(Off-topic: Tomorrow is Chinese New Year's Eve. The author would like to wish all the dear readers:
May everything go smoothly for you! Good health! May all your wishes come true! Good fortune and happiness!
Always keep smiling! Happy New Year!!!)
They decided to simply keep walking through the mountains, believing they would eventually reach their destination if they crossed enough peaks.
The father and daughter unhesitatingly headed towards the more mountainous areas.
When the weather was good it was fine, but on rainy days they had to find shelter and wait for the rain to stop before continuing their journey.
If it weren't for the space, they might have been living worse than wild people.
The mule suffered along with them.
During this time, Old Gu Six tamed a silver wolf, which became Chang'an's mount, carrying her through the forests.
At the bottom of a cliff, they unexpectedly discovered a thatched hut with some vegetables growing in front.
They didn't approach to disturb anyone, just passing by from a distance.
The exit of the cliff was covered in thorns that could easily scratch them if they weren't careful.
Old Gu Six walked in front, clearing obstacles for Chang'an, who rode the silver wolf, with the mule following behind, as they carefully made their way out.
Emerging from the cliff, seeing the view before them, Chang'an was reminded of song lyrics that perfectly described this place:
"Beyond the mountains are higher mountains, halfway up the slope, a clap of thunder shakes the treetops" - from "Soul of the Sword"
"Good grief, we've been walking in the mountains for two months, and we're still in the mountains," Chang'an exclaimed.
"Daughter, we must have faith. Once we cross the mountain ahead, we'll surely arrive," her father reassured.
"I think so too," she replied, "That's what we thought last time, and we're still in the mountains, aren't we?"
Chang'an patted the silver wolf, "If you lead us to the sea, I'll let you return to the forest."
The silver wolf howled once, as if it understood Chang'an's words, and carried her to the left.
Old Gu Six lazily raised an eyebrow, thinking, "If you knew the way all along, why did you let us run around aimlessly?"
The mountain range to the left wasn't as high as the one in front, but it stretched on endlessly.
They didn't follow the mountain range the whole way, but after crossing two mountains, the silver wolf led them down.
At the foot of the mountain was a small valley with a waterfall, and water from the valley flowed down through a gully.
The silver wolf didn't stop, leading them out of the valley. Before they even exited, Chang'an could hear the sound of waves crashing against rocks.
The air carried a salty scent.
Sure enough, as they left the valley, an endless sea stretched before them. Ahead was a beach, with rocks standing firm on the shore, unmoved by the crashing waves.
Chang'an jumped off the silver wolf's back and patted its head, "Thank you, you can go back now."
She took two wild rabbits from her space and gave them to it before letting it leave.
The silver wolf raised its head and howled twice, then took only one rabbit in its mouth. With a leap, it bounded up the nearby cliff and disappeared in the blink of an eye.
"Father, we need to start settling down," Chang'an said.
"Mm, let's go to the valley. It's not far from the seaside and has fresh water," he replied.
They returned to the small valley and carefully observed the place. They could cultivate about one mu (0.16 acres) of farmland and three fen (0.03 acres) for vegetables.
They didn't plan to build the house at the bottom of the valley, but walked up the hillside a bit.
Before the house was built, they needed to live in tents. The father and daughter first set up the tents, then went to the seaside to bring back some stones using the space.
Next to the tent, they built a grass and wood shed to serve as a kitchen, using yellow mud and stones to build a stove. Their simple home was complete.
The next day, she began to prepare the foundation to prevent flooding in case of heavy rain, so the house couldn't be built too low.
The hillside was sloping, so leveling the ground for the house foundation relied entirely on digging.
"Father, let's not build the house in a row, okay? How about a central hall with rooms on both sides, the room doors inside the hall, and the kitchen built outside?"
It was a pity they didn't know how to build a kang bed-stove, otherwise they wouldn't need to build a separate kitchen.
Old Gu Six had no objections; whatever his daughter liked, he would build.
"That's fine," he agreed.
They dug out a level area of 120 square meters, which took seven days because it was on a hillside and had to be leveled entirely by hand. Chang'an was useless at farm work, so most of the labor was done by Old Gu Six.
After leveling the ground, they began to dig the foundation, going one meter deep. Without a solid foundation, the house would be built in vain.
Chang'an sighed deeply, thinking how other time travelers seemed to know everything - cement, brickmaking, soap-making - there seemed to be nothing they couldn't do.
But she didn't know any of that, so they'd have to settle for a mud brick house. At least it would be warm in winter and cool in summer, she consoled herself.
Without rice straw, they cut some dry grass, chopped it finely, and mixed it into the yellow mud. Then they used wooden molds to make mud bricks.
The mud bricks couldn't be used immediately and needed to be sun-dried. Making mud bricks was a big project. They planned one central hall, two bedrooms, a kitchen and a firewood room on the left, and a blacksmith's workshop on the right.
After making the mud bricks and tamping down the foundation, they went to cut wood for the roof beams and doors and windows.
By the time all the preliminary work was done, a month had passed.
Old Gu Six began to lay the walls, with Chang'an helping on the side.
The father and daughter were exhausted, but after two months, they finally finished building the house. The roof tiles and the bluestone slabs in the courtyard were all "borrowed" from the County Magistrate's home.
The new house was spacious and bright. Once the doors and windows were finished, they could move in for the winter.
Chang'an regretted not "borrowing" doors and windows from the County Magistrate's house too, as it would have saved them from making their own.
While Old Gu Six stayed home to make doors and windows and build the courtyard wall, she went to dig vegetable plots. It was almost winter, so they couldn't plant much, but they could prepare the soil for spring planting.
After another busy month, they finally moved into their new home just before the temperature dropped. They also built a windproof wooden shelter next to the new house for the mule.
Then they prepared enough firewood before the snow fell. As they settled in, they realized they were still missing quite a few things.
They didn't have a stove for heating the rooms, nor any charcoal.
"Daughter, you stay at home. I'll go out and see if I can find a small town to buy everything we need," Old Gu Six said.
"Why don't you take the mule with you?" Chang'an suggested, feeling it might be more reliable.
"...No need, it would be inconvenient to bring it along."
Chang'an gave him two silver ingots, which he broke into smaller pieces to take with him.
This time, Old Gu Six was smarter. Instead of going through the mountains, he followed the coastline. With only one road, he couldn't possibly end up in the sea, could he?
Chang'an wasn't idle at home either. She continued to cultivate the farmland. One mu wasn't much, only 666.667 square meters, and planting it wouldn't be enough to feed them.
Fortunately, they had the space as a backup, so farming could be considered a leisure activity.
It was the first time in two lifetimes she had cultivated wild land, and it was truly exhausting.
Suddenly, she had an idea. Didn't they have a mule? If she made a curved-beam plow for the mule to pull, it could plow not just one mu, but ten mu of land!
Chang'an shouldered her hoe and went home, then pondered how to make a curved-beam plow.
She was a giant in thought but a dwarf in action.
After two or three days of hammering and tinkering, she produced something that barely resembled a plow. It wasn't pretty, but it was better than nothing. Since she didn't know how to forge iron, she made the plowshare out of wood, whittling it to a sharp point.
Carrying the hideously ugly plow and leading the mule, she went to the field to test the fruits of her labor.
To her surprise, it was much easier than digging by hand, although the mule brayed loudly all morning.
Chang'an felt it was cursing at her, and in quite colorful language at that.
