Ye Wenxue's superpowers have not fully recovered yet.

Her nascent wood-type ability was somewhat underwhelming. After arriving in the valley, she stayed up for several nights and, along with a considerable amount of time, managed to grow five sweet potatoes, three corn seedlings, and one chili seedling.

They buried them again, waiting for him to take the children to dig them up.

However, sweet potato sprouts and corn seedlings were too precious, so Ye Wenxue didn't dare let the reckless kids actually do it. She just told them to watch and be witnesses.

After digging out the rice seedlings and placing them in the baskets, Ye Wenxue looked at the two heavy baskets on her back, poured more than half of them into her own basket, and put a few more into Siwang's small basket so he could carry them around and play with them.

"Let's find a suitable place to rest and take a break before continuing on our way."

The mud and sand for building the house haven't even been seen yet, and the task of leaving the valley is only half completed. Ye Wenxue doesn't want to go back just yet.

The three of them found a place that was neither too sunny nor too damp to rest, and ate dry, hard wild vegetable buns to fill their stomachs.

Siwang was young and tired after traveling for most of the day, so he lay down on Ye Wenxue's lap and took a short nap.

With nothing else to do, Ye Wenxue called Shuangshuang to help her peel off the outermost spiky shell of the chestnuts to lighten the weight of the basket.

Several wild chestnut trees grow on the small hill behind Shanqing Village, and the village children go to pick chestnuts during harvest time.

Shuangshuang also has experience peeling chestnuts.

Unfortunately, due to the severe drought this year, the chestnuts on those few chestnut trees were picked clean overnight before they were even ripe.

Both of them gritted their teeth in anger whenever they thought about it.

Ye Wenxue could hardly miss Shuangshuang's little expression, which was a mixture of nostalgia and anger. She shook her head and thought to herself that she was still just a child, and her emotions were unpredictable.

One second they're laughing, the next they're crying.

Unlike her.

She only makes others cry when she's wronged.

After Siwang had slept enough, the three of them continued their journey, walking along the stream they had just seen.

Along the way, Ye Wenxue would occasionally come across wild mushrooms, wood ear fungus, and lichen, and she picked about 80% of them, leaving only a small portion that hadn't grown up.

Siwang stared at the mushrooms that had been deliberately left untouched, his little hands itching to grab them, but Ye Wenxue stopped him:

"We won't pick these. In case someone is desperate and wanders into the forest, they might have to rely on these things to survive."

Shuangshuang astutely pointed out the flaw in Ye Wenxue's words: "Mother, if no one comes, won't the mushrooms be wasted?"

Ye Wenxue picked a handful of wild vegetables and said with a smile, "Hmm...that makes sense. So what do you think we should do?"

"Take it all!" Si Wang said aggressively, rolling up his sleeves as he prepared to take action.

Shuangshuang looked at Ye Wenxue's expression and hesitated for a moment: "How about we don't pick them yet, but remember the location and come back to check next time we leave the valley? By then, these mushrooms will have grown bigger, and if they haven't been picked, we can start picking them."

"I'll listen to Shuangshuang." Ye Wenxue nodded.

After hearing this, Siwang obediently stopped what he was doing, leaned closer to a small clump of mushrooms, and muttered a few words: "Little mushrooms, I'll come to see you again next time."

Amused by his childish words, Ye Wenxue and Shuangshuang couldn't help but laugh out loud.

The three continued walking along the shallow, bottomless stream for about half an hour. With the sun already setting and still no sign of a large pile of wet mud, Ye Wenxue wiped her sweat and decided to give up the search.

"It's almost dusk, let's head back first, Dazhuang and Sanyuan must be getting impatient."

Shuangshuang and Sanyuan had no objections.

They were both exhausted from walking, and they had the will but not the strength to go any further.

Siwang's legs were trembling. He felt that the basket, which was half full, was extremely heavy and he could hardly carry it anymore.

But seeing his mother and sister trudging forward with their backs bent, he gritted his teeth and persevered without saying a word.

As the saying goes, "Going up the mountain is easy, but coming down is hard."

The journey in and out of the valley is similar to the journey up and down the mountain; it is easy and pleasant at the beginning, but difficult and tiring on the return trip.

With each other's help, the three managed to return to the valley before nightfall.

In the valley, Dazhuang spent the whole afternoon hoeing the land, barely managing to level a small patch, and was just waiting to plant it.

Sanyuan then gathered grass to feed the geese and rabbits, cooked a meal, and made a mushroom soup.

Ye Wenxue and the other two had been traveling all afternoon and were starving when they returned, so they didn't care too much about the distance.

After putting down the basket, picking up the bowl, and burying my head in my food, I finally felt alive again.

Dazhuang sat beside her, holding the well-fed and sleeping Xiaoyuan. In the firelight, his features were unusually gentle.

"Mother, what did you find after you were gone all afternoon?"

Ye Wenxue, who was leaning against the bayberry tree and panting heavily, suddenly remembered the few rice seedlings that were still in the cloth bag.

She got up and quickly walked to the basket on her back, took out the sprouted sweet potatoes, corn, and chili seedlings, and showed them to Dazhuang and Sanyuan:

"I don't know what these things are, but they look green and drought-resistant, so I brought them back to try planting them."

Sweet potatoes and corn are indeed drought-resistant, but I don't know if chili seedlings can survive in dry land.

However, the land cleared out is not far from the spring in the valley, so we can just plant the chili seedlings near the water.

If all else fails, there's always the wood-based ability.

Even if it's dying of drought, you can revive it!

Dazhuang didn't have many complicated thoughts. He had worked the land with Cheng Xiucai, but he couldn't recognize what kind of seedlings these were.

Seeing Ye Wenxue's smiling face, Dazhuang didn't say anything more.

Anyway, we have some rice, wheat, radish, and soybean seeds stored at home. As long as there is enough water, we are not worried about them not surviving.

Ye Wenxue had just finished eating and couldn't fall asleep for a while, so she simply sat not far from the fire and, by the light, cut the sweet potatoes into small pieces and buried them in the ground, with the sprouting parts facing upwards. After covering them with soil again, she watered them with some spiritual spring water.

Corn seedlings and chili seedlings are even simpler.

She did it herself and finished planting in no time.

Dazhuang knew a little about farming, but not much. He watched Ye Wenxue's actions from the side, wanting to say something but holding back.

Why does he feel that this isn't how it's supposed to be planted?

But then I thought, these are all plants that my mother found deep in the mountains and forests. Who knows what kind of species not many people know about? It wouldn't hurt to plant them.

The next day, Dazhuang found all the tiny bits of radish, cabbage, and soybean seeds he had stored at home.

It's almost the end of August, so hurry up and plant them now. Autumn radishes, winter cabbages, and autumn soybeans can still be harvested in time.

Ye Wenxue had always relied on her wood-type superpower to successfully plant anything, and had never paid attention to procedures such as soaking, germination, and sowing. She could only watch Dazhuang work with envy.

After staring at it for a while, she decided to find something to do.

After scanning the valley several times, she set her sights on Siwang, who was crying out in pain.

He hadn't walked for several days, but yesterday he suddenly walked too fast and developed several blisters on the soles of his feet. He cried his eyes out.