The place where the little snail went with its house on its back was a small mountain peak on its backside.
This mountain peak was very gentle from any slope, not very high, and there was still some distance between this mountain and the Jade Mountain Range, with a small river running through in between, and relatively lush vegetation.
Wen Qian decided to build a house on the back of the mountain, find a flat area to put out her mobile shed, fix it in place, and then start selecting the site for digging up the sod.
She found a good spot, dug one shovel, and confirmed the soil quality of this place.
She began to mark the area for laying the foundation with lime lines, and then started digging up the sod.
Some of the stones for the foundation were in her space, and some she saw on the opposite mountain through a telescope, with many rocks on that mountain that she planned to take from.
There was also the forest behind her, and she planned to cut down some trees first, as having too many trees around her house would not be good.
She planned to make a slightly raised stone foundation, and then build a small wooden house on top of it, to get through this winter first.
Next year, she planned to either build a new house or a simple hut. Of course, all of this was just planning, and before actually executing it, she could only divide up the area in advance to avoid not having a suitable place when it came time to actually build.
After digging up the sod, she didn't start laying the stone foundation immediately, but went to cut trees first. Wen Qian cut down quite a few trees with a chainsaw.
She kept a suitable distance between the trees, and for the trees that fell to the ground, Wen Qian only cleaned off the branches and left the main trunks where they were.
After that, there was still the process of debarking, air-drying, and then preserving before they could be used.
She also had a lot of wood in her space, but she felt that using local materials would be more suitable for the local environment.
After spending a day or two tidying up the trees, she started laying the foundation on the area where she had dug up the sod.
Because she had her space, she didn't have to exert much effort every time she moved large stones in and out.
Or rather, when using her space to move heavy objects, she wouldn't get particularly tired.
Even so, it was still very hard work to lay the stones in a reasonable way and build a square foundation.
After she finished the foundation, August had already passed.
Luckily, she didn't need to leave more pipes and wires on it, only needing to set up a hole that could connect to the outside at the place where she had planned to put a temporary toilet.
Her schedule basically followed the rise and fall of the sun, and during this period, she didn't care what was happening in the outside world.
She knew that disasters were still ongoing in various places, and people kept suspecting that this would have no end.
Perhaps people had become too accustomed to their comfortable lives, so they found it very easy to despair over the events of the past few years.
After Wen Qian finished her foundation, she started building the house, attempting to construct a wooden house for herself using traditional mortise and tenon joinery.
This process required very high uniformity of the wood, so Wen Qian brought the main trunks near the foundation, while the branches she had cut off earlier were kept farther away, to be prepared as firewood after drying.
Then she removed the bark from the suitable logs, which also took her quite some time. She did these things during the day and slept in the mobile shed at night.
These tasks were tedious, but whenever she thought about it being a home built by her own hands, she felt a great sense of accomplishment.
Luckily, there were many trees where she was located, and they all grew very straight.
She built the house according to the steps in the books, and those woodworking tools she had prepared earlier came in handy now.
Her current construction speed was not fast because she wanted to make each piece of wood as good as possible, including fire-proofing.
She also took out the wooden rafters she had prepared earlier from her space.
Although it was difficult, she still managed to construct the entire wooden frame of the house.
Next, she gradually built up the four walls of the house with wood. At this point, she suddenly thought that she could also use stones or bricks while building.
The lower one-meter height of the wall could be built with bricks, and the upper part could be stacked with wood.
This would be better for her, incorporating stones or bricks to fulfill her childhood idea of building a house, while an all-wood structure also had the risk of being flammable.
After that, she took out bricks, cement, and sand to build the walls. At first, she experimented with the cement herself, building a small wall first before daring to continue.
After all, she was learning and using these materials as she went.
The brick wall was built up to one meter high, and then wood was used above that. Wen Qian was very satisfied with these house-building materials, and it also reduced the need for her to constantly carve grooves for the mortise and tenon joinery.
However, these steps also made Wen Qian realize that it was extremely difficult and a huge challenge to build a house relying on her own strength alone.
But luckily, she managed to complete her home before October arrived.
Wen Qian climbed down from the roof. She had laid the oilcloth she had previously purchased on the wooden boards of the roof, and then laid asbestos tiles on top.
She also had some corrugated fiberglass roofing, but if she laid that on the roof, it would be very noisy whether it was raining or windy, so she didn't use it.
At the end of September, Wen Qian finally finished building the house. That day, she took a tray and sprinkled some candies on it, as a celebration for basically completing the construction.
Although the little house was built, Wen Qian hadn't moved in yet. Her daily life was still in the mobile shed because she hadn't laid the floor in the house.
Wen Qian used the old bricks she had previously removed to re-lay the floor, and then also installed a stove inside the house.
The stove was constantly burning firewood, baking this house. All the materials used inside were very environmentally friendly. Wen Qian wasn't worried about formaldehyde or benzene, but rather hadn't decided on the best places to put the other furnishings inside.
Her house only had windows and doors on one wall, with the rest being solid walls.
Wen Qian looked out at the distant mountains through the window. At this time, she had no one to talk to except herself, and as for signals, she had to climb onto the roof or go to the higher mountain behind to get any.
It was as if she had also lost her last channel to receive information, but this should not matter much.
Wen Qian thought that at most, she could ride her bike to the ranch nearby, where there would definitely be signal, or go to Mangge City.
Winter was harsh and long, with many sandstorms, snowstorms, and high winds.
Wen Qian was prepared to spend the winter here without going out, and before the end of September, she still went to the ranch area to check what news had happened over the past month or so.
It was still the same as before, with many disasters, but nothing particularly special seemed to have happened.
