The hungry adults finished their meal quickly, leaving only a few younger children still eating. With the issue of food settled, the next priority was to arrange accommodation for the newcomers in the valley.
While Chen Lan was discussing with her mother-in-law and Xu Mingxuan how to reasonably settle the people, Xiaoshan and Lin Mao walked over.
Xiaoshan stepped forward and said, "Auntie, Brother Mingxuan, Sister Xiaolan, Lin Mao and I have already discussed it. Since houses are still being built, our two families will move in together temporarily. This will free up a house. We know one house isn't enough for so many people, but if they squeeze a bit, one house can accommodate at least three or four families. Besides, the people building houses in our valley are all skilled, and construction is fast. It won't be long before they all have new houses."
Xu Mingxuan reached out and patted Xiaoshan and Lin Mao on the shoulders, saying gratefully, "Good brothers, your brother thanks you!"
Xiaoshan and Lin Mao felt a little embarrassed by Xu Mingxuan's thanks. They smiled sheepishly and said, "Auntie, Brother Mingxuan, Sister Xiaolan, it's settled then! We'll go back and move right away, so you can arrange for people to move in."
With that, they didn't wait for Chen Lan and the others to reply. They turned around and ran off without looking back.
Chen Lan, her mother-in-law, and Xu Mingxuan were about to express their gratitude, but the two had already run far away.
Seeing that the children had finished eating, Xu Mingxuan informed his mother and Chen Lan, then turned to find the five children he had adopted.
At this moment, Chuncao saw that Chen Lan and the others had finished their discussion. She took Little Douzi's hand, with Ruyi and Xiaoxue following behind, and approached the three of them, saying, "Auntie, Xiaolan, please let us three have our houses cleared out!"
The mother-in-law immediately objected loudly, "No, no! How can we let three women and one child move?"
Chuncao smiled and said, "Auntie, please don't worry, listen to our reasons first, and see if they make sense? First, our family is small, just the three of us sisters and Little Douzi. Moving will be more convenient and less trouble. Little Douzi has been clamoring to go home since we moved, saying it's lively at home, with Brother Jiayao and Sister Jiahui and Brother Xiaoshi playing with him;
Second, our house is relatively large. Once we move out, several families can be arranged to live there, and they can look after each other.
Third, we are already used to living in our old rooms, and we will only be living there for a few months. It's better for us to move back home to avoid troubling others to move back and forth."
The mother-in-law said with emotion, "You children are all good children. Since you have made up your minds! Then move back home to live! The room you used to live in has been vacant since you moved out!"
Seeing that the mother-in-law agreed to their move, Chuncao, Ruyi, and Xiaoxue were all overjoyed. Little Douzi jumped for joy and shouted, "Oh! I can go home to live, and play with Brother Jiayao and Sister Jiahui!"
Since the decision to move was made, Chuncao and the others didn't delay. They immediately took Little Douzi's hand and prepared to go back and move.
Chen Lan called out to Chuncao, "Sister Chuncao, you three adults go back to move, leave Little Douzi here to play with Brother and Sister Jiayao. I'll take them home later."
Thus, Chuncao and the others left Little Douzi behind and hurried back to move.
With the housing issue resolved, the remaining matters became much easier. Although Xu Mingxuan brought back eight families this time, excluding the five children from the two families Xu Mingxuan adopted, there were only six families that needed housing. There were already two large houses, which were more than enough to accommodate six families, so there was no problem.
Chen Lan then stopped worrying about housing allocation and handed it over entirely to her mother-in-law. Her mother-in-law was very experienced in such matters and Chen Lan believed she would arrange it more appropriately than herself.
Chen Lan took Little Douzi's hand and found the twin siblings playing with their classmates. As soon as Little Douzi saw his classmates, he took off running towards them.
Xu Mingxuan and Mother Liu each held a little boy's hand, and led three older girls to find Chen Lan.
Chen Lan then called the twins, Jiahui and Jiayao, who were happily playing, along with Little Douzi, to go home. The three of them were still unwilling to leave as they hadn't played enough.
Chen Lan immediately pulled Jiahui and Jiayao's hands and whispered, "Jiayao, Jiahui, your father brought back three older sisters and two younger brothers for you. If you don't want them, I'll give them to Xu Jiayu to be her sisters and brothers."
Jiahui immediately stepped forward, hugged Chen Lan's neck, and pouted, "No, Mother, our sisters and brothers, why should we give them to Xu Jiayu? Xu Jiayu already has a younger brother, and I don't have any yet! Humph! She always likes to show off to me and Jiayao!"
Chen Lan couldn't help but find it amusing. Xu Jiayu was the eldest daughter of Erhu and Zhao Xiaoyue's family. Last year during the autumn harvest, Zhao Xiaoyue gave birth to a seven-jin healthy baby boy for Erhu, Xu Jiahao.
In the past three years, the common assets in the valley have been increasing, and the population has also been growing. In addition to the influx of people from outside, many new lives have been born in the valley;
For example, in the spring of the year before last, Hu Yuzhen finally gave Mother Liu another grandson, whose full name is Chen Qixing; in the summer of the year before last, Qian Yingzi finally welcomed a soft and fragrant little daughter; in the spring of last year, Liu Man'er gave Zhao Tiesheng another chubby son, and Chen Erlin's wife, Wu Lamei, also gave birth to a chubby boy; in the winter of last year, Wang Yuling gave Zhou Dashi a rosy and exquisite little daughter.
In short, the valley's affairs have been flourishing in recent years, and almost every family has had additions to the family. Because of this, the mother-in-law and Mother were always envious! Chen Lan was also very helpless about this.
Chen Lan smiled and asked again, "Jiahui, isn't Chen Qixing also your brother?"
Jiahui immediately retorted, "Mother, how can he be counted as my brother? He can't stay at our house, he has to go back to his own home every day."
Chen Lan continued to ask, "Jiahui, so does that mean you agree to have three more older sisters and two younger brothers in the family?"
Jiahui nodded excitedly, her face full of pride, "I agree, I agree, Mother, I agree with both hands, that's great! I suddenly have three older sisters and two younger brothers! Humph! Now, let's see how Xu Jiayu shows off to me."
Chen Lan was speechless for a moment. She wondered what was going on in the children's minds all day. They had to compete even over this.