"Indeed. In the years when the harvests were poor and famine struck, our ancestors passed down many tales about packs of wolves descending from the mountains. Rather than seeking shelter from these detestable beasts, you’re choosing to provoke them intentionally..."
Once Qin Yi started speaking, he didn’t stop. From the first wolf pack attacking humans down the mountain to the famine years, the bark of grass and trees was all scraped clean. How many people braved going up the mountain, but none returned alive... His speech was both poetic and passionate, full of vigour and fervour.
In the beginning, Su Pan’er listened carefully, but gradually, she couldn’t resist the invasion of sleep, and slowly drifted off.
Qin Yi coughed quietly a few tis, surreptitiously tossing so firewood into the fire.
Turning around to look at Su Pan’er’s chubby face, the exhaustion she barely managed to hide was plain to see. He silently got up, laying his clothes over her shoulders.
She was so tired!
It’s all because of his rundown body, slowing her down! Qin Yi slowly clenched his fists, silently looking up at the pitch-black night sky.
The drizzle continued to patter softly.
The next morning, Qin Yi was awakened by birdsong.
There was so warmth left in the fire. He hurriedly added so firewood, then glanced around, but didn’t see Su Pan’er’s figure.
The rain outside had stopped who knows when, and the bushes all around were infused with a fresh green that still wasn’t mixing with her familiar form.
Just as he was feeling downcast, a familiar voice ca from behind him. "You’re awake? How are you feeling?"
His heart leaped, and he instinctively turned around.
He saw a radiant Su Pan’er approaching against the morning sun.
The golden sunlight stread from behind her, forming a halo of light, casting her in an angelic light, noble, sacred, and solemn.
"Hey! Why aren’t you saying anything?"
She couldn’t help but wave her hand in front of him.
"Oh...Where did you go?"
Qin Yi instinctively took a step back, dodging her question.
"Look, over there! I have gathered so dry firewood."
The rain fell all day yesterday, making dry firewood scarce. What she dragged back was a withered tree. While its surface was damped by the rain, its inside was dry. When burned, it wouldn’t produce much smoke.
"You go heat up last night’s leftovers. I’ll be back soon."
Yesterday, she had only cleared the weeds in one room. There were still two rooms with weeds uncared for. Unfortunately, it had rained last night, adding to the difficulty of today’s weed removal task.
After thinking about it, Su Pan’er decided it was best to delay the weed removal and focus on fixing the roof first!
She had looked around earlier and found a large patch of Mao bamboo on the back hill, which beca her target.
She quickly tied two large bundles after chopping them down and peeling off the branches, leaving the bamboo about three ters long. She tied them up with bamboo strips, hoisted them onto her shoulder, and strode back to the old house.
Qin Yi had heated up last night’s leftovers and added so green vegetables into the pot, making half a pot.
Just as he took the pot off the stove, Su Pan’er returned!
Seeing the huge bundle of Mao bamboo on her shoulder, Qin Yi was so taken aback that he was rendered speechless.
"Why are you standing there, stunned? Are you waiting to starve?"
By the ti Qin Yi snapped out of his daze, Su Pan’er had already dumped the two bundles of bamboo, washed her hands, and scooped half of the serving into her bowl, eating in big mouthfuls.
Last night’s rabbit at was delicious, making this morning’s al sowhat hard to swallow by comparison.
Su Pan’er frowned slightly but didn’t say anything. She continued to eat until her bowl was empty, then she went back to arranging the bamboo.
"Pan’er, what are you going to do?"
Qin Yi couldn’t care less about his food, and hurriedly stepped forward to inquire.
Su Pan’er’s eyebrows raised!
"If you’re not hungry and don’t want to eat, then get out of the way. Don’t stop from working!"
"You...are unreasonable!"
Qin Yi stord off. He was absolutely convinced that he must have been hallucinating last night, thinking that the woman in front of him was gentle. Looks like, unfailingly, a leopard cannot change its spots!
Su Pan’er glanced at him and then continued on with her work.
The firewood knife in her hand seed to have a life of its own, flipping continuously. The bamboo was soon transford into strips of bamboo, two fingers wide, with the rough joints smoothly shaved off.
When Qin Yu arrived in the morning, what he saw was a large pile of bamboo strips, causing his eyes to bulge in surprise.
"Third brother’s wife, what is this..."
"Ah, it’s Eldest Brother! I plan to fix the roof first, to avoid getting wet if it rains tonight."
Her thoughts were simple and clear. With the bamboo strips secured with wood, and then covered with straw or similar materials, they could quickly fix one house roof, it shouldn’t take too much effort.
"Then let help."
Looking at the bare roof, Qin Yu’s eyes flashed with surprise. He clearly rembered that half of the roof was still remaining, but now it was nowhere to be seen!
"That’s not necessary, there’s already enough bamboo strips."
Su Pan’er declined, peering past him, but not saying anything more.
A hint of discomfort appeared on Qin Yu’s face.
"Ahem, Shuang’er has sothing important to do today, so she couldn’t make it."
Last night after he and Shuang’er returned ho, the dining table was clean without even a single ant in sight, clearly no food was prepared for them.
Early this morning, he was just about to leave with Shuang’er when they were stopped by his second sister-in-law.
"Eldest Brother! You and Third Brother should logically be close, and I, as the wife of your second brother, shouldn’t overly concern myself."
Mrs. Qin-Chen’s lips moved continuously, but the smile didn’t reach her eyes, "But... it’s the busy farming season now, surely Eldest Brother, you would not neglect the livelihood of the entire family for the sake of brotherly affection? Besides, Shuang’er, at such a young age, has already learned to play tricks and no longer cuts the ragweed or digs wild vegetables. Surely, Eldest Brother, you wouldn’t have your sister, a woman, doing all these nial chores, would you?"
Every sentence she uttered seed reasonable!
Feeling unable to rebut, Qin Yu could only nervously let Shuang’er go out to dig up wild vegetables, and even he had to exert considerable effort before he could finally leave the house.
"What a pity."
Su Pan’er stared at Qin Yi for a mont, but didn’t interrogate him further. She put away her firewood knife and leaped onto the wall, "Eldest Brother, just pass those logs."
These were fir logs she had brought back this morning.
There were plenty of bowl-sized firs at the foot of the mountains. She cut down eight, enough to construct a roof.
Su Pan’er showed remarkable strength. In her hands, the logs that were heavy enough to leave Qin Yu panting seed as light and easy to handle as a bamboo dragonfly. She quickly secured them on the wall, covered them with the bamboo strips, fastened them, and then covered them with a grass curtain that she had hastily woven out of weeds the night before.
In less than half a day, a respectable-looking roof was already in place.
"So fast?"
Qin Yi inhaled sharply! He looked at Su Pan’er in astonishnt.
With the addition of a roof, the house was significantly different. Apart from being considerably warr, it suddenly felt more like a ho. Looking at Su Pan’er, Qin Yi felt a comforting warmth flooding his heart that he couldn’t put into words.
"Fast? We just need to get by with one room. Later, I need to go up the mountain and find so dicinal ingredients."
Su Pan’er was serious.
"Go up the mountain? Absolutely not!" Qin Yi was the first to object.
Are you joking? That’s Deicide Mountain. People only dare to wander around its foot, who would dare to casually ascend it?
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