The snow shelters under the Snow Ridge were quite well-built, and several of them could still be used. Everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief. They had traveled all day without stopping for lunch, fearing the weather would turn and bring heavy snowfall. Now, they had safely reached their destination.
Chen Lan and the children from the hunting party were exhausted and hungry, completely spent and with no energy left to cook. So, Chen Lan asked everyone to light a fire first and boil some hot water to warm their stomachs.
She then ordered self-heating rice, self-heating hot pot, and self-heating spicy stir-fry from the system's warehouse. After that, she taught Tie Dan, Dun Zi, and the other children to watch her demonstration and prepare the self-heating rice and self-heating hot pot.
It didn't take long for the aroma of food to fill the air, and the dishes were soon ready. Everyone marveled at how magical the food was, but their hunger was too great to dwell on it. They immediately followed Chen Lan's example and started eating, without bothering with further questions.
As for the various strange and unusual occurrences, they had seen too many of them since childhood in the valley. Their parents had repeatedly warned them not to ask too many "why" questions, saying that the Mountain God protected everyone in the valley and that asking too many questions might anger him, leading to harder times. Therefore, they were not surprised by these novel and strange things and began to eat ravenously. Chen Lan, worried they wouldn't eat enough, prepared two servings for each of them.
After everyone had eaten their fill, they tidied up a bit and went to rest. They slept soundly through the night.
The next morning, before dawn, Chen Lan was already up. Hearing the movement, the children also got up one by one. The sky outside was dark and pitch black, and the biting cold wind began to blow again. Fortunately, the wind wasn't too strong, but it was bone-chilling and piercing when it hit one's body. Chen Lan tightened her padded coat, thinking that it looked like the weather was about to turn into heavy snowfall. Judging by the appearance, they had to set off quickly and return to the valley as soon as possible, lest the heavy snow trap her and the children in the mountains.
To save time and ensure the children were well-fed for the journey, Chen Lan continued to give them self-heating meals, this time it was self-heating claypot rice.
As she started a fire to boil water for the self-heating claypot rice, Chen Lan addressed everyone. "Listen up, children. Eat as much as you can this morning. We won't stop to eat lunch. As you can see, the wind has started to pick up, and it looks like it's going to snow heavily. Once this heavy snow starts, it won't stop for two or three days, so we'll travel directly back to the valley today. Did you all hear me clearly? Eat as much as you can this morning to sustain you for the journey."
Tie Dan and Dun Zi chuckled and replied, "Auntie, don't worry! We're almost home. We know these mountains like the back of our hands and won't waste any time. We'll definitely get back to the valley before the heavy snow starts."
Since the matter was clear, Chen Lan stopped lingering. They finished their meal quickly, and before the sky had fully brightened, Chen Lan, along with all the members of the hunting party, packed up their sleds and backpacks, extinguished the campfire, and set off towards the valley.
They didn't need to ski today. After crossing two large mountains, they would reach the valley. They were almost home, so everyone was full of energy. Having grown up in the valley, climbing mountains was a trivial matter for them. Moreover, there were hardly any large beasts in these mountains anymore, and even if there were venomous snakes, they were already hibernating.
So, Chen Lan no longer held them back and let them rush home at their own pace, while she also accelerated her journey.
Although there were only two mountains, they were massive! Coupled with the thick snow on the ground, walking through the mountains with the crunching of snow underfoot, they spent the entire day reaching the mountain peak overlooking the valley, even though they were familiar with the terrain.
By this time, the wind was blowing harder, and snow had begun to fall. The wind howled across the valley, and the trees in the mountains swayed with the strong gusts. Snowflakes kept drilling into their necks, and the wind felt like knives cutting their faces. Although they were all wearing masks and thick scarves, they were tired from climbing and had all taken them off, panting heavily.
Chen Lan shouted, "We've reached the valley! Don't delay any further. We can't stop to rest now. Keep pushing, we're almost home! Hurry down the mountain, pick up the pace. It's starting to snow heavily."
Tie Dan, panting, said, "Brothers, let's listen to Auntie and head down the mountain quickly! We can rest when we get home. It's freezing out here; nowhere is as comfortable as home! I'm going ahead, brothers."
Saying this, he took out his sled and slid down the mountain first. Dun Zi followed closely behind, sliding down the mountain. Then, everyone else followed suit, sliding down one by one. Upon reaching the valley, Chen Lan no longer managed them and slid her sled home directly.
As soon as Chen Lan entered the house, the family members chatting on the sofa were startled. Chen Lan looked like a snowdrift, covered in snow from head to toe, with frost clinging even to her eyelashes. Her hands and feet were almost frozen stiff. Her mother and mother-in-law rushed to help Chen Lan remove her stiff, frozen cotton coat and pants. Mother Liu and Mother Cui brought basins for washing her face and soaking her feet.
Mother Liu said, "Miss, dear relative, let Xiao Lan use warm water to slowly recover. She'll feel better."
Once Chen Lan's hands and feet began to regain sensation, her mother-in-law brought her a bowl of steaming hot egg noodles from the kitchen. After finishing the bowl of noodles, Chen Lan felt like she had come back to life.
The observant triplets, seeing their mother finish her meal, crowded around her. Shimei was the first to secure a prime spot in Chen Lan's embrace, a hug exclusively for her. Her two older brothers had always let her have her way since they were young. The two brothers then nestled on either side of Chen Lan.
The mother and sons cuddled for a while, and they even possessively prevented Chen Lan from talking to anyone else. It wasn't until Chen Lan gave Shimei a doll and her brothers, Jia Hui and Jia Jun, a toy car model each, that they finally let go of Chen Lan and went off to play by themselves.