Everyone devoured their lunch and, after a short rest, prepared to resume the work left unfinished that morning. Chen Lan also rose, intending to finish tidying the potato field from the morning so that the potatoes could be planted in the afternoon.
Her mother-in-law stood up and stopped everyone who was about to go out to work, saying loudly, "Go back and rest under the shade of the trees for a while. The sun is strong now. Even if it's not summer yet, you might not get heatstroke, but I'm afraid you'll get sick from the sun. Even if you're in a hurry, it's not this urgent. There are snake-skin bags for the potatoes over there. Lay the snake-skin bags on the grass under the shade of the trees. Don't sleep directly on the grass, as it's easy to catch a chill and fall ill. Everyone sleep a nap under the shade of the trees, quickly! Don't dawdle! Sleep and rest well so you can work in the afternoon!"
Chen Lan couldn't help but chuckle after hearing her mother-in-law's lengthy speech, thinking to herself, "This stubborn old lady with a soft heart is truly adorable!"
Just as her mother-in-law was about to send someone to fetch the snake-skin bags from where the potatoes were stored, she saw Lin Mai and Cui Qiao walking quickly towards them, each carrying a bundle of snake-skin bags. In that short time, both of them had their faces flushed red by the sun.
Chen Lan took a few snake-skin bags and spread them out under a large, shady tree, preparing sleeping spots for her three younger brothers. She then called her three brothers over to sleep. As soon as the three of them lay down, they were instantly fast asleep, seemingly exhausted. Even Ming Zhe, who was usually quite talkative, fell asleep as soon as he lay down. Seeing that all three were asleep, Chen Lan, afraid of poisonous insects and snakes in the woods, first used the system to search for poisonous snakes within a 500-meter radius. The results showed none, but she was still uneasy. She then purchased five large packs of snake and insect repellent from the system, took out one pack, and sprinkled it around the sleeping area of the three brothers. She gathered the remaining medicine powder and the four packs from the system warehouse and gave them to her mother-in-law to distribute, asking her to sprinkle the powder around the sleeping areas of everyone to prevent bites from poisonous insects or snakes.
Her mother-in-law took the medicine powder handed to her by Chen Lan and was about to call someone to help sprinkle it. However, she saw that everyone had already fallen asleep in various positions. She didn't call out for help, but instead walked around, sprinkling the powder around the sleeping individuals.
Chen Lan also felt extremely tired today. Feeling that the shade was a bit too cool, she took out three small thin quilts used by the twins from the system warehouse, which she had stored at home. She covered each of her three younger brothers with one. Just as she was about to lay down a snake-skin bag next to her brothers to rest for a while, Teacher Zhou came looking for her. Chen Lan was very surprised, thinking something had happened. She quickly asked, "Hello, Teacher Zhou! Are you looking for me about something?"
Teacher Zhou nodded and replied, "Yes, there is something. Little Lan, we are now erecting light steel keel frames. Sometimes we need to use an electric drill to drill holes and a saw to cut off excess parts. It's very inconvenient to work without electricity. Do you think we should install the solar power generator sets as soon as possible?"
Chen Lan slapped her forehead, wondering how she could have forgotten such an important matter! She immediately responded to Teacher Zhou, "Teacher Zhou, please go and rest for a while. The five sets of solar and wind power generator sets arrived long ago and are over there. I'm truly sorry, it's my fault for forgetting to tell you?" She gestured towards the foot of the opposite mountain.
Seeing that Teacher Zhou had no intention of resting and seemed eager to go over and take a look, Chen Lan was startled and quickly said, "Teacher Zhou, the place is a bit difficult to find. Why don't you go and rest now, and I'll rest too? I'll take you there when the sun is not so strong." After saying this, she quickly sat down on a snake-skin bag, feigning readiness to rest.
Seeing Chen Lan like this, Teacher Zhou assumed she was too tired and didn't want to argue with her about the midday break. He turned and left to go back and rest.
As soon as Teacher Zhou was out of sight, Chen Lan immediately got up, put on her straw hat, bent over, and quickly ran towards the foot of the opposite mountain.
As she ran under the scorching sun, Chen Lan muttered to herself, "Why did you have to point to such a far place?" By the time Chen Lan, panting and wheezing, reached the other side, she was already drenched in sweat.
Chen Lan couldn't bother with anything else at this point. She quickly ran into the woods, looking for a suitable place to put such a large pile of equipment.
After searching for a long time, she couldn't find a suitable spot. She couldn't go any further up the mountain, as moving so many things would be difficult.
Thinking this, Chen Lan stopped and took a deep breath and exhaled. She was stunned. How could she smell a hint of sulfur soap? She inhaled deeply again to be sure. Yes, this time she was certain it was the smell of sulfur soap, or rather, the smell of sulfur. In such a mountainous forest, a sulfur smell might indicate the presence of hot springs.
Chen Lan searched her memory, recalling a travelogue she had read in her previous life. She was sure that travelogue had not mentioned any hot springs. In her previous life, this place was a well-known resort. The absence of hot springs in the travelogue indicated that none had been discovered at that time.
Chen Lan stopped pondering and opened the system's search function, typing "hot springs" on the light screen. She searched for hot springs within a 500-meter radius. The system's light screen immediately displayed several small red dots, all concentrated on this mountain.
Since she had confirmed the presence of hot springs on the mountain, Chen Lan immediately turned back. She placed the five sets of solar and wind power generator sets in the grass near the edge of the mountain. The equipment instantly pressed down a large area of waist-high wild grass, startling pheasants into a flurry of flight.
Chen Lan felt a surge of frustration looking at the pheasants. With so many pheasants on the mountain, she couldn't eat them, which was quite annoying.
While feeling annoyed, she ran back. It wasn't the time to worry about eating pheasants. It was getting late. She had to quickly finish tidying the remaining potato field from the morning! Otherwise, she wouldn't be able to complete the planting task in the afternoon. The potato seeds had already been cut, and they couldn't be left unplanted.
Chen Lan quickly ran to where she had left the tractor that morning. Her mother-in-law, Lin Mai, and Cui Qiao had already cut a lot of potato seeds. Chen Lan hurriedly asked, "Mother-in-law, Lin Mai, Cui Qiao, why didn't you rest during lunch?"
Her mother-in-law replied while cutting potato seeds, "Cutting potato seeds isn't tiring. There are so many potato seeds to cut, and the work is urgent, so we didn't rest. It's okay, we can rest after we finish cutting."
Chen Lan didn't have time to say more! She also had to quickly finish tidying the potato field so she could finish planting all twenty mu in the afternoon. To save time, Chen Lan squatted down, picked up a bag of cut potato seeds, placed it on the tractor's crossbar, climbed onto the tractor, and turned the vehicle around, chugging towards the potato field baking in the sun, immersing herself in the final step of preparing the potato field: "ridging."
Seeing Chen Lan like this, her mother-in-law, Lin Mai, and Cui Qiao were all stunned. They all had the same thought: When did she gain so much strength?