Traveling through the mountains and farming

The early morning sunlight shines through the mottled bamboo leaves and slants onto the table in the pavilion in the front yard.

Lin Wan and the other two were sitting in the new pavilion in the front yard eating breakfast.

That’s right, their gazebo has been built and is ready for use.

Now only a small part of the wall and some interior furniture are left to be completed, the rest has been completed.

Just then, there was a burst of noise, and the group of children from yesterday came in happily carrying a few dustpans of pebbles.

Their little faces were covered in sweat, but they were all filled with bright smiles.

They put the dustpan in the yard and shouted to Lin Wan with a smile, "Cousin, we are here again!"

Seeing the children sweating profusely, Lin Wan quickly stood up and asked them to come to the pavilion to sit down and rest.

The children obediently poured the stones out of the dustpan, then ran over and sat in a row on the chairs nearby with those simple and bright smiles on their faces.

Lin Wanze immediately turned around and walked quickly into the house. After a while, she came out holding a large basin.

In the basin was the extra ice jelly that she had made that morning. She picked up a spoon, carefully scooped out the ice jelly, and gave each child a bowl of ice jelly.

Then he smiled and said, "Little guys, eat quickly. This is a small thank you gift from me."

The children looked at the ice jelly in front of them, picked up a bowl each and started eating it in big mouthfuls.

After eating together, the children wiped their mouths, said thank you to Lin Wan, then picked up their dustpans and ran out of the yard together. They were going to continue fishing for pebbles in the creek.

Lin Wanze took the little girls and started to pave the cobblestone path according to her own ideas.

Lin Wan planned to pave the path in the backyard first, so she took them to the backyard and assigned the little girl an easier task.

She first inserted bamboo strips along several planned paths to mark where the pebbles would be placed.

Then, she had the girls carry pebbles from the front yard and place them in the locations she had marked, with two dustpans of pebbles in each location.

She used a shovel and hoe to shovel out smooth dirt roads on the muddy ground, and then went to the front yard to carry the loess to the backyard and spread it on the dirt road.

Seeing Lin Wan using a dustpan to collect loess, Li Changyi, who was also carrying loess, asked, "Lin Wan, why are you carrying loess?"

After hearing the question, Lin Wan stopped loading the soil, stood up and replied, "I'll get some loess to pave the road."

Li Changyi glanced at the pile of loess, then at the pile of pebbles next to it, his eyes full of curiosity: "Paving the road? Just use this loess and that pile of stones?"

Lin Wan nodded and explained, "Yes, first spread the loess, then put the pebbles on top, and pound them with a mallet, and then you can pave a beautiful path."

Li Changyi said "Oh" as if he understood, thinking that if the road could really be paved, he would admire Lin Wan more and more.

When they were building the house these days, he witnessed with his own eyes Lin Wan and her two children clearing the vegetable garden, then building a fence, and now paving the road.

He had to admire a fifteen-year-old girl who was trying hard to raise two children on her own.

So he said, "If you can't carry it, put it aside first. I'll come over to help you when I'm done."

Lin Wan smiled and replied, "Not yet. I'll pick less each time and take my time. I'll call you if I need anything."

After saying that, she continued to be busy, filling dustpans with loess.

In fact, when she was working as an office worker in modern times, she was not used to doing these kinds of work, but when she started her own business in the theme farm project, she participated in every bit of it herself, so these small houses and yards were a piece of cake for her.

Li Changyi stood aside, watching Lin Wan's busy figure, and felt more respect for this tenacious and intelligent woman.

After Lin Wan paved all the dirt roads in the backyard with loess, she led the little girls to spread pebbles evenly on the loess, and then used a wooden hammer to knock them firmly into the loess.

After working hard for most of the day, all the paths in the backyard were paved. At this time, the little girls were surprised to find the pattern.

It turned out that Lin Wan had cleverly connected the back of the kitchen, the pavilion, the vegetable garden, the wild flower garden, and the gate to the back mountain courtyard.

At this time, the group of children who picked up pebbles came back again. Lin Wan heard the noise, walked to the front yard, and found that the existing number of pebbles was enough for the front yard and her vegetable garden, so she told them not to go any further.

Today, the group of little boys have been busy picking up and transporting stones between the creek and the front yard, and have not yet reached the backyard.

The moment they stepped into the backyard, their attention was immediately attracted by the special cobblestone paths.

They all stepped on it, feeling the difference between the newly paved path and the dirt path.

The children looked around and stepped on it, and couldn't help but let out exclamations.

"Wow, I never thought the rocks we picked up could become such a beautiful road!"

"Yes, look at this stone. I picked it up. I remember the pattern. I thought it was very beautiful at the time."

Li Chongping's words ignited the children's enthusiasm to find the stones they had picked up.

They either squatted or lay on the paths, searching carefully. Whenever one of them found the stone he had picked up, he would shout loudly for others to come and see.

In this way, a group of children were jumping and playing on these cobblestone paths, chattering.

At this time, Li Tao ran over and pulled Lin Wan to ask, "Cousin, how did you come up with the idea of ​​paving the road with stones?"

"I thought that if we pave the road like this, when it rains in the future, the mud won't stick to our feet and dirty our shoes." Lin Wan replied with a smile.

"Yes, I will go home and ask my dad to pave a path like this in the yard."

“I want to pave a path like this in my home, too.”

……

The children all expressed that they also wanted to build cobblestone paths in their own homes.

So, over the next period of time, the fist-sized pebbles in the rivers and streams in the village were almost all gone.

At this time, Luo Xiaoya couldn't help but sigh: "Mrs. Li is really amazing!"

"Yes, my sister-in-law is the best!" Li Ke said proudly.

The children's laughter attracted the adults who were repairing the wall in the front yard.

They put down their tools and walked towards the backyard curiously.

Only then did I realize that the dirt road that Lin Wan had shoveled before had turned into a series of neat and beautiful cobblestone paths, and it could be seen that it had been designed in advance.

Luo Dashan couldn't help but exclaimed: "Why didn't we think of paving the road with stones before? It looks good and doesn't cost money."

"Yeah, I never thought these ordinary pebbles could have such an effect."

After looking at the cobblestone path, everyone went to the front yard and continued the work at hand.

At this time, the construction of the house has entered the final stage. Judging from the current progress, Lin Wan estimates that the work can be completed successfully today.

Lin Wan continued to focus on paving the three paths in the front yard. With the enthusiastic participation of the boys, the paving work of the front yard paths progressed very quickly.

After finishing the work, the children seemed to still be immersed in the joy of labor and were reluctant to leave.

They blinked their bright eyes and asked Lin Wan expectantly if there were any more paths that needed to be paved.

Lin Wan smiled and replied, "Yes, we still need a few paths in the vegetable garden."

When the children heard this, they cheered and carried the pebbles to the vegetable garden in the backyard. They also discussed that three people would be responsible for a path in a group, and even suggested having a competition.

In this way, all the cobblestone roads planned by Lin Wan were paved.