"Mm-hmm," Tian Jing nodded in agreement. "We'll need to prepare two more beds, and make more cabinets for storage."
"Right, tomorrow I'll bring in the spare cloth and grain from home and put them in that cave. You start on the cabinets."
"Or, why don't we bring in the cabinet from home first?" Li Zhengguo worried that things might get dirty if brought in too early.
"No," Tian Jing disagreed. "The cabinet is too big and too conspicuous. Make the parts first, then transport them in for assembly."
"Then I'll make two long wooden chests first to store the cloth."
"Okay, be quick about it. Preferably by afternoon, so I can transport them in."
The Li family's house was no longer at the end of the village, and it was inconvenient to do things. Tian Jing disliked it.
"Alright, I'll speed up."
Li Zhengguo was also a bit anxious, as the work in his hands was increasing.
It only took a little over half an hour to get down the mountain. Tian Jing was very satisfied. Her abilities had improved, and so had her running speed.
The son and daughter-in-law didn't come back too late. Mother Li breathed a sigh of relief; her son and daughter-in-law probably hadn't gone into the deep mountains.
Li Min thought so too, but she had happy news to share, "Sister-in-law, the pumpkins in the wooden chests have flowered."
"Oh." Tian Jing wasn't very enthusiastic. If she hadn't been worried about her abilities being discovered, she could have accelerated their growth and harvested them earlier. Unfortunately, she had given pumpkin seeds to Sister-in-law Niu and couldn't create too large a gap.
"Aren't you excited?" Li Min looked at her sister-in-law.
"What's there to be excited about? Elsewhere, this is very normal. Only in Ku Shan is it abnormal."
Li Min felt that her sister-in-law was absolutely right and suppressed her excitement. Who knew her sister-in-law would say again, "These four pumpkins are entrusted to you to look after. I'm very busy."
"You're really entrusting them to me?"
"From now on, don't doubt my words."
"Okay, okay, I won't question you anymore." Li Min happily carried the wooden chest into the house.
After Li Zhengguo inspected the shed, he went to the Chen family's place. Chen Suozhu followed him, and happened to see Li Min carrying the wooden chest. He quickly went to help.
Li Min was startled. Had her "injury" healed yet?
Li Zhengguo felt it was necessary to tell Chen Suozhu the truth, especially since Chen Suozhu had genuine feelings for Minmin.
After putting down the wooden chest, Chen Suozhu was pulled away by Li Zhengguo. They still needed to borrow some dry lumber.
After borrowing several sections of dry lumber, Li Zhengguo pulled Chen Suozhu over and they started working.
This lumber would certainly not be enough, but the items they made were to be moved into the deep mountains, so naturally, they couldn't let others calculate the amount of furniture he made based on the amount of wood.
Tiantian could use her abilities to dry the moisture from fresh tree trunks and secretly transport them down every day, mixing them with this lumber.
As for Chen Suozhu's suspicion, it was not within his consideration.
Chen Suozhu was still a bit stunned upon hearing the shocking inside information. Li Zhengguo kicked him, and he snapped back to reality, joining Li Zhengguo in sawing the lumber.
Seeing Li Min, he grinned foolishly, which left Li Min bewildered. Was this person silly?
"Minmin, make an extra portion for dinner. Suozhu and I will be working tonight," Li Zhengguo instructed his sister.
"Okay."
After dark, three kerosene lamps were hung in the Li family's courtyard, and the sounds of planing and sawing continued until midnight.
The next morning, Tian Jing had two long chests for cloth.
Tian Jing took advantage of the morning when no one was around to transport the cloth up the mountain. Li Zhengguo carried two bags of grain and followed. "I'll carry them to the foot of the mountain first and wait for you at the foot."
Tian Jing didn't refuse and sped up.
After three round trips, all the cloth, fabrics, and fine grains were transported into the Eagle Mountain cave, and the two of them breathed a sigh of relief.
Tian Jing then organized some miscellaneous daily necessities that looked conspicuous, such as extra shampoo, cold cream, rock sugar, and rain boots. These were considered luxuries for the current farming families, so she put them away to avoid drawing attention.
The kerosene was secretly buried underground, as it would be used extensively at night recently.
Behind the main house, a row of kudzu seeds was planted. The vines were grown to use to transport all the dried rabbit meat to the roof.
The remaining money and ration coupons were wrapped in plastic film and stuffed into a large enamel mug. The small enamel mug containing the tree core essence was placed into a jar where Mother Li used to hide money, and then put into the carrying basket.
A large portion of the pastries from her mother-in-law also needed to be collected.
Mother Li felt a little pained, but she also knew that the family had too many conspicuous items, which could attract jealousy.
As Tian Jing, carrying the basket and holding two enamel basins, was leaving, people arrived at Li Zhengguo's house.
Mother Li secretly breathed a sigh of relief; fortunately, her daughter-in-law was fast.
Captain Ou, holding an abacus, looked at Li Zhengguo blocking the door with a troubled expression.
"Zhengguo, someone went to the commune and reported that your family has too many things and is engaged in private trading. Look, these two commune cadres are here for a routine inspection. Please cooperate."
"I can cooperate."
Li Zhengguo crossed his arms. "But I need to know who it is. I made a handcart, intending it as a dowry for my sister, Li Min. But my sister fell and her engagement was broken off."
"I used the handcart to go to the county town and bought some daily necessities. The villagers exchanged some with me. Is there a problem with that?"
"Once I know who it is, I will refuse to exchange items with that family. If you don't tell me, no one in the entire production team will be able to exchange anything with my family."
Captain Ou glanced at the commune cadres and, seeing them nod, spoke, "It's Lin Er Lai."
Er Lai Zi?
Li Zhengguo moved aside. "Please come in. If there's no excess of goods, I require an explanation."
The two commune cadres paused. "What explanation do you want?"
"For defamation. Although I appreciate your hard work, the report is not true. If the person who reported it is not punished, I can also pick any family I dislike and report them."
"You can rest assured of that. If it's untrue, the person who reported it will definitely be punished and will receive a public reprimand."
"Please!" Li Zhengguo decisively invited them into the house and first opened his west room.
"Oh, by the way, Captain Ou, why isn't Accountant Li here? Let him calculate how much of the 120 yuan compensation my family is owed."
"Accountant Li has taken leave recently. He shows signs of a mild stroke."
"Oh, then please, Captain Ou, bear witness that my family once received compensation from the Li family."
"Of course, I've already mentioned this matter to these two comrades."
"That's good then."
As the two commune cadres were taking inventory, Tian Jing returned. Seeing people in her room, she frowned. She really disliked this era where spending money was restricted.
That wasn't quite right, though. Money from questionable sources would be investigated. Fortunately, she planned to "get rich by growing vegetables."
After inventorying the west room and the kitchen, the two comrades calculated briskly, "The newly acquired items in your house are valued at about 100 yuan. You still have over 20 yuan left. So, in the past month, you haven't eaten or drunk?"
Before Li Zhengguo could answer, Captain Ou chimed in, "Kudzu powder, sweet potato starch noodles, and also pumpkin and wild boar meat. Our families have all saved a lot of grain in the past month." Captain Ou then proceeded to tell the two cadres about Li Zhengguo hunting a wild boar and bringing it down the mountain, and Tian Jing leading the members in making kudzu powder and sweet potato starch noodles, praising Tian Jing to the skies.