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

Chapter 150: Reconstruction of the Entrance/Feeling Weak

The Lu family’s situation didn’t have any negative impact on the other families in the valley. If there was an impact, it was probably that the previously unaware Shi family and Zhou family figured out the reason behind Shen Lie’s earlier words.

The risk of danger with more people leaving was a concern, that’s one reason. Another important reason was not wanting to deal with the eldest family of the Lu family anymore and restricting Wang Chunniang from leaving the valley.

Both families privately assessed Wang Chunniang, but no one knew the details. They each disciplined their family members, tightening the family bonds.

Shen Lie, having concluded the matter, discussed with Chen Dashan to disguise the two entrances when leaving the valley.

He looked at Sang Luo and asked, “Do you want to come with us?”

Even if it was just him leaving with Chen Dashan, he could still protect Sang Luo.

Sang Luo’s eyes lit up at the chance to leave, nodding without hesitation.

“Yes, I’ll go get some wild vegetables.”

Eating dried vegetables and bean sprouts every day was too hard.

Then hesitating a bit, she looked at the cave eight or nine meters high on the slanting wall next to the Xu family and asked, “Do we go from there?”

She hadn’t practiced, so it might be difficult.

Shen Lie’s lips curled slightly, “When going out, we’ll still use the main path, but when coming back later, we’ll come down from there. I’ll find a rope to protect you. Dare to try?”

She wasn’t too sure…

But taking this step was inevitable. Steeling herself, she nodded, “I can.”

Chen Dashan looked at her in surprise, noting her courage.

Hearing that her son was leaving, Qin Fangniang, who had come along, exclaimed, “Are we really coming down from there?”

Just looking at the height made her legs weak.

Shen Lie explained, “If you want to leave, you have to practice. It’s better to get used to it early. I plan to replace the surface entrance with heavier rocks and add more small stones to seal the entire passage in five or six sections.”

This way, it would better isolate the sound from escaping, making it harder for people in the valley to leave on their own. At least, without his strength, they wouldn’t manage it. Even Chen Dashan would struggle to move it, as the narrow path made it difficult to get help.

As for climbing the steep section halfway up, it was too steep. It wasn’t likely she could climb it alone, and even if she practiced and came out, at night, the risk of falling to her death was high. During the day, this location was visible to anyone in the valley.

Qin Fangniang could tell that this was to prevent any confusion from the eldest family of the Lu family. Knowing Mr. Lu well, she knew it wouldn’t be easy to drive him out, let alone the seven family members. Ensuring safety was always better, so she didn’t say much, turning to help find a rope.

Jute ropes were available in each family, but for safety ropes, Qin Fangniang thought they were a bit thin. Proactively, she asked the Shi and Zhou families, borrowing their jute ropes together. By combining all three families’ ropes, twisting them together, it was almost enough.

Before the hemp harvest, these ropes would serve as the safety ropes for the families in the valley when they wanted to leave.

On Chen’s side, Chen Youtian also followed along. They gathered the tools, and Chen Youtian, being a carpenter, brought some simple tools like chisels and hammers. Chen Youtian and Sang Luo each carried a small basket and an axe, then followed along to leave.

Except for the Lu family, each family came out to see what was happening. However, they didn’t stay long because as soon as Shen Lie and the others went out, they began to seal the passage. When they filled the innermost layers, there was still some noise, but as Shen Lie and the others brought back large stones from outside to fill the outer layers, the noise gradually decreased.

It took nearly two hours to seal the passage and transplant vegetation to camouflage the path near the entrance and its surroundings.

Sang Luo looked at the original entrance, now lush with vegetation. The artificial mountain wall was covered with soil and some wild grass similar to the adjacent wall, making it almost indistinguishable from the natural rock surface. Even outside the fake rock wall, there were more than a dozen trees and shrubs, making Sang Luo admire Shen Lie and Chen Dashan’s meticulousness.

Not only was there no visible difference from the surrounding terrain, even approaching the entrance was difficult without much effort. Normal people wouldn’t think to venture into the thorny bushes.

Chen Youtian nodded in approval, “It looks good. The soil still looks fresh now. Give it another day or two, and there will be no trace left.”

Shen Lie was also satisfied, smiling as he packed up, inviting the others to take a longer route to set a few traps and gather some wild vegetables before dealing with the other entrance.

Seeing the midday sun, Shen Lie turned to Sang Luo, “Are you hungry?”

Everyone now ate twice a day, but today, due to the tasks at hand, they had an early meal. Moving stones, filling soil, and transplanting vegetation had tired Sang Luo, even though she didn’t do heavy work. She and Chen Youtian had been helping out, making them quite exhausted.

Sang Luo shook her head, “I’m okay. I’ve gotten used to having a second meal in the evening recently.”

Shen Lie nodded, “Alright, after picking wild vegetables, we’ll go back to handle the other entrance. Then, I and Dashan will escort you and Youtian back to the valley.”

Sang Luo smiled, “Let’s see the time. If it’s still early, I’d like to see how you handle the other entrance.”

She had always been curious about the other shelter Shen Lie had mentioned before.

Along the way, there were wild vegetables, but no one picked them. Although the possibility of someone entering the inner circle was low, the nearby area in the valley was still kept clean to leave no traces.

After a walk of about two hours, Shen Lie and Chen Dashan felt it was almost time. They prepared traps to catch small animals, while Sang Luo and Chen Youtian started gathering wild vegetables.

Wild vegetables were abundant in the forest, and Sang Luo and Chen Youtian knew it wasn’t like the outskirts of Shili Village. With traps set in seven or eight places, they also cut down a fir tree to use later for the other entrance.

By this time, the baskets that Sang Luo and Chen Youtian brought were filled. Aside from various wild vegetables, the most gathered were fresh and tender mugwort leaves, filling a small basket.

Chen Youtian also picked a lot; March was the time to make green dumpling, but with the current situation, and the difficulty of leaving the valley, they hadn’t had the chance. Pushing towards the end of March, they still had the opportunity to enjoy the season.

While picking mugwort leaves, Chen Youtian discussed with Sang Luo, “We’ll need to borrow your stone mortar to pound some rice flour and glutinous rice flour.”

Their home originally had a large stone mortar, but it was too heavy to bring into the mountains. After entering the mountains, they used a wooden mortar for pounding rice. It was fine for regular rice but not easy for rice flour. On the other hand, Sang Luo had brought a smaller stone mortar for grinding when she bought a millstone before, which wasn’t too large and was easy to carry.

Sang Luo readily agreed, “Sure, I have glutinous rice flour at home. Just need to grind sticky rice flour. If you want to save some trouble, exchange some sticky rice for glutinous rice flour.”

As they chatted, Shen Lie remembered the stone mill they couldn’t bring along.

Sang Luo hadn’t had soy milk or tofu pudding in a long time.

She used to love them for breakfast and believed soy milk was nourishing.

Thinking about it, Sang Luo paid attention, but for a moment, she didn’t know where to find suitable stone materials, so she didn’t say anything.

The three of them cut down the branches of the fir tree, bundled them into several large bundles of firewood. Chen Youtian carried one load, leaving the rest there for Shen Lie and Chen Dashan to take when they came back to check the traps. Then they carried the tree back.

…

Sang Luo didn’t see the entrance resembling a rabbit hole because it was blocked by Shen Lie and Chen Dashan.

The two had good memory and probably left a mark, finding the location accurately. They removed a few stones, and with a few picks, they opened the sealed mud layer.

Indeed, it wasn’t much larger than the rabbit holes seen around the mountain. It was quite challenging for the men like Shen Lie to go down, but for Sang Luo, with her delicate frame, it wasn’t as strenuous.

Shen Lie went down first, followed by Sang Luo. As they ventured into the cave, Sang Luo saw the full extent of this large cave.

It was truly massive, three times larger than the largest cave at the bottom of the valley, with some naturally formed stone pillars and rock formations in the middle.

But at that moment, she only saw it as a very useful storage space.

“Shen Lie, this is perfect for storing timber and firewood. We can probably store enough firewood for our six families for three to four months, right?” Sang Luo remarked.

Shen Lie chuckled, “If it’s really filled to the brim, it should be more than enough for three to four months.”

After confirming that there were no safety concerns in the cave, and after asking Sang Luo if she didn’t urgently need to go down to the valley, Shen Lie suggested, “You can rest here for a while, away from the entrance. I’ll go out with Dashan and Youtian to open up the entrance and make some modifications.”

Sang Luo was intrigued and eager to see how they would change it. She put down the two baskets and said, “I want to see how you’ll do it.”

She had heard Shen Lie mention using this entrance as a shelter method, and she was curious. She couldn’t quite imagine it from just his descriptions. How would they handle it differently from just filling up the passage as with the rabbit holes?

Seeing Sang Luo’s energetic curiosity, Shen Lie smiled and explained, “Most of the work will be done inside the cave. Even the inner cave walls are rocky and need to be chiseled. You don’t need to climb in and out, it’s tiring. Just wait inside for a while, you can see everything.”

With that, Sang Luo decided not to bother them and found a spot inside the cave not far from them to observe.

The circular entrance was about half a person deep, with soil that was easy to expand. However, working on the rocky layers inside the cave required more effort. The three of them used hammers and chisels to create a square opening that could fit a large basket. Then, they brought in the fir wood that had already been cut into segments outside.

After the last two bundles of firewood were divided into smaller bundles and thrown in, the three of them started working, and Sang Luo understood how this entrance was being handled.

In the interior of the cave entrance, they built a framework-like structure around the entrance to provide support. They used thick wood, about the size of a man’s thigh, to create a door frame and a square-shaped small door that could be pushed up and opened, resembling a skylight. They also added stone blocks and earth to create a few steps at the entrance, forming the basic structure of the entrance.

With this arrangement, going up or down became much simpler and more relaxed.

Once the interior was roughly finished, Sang Luo followed the others outside the cave.

From the outside, the fir wood door and the mountain wall were at the same level, about twenty centimeters below the ground level. The next step was simpler, similar to the treatment of the entrance on the valley floor, including simulated scenery and obstacles.

Busy until mid-afternoon, this entrance was also completed. After finishing the work, if they wanted to leave the valley from this entrance, they could first open the skylight slightly and observe the outside under the cover of the shrubs planted around it before deciding to venture outside.

By this time, Shen Lie and Chen Dashan needed to check the traps, but before that, they had to escort Sang Luo and Chen Youtian down to the valley.

For the first time in their lives, how would it feel to rappel down from a steep cliff eight or nine meters high?

Sang Luo stood at the edge of the cave entrance and glanced down, just that one look, and she couldn’t help but swallow hard…

By this point, she realized that courage was fleeting, right?

When it came down to it, her legs still felt weak, her heart raced, and her palms seemed to sweat.

Sang Luo looked at Shen Lie, wondering what to do. If she said she couldn’t go down now, it might not be an option anymore.

She gritted her teeth, thinking she might as well face her fear. Just as she was about to suggest using the safety rope, she saw Shen Lie look at Chen Youtian and say, “Youtian, would you go down first?”

With that, Sang Luo’s tense breath relaxed. Feeling both relieved and a bit embarrassed at her own fear, she couldn’t even stop the sound of her exhale, which echoed in the cave.

Suppressing a smile, Shen Lie turned to fetch the hemp rope.