Chapter 55: Picking pebbles

Bai Yi Yang and her three younger siblings went down the mountain with empty buckets in their hands. In the middle of the road, they met Zhang Yong team.

"Where are you guys going?" Zhang Yong ask as he roll down the car window.

"Go to pick pebbles to build the house ah." Bai Yi Fang is the one who excitedly answer him.

"Just you four?" Zhang Yong smile at Fang Fang and asked again.

"We are going to the village first to call some children who is free. Big brother Zhang, you all go ahead first. I will try to return early." Bai Yi Yang answer.

"Oh, alright. Call me if you need a hand. It's difficult to walk up the mountain with heavy stuff." Zhang Yong smile back which Bai Yi Yang reply with a small nod.

Zhang Li Li and Hu Yu Guang exchange glance. Zhang Yong is an unsalvageable case. He has fall onto Bai Yi Yang charm. Seems like, they really need to give a real talk to him when they return. After that, Zhang Yong is in a good mood, he even said a few extra words to the sulking Bai Yi Chen that was left to take care of the house.

Bai Yi Yang went to the village and go to the Lan family house first, they came to fetch Bai Yi Mo bestie, Shitou.

"Xiao Mo!" A loud voice call them from afar. Bai Yi Yang and her siblings head to the Lan house.

"Oh its Bai eldest yatou and her siblings." It was Lan father who greet them this time. This is Bai Yi Yang first time meeting Uncle Lan since he wasn't at home before when she come to borrow the fishing rod last time.

"Hello Uncle Lan..sorry to disturb your family." Bai Yi Yang greet politely.

"No problem, we all take a few days break since the flood affected our village a lot. Eldest yatou, why are you here? Do you want to use the fishing rod again?" Uncle Lan ask, looking forward to it. Uncle Lan is a soft spoken man who look to be in his early to mid 30s, he looks quite young. Shitou who is only 7 years old is their eldest son, so most probably he is younger than how he look.

"Not this time, it's like this. We are making some renovation at home and need small pebbles from the river. So I was thinking of bringing Shitou along, I will give them some pocket money in exchange." Bai Yi Yang said.

"What are you talking about yatou. These children has nothing better to do, you go take them to play, it's more peaceful at home with them not around." Aunt Lan came out too and glare at Shitou who grinned in response. Bai Yi Yang release a small laugh.

"Shitou is a good kid, he has good fishing skills too." Bai Yi Yang praise Shitou.

"That's what he has been talking about when the flood come. You know this stupid child went to take the fishing rod instead of rushing to pack when the flood come. I was so pissed.." Aunt Lan rant some more. Shitou at the side has an awkward look in his face when his mother scolded him in front of his friend.

"Alright..eldest yatou and her siblings is in a rush..Shitou, you go call your cousins to help too. It will be faster and you all don't need to went back and forth to the mountain." Uncle Lan said. Shitou only has two younger sister that the protective Aunt Lan doesn't allowed to wander outside, so they can only find other children.

Bai Yi Yang chat with the couple about the flood and how is the situation in the flood rescue centre. Moving out because of flood is something that doesn't happen often, so they have a lot of story to tell.

"I really don't want to stay there another day. It was too noisy, too many people. My children can't fall asleep and there were constantly announcements or new people coming." Aunt Lan said, she really looks wronged.

Uncle Lan can only sigh, he understand his wife very well, she is the type that can't withstand discomfort, dirt or noisy thing. That was why their two daughters is raised like that too, they rarely appear in front of other people because they were timid and don't want to be a bit dirty.

One of his daughter is the same age as Bai Yi Fang, but the personality is too different, Bai Yi Fang is a model child in the village, adorable and cheerful, respectful to the elders, friendly and very sensible. Even when she look a bit messy after playing around, old ladies who saw her will stop and help her wipe her face clean.

Bai Yi Yang will nod as she listen to the complaint.

"Flood center is really a bit inconvenient for family." Bai Yi Yang said. Aunt Lan tell her some more about the damage in the paddy field.

"It's not a big deal, they still can survive." Uncle Lan said.

"But there are also a lot of loss." Aunt Lan said, feeling aggrieved. Luckily, when it was about to get more awkward with the couple exchange, one side saying it will be okay but the other side said that they may suffer a lot, Shitou and Xiao Mo returns with 5 children with them.

Amongst them, Bai Yi Yang recognise Xiao Bao and the bucket boy who went fishing with them, the other 3 children, Bai Yi Yang didn't recognise, there are two girls in the group too, which Bai Yi Fang seems to recognise. They all bring an empty bucket with them. As for Bai Yi Ling, she only briefly said hi and return to being quiet.

"These three is Shitou cousin, if they don't listen to you just tell me, I will report it to their parents." Aunt Lan said.

"We will be good.." The children answer. They seems to fear this aunt of them a bit.

Bai Yi Yang and the children said goodbye to the Lan couple before they head to the river. It has been two days since the flood, the river is back to normal now, its just that the structure changed a bit after the flood. When they arrived, Bai Yi Yang bought them to the area with a lot of pebbles.

"Yang jiejie, what kind of rocks are we picking?" One of the girl ask, she is equally chatty as Bai Yi Fang. Bai Yi Yang pick a few small pebbles as examples and show it to them.

"I don't want the kind that breaks easily." Bai Yi Yang said.

"Ohh..thats easy!" The boys answers. They immediately pick a few and show it to Bai Yi Yang.

"En, this is good." Bai Yi Yang nod.

After that, they all crouch down to look for pebbles. When the children is unsure, they will come to her and ask. Bai Yi Yang is very patient and answer when they call.

'Host, I am getting annoyed. Can't they just pick already?' The system complaint. It wasn't the one who got asked but it also feels a bit annoyed with the children who can't decide on their own. Bai Yi Yang laugh at this.

'That's how children is. You just cove your ears.' Bai Yi Yang said.

After 30 minutes of picking, the boys reported that they have finished picking. Bai Yi Yang come to see their buckets and throw away some large rocks, but it was mostly okay. The boys watch as the big beautiful pebbles that they pick is being removed.

"Too big.." Bai Yi Yang said.

The boys immediately start searching again until they finished filling their buckets. Only when Bai Yi Yang approve then they rejoice. Bai Yi Yang only look briefly at the girls buckets since they are meticulous, they really pick only the appropriate size one.

"You boys are too impatient, look at the girls, they do it slowly but you all end up finishing at the same time." Bai Yi Yang said. The girls laugh and the boys humphed at them.

Seeing the full buckets of small rocks and her two big buckets, Bai Yi Yang really feel conflicted. But bringing them on feet to the top of mountains with these small children will take forever and they will also become exhausted, their assignments didn't stop her, they still need to clean the rocks later. Of course she can just use her strength alone, but if people see it, it will be too shocking.

Bai Yi Yang ends up calling Zhang Yong for help. Zhang Yong answer her calls immediately and bring his car down the mountain to the river. The children who is exhausted just by bringing the buckets of rocks near the road cheer when they saw the 4 wheeled drive car. Zhang Yong wasn't alone, there is also Bai Yi Chen with him.

"Ge.." Bai Yi Yang smile brightly.

"You should have just wait for me.." Bai Yi Chen said and start loading the bucket into the truck. Zhang Yong also help, his strength is also not bad at all.

When it was all loaded, the children wanted to ride at the back so Bai Yi Chen can only accompany them. Out of them all, Bai Yi Ling is the only one who is not interested. She sat in the passenger seat while Bai Yi Yang sat next to Zhang Yong.

"Big brother Zhang, I will pay for the fee.." Bai Yi Yang said.

Zhang Yong nod, he was going to reject but instead he immediately agree, he listen to his cousin and friend advice, don't pressure Bai Yi Yang with favour. If she feels comfortable by repaying him, then let her repay.

And just like what Zhang Li Li and Hu Yu Guang said, Bai Yi Yang was feeling more relieved and she talked more cheerfully with him. Telling him about her plans with the pebbles and so on. Zhang Yong is not used to this kind of response. He expect that Bai Yi Yang will only treat him kindly if she owe him a lot, but it was the opposite. Bai Yi Yang must have really hated to owe people..

"Is there still a lot of work left?" Bai Yi Yang ask as they are going up the mountain road in slow speed, this was because of the children sitting behind at the truck.

"Not much, we are at the final step. Yu Guang is still installing the cabinet while Li Li is already cleaning. There are a lot of concrete dust on the overhead cabinet. After this you can take a look and check. See if it as you pictured." Zhang Yong said. He had shown Bai Yi Yang the design before, and he is confident with their work, he is sure that she will like it. The kitchen is really brand new now.

"I trust your work but I will take a look later." Bai Yi Yang nod and smile.

"Right, our house doesn't have gas cylinder, can you include it in the total cost later?" Bai Yi Yang said.

"Of course, no problem. Do you know how frequent the supplier comes to your village?" Zhang Yong said.

"I am not sure. I will ask around later. If not I can just find a delivery service." Bai Yi yang said.

"Alright." Zhang Yong nod. When they arrived, Zhang Yong help unload the buckets of pebbles and return to the kitchen.

Bai Yi Yang brought the children to go wash the pebbles at the pipe behind the West house, this is where Bai Yi Chen wash dishes these days. She shows it to the children and let them do it. Bai Yi Ling was left there to supervise them while she and Bai Yi Chen return into their house.