Set up a stall on the spot

Someone must have leaked the word, but in the afternoon, the group clearing moss learned to balance work and rest. They would shovel a couple of pieces, take a sip of water, and between these activities, their work efficiency improved considerably.

After finishing their own area, someone remembered the two lonely creatures on the steps, so they jumped up from the half-warmed chair, grabbed a shovel, and headed towards them.

To his surprise, the desolation he had imagined was nowhere to be found. When he arrived, drenched in sweat, the stone steps were already deserted.

The green foliage left after the moss was cleared away still lingered on the steps, from bottom to top, leaving no trace.

"That shouldn't be the case, those four little hands were scrambling pretty fast."

The senior student who wanted to help was scratching his chin and muttering to himself when a stone hit him on the back. He turned around and saw two rows of people lined up neatly under the opposite corridor.

They all gathered together to cool off after finishing their work.

How could we not join?

Several exquisitely carved ice furnaces stand in the corridor, lowering the surrounding temperature to a just-right level. The wooden railings on both sides have been soaked by rain for several years since they were installed, and are now mottled, dilapidated, and yellow and white. Outside the corridor are flowers, grasses, and trees planted by everyone, which cover the corridor with a layer of breathable green netting, and roots and branches occasionally reach into the corridor.

People of all ages were taking a break to cool off, and the two lost kids were also sitting in the crowd, laughing along with the other people talking.

.

During the rock-paper-scissors game with Senior Brother Li, the chubby boy noticed that Li kept throwing rock. At first, he happily held out paper, but after watching for a while, he hesitated for a moment and then switched to scissors when he made his move again.

"Why are you using scissors?" Senior Brother Li asked him, raising his fist.

He shook his head and gestured the motion of scissors hitting rock and failing. "I can't always let you lose, that wouldn't be fun for you. We all have fun, that's what a game is all about."

Senior Brother Li bumped fists with him.

The little girl changed into a new dress and sat next to her senior sister, listening to her play the pipa.

She sat upright, the pipa standing steadily in her arms, her slender fingers gliding across the strings, the melody drifting away on the wind, catching the raindrops sliding off the tips of the leaves.

After the music ended, the little girl clapped her hands and looked at her with a worried expression: "Sister, if the sun were brighter and more candles were lit, would you be able to see it?"

The senior sister paused for a moment while playing the pipa.

.

The kitchen was filled with smoke at night, and people were everywhere. The iron pots were raised and lowered, and the dishes on the table were different each time.

Everyone arrived, and although they weren't in the darkness, the flickering candlelight revealed smiles on their faces.

And the oil on the corners of the mouth.

As always, Meng Yan quietly got to work. As soon as her chopsticks swept across the table, the two small bowls beside her, which had just been empty, were filled with new food. They tried their best to protect their bowls from her touch, but if she wasn't careful, the bowls would be piled high with food again.

"I can't finish eating, Sister Meng Yan, I really can't finish eating."

Chu Ming appeared to be there to mediate, but after sitting down, she revealed her true identity: she was also an accomplice.

The accomplice said gently, "We've only been eating for a short while, and the senior brothers in the kitchen haven't rested yet. Once you leave tomorrow, it will be difficult to get this kind of food again."

She was right. The food in the valley was all made by the senior chefs who worked in the kitchen. They used vegetables grown by everyone in the valley, which were plentiful and common, and considered cheap even outside the valley. But after they were cooked, the food took on a unique flavor, making it delicious and warm, something that people who were traveling around could hardly taste.

The two children were at the age where they were growing, and after much persuasion from their parents, they felt their stomachs were empty and the momentary pleasure was fleeting, so they lifted the ever-growing little mountain on the table and put it into their mouths.

The little girl got tired of eating, stopped eating, turned to the chubby boy who was still shoveling rice into his mouth, and asked, "Aren't you the young master of the wealthy family? Why are you eating so fast? I thought I was the only one who hadn't tried the good food."

The chubby boy swallowed the last bite of food, gently placed the shiny bowl on the table, rubbed his stomach and sighed, his voice tinged with grievance: "The food I ate with my dad was just okay, nothing compared to the food on this table. This is far more delicious than any delicacy."

"The older brothers and sisters in the valley are all so amazing. It seems like there's nothing they can't do." The little girl looked at the crowds coming and going around her and thought of the stars in the sky. They were just ordinary stars in the night sky, but to her they were shining stars.

“Yes, it’s busy here every day, but I can learn new things, and I don’t have to listen to people nagging about money and accounts all the time. If I weren’t afraid of my dad scolding me, I would really like to stay here forever.” The chubby boy looked up at the stars like her, and suddenly a face appeared in front of him.

With a thud, the chubby boy sprawled on the ground, his face filled with bewilderment as he looked on in shock.

"Sister Meng Yan?" It took him a while to recognize the face above him.

"Your sister Meng Yan said she has something to discuss with you." Chu Ming and Meng Yan pulled the little fat boy up by the arms.

When the little fat boy met Meng Yan's eyes, he felt they were glowing, and that they were aimed at him.

Out of politeness to future clients, Meng Yan smiled very brightly, which sent a chill down everyone's spine. She opened her arms and said, "Is your home lacking some household items, such as the ice stove you use to cool off these days?"

Why would someone promote a product to a child at a farewell banquet?

The onlookers fell silent, and they were even more speechless when they heard the chubby boy's reply.

After thinking for a moment, he said seriously, "We really do lack it, quite a lot!"

The two hit it off immediately. One claimed he would offer a discount because they were acquaintances, while the other confidently pounded his chest and declared he would open up sales channels for Meng Yan.

After a grand discussion, the dinner party ended. Before leaving, Meng Yan patted the little girl's head, then took the candlelight and headed towards the government compound to prepare for his presentation to the neighbors the next day.

.

Early in the morning, before dawn, birdsong drifted in through the window. Meng Yan sat up three times, finally managing to pull himself out of bed.

With dark circles under her eyes, she knocked on her senior brother's door and greeted him, who also looked sleepy.

Whether his senior brother hadn't slept well or hadn't slept at all, he walked with a swaying gait, as if he were floating. This state continued until he saw the mechanical kite.

Meng Yan clearly felt him land. He leaned against the railing and didn't move. Meng Yan called him several times before he responded.

"Junior Sister Yan," the senior brother stammered out half a sentence.

"Actually... my senior brothers are quite hardworking, and I don't think it's that far, so I won't trouble you to make the special trip. I can walk there, I can walk..."

Meng Yan was an understanding girl. She saw through her senior brother's distraught state at a glance, jumped out of the driver's seat, walked to his side, and shoved him into the mechanical kite.

The senior brother's tense, as if facing a formidable enemy, vanished the moment he sat down. He closed his eyes and shut his mouth, calmly accepting the cruel reality.

He had unfortunately been exposed to the wind with Meng Yan, and apart from not having a very good experience, he didn't have any major problems.

But the experience was so bad that he couldn't sleep all night just thinking about riding the mechanical kite today.

After he had moved the ice furnaces he was going to sell for trial use, the other senior students took turns patting him on the shoulder in silent comfort.

"After we land and put you and Binglu down, Junior Sister Yan will have to come back again to pick up the two children. I'll leave the other side to you for now."

Meng Yan gestured wildly in front of him, but he was oblivious to everything around him, so his senior brother had to relay the message to him.

"Okay, I can do it," he replied with his eyes closed.

Feeling a gust of wind rise from the left, the senior brother gripped the railing tightly, his knuckles turning slightly white, and he dared not let go.

The jolts and dizziness he remembered were much less. My senior brother opened his eyes in surprise and looked into the distance with anticipation. Before long, he lay back down.

He understood that this was the result of Meng Yan's many improvements, and perhaps one day they could enjoy the freedom and joy of flying in the air like her.

For now, let's get through this difficult time.

.

A huge wooden sign stands across the open space by the river. The two beautiful characters “Ice Furnace” are engraved in the center of the sign, and the words “Peace Valley” are written in a flowing, elegant style in the lower right corner.

A bucket of water was poured on it, soaking the wooden board and changing its color. The three characters "Peaceful Valley" became darker and more eye-catching. As they stood in front of the sign discussing it, the two characters "Ice Furnace" quietly appeared. By the time everyone noticed, they had solidified into ice blocks and embedded themselves in the wooden board.

People kept reaching out to touch it, and despite being touched by countless fingers, the two characters still hadn't melted away, which drew in more and more people.

Together with his senior brother, Meng Yan unloaded the ice furnace from the bird. He pointed to the sky and told him that he had to go back to pick up someone. His senior brother nodded in tacit understanding and turned around to introduce the ice furnace to the crowd.

Even with the finished ice oven right in front of them, and the word "ice" on the wooden sign being formed on the spot, the onlookers still discussed it animatedly.

Their hushed conversation stopped simultaneously when they looked up; Meng Yan was flying overhead in his mechanical kite.

After a long silence, someone walked to the table and placed a piece of silver on it, and the crowd became lively again.

.

Meng Yan led the two children out from behind the house, where they found themselves in a completely congested street.

"Business is much better than I expected." She gestured happily to her senior colleague.

The senior student shook his head and handed her the booklet on the table upside down. "Most of them are just joining in the fun, but very few are actually placing orders. They seem to be wary of us."

"we?"

Meng Yan tapped the three characters "Peaceful Valley" a few times, and her senior brother nodded in agreement.

As the two were discussing their strategy, a loud shout suddenly came from the crowd, "Young Master!"

The sound grew louder as it approached, eventually revealing an old butler who rushed to the chubby boy and burst into tears.

"Young Master, where have you been these past few days? Master was so worried! He searched the whole town three times but couldn't find you anywhere. He was so anxious he couldn't eat or sleep!"

The old butler's hoarse voice echoed along the riverbank, and everyone, whether present or not, could feel the master's and his anguish, for he was still tugging at their ears.

"Not long before it rained, I went out to play by myself and got lost in the woods. Sister Meng Yan rescued me and brought me back to Peace Valley." The chubby boy changed the subject, pointing to the ice stove in front of him, "These were all made by everyone in the valley. We use them to cool off every day, and we can also drink ice water and eat iced fruit!"

“Uncle Wang, go back and tell my dad to get a few of these for our house. I’ve been testing them in the valley for three days and they’ve never failed to work.”

The old butler could no longer cry. He asked the chubby boy in a hoarse voice, "Young master, why don't you come back with me to see the master first? He's the one who's worried even though you're not!"

After hearing this, the chubby boy sat down on the spot, hugging an ice furnace.

Meng Yan, his senior brother, and the little girl, who were watching closely, were speechless.

The crowd watching from a distance: "..."

The old butler, who could no longer be called out, was speechless.

He turned around and went back to the wealthy man's house.