Xu Mingxuan stepped forward and asked curiously, "Lan'er, when did you meet these two people?"
Startled by Xu Mingxuan's sudden speech, Chen Lan turned around abruptly. Seeing that it was Xu Mingxuan, she patted her chest and said with a hint of reproach, "Brother Mingxuan, do you know that scaring people to death is a capital offense?"
Xu Mingxuan stepped forward and gently pulled Chen Lan's hand, whispering an apology, "Wife, I'm sorry, it's all my fault. I didn't mean to! Please don't be angry! Oh! Right, Lan'er, how do you know those two people? When did you meet them?"
Chen Lan paused for a moment before coming back to her senses and understanding Xu Mingxuan's question. She replied, "I didn't know them before today! What's wrong? But I didn't know them before, and now I do, don't I? That elder said they are villagers from Dalingxia Village! He is the village head of Dalingxia Village. He brought his son to the border market today to exchange the village's stone mill for some grain to bring back to the village. I guess their village doesn't have much grain left."
Listening to Chen Lan's words, Xu Mingxuan couldn't help but sigh again, and said in a low voice, "How can such a small amount of grain be enough for a whole village to eat?"
Chen Lan smiled and whispered to comfort him, "Brother Mingxuan, don't worry. When we go back later, we'll take a detour to Dalingxia Village and bring them some more grain, potatoes, and sweet potatoes. I've already asked the village head. He said their village isn't big, and the population isn't large. I estimate it's about the same as Honghualing Village, and water is not a problem. So, I want to have them try planting the drought-resistant, high-yield potatoes and sweet potatoes we gave them. If they can really grow them, they won't have to go out to flee from famine."
Having said that, Chen Lan paused to think, looked around, and then said softly, "Brother Mingxuan, actually, even if we go out to flee from famine, where can we go? I heard my father-in-law say that most of the country is experiencing drought, only the south is not dry, but the south is flooding! If you ask me, it's better for the people here to stay. We have mountains, and there are many things to eat in the mountains! If all the villages unite and organize people to go into the mountains to find food! It's much better than fleeing from famine."
Xu Mingxuan softly hummed and whispered, "Lan'er, it's not as easy as you think. There are too many complications involved. First, as you know, there are Siberian tigers and leopards, as well as wolves and bears in the mountains. The villagers don't have any suitable weapons, and it's very dangerous to go into the mountains! Second, the forest belongs to the state, and organizing villagers to hunt in the mountains requires the approval of higher-level leaders. Third, going into the mountains is very dangerous. If something happens, a whole family can be ruined. Who would dare to speak up and take the lead? This is all responsibility, and someone has to bear it if something goes wrong!"
As Xu Mingxuan spoke, his mood became even heavier. Chen Lan patted his hand and said, "Brother Mingxuan, this is a natural disaster that we cannot resist with human power. We can only do our best and leave the rest to fate. Besides, since we met them today, it means we have some fate with them.
Just as the Buddha said: (It takes three hundred glances over the shoulder to exchange one passing glance.) This shows that not everyone has the fate to meet. Moreover, we now have the ability to help them, so let's help one if we can. It's also a good deed to foster good karma."
Xu Mingxuan could only nod helplessly, and could only put this matter aside for now. Thus, the couple no longer mentioned it. They decided to go to the Russian border vendors' stalls opposite to continue browsing, to see if they could find some good items to sell to the system.
As the couple turned around, they saw the stall selling minerals. Today, in addition to the elderly madam, there was a middle-aged man selling minerals at the stall. However, there were still few people patronizing the stall.
Before the couple got close, the madam saw them. Even from a distance, the madam greeted them very happily and loudly. Chen Lan and her husband quickly walked forward and greeted the madam with smiles, and nodded at the middle-aged man with a smile as a greeting.
Xu Mingxuan first conversed with the madam in Russian for a few sentences, then shook hands with the middle-aged man and started chatting in a jumble of words.
Chen Lan couldn't understand Russian, so she didn't participate in their conversation. She just lowered her head, opened the system's search function with her mind, and picked up the stones on the stall one by one, hoping to find another demantoid garnet.
The madam had brought a lot of minerals today, twice as many as last time. The minerals they brought this time were also larger than before.
Among this pile of stones, Chen Lan found quite a few raw tourmaline and raw emeralds, as well as malachite and tourmaline. Malachite is a relatively ancient jade material, and its meaning is "peace for wife and children." It is said that Empress Catherine II of Russia was very fond of using malachite to decorate her palace. Large malachite vases, columns, fireplaces, and even walls were decorated with malachite throughout her palace.
Chen Lan was not very familiar with tourmaline as a gemstone, but she knew that tourmaline symbolizes "protecting husband" and is known as the "rainbow gemstone." Looking at the tourmaline in front of her from the system's light screen, it was colorful and crystal clear, like a rainbow fallen to the mortal world. It was no wonder it had the reputation of "rainbow gemstone."
Chen Lan picked a few pieces of tourmaline from the pile of minerals that had pure, bright, and vibrant colors, comparable to rubies, as well as tourmaline with dreamy colors, like a clear spring. It is said that the blue tourmaline produced in the Urals of Russia is very rare and is a treasure among tourmalites.
In addition, there were many raw amber stones. Amber had many colors. Chen Lan was surprised to find pale purple amber and immediately decided to put them all into her collection.
In her previous life, Chen Lan had a pendant made of dense, bright yellow amber with a delicate waxy texture, which was said to be Russian amber. Chen Lan loved its delicate texture and bright, oily yellow color.
Chen Lan continued to select stones while placing the ones she liked beside her. Her efforts paid off. She found several raw diamond stones containing fancy colored diamonds. In two of the raw diamond stones, she even found red diamonds. Although she saw from the system's light screen that the red diamonds were very small, these were fancy colored diamond ores! Chen Lan was still very satisfied!
Because she had heard people say in her previous life that red fancy colored diamonds were the rarest and most valuable variety in modern times, even the smallest red diamond had unimaginable value.
However, Chen Lan was still unable to find any more stones containing demantoid garnet, which was a bit regrettable.