De Uncle and Fu Uncle, along with Xiang Dong, Er Hu, and a few others, spent several more days busy before finally planting the leeks, cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplants, beans, and peppers, all ready for their first year of trial planting, in the greenhouses. Each type of vegetable was planted in a plot that was two meters wide and eight meters long.
The remaining space was designated by Chen Lan for strawberries. The strawberry seeds, like the vegetable seeds, were purchased by Chen Lan from the system, from online shops specializing in seeds with good reputations.
As Chen Lan did not understand vegetable cultivation and was busy with other matters, she had no time to help. She did not go to the greenhouse to assist during the last two days.
Time quickly moved into the frost season. Changbai Mountain saw its first frost, and after the frost, it was time to start digging radishes from the fields and bringing them home.
Radishes that had experienced frost had green skins and white cores. Biting into them resulted in a crisp, sweet crunch, attributed to the frost. Radishes that had not been frosted were quite spicy. This is according to Sudang novel.com.
So, these past few days, Chen Lan, along with her mother-in-law, Mother Liu, and Mother Cui, Wen Kai, Wen Qi, and Ming Zhe, were in the vegetable fields digging radishes, preparing to gradually harvest the vegetables.
Following the established routine, the mother-in-law, Mother Liu, and Mother Cui, along with the three young lads Ming Zhe, Wen Kai, and Wen Qi, were in the vegetable fields digging radishes.
Their task was simply to fill the empty baskets with radishes. The responsibility of transporting them back was left to Chen Lan.
After a full day of digging radishes, Chen Lan helped transport them all back, stacking them on the drying ground outside the courtyard. Piles of large radishes were spread across the ground.
Chen Lan then, along with her mother-in-law, organized people to quickly sort the radishes.
After the radishes were brought home, their tops needed to be trimmed with a knife to remove the leaves, and the root hairs cleaned, leaving the root clean.
They were then left to dry in the sun for another day or two. If the sun was strong, one day was sufficient; if there was no sun, they would air dry for two days, allowing the surface moisture to evaporate.
Besides keeping some for immediate consumption, the rest were to be dug into a deep trench in a place with thick soil. The radishes were to be placed diagonally in the trench, heads down and roots up. One layer of radishes would be covered with soil, and typically three layers would be piled up before being fully covered with soil.
They would then be dug out one or two days before the ground froze and stored in the winter vegetable cellar.
This method of preserving radishes allowed them to be eaten until March of the following year without becoming soft or losing moisture, ensuring fresh radishes were available throughout the winter.
Once the task of storing the radishes was completed, after such a long period of work, there was no time to rest.
It was already mid-October, and the weather grew colder with each passing day.
Upon waking up, Chen Lan looked at the overcast sky and mused that it might snow in the next couple of days.
With this thought, she mentally opened the system to search for the weather forecast for the next fifteen days. Indeed, her guess was not wrong.
Starting from the day after tomorrow, the Changbai Mountain region was predicted to experience a significant drop in temperature.
Three days later, Changbai Mountain was expected to encounter low temperatures, rain, and snow. The highest temperature would be minus three degrees Celsius, and the lowest minus fifteen degrees Celsius, with moderate to heavy snow accompanied by five to six-grade winds.
Changbai Mountain would officially enter winter, and everyone would officially begin their indoor hibernation.
It seemed necessary to quickly discuss with her mother-in-law the matter of harvesting the Chinese cabbages in the next two days, before the temperature dropped, to prevent the sudden cold and heavy snow from freezing and damaging them.
After quickly finishing breakfast and feeding the twins, Chen Lan asked her mother and Chun Cao to play with them and Little Douzi and Hu Tou on the carpet. She then went with Mother Liu to clean the kitchen.
The two of them soon finished cleaning the kitchen. Chen Lan habitually checked the time mentally; it was almost nine in the morning.
Chen Lan was just about to go and discuss with her mother-in-law about starting to harvest the Chinese cabbages that day when her mother-in-law arrived, holding Xiao Shi Tou's hand with one hand and Ming Zhe's with the other. As her mother-in-law pushed open the door and entered the living room, Chen Lan was about to greet her and the children when she saw a young soldier following behind her mother-in-law.
Xiao Shi Tou and Ming Zhe, upon entering, shouted a greeting, released their grandmother's hands, and ran off to find their playmates.
Chen Lan was startled by the arrival of someone from the camp, fearing something had happened to Xu Mingxuan at the camp.
Anxiously, she quickly asked, "Mother-in-law, has something happened to Mingxuan at the camp?"
Her mother-in-law smiled and patted Chen Lan's hand, saying, "Don't talk nonsense. Mingxuan is fine at the camp! He sent this young soldier to the valley to bring us a message."
Hearing that Xu Mingxuan was not in trouble, Chen Lan's heart, which had been heavy with worry, felt relieved.
She immediately invited her mother-in-law and the young soldier to sit on the sofa and, as she did, poured each of them a cup of hot water.
The young soldier said thank you and drank eagerly, likely thirsty from the hurried journey.
Looking at the dust-covered appearance of the young soldier, Chen Lan guessed he had set off before dawn and probably hadn't had breakfast.
With this thought, Chen Lan got up and said to the young soldier, "Little comrade, drink some hot water to warm yourself up first. I'll be right back."
The young soldier also stood up and said, "Sister-in-law, you go ahead with your business. I'm not in a hurry. The Political Commissar said I just need to get back to the camp before dark. It's still early, and there's plenty of time to head back later."
Chen Lan then whispered to her mother-in-law, "Mother-in-law, please chat with the little comrade. He's traveled such a long way this morning; I suspect he hasn't eaten breakfast yet. I'll go and make him a bowl of noodles."
Her mother-in-law clapped her hands and said repeatedly, "How could I have forgotten that? Xiao Lan, you're so thoughtful. Hurry and go! Make extra, and fry a few eggs."
She then muttered softly, "Let this child work so hard. Such a long journey, he must have woken up so early."
Chen Lan quickly went to the kitchen, opened the stove door, stirred the embers, and quickly lit some pine needles with a lighter. She then added a few thin pieces of firewood into the stove, which would make the fire burn faster.
When the pot was hot, she scooped a large dollop of lard into it and let it melt. She then cracked five eggs into it and fried them in the lard until golden brown on both sides. She then scooped them out and placed them in a large bowl.
She poured the freshly boiled water from the thermos into the pot and brought it to a boil. She added a handful of dried noodles purchased from the system and covered the pot to cook.
She then washed a few Chinese cabbage leaves, uncovered the pot, and threw them in.
Soon, it came to a boil. She added salt, soy sauce, MSG, and other seasonings, then put the fried eggs from the large bowl into the pot. She covered the pot again and continued to cook for five minutes until the noodles were done and ready to eat.
Chen Lan brought a large bowl of fragrant egg noodles to the young soldier and said, "Little comrade, you've traveled such a long way. You haven't eaten breakfast yet, have you? I've just made a simple bowl of noodles. Please eat something to fill your stomach.
We'll make a proper meal for you at noon! And we'll thank you properly again. Thank you for coming all this way this morning, likely before dawn, to bring us this message."