The Daily Life of Farming and Raising Children in Ancient Mountain Residences

Chapter 145: Blueprints

At this moment, Shen Lie surveyed the cave. There were dozens more bags of grain now inside. On the left side of the cave, a row of three-tiered shelves had been set up, where bags of grain and some household items were stacked. To prevent moisture, the shelves couldn’t be too close to the cave wall, leaving a small gap between them and the wall. This arrangement made the already small cave even more cramped.

Shen Lie looked at the situation, furrowing his brows slightly.

The remaining space had been used for a stove and wooden tables. If they added tables, chairs, and stools, they could manage to fit two beds in the cave. However, with the space so cramped, even if they made the beds narrow, they would have to place them next to each other, which was almost the same as not having separate beds at all.

How to deal with this?

Seeing him scrutinize the interior of the cave with a furrowed brow, Sang Luo guessed what he was thinking. She turned around and took out several sheets of paper from behind her, handing them to Shen Lie. “I’ve been idle lately and thought about how to arrange the cave. I just finished drawing these today. Take a look. If we want beds like this, do you think you can make them?”

Shen Lie took the sheets of paper and glanced at them. He hesitated, “These… you drew them?”

He was at a loss for words, surprised not only by Sang Luo’s skillful drawing but also by the content of the drawings themselves.

Were these drawings of beds?

They were nothing like the beds he was familiar with. In fact, these drawings depicted half of a room.

It was a room of exquisite design that he had never seen before at first glance. It had a roof, walls, and even a platform on the floor. The bed was just a part of it.

Moreover, he looked up at the height of the cave. This design utilized the space in two levels, a solution Sang Luo had already thought of for the problem he had been pondering earlier.

“Mm-hmm,” Sang Luo nodded. In fact, what she drew were various three-dimensional children’s room designs that had emerged after the high housing prices in modern times had spawned small-sized units.

The beds were split into two levels, one vertical and one horizontal. The lower bed was placed vertically as usual, with a wardrobe on the left side and steps on the right side leading to the second level. The second level had a horizontally arranged bed with railings, and the steps leading to the second level were layered drawers, combining aesthetics, space utilization, functionality, and storage.

The cave was too small, and with the grain brought in, they had to use their brains to make themselves live more comfortably.

However, these things were simple to draw, but making them was actually very complicated.

It wasn’t just a matter of making a bunk bed; if done well, it could be considered as customizing the entire house.

When Sang Luo was drawing, she hesitated herself, but in the end, she drew it according to her own preferences. Providing a good template wouldn’t limit creativity; it would only raise the ceiling. As for what could be done and what kind of effect could be achieved, it would depend on what could be done.

So when she saw Shen Lie looking closely at the drawing, she tentatively asked, “It’s quite complicated, like a small room. Can you make it?”

Shen Lie nodded, “I can. It will take some extra time, and it might not look as good as what you’ve drawn, but I should be able to make it quite similar.”

Upon hearing that it could be done quite similar, Sang Luo smiled so broadly that her eyes curved up, “Being able to make it quite similar is already very impressive. Then, take a look at the next sheet.”

Shen Lie had already turned to the next sheet.

This one was simpler. It depicted a table. Hmm, unlike the square tables they used in the village, it wasn’t like the large round tables in restaurants like Dongfulou. It was rectangular. The difference lay in the stools. Instead of ordinary stools, there was a couch against the wall?

But it wasn’t quite like that, it had a backrest.

On the other side were two small chairs.

Sang Luo explained from the side, “This table can be used for dining or reading. The one against the wall… um, couch, can be used to rest when there’s nothing to do. If there’s a backrest, it won’t be against the cave wall. The chairs on the other side can be pulled out when needed and stored under the table when not in use, saving space.”

The side against the wall was called a couch, but it was actually a simplified version of a sofa, or rather, a simplified version of a card seat in modern Western restaurants or tea restaurants.

During the day, besides sleeping, there was too much time. Change the stools and such, change them into such a card seat, and then make soft furnishings on the spot, use soft grass or fluff, hemp and other things, weave a cushion, make a back pillow, during the day, there is somewhere to be able to lean against and relax.

Shen Lie was truly amazed in his heart and really wanted to ask Sang Luo how she had come up with all this. But when it came to speaking, all he could manage was a serious nod and a few words, “It can be done.”

After a moment of silence, he added, “If these two sets are made, this cave should look very nice.”

He wanted to compliment Sang Luo, but all he managed was this one sentence.

He wasn’t good at compliments, but Sang Luo was delighted to hear that he thought it could be done. She praised herself, “Right? I also think so. Although it might look troublesome, with wooden walls on the front and right sides, a roof above and a platform below, all in natural wood color, this whole cave could brighten up. The lighting would be much better, mainly because it would be clean.”

“I’ll help you when the time comes. I’m not good at big tasks, but simple ones are fine. I’ve been learning a lot lately following Uncle Youtian,” Sang Luo said.

Making Shen Lie sleep on the floor all the time actually made Sang Luo feel quite guilty.

Seeing her animated expression, Shen Lie’s eyes also contained a smile. Hearing her mention learning things from Chen Youtian, he remembered that the two drawings in his hands were the ones Sang Luo had taken from behind her earlier. He glanced sideways at Sang Luo and noticed behind her a short, squat barrel-shaped wooden bucket with a lid, and next to it, a grass-woven cushion on the ground.

The cave was too dark, and these things were small and low, so he hadn’t noticed them just now.

“Did Uncle Youtian teach you how to make these?” Shen Lie asked.

Sang Luo smiled and nodded, “Not bad, right? I planed the wood myself. Uncle Youtian said this cedar wood is good for preventing insects, so it’s suitable for making rice buckets. Covering it with a cushion can temporarily serve as a table. I drew these while sitting here.”

In fact, she had initially thought of a clumsy way to chisel out two barrels to store dried konjac slices. But thinking about how much wood would be wasted into shavings, she asked Chen Youtian when she went to borrow a saw from his house.

Chen Youtian indeed couldn’t make a watertight barrel, and there would be some leakage when storing rice and grains, but it was still usable. So in the end, Chen Youtian took her to work together.

Sang Luo had long been thinking about the design of the cave and decided to make a rice-bucket shape. Before the table was made, all that was needed was to weave a cushion, which could also serve as a mini desk temporarily.

Shen Lie smiled, “That’s right.”

He casually glanced at Sang Luo’s hands.

He didn’t know what chores she did with Uncle Youtian, but some aspects of woodworking were actually quite hard on the hands.

Shen Lie still remembered Xiao An saying that Sang Luo had pricked herself with many bamboo thorns when she built the chicken coop.

In a few sentences, Shen An and Shen Ning came in carrying firewood and dry grass for kindling.

Shen Ning skillfully set up the clay pot and asked, “Big brother, what would you like to eat?”

The young girl was quite talented at cooking, so she planned to cook something for her big brother herself, without intending to let her sister-in-law do the work.

“Anything simple will do,” Shen Lie replied.

“Alright, how about I make you some noodle soup?” Flour is a staple food, and if you want something quick, this is the fastest to cook. Besides, Sang Luo has stocked quite a few large bags.

Shen Lie nodded, “Sounds good.”

Shen An then brought over a thin dry twig to light the lamp with oil on the side. When he walked past his older brother and sister-in-law, he saw his older brother holding the drawings that his sister-in-law had just finished drawing in the evening. His eyes lit up, “Brother, the one sister-in-law drew is especially beautiful. Can it be done?”

Shen Lie smiled, and Sang Luo’s eyes seemed to light up when she heard him say it could be done.

“It can.”

“Really? That’s great!” Even Shen Ning on the side got excited. Sister-in-law had been drawing all day, and she and her second brother had been watching all day too. It was too beautiful, even more beautiful than their original home!

The siblings were so excited they could hardly stand still. Sang Luo smiled at them, and Shen Lie glanced at Sang Luo, a smile flickering in his eyes too.

He handed the two drawings to Sang Luo, “You keep these for now.”

Sang Luo took them and turned to place them on top of the wooden bucket lid, then pressed the homemade charcoal pencil that had been there before on top of the paper.

Shen Lie couldn’t help but glance at it again.

Sang Luo looked up and saw his assessing gaze. She smiled and handed him the pencil, “I made it from wood charcoal. I used it to draw these.”

Shen Lie took it and realized it was indeed made from wood charcoal, a slender stick with a sharp tip, its body wrapped in an unknown vine peel, so holding it wouldn’t dirty his hands.

“You’re very clever.”

…

For dinner, Shen Ning prepared the food. Before the meal was ready, she also brought out the water for her big brother’s hair wash and bath.

The washroom was now paved with shale. As long as they temporarily moved the bathing tub out, taking a bath inside was no problem at all. The water could also be quickly drained through the drainage ditch. Shale was originally a stone slab, and after the water flowed out, it dried quickly.

So once the water was ready, Shen Lie prepared to go to the washroom to wash his hair and bathe. Shen Lie lifted the water, and Shen An helped carry the wooden basin and bring towels.

As he walked out of the cave, his steps paused. Shen Lie realized that he had been away from the valley for more than ten days, and the home had changed a lot.

One change was the addition of the rice bucket and cushion. It was only visible by the light of the stove. Besides the chicken and duck sheds under the two trees on their land, there were also eleven to twelve sets of wooden shelves of varying heights and sizes. The lower ones had two layers, and the higher ones had four layers, arranged in a staggered manner. On top were small wooden frames filled with soil.

Shen An followed his line of sight and explained, “This was Sister-in-law’s idea. I and An Ning helped Sister-in-law make it. Sister-in-law said that even with less sunlight, vegetables that can grow directly in these wooden boxes can also be planted. The lowest layer of the wooden box also has a certain height, making it difficult for chickens and ducks to reach. Also, because the land is divided into layers, more types of vegetables can be grown. The space saved on the mountainside can be used to plant sun-loving vegetables and various beans, so our staple food can increase.”

He said this, his face full of admiration and pride, “Sister-in-law is really clever. Now, everyone is learning from us and making many of these wooden racks under the trees to grow vegetables.”

Shen Lie’s lips curled up slightly, “She is very clever indeed.”

Before bedtime that night, Shen Lie prepared to sleep on the ground again, but Shen An called out to him, “Big brother, let’s move the bed board first.”

Then he realized that he still didn’t have a bed, but Sang Luo had already made the bed board for him with the two children, and they had been hidden behind the food storage rack before.

Shen Lie chuckled. Even though he wasn’t home, everything done at home hadn’t been forgotten by him.

Shen An cheerfully helped lay out the bedding, then rolled into his older brother’s blankets.

Since Sang Luo had made the bed board for Shen Lie, Shen An had been sleeping on the floor next to it every day. As a ten-year-old child, especially literate and studying with the likes of Wang Yunzheng and the Xu siblings, he had recently begun to understand the distinctions between men and women.

Lying in bed at night, Shen Lie talked about matters outside the mountain, including the situation of Shen Jin and the others. Upon hearing that Shen Jin could now catch mountain chickens on his own, Shen An and Shen Ning widened their eyes, feeling a bit eager to try it themselves. However, they also knew that the deep mountains were different from the villages nearby. Sometimes at night, they could faintly hear the roar of beasts, and their ease was only due to this secluded small valley.

That night, no one mentioned the topic of food again, as if it had never been broached. Shen An actually wanted to ask about it, but his older brother and sister-in-law skillfully avoided the subject, so Shen An knew it wasn’t appropriate to ask.

It wasn’t until the next day when Shen Lie and Sang Luo got up early, before breakfast, that people began arriving one after another to ask if they could go out of the valley to hunt and gather wild vegetables.

Shen Lie’s group had been away for more than ten days, and there were too few edible plants in the valley. Everyone was craving something fresh, and knowing the situation outside, they wanted to gather as much food as possible.

Among the earliest arrivals were Mr. and Mrs. Lu Dalang.

Shen Lie smiled and glanced at Wang Chunniang, who was eager to go out and gather food. He didn’t say yes or no, just smiled and said, “Let’s wait a bit. After breakfast, everyone can come over again. I have some things to discuss about future trips out of the valley for gathering and hunting.”

Sang Luo was preparing breakfast and smiled at this.

—

Author’s Note:

In ancient times, a rectangle was called “ruler,” and a circle came from a square, which came from a rectangle. “Ruler” refers to a rectangle.