The whole family stocked up on supplies two years in advance, so they could live a life of luxury wh

the other side.

Li Laosan led the villagers to divide the newly acquired hillside into sections.

You are one piece.

I have one.

All the able-bodied men and boys from Xinghua Village came out to cut down trees.

The weather is unusually nice today.

The sky was blue.

The sun is good too.

Although Li Laosan was old, he was quite skilled at cutting down trees. As soon as he arrived, he cut down three or four trees and put them on the ground.

The others weren't idle either.

Li Dashan recalled his father's words: to cut down a tree, you must first choose the direction in which it will fall, then climb up the tree, tie a rope to it, and then jump down and use an axe to start cutting from the direction it will fall.

When he chops, he always tries to chop downwards as much as possible.

This helps prevent the tree stump from becoming too large.

Li Dashan imitated his father's technique, chopping diagonally from the top and then using a horizontal chopping motion from the bottom. After chopping down more than half of the tree, he went to the back of the tree and swung the axe to chop at the back.

The only difference is that the axe blade behind the tree is higher than the one in front.

This way, it can fall in the direction planned in advance.

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

They were almost able to cut through the gap.

Zhu Dadan, who was standing nearby, shouted and ran.

With a "crack," the sapling fell to the opposite side after Li Dashan ran away.

Li Xiaoshan pulled the cut tree aside with a rope, then began to chop off the branches with an axe and cut the trunk into suitable sizes and piled them together.

Other villagers were also struggling to cut down the big tree.

The piles of firewood beside everyone were very tall.

Zhu Dadan then told his son to carry some firewood back first.

Li Dashan echoed:

"Second brother, you take some back first, I'll chop some here."

Li Xiaoshan nodded as he looked at the pile of firewood on the ground. "Then, brother, I'll go with Zhuzi and the others to carry some firewood back first. You can start chopping, and I'll carry it back and put it away properly."

"become."

Li Xiaoshan tied the chopped firewood to the carrying pole, preparing to go down the mountain.

"Pillar, let's go back together."

"become."

"Let's go!"

Zhu Zi had also bundled up the firewood, just like Xiao Shan, but he carried it back in a basket instead of using a carrying pole. The other boys in the village were also carrying a carrying pole of firewood down the mountain.

Everyone chatted and laughed.

Although the carrying pole weighed heavily on their shoulders, creaking with every step, everyone felt a sense of joy because they no longer had to travel far to collect firewood.

"There's so much firewood in these mountains!"

"If we store up more firewood this winter, we might not have to freeze."

"My dad built a cellar, saying he'd fill it with firewood these next few days so that when it gets cold, he won't have to go out and search for firewood."

"Of course."

"Zhu Zi, I heard you say that the firewood in our village was stolen yesterday?"

"Who did this?"

Li Xiaoshan walked at the front, carrying a shoulder pole, his mouth never stopping.

After thinking for a moment, Zhu Zi said:

"My dad said they might be from Shishan Village. Didn't this mountain used to belong to them? Now it's ours, and since their firewood is running low, they're stealing ours."

Li Xiaoshan responded with an "oh".

Suddenly, Shuanzi shouted loudly:

"Xiaoshan, be careful. There are a lot of rocks on the road ahead. We almost slipped and fell when we came here today."

"become."

"I understand, Brother Shuanzi."

Li Xiaoshan immediately turned his attention to the path ahead.

He carried the load on a shoulder pole and walked at the front. The ground was full of small stones, so he could only try to walk on the left side. But when he accidentally stepped on a pebble, his foot hurt terribly, but he still endured it.

Everyone walked down the path with trepidation.

After passing this road, Shuanzi and the others stopped talking and just carried their loads quickly toward the village.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when they returned to the village entrance.

His shoulders were red from being pulled by the carrying pole.

Shuanzi put down the carrying pole, rubbed his already reddened shoulders, and turned to Li Xiaoshan, saying:

"I'll go back and put out the firewood first."

"Brother Xiaoshan, go back quickly, we've put the firewood here and are waiting for you."

"become."

Li Xiaoshan was sweating profusely on this freezing autumn day.

He continued carrying his load back home.

Coincidentally, Xing'er and Gou'er were also walking back after picking dates.

She glanced up and saw her second brother struggling to carry the firewood load, as if he was putting all his effort into the soles of his feet. The veins on his face were bulging. She quickly went over and took the load from his shoulder.

"Second brother, let me do it."

She put down the bamboo basket and quietly took the load of firewood from her second brother's shoulder.

Li Xiaoshan looked at her in shock.

He subconsciously picked up the bamboo basket full of dates.

"Third sister, don't you... find it heavy?"

Xing'er smiled nonchalantly:

"This is nothing, it's only a little bit heavy."

"Third sister, you're amazing!"

Li Xiaoshan was truly convinced.

He was carrying the firewood with great difficulty, but his third sister carried it as easily as if it were cotton, even though the firewood he was carrying weighed over a hundred pounds.

Xing'er quickly returned to her own courtyard with her load on her shoulder.

She had just put down her load when she went to see Lu Chengfeng.

He was happily playing a game of jacks with Lan Hua and the others.

He had never played this before, and there were no children his age in town to play with, so everything was new to him, and he tried his best not to think about home.

Xing'er was somewhat surprised.

She thought the boy would throw a tantrum and demand to go home.

Surprisingly, he actually started playing jacks with pebbles.

Meanwhile, Old Lady Li was using a comb to remove lice from her eldest sister.

She saw that her eldest sister had many lice on her head. The white lice were crawling around on her head. Not only her, but also her second sister, her grandmother, Lan Hua, and her father all had lice on their heads.

Xing'er felt a chill run down her spine when she saw it.

She subconsciously touched her head.

Luckily, she didn't have any on her head.

Because she takes a hot shower in the space every day.

However, in ancient rural areas, hot water was a luxury, let alone taking a hot bath. In summer, people would go to the river to bathe, and in winter, it was considered good if they could bathe once a month.

When Zhang saw her daughter return, she smiled and waved to her.

"Xing'er, come and eat some dates."

"Your third brother and his family brought back a lot of dates."

"it is good."

She walked over, picked up two dates, and ate them. Then she went to Lu Chengfeng's side, placed the dates in his hand, and whispered:

"Eat."

"it is good."

Lu Chengfeng was stunned for a moment, then looked up at her with eyes the size of mung beans, as if trying to see into his heart. He remembered that this was the village girl who had saved his life.

And now he has become her distant cousin.

As she drew near, his eyes welled up with tears, and he asked softly:

"Sister Xing'er."

Will I still be able to see my dad and my brother?

Xing'er didn't speak, but patted his shoulder, then stood up and said to her family:

"Dad, my eldest brother is still cutting down trees on the mountain. My second brother and I will go and bring the firewood back."

Li Fusheng nodded.

"Go and bring the firewood back as soon as possible. Master Lu built a large cellar for us, which is perfect for storing firewood."

"become."

After saying a few words, Xing'er got up and walked out of the courtyard with her second brother.