Chapter 23

Two days later, the bamboo needed for the new house was finally all cut down, and what they needed to do now was to move them down the mountain.

Xu Ran also led a group of children up the mountain to help with the work.

As he was still not strong enough, he moved one after another.

As for the children, they were also organized to carry one bamboo together once and took a rest when they were tired.

Dahu and Gouzi were already eight years old, so they two cooperated to work together, while the other children were divided into two groups.

The children were still young, but more people, more powerful! In this way, they went back and forth and successfully moved a lot of bamboo. The adults were very happy, constantly praising the kids. Being so much encouraged, the kids didn’t feel tired at all.

It took all of them one day to carry all the bamboo down the mountain. And then they had to split each bamboo into two parts. This was also a huge project.

Now that they didn’t have money, they couldn’t pay for other people to do it. They could only do it slowly. Fortunately, it was not the busy farming season.

There were so many people to feed every day, and they all stayed at Wu Mei’s house. Xu Ran felt worried and embarrassed about the situation. So he often took the kids to look for wild vegetables. If he was lucky, he was able to find a lot of food. However, the amount of food was still not plenty enough.

Xu Ran had never seen any potatoes here. Logically speaking, he thought this place should grow potatoes. He guessed maybe they had not been discovered yet, so he decided to go up the mountain to search for them.

There was danger on the mountain, so he couldn’t take any children with him. He went alone without telling Liu Tong and others. He knew that Liu Tong would not agree with him, so he planned to go alone to have a try first.

Xu Ran carried a basket on his back, put a little hoe in it, and even took a sickle in his hand. He only planned to go for half a day, so he didn’t even prepare any food or water.

Since ancient times, there had always been a saying that people living either on mountains or by waters could feed on the nature. Therefore, Xu Ran firmly believed that there should be a lot of food to support human life on this mountain.

Now the mushroom harvest season was over, but there were some wood ears. Seeing the thick wood ears growing on the tree trunks, Xu Ran knew that it was because no one here dared to eat them, so he immediately picked them and put them in his basket.

However, the main reason he went up the mountain today was to find potatoes. He didn’t know if he could find them.

In order to find potatoes, Xu Ran made a lot of efforts. At first, he bent down and tried hard to look for it carefully, but nothing was found. Later, he simply lay down on the ground and searched one space after another with a sickle, so his clothes were all stained with mud.

At last he found one plant of potato! He was almost weeping with joy.

After a potato plant was found, there was a second and a third one… The climate here was humid. It was a good place to grow potatoes.

Xu Ran poured out the wood ears in the basket and put them aside. He then began to dig out potatoes and threw them into the basket.

It was getting hotter and hotter, and Xu Ran found his basket was already full of potatoes. He just stopped his digging. He knew if he went back late, Liu Tong would be worried.

When Xu Ran went back with his harvest, Liu Tong and others had not come back yet. They were probably still working with the bamboo at the back of the village.

Xu Ran chose to build their new home in this place. First of all, there were few people living around. It was also close to Wu Mei and other families. At the back of their new house was the mountain, so it was convenient for them to go up there whenever needed.  In addition, there was a large patch of waste land around. At present, the Qingyuan Dynasty was sparsely populated, so the wasteland was not easy to cultivate. Xu Ran’s plan was just to make good use of this vast land. As the new home had such a good location, Xu Ran of course would make this good decision.

Liu Tong naturally wouldn’t have any objections to this good choice.

Usually, when building a new house, people here would invite a geomancer to check its Geomantic Omen. Xu Ran and his family didn’t have money, so they gave it up. Anyway, they believed that their choice would not be wrong.

When Xu Ran returned to Wu Mei’s house, the children were still playing wildly in the yard driving the chickens and ducks flying here and there, so the whole yard was full of feathers.

Xu Ran couldn’t help but sigh. This was really the case that with no adults around, the children could even turn the sky. Fortunately, these kids did not run out and cause trouble.

Tangtang and Guoguo were the first to see Xu Ran and they ran over, “Dad.”

Xu Ran nodded. He didn’t stop because the things on his back were too heavy and he directly went to the kitchen.

As Xu Ran was always able to create some rare and good things recently, these children stopped playing around after he entered the door and followed behind him.

Dahu saw the things in the basket and asked, “Uncle Xu, what are they?”

Xu Ran intended to get some water outside to wash his face. Hearing Dahu’s words, he turned around and replied, “They are potatoes, edible. I’ll cook them for lunch.”

Upon hearing that they were something to eat, the children were all excited.

Seeing their dad was covered with mud and sweat, Tangtang and Guoguo ran out to help Xu Ran get water.

Thus Xu Ran just stepped outside, when Tangtang and Guoguo carried a basin of water in.

Seeing this, Xu Ran smiled. He was quite touched. What a pair of considerate kids!