Looking at Li Lanzhen, who genuinely cared for him.
Zhang Yueniang's eyes reddened slightly. She was truly lucky to have met such a good mother-in-law. If it weren't for her mother-in-law, she and the child in her womb would probably have turned to dust long ago.
Thinking of this, she looked up and said, "Mother, thank you!"
Li Lianzhen looked at her with tears in her eyes and smiled, "We women should take good care of ourselves. It's really not worth it to hurt your body. Besides, you're pregnant now, so you need to take even better care of yourself. You can do the housework after you give birth and recover."
You don't need to do heavy work anymore; just sew and mend clothes for the children and adults.
Xue Nizi chuckled and patted the dust off her clothes with a cloth in her hand. "Sister-in-law, you see? I told you not to do it, and Mom would scold you if she saw it, but you didn't believe me."
As Li Lanzhen spoke, she followed the children into the cave.
The cave had been cleaned very thoroughly by the group of them, and the dust and trash they had swept out had piled up in a heap that they hadn't had time to sweep away yet.
This cave is indeed huge!
Upon entering the cave, there is a very spacious hall. As you walk further in, it narrows, like a passage. On both sides of this passage, there are two small caves on each side, but they are all different sizes. There are three larger ones and one smaller one. Further in, there is a long, narrow passage about one and a half meters wide that runs horizontally against the mountain wall.
When Li Lanzhen took a look, she realized that the entire layout was four bedrooms and two living rooms!
However, the four small caves are not deep, as if they are recessed holes dug inwards. If you want them to be bigger, you can build wooden planks on the outside to make them look like regular rooms.
As for whether or not to do this, we'll decide after we discuss it with our two sons when they return.
Clapping her hands, Li Lanzhen said with a smile, "Okay, we'll stay here!"
Xue Nizi happily said, "Mother, you can stay in the biggest little cave, the second biggest one is for my eldest brother and sister-in-law, Han Mingjiang and I will stay in this one, and Yuemei will stay in the other one."
Li Lanzhen, thinking that there were many children in the family, said, "This hall is very big, and we can divide it into two rooms, one for the boys and one for the girls."
Han Yinan held Li Lanzhen's hand, looked up and said, "Grandma, we need to save a room for Uncle."
Li Lanzhen looked down and met his bright, dark eyes, which were full of tears.
Thinking to myself, yes, there's also my youngest son. We should hold a banquet after they're found.
"Yes, we'll leave a room for your uncle too, a room that we'll decorate nicely as his wedding room. Once Grandma finds them, we'll hold the wedding banquet."
Han Yinan immediately wiped away her tears and grinned, "Grandma, will there be candy at the banquet? Will there be fireworks?"
Li Lanzhen patted his head and said, "Yes, we'll go into the mountains and catch a wild boar, slaughter it, have a feast, set off fireworks, and buy you candy."
Li Lanzhen observed the situation inside the cave, which was very dark because there were no windows.
She wondered if she could drill a hole there and cover it with plastic sheeting so that at least some light could get in. If the torch was burning continuously, the smoke would be too much and would sting her eyes.
Han Yuemei saw Li Lanzhen looking around and said with a smile, "Mother, don't you see how dark it is here because there are no windows?"
"Yes, there are no windows, it's too dark in here, and it gets darker the further you go in."
Miao Miao said, "Grandma, Grandma, there's a crack in the top of this cave that lets in light. My mom said it might leak, so my brothers found a lot of thatch and stuffed it all up."
Li Lanzhen walked over, looked up and took a closer look. It was indeed a crack about three fingers wide, irregular and broken, filled with thatch.
"Let's plug it up for now. We'll see if we need to open it when your father and second uncle come back."
She then checked the cave again and found that at least three more rooms needed to be built inside.
Han Yumei said, "Mother, let my brother use this cave as our wedding room. I will live in one room with the two girls, Miaomiao and Linglong, and the four boys will live in another room. That way, two rooms will be enough. Miaomiao and Linglong are too small, so I'm afraid they won't dare to live in one room together."
Li Lanzhen thought about it and agreed. Looking at her sensible little girl, she said, "Okay, let's do it this way. You and the two girls will share a room, and the four boys, Nan and Su Chen, will share a room."
The children jumped and shouted happily, "Oh, we have our own house now! My brother and I can share a room and sleep on the big kang (heated brick bed) instead of sleeping with our parents!"
Such scenes played out in every household in the village.
The old village chief's family also chose a relatively large cave. Although he had divided the family in a fit of anger, as things stand, his eldest daughter had left, leaving behind a child, and his second son's wife had also left. He and his eldest son, Han Shunde, discussed it and decided to stay together as a family, helping each other through the winter.
The cave they chose was spacious, with only two smaller caves inside, so they thought they would need to build a few more rooms.
There are many dead trees on the mountain. After they are cut down, they can be used to build a structure. Only three walls are needed.
At breakfast, Li Lianzhen cooked the meals for her two in-laws, her parents, and Gou Dan and his grandson all together.
Dinner was served when the people who went up the mountain to cut trees and dig for wild vegetables returned.
Adults and children alike gathered around the rice pot, bowls in hand, eating and chatting about their own lives.
Xue Bao slurped down a few mouthfuls of wild vegetable and dark porridge, then looked up at Li Lanzhen and asked, "Auntie, do you need to build a house in your cave?"
Li Lianzhen looked up and said, "Yes! We need to build a house."
Yuemei lived in one house with her two little girls, and the other house was for four boys.
Li Erhan said, "Yes, we should live separately. This cave is spacious."
Li Xishui said, "After we finish eating, I will go up the mountain with my two nephews to cut wood. There are a lot of dead trees on this mountain, and they are all good wood. We can cut them down and turn them into planks to build houses, beds, and simple furniture."
Li Lanzhen didn't want to build a bed with wooden planks. She felt that living in the mountains would be very cold in winter. There was no shortage of wood for firewood in the mountains, so she wanted to build a large kang (heated brick bed). However, she didn't have the materials to build a kang and didn't know what to do.
She wanted to discuss it with her father, Li Erhan, and her brothers later to see if they could choose some thinner stone slabs to make it.
Tonghua said in a loud voice, "Sister, our cave is just right. It's a big cave with three smaller caves inside. There's also a long, narrow space at the back that's perfect for storing miscellaneous items. There's one room for Dad and Mom, one for me and Xishui, one for Guangyang, and we just need to build a room for Lingdang."
(My darlings, thank you for following along. Longlong wishes you all good health and happiness.)
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