The items from each village are piled up together as a unit, and will be transported separately when we return.
Each person carried the icebergs three times, and it took them three attempts to move all six icebergs, leaving behind most of the supplies. These icebergs remained unopened, and as for how to proceed with that, Si Cheng and his team wouldn't concern themselves with it anymore.
Some of the people present were reluctant to see the piles of goods being transported away, but they dared not step forward to stop them.
The group pushed the last load of supplies back to Majia Village. Looking at the piles of supplies parked at the village entrance, they were happy but also had a headache. How many trips would it take to get all these supplies home?
Although a large number of people from Majia Village participated this time, most of them were women and middle-aged and elderly people, so the things they brought back were similar to those from the other villages. However, they were quite satisfied with getting so much stuff for free.
That day, no one asked Majia Village to provide food. After all, cooking for hundreds of people was too much trouble. After a simple meal, they tidied up again.
Everyone is thinking about how to get them back.
Several young people from Gaojia Village gathered together, gesturing incessantly with paper and pen in hand.
After a while, a group of people, pushing and shoving each other, walked up to Sicheng.
"Brother Cheng, do you think our work will be effective?" one of them asked expectantly, holding up a sketch in his hand.
Si Cheng took the drawings from their hands and began to look at them carefully.
"We can give this a try. If we can make it, it shouldn't be a big problem. Besides, we have plenty of bamboo here, and bamboo is tough enough. It should be able to last all the way home."
As they spoke, they arrived directly at the bamboo grove at the village entrance. The bamboo, unable to withstand the weight of the ice, was bent to the ground.
I selected a few bamboo stalks nearby, cleared off the ice, and cut off all the excess branches, leaving only the main stem.
Following the shape on the drawing, arrange them neatly side by side, fix the ends together, make several small holes in the middle, thread bamboo strips about the same size as the holes through the middle, and then fix them to both sides.
A bamboo pole, several meters long, was just the right size to hold three pallets. Several people lifted the pallets together and secured them. The thinner ends of the bamboo were tied together, and one person pulled from the front while another pushed from behind.
I have to say, it was really easy to glide along the ice city without much effort.
"This is wonderful. With this, we can transport them all back in one trip."
“You young people are really insightful. It seems your studies haven’t been in vain.”
Some people also expressed their concerns: "It's not a problem on flat ground, but don't forget that there are many uphill and downhill sections along the way. Especially downhill, what if you slide straight down?"
"Don't worry about that. With so many of us, a few more people can help us, and we can get it done in a few trips."
"That's true. The slopes aren't steep at all. If you're careful, you can get down."
The people of Pinghe Village looked at Sicheng with concern, for there was still a deep ditch at the entrance to their village.
Are we going to have to take them all off and carry them over one by one?
Si Cheng directly stated his idea: "When the time comes, we can make an extra bamboo plank and place it on top. When we get to that deep pit, we can put it on top and then push it across."
"Now that we have a solution, let's all get moving."
With a solution in hand, motivation was generated, and everyone worked together to quickly prepare the necessary cart.
However, they had almost completely destroyed the bamboo grove at the entrance of Majia Village. Fortunately, the villagers didn't mind too much. Besides this bamboo grove, they had a large grove on the back mountain. Some even joked with them, suggesting they cut down the bamboo grove on the back mountain as well.
The next morning, everyone got up early, formed their own teams, packed their belongings, said goodbye to the people of Majia Village, and set off.
Before leaving, Si Cheng pulled Village Chief Ma aside and reminded him to be on guard in the future, as new forces might emerge.
Village Chief Ma agreed wholeheartedly and said he would raise the walls and make traps, as this kind of loss was enough to learn from.
On the first day, everyone walked slowly, and they stayed in the air-raid shelter again that night.
The next day, everyone mastered the technique, and sometimes they even stood on it and slid along. In less than half a day, they arrived at the deep pit.
Si Cheng lowered the large bamboo raft piled on top of him, wedging it between the two banks. To prevent it from breaking in the middle, he also found several large trees to place underneath it. The spacious bamboo raft easily transported all the supplies across.
Because bamboo rafts travel at a very stable speed on flat ground, as long as you control the direction forward, it's much faster than walking.
Sicheng arrived at the lake and brought the bamboo raft directly onto the lake, indicating that everyone should return to the village from the lake.
At this point, as long as a person stands in front of the bamboo raft and pushes the stick in their hand against the ground, the bamboo raft will slide far away in an instant, which is much faster than rowing.
Looking at the vast lake, it felt like we reached the village entrance in just a couple of glides. We really didn't get enough of it!
After knocking on the gong at the village entrance, they started knocking on the ice on the door. Since the ice wasn't very thick after only a few days, Si Cheng stopped.
When the villagers heard the rhythmic sound of the gong, they knew that the people who had gone out had returned, and they quickly brought their tools to dig through the ice inside the door.
Fortunately, the gate installed here was a specially made, thickened and widened iron gate for the original ancestral hall, which allowed us to get in.
Watching these trucks being driven into the village entrance, so crowded that the entrance was almost overflowing.
"Did you go rob someone? How come you brought back so much stuff?" the village chief asked curiously.
"That's right, we went to rob someone. This trip was so much fun."
"If there's another good thing like this next time, we want to go again." Some idiot said this.
Seeing everyone chatting on the icy ground despite the cold, the village chief asked, "Aren't you all cold and hungry? Go home and rest before you chat."
Speaking of going home, everyone is already longing for the delicious meals at home. Although they didn't suffer much on this trip, they were still mentally on edge. Now that they're home, all they want to do is enjoy a hearty meal and have a good sleep on the kang (heated brick bed).
All the vehicles were piled up at the village entrance, to be redistributed later after everyone had rested. Once everyone had dispersed, Si Cheng briefly explained the situation to the village chief and the others before heading home.
When Yunqi and the others heard the gong, they had already started preparing hot water and food at home. The two little siblings, hearing that their father was coming home, peered into the yard from the doorway.
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