The Road Will Change the Mountains Life

"Tian one, where is everyone?" XiangBei first time to asked the shadow guards Mo left by her side, raising her head to inquire into the sky.

"The mountain road has been built to Coal Mountain. The explosion of the mountain rocks this morning was heard directly on the mountain, and everyone went out to see the excitement," Tian one's voice came from somewhere above.

When XiangBei ran to the gate of the courtyard, she encountered Grandpa and Doctor Li standing at the edge of the cliff, both of them forcibly holding back Prince Rongzai, preventing him from going down the mountain. Indeed, from this cliff edge, they could see a bustling valley below along a winding mountain path.

"Great -Grandfather, Grandpa, good morning. Silly Big, good morning."

"Sister, Sister, you're here. Please tell Grandpa to let me go down there, look, there are so many people, can we go play there too? Can we ride horses?"

"Horses! Grandpa, what is he—? No, I meant to ask if he can ride horses?"

"Oh, Xiaobei, we the two old guys are not as agile as before. After this period of treatment, he is currently experiencing fluctuations in memory, sometimes forgetting who he is, remembering fragments at other times, but everything else is fine, including martial arts and knowledge. Riding horses is a breeze for him. Even so, we still can't rest assured to let him be alone. If you want to go too, let him take you down together."

"That's great! Big Fool, get on the horse, take Sister down the mountain." XiangBei immediately pulled Prince Rongzai to the stable and picked a horse, and the two of them rode down the mountain.

At the foot of Coal Mountain, the valley was filled with excitement. People were shoveling rubble, pouring concrete, and rolling large stones to pave the road... Everyone crowded in to seize the opportunity, hoping to participate in the final tough work of this road. Especially General Huo, when he saw Xiangbei who had just dismounted, he smiled in a creepy manner, like the folk story character wolf grandmother deceiving Little Red Riding Hood to open the door.

"Xiaobei, you finally came. Amo has been praising you all morning. Big Uncle only realized today what a kind-hearted and talented girl our Xiaobei is. You are good at medicine and kind-hearted. Your mother has raised such a good girl, you are the pride of our Huo family and the pride of the old Tong family, right, Amo?"

"Hehe, thank you, Uncle. Xiaobei can't accept such praise from Uncle." Xiangbei felt awkward and smiled awkwardly at Amo, wondering what was going on. Even Amo addressed her. When did they become so close? Did something happen that she didn't know about?

"Ahem, well, Xiaobei, it's like this. Our Uncle wants the explosives. I told him that after you saw it, you said that while it could be beneficial in civilian use, it would be unfair as a reaper of life in the military. So, I swear that without your consent, I won't disclose anything. But Uncle doesn't believe me." Concerned that what Xiaobei revealed was too shocking, Amo immediately took the initiative to take responsibility to protect her safety and hinted to Bei about the situation.

"Oh, Uncle, please don't act rashly. You've seen the power and danger of black powder. Whether used in civilian or military settings, it must be handled with caution. I fear that if someone were to harbor ambitions and seek to use it to start a war, it could lead to devastating consequences. This is certainly not something you would want to see. So, let's reconsider and discuss it later, shall we?" Xiangbei tried to persuade him as best as she could.

"Oh, alright! Let's reconsider." General Huo's excitement was drowned out by the thunderous cheers erupting not far away.

As the carriage road was officially completed, a long cable, as thick as a child's arm, made of green bamboo strips and ancient mountain vines tightly woven around thick iron wires, stretched from a cast iron pulley set outside the village cliff to a small square at the bottom of the mountain valley. Today's ribbon-cutting ceremony for the tough work was arranged here.

With his own hands, Cheng Mo placed the sacrificial animals in a red cloth-covered basket, lit the signal flame, and then the crowd elected Xiao Sinan to push the basket to the north side of the small square, to the high platform at the end of the cableway. The basket slowly ascended, inching up the mountain valley that had been cleared of trees. When it reached the end of the cableway at the cliff of the village, Tong Lao Medicine personally took out the heads of the sacrificial animals and placed them on the altar, then sent down the basket full of honey wine.

The applause thundered, and the crowd cheered as Tongjiazhuang was officially connected to the road below the mountain. No one was happier than Xiangbei as now she could increase workshop productivity and begin to change the lives of the families in the East Binhill.

The feast at Fuhai Building, the wild game from Tongjiazhuang, and the liquor from Cangkou made for a lively celebration among the guards and artisans in the mountain valley stream all night long.