well and used the cool water to wash their faces and hands. "Go inside and rest. We'll have a simple meal at noon."
What she meant by a simple meal was fried rice with wild garlic and warm straw mushroom soup that had been simmered over low heat since morning.
Now I feel that the stone stove is so versatile. The function of stewing in advance and keeping warm is really great!
I don’t have time to go to the mountains to look for food today. There may be some wild duck eggs by the lake, but I can’t collect them all in one go.
Let's go fishing in the afternoon, no matter what kind of fish it is, or catch some shrimp would be nice too.
After she finished her meal, she spread the reed stalks and extra mushrooms on a dried bamboo plate and placed them on a wooden rack to dry. She walked over to the wild onions she had planted earlier and was satisfied to find that they had not withered and seemed to have recovered.
At noon, the two children were sleeping very soundly. Gong Zhili put on a tattered straw hat, armed himself as he did in the morning, and went into the warehouse to continue cleaning.
The second floor of the warehouse was even more cluttered. She even found a few old screens inside. She didn't plan to take them down for the time being, but simply wiped off the dust.
After finishing tidying up the warehouse, she went home to replenish water, then picked up the small stool she found in the warehouse, sat by the lake, and started fishing.
The shadows of the trees swayed and the wind from the lake blew towards the shore. This moment was probably the most comfortable moment for her in the past three days.
She sat on the mat and felt sleepy, so she mentally added a rocking chair to the furniture making list.
The whole afternoon passed like this, and at dusk, the truck returned to the village loaded with supplies and the refrigerator she wanted.
The idle villagers, young and old, happily helped carry the goods. The large refrigerator was transported to the dock by a truck. The villagers were still discussing how to get the refrigerator across the wooden pier. Some people even ran to row boats. Gong Zhili put on his hat, put down his fishing rod, walked across the pier and said to them, "Leave it to me next."
Suzuki was wiping his sweat: "But the boat is too small. If we put the refrigerator on it, there will be no place for people to stand..."
Gong Zhili waved his hand: "It doesn't matter."
She asked the villagers to put the refrigerator on the ground. The villagers looked at her curiously as she squatted down, not knowing what she was going to do.
The moss suddenly surged into green waves under her hands.
The dark brown earth cracked into spiderweb-like patterns, and dense grass stems emerged from the cracks, carrying the refreshing scent of new shoots breaking through the earth. Those delicate blades grew wildly and intertwined, tangling into several dark green vines covered with earth. They firmly supported the base of the refrigerator, which was then placed in the cabin. Then, fine ripples began to appear on the surface of the lake, as if responding to this force.
Gong Zhili withdrew his hand, stood up, and gently flicked it with his hand on the brim of his hat. The old wooden boat trembled slightly as if it had been injected with life. The bow automatically turned towards the other side, and the hull of the boat automatically cut a silver line without wind and glided towards the other side of the lake.
It was not until the refrigerator landed safely on the dock on the other side of the lake that the villagers realized they had watched the entire process with their mouths open.
This is...the power of God.
Low voices of prayer and praise rang out again among the crowd.
Although Gong Zhili didn't want the villagers to place too much hope on this non-existent "god", unfortunately she didn't intend to hide her abilities, so she couldn't ask them to stop at this time. She could only simply nod at them and stroll back along the wooden plank road.
She knew that her current behavior was completely different from the witch-like airs she had put on before, but that was just a simple disguise of being unfamiliar with the environment. After two days of trial, she felt that this slight sense of incongruity would soon be assimilated by the village.
She walked in front, and the children behind her who were helping her carry things hesitated for a moment, then immediately followed excitedly.
It must be God! Miko-sama! As expected!
Children always have the courage to explore the world, and the adults behind them immediately follow suit, using the excuse of "taking good care of the children."
The author has something to say:
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Ha! Rehabilitation failure!
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