Chapter Fourteen: Peaceful

  The villagers did not know that Liu He had already eliminated the bandits and even destroyed their lair, they only heard a few gunshots in the village, so people were even more afraid to come out, so Liu He covered up the matter very well.

  It was at Liu He's home that more than a dozen people suddenly appeared, saying they were poor people from outside who came to work for Liu He. This is not unusual, as there are refugees everywhere every year. What's strange is that there is a very beautiful female student in Liu He's house, said to be Liu He's distant cousin.

  This female student is named Zhang Zhen, her family is considered to be a good one, she didn't necessarily have to go to the Northeast to fight against Japan, but rather ran away from marriage and used going to the Northeast to fight against Japan as an excuse.

  Now she's reluctant to leave, she always feels that Liu He is very mysterious, and this place is also very mysterious. How did Liu He treat these long workers so that they would be so devoted to treating Liu He as their master? Moreover, she found that Liu He's exploitation of these long workers was not light, so Zhang Zhen treated it as a topic for study.

  "Zhang Zhen, what is your educational background?" Liu He asked casually one day as they chatted, "As for me, I'm a sophomore now. I won't tell you which university I attend." Zhang Zhen was also being cautious, fearing that if Liu He found out where she was from, he would send her back. Life here was so leisurely, the food was really fresh and delicious. This was indeed a place where everyone came to relax, otherwise she wouldn't have thought the food was fresh either.

  The kitchen has always been managed by Dog Egg Niang, so the food is still very hard to eat. Although Liu He harvested a lot of grain in autumn, in Dog Egg Niang's heart, she thinks that it's still necessary to save and eat well, and next year will be better, so she still mixes some edible wild vegetables into the rice.

  Liu He's big cabbage has also matured, with one weighing over 20 kilograms. Liu He doesn't plan to eat it and wants to save it for next year's seeds. Neither Li Shu nor anyone else says there are cabbages this big at this time.

  "Wow, you're a sophomore! You can read and write, right?" "Nonsense, I'm already a sophomore, of course I can read and write!" "I, I didn't mean that... Zhang Zhen, look at this village, there are hardly any people who can read and write. What do you think about starting a small school to teach some kids how to read and write? Some adults want to learn too, you could teach them as well."

  "This is great, but I don't have any teaching materials." "You're so silly, it's just to teach them to recognize characters, you can't even compile your own materials, if you were to teach advanced things they wouldn't be able to learn anyway."

  "Big brother, can I learn?" At this time, Da Ni suddenly appeared from nowhere, "Yes, as long as you want to learn, you can also invite your friends to come and learn."

  Alright, since Brother can't do big things, let's start with small ones. Many boys and girls in the village came to Liu He's place to learn, and he even provided lunch for them. It can be said that not a single child didn't come, except for those who herded cattle or horses for Liu He, who needed to receive extra lessons at night. During these nighttime lessons, some adults also brought their own stools and came to Liu He's home to learn alongside the children.

  Sometimes Liu He also followed to learn a few traditional characters, which made Zhang Zhen see Liu He's learning speed and was shocked, just by glancing at them for a few moments he could learn so quickly, it's really unbelievable.

  But this is nothing in Liu He's heart, he just doesn't know these traditional characters, and even most of the traditional characters he recognizes but can't write. As for culture, although they all ate pickled mustard greens, it's possible that what comes to mind is more than what this little girl knows.

  "Come on, old man, this is just a little girl messing around with nothing better to do. Are you going to stoop to her level? I'm just doing charity work here."

  In a few words, Liu He sent Liu Xiu away. To be honest, Liu Xiu didn't really care about anything, he just came to find an excuse to prove his own existence. If he had opposed it too much, the villagers might have torn him apart alive.

  Liu He wasn't always here studying, he's been wandering around the outskirts for days. In rural areas at this time, there's basically no work to be done, except for some diligent villagers collecting wild grass and whatnot to prepare firewood for winter.

  "That's not going to work, just piling up grain in the mountain is not a solution." Liu He thought to himself, considering distributing the grain. He wasn't without this idea, but thinking carefully, it wouldn't do. Giving grain to villagers for no reason really isn't a solution, and besides, in a few years the Japanese would arrive, and then food would be a problem.

  Cellar, cellar, Liu He has been wandering around those earth mounds, these earth mounds are all loess hills, some of which can be over a hundred meters high, with fields planted in the low-lying areas and weeds growing in the high places. At this time, there were no good water conservancy facilities, so naturally there would be no terraced fields. It can be said that if you open up terraced fields without water, it's possible that not even seeds can be harvested.

  This earth ridge used to have a railway and a river. Well, let's do it this way. Liu He urgently called down Dog Egg Dad.

  "Uncle, look, I want to dig a cellar here to store grain. Moreover, in this place, if it's well hidden, even if a large army comes, they won't be able to find it. In case of war, we'll also have a place to hide."

  It's unlikely that Liu He would say something like Japan will invade in a few years, or else he'd be known as the Prophet Emperor. "Well, it's good, but little brother, finding someone to dig an underground bunker is going to cost you, are you willing to foot the bill?"

  "Alright, Shede, Uncle, you see, let's dig in that direction. It just so happens that there is over a hundred meters of soil beneath us. If it doesn't hold up, we can still go to the mountain and cut down trees to use as support inside."

  He who says it does, Liu He also went to the market and bought pork, as well as pig bones and so on. When thirsty, drink bone soup, people have energy to work, and each meal can still eat a piece of meat.

  With such a diet, everyone naturally had plenty of energy, but not just anyone could come to work. Liu He still let Dog Egg Pa choose some people, this was to keep the entrance of the cave secret. There were nearly fifty people working, with more people, the speed would naturally be faster, but where would they put the excavated soil?

  Finally, Liu He thought of a solution. Since he had nearly 100 mu of mountainous land, which was composed of coarse sand and naturally had no yield, he would cover this mountainous land with 30 cm thick yellow soil, which was dug from below. After planting one crop, it became very fertile land, and the fertilizer could be used less in a few years.

  To outsiders, it seemed that Liu He was organizing people to tidy up his own land, and not many people knew that they were digging a hole. Why is it a hole? At first, I wanted to dig a cellar, but later on, it slowly became a hole-like one. Liu He followed their intention and dug this place into a hole. This hole was not small, more than three meters high and five meters wide, and inside, three large cars could be parked side by side. Anyway, the big war is still far away, so digging out the hole first is not bad either.

  Moreover, this pit has an advantage, these mountains are all yellow soil mountains, and even at such a depth below, it is still yellow soil, so naturally there will be no problem of water seepage. Besides, Liu He also went to a distant place to take a look, and over there, there is a river flowing, which is even lower than the ground in this pit, so he let everyone dig the pit with ease.