It's really hard to just farm peacefully.

Jiang Yuan and Jiang Nian had only been in the village for a short time, so they were still a little restrained when facing their elders.

But Jiang Yan had been in Dongshan Village for more than two years and had long since figured out the elders' temperaments. He spoke up when it was time to do so: "Where do they draw the things they recognize?"

Paper, pens, and ink were extremely expensive. During a late-night chat, Jiang Yan and Jiang Nian learned that they had previously practiced calligraphy in the sand. Because their handwriting wasn't good, their teacher wouldn't let them touch paper or pens. After years of practice, they finally mastered the technique. But when their main source of income, Uncle Jiang Fu, was drafted, the siblings, to relieve Aunt Yu, didn't bother buying them. The village's legions of illiterate people, who simply wanted to make ends meet, were even less prepared.

Carrying a pot of sand painting up the mountain? Jiang Yan was immediately speechless at his own nonsensical idea.

"Let's use some charcoal to paint on the door panels," Jiang Wang replied after some thought. "There's no large leather in the village to paint on, and it's too late to find a tree to make a plank. So, I'll take down the door panels at home for you to use first. Jiang Yan, you remember the things, and when the new planks are ready, you can paint on them."

Jiang Yan nodded, but said, "The door panels are so large, it would be inconvenient to carry them up and down the mountain." Following this line of thought, he spoke boldly, "Why don't we use the extra wooden boards from making ancestral tablets and paint them!"

"There are six or seven pieces of the same size, and they can be assembled and stacked. They're easy to carry up the mountain, and easy to store after use... Wow, this is super useful!!!"

These extra planks were originally intended for the village elders. Jiang Wang was choked by Jiang Yan's words. He bent his fingers and tapped her forehead lightly, then waved her away, saying, "Go ask your uncle Jiang Xing. If he agrees, you can take them from the shelf on the side of the ancestral hall."

"Okay~"

After obtaining the consent of Uncle Jiang Xing, Jiang Yan and Jiang Yuan and Jiang Nian, brother and sister, each carried two wooden boards and sat on the small benches at the entrance of the ancestral hall. Facing the original route map brought by Jiang Ning and holding the fire sticks provided by Jiang An, they concentrated on the deciphering work.

The three of them sat there until it was getting dark, and finally worked out a complete route into the mountain and drew it on a wooden board, which took five pieces. Jiang An and Jiang Ning, two errand boys, delivered it to Uncle Jiang Xing and Grandpa Jiang Wang, who were just across the door, for review.

The deciphered content... well, it's illustrated with both text and pictures.

However, Jiang Yan had never seen the real thing before and could not accurately reproduce it, so he could only give a rough idea. Jiang Yuan and Jiang Nian's painting talents were also limited to the field of abstract art, so they relied entirely on textual explanations.

The two elders looked at it in the light of the burning torches and finally decided to take Jiang Yan and the other two up the mountain tomorrow, otherwise they would be unable to move forward with the map.

Jiang Yan, Jiang Yuan and Jiang Nian moved their small stools to the open space outside the ancestral hall and sat in a row. While listlessly munching on the work meal distributed by the village - a small piece of bran steamed bun, they listened to Jiang Wang's arrangements for going up the mountain early the next morning.

--------------

It was a clear morning on the 21st day of the first lunar month.

In winter, the leaves of the trees in Qinshan Mountain fell, and the rising sun shone through the branches and the mist in the forest, shining on the group of people from Dongshan Village.

The team leader was Jiang Shun, an old carpenter in the village. He used to go in and out of Qinshan with his sons to select wood. He was relatively familiar with the distribution of mountains and forests near Dongshan Village, and was also good at identifying tree species based on tree trunks alone.

After walking for nearly three-quarters of an hour, Jiang Shun stopped and said to Jiang Yuan, who was explaining the route, "We have reached the wild chestnut forest."