Chapter 24 Planting Trees



Xu Baoying patted her granddaughter on the back and stared at the couple standing at the door. It was really unbelievable that they didn't tell her right away after such a big thing happened. "How can you two be parents? Did Sisi let others bully her for nothing? When your father comes back, I have to go to his house to ask for an explanation."

Yan Sisi got up from her grandmother's arms and said, "Grandma, forget it. The marriage has been called off, and I don't want to argue with his family anymore."

If the matter is exposed, what else can be changed except that everyone will be embarrassed?

Xu Baoying looked at the unusually silent couple. No, if that side was claiming the blame, these two would have jumped up and started looking for trouble. They were so quiet today, which was not their usual style. There must be something wrong.

Xu Baoying touched her granddaughter's hand and said, "Okay, listen to my granddaughter. Forget it if my granddaughter says so. We have been making a fuss all afternoon. Go back to your room and have a good rest. When the meal is ready, grandma will call you to eat."

Yan Sisi took a bus in the morning and went up the mountain in the afternoon. Then she had an argument with someone. She felt mentally and physically exhausted. She nodded when she heard what was said, and looked at her parents who were standing there motionless as if they wanted to talk to her grandmother. She left the living room and returned to their house. She climbed onto her single bed, closed her eyes and rested.

Yan Sisi thought she would not be able to sleep, but unexpectedly she slept until dark.

When she got up from the bed, Yan's father and mother were lying on the other side of the curtain whispering something. Yan Sisi leaned over and asked, "Mom, what are you talking about?"

Yan's mother was startled by the sudden sound. She looked up and saw the delicate face of the young lady. She breathed a sigh of relief and patted her hand, saying, "You suddenly appeared. Are you trying to scare your mother to death?"

Yan Sisi blinked innocently, "I didn't, you were just too focused, what were you talking about just now?"

As he was talking, Father Yan had already gotten up from the bed and walked to the door. He looked at the mother and daughter and said, "Your grandma left some food for you. I'll go get it for you."

Yan Sisi then turned her eyes to her mother, and her mother said perfunctorily to her daughter, "It's an adult matter, a child like you shouldn't interfere too much."

Yan Sisi curled her lips, and the corners of her mouth looked like they could have been covered with oil pots. She said sullenly, "If you don't want to tell me, then don't tell me." The adults are just boring. Now the secret is being kept from her, but she will know it in the end. It's only a matter of time.

With a click, the door opened and closed again. Father Yan placed two warm enamel bowls on the wooden cabinet at the head of the bed and said, "Your grandma specially steamed egg custard for you. Hurry up and eat it!"

"Grandma is so good to me." Yan Sisi looked at the egg custard that she hadn't eaten for a few days. She didn't care about any secrets anymore. She put on her shoes and sat next to the bedside table. She looked at the bowl full of egg custard and dumpling soup, carefully scooped a spoonful with a spoon and put it in her mouth.

The egg custard made by her grandmother was still the best, smooth and tender, without a single pore. Yan Sisi said as she ate, "Mom, the egg custard made by my grandmother is delicious. Do you want to learn how to make it?"

Mother Yan glared at the girl who was enjoying her meal and said, "How many years has your grandma been cooking, and how many years has your mom been cooking? How can you compare?"

This heartless girl even abandoned her cooking skills. It's really been a waste of feeding her so many years.

Yan Sisi heard something wrong in her mother's voice and thought: Oh no, I forgot not to say bad things about my mother. It will be terrible if I don't cook for her.

Yan Sisi, who knew the trick well, lowered her head and silently ate the egg custard and dumpling soup in the bowl. After a while, she had finished both bowls of rice.

After eating, drinking and sleeping enough, Yan Sisi walked around for a while. Her stomach was still full. Thinking of some saplings she had dug in the afternoon that had not yet been planted, she said hello to her parents and went into the space.

Yan Sisi entered the space and saw only saplings piled together in a mess. There was also a shovel on the ground next to it that had not been taken out. It could be used to dig holes and plant trees, saving her the trouble of going out to get it.

Yan Sisi was overwhelmed when she saw the saplings all over the ground. How much time would it take to pick them up one by one? Then, she realized that the saplings slowly floated up and followed her footsteps to the edge.

After arriving at the destination, Yan Sisi relaxed and all the saplings fell to the ground. She then used a shovel to dig holes and put the saplings in to fill the holes. She kept working like this for an unknown amount of time before she finally planted all the saplings.

After planting all the saplings, Yan Sisi felt that she was still very energetic and not sleepy at all. She turned around and looked at the empty ground, and used the tip of the shovel to draw small square grids on the ground, and then dug out long pits in each square. She took out the seeds her father found for her and planted them one by one, planting different plants in each grid.

I hope that in a few days we can harvest different kinds of fruits, which will enrich their dining table.

After the seeds were planted, Yan Sisi controlled the spiritual spring water to water every plant and seed. Each time a plant was planted, a large amount of water was needed, but the water in the spiritual spring well did not decrease at all.

After looking at the Lingquan Well, Yan Sisi turned around and looked at the tall ancient tree. Her eyes couldn't help but look at the green fruit hanging from the top of the tree. When she looked closely, the gray color at the bottom of the fruit seemed to be much less than when she first saw it. She didn't know if it was her illusion.

The branches of the ancient tree were originally half gray and half green, but now a little green is quietly spreading upward from the gray bottom. It may be the green smoke absorbed by the plants every time they are picked that makes them look like this.

Sleepiness slowly invaded Yan Sisi's mind. She couldn't help but yawn a few times, and tears came out. As soon as she thought about it, she left the space. At this moment, the sky outside had completely darkened. If she didn't light a candle, she couldn't see the direction at all.

Yan Sisi stood where she came out. The whole room was quiet and only her father's snoring could be heard. She looked in their direction with a nervous look, and was relieved to see that the noise from the outside did not wake them up. Then she stood there and waited for her eyes to adapt to the darkness, then she climbed onto her bed quietly and fell asleep with loud snoring.

When Yan Sisi woke up the next day, she was awakened by the glaring sunlight. When she left the room, her mother was the only one at home, searching for something in the kitchen.

Yan Sisi stood at the door and asked, "Mom, what are you doing?"

Mother Yan was frightened yesterday, but her resistance is much better today. When she heard the sudden sound, she stood up calmly and whispered to the daughter-in-law who came in, "I'm just looking for something to grow into a fairyland for you. Look, these potatoes have sprouted because the temperature in the kitchen is too high. Anyway, they can't be eaten or planted, so it's a waste to throw them away."

Yan Sisi hadn't eaten a single bite of rice yet, and asked anxiously, "Mom, did you leave any rice for me?"

"In the innermost pot, there are some mixed grain steamed buns."

Yan Sisi took the mixed-grain steamed bun in her hand and turned around to see her mother chopping the sprouted potatoes with a kitchen knife. She took a bite of the bun and asked vaguely, "Mom, can you still plant the potatoes after you cut them?"

"You don't know this, do you? Potatoes can survive as long as there is a place for them to sprout. You need to wrap the cut with a thin layer of wood ash so that they can survive when you plant them." Seeing that her daughter understood, Yan's mother continued to cut and said, "And when you plant, you need to dig a long trench first, cover the potatoes with soil with the sprouts facing up, and water them."

Yan Sisi nodded in understanding. Planting plants is a science, but she seemed to have always dug a hole in the space, threw the seeds in, covered them with a thin layer of soil, and then watered them, and in the end they all came to life.

Yan Sisi, who didn't understand what was going on, ate while watching her mother cutting the potatoes. When she finished her breakfast, the potatoes were also covered with a layer of wood ash.

Yan Sisi carried the potatoes that her mother had prepared back to their room. She waited until her mother locked the door before she entered the room with peace of mind.

Yan Sisi, holding potatoes, followed her mother's instructions and planted the potatoes in the basket one by one. Finally, she watered them and waited for them to sprout and grow.

When they left the space, Father Yan came back at some point with five or six stacked bamboo baskets and two bamboo boxes, and finally a long wooden barrel, which was obviously used to raise fish for her.

There is a large bamboo forest in the mountains behind their village. The small baskets and other items used by every household are made of bamboo from the mountain. Every spring, everyone goes together to pick bamboo shoots. They are crispy and delicious, and are also very tasty when used to make soup.

Thinking of this, Yan Sisi couldn't help but say, "Dad, can we dig some bamboo shoots and plant them in the fairy space?"

The sudden idea was immediately approved by the foodie. Although Father Yan was very tempted, he still said: "Bamboo shoots are usually planted in spring, and they may not survive in winter."

"It's okay. It's not cold at all in the fairy space. Let's plant some and try. What if they survive?" Yan Sisi said without giving up. She really couldn't miss any plant that could become a delicacy.

Father Yan thought that the bamboo forest was not too far from the mountain spring water place where they went yesterday, so he nodded and agreed. After the negotiation, Yan Sisi stored all the things her father brought back under the ancient tree in the space, and placed them around with all the things she brought in from outside.

This small space has become popular because of these things.

Yan's father waited for his daughter to come out before calling his wife who was cleaning outside. The three of them each took a shovel and walked towards the mountain behind.

The first place they arrived at was the bamboo forest that Yan Sisi had been looking for. The bamboo forest was still full of green in winter, with bamboos as thick as arms and lush green bamboos reaching into the sky.

Yan's mother first found a small bamboo shoot that had emerged from the soil. She pushed aside the gray bamboo leaves next to it and carefully dug from the edge with a shovel. Yan Sisi watched her mother dig the bamboo shoots closely until she dug for a long time before she dug out a bamboo shoot with roots.

The bamboo shoots had a brown skin and were covered with fine hairs. Yan Sisi held the root and placed it in the space before continuing to look for the next one.

It was the first time Yan Sisi saw bamboo shoots being dug out. She had always eaten bamboo shoots cut into slices before, so she immediately ran to other places to look for bamboo shoots and dug them out with a shovel. Soon, the family of three dug up six bamboo shoots of different sizes.

Yan Sisi looked at the pile of bamboo shoots and immediately called out to her parents to stop digging, put the bamboo shoots into the space and go to the next destination.

Their next destination was the mountain spring river where they had gone fishing yesterday. They stopped to dig up any wild fruit-bearing tree seedlings they came across on the way.

It took nearly an hour to reach the destination. Yan Sisi took the lead in taking out the long wooden barrel and placing it by the river. After washing it carefully with mountain spring water, she added spiritual spring water and mountain spring water into the barrel without telling the two people who were fishing seriously.

Yan's father and mother worked together to cast and collect nets on both sides of the creek, while Yan Sisi sat by the water and was responsible for picking out the fish and shrimps from the fishing nets and putting them into a wooden barrel.

The three people took turns casting the net and pulling it up. It took them almost an hour to finally pull up the net. By then, there were already a lot of fish and shrimps in the wooden barrel. Maybe because there were few people coming here, there were still a lot of fish. Each time they cast the net, they could catch about a dozen small fish and two or three big fish.

Before putting the fish into the space, Yan Sisi picked out the largest ones and asked, "Dad, let's give half of these big ones to grandma and the other half to grandma and the others!"

They will be going back in the afternoon and I don’t know when they will come next time.

Father Yan nodded, and the three of them packed up and went to the thatched cottage halfway up the mountain to help clean up the place where grandma lived, fix the leaks, and add some spiritual spring water to the water tank to dilute it.

After saying goodbye to grandma and cousin, the family of three went down the mountain carrying two fish. When they got home, although aunt didn't look very good, she didn't say a word, which was a rare thing for them because of the fish they brought back.

The family didn't say a word about what happened yesterday. They all sat quietly at the table and quickly picked up their chopsticks to eat the fish that rarely appeared on the table. The only sound at the table was the sound of eating.

After dinner, Yan Sisi's family packed up and prepared to go home. During this time, Yan's mother went out and brought back a jar of wild honey.

Xu Baoying packed some eggs and vegetables and gave them to Yan Sisi, saying, "Go home and be good, don't think too much. If anything happens, come back and tell grandma, and grandma will help you vent your anger."

Yan Sisi nodded.

The family of three took a bullock cart to the town, and then took a car to the county. By the time they arrived at the family compound, it was already dark.

Yan Sisi followed her parents and before she got close to the courtyard, she heard a burst of crying for her parents, which made her scalp tingle.


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