At this moment, Sister Chen, who was harvesting honey nearby, laughed heartily and said, "Xiao Lan, you can rest assured! In the countryside of our hometown, Hubei Province, which child can't climb trees? We should let these little rascals do some work. Climbing trees to pick flowers is a piece of cake for them."
Sister Zhang, who was in the same group as Sister Chen, chimed in, "Sister Chen is absolutely right. They are a bunch of little monkeys who love to climb high and low when they have nothing else to do! Xiao Lan, don't worry! It's fine! You go ahead and do your own thing! We're all watching."
After Chen Lan clarified the precautions, the students happily agreed. They each grabbed a snake-skin bag and, like little monkeys, climbed up the trees in no time. They sat on the branches and leisurely began to pick the flowers, one by one, looking quite proficient.
Seeing that she had nothing else to do and that everyone else was busy with their heads down, Chen Lan stopped dawdling. She walked to a spot some distance away from everyone else, found a beehive, and immediately started harvesting honey.
Since Chen Lan intended to sell some of the honey to the system this year, she was even more determined to work harder and collect more to sell to the system, easing her financial pressure and filling up her not-so-plump system wallet.
Chen Lan knew that in her past life, everyone was pursuing pure, natural, and pollution-free food. The honey she was collecting from the 1950s was truly natural, wild linden honey. It was a real treasure, not only possessing the effects of nourishing blood and beautifying the skin but also moisturizing the skin, relieving coughs, and calming the nerves.
These effects were all visible. Her own mother was a living testament. After drinking linden flower tea, linden honey, and linden fungus for a whole year, her health visibly improved day by day.
She believed that those who were beauty-conscious in her past life would also love this linden honey. After all, its health benefits were substantial! Chen Lan was confident that it could be sold at a good price!
The more Chen Lan thought about it, the more she believed it was possible. Even in the worst-case scenario, if it wasn't popular, they could keep it for themselves. With so many people in the valley, they wouldn't run out of it. This was not a problem. However, Chen Lan found the idea of it being unpopular unlikely.
So, Chen Lan continued to harvest honey while lost in thought, and also set up the new beehives she had purchased from the system. These beehives had been treated several times with a diluted hydrogen peroxide solution and then brushed with beeswax to mask the smell of new wood.
Chen Lan planned to expand her bee farming scale this year, so she had made thorough preparations. Next year, she would be able to harvest more honey! These new beehives were waterproof and windproof, far superior to natural hives, and she believed the little bees would love them!
Just as Chen Lan finished storing the fifth barrel of linden honey in the system's warehouse and was harvesting the sixth barrel, Ming Wei arrived with everyone else. Chen Lan checked the system time and realized it was indeed getting late. She immediately said to Ming Wei, "Ming Wei, take everyone to the intersection where we came back and have them sit and rest. I'll be there as soon as I finish this."
Watching Ming Wei and Qian Yingzi carrying and dragging things away, Chen Lan also quickened her pace, quickly processing the honeycomb in her hands. She then found a sheltered, sunny, and flat spot, set up the new beehives, and hurried towards Ming Wei and the others.
Chen Lan helped some of the younger female classmates carry their honey buckets, letting them carry lighter linden flowers. In this way, with everyone carrying and holding, they trekked through mountains and valleys back home. This time, everyone returned with a bountiful harvest, happy and laden with goods.
By the time they returned to the valley, it was already around 1:30 PM. After a morning of climbing mountains and crossing ridges, everyone was ravenously hungry! They picked up their bowls and ate like a storm. Chen Lan had never seen them eat so quickly!
Chen Lan couldn't help but remind herself to prepare some bread for them the next morning and distribute it before they set off, so they could have something to eat if they got hungry.
After everyone had eaten and was sitting around chatting, Sister Chen from Hubei Province spoke up, "Xiao Lan, linden flowers and linden honey are such good things. Why don't we plant more linden trees on the mountains near the valley?"
Chen Lan thought, "Yes! How could I not have thought of planting linden trees myself? Confucius was absolutely right (When three people walk together, one must be their teacher)."
She immediately became excited and said happily, "Sister Chen, thank you so much! If you hadn't reminded me, I wouldn't have thought of planting linden trees. Every year we have to trek so far to get these things."
Sister Chen waved her hands repeatedly and smiled, "Xiao Lan, don't thank me. I just said it casually. I don't deserve your thanks."
Chen Lan said very seriously, "Sister Chen, you don't need to decline. Your casual remark might solve the big problem of us harvesting linden flowers, cutting linden honey, and picking linden fungus in the valley. If the planting is successful, we can harvest these things right at our doorstep. Just thinking about it makes the idea sound great!"
Everyone else also chimed in, "You know, Sister Chen's idea is really not bad. If it's truly successful, we can do these chores right at our doorstep. It won't take us a whole day and exhaust us to death climbing mountains."
Hearing everyone say this, Chen Lan felt even more that this idea was excellent. She became more determined to start finding a suitable place for linden trees to grow in the woods near the valley this year and begin preparing for planting them. SuDan Novel Network
She immediately spoke excitedly, "Let's give it a try this year. If it doesn't work, we'll try again next year. We'll try and plant every year, and I believe hard work pays off. I'm confident that one day we will succeed in planting them!"
Everyone suddenly became spirited and expressed, "That's right! That's how it should be! We'll try every planting method we can, and we believe that one day we will surely succeed!"