After assigning tasks, Ye Wenxue has been busy these past few days planting vegetables and stockpiling mountain produce, pickling vegetables, pickling radishes and bamboo shoots, and stockpiling various kinds of meat... She can only spare a moment every other day to visit the Xu family and bring them some food.
Whether the bald man had truly reformed or was afraid to act because of Ye Wenxue, he had taken his men to the Xu family but did not act rashly. He only shouted a few words at the entrance of the valley, left the medicine that Xu Lin and his son urgently needed, and a few bags of rice, flour and vegetables before leaving.
However, when Ye Wenxue went to deliver the things, the little girl Lanqing secretly stopped her once, saying that the bald man had shown signs of struggle several times, and was probably thinking of taking advantage of Old Master Xu.
Ye Wenxue paid attention to this for a while, and later learned that the bald man was focused on leading the bandits to rebuild the bamboo house and find a suitable place to dig a charcoal kiln. He only sent Doctor Chen to check on the Shen family from time to time. Only then did Ye Wenxue breathe a sigh of relief.
It wasn't that she didn't trust the bald man, but how many friends and lovers in the world had disagreements over money, almost to the point of severing ties?
Ye Wenxue has a solid foundation, so it's okay for her to risk her life once. But the Xu family members aren't exactly tough, so it's always better to be careful.
That day, when Ye Wenxue brought Dazhuang back to the valley after digging up a lot of lotus roots and catching a basket of small fish and shrimp from a pond several mountains away, she saw the completely renovated bamboo house.
— Baldy and his crew even rebuilt the path at the foot of Bamboo House Mountain, paving it with gravel, making it exceptionally beautiful at first glance.
Da Zhuang, carrying a wooden bucket of lotus roots, looked bewildered: "When Mr. Su comes back, he probably won't even recognize his bamboo house anymore."
Ye Wenxue chuckled: "The bamboo house is rebuilt. The Xu family will probably be able to move in tomorrow. Mother will go to the valley to take a look tomorrow."
Dazhuang asked thoughtfully, "Mom, after Uncle Xu moves here, can I come and learn from him for a few days?"
"...Your Uncle Xu's eyes haven't healed yet, so he can't teach you anything for the time being. Let's wait until he recovers before I bring you to visit him."
Since they had decided to befriend Xu Lin and keep him as a backup plan, there was no need to stop Da Zhuang from meeting with Xu Lin.
And then there's the bald guy. If he doesn't regret robbing us after selling a batch of charcoal and making money, we can trust him a bit more.
Dazhuang naturally understood that Ye Wenxue was doing this for his own good, and after agreeing, he continued to carry the mountain goods he had picked back to the valley.
The three children who stayed at home ran up with little Yuanyuan in their arms, some carrying things, some pulling the two of them to sit down and rest, and some massaging Ye Wenxue's shoulders and legs, as attentive as ever.
Shuangshuang and Sanyuan took on most of Dazhuang's work, not to mention tending the vegetable garden. They were exhausted, so they were incredibly considerate in serving tea and water to Ye Wenxue and Dazhuang.
Ye Wenxue picked up Xiao Yuanyuan, who was propping her arms up and asking for a hug, and gave her two loud kisses on the face: "Mommy's sweet baby, so cute."
"What about me? What about me?" Siwang stopped massaging Ye Wenxue's shoulders and suddenly peeked out from behind her.
Ye Wenxue glanced at the other children. Dazhuang had matured after experiencing many things and sat on the chair washing small fish and shrimp without looking up. They were becoming more and more like Ye Wenxue, caring more about practical things than verbal praise. Only Sanyuan was hesitantly glancing at her, wanting to be kissed but too reserved to say so.
Ye Wenxue then stood up with a smile and kissed each of her children: "You are all so cute! You are truly your mother's children!"
Da Zhuang, who seemed indifferent, and San Yuan, who was extremely concerned, suddenly turned bright red.
Siwang returned Ye Wenxue's kiss without hesitation: "Mother is the best!"
Shuangshuang couldn't help but smile, biting her lip to suppress her laughter: "Mother, it's getting dark, I'll go start the fire and cook."
"Go ahead, we'll have stir-fried fish and shrimp for dinner."
The small fish and shrimp in the mountains have a natural sweetness. After heating the oil, stir-fry them briefly, and whether you add sauce or chili oil, they are a rare delicacy.
Ye Wenxue prefers stronger flavors, and since the fresh chilies were just starting to sprout, she added a spoonful of chili oil.
The moment the chili oil touched the stir-fried small fish and shrimp, it immediately released a rich aroma, making Siwang, who was cooking over a fire nearby, extremely hungry.
The larger fish in the baskets were picked out and placed in winnowing baskets to be smoked in the cave where the cured meat was smoked. What was left were small fish, less than the length of a finger, with few bones and soft flesh, so the children didn't have to worry about eating them.
But the children, especially Shuangshuang, preferred to eat shrimp. Perhaps because they had never eaten it before, they could eat three mouthfuls of rice after finishing a mouthful of shrimp with a chopstick.
Seeing that they liked it, Ye Wenxue thought about going to the lake to catch more small fish and shrimp, stir-frying them without oil or salt until dry, then drying and storing them so they could eat them whenever they wanted and keep them for a long time.
In the middle of the night, when Ye Wenxue went to cover the three boys who loved to kick off their blankets in the next room as usual, she saw the three boys sleeping peacefully with their blankets in their arms, and realized that the temperature had dropped a bit.
During the day, under the scorching sun, the temperature doesn't drop much, but at night, it drops by more than ten degrees.
The heavy snowfall was no longer just a few words mentioned lightly in the original book, but a real disaster that was about to happen.
The Xu family was in a hurry to move, so they didn't choose an auspicious day.
Upon hearing Ye Wenxue and the bald man say that the bamboo house had been rebuilt, Xu Lin immediately slung over the prepared bundle, and the young girl Lan Qing and Grandpa Xu stuffed all their belongings into the donkey cart that the bald man had brought. After searching through the thatched house several times to make sure that nothing was left behind, they decisively followed Ye Wenxue away.
The group remained mostly silent throughout the journey, except for the little girl Lanqing, who chattered away, describing the scenery along the road to Xu Lin.
"Green hills rise with the clouds, and verdant greenery grows around the fence. Xu Lin, once your eyes are healed, you will be able to appreciate the clusters of wildflowers and the twinkling stars."
Ye Wenxue and the bald man, who were riding horses beside the donkey cart, were both speechless.
After the wildfire, the land was scorched.
The rain that had lasted for several days had indeed given rise to some weeds and wildflowers, but overall the landscape remained lifeless and desolate, nothing like the beautiful scenery Lanqing had described.
Xu Lin caught a faint smell of burning and realized that Lan Qing was trying to comfort him. He nodded quietly and said nothing more.
Ye Wenxue interjected curiously, "Lan Qing doesn't acknowledge you as her father, but she does acknowledge him as her grandfather. Don't you find that strange?"
Lan Qing couldn't help but glare at Ye Wenxue, but after being glared back at, she huffed and stopped talking.
Xu Lin shook his head: "It's just a title, what's so strange about it?"
Ye Wenxue glanced at Lan Qing, who looked sullen, and smiled with a raised eyebrow: "That's true."
After the Xu family settled into the bamboo house, Old Master Xu, disregarding the wound on his head, repeatedly urged Baldy to quickly call some of the more clever brothers over to burn charcoal, lest the big business be delayed.
The bald man tried to persuade him a couple of times but was refused. In addition, he was also eager to earn money and stock up on food for the winter, so he did not refuse again. That afternoon, he called more than a dozen brothers, all of whom were quick-witted.
Several of them were quite young, only around ten years old, and they were very enthusiastic about their work.
Ye Wenxue followed and took a look at the dozen or so charcoal kilns dug out behind the bamboo house. She was almost dragged along to work by the anxious old man Xu.
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