"What you said makes sense, just like everyone thinks their cooking is better than everyone else's."
“Hey, that’s not right. Not everyone is like you,” the Taoist priest retorted.
"Anyway, they all taste better than what you make." Grandpa Zhao rolled his eyes at the Taoist priest.
Before the Taoist priest could say anything more, Xu Han quickly interrupted, "Let's set off early tomorrow and not come back for lunch."
"Okay, we'll go after breakfast and won't be back for lunch. Grandpa Zhao, you can take Mu'er for a walk around our neighborhood this afternoon, just don't go too far."
"Okay, I understand. You guys go ahead and don't worry about us."
After discussing it, the group set off early the next morning.
After picking mushrooms for three days, they had finally picked enough mushrooms near their home. They didn't go to any further places, as it would be too time-consuming to go back and forth.
Early that morning, after breakfast, the Taoist priest and Lu Chuan were splitting bluestone slabs at home.
Xu Han asked, "Lu Chuan, why don't you come with me to the mountains for a stroll? The Dragon Boat Festival is coming soon, let's pick some bamboo leaves to make zongzi (sticky rice dumplings)."
"Sure, we've already finished the zongzi we had before, let's make some more."
After Lu Chuan finished speaking, he got up and went to the tool shed. The two of them went to the mountains to pick zongzi leaves and came back together.
Every year, the Dragon Boat Festival is the same: cutting mugwort, wrapping zongzi (sticky rice dumplings), frying sugar cakes and vegetable dumplings.
In the past, dragon boat races were often held in the county town, but Xu Han had never seen one before when she came here. She guessed there wouldn't be one this year.
Although the customs are the same every year, the Dragon Boat Festival is a traditional Chinese festival, and Xu Han still attaches great importance to it.
Even during the severe famine of the previous two years, Xu Han never skimped on preparations. Although she prepared less and had no mugwort to cut, she would still wrap some zongzi (sticky rice dumplings) and fry some sugar cakes and vegetable dumplings every year.
The mugwort didn't grow much this year, so I don't think we can harvest much.
We can cut a little less when the time comes. We're almost out of mosquito coils at home, so we need to go to the mountains to find some herbs and make some new ones.
"What kind of zongzi do you want to eat this year?" Xu Han asked as they walked.
"I'd still like sweet rice dumplings, but meat dumplings are fine too. They taste good regardless of the flavor."
"That's fine too. We'll make some savory rice dumplings this year."
As we talked, we arrived at the place where we picked bamboo leaves. We found this place recently while picking mushrooms. We had said we would pick some to take home, but we were so focused on picking mushrooms that we forgot about it.
The two picked a large basket full of bamboo leaves, and as soon as they got home, Xu Han started boiling the bamboo leaves.
"These bluestone slabs are quite easy to process," the Taoist priest said as he chopped the bluestone.
"Once you get used to it, your speed picks up. It's only been two days at most, and look how much we've already processed. The rest won't take more than a few days."
"After we finish processing this batch of bluestone slabs, let's build the woodshed and doghouse in the backyard first."
"Otherwise, if it takes too long, I'm afraid there won't be anywhere to put the charcoal we burn in winter," the Taoist priest said.
“That works too. It is indeed a problem. By the time the roads outside are paved, it will be almost time for the busy farming season. If we finish paving all the roads outside before building the sheds, it may really be too late.”
"Yes, after the woodshed and doghouse are finished, we'll pave all the bluestone slabs in the backyard and frontyard first, so we can dry the grain during the busy farming season. As for the other places, we'll take our time and do them slowly."
So, as they worked on it, they changed their plans again.
That's how it is sometimes. Many times, our plans are quite good, but when it comes to implementation, we find many problems.
Once a problem is discovered, appropriate adjustments must be made; otherwise, if the original plan is followed, many issues will remain unresolved.
If things go according to what Lu Chuan and the Taoist priest discussed, at least after the autumn harvest, the area at home for drying grain will be larger again.
Moreover, there's no need to pry open the bluestone slabs again to build the woodshed later, saving another step.
After another ten days or so of work, the group finally finished processing all the bluestone slabs that had been brought back to the courtyard.
During this period, the family enjoyed a happy Dragon Boat Festival together.
Xu Han also took this opportunity to sort and dry all the mushrooms she had picked recently.
During this period, the Taoist priest and Lu Chuan did not completely stay at home chopping bluestone slabs.
The second batch of fertilizer was ready to use, and the group even applied fertilizer to the fruit trees in the orchard together.
The sun is very strong in May, and the water evaporates quickly, so the group of people often have to water the vegetables in the garden.
However, since the invention of bamboo pipes, the watering speed has increased significantly, and manpower has been greatly reduced.
Although they stayed at home under the pretext of dealing with the bluestone, it didn't prevent everyone from doing other work; their main task was simply to work with the bluestone slabs.
Before the peaceful days had lasted for half a year, on the morning of May 18th, the Taoist priest suddenly received a letter from Yunhua.
That morning, the family had just finished breakfast and were about to return to their respective posts to begin their day's work when the Taoist priest suddenly stopped them and solemnly asked them to gather together.
After everyone was seated, the Taoist priest slowly spoke, "Just now I received a letter from Yunhua. It seems that war may be about to break out in the north."
Upon hearing this, everyone fell silent. These good days had just begun, and what was bound to happen had finally arrived.
"So fast? Given the current situation, the people who were repatriated from the north have probably just been settled, and the country is about to descend into chaos again," Grandpa Zhao said with a worried expression.
"The northern neighboring countries of Yuanqing Kingdom are Xiyue Kingdom, Dongyue Kingdom, and Canglang Kingdom. Among them, Canglang Kingdom is the most warlike, and it often fights against our country when there are no natural disasters. The northern border is often in turmoil, but there has never been a real war."
The Canglang Kingdom's economy and food supplies are not as strong as ours, so they only dare to harass us and do not dare to really attack our country.
The Western Moon Kingdom and the Eastern Moon Kingdom were originally one country, but later they split into two countries.
Due to the natural disaster, all three countries suffered to varying degrees, with the Canglang Kingdom suffering the most severe damage.
This is also why they did not attack us during the years of famine; mainly because they lacked sufficient food and troops.
No sooner had the natural disaster ended than they set their sights on our Yuanqing Kingdom.
According to Yunhua's letter, these three countries want to join forces to attack our Yuanqing Kingdom.
"If that's really the case, then Yuanqing Kingdom will be facing enemies on three sides and be in grave danger," the Taoist priest slowly analyzed.
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