Han Yixian and his group arrived just before dark, and hadn't eaten dinner yet.
As soon as He Zhendong entered the door, he complained of being hungry. "Little sister, we haven't had dinner yet. I'm starving. Do you have anything ready to eat?"
He Yuhan couldn't let Han Yixian and her brothers go hungry, so she quickly said, "Wait a moment, I'll go cook right away, it'll be ready soon."
She quickly went to the kitchen to start a fire and cook.
Han Yixian didn't care what others thought; he went straight to the kitchen to help He Yuhan and learn how to cook.
After careful consideration, He Yuhan made a seaweed and egg drop soup, a flatbread, scrambled eggs with scallions, stir-fried shredded potatoes with vinegar, dried shrimp and winter melon, and pickled vegetables with sesame oil. She quickly put the food on the table.
No one stood on ceremony and everyone sat down at the table to eat.
After dinner, Han Yi asked, "Yuhan, do you think we should go into the mountains tonight, or tomorrow?"
He Yuhan said, "It's not safe in the mountains at night, let's go during the day. We can dig up the potatoes and sweet potatoes during the day and carry them to the mountainside, then transport them home at night. That way, no one will notice."
You all get some rest today. We'll leave at dawn tomorrow, and no one will notice we've gone into the mountains. We'll come down after dark.
Han Yi nodded and said, "Then let's rest early after we finish eating and get up early tomorrow."
He Yuhan said, "We're going into the mountains tomorrow and won't be back until noon. I'll make some dry food for lunch first thing tomorrow morning. Mom, we'll be staying on the mountain all day, so you'll have to cook for us at home tomorrow."
Yu Huiru said, "It's just cooking. Although I'm not as good a cook as you, I can still cook. Don't worry, go into the mountains. I'll prepare dinner in advance. Be careful in the mountains."
After finishing their meal, everyone went to bed early. The five of them could stay in the two rooms on the east side however they wanted.
He Yuhan got up around 3 a.m. to prepare breakfast and dry food. Han Yixian had been listening for a while, and when he heard Yuhan was up, he got up too. He had to help Yuhan; cooking for so many people was tiring.
When He Yuhan saw Han Yixian come to the kitchen, she said, "Brother Han, why didn't you sleep a little longer?"
Han Yi sat down and started a fire, saying, "You're up so early working, how can I sleep? Let me help you."
He Yuhan smiled and said, "Then you can start the fire for me."
She noticed that Han Yixian was becoming increasingly adept at flattering people, and he was making a great show of himself in front of her family. She knew he was trying to change her family's impression of him.
It's getting a bit chilly in the mornings and evenings, so He Yuhan made a big pot of hot noodle soup. She sautéed tomatoes in oil, and used hand-rolled, pure white noodles. She also boiled many poached eggs in the hot noodle soup.
This way, everyone can have a hot and satisfying meal before setting off.
As for the dry food to bring for lunch, He Yuhan made scallion pancakes, fried meat sauce in a canned jar for easy carrying, boiled a lot of eggs, and brought tomatoes, cucumbers, green onions, and two jugs of water. That would be all she needed.
Everyone knew they had to leave early, so they all got up very early.
He Zhenhua saw that Han Yixian had also gotten up early to help his younger sister with chores and nodded to himself. From some details, it was clear that Han Yixian really cared about his younger sister and knew how to be considerate, which was very good.
Now, Han Yixian knows to consult with him and his father about anything, and he is quite satisfied with Han Yixian as his future brother-in-law.
After everyone washed up, they quickly ate, then packed up and prepared to leave.
It was just dawn when the six of them set off together, carrying willow baskets and tools such as pitchforks. Han Yixian simply put He Yuhan's basket on top of his own and carried it on his back, leaving He Yuhan to walk empty-handed.
He Yuhan had prepared the willow basket in advance, specifically for harvesting potatoes and sweet potatoes in the mountains today.
All six of them were physically fit, and after entering the mountains, they quickly arrived at one of the places where He Yuhan was planting potatoes.
It was already broad daylight when Liu Gang spotted the potato vines in the grass.
He Yuhan had only weeded around the potato vines once, and by now the weeds around them had already grown back.
The potato seedlings looked to be growing very well because He Yuhan had soaked the seedlings in the space well water before planting them, which is why they were able to grow tenaciously and well even surrounded by grass.
Han Yixian also saw the potato vines and said, "Yuhan, you're in charge of finding the locations of the potato vines for us, and we'll be in charge of digging them up."
He Yuhan nodded and began marking the areas with potato vines. Then everyone started digging.
Liu Gang was the most experienced; he used a pitchfork to dig out a string of large potatoes in one go.
He Zhendong was overjoyed when he saw it. "Wow, so many potatoes, and they're so big! I never expected that one plant could produce so many potatoes."
Liu Gang said, "Brother He, you don't know this, do you? When Yuhan was in Luancheng, she also grew potatoes and sweet potatoes in the mountains, and they grew even better than these."
Last year, several of us went into the mountains to harvest potatoes and sweet potatoes, and it took us several days to finish. In the end, the potatoes and sweet potatoes were piled up like a small mountain in the yard. Because there were so many, Yuhan had to share a lot with other families.
After saying that, he turned to He Yuhan and asked, "Yuhan, how much did you plant this year? Can we harvest it all in one day?"
Du Yuhan looked at the potatoes on the ground and said, "I don't have that much free time this year, so I didn't plant that many. I should be able to harvest them in two days at most."
He Zhenhua and Huo Xicheng exchanged a glance. It would take them six people two days to finish collecting it all. How much would that take?
They don't have a clear concept of it yet, but they know it's definitely indispensable.
He Yuhan chose sunny spots with sparse trees to plant potatoes and sweet potatoes, so they weren't planted in concentrated areas; one plant here, one plant there. However, just like in Luancheng before, they were planted in a few clusters. This way, the search area wouldn't be too large.
The temperature in the mountains is lower than outside, but digging potatoes is hard work, and everyone except He Yuhan was soon drenched in sweat.
But everyone remained enthusiastic. Every time they dug up a large bunch of potatoes or sweet potatoes, it was a pleasant surprise.
Besides He Yuhan, the other five were all strong and capable young men, so they quickly piled up a large heap of potatoes in a relatively flat area. And the heap continued to grow.
After digging up one of the potato fields planted by He Yuhan, the potato pile had almost become a potato mountain. This was the largest area planted by He Yuhan, so there seemed to be more potatoes there.
He Zhenhua and his brother, along with Huo Xicheng, were all shocked. They still couldn't believe that these were just the plants their little sister occasionally planted when she went into the mountains, and yet she had harvested so much. This was only one area; apparently, there were several other such areas. It was simply unbelievable.
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