Reborn a day later, I emptied my enemy's possessions beforehand.

Zhou Haibing put the clothes basket on the ground, grabbed the handrail of the iron ladder with both hands, stepped onto the first horizontal bar, and climbed up steadily step by step.

He climbed from the basement to the master bedroom on the ground floor, pushed open the roof, and climbed out.

The room was dimly lit, with the paper pasted on the windows letting in the hazy morning light.

He walked to the bedside table, opened the door, and took out a nylon rope about the thickness of a finger.

A hook was tied to one end of the rope, which he had prepared when building the house, specifically for hoisting things up from the basement.

He walked back to the entrance and slowly lowered the hooked end down.

The rope hung down, swaying precariously in the vertical ladder shaft.

Li Su'e, looking up, saw the hook coming down and reached out to grab it.

Then he bent down and hooked the hooks onto the handles on both sides of the clothes basket, tugged hard to make sure they were secure, and looked up and called out:

"Alright! It's hooked!"

Zhou Haibing heard this from above, grabbed the rope with both hands, and pulled upwards.

The laundry basket steadily left the ground and slowly rose up along the shaft.

Li Su'e and Zhou Haiqing looked up as the clothes basket slowly rose, the clothes inside remaining perfectly still, not a single one falling out.

The laundry basket was raised to the ground floor. Zhou Haibing reached out, lifted it out, and placed it on the floor. Then he lowered the rope and called down, "Come on up too."

Li Su'e told Zhou Haiqing to go first. Zhou Haiqing grabbed the ladder and climbed up quickly, soon squeezing out of the hole.

Li Su'e followed and climbed up as well.

Zhou Haibing put the lid back on the entrance, pushed the bedside table back into place, picked up the laundry basket, and led the two people out of the master bedroom.

The three people left the house, passed through the main room, pushed open the gate, and walked into the courtyard.

The morning air was cool and refreshing, carrying the scent of grass, trees, and soil from the hillside.

The sun had just peeked over the eastern mountaintop, its golden-red light bathing the entire mountaintop platform and southern slope.

Yesterday, the vegetable and medicinal herb seedlings, which were just tender sprouts, unfurled their leaves in the morning light, stretching out in lush green stretches from the mountaintop to the foot of the mountain.

The courtyard was small, surrounded by a low bamboo fence, with several newly planted morning glory vines climbing on the fence, their tender green tendrils twining around the bamboo poles.

Standing in the courtyard and looking down the mountain, the entire Chenjia Village can be seen.

Gray rooftops lined both sides of the village road, and wisps of smoke rose from the chimneys of several houses in the morning, thin and curved, slowly dissipating in the morning breeze.

Outside the village, farmland stretches into the distance, some green, some yellow, like a giant checkered cloth.

Further into the distance, the outline of Wolong Town appears and disappears in the thin mist, with a few taller buildings and a small river running through the town.

Several clotheslines were strung up in the yard, made of hemp rope and bamboo poles, with one end tied to a nail on the eaves and the other end tied to a bamboo pole on the fence.

Zhou Haibing put the clothes basket on the ground, and Li Su'e and Zhou Haiqing squatted down, each taking a piece of clothing, shaking it out, and hanging it on the rope.

Li Su'e shook out the white vest, unfolded it and hung it on the line to dry, then picked up a pair of pants and hung them up as well.

Zhou Haiqing hung her pink pajamas on another rope, smoothed out the wrinkles with her hands, took two steps back to look at them, and nodded in satisfaction.

Zhou Haibing stood by the yard stretching his limbs, raising both arms overhead and stretching them backward, his shoulder blades making a slight cracking sound.

He took a deep breath of the morning air and slowly exhaled.

The view from the mountaintop was so stunning that he couldn't help but take a second look.

Just then, his gaze inadvertently swept across the dirt road leading to the village below the hillside and he saw a figure walking up the dirt road.

The man walked very fast, taking large, erratic steps, occasionally jogging a few steps. Judging from his figure, he was a young man, wearing a gray-blue coarse cloth garment, with his head down, focused on hurrying on his way.

Zhou Haibing squinted and recognized the face—

It was Chen Hongbo from the village. He lived in the third household at the east end of the village. He had an elderly mother and a younger sister.

He was heading up the mountain towards the back of the mountain, clearly aiming for the new house at the top.

Zhou Haibing guessed that Chen Hongbo must have come to him for medical treatment.

He turned around and said to Li Su'e and Zhou Haiqing, who were hanging clothes to dry, "Someone's here, I'll go down and see."

Li Su'e also glanced down the mountain and saw the figure climbing upwards. She nodded.

"You go ahead, Haiqing and I will hang the clothes to dry."

Zhou Haibing responded and stepped out of the courtyard gate, walking briskly down the path he had trod from the top of the mountain to the bottom.

He walked quickly, his footsteps firmly planted on the black soil beneath his feet, each step steady and resounding.

When he reached the middle of the mountain, he ran into Chen Hongbo, who was panting heavily.

When Chen Hongbo saw Zhou Haibing, it was like seeing a savior. He rushed over and grabbed Zhou Haibing's arm, his hands trembling.

His forehead was covered in sweat, his face was pale, his lips were trembling, and he was even stuttering as he spoke.

"Dr. Zhou... Dr. Zhou! Quick, come with me! My sister is in trouble!"

Zhou Haibing, her arm gripped by him, steadied herself and asked:

"Don't rush, tell me slowly, what happened to your sister?"

"My stomach hurts!" Chen Hongbo's voice trembled.

"I was rolling around in bed in pain! It started hurting in the middle of the night. At first I tried to bear it, but then I couldn't take it anymore and I screamed so loudly that the whole room could hear me!"

"Dr. Zhou, please go and see her quickly! My mother is at home watching over her, she's so worried she's crying!"

Zhou Haibing nodded, his tone steady:

"Okay, I'll go with you. Wait for me a moment, I'll go down the mountain to get my medicine box."

The two walked down the mountain, one in front of the other.

Although Chen Hongbo was extremely anxious, he caught his breath after walking for a while and his steps became less disordered.

As he walked, he looked up at the lush green medicinal herb seedlings on both sides of the hillside and couldn't help but sigh:

"Dr. Zhou, I heard from the villagers that you had cleared this land on the back hill, but I didn't believe it."

I went up the mountain today and saw that they had really grown! Look how well the seedlings are growing, all green and lush, in rows and rows. They've grown so tall in such a short time.

The production team spent half a year messing around here, but they didn't grow anything.

"Dr. Zhou, you're amazing! You managed to grow something in this godforsaken place."

Zhou Haibing said as he walked:

"There is nothing that cannot be accomplished if you are willing to put in the hard work."

Although the land on the back hill is difficult to cultivate, as long as the soil is improved and sufficient water is provided, nothing will fail to grow.

Chen Hongbo nodded and glanced again at the vegetable and medicinal herb gardens on the hillside.

He saw rows of vegetables planted on the south slope, with thick, glossy leaves and vines already climbing up the trellis.

The medicinal herb patch on the west slope was also growing neatly, with each seedling standing tall with straight stems and leaves covered in a healthy dark green.

He then looked at the path that stretched from the top of the mountain to the foot of the mountain. The path was smooth and even, and there were drainage ditches dug along the sides, showing that a lot of effort had been put into it.