The group carefully made their way to the south side of Jinwu Mountain, but they did not see any limestone. The place where there used to be limestone had turned into a patch of yellow mud.
Everyone was a little disappointed. Yunxun, who had come over, stood up and looked around. He pointed to the red maple tree in front of them and said, "Let's go take a look ahead. There's a red maple tree there. I remember there were red maple trees around the limestone back then. Now it's the time when the red maple leaves turn red. Let's go take a look."
"Why didn't I remember? It must be a change of location." Zhao Dongwei had loved running around the mountains and fields with Yun Tao and the others since he was a child, and he was very familiar with this area. Seeing his friends come out this time, he volunteered to come along as well.
"With your brain, can it even keep up with my brother's pace?" As the best friend who teases his brother, Yuntao never misses an opportunity to roast him.
"It's not confirmed yet, let's go take a look first." Yun Xun was most afraid of the two of them getting together, worried that they would go on and on, so he quickly interrupted them.
The group of people slowly explored forward along the red maple tree.
"This is it!" Everyone was excited as they looked at the limestone rocks of varying sizes exposed on the ground. Now there was hope.
"This time we will definitely be able to build our own house." Zhao Dongwei was very excited.
"Let's think about how to get them back. It's such a long distance. If we rely entirely on manual labor, how long will it take?" Yun Mingwei said, putting down the younger generation.
“Actually, you don’t need to worry. Look ahead, which way is it?” Yun Zhiqi said, pointing to two houses not far away.
"Isn't that the home of Yunqi's brother-in-law's two comrades-in-arms?" Yun Tao recognized it at a glance.
"Their houses are really well-built; they're still relatively unharmed after such a huge earthquake," Zhao Dongwei said with some envy.
“They built it according to earthquake-resistant standards back then. At the time, some gossipy women in the village said they were wasting their money, saying that we’ve never had an earthquake here. Now they’ve been proven wrong.” Yun Tao was very annoyed by the women who always gathered together to gossip about him.
"Everyone, carefully search and see if you can find a way down." After saying that, Yun Mingwu carefully began to explore.
They actually found a shortcut, though it was a bit steep. By the time they got back down the mountain, it was almost dark, and they were all thirsty and hungry.
"How did you get here?" Seeing figures on the back mountain, the monkey followed its father, Hou Kelin, to investigate.
"Uncle Hou, could you give us some water? We're dying of thirst." Seeing the monkey, the group felt like they had found a savior. They had thought they could figure it out in just one morning, but many parts of the mountain were already quite loose, and everyone walked very carefully, afraid that they might slide away along with the mountainside.
And so, the group of people were thirsty and hungry on the mountain, but dared not take big steps forward.
"Yes, hurry home." After saying that, he led the group of them into the house.
"Yunyang, quickly get some water for your Uncle Wei and the others." Hearing Hou's father's call, Hou Yunyang quickly brought over a few bottles of mineral water.
"We're finally alive again! We haven't had any water all day." After drinking a few sips of water, Yun Zhiqi and the others finally felt alive again.
"Why did you all go to the back mountain?" The monkey asked after seeing that the group had recovered.
"We went up the mountain to find limestone, but who knew the mountain roads would be so difficult to walk on now? There are many loose and unstable sections, and we were falling and searching for a way."
"What do you need limestone for?" Mr. Hou asked curiously.
"Limestone can be used to make mortar; the village will issue a unified notice when the time comes."
"Is limestone just those white stones?" Mr. Hou asked curiously.
“Yes, it’s that white kind.” Yun Tao said, then took a piece of limestone out of his pocket.
“You don’t even need to go up the mountain to find these stones; many have slid down from the mountain before,” the monkey said, pointing to the white pile of stones at the foot of the mountain ahead.
The group, no longer caring about their hunger, quickly ran towards the pile of white stones.
"Now we don't have to go up the mountain anymore!" Zhao Dongwei exclaimed happily.
The others remained silent, looking up at Jinwu Mountain in front of them.
“Uncle Hou, I think you should move to the temporary housing first. It would be very dangerous if the mountain collapsed,” Yun Mingwu said to Hou’s father.
“We’ve already checked it out. It’s still more than 2,000 meters away from our house, and the mountain isn’t very high or steep. As long as there’s no heavy rain and no mudslides, it’s safe. Besides, this mountain is mostly limestone with little soil, so it’s unlikely to cause mudslides.” Monkey shared his findings with everyone. Having served in the army for several years, Monkey had a good understanding of the terrain.
“That’s true. If a mudslide occurs, the whole village will be doomed. We should hurry up and plant more trees here.” Yun Mingqi thought for a moment and decided to wait until he returned to the village to discuss it with the elders.
After saying goodbye to the Hou family father and son who repeatedly insisted on staying for a meal, he hurried home.
The next day, the village chief told everyone the news and wanted to hear their opinions.
“Now that we’ve figured out a way to build houses, there’s no need to go out and find cement. Everyone must finish building the houses before winter comes. Now that we don’t have machinery, we’ll have to rely on our own hands.” The village chief took a sip of water and continued, “But we still need to find out what’s going on outside. Maybe there will be a rescue. We need a few people to go out and check the situation. Anyone who’s willing can sign up at the village office.”
"In addition, we now require each household to plant at least ten trees on the outer perimeter of the mountain every day. The saplings can be transplanted from the village first, or we can find those fallen trees. Many trees should still be able to be saved," the second grandfather added at this time.
"Second Uncle, we're too busy building the house to have time to plant trees!" Sun Zhilei was already furious at the thought of the heavy physical labor ahead, and now he was being forced to plant trees. They had just separated the family property, so he would have to plant ten trees every day. He felt like he was losing out.
“There’s no room for negotiation on this. If we don’t plant trees, there will be landslides or mudslides during heavy rains, and we’ll all be doomed.” Sun Shiguang stepped forward and stared at his second son, saying each word carefully. “If you don’t finish on time, you’ll see how I deal with you.”
“I didn’t say I wouldn’t plant, it’s just that we have a small population, so could we plant less?” Thinking of his father’s near stroke last time, Sun Zhilei didn’t dare to argue with his father too much, and just muttered to himself.
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