Han Minghai and Zhang Deshui turned to look at the excited Li Lanzhen.
He quickly asked, "What idea have you come up with?"
Li Lanzhen held up the hollow straw in her hand.
“We can hollow out the middle of the big tree and connect the sections together so that we can divert water from here down the mountain.”
Zhang Deshun slapped his thigh and said, "Oh my, my dear in-law, no wonder the old village chief said you're a lucky star. You really are a lucky star, and you're really smart!"
Han Minghai chuckled, "Mom, you're so clever. We can dig a 100-meter-long canal from the lake and connect it to this naturally formed waterway."
Then, following this waterway, find a place with a gentle slope in the valley, install a wooden trough carved from wood, and wouldn't that connect to a water channel?
Li Lianzhen was also very happy and stood up, saying, "Let's go down the mountain to find the village chief and the others to discuss how to dig the irrigation canal."
Upon hearing about their findings, the village chief immediately convened a meeting of the village committee.
More than an hour later, a mature and perfect plan for digging a canal to irrigate the farmland in Wangyou Valley was freshly developed.
The responsibilities for each section of the excavation work, including who is in charge and who is in charge, are all clearly defined.
Zhang Deshui also proposed that after the irrigation canal is dug, there will be a main canal in Wangyou Valley, and then multiple branch canals will be used to bring water into the farmland of each household.
Where will this waterway ultimately flow to? We need to investigate further.
Li Lanzhen added, "I suggest that it would be best to find a place where water can be stored, such as a water cellar or a small reservoir, so that the water can flow there to supply the villagers of Wangyou Valley with their daily water needs."
When irrigation is needed, water is diverted to the dry canal.
Everyone had thought about this problem, but no one had such a mature idea. After Li Lanzhen brought it up, everyone suddenly had a clearer understanding.
The old village chief slammed his hand on the table and said, "Lanzhen's idea is excellent. We should build a water cellar or reservoir in Forget-Worry Valley so that we can store water and irrigate during droughts."
And so, the old village chief led Zhang Deshui and the village committee members to search for a suitable place in Wangyou Valley to build a reservoir.
Li Lanzhen didn't want to go with them.
She had already given them the general direction, and the water diversion plan was very mature and feasible, so she strolled home.
After passing by his parents' cave, he saw Ye sitting outside pickling wild vegetables.
"Mom, are you planning to pickle so many wild vegetables?"
When Mrs. Ye looked up and saw her daughter, she immediately beamed with joy.
He clapped his hands, rolled a nearby wooden stump over, and called to her.
"My daughter's here, sit here."
As he spoke, he wiped his hands, took out three bright red wild fruits from his pocket, and handed them to her.
"Here, have some. It's sweet and sour, and it's delicious!"
Li Lanzhen took a look and saw that this kind of wild fruit was everywhere on the mountain, but only a few of them had turned red.
It doesn't look like a hawthorn, nor like an apple. I don't know what kind of wild fruit it is, but it tastes similar to a crabapple.
Ye said, "I heard you call this fruit crabapple. Adults and children love to eat it, especially the four pregnant daughters-in-law. You have no idea, they always carry a few crabapples in their pockets."
Li Lanzhen took a bite and crunched the fruit, her mouth immediately filled with the sweet and sour juice, and she chuckled.
"Mom, isn't the name 'Crabapple' nice?"
Mrs. Ye squinted, her face crinkling with laughter, "It sounds beautiful, how could it not! My daughter is truly learned!"
Everyone in the village, young and old, praised me, saying I was lucky to have such a blessed daughter, hahaha!
Li Lanzhen smiled and pretended to take out three sesame cakes, a dozen pieces of maltose candy, and ten eggs from her basket, but actually from her spatial storage.
Wrap it in a clean blue cloth and hand it to Mrs. Ye.
"Mother, these are white flour flatbreads I bought in Youzhou City. They even have sesame seeds on them. Take them home and have some if you get hungry tonight."
"These maltose candies, you can enjoy a sweet treat every day, and that will make your days happier. These ten eggs, what do you think, should we pickle them or boil them for the family?"
Ms. Ye accepted it with both hands, her eyes slightly red.
“My dear daughter, if you hadn’t gone to Yejiawan to find us, I’m afraid your father, me, and your brother would all be ashes by now. Your sister-in-law is also a strong-willed person; even if she were captured, she wouldn’t have survived alone.”
You've carried our whole family on this journey, thank you for your hard work!
Li Lanzhen hugged Ye Shi, patted her back, and rested her head on Ye Shi's shoulder, enjoying the warmth between mother and daughter in this moment.
She said softly, "Mom, with you here, I have confidence. Look how good our life is now. You and Dad must take good care of yourselves, eat more, and live to be 100. By then, I'll be in my seventies or eighties, and I'll still have you and Dad by my side. Just think how happy I am."
Ye put her arm around Li Lanzhen and patted her back as she spoke.
"Okay, your father and I will eat more and live well, so that when our daughter is seventy or eighty, she'll still have her parents around and can still act spoiled!"
The night Li Lanzhen returned from Youzhou City, she summoned Hai Minghai to the area behind their family's cave, which they used as a storeroom.
In front of him, Li Lanzhen took out cotton, quilts, cotton-padded clothes and trousers, a lot of cotton shoes, farm tools, two baskets of eggs, duck eggs, goose eggs, various vegetable seeds, a bag of wheat flour, black flour, wheat bran, a sack of old rice, millet, coarse cloth and fine cotton cloth...
Han Minghai stood there, petrified!
My mind was screaming inside!
Is this my mother?! Is she a deity?! My mother can actually move objects from a distance!
When he was little, he heard his father say that storytellers said there were people who could separate objects, and there was such a thing as a spatial ring that could hold everything in the world!
Thinking this, he asked, "Mother, do you have a ring space? Are you a deity who came to save our family? Can you telekinesis? Who gave you all these things? Are you a deity from heaven?"
Li Lanzhen turned to look at him. As expected of the boss, he remained so calm as he watched her take out so many things before speaking.
And the very first sentence gets straight to the point?
"Mustard seed space? Boss, where did you hear about this?"
Han Minghai scratched the back of his head and said, "I heard it from my father. He heard it from a storyteller."
Li Lan realized this and thought to herself, "What kind of bullshit system is this? So, people already knew about treasures like the ring space back then."
The system immediately jumped out and said, "Host! You're swearing again! Aren't we supposed to be living in harmony? Why are you cursing me again? Who told you that people in this era don't know about treasures like the Mustard Seed Space?!"
Li Lanzhen thought it made sense; since no one had told her about the system, she stopped paying attention to it.
She raised her hand and touched the half-bag of millet, saying, "Look, eldest brother, this millet can be used to nourish your wife when she gives birth. As for these eggs, find an excuse to take them out. We can eat them regularly, or we can pickle some to add to everyone's meal."
I've already planned out all these cotton quilts, blankets, clothes, and pants. There will be enough for all three of our in-laws' families, your maternal grandparents' family, our family, and Dog Egg's grandparents and grandchildren, regardless of age.
Oh, I forgot.
As he spoke, with a wave of his hand, a pig's head, offal, half a pig's shoulder, and two large pieces of pork fat appeared on the wooden shelf!
"Boss, what excuse are you using to bring these out? We eat these at home all the time."
Han Minghai said, "Mother, who else knows that you have this mustard seed space?"
Li Lanzhen was taken aback, then touched her nose guiltily and said, "Your second brother and your uncle know."
She looked up and met Han Minghai's gaze, his resentful eyes seeming to accuse her: "Hmph, I'm the eldest, why didn't you tell me first, you actually told the second eldest first!"
Li Lanzhen quickly explained, "Second brother and your Uncle Xue don't know about the Mustard Seed Space. They just thought I could retrieve things remotely."
And since you're the only one who knows about the Mustard Seed Space, I won't tell anyone else from now on!
Han Minghai said with a serious expression, "Mother, you must promise that no one else will know. People's hearts are hidden from view. They may seem peaceful and harmonious on the surface, but who knows if they will have bad intentions once they find out that you have a ring space?"
"Mother, we've lost Father, and all we want is for you to live to be a hundred. Even when I'm sixty or seventy, you'll still be here, still caring for me, still scolding me."
Seeing her eldest son already in tears, Li Lanzhen felt a lump in her throat. All children are like this, wishing their parents could live to be a hundred years old.
She opened her arms and hugged Han Minghai, patted his back to comfort him, and hid her own tears.
"Good, my good eldest son. We won't tell anyone but the two of us. You need to take good care of yourself, eat more, and I'm counting on you to support me. You also need to take good care of your wife and children."
When Li Lanzhen suddenly hugged him, Han Minghai was a little flustered.
Since he was five years old, his mother had never held him again. Instead, his father often carried him on his shoulders. After a moment of stunned silence, he opened his arms and hugged Li Lanzhen tightly.
"Mother, I promise you that I will take good care of my health, be a good son to you, and take good care of my wife and children so that they will all be dutiful to you."
Seeing this shelf full of things, Han Minghai was troubled.
"Mother, what are we going to do with all this stuff?"
Li Lanzhen said, "I don't care about that. You and your brother figure it out!"
These things belong to our family. Only our two in-laws and your maternal grandparents' family can use and eat them. Just don't let the villagers know."
Han Minghai nodded and said, "Mother, you can't be too generous in the future. A little kindness is appreciated, but too much kindness breeds resentment. Even if you don't give anything away now, the villagers can still make it to next spring. As long as the weather gets warmer next spring and it's time to plant grains and vegetables, then we can start taking over."
Li Lanzhen nodded and agreed, "Okay, okay, I'm going out now. You can decide what to do with these things yourself!"
(My darlings, thank you for following along!)
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