While everyone else was looking at the patch of black land, Chen Lan turned and walked to where the sand and cement were piled. She went to the other side of the sand pile, which was as high as a small mountain, and using the sand as cover, she opened her system's storage with her mind and quickly put away 500 bags of cement. She then walked towards the pile of scattered rocks higher up and instantly placed the 500 bags of cement on top of them. This way, even if it rained for three days, as long as the cement was covered with plastic sheeting, it wouldn't spoil and become unusable from contact with water. Still using the cement for cover, Chen Lan bought twenty shovels, twenty hoes, twenty rakes, twenty chopping knives, twenty small trowels, and a large bundle of rope from the system. The twenty small trowels and ten chopping knives were first stored in the system's warehouse for later use when the women went up the mountain to gather firewood and wild herbs. The rest were all taken out and placed next to the cement.
After finishing these tasks, Chen Lan turned back towards Teacher Zhou to remind him of a few things.
Chen Lan called out to Teacher Zhou, who was looking down at the blueprints. "Teacher Zhou, Teacher Zhou," she called. Teacher Zhou looked up at Chen Lan, waiting for her to speak. Chen Lan quickly said, "Teacher Zhou, these blueprints include designs for the house foundation construction, as well as wall and roof construction, and even flooring. Everything is designed to match the house, and all the building materials are coordinated. Please take a look. If you've decided on the location for the house foundation, please draw it out so that Xiangxi and the others can start digging."
Teacher Zhou nodded and said, "We've already decided on the size of the front and back courtyards, and the house foundation is fixed. This will make things much easier. I'll take my students to draw it out now."
Chen Lan quickly stopped Teacher Zhou and said, "Teacher Zhou, please wait a moment. There's another matter. Have you looked at the blueprint for the foundation? It shows diagrams for the water supply and drainage pipes. When Xiangxi and the others dig the foundation, please ask them to dig the trenches for the pipes deeper, to prevent them from freezing in the winter when the temperature is too low."
Teacher Zhou replied, "Okay! I will supervise the construction according to the blueprints." With that, he turned and called his students, and they walked towards the cleared area that had just been dug.
Chen Lan watched Teacher Zhou walk away and then walked towards Xiangxi. She called out, "Little Watermelon, I'm heading back there now. You keep an eye on things here and remember to remind everyone to come back for lunch at twelve o'clock."
She then pointed to a basket of wild eggs placed by the stones. "Remember to take this basket of wild eggs back. We'll have scrambled wild eggs for dinner."
As Chen Lan spoke, she handed Xiangxi a Rolex men's watch. "Here, Little Watermelon, take this watch to keep track of time."
Xiangxi's eyes narrowed into slits with joy, and he took the watch from Chen Lan with a smile. "Little Lanza, I won't be polite with you. Thank you!"
Chen Lan waved her hand at Xiangxi and said, "No need to thank me! It's just a small thing!"
Saying that, Chen Lan walked towards Uncle Fu and Uncle De. As she approached, she called out, "Uncle Fu, Uncle De!" She raised her hand and handed a pair of scissors, which she had just taken from the system's warehouse, to Uncle De, who was standing closer to her. As she handed them over, she said, "Uncle De, Uncle Fu, I'll trouble you two to keep an eye on things here. The shovels, hoes, rakes, and other tools that might be needed are all placed over there with the sand and cement. If they need anything, just tell them to get it themselves from over there." As she spoke, she pointed to the place where the cement was.
"These scissors are for cutting the plastic sheeting. Father-in-law said it's going to rain for three days. See if you can cover all the cement with plastic sheeting. Figure out how much you need to cut, and don't waste it, as I have other important uses for the remaining sheeting later."
Uncle Fu and Uncle De nodded repeatedly in agreement.
"Xiao Lan, don't worry! We're building a house for your family, how can we not take it seriously? We've remembered everything you said. We came here to work, so you go ahead and attend to your business!"
Seeing that she had explained everything she needed to, Chen Lan wasted no more time and turned to walk back towards the woods she had come from.
As soon as Chen Lan entered the woods, she used her mind to activate the search function within a 50-meter radius for wild vegetables and wild eggs. Immediately, the three-dimensional map was filled with dense red dots.
This made Chen Lan worried. With so many, how long would it take to pick them all? After hesitating for half a second, she took out a basket from her system's storage, put it on her back, and decided to pick only what she could see on the path back.
Mountain wild vegetables generally grow on the ground, but *ci lao ya* grows on trees covered in fine thorns. It is a bit like toon and is known as the "king of mountain wild vegetables."
She remembered seeing a report in her previous life saying that it had a high export price and could be prepared in many ways: fried, stir-fried, braised, deep-fried, or pickled. It was a top-quality dish. Sudangushi.com
Chen Lan walked and picked, and in a short while, she had a basket full of *ci lao ya*. She also found some Guangdong dishes, monkey legs, *ci wu jia*, and a nest of wild eggs.
Chen Lan thought that it would be great if all the wild vegetables on the mountain could be sold for money. Chen Lan decided to act on it immediately. She opened the system's selling function and scanned everything. The system displayed: wild *ci lao ya* at 35 yuan per jin, wild Guangdong dishes at 15 yuan per jin, wild monkey legs at 20 yuan per jin...
Seeing these prices, Chen Lan immediately clicked to sell. She didn't have time to see how much she had sold before she was engrossed in the second round of picking.
Chen Lan continued to walk and pick, and in a short while, she had another basketful. Because *ci lao ya* sold for more money, she only sold that to the system, keeping the rest to bring back as samples for the women, so they could go up the mountain together to pick. The dish for lunch today would be stir-fried wild vegetables. Haha.
Chen Lan quickly descended the mountain, carrying her basket, and rode her electric bicycle at full speed towards her destination, the RVs.
Chen Lan, carrying her basket, didn't even have time to check on the two babies and her mother-in-law and younger brother in her own car. She directly bypassed her own car and went to her mother-in-law's car. As soon as she got into the car, she called out, "Mother-in-law!"
Her mother-in-law, who was washing rice to prepare dinner, replied, "I'm in the kitchen washing rice to cook. You're back, what do you need me for?"
Seeing that her mother-in-law was alone, Chen Lan asked, "Mother-in-law, why are you alone? Where is everyone else? Where did they go?"
Her mother-in-law said, "You're all busy, we can't all be idle, can we? I sent them to gather firewood and wild herbs. I saw there were quite a few wild vegetables in the mountains, and it's the season for eating them, so I sent them to pick."
Chen Lan continued to ask, "Did Ming Wei, Ming Zhe, and Little Shan's mother all go?"
Her mother-in-law replied, "Ming Wei went with Cui Qiao, Zhao Xiaoyue, and the others to pick wild vegetables and gather firewood. Ming Zhe went to your car to study with Wen Kai and the others. Little Shan's mother wanted to go gather firewood and pick wild vegetables, but I didn't let her. Although her eyes have gotten better, her vision is still a bit blurry, so I asked her to help your mother-in-law watch the two children. The two babies are restless now, and it's hard to keep an eye on them alone; they're so mischievous! What did you need me for?"
Chen Lan quickly replied, "It's nothing else, I just wanted to ask them to go pick wild vegetables with me. Since they've all gone, I'll join them later. These are the wild vegetables I picked on the way back."
As Chen Lan spoke, she took out a large basin and poured the wild vegetables from her basket into it.
Chen Lan then asked, "Mother-in-law, how much of the grain I left here is left? I'll add some more." As she spoke, she took out five 50-jin bags of rice and three large buckets of 10-jin rapeseed oil. Fortunately, there were no words on the packaging, which was very thoughtful of the merchant and relieved Chen Lan of her worries.
"Mother-in-law, they've all been doing physical labor today, so they need to eat something with more oil. I won't take too much pork, as the weather is slowly getting warmer, and I'm afraid it will spoil if I take too much. I'll take out twenty jin of pork, five jin for stir-frying at noon, and fifteen jin for stewing at night. Is that enough?"
Her mother-in-law quickly replied, "How could this much meat not be enough? Several of them have said they're getting fatter!"
"Take some more potatoes, cabbage, and vermicelli, those kinds of vegetables that keep well."
As Chen Lan purchased items in the system, she said to her mother-in-law, "Mother-in-law, do you want to eat sweet potatoes, purple sweet potatoes, or corn?"
Her mother-in-law said, "If you have them, buy more of everything. These things are also filling. Once they're steamed, whoever is hungry can just grab them and eat. Also, get a hundred steamed buns; we'll need them for breakfast tomorrow. And buy a few more baskets for storing things and basins for washing vegetables."
Chen Lan agreed and put away the items her mother-in-law requested. She then bid farewell to her mother-in-law and returned to her own car to check on things.