Courtyard House: Rebirth of a Shopkeeper in 1937

The Song family's cellar was strategically located, situated on a stone embankment next to their small vegetable garden in the backyard, dug deep into the mountainside—a naturally advantageous and extremely sturdy location. The outer stone embankment was over four feet thick. Originally a simple vegetable cellar, it was only dug ten feet deep, five feet wide, and six feet high, its height specially adjusted to fit the height of the father and eldest brother. Normally, it was just enough space for storing vegetables and for temporary shelter. However, the situation was different now. In the event of an air raid, it needed to accommodate not only the Song family but also students from the school and merchants traveling to and from the shop. The original, cramped cellar was far from sufficient, necessitating further expansion into the mountainside.

For days, truckloads of yellow soil had been continuously being hauled out and dumped from the back hill, making quite a commotion. Naturally, this didn't escape the notice of the three neighboring households: Lü, Long, and Deng. Uncle Lü was the first to notice something amiss. He deliberately stood guard at the side gate of the backyard, stopping Dawei's father on his way back from dumping the soil, and asked, "Dawei, you've been hauling soil out non-stop for days. How big is the cellar you're going to dig? Are you planning to hide a lot of people?"

Upon hearing this, Uncle Lü glanced at the overall layout of Song's shop and instantly understood. He smiled and said, "Judging from this, you definitely didn't dig a cellar on flat ground. It's probably a cave you carved out on the stone embankment behind the mountain, right? Come on, take me to see it. I also want to see the terrain behind my house so I can dig an emergency cellar like this."

The commotion reached them, and Uncle Long and Uncle Deng from next door opened the back door and hurried over along the mountain path, chiming in, "Dawei, let's go see your cave too, learn from your experience, and prepare a place to save our lives in advance."

Since the neighbors had seen through their plan, Dad saw no need to hide it anymore. He simply nodded and led the three of them towards the cave in the back mountain. Inside, a small oil lamp was lit, providing coolness and dryness, keeping them away from the summer heat. Outside, the sun was scorching and the heat unbearable, but inside, a refreshing coolness permeated the air. At that moment, Xingbao and Guixiang were busy working, skillfully filling baskets with the excavated yellow soil and clearing it away, their movements swift and steady. The youngest, Weibao, had nothing to do, so he stayed at the cave entrance playing with his mud cart. In the sweltering summer heat, the cave was cool and comfortable, and with his older siblings all there, he stayed there all day, unwilling to run around and play outside. Xingbao had specially constructed the entire cave into a neat arched catenary structure, ensuring even stress distribution and stability against collapse. To ensure the cave's safety and compliance, and to avoid the risk of collapse, he had even taken leave from his master's place to go home and help oversee the entire excavation process and construction details.

Hearing footsteps and laughter behind them, the three siblings immediately stopped what they were doing, stood up and greeted the three neighbors warmly.

Uncle Lü stepped into the cave first, casually picking up the playful Wei Bao and gently teasing him a couple of times. His gaze then fell upon the surrounding cave structure. He ran his hand along the smooth, solid arched ceiling, then carefully surveyed the thick, dense stone walls, and couldn't help but sincerely exclaim, "This cave is truly meticulously and reliably dug! This arched structure distributes the stress evenly, making it a hundred times more sturdy than a typical straight-up-down earthen cellar. Even if there's a landslide or an earthquake, it won't easily collapse. Living here feels much more reassuring."

Uncle Long followed closely behind and stepped inside. Looking at the dark cave that stretched deep into the mountain, he was filled with astonishment and exclaimed, "Dawei, this isn't just a simple cellar; it's a life-saving cave carved into the mountain! The four-foot-thick stone embankment outside is already sturdy, and with the entire mountain protecting it layer upon layer, if it were to be bombed by enemy planes, its safety would be incomparable to a shallow cellar dug on flat ground."

Upon hearing this, Father nodded slightly and continued reassuringly, "I have a lot of timber stored up at home, which is currently idle. Once the cave expansion is completed, I will erect a row of wooden pillars for support, reinforcing the roof beams layer by layer, which will further improve the safety."

Uncle Deng looked down at the pile of fresh soil being cleared away, pondered for a moment, and then sincerely suggested, "Dawei, I'm thinking that my family won't have to go through the trouble of digging a cellar separately. From now on, I'll come over every day to help you with the expansion and repairs. If there's a real danger of an air raid, our family can come over to take shelter. Our two houses are close by, just a short walk away, so we can make it in no time."

Uncle Long immediately stepped forward to agree, clearly having already made up his mind: "Chunsheng and I are on the same page! Let's include my family too, we'll all come and help out, and then we can benefit from it and avoid danger."

Uncle Lü was the only one who remained silent. He had been surveying the hillside behind his house, weighing his options carefully. The stone embankment behind his house was low, the topsoil was thin, and the slope was gentle and wide, offering no real shelter for a cave entrance. Forcibly digging would not only be unstable but also easily exposed, hardly a safe place to hide. After much deliberation, he finally relented: "Then include my house too. My house is just across a path from your backyard's side gate, very close. If something happens, we'll be there in time. Remember to open the door so we can go in and take refuge."

Since it concerned the safety of his entire family, it was only natural for him to agree, and he couldn't bring himself to refuse. He could only nod in agreement. He secretly calculated that he had originally only planned to dig three more zhang (approximately 10 meters) deeper, which would barely be enough for his family, the students, and the merchants to take refuge. Now that there were three more neighboring households, the space would definitely be insufficient. Expanding the cave was out of the question, as it risked collapse. He could only continue digging several more zhang (approximately 10 meters) deeper to make the cave more spacious enough for everyone to hide safely.

With the double harvest season fast approaching and every household busy with rice harvesting and transplanting, everyone decided to work together to speed up the construction, working day and night to expand the cave. Finally, before the double harvest season began, they had dug the cave to a depth of more than eight zhang (approximately 33 meters), and then temporarily stopped work. The cave was spacious and well-ventilated, and with the subsequent reinforcement of wooden pillars, it was enough to accommodate their own family, the school children, and the entire population of three neighboring households for refuge. In these chaotic times, they finally had a safe haven to protect themselves.

But peace is fleeting; in times of chaos and conflict, people's hearts are entangled, and no one can deliberately avoid it. The double harvest season concluded as scheduled, and this year's rice seed collection proceeded smoothly and orderly without a single mistake. But just as the base had finished distributing all the high-quality rice seeds and everyone was about to leave, a sudden change occurred. A dozen or so young men from the base stepped forward and stopped the older man who was helping the villagers distribute and sell rice seeds, their tone harsh and resolute: "Yanbang, we're leaving the breeding base. We'll never come back."

Caught off guard by their sudden outburst, the eldest brother assumed they had found better work and casually asked, "You're leaving suddenly? Have you found other jobs? How's the pay and benefits over there?"