Chapter 150 Entrance Renovation/Weak Feet
The Lu family's affairs did not cause any negative impact on the other families in the valley. If there was any impact, it was probably that the Shi family and the Zhou family, who were originally unaware of the situation, guessed the reason why Chen Lie said those words early in the morning.
It is indeed dangerous to have too many people go out and it is difficult to take care of them all. This is one reason. Not wanting to take care of the Lu family's eldest son anymore and restricting Wang Chunniang from leaving the valley is probably a more important reason.
No one knew what the two families thought of Wang Chunniang in private, but they both warned their family members and children to keep everyone in line.
Chen Lie, seeing that the matter had been settled, discussed with Chen Dashan about leaving the valley and camouflaging the two entrances.
He looked at Sang Luo and asked, "Do you want to go out with us?"
Not to mention going out with Chen Dashan, even if he was alone, he could still protect Sang Luo.
When Sang Luo heard that she could go out, her eyes lit up and she nodded without thinking.
"Yes, I'll go get some wild vegetables."
It’s too uncomfortable to eat dried vegetables and bean sprouts every day.
Hesitant again, he looked at the cave about eight or nine meters high on the cliff above the Xu family, and asked, "Should we go there?"
I haven't practiced it yet, so I'm afraid it might be a bit difficult.
Chen Lie smiled slightly and said, "We'll still take the alley when we go out, but we'll have to come down from there when we come back. I'll find a rope to protect you. Do you dare?"
I don't really dare...
But this step will have to be taken sooner or later. Sang Luo took a deep breath and nodded: "Okay."
Chen Dashan looked at her in surprise. She was quite brave.
When Qin Fangniang, who had followed her son out, heard that he was going out, she was shocked and asked, "Is he really coming down from there?"
Her legs felt weak just looking at the height.
Chen Lie said, "If you want to get out, you still have to practice. It's better to get used to it sooner. I plan to replace the entrance on the ground with some heavier rocks and add some small stones to fill it. The whole passage will be sealed in five or six sections."
This would isolate the possibility of sound being transmitted to a greater extent, and it would be more difficult for people in the valley to get out on their own, at least if they didn't have his strength. It would probably take a lot of effort for Chen Dashan to move it, after all, the alley was narrow, and it would be impossible to find anyone to help.
As for the part of climbing in the air, it is too steep. It is not possible to climb up by yourself without some skills. Even if you have practiced, it is easy to fall to death in the dark and windy night. During the day, no matter where you are in the valley, you can see it if you just raise your eyes.
As soon as Qin Fangniang heard it, she knew that this was a precaution to prevent the eldest branch of the Lu family from having any more confused people. However, based on her understanding of Lu Dalang, it would be difficult to chase him away, let alone seven of them, big and small, so there was no way they could escape.
But it's always better to be more cautious, so she didn't say much and turned around to help find the rope.
Thick hemp ropes were available in every household, but Qin Fangniang felt that they were too thin for a safety rope, so she took the initiative to ask the Shi and Zhou families and borrowed the hemp ropes from both families. The hemp ropes from the three families were combined, connected, and twisted into one rope.
Before the hemp can be harvested, this is the safety rope used by each family in the valley when they want to leave the valley.
Chen Youtian from the Chen family also followed. The few of them prepared their tools and took some simple carpentry tools that Chen Youtian used, such as a chisel and a hammer. Chen Youtian and Sang Luo each carried two small baskets and picked up an axe and followed them out.
Except for the Lu family, all the other families came out to watch the excitement, but they didn't get to watch for long, because Shen Lie and his three companions started filling the alley as soon as they went out. When they were filling the innermost two layers, everyone could still hear some noise, but when Shen Lie and his three companions found large stones from outside the valley and transported them back to fill the outer layers, even the noise became smaller and smaller.
It took nearly two hours to block the alley and transplant vegetation to camouflage the alley entrance and the path near the entrance that was trampled out.
Sang Luo looked at the original entrance, which was now covered with lush vegetation. The artificial mountain wall looked almost the same as the natural stone walls because it was filled with soil and some wild grass similar to the ones on the nearby mountain walls was moved away. There were even more than a dozen trees and shrubs outside the artificial mountain wall. She had to admit that Chen Lie and Chen Dashan were very careful.
Not to mention that there is no discernible difference from the surrounding mountains on the surface. It is difficult to even get close to the entrance without some effort. No normal person would want to get into the thorny bushes.
Chen Youtian nodded as he watched: "This is good. Now it will look new, but after a day or two there will really be no trace left."
Chen Lie was also quite satisfied. He packed up his things with a smile, and asked a few people to go around to set up a few traps and pick some wild vegetables, and then deal with another entrance and exit.
Looking at the sky, the sun was already at its zenith. He turned his head and asked Sang Luo, "Are you hungry?"
Everyone now has two meals a day, but today because of something, they had to eat breakfast very early. Although Sang Luo was not asked to do heavy work such as moving stones, filling soil and transplanting grass and trees, she and Chen Youtian were always helping and were very tired.
Sang Luo shook her head: "It's OK. I'm used to having a second meal in the evening recently."
Chen Lie nodded: "Okay, after picking the wild vegetables, we will go back to deal with the other entrance. Dashan and I will take you and Uncle Arita back to the valley first."
Sang Luo smiled and said, "It depends on the time. If it's still early, I'd like to see you guys deal with the other entrance."
She had always been curious about the other type of shelter that Shen Lie had mentioned before.
Shen Lie couldn't help but laugh when he heard this: "Okay."
There were wild vegetables along the way, but no one picked them. Although the possibility of someone entering the inner area recently was very low, it was still better to avoid leaving any traces if possible near the valley.
After walking for about two quarters of an hour, Chen Lie and Chen Dashan felt that it was enough, so they looked for traces of small animals and prepared to set traps, while Sang Luo and Chen Youtian started to pick wild vegetables.
There was no shortage of wild vegetables in the forest. Sang Luo and Chen Youtian also knew that this place was no different from the Shili Village, and was not far from Chen Lie and Chen Dashan. They set up seven or eight traps, and then they moved to another place and cut down a fir tree to prepare for another entrance later.
At this time, the baskets that Sang Luo and Chen Youtian brought out were also full. In addition to various wild vegetables, the most picked were fresh and tender mugwort leaves. Sang Luo picked a full small basket.
Chen Youtian has also picked a lot of them. He makes green rice dumplings in March every year. However, due to the situation this year and the difficulty in picking the rice, he has not had time to do so. He might as well make some at the end of March.
While picking mugwort leaves, Chen Youtian also discussed with Sang Luo: "I need to borrow your stone mortar to pound some rice flour and glutinous rice flour."
Their family originally used a large stone mortar, but it was too heavy, so they did not bring it into the mountains. After entering the mountains, they used a wooden mortar for pounding rice on a daily basis. It was okay for pounding rice, but it was not easy to pound rice flour. On the contrary, the stone mortar that Sangluo asked the stone shop to give as a gift when they bought the stone mill was not too big, so they brought it in.
Sang Luo readily agreed: "Sure, I have glutinous rice flour at home, we just need to grind it into sticky rice flour. Uncle, if you want to save some trouble, you can exchange the glutinous rice for some glutinous rice flour."
As the two were talking, Chen Lie suddenly thought of the stone mill that he had not been able to bring out from home.
Sang Luo hadn't had soy milk or tofu pudding for a long time.
This was her favorite thing to do in the morning, and she always said that soy milk is good for health.
Thinking of this, I became interested, but I didn't know where to find the suitable stones, so I didn't say anything.
The three men cut down the thin branches of the fir tree and tied them into several large bundles. Chen Youtian carried one load and left the rest here for Chen Lie and Chen Dashan to take away when they came back to check the trap. Then they carried the trees back.
…
Sang Luo didn't see the legendary rabbit hole-like entrance because it was blocked by Chen Lie and Chen Dashan.
They both had good memories and probably left some marks. They found the exact location, moved a few stones, and used a few hoes to break open the clay seal.
It was indeed not much bigger than the rabbit holes that could be seen everywhere in the mountains. It was not easy for men like Chen Lie to go down. However, Sang Luo was very delicate and it was not so difficult for her to get down.
Chen Lie went down first, followed by Sang Luo, who also went down into the cave. Sang Luo followed Chen Lie for a while before they saw the whole picture of the cave.
It is really big, more than three times larger than the largest cave at the bottom of the valley, and there are some naturally formed stone pillars in the middle.
But at this moment she just thought this was a very good warehouse.
"Chen Lie, it's very practical to store wood and firewood here. I think it can hold enough firewood for our six families for three or four months, right?"
Chen Lie smiled: "If it's really full, it should be more than three or four months' supply."
He confirmed that there were no unsafe factors in the cave, and asked Sang Luo if she was in a hurry to go down to the valley, so he said: "Then you rest here for a while, away from the entrance, I will go out and dig and modify the cave entrance with Dashan and Uncle Youtian."
Sang Luo was so excited when she heard this that she put down the two baskets and said, "Let me see how you guys modify it."
She heard Chen Lie say that this entrance was going to be used as a shelter. Sang Luo was still very curious. Before, she couldn't really imagine it just from what Chen Lie said. The alley could be directly filled up, but a door had to be left here. How to deal with it?
Chen Lie laughed at her energetic and curious look and said, "Except for digging the entrance, most of the other processes are completed inside the cave. Even the inner wall is made of stone and needs to be chiseled. Don't climb in and out, it's tiring. Just wait inside for a while and you can see everything."
After hearing that, Sang Luo stopped making any more trouble and found a spot in the cave not far from them to watch.
The circular entrance was half a person's depth. The soil layer above was easy to expand, but it took some fine work to reach the rock layer on the inner wall of the cave. The three of them used all the hammers and chisels they brought to expand the entrance into a square size that could accommodate a basket. Only then did they bring in the fir wood that had been chopped into pieces outside.
After the last two bundles of firewood were divided into small bundles and thrown in, the three of them started working together, and only then did Sang Luo know how to deal with this entrance.
The area around the entrance of the cave was supported like a house frame, and then a door frame and a small square door that can be pushed upwards to open and close were made with wood as thick as a man's thigh. Well, it might be more accurate to call it a skylight.
A few steps are then built under the entrance using stones and soil, and the outline of the entrance and exit is complete.
With this treatment, going up or down becomes much easier.
After dealing with everything roughly inside, Sang Luo followed the others out of the cave.
From the outside, the fir door is at the same level as the mountain wall, and is about 20 centimeters lower than the soil surface.
The rest is easy, with a similar treatment to the entrance and exit outside the alley at the bottom of the valley, using simulated scenery and obstacles.
They were busy until mid-afternoon and finally finished this entrance. If they wanted to go out of the valley, they could first open a small gap in the skylight, observe the situation outside under the cover of the shrubs planted on the outside, and then decide whether they could go out.
There is no need to worry about the situation where once you get out, there are people outside and the two sides of the valley are exposed directly by looking at each other. It is much more convenient and safer than before.
By now, it was time for Chen Lie and Chen Dashan to go check out the trap, but before that they had to send Sang Luo and Chen Youtian down the valley.
What does it feel like to rappel down a steep peak from a height of eight or nine meters with a safety rope tied to it for the first time in your life?
Sang Luo stood at the entrance of the cave and looked down. With just that one look, she couldn't help swallowing...
Only then did she realize that all her courage was false, okay?
My legs still feel weak when they should, my heart beats faster, and my palms seem to be sweating.
Sang Luo raised her eyes to look at Chen Lie. What should she do? It seems that it is no longer possible to say that she dare not go down now.
She gritted her teeth and thought, let's just be scared to death, it will happen sooner or later. She opened her mouth and was about to say let's get on the safety rope, but she saw Chen Lie looking at Chen Youtian: "Uncle Youtian, you go down first?"
Sang Luo let out a breath that she had been holding. She was so nervous and suddenly felt like she had escaped a disaster. She couldn't stop her exhalation, and it was so heavy that she could even hear it clearly.
Shen Lie suppressed his laughter and turned around to get the hemp rope.
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