Chapter 7

In the morning, Wang Buping felt a headache when he woke up. It seemed he had drunk quite a lot of alcohol last night! He didn't even remember how he got back. Even with his body now twice as strong as before, he still drank this much, no wonder. After all, the current Wang Buping had brought hope to the village, and all the uncles, aunts, and young girls had toasted to him, and he didn't know how much he had drunk.

Seeing the time was already late, Wang Buping didn't plan to enter the space. He got dressed and went out to wash up.

His mother saw him come out and said, "Who let you drink so much last night? Your father, grandfather, and grandmother have already eaten. Your breakfast is in the pot. Go wash up and eat."

Wang Buping saw his grandparents sitting under the tree and walked to the well to wash up.

After eating, Wang Buping headed up the mountain, planning to install the electrical wires and pull them to the houses below, and install some lights. Thinking about all the work he had to do today, he sped up.

When he reached the small courtyard on the mountain, the door was already open. He walked into the yard and saw his father cutting grass. He went over and said, "Dad, stop cutting the grass. Let's go pull the wires together."

His father put down the sickle and said, "Okay."

They went into the house and carried out the wires. Wang Buping thought they would also need some poles.

"Dad, let's first cut some bamboo in the front yard. We need about five or six pieces."

"Let's cut the bamboo first. You go pull the wires, and I'll cut the bamboo here. This way, it will be faster."

Hearing his father's words, Wang Buping agreed. One person cutting the bamboo was enough, so he went to the back yard, carrying the wires to the power station, and started pulling them to the small courtyard.

The father and son worked for almost two hours before they finished connecting the wires. They turned on the lights, and the two of them stared at the glowing light bulbs, smiling.

Seeing everything was done, Wang Buping remembered the phone he had bought for his father and started searching for it. Fortunately, it was with the computer box. He took out the phone and handed it to his father.

"Dad, this is the phone I bought for you. I didn't buy it before because there was no electricity. Now that we have electricity, I bought one for you. It has a SIM card, and I'll input my phone number. If you need anything, you can call me instead of coming here."

Seeing his son buy him a phone, his father smiled and said, "Why waste money on this? What use do I have for a phone? It's not far to the foot of the mountain, so why do I need a phone?"

"Dad, it will be convenient for me to contact home when I go out to sell vegetables."

...

While they were talking, it was almost noon. They carried the prepared wires down the mountain. Fortunately, there were trees and bamboo on both sides of the road, so they didn't need to set up poles.

When they got home, his grandparents were cooling off under the tree, and his mother was cooking. The father and son planned to finish pulling the wires before lunch.

During lunch, the wires were almost set up, and some lights were still to be installed. Looking at the wires in the house, the whole family smiled. Wang Youcai took out his phone to show his wife.

"This is the phone my son bought for me. When he goes out next time, if you miss him, you can call him."

Li Yuping took the phone, looked at it, and smiled, but still said that Wang Buping was wasting money.

In the afternoon, they finished installing the lights in the house. Wang Buping went up to the small courtyard on the mountain to plan the vegetable garden. When he got to the field and saw the vegetables, he thought that using pipes to water the field would be inconvenient. He needed to think of a better way. Looking at the stream flowing down, he had an idea, but he wasn't sure if it would work, so he decided to go down the mountain and ask his father.

Running down the mountain, he told his father about his idea. His father also thought it was feasible. The two of them dug out the bamboo stored at home and planned to use the steel bar to hollow out the inside and drill holes in it, so they wouldn't need a pump.

They worked on the bamboo all afternoon until dinner, making over a hundred pieces.

During dinner, Wang Buping remembered his promise to everyone yesterday and felt he should go into the mountain to take out the ginseng and other items from the space.

Thinking about it, he decided to go the next day. In a few days, he would have to deliver vegetables again, and he could sell the ginseng and find someone to repair the cable car.

"Mom, Dad, I plan to go into the mountain to the reservoir to check things out. I'll go tomorrow. Is that okay?"

Hearing her son was going into the mountain, Li Yuping quickly said, "Son, why are you going into the mountain? I heard there are wolves in the mountains these days. Ask your grandfather."

"Grandpa, are there really wolves in the mountains now?"

"Yes, in recent years, the government has banned hunting, and the wolves have returned to the mountains. A few years ago, I saw wolves and bears in the mountains, and I even heard the faint sound of tigers. So, when you go into the mountain, don't go deep inside."

"I understand. I'll just go to the reservoir and won't go into the deep mountains."

"The reservoir is fine, but don't go into the deep mountains."

"Got it, Dad. Tomorrow, you can set up the frame first, and I'll put the bamboo in when I come back."

In the morning, Wang Buping took the tools he had prepared for the mountain. Since it wasn't far from home and he could still see people, he didn't dare to put the items into the space. He planned to walk a bit and then put the items into the space in a place where no one was around.

Wang Buping walked on the mountain path, taking pictures of the beautiful scenery with the camera he had bought. Da Huang ran around on the side of the road, keeping an eye out for any danger.

Da Huang was getting smarter and much bigger, standing more like a lion. The family was surprised by Da Huang's changes but thought it was just because he had grown. Otherwise, Wang Buping would have been worried.

Wang Buping noticed that Da Huang was much stronger now, so he wasn't afraid to go into the mountain. Da Huang was very alert and could sense danger in advance, which Wang Buping had only discovered yesterday.

Last night, when Wang Buping returned to the small courtyard, he didn't notice the bamboo leaning against the wall and was about to open the door. Suddenly, Da Huang bit his pants and pulled him to the side. Wang Buping thought Da Huang was hungry and hit him on the head, but Da Huang pulled harder, tearing his pants. Wang Buping then realized something was wrong and followed Da Huang's pull to see that the bamboo was leaning and would have fallen on him if he had opened the door. This made Wang Buping realize how strong Da Huang had become after eating the fruit.

So, when going into the mountain, Wang Buping took Da Huang with him to warn him of danger and to catch some wild rabbits and pheasants.

Looking at the scenery on both sides of the path, he thought about the childhood games he played with his friends in the forest, such as hide-and-seek and picking wild fruits.

This made Wang Buping's desire to develop his hometown even stronger, so that Da Niu, Er Qiang, and Xiao Niu wouldn't have to go out to work.

Thinking about his childhood friends and the fun times, Wang Buping's heart couldn't calm down. Since he had the space, he was determined to use it to develop the village.

After calming down, Wang Buping didn't have the heart to enjoy the scenery on both sides. He decided to go to the natural reservoir first to see if there were any good development opportunities.

It took Wang Buping over two hours to walk from the small courtyard to the natural reservoir because there was no road, only a path made by people going up the mountain, making it difficult to walk.

Seeing the water flowing from the reservoir, forming a two-meter waterfall, Wang Buping thought about raising fish here. Wouldn't this be pure, pollution-free fish?

The water in the natural reservoir was formed by rain and underground springs. The elders in the village said it was naturally formed, but no one knew how. The two mountains seemed to be split apart, with a large lake in the middle. The mountains then connected, forming a slope, and the water was held back. Originally, it wasn't so flat, but Wang Buping's ancestors had dug a place like a dam to hold the water, which then flowed into the small river in front of the village.

After looking at the reservoir, Wang Buping thought it might not be suitable for raising fish or shrimp because there were water springs inside, and the lake was too large to catch the fish. Using nets wouldn't be natural, so it wasn't feasible.

However, there were still many fish and shrimp. He often saw fish jumping from the waterfall into the stream and trying to swim back to the lake, but the current was too strong.

Wang Buping decided to catch some fish by the lake for breakfast and then continue up the mountain.

He took out a small net from the space and put some steamed buns made with space water inside. This was a secret he had discovered about the space water, which had a strong attraction to aquatic life.

After a while, perhaps due to the space water in the buns, some fish started floating around the net, and some even tried to get inside. When Wang Buping saw the fish enter the net, he quickly pulled it up, and it was full of fish. If not for his increased strength, he might not have been able to pull it up. Seeing the fish, he realized he couldn't eat them all, so he thought about the small stream in the space and decided to put the fish there. He threw the fish, regardless of size, into the small stream.

Wang Buping also planned to catch more different types of fish to put in the small stream, thinking about the various delicious fish he could eat in the future. He was so motivated that he didn't care what kind of fish he caught and threw them all into the small stream. When he thought he had enough, he stopped and went into the space to check. The fish were swimming around, and none of them were dead, so he felt relieved.

He started to grill the fish, skewering them on a prepared iron rack. He and Da Huang grilled four fish, each over a pound. While grilling, Da Huang sat beside him, watching.

After the fish were grilled, Wang Buping and Da Huang enjoyed them, feeling the mountain breeze and enjoying the beautiful scenery. Wang Buping felt that coming back was the right decision, as life in the city couldn't compare to this.

After eating the grilled fish, Wang Buping noticed that the area where he had caught the fish was now full of fish due to the space water. He didn't pay much attention and prepared to continue into the mountain with Da Huang. He didn't know that when he returned, he would witness a miracle and meet his first adopted animal.