After scolding the villagers, Tian Jing pulled her husband's hand and lightly hopped to the opposite bank.
She threw the large green net in her hand at the cement truck compartment, immediately netting dozens of bags of cement.
With another shake of her hand, the net moved and tightened, scooping the cement into it.
The net, now heavy, fell to the ground beside the truck.
Li Zhengguo lifted one end of the net, and Tian Jing waved her hand, and together with Li Zhengguo, they leaped onto the treetops on the outer bank of the river.
She tapped her feet a few times, then pushed off forcefully, and the two of them, along with the net, landed on the treetops on the inner bank.
In a few flashes, the couple, carrying the net, moved from the treetops by the village road to the construction site.
For those with keen eyes, they could see Tian Jing wave her hand, and a net full of cement was poured onto the construction site.
In the blink of an eye, Tian Jing, pulling the net and Li Zhengguo, returned from the treetops and leaped to the opposite treetops…
In just a few trips, the cement was transported.
In a few more trips, the rebar was transported.
The large trucks on the opposite bank turned and left, and only then were the villagers awakened by the sound of the vehicles.
Village Chief Ou waved his hand, "Let's go back, back to settle wages."
He was truly at his wit's end with these villagers.
Tian Jing was right; they weren't his sons, so why should he be anxious?
The villagers, awakened from Tian Jing's fantastical divine skills, immediately remembered Tian Jing calling them all unfilial sons of the village chief.
Their faces immediately flushed with shame.
What was wrong with them?
Hadn't they been looking forward to Tian Jing's return?
Hadn't they planned to pick up even bones by following Tian Jing?
Why, because of a few sour words, a few envious words, a few seemingly inflammatory remarks, had they ended up opposing Li Zhengguo?
The heads of each household, after hearing the reason for their sons being fired from their sons' mouths, casually picked up whatever was nearby and started beating them.
In the end, all evidence pointed to the Huang family.
Village Chief Ou shook his head, "It has nothing to do with me. You can't discipline your own children, so why are you looking for the Huang family?"
"Are the Huang family members not allowed to be envious and say sour things? Even a three-year-old in the village knows the grudges between the Li and Huang families, so how could they not know?"
"Or perhaps you haven't taught them well. Go back and teach them properly. If you can't manage the melon fields well, and you can't teach your children well, then you'll truly have achieved nothing."
...
Ah Guang told the old master about the young lady's great deeds.
Grandpa Xiao sighed, "Truly rotten mud that cannot be plastered onto the wall."
Ah Guang was bewildered, what did the old master mean?
...
After transporting another truckload of rebar and three truckloads of cement, all the ordered materials were in place.
Master Zhao's invited workers had not yet arrived.
Master Zhao was anxious and wanted to go to the county town to make a phone call.
Li Zhengguo, rolling two large yellow snakes (likely referring to bundles of money or valuable items, contextually), took him to the county town.
Upon their return, they brought a truckload of people. These were migrant workers introduced by Town Head Ji.
He had intentionally sought out Town Head Ji for people, both to gain favor with him and to make him understand the ignorance of the villagers in Kushan.
As soon as these people arrived, they immediately set up several sheds at the side of the construction site.
The weather was hot, and sheds were enough to block the sun. They had brought their own mats, and could sleep anywhere.
Sister-in-law Niu, along with two close friends, took on the task of cooking. This included vegetables and meat.
Didn't their families grow vegetables and raise chickens? If the pigs hadn't been too small to bear slaughtering, the Li family could have bought them all.
Three days later, the masters invited by Master Zhao finally arrived.
The riverside construction site officially began.
Handing over the construction site to Village Chief Ou and Brother Wang to manage, Li Zhengguo and his wife entered the mountains.
In the previous few days, when they went in to cut stones and trees, they had searched in several directions but had not found the Misty Valley that Little Pine had spoken of.
The couple even suspected that Little Pine wasn't referring to this mountain range.
And based on Little Pine's description of the time his master spent going up and down the mountain, his speed was not as fast as Tian Jing's.
However, for the sake of collecting herbs, he would also go to farther places.
Unable to find the Misty Valley, Li Zhengguo planned to search for the private treasury first.
At this moment, he was carefully looking at the hand-drawn map in his hand.
After several hundred years, even if the terrain had changed, it shouldn't have reached the point where the outline couldn't be recognized.
Tiantian had even taken him to traverse both adjacent mountain ranges.
Looking down from the tall treetops, it was hardly different from looking down from high in the sky. How could they not see where this map was depicting?
Could it be in another mountain range as well?
Tian Jing leaned closer to look, and was once again confused. Why was she confused every time she looked at this map?
Upon hearing this, Li Zhengguo immediately rotated the map in front of her, "Look carefully, see if it's like a three-dimensional object?"
As it rotated, Tian Jing could see clearly.
She immediately took the pen and notebook from Li Zhengguo and quickly drew a diagram.
Li Zhengguo looked down and said in surprise, "This? This should be the valley between the two mountain ranges, right?"
Tian Jing looked up, "Keep rotating."
As he continued to rotate, she continued to draw.
But, "Even if it's the valley between those two mountain ranges, the valley is narrow and long. Without a specific location, are we going to search the entire valley? How many hidden places are there in such a long valley?"
Li Zhengguo also lowered his head to ponder the drawing in his wife's hand. This drawing depicted the long valley, and at a glance, it was clearly that valley.
But it was so long, and without a general location, it was indeed difficult to find.
Tian Jing stared at the map in his hand, an idea flashing in her mind, "Zheng Ge, rotate the map in the opposite direction."
Li Zhengguo quickly grabbed the map and flipped it over.
Tian Jing lowered her head and supplemented the drawing in her notebook.
It was still just an elongated valley, with no special markings.
"Zheng Ge, rotate it left and right. Turn back every hundred and eighty degrees."
The picture was finally completed.
But the couple froze.
Because after this drawing was finished, it depicted a place shrouded in thick fog.
"Zheng Ge, this, could this be the Misty Valley that Little Pine mentioned?"
Li Zhengguo nodded, "It should be. But this map, at most, gives us a general direction, and we still don't know where it is."
"Moreover, we've already looked at that valley and found no mist."
Tian Jing, however, didn't think so, "We haven't gone down there, so how can we be sure that what we saw was real?"
"Misty Valley, since it has the word 'misty,' it doesn't necessarily mean it's misty because of the fog; it could also mean 'confusing'."
Li Zhengguo suddenly stood up, "Let's go take a look?"
When they reached the side of the mountain range, comparing it with the map drawn by Tian Jing, it looked completely different.
Even the basic outline drawn initially didn't quite match.
Putting away the drawing, Tian Jing pulled her husband's hand and slid down.
They easily slid to the bottom of the valley.
Tian Jing looked up at the mountain range, then at the valley. It was the same as looking down from above. Had she guessed wrong?
Li Zhengguo looked down at the original map in his hand.
"Tiantian, look."
An arrow suddenly appeared on the map.
Tian Jing took out her own drawing and compared it with the direction indicated by the arrow.
"That way."
Tian Jing pulled her husband and quickly moved in that direction.
However, they reached the end of this valley without any further indication on the original map.
How did they know this was the end of the valley?
Because a vast forest appeared here. Regardless of what lay beyond the forest, it was no longer part of this valley.
Li Zhengguo stared intently at the original map in his hand.
"Tiantian, entering this forest leads to virgin forest."
Virgin forest? A place where all sorts of poisonous creatures and wild beasts coexist, a virgin forest that decades later would still be a forbidden zone for humans?
Tian Jing suddenly leaped up and stepped onto the treetops of this forest.
Looking out, besides more than ten towering peaks, there were various tall and dense forests, layered one after another, like green waves.
Could this virgin forest be the private treasury? Could it be the Misty Valley discovered by Little Pine's master?
If the private treasury was in this forest, she wouldn't have to worry.
But Tian Jing didn't believe it. If the private treasury was in this virgin forest, how could Chen Shan'er, who could only escape by using a substitute, have entered and exited safely?
If she had entered and exited safely a few times, how could she have drawn a map?
Map?
Tian Jing spun around, looking back at the valley.
Indeed, viewed from this perspective, the terrain of the valley had completely changed.