Chapter 9: Moving, Building a Wooden Hut

Song Chuman said with a beaming smile, "Our lives will definitely get better and better from now on."

Song Hexiu also smiled and said, "A-Man is right."

Song Chuhuai said excitedly, "Then let's move as soon as possible."

"Alright."

Seeing that everyone in the family had finished packing and only the bed, chests, and wooden tables and chairs remained, Song Hexiu asked his family to wait in the house for a moment. When he returned, he was followed by several burly men.

Song Hexiu was a scholar with a gentle temperament; whenever anyone asked for his help, he would go, and he was on good terms with several neighboring families. Those families had also strongly opposed using children for sacrifices back then. However, in the end, they were powerless to change things; their voices carried little weight.

One of the burly men was named Yang Qingrui, the eldest son of the Yang family. Having learned on the way that the Song family had split their household, he asked, "Brother Song, where are you planning to move to?"

Song Hexiu told him the truth.

Upon hearing that he actually intended to move into a cave, the men were all shocked simultaneously.

Yang Qingrui hurriedly said, "Brother Song, how can you go to a cave? It's freezing outside, and you never know when the snow will fall. There are also wild beasts frequently roaming near the caves; it's not fit for human habitation."

Song Hexiu sighed, "I have no choice. We only received a few hundred copper coins from the division of the household, which isn't enough for anything. We'll just have to stay there for the time being."

Yang Qingrui cast a dissatisfied glance at the people watching them from a distance, feeling indignant on behalf of his friend. "Your parents are going too far. One moment they nearly killed A-Man, and the next, they've cast you all out."

Yang Qingli, Yang Qingrui's younger brother, also glared at the members of the second and third branches of the family. "They are nothing but ingrates. To think you were once so good to them, Brother Song."

Song Hexiu said, "Let the past be the past. Besides moving the furniture, I would like to ask for one more favor."

Yang Qingrui said, "Brother Song, don't be polite. Just say the word."

"Alright then," Song Hexiu said somewhat awkwardly. "My wife is pregnant, and the children are small. If it were just me, living in a cave wouldn't be an issue, but I'm afraid they won't be able to endure it. I want to build a small wooden cabin inside the cave. It doesn't need to be large, just enough for the four of us to sleep in at night. That way, if it really snows, or if I'm not by their side during the day and wild beasts actually come down from the mountain, they will have a place to seek shelter from the wind and elements."

Yang Qingrui thought it was something more serious; a small wooden cabin could be built in a single day. He agreed without hesitation, and the other men had no objections either.

Song Hexiu breathed a sigh of relief. Together with the men, he emptied everything from his former room.

Many of the fishing boats in Qingyu Village were made by the fishermen themselves, and they often had to repair them as well. Therefore, most of the burly men here knew carpentry, and some even had a fair amount of ready-made timber stored at home. They were also generous, bringing timber directly from their homes for Song Hexiu to use.

To speed things up, the siblings Song Chuman and Song Chuhuai also did their best to help. However, since they lacked strength, Song Hexiu was worried they might hurt themselves, so he only had them clear out debris from the cave—such as small stones and leaves blown in by the wind.

Because they were building the simplest rectangular wooden cabin and many materials were already prepared, everyone finished the cabin Song Hexiu described in just over an hour. Since it was built in a rush, some parts were still drafty, but Song Chuman and her brother used mud to seal all the gaps from the outside.

(End of Chapter)