If the sun were strong enough, the crushed chestnuts could actually be dried directly under sunlight. But given the season—and the gloomy weather—bright sunshine was unlikely. Honestly, it was already a blessing that it wasn’t raining.
Tang Jiao didn’t rely on just one storage method. She also prepared some chestnuts that hadn’t been slit and boiled, as well as some peeled, cooked chestnut kernels, drying them all separately to test which method would allow them to be stored the longest.
The two of them expected strong winds the next day, so they decided not to go out.
With the weather growing colder by the day, they agreed to seal part of the cave entrance first, then focus on digging up more wild yams and searching for other food later.
Since they weren’t planning to go out the next day, there was no need to get up early. The two of them worked a “night shift” instead, each busy with their own tasks until after midnight before turning in.
Sure enough, the wind grew even stronger late at night. Even inside the cave, they could hear the howling gusts outside and the rustling of branches being whipped around. It sounded rather frightening.
The next day, the whole family slept in until they woke naturally. After getting up, they joked and laughed for a while in good spirits before washing up and preparing breakfast.
The wind was noticeably weaker than the night before, though it still hadn’t stopped. After a full night of strong winds, the air felt several degrees colder, making the chill even more biting.
Tang Jiao found another layer of clothing to put on An’an. She felt a bit worried—his winter clothes were already starting to feel small, and if it got any colder, his padded jacket wouldn’t be enough. They didn’t have any cotton now, and she had never made clothes before, leaving her feeling quite stressed.
If it really came to that, she thought resignedly, she’d just keep An’an indoors once it got too cold.
Breakfast was once again millet porridge with wild yam and red dates, along with steamed pumpkin. They reheated the leftover iron-pot fish from the day before, and Tang Jiao even added half a carton of milk to An’an’s porridge to boost its nutrition. After a hearty breakfast, the family set about another day of work.
After discussing it, Gu Yu and Tang Jiao decided to use stones mixed with mud to build up part of the cave entrance, and then construct door frames and doors from wood for the remaining sections.
The cave entrance was over four meters wide. They planned to build a stone wall about two meters wide on the left side. The entrance height was more than three meters, but they intended to build the wall up to only about two and a half meters—any higher, and there was a risk it might collapse.
That would leave a gap of seventy to eighty centimeters at the top, where they would later install a window made of thicker wooden poles. It could be opened and closed for ventilation and light.
On the right side of the entrance, there was a little over two meters of width left. This part would also be fitted with a wooden door frame and door, allowing light and airflow when open, and warmth when closed.
With a clear plan in mind, they began carrying it out step by step.
First came the stones. Building a stone wall measuring two by two and a half meters would require quite a lot of them—especially since Gu Yu planned to make the wall thicker for better stability and to reduce the risk of collapse.
Fortunately, stones were easy to find. There were already many rocks inside the cave, previously gathered and piled in one corner instead of being thrown away, and now they came in handy. There were also plenty of stones scattered across the open ground below the cave. If that still wasn’t enough, the riverbank had even more—it would just be more troublesome to haul them back.
Next, they needed a large amount of mud to serve as mortar between the stones.
That, too, was easy to solve. Tang Jiao had long wanted to dig a small pond nearby to store water for daily use.
Their cave wasn’t far from a small river. Eventually, they could slowly dig a channel from the pond to the river and divert water over. That way, they’d have a permanent water source—making daily water use convenient. Any fish they caught could even be kept alive there, eliminating the need to waste salt on curing fish. Fresh fish, less salt—two birds with one stone.
Now that they needed so much earth for mixing mud anyway, digging here or there made little difference. Why not just dig out the pond directly and accomplish two goals at once?
The last things they needed were thatch grass and wood.
The thatch grass was meant to be mixed into the mud. As for why grass had to be added to mud, Tang Jiao didn’t actually know. She had only seen old houses built with mud in the past—whether rammed-earth homes or stone-and-mud houses—and all of them had plenty of grass mixed into the walls.
She didn’t understand the principle behind it, but since generations of elders had done it this way, there had to be a reason. So she decided to follow tradition.
In the end, it was Gu Yu who explained it to her: adding grass takes advantage of plant fibers’ tensile strength, increasing the mud’s resistance to cracking—much like how steel rebar works in concrete—making the earthen walls less likely to crumble.
But regardless of the reason, the conclusion was simple: just do it.
They decided to start by preparing the stones.
They first searched nearby in the forest, but there weren’t many suitable ones, so they quickly shifted to the riverbank.
At the river, you could practically pick stones with your eyes closed. Still, Gu Yu focused on selecting stones that were relatively flat and similar in size, with large flat stones as a secondary choice. The plan was to place larger stones at the bottom and smaller ones on top to improve stability.
Stones were easy to find—but transporting them was a huge problem, because they were simply too heavy.
In the end, the small handcart, shoulder pole, and baskets were all put to use. After working nonstop for most of the day, they still hadn’t managed to haul back very many stones.
There was no better solution. Their transport tools were extremely limited, and their main workforce consisted of Gu Yu alone. Tang Jiao could only be considered support, and An’an… well, as long as he didn’t need protection, that was already a win.
So after an entire day of back-and-forth in the cold wind, combined with the stones already available inside the cave and on the flat ground below, the family of three barely managed to gather enough material for a single wall. As for the two adults—they were nearly worked to collapse.
Truly the most exhausting day in their lives. No exaggeration.
Because of the sheer fatigue, aside from An’an, the other two had no interest even in good food. They ate a simple dinner and went to bed early.
In the middle of the night, Tang Jiao vaguely heard what sounded like rain outside. Thinking that nothing important had been left outdoors, she turned over and quickly fell back into a deep sleep.
The next morning, the rain was still falling, and the temperature had clearly dropped even further.
Worried that An’an might get cold, Tang Jiao had Gu Yu quickly light the fire pit.
After breakfast, the rain showed no signs of stopping. Because the main cave had such a large entrance, even with a fire burning, it still felt chilly. So the family retreated back into the bedroom cave.
The bedroom cave was noticeably warmer. Even without a fire, it wasn’t too cold. Rainy days were supposed to be rare chances for rest—but true leisure was impossible. At best, it was just less hectic than usual.
Tang Jiao continued working on her chestnuts, while Gu Yu kept busy with his carrying poles and baskets. Tang Jiao even took out a phone and played some music. For once, the family sat together comfortably, chatting and working at the same time. From time to time, Tang Jiao would feed Gu Yu, An’an, and the two little ones, Tuantuan and Yuanyuan. The cave was filled with warmth, laughter, and harmony.
The rain continued all day and only stopped around dinnertime. After lunch, the whole family had the rare luxury of taking a nap, so they weren’t sleepy after dinner. Still, they didn’t plan to work anymore. Tang Jiao took out a tablet and picked an animated movie to watch.
It was a classic animation—one loved by both adults and children.
And so, this rare and cozy day came to a happy, gentle close with that movie.