Chapter 292 Starting construction and cutting down trees

Mrs. Qin took Qin Gengwen with her and insisted on helping dig the isolation belt.

They were originally taken in by the Qiao family and the people of Qingshui Village. Naturally, they were not qualified to be lazy, but they had to work hard to repay the Qiao family.

As for the people in the Wu Mansion, except Mrs. Wu who was pampered and had never done farm work in her life, Mrs. Wu was comforted by Wu Qianqian and asked them to go to Qiao's tent to chat and eat with Mrs. Qiao.

Several servants and even Wu Qianqian, a rich lady, and her younger brother, a young master, also followed with hoes and machetes.

They are also outsiders and don't want to be squeezed out by the villagers. In addition, they have been influenced by Qiao Ran along the way, so they have long lost the burden of being a rich daughter and a young master.

I just want to work and exercise like ordinary villagers, so that when encountering great changes, I can have a strong enough body and perseverance to adapt, fight, and achieve greater achievements.

Qiao Ran took everyone all the way to Devil's Valley. Everyone had never been to Devil's Valley and felt uneasy.

However, they saw that Qiao Ran who was walking in front was very calm. She was not afraid of such a little girl who had not yet had hair extensions, and their courage gradually grew.

Turning a corner at the foot of the mountain, you will reach the boundary of Devil's Valley.

There is no road at all leading to the Devil's Forest, and there are weeds and bushes everywhere.

We could only send a few men in front to use machetes to clear the road, and cut aside the weeds and shrubs that were taller than people, and forcibly opened a road.

After a while, everyone arrived at the outskirts of a forest.

Looking forward from here, we can see a lush forest covering almost the entire valley.

In the sky above the distant woods, a layer of white-gray clouds seemed to be floating, rising and falling on the treetops.

In fact, what they don't know is that the real miasma is in the woods, and very little of it spreads to the sky above the woods.

Even so, some people feel a little scared when they see the fog and think of the terrible legend of Devil's Valley.

If this miasma touches the body, will it be like what I heard, and my whole body will be full of ulcers and die?

Everyone looked at Qiao Ran, waiting for her instructions.

Qiao Ran looked at everyone's faces and found that many people had fear on their faces, especially some children around ten years old. They imagined the scene of skin ulcers all over their bodies and they were in agony. The look of horror on their faces was really hard to hide.

Qiao Ran knew that everyone was thinking of the terrible legend about Devil's Valley. She smiled and comforted everyone:

"Folks, in fact, this Devil's Valley is not that scary. As long as you don't wander in and don't stray into a place with miasma, there is no danger. Everyone, please follow me closely. When you get to the place, you must be sure to mark the place I marked out. Move within the designated area and don’t run around, I can ensure that everyone is safe.”

After everyone heard this, their panic finally calmed down.

Qiao Ran led everyone into the forest, stepping on dead branches and leaves as they walked deeper.

The leather boots stepped on the dead branches and leaves, making "clack" and "thump" sounds, which seemed a bit weird and terrifying in this dark forest.

In order to reassure everyone, Qiao Ran walked in front.

In order to support Qiao Ran, the Qiao family members followed her closely.

Qian Shitou, Huzi, Qin Gengwen, Qian Daya, Wu Qianqian, Widow Zhao and others also followed closely behind the Qiao family.

Those villagers who were originally timid saw that the girls, women, and young men were not afraid at all. They were too embarrassed to be afraid and could only follow closely behind the team.

This team of more than 300 people was brought to a stop in the forest by Qiao Ran.

Qiao Ran asked everyone to wait. She opened a cloth bag in her hand, grabbed a handful of white powder with her leather-gloved hand and sprinkled it on the ground.

Everyone watched her sprinkle a circle of white powder, then hung the empty bag back on her waist, clapped her hands and said:

"Okay, let's start from here and clear away all the trees, shrubs, weeds, and dead branches and leaves in the area enclosed with quicklime. We must clean it completely and expose the pure soil surface."

Everyone agreed and breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that there was no fog here. They started to work with their machetes and hoes.

Cutting down trees is actually a very tiring job. Although the people in Qingshui Village are used to farm work, it soon became quite difficult to cut down such large trees that had survived for who knows how many years.

Qiao Ran was not idle either, holding a machete in her hand and struggling to chop down a big tree that she had to hug with both hands.

Ironware was in short supply in this era and was subject to government control, making it very expensive.

Every household has few essential tools such as machetes and hoes, and the ones that have more only have three or two.

As for such a dispensable thing as an ax, not every house has it.

The machete is only suitable for cutting down smaller trees and branches. When cutting down large trees, it becomes very difficult.

Qiao Ran thought that this was not the solution. She had to go to the city quickly and go to the blacksmith shop to get some more axes.

Also, you can take out the two electric saws in your own space. Just say that they are rare items bought from businessmen who came from outside the city. No one will be suspicious.

It was too hard to cut down the trees, so everyone had to do it instead.

Cutting weeds and clearing the dead branches and leaves on the ground is easier. The younger children use sickles to cut off the long weeds, then dig out the grass roots with hoes and shovels, and clean them aside together with the branches and leaves on the ground.

During this period, the woman who stayed at the camp brought them breakfast and water along the road they drove. After everyone had eaten and drank enough, they started to work again.

It was not until almost noon that Qiao Ran spoke to the old village chief and Qiao Erhe, and asked Qiao Dong to continue working. She returned to the camp with Zhao Tieniu. She pushed her cart and went out to the intersection outside the mountain with Zhao Tieniu. Waiting for the yamen servant to deliver food.

The two waited at the intersection for almost half an hour, and it was almost noon before they saw two carriages in the distance.

"Sister Ran, are you here to deliver food?"

Zhao Tieniu waited anxiously. When he saw a carriage in the distance that seemed to be coming this way, he couldn't help but jump and scream in surprise.

Qiao Ran nodded. She had already seen clearly that it was the government servant who came to deliver food.

It's just that the food in the car is a bit short!

"Yes, those are here to deliver food. Tieniu, go back and ask everyone to push a few carts to pull the food back! I'll just wait here."

"Okay, sister Ran, be careful, I'll be back soon!"

Zhao Tieniu didn't think much about it. This kind of tiring errand work should be done by him.

So he quickly turned around and ran into the mountain, wanting to go back and tell everyone the good news.