Needless to say, everyone was stuffed with dumplings last night, and since no one had much appetite for breakfast, they all ate very little. Even the fragrant wild chicken stew with ginseng chicken soup was only barely managed by everyone with a bowl each. Lin Mai's wild chicken soup, simmered in seven sand pots since yesterday afternoon, had only three sand pots consumed with difficulty, leaving four large sand pots untouched.
Mother-in-law, looking triumphant and a bit schadenfreude, said, "I knew you all wouldn't eat much this morning. I specifically told Lin Mai and the others to make less breakfast today. And indeed, you can't eat much today. Serves you right for stuffing yourselves yesterday! Feeling sick now?"
Chen Lan couldn't help but let out a giggle at her mother-in-law's gloating expression, realizing that her usually stern mother-in-law had such a charming side.
At this moment, Ming Wei, Cui Qiao, and Zhao Xiaoyue, having finished breakfast, walked over to Chen Lan.
Ming Wei said, "Sister-in-law, the fruit trees for the other houses haven't been planted yet. Should we go to the valley today and plant them all?"
Chen Lan asked with a smile, "Have you decided what kind of fruit trees to plant?"
Ming Wei replied, "I like pears, persimmons, and dates. Let's plant pear saplings, persimmon saplings, and date saplings for the second house!"
Chen Lan then asked Cui Qiao and Zhao Xiaoyue, "What fruits do you two like?"
Cui Qiao said, "We don't know who will live in the third house yet. What if the person who lives there doesn't like the fruit trees we choose?"
Chen Lan nonchalantly replied, "It doesn't matter. Everyone will have a house to live in. We'll plant different fruit trees in each house, so they're bound to find one they like!"
Hearing Chen Lan's words, Cui Qiao felt relieved and said, "I like apples, grapes, and persimmons. So, for the third house, let's plant apple saplings, set up trellises for grapevines, and plant persimmon saplings."
Chen Lan asked, "Sister Cui Qiao, what kind of trellis do you want for the grapevines?"
Cui Qiao replied, "The same kind as the one in your first house would be fine. I think that trellis looks really nice!"
Chen Lan muttered to herself, *You have good taste. That trellis was expensive too! Do you know how much it cost?* She winced internally for half a second.
Zhao Xiaoyue continued, "I like hawthorn berries, pears, and cherries. So, for the fourth house, let's plant hawthorn saplings, pear saplings, and cherry saplings."
Chen Lan quickly interjected, "I'll decide what to plant in the fifth house." She thought to herself, *If I don't decide now, what about the ten soft-date kiwi saplings I have in the system warehouse? If I don't plant them this year, do I have to wait until spring next year when the ground thaws? That would mean they'd be in the system warehouse for almost a year, which won't do!* So she said, "For the fifth house, let's plant ten soft-date kiwi saplings in the front yard and five fig saplings in the backyard."
Once the types and quantities of fruit trees needed were finalized, she quickly wrote them down on paper to avoid forgetting. Chen Lan told them to go to the valley and prepare, and she would join them after feeding the twins their gruel.
The dragon-phoenix twins were growing up, and their mother and Little Mountain's mother were barely able to keep up. When feeding them gruel, Little Mountain's mother, with her poor eyesight, often had the bowls of gruel knocked over by Jia Hui and Jia Yao with their hands. The two little ones were very mischievous now, and their grandmother couldn't manage feeding them both alone, so Chen Lan had to help her.
After saying that, Chen Lan parted ways with them and went back to her car. Once in the car, she replenished the fruit tree saplings according to the list for the day and bought a set of three-meter-high, five-meter-long anticorrosive wooden grape trellises. After purchasing the saplings and trellises, she put them all in the system warehouse to be retrieved later when they went to the valley.
She glanced at the dragon-phoenix twins sleeping soundly on the inner bed. Habitually, she checked the system time. It was just past seven in the morning, still early. She decided to let them sleep a little longer.
Taking advantage of the free time, Chen Lan opened the system warehouse with her mind to check its contents. She was astonished by what she saw; everything was in a mess. The antiques, calligraphy, and paintings she had acquired from Shopkeeper Tong, as well as the antiques from their pawnshop, were scattered all over the system warehouse. The piles of treasures she and her mother had found at home were also jumbled together.
There was also a large pile of defective cotton cloth from the family's fabric store that hadn't been handed in yet, and quite a bit of good fabric that Wen Rou's mother and Mama Liu had kept for making clothes. Chen Lan thought that these fabrics should be placed in an easily accessible location and reminded herself to tell her mother-in-law that it was time to prepare seasonal clothes for everyone. It seemed they wouldn't have much time in the coming period. Her mother-in-law had mentioned that in the next few days, before the autumn harvest, the women would all go to the mountains to gather mushrooms and wood ear fungus to stock up for winter. Following that would be over a month of autumn harvest.
As Chen Lan mused, she mentally tidied the system warehouse. Soon, sweat beaded on her forehead and her head began to ache. She managed to gather all the antiques and calligraphy she didn't need for the time being and placed them together. Her head felt like it was being pricked by needles, so Chen Lan quickly withdrew her consciousness and closed her eyes for a nap beside the sleeping twins. She woke up when she heard sounds, and after resting for a while, the headache subsided.
When she opened her eyes, she saw her mother sitting by the bed, dressing the twins. The two little ones were very active now, fidgeting as they were dressed, which made her mother's forehead sweat.
Seeing this, Chen Lan quickly got up and went to help dress the twins. Her mother finally sighed in relief and said, smiling, "Now, getting them dressed every morning is like a battle. The two babies have grown up and become so mischievous."
Mother and daughter helped the twins with dressing, washing, and breakfast, chatting casually as they went. They were almost done feeding them the steamed egg custard for breakfast.
At this point, Little Mountain's mother slowly walked in. Chen Lan quickly greeted her and said, "Auntie, take your time, sit here. There's no rush, it's still early. How are your eyes doing now? Are you still taking the herbal medicine prescribed by the old physician? Are you still using the eye drops?"
Little Mountain's mother sat down and replied, "My eyes are much better now. I can see basic things during the day, though not very clearly, it's much clearer than before. I'm still taking the herbal medicine. Before we came, Uncle Fu took me to see that old physician again, and he prescribed a lot more medicine, enough for this year! The eye drops you gave me are very effective. After using them, my eyes are no longer sore or painful. However, I don't have much medicine left, and I was just about to tell you about it."
Hearing that the medicine was running low, Chen Lan said, "Auntie, wait a moment, I'll go get some for you." She then went into the kitchen and immediately purchased two bottles of the same eye drops from the system as before.
She came out and handed the eye drops to Little Mountain's mother, instructing, "Auntie, here are two bottles of eye drops. The medicine and usage are the same as before. Please keep them safe!"
Little Mountain's mother happily accepted them and expressed her gratitude.
Seeing that she had nothing else to do for the moment, Chen Lan bid farewell to her mother, Little Mountain's mother, and the twins and got up to head to the valley to plant the fruit tree saplings.