Little Homestead

Biodata

Background / History

Zhou Ye selected the site after crossing the mountains and reaching a river. It stands on a small, secluded slope backed by a sheer cliff, near an ankle-deep stream and a bamboo grove. The soil is fertile humus, and the location is screened from people along the riverbank by surrounding sparse woods 4.

He planned the compound at roughly thirty paces long by thirty paces wide, leaving room for several rooms, a courtyard, farmland, and storage. The first shelter was intended to become a future utility area rather than be discarded 4.

Early construction focused on survival. Zhou Ye marked the four corners with wooden stakes, erected a rear gate with sharpened stakes and viewing gaps, and later completed the front gate before the surrounding fence walls were finished 5 7. After reclaiming and planting over two mu of land, he enclosed the site with a full ring of wooden stakes and moved his tent from its bamboo raft to the ground 9.

A torrential storm exposed the limits of the tent-based settlement. Although its high ground and raised tent frames prevented major losses, Zhou Ye recognized the need for drainage ditches and a weatherproof residence 10. He subsequently built a raised bamboo house with bamboo flooring and a central fire pit, then completed its roof and walls to protect it from wind and rain 11.

The homestead’s defenses were reinforced after wild boars demonstrated that the wooden fence alone would not be enough against stronger beasts. Zhou Ye added a stone wall and an earthen wall behind the original stakes, completing a thick perimeter wall 15. He also built a brick kiln, fired bricks, and used them to finish the chimney and three-room main house 15 17.

By the completion of the main house, Zhou Ye considered Little Homestead’s basic needs—food, clothing, shelter, and transport—largely provided for 17. He continued to return there after settling in the prefectural city, using it as a secure base for farming, animal husbandry, charcoal production, training, and storing equipment 31 42 46.

Layout and Facilities

• Main house — A three-room structure with a central kitchen and dining room, a right-side bedroom, and a left-side storeroom. It has a fireplace, stove, chimney, thatched roof, and clay-straw exterior walls 17.
• Bamboo house — An earlier raised residence; after the main house was completed, it was used to store less important supplies 11 17.
• Perimeter defenses — Originally a wooden-stake fence with front and rear gates; later strengthened with stone and earthen walls 5 7 9 15.
• Brick kiln — Built to produce construction bricks, then later remodeled into a charcoal kiln 15 17 31.
• Smokehouse — Built outside the compound for preserving food 17.
• Farmland — More than two mu were reclaimed and planted with beans, peas, vegetables, and later wheat 9 42.
• Animal enclosures — Includes a bamboo-rat nest, chicken coop, and duck coop 15 18.
• Water access — The site lies near a stream, allowing convenient irrigation and water collection 4.

Defensive Role

Little Homestead serves as Zhou Ye’s primary refuge from wilderness threats and social instability.

• Its rear gate was designed as an escape route because Zhou Ye believed he could not defend the site against multiple human attackers 5.
• The completed fence prevented a six-wolf pack from entering after Zhou Ye dragged a deer inside 25.
• The reinforced wall was constructed specifically because Zhou Ye feared wild boar herds, bears, and other powerful beasts could breach the original wooden enclosure 15.
• During a nearby battle between a human fighter and a fish demon, Zhou Ye remained inside the homestead for days out of fear of further danger 23.

Resources and Production

• Crops — Zhou Ye initially planted soybeans, peas, black beans, and vegetables; later wheat remained planted there even while he spent extended periods in the prefectural city 9 42.
• Livestock and poultry — Bamboo rats, wild chickens, ducks, geese, and other captured birds were raised or kept at the homestead 15 18 46.
• Food preservation — Zhou Ye processes fish into salted fish, fish glue, dried shrimp, and drunken crab, while meat is smoked, cured, or made into sausages 14 20.
• Salt — A nearby rock-salt deposit allowed Zhou Ye to refine and store edible salt for the homestead 17.
• Charcoal — The converted kiln enabled large-scale charcoal production, supporting both trade and Zhou Ye’s woodcutter identity after he joined the Woodcutter Gang 31.
• Grapes — Zhou Ye transplanted two grapevines onto a bamboo trellis and used harvested grapes to attempt grape-wine fermentation 16.