The little one's purse connects the two worlds, turning a desolate village into a paradise.

Zhao Hu craned his neck a bit; he was standing right behind him.

Da Niu squeezed over too; he wanted to try it too. This cement sounded like a good thing, and he wanted to learn how to use it in the ditches.

Seeing that there was nothing else to do, the village chief waved for everyone to disperse, leaving only Fang Tiesheng and the other three to huddle together and whisper among themselves.

After Zhao Hu and Fang Daniu darted out the door with their eyes shining, he walked up to Fang Tiesheng and asked, "Tiesheng, if this thing really works and we want to use it, won't we run out of money?"

Fang Tiesheng paused as he put the notebook away. "It's not enough. We only have a little over 20,000 yuan left. According to the plan proposed by the higher-ups, that's enough to pave a small section of road, let alone build houses and walls. Building houses and walls, installing septic tanks, and repairing drainage ditches not only require cement, sand, and stones, but also a lot of auxiliary materials."

These steel bars and bricks, everything costs money.

"By the way, we should get more of this stuff called rebar. It can not only reinforce our defenses but also be used for self-defense. We don't have enough knives. This stuff looks much sturdier than the swords we carry in the military." Doctor Chen tapped the table lightly.

"It would be better if it could be made to a more manageable length; these short pieces are still a bit too short."

Fang Tiesheng nodded thoughtfully, then opened his notebook and wrote it down. He planned to make a list later and have Nannan show it to Boss Zhao.

"Our current income is still uncertain. The shoes depend on the sales channels, and we're not sure how many hats Gouya Xinghua will sell or how much we'll earn. Wild vegetables are only available after this season. For example, the first crop of toon leaves sells for 110 yuan, but the second crop only sells for 45 yuan. After harvesting two crops, we have to wait until next spring."

"The snails in the mountain stream also need to grow slowly, and they'll be gone after a while..." The village chief frowned.

Fang Tiesheng pondered for a moment before slowly recounting what he had seen: "I've been to that area. In both places, the morning market and the night market are surrounded by high-rise buildings and houses made of cement and stone. The streets and alleys are paved with cement, and you can hardly see any mountains or forests or fields."

Occasionally, some trees look like they were deliberately transplanted. Perhaps that's why our common wild vegetables and river delicacies become rare commodities there, fetching high prices.

The village chief and Doctor Chen's eyes lit up.

"Didn't my aunt say before that wild game such as pheasants and rabbits are protected by law there? I suppose they are even rarer, which is why they are so important to us."

"Our homemade wild sauce from the mountains shouldn't be considered protected. And our own livestock—those free-range chickens can sell for over a hundred yuan each. If your nest of eggs hatches into chickens and ducks, and we raise them on a larger scale, it could become a stable source of income. But all of this will take some time."

Fang Tiesheng then instructed, "When you go snail hunting this afternoon, catch some small fish as well. Have Chun Tao and the others make them into sauce and sell it at Nannan's shop."

As the village chief listened to Fang Tiesheng's unhurried words, his anxiety slowly subsided. Yes, they were backed by mountains and rivers, and every villager had hands and feet; they were willing to put in the effort and use their brains, so they could always make a living.

According to Fang Tiesheng, the vegetables in their fields could be sold once they grew up. Although they might not get a good price, the yield was stable, and it would be a steady source of income.

As they chatted, it was noon before they knew it.

Everyone gathered together for a lively lunch, and every now and then someone would ask about the novelties of Fang Tiesheng's place.

As the afternoon sun grew warmer, Zhao Hu and Fang Daniu, carrying two small bags of cement, a bucket of water, and a basket of fine sand on their backs, went to the backyard of Granny Liu's house, intending to try and mix that strange substance called "cement mortar".

It's said to be a useful tool used there to bind bricks and stones together, somewhat similar to the use of glutinous rice paste.

Da Niu also brought over the only iron shovel in the village.

Zhao Hu divided the fine sand he had carried into three small piles, intending to test the mixing ratio in batches. If he messed up the ratio the first time, he could continue testing with the remaining two piles, so that he wouldn't waste it all at once.

The two first took the first small pile of sand and, following the ratio Fang Tiesheng had given them, mixed one part cement with three parts sand, carefully sprinkling the cement onto the sand pile.

Zhao Hu rubbed the cement powder between his rough fingertips. It felt similar to lime, only darker in color. He wondered what it came from. He wanted to examine it carefully to see how it differed from mortar mixed with lime.

After preparing a small pile according to the proportions, Zhao Hu picked up an iron spatula and stirred it bit by bit. He was not satisfied after stirring it once, and seeing that there seemed to be some yellow sand that was not evenly coated, he stirred it again.

Only when the color looks even did they gather the sand and ash into a pointed pile and carve out a round hollow in the middle.

Then Da Niu carried the bucket and added water little by little to the pot, not daring to pour too much at once. The form didn't specify anything, just that it should look sticky.

Add the ingredients gradually while stirring slowly, carefully mixing the dry and wet ingredients.

Before anyone knew it, Xiao Shuanzi had also slipped into the backyard, squatted down a short distance away, propped his chin up, and stared intently at the two of them mixing ash and mud.

Watching the gray powder, which he had never seen before, mix with sand and water, and slowly turn into a soft mud paste, the little guy was mesmerized. When his legs went numb, he simply sat down on the muddy ground.

……

In the front yard, Xinghua was leading a group of people to process hay. Gouya kept her head down and her fingertips moved quickly. There were already two small six-point straw hat blanks in her hand.

Ji Chuntao, along with Grandma Zhao, Grandma Liu, and Grandpa Liu, went up the mountain to collect snails from the ravines. The village chief said that now that there are shops, they could collect more, cook them, and take them to sell. If they came across any wild vegetables, they should pick them as well, as there was no limit to how much they could collect.

Grandpa Liu was also carrying a small bucket. He had been assigned a task by the village chief: if there were any fish, he had to catch some to take back with him.

The four of them bent over and picked up the items along the mountain stream. They were busy until a little past 3 PM before they could straighten up and take a break. Their baskets and buckets were full, and their harvest was exceptionally bountiful.

While walking down the mountain along a path on the slope, Ji Chuntao, with her sharp eyes, spotted a large patch of newly sprouted wild vegetables growing by the path not far away.

Tender and short, with red stems and green leaves, this is the freshest first harvest of Malan (a type of wild vegetable).

She put down her basket, picked out some tender seedlings that hadn't bolted, and gently pulled them up by the roots and leaves, leaving the roots so they could sprout again next year.