Li Lanzhen looked at her eldest daughter-in-law's belly and gave instructions to Xue Nizi.
“Nizi, don’t go out to work these next few days. Just stay home and watch over your sister-in-law. When she’s about to give birth, shout at the top of your lungs or blow a whistle. Go and call your grandma over first.”
Xue Nizi immediately accepted the task and became nervous.
He nodded with a serious face.
"Yes, Mother, I understand. I will keep a close eye on my sister-in-law. I'll tidy up the chicken coop and pigsty in the next couple of days."
Li Lanzhen nodded and said, "Okay, let's do it this way. The pigs, cattle, chickens, ducks and geese should be delivered in about two days. You should hurry up and finish. It's okay if you can't finish. You can work with the second brother and the others when they come back."
After speaking with Xue Nizi, he then spoke to the three brothers.
"Eldest brother, second brother, Han Mingxiang, starting tomorrow, we'll go up the mountain to chop firewood."
Han Mingjiang quickly replied.
“Mother, you don’t need to go. We’ve already agreed that the whole village will go to chop firewood together, so it’ll be faster.”
Li Lanzhen asked him, "Did you also cut down the firewood for the children from Shitoushan Xing, and for Lu Huahua and Gou Dan's families?"
Han Mingjiang nodded, "Yes, Mother, we need to gather firewood for them first. We need to gather firewood from the children's yards, and a few families with small families have already prepared their firewood. Then it will be our turn to chop firewood."
Knowing that the village had already made arrangements, Li Lanzhen stopped worrying.
She originally planned to have the people who cut firewood in the mountains pile it up there, and then use her spatial ability to transport the firewood back.
After thinking about it, I decided to just live a normal life. I'm always relying on this space. What if one day this space disappears too?
Just as she thought of this, Li Lanzhen quickly spat out three times in her mind.
What were you thinking? How could the space possibly disappear? It absolutely must be there in the middle!
In the days that followed, everyone was tired but happy!
Every day, I'm busy from before dawn until the moon rises, still busy with household chores.
Li Lanzhen also went up the mountain every day and collected all the dry firewood she found into her spatial storage.
She also collected a lot of dry leaves.
They took them back to start a fire. After returning, they put a pile at Master Xu's place, put a pile in Li Erhan's yard, and then each of their own family and their sons' families got a pile. It was enough for the whole winter.
Besides going up the mountain to chop firewood and collect firewood, Li Lanzhen also kept an eye on the wild fruits in the mountains.
If we find large patches of them, we'll come back and tell everyone so we can go pick them together.
After searching for two days, she finally found a chestnut forest on the eastern mountain.
Li Lanzhen was overjoyed!
Although we grow sweet potatoes, potatoes, and vegetables in the fields, it's certainly better to have more grain.
She returned and told Han Shunde, and the next day the village organized people to go up the mountain with her to pick fruit.
After harvesting, the fruit was distributed to everyone according to headcount, and then they took it home to dry and peel themselves.
And so, they continued to find a lot of food in the mountains.
Mushrooms and wood ear fungus are the most common, and adults and children can pick a lot of them and bring them home every day.
After returning home, we cleaned them up, laid them on straw mats to dry, and then packed them into bags woven from thatch to store for winter consumption.
One day, the children discovered a hawthorn grove.
We picked quite a few hawthorns.
These hawthorns look bright red and are quite large.
However, once you take a bite, the sour taste is quite strong. Adults keep their children from eating too much, fearing it will damage their teeth and make it difficult to chew tofu.
Seeing that the children wanted to eat it but were afraid of the sourness, Li Lanzhen told them not to eat it now, but to make candied hawthorn for them when she had more free time in winter.
The words "candied hawthorn" successfully attracted the children, arousing their longing and anticipation.
So the next day they picked even more hawthorns.
These hawthorns are all kept in the main kitchen.
Li Lanzhen spent a few days wandering around the mountains and, after thinking about it, realized that these were the common mountain products available.
She remembered the small medicinal herb field in the western mountains and knew she had to go check it out; winter was coming, and some herbs needed to be harvested and processed.
She was thinking of taking Wu and Yuemei to the medicinal herb field tomorrow.
We can harvest a batch of medicinal herbs, process them, and store them.
This can be considered as building a herb shed for Peach Blossom Spring, just in case.
Xue Nizi had been learning some traditional Chinese medicine techniques from her mother, Wu, at home.
After arriving at Peach Blossom Spring, Li Lanzhen deliberately trained her to be a good cook.
She taught Xue Nizi how to cook various dishes, and Xue Nizi grasped the concepts quickly and could even apply them to other dishes, which made Li Lanzhen very gratified, so she taught her even more diligently.
Therefore, Xue Nizi abandoned her medical skills and devoted herself to learning to cook.
Unexpectedly, Han Yuemei liked these things and followed Wu around all day, going up the mountain to collect herbs and helping her sort the herbs and dig up medicinal materials.
Wu also complained to Xue Laohu that her daughter was studying herbal medicine, but all she did all day was cook and eat, and she had no future.
Xue Laohu, however, told her not to interfere or complain, saying that one day her daughter would definitely make a name for herself.
Wu stopped staring at Xue Nizi.
She discovered that Han Yuemei was very interested in herbs.
Wu also liked her, so she took her to study and taught Han Yuemei with all her heart.
After Li Lanzhen discovered this, she didn't stop her. As long as her little girl was willing to learn, she could learn along with her. Having more technical skills would be a good thing, and it wouldn't be a burden.
That evening, she told Wu and Han Yuemei that the three of them would go into the mountains early the next morning after breakfast.
That evening, Wu told Xue Laohu and Xue Bao about the matter.
Xue Laohu knew exactly what was going on as soon as he guessed.
"You can go with them. Perhaps your in-laws have discovered some medicinal herbs and are taking you to gather them. How is Yuemei doing with her studies, little girl?"
"That girl is very smart, and she doesn't talk much. She just works hard and loves to learn, so I taught her with all my heart."
Xue Laohu glanced at his son, who was listening intently, and laughed heartily.
"Just teach him well, who knows, we might end up as family."
Wu smiled as she looked at Xue Bao.
When Xue Bao heard Xue Laohu say that they might be family, his eyes lit up.
"Dad, what are you saying? We'll definitely be family. You should go and propose marriage for me as soon as possible, otherwise I'm afraid someone else will take her away."
Xue Laohu originally wanted to scold him for being shameless, but seeing his serious expression, he asked him a question.
"What? Has your Aunt Lanzhen taken a fancy to someone else?"
Xue Bao shook his head and said, "No, no, but seeing so many young men coming to Peach Blossom Spring, I'm afraid Yue Mei will take a fancy to someone else."
Ms. Wu slapped him.
"What nonsense are you spouting? Aren't you afraid of tarnishing Yuemei's reputation?"
Yuemei is a good girl. I think she is loyal and devoted to you. Once she falls for you, she will never be fickle. Don't worry about it. Don't gossip.
Once Han Mingxiang is married, I will go to his house to propose marriage.
Xue Bao then grinned and chuckled.
When Wu saw her foolish son, she thought he was hopeless. She glared at him and said, "Go to sleep now," before shooing him away.
The next day, the three of them ate breakfast and crossed the river early. Li Lanzhen led them northward at the foot of West Mountain.
Wu and Han Yuemei followed Li Lanzhen, rounded the foot of the mountain, and entered the small basin.
Once inside, Wu couldn't take her eyes off the sight!
His mouth trembled, and he couldn't utter a complete sentence.
"My dear in-laws, my dear in-laws, how did you find all this? It's such a beautiful herb garden! It's wonderful! So beautiful! These herbs are growing so well!"
Li Lanzhen chuckled, watching Wu Shi act like a little girl, wishing she could jump around a few times.
“My dear in-law, look, this little medicinal herb garden is now in your care.”
You can decide how to handle these herbs.
Thank you for bringing Yuemei; this girl enjoys learning to identify herbs.
Mrs. Wu nodded repeatedly, "Don't worry, in-law, there's no problem."
I like this child. She's very intelligent, but she doesn't talk much; all she does is study. I'll teach her everything I know.
Li Lanzhen asked them, "Aren't you scared picking herbs here? I have something to do up the mountain."
Ms. Wu said, "It's alright, you can go ahead."
However, Li Lanzhen was still worried, fearing that there might be something she hadn't discovered—a snake or other wild beast guarding the herbs.
She said, annoyed.
"Oh, how could I forget? We should call Xue Bao over and have him come with you; it'll be safer that way."
Suddenly, a voice came from behind her, "Auntie, are you calling me? I'm here."
The three men turned around and looked, but they didn't know who Xue Bao was!
He was carrying a basket on his back, wearing a straw hat, and had a straw in his mouth, looking rather disheveled.
Li Lanzhen laughed, "You little rascal, have you been following us around all this time?"
Xue Bao chuckled and said, "I was worried about your safety, so I followed you to protect you. Now that your aunt has remembered me, hasn't she?"
Li Lanzhen said, "Okay, now that you're here, you can be a bodyguard for your mother and Yuemei and watch over them, okay?"
I was afraid that some insects or wild animals might be guarding the herb garden, and I didn't notice them, which might have hurt your mother and Yuemei.
Xue Bao shouted, "Yes, ma'am! I will definitely complete the mission!"
His mother was so angry that she slapped him on the back.
"You little brat, how dare you talk to your aunt like that?"
Li Lanzhen waved her hand and said, "It's nothing, it's nothing. I like this kid, his enthusiasm!"
After saying that, Li Lanzhen went up the mountain.
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