The moment she opened her eyes, Yun's mother couldn't stop crying. She couldn't understand how, despite taking all the necessary precautions, they could still be separated forever.
Yunqi couldn't stop crying either. Although she wasn't very close to her uncle's family and didn't know why her mother rarely went back, they were still her relatives.
No one knew what to say to comfort her, so they could only stand quietly by her side and let her vent her emotions.
Seeing their mother and grandmother like this, Junjun and Lele rushed into their grandfather's and father's arms respectively, burying their heads in their shoulders, quiet and still, without making a fuss.
"How is it outside now?" Dad Yun tried to distract them.
Si Cheng told his father-in-law everything he had seen and heard along the way, and Yun Qi and Yun's mother also listened and realized that the world had completely changed.
When evening came, everyone gathered in the square. When they told each other the news they had found out, the square was filled with weeping. Several villages had intermarried, and there were always a few relatives in the villages.
Amidst the cries, everyone felt both despair and uncertainty about the future. Faced with a natural disaster, everything seemed so insignificant.
Several villagers sensed a hint of danger in their accounts. Now, there were not only internal troubles but also external threats; how were they going to get through this difficult time?
With winter fast approaching, building the house was now an urgent matter. They also needed to figure out how to prevent unforeseen dangers, and these thoughts gave the elderly a headache.
To save energy, and seeing that it was getting late, I told everyone to go home and rest early. We'll discuss it together again tomorrow.
When they rested at night, Sicheng and Yunqi brought both little ones to sleep together so that Yun's father could comfort Yun's mother.
After coaxing the two siblings to sleep, Si Cheng held Yun Qi's hand, looked at the dense wounds on it, and said to Yun Qi with heartache, "Why are you working so hard? You should have left the heavy work to me. Even in my past life, your hand was never injured this badly."
“What’s the big deal? We all do the same things. As long as the family is safe and sound together, I can do any job, no matter how heavy or tiring. Compared to many people, we are already very lucky.”
"Honey, listen to your husband. From now on, I'll do these heavy chores. You know I'm very strong, and I'll finish these things quickly. You don't need to worry about me anymore."
"That won't do. Do one step at a time. Even if you're strong, you'll still get tired."
In the end, Si Cheng couldn't persuade Yun Qi, and could only tell him not to overreach and to just do what he could.
The next morning, after a night of comforting, Yun's mother's emotions had eased somewhat. She went to Sicheng to ask about her sister's situation and learned that nothing serious had happened in Gaojia Village, which put her at ease.
After finishing breakfast, Mr. Yun went to the square on behalf of the whole family for a meeting.
Si Cheng then began cleaning the house. Since they had been away for a few days, Yun Qi didn't want her father to clean up the heavy clutter, fearing it would cause him to strain his back and cause more trouble.
Si Cheng could do the work of five people by himself. He quickly cleared out the things and completely demolished the remaining walls. Even if they weren't demolished, they would still be loose and it wouldn't be safe to live inside.
Just as we finished clearing away the debris from the top of the cellar, Daddy Cloud returned.
"How did the discussions go?" Yunqi was very curious about how the village would handle this crisis.
"They're all terrible ideas, none of them can stand up to scrutiny. The most reliable one is what your Uncle Wei said: seal off the village."
In Sicheng Eryunqi's opinion, sealing off the village is the most reliable solution, cutting off the connection between the village and the outside world, which can better guarantee everyone's safety.
However, at this time, people did not have a strong sense of crisis and did not think that outsiders would cause much harm to the village. They thought that at most, they would lose some grain.
Since someone suggested sealing off the village, but it wasn't adopted by everyone, Si Cheng knew that the time wasn't right to seal off the village yet.
Ignoring these matters for the time being, everyone focused their attention on the cellar entrance.
This is the old cellar in the old house, where most of the food and seasonings are stored.
After letting it air out for a while, Si Cheng carefully observed the cellar entrance and saw that it was covered with a lot of dust and mud.
"I probably can't go down directly, there might be a landslide. I'll widen the sides a bit before I go down."
"That's how it should be, safety first." Mr. Yun strongly agreed with his son-in-law's prudent decision.
Si Cheng wielded his hoe and quickly expanded the cellar.
The cellar wasn't badly damaged, but the contents were in complete disarray. Many bottled spices had been broken and were scattered on the floor, filling the air with a cacophony of smells.
The cellar had been reinforced and moisture-proofed before, and seeing that the grain was still well-preserved, the whole family breathed a sigh of relief. At this moment, everyone had obviously forgotten that there was so much food stored in Yunqi's space, and even a batch of crops waiting for Yunqi to harvest.
Seeing that there had been no rain recently, Si Cheng repaired the cellar again and stored the grain in it once more.
"Tomorrow we'll clear out all the old bricks and add them to the original bricks from the small building. I think it would be best to build six rooms. What do you think?" Si Cheng said, explaining his plan.
Six rooms? Including the living room, but no kitchen?
“That’s not included. This time, I don’t plan to build houses like before. I want them to be like apartments in the city, so that they can be enclosed on all sides to prevent drafts, and then I’ll install front and back doors. The front door will lead to the yard, and the back door will lead to the backyard, so that we won’t have to walk around the yard freezing in winter. I also want to convert two of the large houses into heated walls, so that we can have centralized heating in winter,” Si Cheng said, explaining his plans.
"But do you have the skills? Don't let it all go to waste." Mr. Yun was a little worried.
Si Cheng and Yun Qi exchanged a smile. Yun Qi said with a smile, "Dad, don't you remember how much I used to love downloading videos? I've downloaded a lot of architecture-related ones. We've also studied them before. If you follow the instructions in the videos, it shouldn't be too difficult."
Seeing how confident the couple was, the elderly couple let them do it themselves.
Since the decision to change the house layout had been made, the foundation also needed to be completely redone. Fortunately, when storing supplies, a batch of building tools had been ordered. Using the excuse of opening the cellar, a large number of suitable tools were placed inside.
Mr. Yun even took a walk around the village and said that he had extra building tools that he could lend out.
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