Li Lanzhen directed her daughters-in-law as they prepared dry rations, while she and her children sat by the fire, peeling chestnuts.
Li Lanzhen tossed a dozen or so chestnuts next to the campfire to roast slowly. The chestnuts, swelling from the roasting, crackled and popped, making the children shout with delight.
She used a fire poker to pry the chestnuts out and set them aside to dry. The sweet aroma of roasted chestnuts filled the entire thatched hut.
After they cooled, we peeled them one by one and fed them to the children. Each one had its mouth full of black ash, but it made them incredibly happy.
After peeling the chestnuts, I piled the shells aside and put all the brown chestnuts in a basket. There was no way to dry them in the sun, as the drizzle continued to fall, and there wasn't a glimmer of sunshine.
After finishing tidying up her own house, she went to check if her parents' house had finished peeling the fruit.
I saw my parents laughing and chuckling. Ye Shi threw a dozen or so chestnuts next to the hearth, which crackled and popped as they roasted. After peeling them, she gave a few to the children and put the rest in a big bowl, saying that it would taste good if she put them in the porridge when she cooked it that night.
Li Lanzhen got up, patted her front, and thought about going out to see how their logging was going.
When they went outside, they saw the second son, Han Mingjiang, running back, calling out, "Mother, Mother."
She frowned and said, "Are you trying to call back the soul? What are you shouting for? Why are you in such a hurry?"
"Mom, we found a cave while we were cutting down trees. The cave is quite big, and my father-in-law told me to come and call you so you can see if we can move in there."
Li Lanzhen was overjoyed. Could her guess yesterday have been correct? Perhaps there was some treasure in this cave?
The system rolled its eyes silently, thinking all it ever did was try to get something for nothing.
Li Lanzhen followed Han Mingjiang for a while and saw that everyone was gathered at the entrance of a cave. The cave was quite hidden because they had discussed yesterday cutting some vines to tie three trees together and then build them on the bridge, which would make them more sturdy.
It just so happened that Han Mingjiang and Xue Bao went to cut the vines. After they finished cutting the vines, the cave was revealed, but they did not rush in.
After Xue Laohu arrived, he took a few stones and threw them inside, but there was no sound. So he lit a fire and threw the stones inside. After a while, they went in to look at the cave. It was very large and dry, enough to hold all the people in Hanjiacun.
Once inside the cave, it was indeed very large. At the end, we could still hear a dripping sound, but we couldn't tell if it was spring water or rainwater leaking down.
Xue Bao watched Li Lanzhen observe the water and said, "Auntie, this is spring water. It tastes very sweet. It forms a small pool at the bottom, and it's full of drinkable water."
Li Lanzhen was very happy. Ever since they ran from the cave below to the top of the mountain to escape the flood, drinking water had been a real problem.
We dared not drink the floodwater from either river, but after all the stored water was gone, we could only filter it and boil it before drinking it.
However, Li Lanzhen always felt uneasy, thinking about what had been soaked in that flood. So, she secretly added purified water from her space to the water tanks in her own home and her parents' homes.
Now that we have spring water, everyone's drinking water problem can be solved.
The village chief chimed in, “Lanzhen, why don’t we move here? It’s sheltered from the rain and dry. In autumn, the mountain winds get very cold in the mornings and evenings, and several families’ children and elderly people have caught a chill.”
Li Lanzhen was aware of this situation because she heard the coughing of the elderly and children, and there was no medicine available.
Li Lanzhen boiled the isatis root granules and ginger in the space into water, and no one drank half a bowl.
When the people of Hanjiacun lived in caves at the foot of the mountain, the area was rich in resources. They dug up a lot of wild ginger and picked a lot of green peppercorns from the pepper trees. They also boiled ginger water to drink at home.
Li Lanzhen nodded noncommittally and said, "Whoever wants to move in can move in. Our family will continue to live in the thatched hut downstairs."
For some reason, Li Lanzhen always felt that there might be some danger if everyone lived in this cave. For this reason, she still wanted to live in the thatched hut.
The people of Hanjiacun were exceptionally happy. After the cave was cleaned, it was dry and not damp, and there was also clean spring water to drink.
After cleaning, everything was moved inside.
Han Shunde explained to the villagers how to fetch spring water from each household, so there was no disturbance. They all went to fetch water from house to house in a very conscious manner, and then boiled and stored it properly.
Li Lanzhen asked Han Mingjiang, "How's the tree-cutting going?"
Han Mingjiang shook his head. "Mom, it's not easy to chop. If you chop it too finely, it won't work. My father-in-law said it has to be chopped thicker. We haven't chopped a single tree yet, mainly because our tools are no good. Several of our woodcutting knives have already chipped."
Li Lanzhen said, "Come back, and your mother will give you two axes."
Han Mingjiang happily followed Li Lanzhen back to the thatched hut.
After entering the thatched hut, Han Yinan and the others sat around the fire eating roasted chestnuts.
When he came in, the children stuffed the peeled chestnuts into his mouth.
Han Mingjiang squinted his eyes happily, slowly chewing the sweet chestnut in his mouth.
Li Lanzhen handed him two axes, saying, "Here, these two should be usable. It would be best to speed things up and chop down just three trees."
Han Mingjiang chuckled and took the axe. "Mom, my father-in-law said that we need to cut down three thick trees to build a bridge, and then we need to cut down two slightly thinner ones to use as crowbars. We'll use these three as supports to build the bridge to the other side."
When everyone saw Han Mingjiang bring two axes, they were delighted and said, "Ah, is this what Jin Fulai's employer gave to Aunt Lan? It looks very useful."
Han Mingjiang nodded. In truth, he didn't know what the young master of Jin Fulai had given his mother, but he trusted her. Whatever his mother said was the truth. His mother couldn't possibly conjure things out of thin air, could she?
With these two axes, the speed of chopping down trees increased.
Women and children on the mountain were digging for wild vegetables in twos and threes, looking for something to eat.
Han Yuemei, along with several children and Tong Hua, were also digging for wild vegetables and tender branches. They picked everything edible and put it in their baskets.
At this moment, Gu Yuli and her younger sister Gu Yushi came over, and there were only a few wild vegetables in their baskets.
Seeing that Han Yuemei's basket was almost full, he rushed over and grabbed a few handfuls to put in his own basket.
When Tonghua saw this, she kicked her to the ground and took the vegetables from her basket. Unexpectedly, Gu Yuli shouted loudly, "Help! Help! People from other villages are stealing my wild vegetables!"
Her shout made everyone turn around, and they happened to see Tonghua putting wild vegetables from her basket into Han Yuemei's basket.
They all came over to persuade her, "Tonghua, how could you steal a little girl's wild vegetables?"
"Exactly, there are so many wild vegetables in these mountains, why not just pick them yourself? Why take hers?"
"Your two families don't get along, but you can't bully people like this."
Unexpectedly, Gou Dan and Han Yitong stood up and said, "Auntie, you've seen wrong. It was Gu Yuli and the other two who came to snatch my aunt's vegetables first and even pushed her down. My aunt saw this and came over to take back the wild vegetables that she had taken."
"If you don't believe me, ask her what wild vegetables she picked, and then ask my aunt what wild vegetables she picked."
Gu Yuli casually mentioned a few kinds of wild vegetables.
Then Han Yumei laughed, "You're talking nonsense, you're not getting to the point at all. All the wild vegetables I picked are this kind, gray-eared lettuce, and they're all tender shoots. Do you think they're the same as yours?"
The women craned their necks to take a look, and seeing that it was indeed different, they all walked away sheepishly.
Tonghua looked at him with disgust and said, "Get the hell away from me! How far away are you from my family? Get the hell away from me! If you dare to steal anything from our family again, I'll break your legs. Get lost!"
After saying that, he pulled Han Yuemei away.
By evening, all the families living around Li Lanzhen's thatched hut had moved into caves to live.
Li Lanzhen said to her in-laws, "In-laws, whoever wants to live in the cave can go ahead. Our family wants to continue living in this thatched hut."
Everyone chuckled and said, "Let's all live together so we can look after each other."
Xue Bao said, "Father, we still have to keep watch tonight. That girl who set the fire last time, I think she's still up to no good. She even dared to steal Yue Mei's wild vegetables today."
Li Lanzhen nodded and said, "Yuemei and I will take the first shift."
Seeing that everyone still wanted to argue, she said, "You're all tired from cutting down trees today, let me do it."
After a long day, everyone drifted off to sleep.
Li Lanzhen sat on a futon and threw a few chestnuts into the campfire, making a crackling sound.
I'm going to bake it all up for my little daughter. She's like a busy little bee, always running around taking care of this and that. She's so thin and dark-skinned, and even though she's a teenager, she hasn't started her period yet.
Han Yuemei leaned against Li Lanzhen, eating sweet chestnuts, and looked through the gap at the still drizzling rain.
She whispered to Li Lanzhen, "Mother, where is my little brother now? Is he safe? Has he eaten enough? I wonder if he's out of the floodwaters? Is he hurt?"
Li Lanzhen also looked up at the night sky where a light drizzle was falling, thinking about her youngest son, wondering what his situation was like.
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