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

Chapter 152: Construction in Progress

Shen An and Shen Ning had just finished washing the dishes and tidying up the wooden table when they noticed their sister-in-law had made them something new to play with.

It was a beautiful shuttlecock made from chicken feathers.

Without needing any guidance from Sang Luo, Shen Ning, who had seen other children in the village playing with it, joined in immediately.

However, this was the first shuttlecock she owned herself.

The little girl was so delighted that her eyes almost sparkled with joy. She hugged Sang Luo and rubbed against her, saying, “Thank you, Sister-in-law!”

Taking advantage of the remaining daylight, she called over Chen Xiaoya and Xu Wenyin from next door and started playing outside the cave. Before long, their activity drew the attention of Shi Qiao’er from across the way, who came running over with a group of little boys trailing behind her.

This rare and enjoyable game caught the attention of everyone. Even Chen Ershan and Wang Yunzheng, who were slightly older, were captivated. The younger boys, having no concept that shuttlecock was typically a game for girls, lined up to wait their turn. The area outside the Shen family’s cave was lively with activity.

Shen Lie carried a basket full of soil and placed stones on top of the soil. Sitting at the cave entrance, he began chiseling the stones. Seeing the scene before him brought a smile to his lips.

Sang Luo needed a millstone to make tofu, and it wasn’t a secret among a few familiar families. Chen Dashan had long known why Shen Lie was working with those stones. After dinner, Chen Dashan brought over a basket of soil and sat next to Shen Lie, helping to chisel another piece.

…

Life in Yun Valley became exceptionally busy and fulfilling.

Every morning, the elderly Chen and Lu, along with the village head Zhou, would inspect the large fields connected to several families. In their free time, they took turns chiseling the stone mortar. The women, skilled in weaving mats like Mrs. Lu and Mrs. Chen, found that their skills could be applied to other things too. With Chen Youtian’s help, they cut bamboo strips and began crafting items like bamboo baskets, sieves, and colanders.

Shen Lie enlisted Chen Dashan’s help as well. At night, they chiseled the millstone. During the day, Shen Lie brought out two of Sang Luo’s drawings. These drawings, which had some tricky parts, were discussed with Chen Youtian. The allure of these drawings was so strong that it even drew in Chen Youtian’s father and son, who then helped make furniture.

Sang Luo’s drawings were especially attractive, particularly in terms of space utilization. At that time, everyone in the valley was still crowded together, sleeping on makeshift beds. The sight of beds with upper and lower layers, plus numerous cabinets of various sizes neatly arranged, was more beautiful than the houses they had in the village. Who wouldn’t want such a setup?

Not only would there be more sleeping space, but everyone would have their own space without feeling cramped.

There was no debate; they decided to help make these and see the results. If they turned out well, others in the valley without proper beds could learn from it. Even those who already had beds at home could consider dismantling and modifying theirs.

Apart from taking people out of the valley each morning to gather mountain goods and wild vegetables, and setting up small traps, the Chen and Shen families were entirely focused on “renovating” the Shen family’s place.

Isn’t this just like doing renovations?

This went beyond just making furniture. With an entire set being made, including the floor, walls, and ceiling all in wood, it no longer looked like the dark and crude original cave.

For someone like Chen Youtian, who was already interested in carpentry, taking on this project was like getting a new toy to meticulously explore.

Every household was busy making furniture, so the activity wasn’t unusual. However, the Xu family next door heard about it because Xu Wenyin was a frequent visitor to the Shen family. She had seen Shen Lie and Chen Youtian studying the drawings.

The little girl was thrilled to find out that the drawings depicted the beds Shen An and Shen Ning would sleep on. She practically wanted to stay at the Shen’s to watch Chen Youtian and the others make the bed overnight. More importantly, she wanted to show her uncle, brother, and cousin—who were struggling without a saw and planning to cobble together a makeshift wooden platform—to come and see.

After getting Shen Ning’s approval and Sang Luo’s consent, she ran back to her own cave and dragged her grandmother, uncle, brother, and cousin over.

They were stunned when they saw the legendary drawings.

Beds could be like this???

Their eyes were opened wide.

Wei Qinghe and his nephews were amazed. The cave life they had imagined was entirely different from what the Shen family was creating.

Xu Wenbo almost cried.

Heaven knew that without a saw, they couldn’t even saw planks. Even with a saw, they weren’t good at carpentry. The only bed in their home had been made with help from Uncle Chen next door.

His uncle had just returned from transporting grain and didn’t want to bother anyone again. They were planning to chop a few round logs of similar length with an axe, fill the gaps with dry grass, and then lay bedding on top to sleep.

Compared to the Shen family, they were living like savages.

Looking at the drawings, Xu Wenbo felt both admiration and frustration.

The drawings were beautiful.

But they couldn’t draw them or make them.

Wang Yunzheng took the drawings to examine them closely, while Xu Wenbo sidled up to Shen Lie and the others.

“Uncle Chen, Brother Dashan, Brother Lie, um, we can offer some grain. Could you help us make a bed once you’re done here?”

Chen Youtian laughed when he heard this. Chen Dashan, who was closer to Xu Wenbo, knocked him on the head, “Did we ask for grain last time we made a bed for your family?”

Xu Wenbo rubbed his head and grinned, “No, no, Uncle Chen is the best. It’s just that this bed looks really hard to make.”

Shen Lie laughed.

This kid was even slicker than Shopkeeper Xu.

“Alright, we’ll help you make it, but you’ll have to wait your turn after Uncle Chen’s family. Once their bed is done, we’ll make yours.”

Xu Wenbo almost jumped for joy, thanking Chen Youtian, Chen Dashan, and Shen Lie profusely, his words of gratitude flowing freely.

Old Madam Xu had just finished looking at the drawings. Seeing her grandson had already asked for help, she smiled and pulled him back.

However, she genuinely needed the help, so her grandson wasn’t wrong.

The old lady took the drawings and went to find Sang Luo, who was at the Chen family’s cave.

“Our cave is a bit winding, and we have more people. I’d like to ask if you could come over and take a look when you have time and help us draw something suitable for our situation. Would that be alright?”

“Of course, I’ll finish drawing for Grandma Chen here, and then I’ll come to your place.”

Sang Luo agreed with a smile. Currently, housing was a significant issue in Yun Valley. Every family had many members, and the living conditions left much to be desired. Naturally, she would help where she could.

She even anticipated that the Shi, Zhou, and Lu families might come to her as well. But once the first three families had their furniture done, the others could follow the example and make their own.

As expected, the three families across from them heard about the unique beds in the Shen household and came over to see. Naturally, they paused their own rough wooden bed projects and queued up, one after another.

To free up more time for Chen Youtian, Chen Dashan, and Shen Lie, they took on some of the simpler tasks themselves.

The stone grinding work Shen Lie and Chen Dashan used to do every evening was taken over by Shi Erlang and Zhou Dalang. After roughing out the shapes, they consulted Shen Lie about the specific internal patterns. Every day, they gathered outside the Shen family’s cave with Zhou Cunzheng, Old Man Chen, and Old Man Lu, who were chiseling a stone mortar, forming a noisy but productive group.

The only ones who had become completely quiet were the Lu family’s eldest branch.

The Lu family still participated in activities as usual, but the eldest branch, including Huzi and Shitou, were noticeably less present.

Sang Luo later heard that on the night Wang Chunniang was kidnapped, Lu Shuanzhu developed a low fever.

After taking some medicine and resting for a day, he recovered. Now, he and Lu Dalang were digging a small cave within their cave every day. He also kept his younger siblings busy helping with the digging and taking turns watching Wang Chunniang.

The reason for Lu Shuanzhu’s low fever was revealed by Qin Fangniang, who learned it from Feng Liuniang.

He was scared out of his wits by the old lady.

He dreamt of watching his younger siblings being skinned alive and having their flesh thrown into pots.

The old lady had vividly recounted the tale of the “two-legged sheep” to Qin Fangniang, describing the taste of human flesh in detail. She even pointed out which child’s meat was the most tender, name by name. Her tone and demeanor were such that she forced Lu Shuanzhu to imagine his siblings going through such horrors.

Feng Liuniang had been terrified just hearing about it. It was no wonder that Lu Shuanzhu, who faced it directly, fell ill.

After hearing about this, Mrs. Chen privately confronted Mrs. Lu, asking if she wasn’t afraid of scaring Lu Shuanzhu and Lu Danniu into illness.

Mrs. Lu responded, “What else could I do? If they don’t understand the seriousness, a real incident would be much worse than a mere illness.”

As for why it was the eldest grandson facing all this instead of Lu Dalang, the eldest son, only Mrs. Lu probably understood.

…

In the Shen family cave, more and more wooden parts and semi-finished products were piling up against the right wall day by day. However, these were just semi-finished; the final assembly couldn’t proceed until everything was completed. So, the first finished pieces were the set of tables and chairs drawn by Sang Luo.

Once the wall area behind the table and chairs was smoothed out, Sang Luo finally had a comfortable place to sit. Although she hadn’t had time to find suitable materials for cushions and pillows, compared to sitting on wooden stumps, this was a great improvement.

This new setup attracted the interest of families in the valley, who came to take a look. The children, after happily testing the chairs, left with the hope that their own homes could also have such beautiful furniture.

With this new set of tables and chairs, Sang Luo’s routine primarily involved helping Shen Lie, Chen Dashan, and others venture out of the valley every few days, preparing meals for the Chen family father and son who were making furniture, and spending most of her time here.

She made brushes and designed blueprints. Shen Ning, Xu Wenyin, and Chen Xiaoya often stayed around, helping or watching Sang Luo draw.

During this period, Shen Lie brought back many hunted animals. Besides increasing their supply of preserved meat, Sang Luo also accumulated various materials for brush making, including feathers from pheasants, wolf hair, rabbit fur, and jackal hair.

To be honest, Sang Luo didn’t know much about making brushes. Growing up in an orphanage, her ability to write with a brush was entirely thanks to her original body’s memory and her own handwriting foundation. She couldn’t be expected to know how to make brushes. As for her original self, she only knew how to use brushes, not make them, so Sang Luo had to figure everything out on her own. She and the kids went through a lot of pheasant feathers before she started to get the hang of it.

Gradually, she became more skilled and began experimenting with other animal hairs. She discovered that not only did brushes made from different animals’ hairs feel and perform differently, but even different parts of the same animal’s hair produced varied results.

Wolf hair made brushes that were too stiff and not good for writing. Pheasant breast feathers were too soft for her preference. Rabbit fur was quite good, with the hair from the back of wild rabbits making the most elastic brushes.

She also experimented with mixing different animals’ hairs in various proportions. In total, she made around fifty or sixty brush heads, only about a dozen of which looked decent. After attaching them to the brush handles made by Shen Lie, seven or eight fell apart, but in the end, she successfully made seven usable brushes, which she was very pleased with.

As Sang Luo finished making the brushes, Shen Lie and Chen Youtian brought in the last batch of processed wood.

All the materials for the double-decker bed with cabinets, as depicted in Sang Luo’s drawings, were ready. Only the final step remained: assembly!

The bed Sang Luo originally slept on had its bedding and pillows stored away, placed on the shelves, and the bed itself was quickly dismantled by Shen Lie and the others and moved outside the cave, as there wasn’t enough space inside.

Xu Wenbo, who had been checking on the progress frequently, saw this and knew it was time to assemble the bed. He ran back to call his uncle and cousin.

“Hurry, hurry, they’re assembling the bed over there! Come and watch!”