Chapter 171: Chapter 171: Short of Everything
From the expressions on Xu Panqing and Ling Yunge’s faces, it was completely obvious that what Ling Qianjun said was true!
Ling Qianfan covered his eyes in disbelief, uncovering them again and again just to get another clear look at their expressions. Eventually, Xu Panqing nodded silently.
Ling Yunge sighed softly. "Qianfan, stop struggling. No matter how you look at it, the truth remains. Mother and I have no reason to lie. You really do have a few... little quirks when you sleep." As she spoke, she pinched her thumb and index finger together to gesture just how "little" those quirks were.
Ling Qianfan covered his ears with both hands and cried out in agony, "This isn’t true! This isn’t true!"
He wondered in despair, "Ah, what am I going to do? Is this going to make finding a wife difficult in the future? If my future wife finds out about this little flaw, will she despise me? Will I even be able to get married?"
Ling Qianjun waited for him to calm down before stating, "Then it’s decided. I’ll sleep in the storage room, and Qianfan will take the small room."
Seeing that the three of them opened their mouths to object, Ling Qianjun immediately waved his hand. "There’s no need to argue. Once we figure out the situation here, we’ll build another stone house right next door. I’ll move into a room there, and eventually, we’ll all have our own rooms.
"If circumstances allow, we can merge the two stone houses and redesign the interior layout. If not, we’ll just open a doorway here to connect them." He pointed to a spot on the first floor, indicating where they might build the connection in the future.
"All right, we’ll listen to you, Jun’er," Xu Panqing finally agreed with a nod after some hesitation.
Ling Yunge and Ling Qianfan also began to imagine the expanded stone house.
"Of course, all of this will have to wait until we fully understand everything here. If it’s not allowed, we’ll stick to the current setup to avoid any unexpected trouble," Ling Qianjun said. "Later, I’ll build a wooden shed on the side to store the firewood. That way, we won’t have to worry even if it rains."
Following his gesture outside the kitchen, the rest of the Ling family looked toward the back. They prayed silently, hoping that everything here would go smoothly and that there wouldn’t be too many restrictions, allowing them to eventually build their new home.
With the plan settled, everyone got up to help Ling Qianjun set up the storage room. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ
Xu Panqing and Ling Yunge had already cleaned the space earlier, but since they hadn’t expected anyone to live in it, it was completely empty. Ling Qianjun brought in the pre-made bed boards and wooden planks to assemble them, with Ling Qianfan assisting him. Meanwhile, Xu Panqing and Ling Yunge brought in Ling Qianjun’s belongings to organize them.
However, the space was quite small. Once the bed was in place, there was no extra room for cabinets. After giving it some thought, the women decided they could make some storage boxes or baskets to slide under the bed for his things. They wondered if there were any bamboo or sturdy vines on the mountain that they could use for weaving.
Staring at the newly assembled bed boards, a sudden realization hit them: they had no bedding, no mattresses, and no pillows.
During their exile, they had always slept outdoors, sleeping under the stars with the ground as their bed. They had used their clothes as blankets, and no matter how cold it got, they had only relied on campfires for warmth. However, the weather had remained blisteringly hot—so hot that the ground felt like it could roast a person alive—so not having blankets had never seemed like an issue.
Now that they were finally settling down, it dawned on them that they actually needed basic necessities like quilts.