Back to 1984: I built a chicken farm on a barren mountain.

Master Geng's arrival brought about a qualitative leap in the construction of the Jimingshan Cave.

Chen Wenfeng had many ideas for the cave, and Master Geng would understand immediately after he briefly described the effect he wanted.

What's even more impressive is that Master Geng can not only instantly understand Chen Wenfeng's meaning, but he can also add to and suggest things that Chen Wenfeng might not have thought of.

In Chen Wenfeng's mind, Master Geng is like a small decoration company, acting as a designer, bricklayer, carpenter, estimator, and driver all in one.

However, he and Zhou Zhiming were not idle either; they quickly became Master Geng's assistants.

Under Master Geng's direction, they would sometimes go to the river to scoop sand, sometimes mix mud to make bricks, and sometimes drink donkey eggs.

After Master Geng set up the earthen stove and furnace, Chen Wenfeng went home to get rice, noodles, oil, salt, vegetables, and eggs.

Zhou Zhiming then exchanged the beer bottle caps he had previously used for two bottles of beer and 1.7 yuan at his uncle's convenience store.

Including the 26 yuan left over from his previous royalties, Chen Wenfeng's assets became 27.7 yuan.

After that, Chen Wenfeng and Zhou Zhiming were also responsible for boiling water and cooking.

The three men, along with a mule and a dog, looked every bit like they were surviving in the wilderness.

Lacking materials and modern tools, the three men worked in the cave for a week, using up almost all the materials that Master Geng had brought.

At the same time, a truckload of sand, two truckloads of stones, and a truckload of loess were used up.

The construction of the two caves in Jiming Mountain has also come to an initial conclusion.

Let's examine their work results for the week:

1. An operable glass window was installed at the opening of the circular cave, and a railing was added around the outer platform of the cave.

2. A ladder was built inside the round hole, so there will be no need for a ladder to go out of the hole in the future.

3. A small earthen bed was built in the round hole, and there was a passage connecting it to the earthen bed outside.

4. The space under the round staircase can be used for storage.

5. A cabinet was used to cover the space between the two openings.

6. The square cave was divided into two, with most of the eastern part sealed off and a stone wall built around it to form a separate compartment.

7. This separate space was fitted with doors, windows, and a stove, and divided into a layout similar to "two bedrooms, one living room, and one kitchen" using stones and bricks. If you include the round hole inside, it becomes a three-bedroom space.

8. Less than half of the space in the square hole remains. Due to a lack of raw materials, it has been leveled and tidied up, but is not yet closed and is being used as a tool room.

9. A simple dry toilet was built in the southwest corner of Fangdong.

10. An unexpected discovery: While digging through rocks at the foot of Jiming Mountain and Dongshan Mountain, Chen Wenfeng found a mountain spring.

The spring water is clear and cool; it must have flowed down from the mountain and into the small river north of the village.

The water doesn't leave much limescale after boiling, and it tastes sweet and delicious.

Chen Wenfeng once again marveled that Jiming Mountain truly deserves to be called a Feng Shui treasure land.

After finishing the work that afternoon, Master Geng, keeping track of the time, felt a bit tired to rush back, so he decided to take another nap in the mountains and return to the county town the next day.

Chen Wenfeng and Zhou Zhiming had gotten along well with Master Geng these past few days, and since they were both exhausted, they thought they should improve their meals.

Chen Wenfeng took out the money from his pocket and said to Zhou Zhiming:

"Brother, let's have something good to eat in the mountains tonight, but there's nowhere to buy meat at this hour."

Zhou Zhiming thought for a moment and replied:

"Brother Feng, save the money to buy chicks. No need to buy meat; there are plenty in the river."

Yes, there are fish in the river, and Zhou Zhiming's nickname is Zhou the Toad.

I've been so busy these past few days that I completely forgot about this.

The two strolled leisurely toward the pond.

Zhou Zhiming said as he walked:

"We can also get some frog legs, skewer them, and grill them tonight."

Chen Wenfeng glanced at Zhou Zhiming, thought of the tender toad legs, swallowed hard, and said:

"Brother, have you ever heard of 'avoiding prophecies'?"

"Avoid what?"

"Avoid the prophecy. Avoiding the prophecy means... since your nickname is Toad, you shouldn't eat toad legs."

Zhou Zhiming paused for a moment, then said:

"There's actually such a saying. Actually, my nickname is Jin Chan'er."

The night before I was born, my grandmother had a dream in which Liu Hai played with a golden toad. She said I was a lucky child, and later people called me "Toad" because it was easy to pronounce.

For this reason, my grandma doesn't call me by my nickname much anymore.

......

Chenjiazhuang, north of the village, is a river pond.

A group of children were playing naked in the pond.

Chen and Zhou chose a muddy puddle where the water was knee-deep in shallow places and thigh-deep in deep places.

Zhou Zhiming rolled up his trousers and fished in the crevices between the stones in the puddle.

Chen Wenfeng also took off his shoes, rolled up his trousers, and assisted from the side.

When it comes to catching fish by hand, Zhou Zhiming is an absolute expert; he has a deep understanding of the habits of fish.

Moreover, the fish would just wait for him to catch them, as if they had met their nemesis.

Even after being reborn, Chen Wenfeng still couldn't figure this out.

Perhaps, this is talent.

Before long, Zhou Zhiming had caught three carp weighing over a pound each, seven or eight crucian carp, and a bunch of fat loaches.

He would throw each fish he caught onto the shore, and the fish would thrash about in the grass.

This made Chen Wenfeng's job much simpler; he only needed to throw the exhausted fish into the bag.

The bag was soon full.

When Chen Wenfeng and Zhou Zhiming returned to Jiming Mountain with the fish, Master Geng was leading Donkey Egg around to graze.

Seeing that the two men were soaking wet, Master Geng started a fire in the tool shed in the cave.

Chen and Zhou took off their wet clothes to warm themselves by the fire. Zhou Zhiming said:

"After slacking off just now, we both took a shower. It felt so refreshing!"

Master Geng laughed and said, "I just found a place to wash it too, I even rinsed the donkey's testicles. Didn't you see how happy it was running around like that!"

Chen Wenfeng turned his head and saw that the donkey's coat was indeed much shinier, and it was no longer as rustic as when it arrived. At this time, its coat color was more like that of a mule.

"Brother Feng, let's have some grilled fish."

Zhou Zhiming handed a grilled fish to Chen Wenfeng. It smelled delicious!

By this time, Master Geng had already cleaned the fish, put them in an iron pot with water and stewed them together, and even stuck cornbread around the edge of the pot.

"I kept a few crucian carp seeds; I can make fish soup."

Master Geng added firewood to the stove and then returned to the campfire.

The three of them sat around the campfire, sometimes chatting, sometimes just sitting in silence.

Donkey Egg was dozing off in the woods.

Chen Xiaohei was a little afraid of fire, so he lay quietly at a distance from the fire.

Stove, fish aroma, bonfire, stars, gentle breeze, insect chirps, pine breeze, spring murmur...

The summer nights at Jiming Mountain are so peaceful and beautiful.

......

The next morning, Chen Wenfeng and Zhou Zhiming took Master Geng to the village entrance. After spending a few days together, they had developed a liking for each other.

After the three said their goodbyes, Master Geng raised his whip, and Donkey Egg galloped away in a cloud of dust.

Just then, Niu Da and Niu Er ran over and waved to Chen Wenfeng:

"Brother Feng, I need to tell you something!"

Niu Da and Niu Er were brothers who grew up without a father. They were honest and simple, and were raised by their widowed mother through hardship.

When they were young, Niu Da and Niu Er were often bullied, and Chen Wenfeng often protected them, so they both liked to follow Chen Wenfeng.

It turned out that early that morning, they overheard Hou Erzhu asking Aunt Zhao about Chen Wenfeng's contracting of Jiming Mountain at the small stage, and Hou Erzhu seemed quite angry.

Hou Erzhu?

Chen Wenfeng had a sudden thought, and something came to mind.

As the saying goes, if you are not afraid of thieves stealing, you are afraid of thieves missing you.

This incident served as a wake-up call. Although most villagers are honest and law-abiding, there are always some who can't stand to see others doing well.

Especially Hou Erzhu and his best friend...

Chen Wenfeng called out to Zhou Zhiming, Niu Dan and Niu Er:

"Hey guys, come with me to Jiming Mountain today. We'll keep watch for a couple of days and see how things go. We can eat and stay on the mountain. Niu Da and Niu Er, if you need anything, just go home and get it. We'll meet at Zhiming's house!"

"good!"