’Uh, you might be getting a little ahead of yourself. These two are treated like royalty in my shop; how could I bear to send them to a logging camp to do hard labor? Besides, they aren’t just cutting down trees. They have to haul them home to build their dam and lodge afterward.’ And with that, Shen Yibin politely declined Officer Sun’s suggestion.
It was just a sudden idea that had popped into Officer Sun’s head. After a moment’s thought, he realized it wasn’t very feasible. Beavers weren’t dogs, after all. Everyone knew that dogs could cooperate with humans on tasks, and many departments even had agencies dedicated to managing these dogs, like the Yunzhong City K-9 Unit. But beavers cooperating with humans on a job? That was unheard of. His superiors would probably never set such a precedent.
After Officer Sun did a quick search on his phone and discovered that beavers were a Class I Protected Species, he dropped the subject completely. The idea was as impossible as asking a panda to help chop down trees at a logging camp. So, he didn’t breathe another word about it. Instead, he stood there quietly with Shen Yibin, watching the pair, Bald Qiang and Gao Lujie, gnaw through one tree after another with their large front teeth. They only stopped after felling four trees.
This was probably enough wood for them to build their dam and lodge. But how were they going to get it all back? This wasn’t the riverbend in Sokovia, where they could just drag it a few steps. Bald Qiang stared at the felled trees for a moment before running up to Shen Yibin, waving his paws and chittering for a good while.
Shen Yibin seemed to understand what he meant. He quickly reassured him, "Don’t worry. You two keep processing the wood. I’ll find someone to help you get it back in a bit." After saying this, he called the truck driver, who was already on his way.
Having received Shen Yibin’s assurance, Bald Qiang and Gao Lujie got back to work. The two of them scrambled onto the felled trees and started gnawing again. It looked like they planned to chew the large trunks into smaller sections, each about a meter long, and then move them back to build their home. This was exactly what they had done at the riverbend in Sokovia.
’What good wood. It’s such a shame to cut it up this short!’ Officer Sun couldn’t help but sigh internally. Generally speaking, the longer and thicker a log, the higher the price it could fetch, as larger timber had more uses, such as making large pieces of furniture or serving as beams in traditional-style buildings. However, by cutting them so short, Bald Qiang and Gao Lujie had drastically reduced the applicability of these trees, meaning they wouldn’t sell for a good price. To someone in the industry, it was like cutting a large diamond into tiny fragments—a criminal waste of good material.
Shen Yibin, however, wasn’t too concerned. He wasn’t planning on selling the wood anyway. It was always meant for Bald Qiang and Gao Lujie to build their lodge. Given their height and weight, they couldn’t use large-sized timber, so cutting it short made it just right. Besides, Shen Yibin and the others would have to carry the wood down themselves in a little while. He couldn’t move logs that were too long or too thick. This size was perfect for transport.
By the time Bald Qiang and Gao Lujie had chewed all the wood into small sections, the truck driver had arrived. Shen Yibin paid him some extra money and had Xu Ye call over some workers from the villa to help. It took the group a great deal of effort to haul the wood from the mountain down to the truck. After thanking the workers and Officer Sun, Shen Yibin returned to Yunzhong City with the driver and his official documents.
A large truck full of fresh timber was bound to attract police attention. They were pulled over for inspection several times along the way. Fortunately, Shen Yibin’s paperwork was all in order, so he made it back to the store without much delay.
He had the truck park in front of the shop. He and the driver then spent over an hour laboriously unloading the wood and piling it by the edge of the pool. Once that was all done, Shen Yibin went to his bedroom, took a shower, and changed his clothes. Then he took Hah’Er out to the terrace, sat down comfortably with some tea, and began watching the beaver couple build their home.
After yesterday’s work, the pool had changed dramatically. The once-wide earthen bank had been cut away by Bald Qiang, forming a small island that rose slightly above the water’s surface. They had dug burrows beneath the island to store their food. Now that they had the wood, they could finally build the above-water structure of their lodge.
Bald Qiang dragged a log with his teeth, jumped into the pool, and swam to the middle of the island. He first placed the thick main trunks on the island, then layered smaller branches on top. He used a mixture of mud and leaves to bind them together. Ultimately, the beaver couple would construct a round, dome-like cover over the island to serve as their dwelling.
Shen Yibin had done some research before he left. He knew that beavers not only needed branches for the frame of their lodge but also hay and leaves to line their burrows to keep them dry and comfortable. So, Shen Yibin had prepared some hay for them. Otherwise, who knew what they might dig up from around the shop to use as filler.
While searching yesterday, Shen Yibin had come across a funny story. In 2004, some thieves in the United States stole seventy thousand US dollars from a casino and hid it by a river. But when they were caught and confessed, the police only found thirty thousand US dollars when they went to retrieve the money. The other forty thousand US dollars were nowhere to be found.
They finally expanded their search and found the missing forty thousand US dollars inside a beaver’s lodge. It turned out the beaver had mistaken the US dollar bills for leaves and used them to line its bed. ’A bed made of forty thousand US dollars... the thought is actually a little exciting. That beaver sure lived a luxurious life.’
Building a round dome out of straight logs was no easy task, but Bald Qiang worked with extreme efficiency. He didn’t seem to have any blueprints, nor did he use any measuring tools. He just stacked the logs on the island in a seemingly random fashion, without even adjusting their positions. But gradually, the round dome began to take shape. He was even more impressive than a professional construction crew working from blueprints with the help of all sorts of advanced tools.
’This thin log placed on top of that big one surely can’t be stable,’ Shen Yibin thought. But as soon as another branch was laid on top, the structure became exceptionally stable. The technique was almost supernaturally skillful, making Shen Yibin click his tongue in amazement as he watched.
It was clear that Bald Qiang’s construction skills were significantly better than Gao Lujie’s. He handled most of the main tasks, while Gao Lujie was relegated to odd jobs like passing materials and tamping down the mud mixture. Watching the two of them, Shen Yibin couldn’t help but be reminded of a construction site. Bald Qiang was clearly the master craftsman, responsible for the skilled labor, and Gao Lujie had become the general laborer, handling the grunt work.