Lu Chuan chuckled as he accepted it, then peeled it again and handed it to Xu Han.
Xu Han took the peanuts and started eating them. This year, everyone stayed up until the early hours of the morning on New Year's Eve before dispersing to their rooms to rest.
The next day was the first day of the Lunar New Year this year. Early that morning, after eating dumplings, Lu Chuan and Xu Han began to wish the Taoist priest and Grandpa Zhao a Happy New Year.
"Master Daoist, Happy New Year, Grandpa Zhao! We wish you good health and all the best in the new year," Lu Chuan and Xu Han said in unison.
After saying that, one of them knelt down and the other kowtowed.
The Taoist priest and Grandpa Zhao quickly helped the two up and then gave each of them a gift box.
"Quickly open it and take a look. This is a New Year's gift that your Grandpa Zhao and I have been choosing for you for a long time. See if you like it," the Taoist priest urged.
Xu Han opened her two gift boxes and looked inside. One contained a particularly beautiful jade bracelet, and the other contained a particularly beautiful set of jade bowls and plates.
"I love it! It's all so beautiful! Thank you, Taoist priest and Grandpa Zhao," Xu Han said with a sweet smile.
"I'm glad you like it. I knew you would like these things," Grandpa Zhao said happily.
"Lu Chuan, what's yours?" Xu Han asked.
Lu Chuan opened the gift box for Xu Han to see. Inside the box was a particularly sharp-looking dagger and a set of hidden weapons.
"I'll teach you how to use this hidden weapon later. Your skills aren't going to improve much anymore. Learn a hidden weapon properly; if you master it, it can save your life in a critical moment," the Taoist priest said to Lu Chuan.
“Okay, I will definitely study hard,” Lu Chuan replied.
After exchanging New Year's greetings, it meant that the New Year was over. As in previous years, there was no need to visit relatives. Except for not working on the first day of the Lunar New Year, Lu Chuan led everyone to continue making doors, windows, tables and chairs on the second day of the Lunar New Year.
The snow outside is still quite thick! Xu Han took advantage of the cold weather these past few days to freeze a lot more ice blocks and put them in her space so that they could be used directly this summer.
Before we knew it, it was already early February. It had been more than a month since the last snowfall.
Down in the mountains, the people who saw the snow were extremely happy, thinking that the drought would definitely not continue this year and that things would return to normal.
But fate is cruel! Spring planting is just around the corner, but there hasn't been a single sign of rain.
The heavy snow that fell earlier had already melted, and the temperature gradually rose after the snowfall, causing the snow to melt very quickly.
Within a few days, the ground dried completely and returned to its previous state, covered in dust. Walking on it would kick up a cloud of dust, as if the heavy snow had never fallen.
The drought lasted too long, and this little bit of snowmelt is like a sprinkle of water to the earth, completely unable to solve the cracks that appeared last year due to the long drought.
Fortunately, because of the heavy snow, some wild vegetables sprouted after the weather warmed up slightly. The water level in the well didn't continue to drop; in fact, it rose a little.
However, the dried-up ditch was not left with any trace, only a little bit damp.
Fortunately, due to the heavy snow and the rapid rise in temperature, many wild vegetables sprouted quickly, which prevented farmers and people from running out of food.
However, there are too many people and not enough wild vegetables. The mountains are full of people digging for wild vegetables every day. There are more people than wild vegetables, so it is impossible to get enough to eat by just eating wild vegetables.
"If it doesn't rain soon, we'll miss the spring planting season. How will we survive the next year if we can't plant?" said an old man with white hair.
"Yes! We thought the weather would return to normal after this heavy snowfall, but it's been like before, and it hasn't rained for over a month now. Is this going to be another year of drought?" another old man said.
"Who knows! Even if there is no drought in a year, if it doesn't rain during spring planting, we still won't have anything to eat. Without spring planting, there will be no food. Even the wild vegetables on the mountain are not as plentiful as in previous years."
“My family is about to run out of food. If this continues, none of us will survive.”
“Your family is doing a little better! My family has a lot of people, and we ran out of food a few days ago. We’ve been surviving on wild vegetables every day.”
"Sigh! Are we just going to keep waiting for the rain to come? How long will that take?!"
"Waiting is the same as dying, so I might as well go out and find a way to survive!"
"You mean, fleeing famine?" an old man asked uncertainly.
"Yes! It's a bit better now when people are fleeing famine, at least there aren't so many people on the road."
"But fleeing famine isn't that easy! How many people can actually make it to their destination alive?"
"Instead of waiting to die here, we might as well give it a shot!"
"What if it rains after we leave? Wouldn't that make our trip pointless?" The old man was tempted by the suggestion to flee the famine, but he was still hesitant.
"If it rains, we'll come back, but if we leave too late, it'll be troublesome. You can decide for yourselves what to do! Anyway, my family is planning to leave." With that, he left the place where they had been talking.
Seeing this, others hesitated. Some were tempted, some wanted to wait and see, and some felt that it was definitely not that serious and did not intend to flee the famine.
Those who didn't plan to flee the famine also thought that once the refugees left, resources would increase, and they would surely be able to survive...
Regardless of what the people down the mountain thought, Xu Han continued her normal life, and hadn't gone down the mountain since she last went to buy bricks.
They've always lived their own quiet life deep in the mountains, as if they've lost touch with the outside world.
Of course, after the wild vegetables in the mountains came out, Xu Han did not rest. She led the Taoist priest and the others to pick wild vegetables in the deep mountains for two days, and then they stopped picking them.
Instead, they took advantage of the good weather and cleared out the vegetable garden in the backyard, planting some greens.
This is relatively easy to harvest, and unlike other vegetables, it doesn't have a long growth cycle.
As for other vegetables with long growth cycles, none of them were planted, because everyone knew that the drought would only get worse later on, and there was no water to irrigate them. Planting them would not yield much, so it was better not to plant them at all!
Excitingly, the water pipes, which had almost stopped flowing, started running again after the snow melted.
Although the amount is not very large, it is enough for daily use. It just so happens that it will be used for building a house recently. Once the house is completely built, the water supply will probably be cut off again.
After the weather warmed up, construction resumed. The roof beams are now complete, and only a few tiles remain to be laid. Once those are laid, the project will be finished.
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