Lu Xiaomei, who was picking out the coarser firewood according to Li Qianqian's standards, paused upon hearing this. She seemed to immediately realize what was happening, put down the firewood she had chosen, straightened up, and deliberately put on what she considered a very polite smile.
Walking past the pile of firewood at the crossroads, I reached Uncle Liang's side. I sighed silently and looked at Uncle Liang's slightly anxious face. I said, "Liang Qi is not fully recovered yet, so when Li Lei asked him to come with us, he refused."
Upon hearing Lu Xiaomei's words, Uncle Liang took a step back, his old face immediately darkening. He patted the stone behind him, sighing twice in frustration, before waving his hand at Lu Xiaomei, signaling her not to say anything more.
She slumped down on the rock behind her, and said with a hint of resentment in her voice, "We brought Bai Hongmei here too, and she's keeping Xu Fanyuan's mother company, while Xiaoyue stayed home to take care of Liang Qi."
When Uncle Liang heard that Xiaoyue hadn't come, his eyes lit up, then dimmed again. He then hunched over and walked out of the cave.
Li Qianqian looked at Uncle Liang's slightly hunched figure under the firewood light at Old Man Niu's house, and whispered in Lu Xiaomei's ear, "It seems that Uncle Liang is not as willing to put aside his pride as your former mother-in-law."
Lu Xiaomei glanced at Li Qianqian with suspicion, then looked at Ge Daming standing to the side. Seeing him holding the little boy's hand and the old lady Ge sitting by Niu Erzhuang's woodpile, she gently pinched Li Qianqian, signaling her not to talk nonsense.
Li Qianqian winked at Lu Xiaomei teasingly, then went back to picking firewood.
Lu Xiaomei couldn't help but smile and shake her head, recalling the process of Li Lei choosing the place to stay:
Li Lei led the group into the cave and found three entrances. Li Lei chose the third entrance and walked about 400 meters. The third entrance was divided into two parts, an upper and a lower one. The upper entrance was too high for the donkey cart to pass through.
So Li Lei chose the lower one. About fifty meters into the cave, the lower entrance forked again. Li Lei chose the left side, which was narrower, but could still accommodate a donkey cart.
Niu Erzhuang's family also had an oxcart, but Old Man Niu chose the right one because it was a little wider.
Li Lei walked along the cave entrance, turned a corner, and the biting wind blew snowflakes that blocked the road up to waist height. Li Lei walked another thirty meters or so through the snow, and in front of him was a large open space, about the size of five houses. Looking up, he could see the sky, and looking down, he could see trees growing below.
Li Lei went back and tied the donkey to a spot near the bend, where it was sheltered from the wind and easy to clean up its droppings.
He settled Li Qianqian and Lu Xiaomei at the entrance.
It would be very difficult to find their way here without asking for directions first. You have to search from house to house. People in the village live in all sorts of places, and you have to walk up and down, turn left and right. Besides, Grandma Ge came here by asking around, while Uncle Liang came slowly and quietly all the way.
It's clear how worried Uncle Liang was about Liang Qi.
While Lu Xiaomei was lost in thought, Li Qianqian came closer, picking up some thicker firewood and pointing to the things scattered on the ground, saying, "I'll pick up the sticks, you draw a line and decide on the kitchen and bedroom. One room for the man, one room for the woman."
Lu Xiaomei gently patted Li Qianqian's head and said indulgently, "You're such a busybody, you've made it all the last."
While saying this, they started making plans.
Li Lei carried back another bundle of firewood, threw it down, glanced at Old Mrs. Ge who was staring at Lu Xiaomei, took a step towards her, glared at her and said, "Don't think Lu Xiaomei is easy to bully. If you piss me off, I don't have a habit of not hitting old people."
Grandma Ge moved back a bit, then started acting shamelessly again, wailing and wailing like a magician. Li Lei kicked Grandma Ge, sending her sprawling to the ground: "Get out of here, stop wailing."
Grandma Ge wiped her tearless face, then quickly pulled Ge Daming over and walked out.
Li Lei then said to Li Qianqian, "Light the firewood. I'll chop more if I don't. It's too damp in here, little one. Shuiyue is still very young." After giving these instructions, he went out to chop firewood again.
Lu Xiaomei gathered some firewood that wasn't very useful, lit it with a tinderbox, and then suddenly asked, "Who knows how to build a stove?"
"I will, I will." Grandma Ge reappeared beside Lu Xiaomei like a ghost.
Hearing what Grandma Ge said, Lu Xiaomei frowned. Thinking that she couldn't really just stand by and watch someone die, she made room for them inside and said, "You and Ge Daming come in. Build a stove here for cooking."
After saying that, Lu Xiaomei took a pot and went inside. She had heard Li Lei say that she could collect snow just around the corner.
After collecting the snow, they carried it back and placed it on the firewood. Then, they used a shovel to dig some soil and poured the melted snow water onto the mud. Following Grandma Ge's instructions, they built a wood-fired stove and put the pot on it.
They fetched more snow, poured it into boiling water, and then poured the water into a dry wooden bucket. After collecting a bucket of water in this way, they began to wash rice and cook.
Then he placed three stones next to him, took out a cutting board, chopped a large cabbage, and made cabbage and vermicelli soup.
After the meal was prepared, Li Qianqian had already divided the room she occupied into four sections.
Give the top portion to Li Lei and Chun Yue, and the middle portion to Lu Xiaomei, Xiao Douding, and Li Qianqian.
Next to Li Qianqian and the others was the kitchen, and on the other side of the kitchen, a room was also arranged for Grandma Ge and Ge Daming.
Of course, they also brought Grandma Ge and Ge Daming along for meals. After the meal, Grandma Ge took over the task of washing the dishes.
Lu Xiaomei went outside and picked some dry grass, carried a bundle back, put it in the kitchen to use as kindling, and crushed some of it and put it into the mud.
Li Qianqian used mud mixed with bits of grass to smear mud on the sides of the passageway for Li Lei, and then lit firewood in Li Lei and Chunyue's house.
Li Qianqian left a passageway wide enough for two people, according to the size of the house, and also placed a row of walking sticks in front of it. Although the walking sticks were a meter higher and wider than Li Qianqian, they were still quite a distance from the top of the cave.
Lu Xiaomei also lit fires in her own house and in Grandma Ge's house. These fires not only kept her warm but also provided light.
After tidying everything up, Li Qianqian asked Lu Xiaomei, "I wonder what Bai Hongmei is doing now?"
Bai Hongmei was supporting Xu's mother, waiting for Xu Fanyuan to stop the oxcart outside the first cave entrance. With a large suitcase on his left hand and a torch in his right, he chose to go to the cave entrance above.
Xu Fanyuan walked to the front, glancing back every step of the way to see if the people behind him were keeping up or if they were walking steadily. Bai Hongmei lowered her head slightly, supporting Xu's mother as they walked along, following Xu Fanyuan's silhouette.
After entering the cave, Xu Fanyuan walked ahead while observing the cave walls. After walking about a hundred meters, a recessed stone wall suddenly appeared in front of him, like a house with three walls but no front.
The open space in front of the stone wall was as big as three rooms, and there was a fist-sized light above it. The light kept out the cold wind, and Xu Fanyuan thought the place was quite nice.
He glanced at Bai Hongmei and asked, "What do you think of this place?"
Bai Hongmei thought Xu Fanyuan was asking about Xu's mother, so she raised her porcelain-white face and looked at Xu's mother.
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