Gulan was not the only one. There were many people who had the same idea as her. Those who had the conditions or not tired, find more tree trunks as much as possible. If there were none, they would cut them down, build sheds or tents, and in short, try their best to create a place that could shelter from the wind and rain. Although it had rained for two days and the moisture had almost dried up, the weather had become much colder with the rain. Not to mention the children, even the adults would feel very cold sleeping outdoors at night. Without the conditions, we could only try our best to create them. The official road was bustling with activity, and the old and weak people on the side of the mountain were also busy.
After setting up the tent on Gulan's side, she asked Daya and Erya to look after AnAn, and then went to help the Li family when she saw that only the old couple and the children were left.
Xiang Yunjin naturally followed along. He couldn't do any strenuous work, but he could still lend a hand or pass something along.
It was a rare opportunity to make money, so this time, even the grandchildren of the Li family, except for the two girls and the third, fourth and fifth sons, all the other grandchildren, regardless of gender, joined in. If Li Da and the others hadn't firmly disagreed, the old couple would have gone too. The Li family was already a prosperous family, and they were one of the most numerous in the entire Lijia Village. The whole family could earn more than one tael of silver in a day. Wouldn't the old couple not be tempted? This was not a small sum of money, and it would be a great help to the farmers who depended on the weather for their livelihood.
Now that Li family's laborers are gone, even if they didn't throw away the bamboo like Gulan, the old couple are not familiar with it. Secondly, they are old and have been traveling for such a long time, so they are tired, so they are a little slow in setting up the tent. However, with the help of Gulan and Xiang Yunjin, a tent slightly smaller than Gulan's was completed in a short while. The old couple's faces were wrinkled with joy.
Looking at the old and weak people, Gulan was not idle for the rest of the time. She either helped to cut branches or helped to set up tents. Through everyone's efforts, almost every family had a temporary place to shelter from the wind and cold before dark. Under everyone's grateful gaze, Gulan returned to her own territory with a faint smile, rubbing her sore arms.
"Dad, are you tired?"
As soon as she entered the tent and sat on the wooden stool, she heard her son's considerate voice and the tea he brought to her. Gulan heart felt so warmed, as if she were drinking a glass of iced water in the scorching heat. It was so comfortable to her heart. Gulan took a big sip, and the tenderness in her eyes seemed to be able to ooze out water.
"Good son, but Dad seems to be a little tired, and his arms are a little sore." Gulan raised her arms and acted like a pity and coquettishly like her son, which left Xiang Yunjin stunned.
...Can a father still be like this?
Gulan refreshed his understanding again, and Xiang Yunjin couldn't help laughing. By the way, Gulan looks really cute when he acts like a spoiled child.
"Is it sore?" AnAn looked at his mother's arm nervously.
"Yeah," Gulan nodded pitifully.
"Then AnAn, give Dad a massage." The little guy thought of how his mother used to massage Dad.
"Hmm" the pitiful look immediately disappeared and was replaced by a happy smile.
"Dad, is it heavy?" AnAn asked carefully while pinching her mother with one hand, worried about hurting her mother.
"That's just right. My son is awesome." Gulan smiled and shook her head. How could it hurt? How much strength could such a small person have? Gulan didn't feel much. But she ignored her son half of the day and just wanted to interact with him to increase the mother-son relationship and let him realize that he is also important to her and can help her share the burden.
Xiang Yunjin was a little envious of this loving father and filial son scene, so he said, "AnAn, Uncle Jin's arms are sore too."
AnAn took the time to look up at Uncle Jin, and sighed, "Uncle Jin, I saw it all. You just handed things over occasionally and didn't do much work. You're not like my dad, who climbed trees and chopped wood. Uncle Jin really needs to exercise. You're too weak."
After saying that, AnAn shook his head like a little adult, seeming very disappointed. Not only did this make Gulan laugh, it also made Xiang Yunjin laugh and cry.
This little guy is so disrespectful. I thought that with his sensible and considerate appearance, he would be treated the same as his father, but I didn't expect to be despised. He took a step forward, gently scratched AnAn's tall little nose with his index finger, and said in a pretended unhappy tone, "You miss Uncle Jin so much. Uncle Jin can't use force because he is injured, and Uncle Jin is sad."
He then acted towards AnAn as if he was very unhappy. This behavior was really childish, like a child. Although Xiang Yunjin also felt it was childish and a little embarrassed, he felt relaxed for a rare time. He didn't know anyone there, so why should he restrain himself?
AnAn: "…"
AnAn rolled her eyes helplessly as he looked at Uncle Jin, whose acting was very poor. He is a good boy after all, so I won't discourage him. AnAn reached out and patted Yunjin's arm, then blew a breath, "Okay, it's not sore anymore."
Gulan: "…"
Xiang Yunjin: "..."
Is it necessary to be so perfunctory? But such a child is really cute. Xiang Yunjin couldn't help but curl up the corners of his mouth.
Gulan burst into laughter, then looked at Xiang Yunjin proudly, hugging her beloved son, with eyes that seemed to say: He is worthy of being my son.
Daya and Erya were also amused by AnAn's series of actions, but the two little girls were rather shy and only dared to sit by the fire and laugh secretly with their heads down.
Holding back her laughter, she let go of her son. Seeing that it was getting late, Gulan moved around for a while and prepared to have dinner. The porridge had already been cooked on the fire by the little girl. She then reheated the steamed buns, cooled half a wild vegetable, and fried an egg and it would be almost done. The lunch was too rich, so let's have something simple and light at night. As for the lotus leaf chicken, Gulan had secretly put it into the space. Compared with the braised pork, the taste of the lotus leaf chicken is just normal, but it is pretty good for a small shop.
When dinner was ready and it was getting dark, the people who had participated in digging the passage for more than two hours staggered back to their respective places. Although he was very tired, there was a light in his eyes and he held the silver he had earned in two hours tightly in his hand. Then, without caring about being happy, they took the clean clothes and walked in groups towards the north of the mountains. There was a river there, as mentioned by Guo Yi, the captain of the caravan's guards. By the time everyone came back after washing, it was already dark. They handed the washed clothes to their families, ate quickly as they were extremely tired, and fell asleep instantly on the places their family had prepared for them. The same was true for Li Da. After eating, he lay down on his bedding and fell asleep instantly. Even his wives did the same. The old couple were busy covering their son, daughter-in-law, and grandson with quilts. They were so tired that they didn't even have time to cover themselves with quilts. Although I was happy to see the hundreds of copper coins in my hand, I also felt sad. Thinking about cooking all the saved wolf meat and fish tomorrow, they had to do hard work to ensure that their sons and their children were well fed so that they would have strength, but they could not ruin their bodies just by making money. The old couple knew clearly what was more important.
Other people in Lijia Village also had the same idea. I almost couldn't bear to eat the pickled wolf meat, so there was still a lot left. Seeing that my family was extremely tired, I prepared to add some meat to every meal starting from tomorrow. Everyone wants to avoid ruining their family's health just to make money.