She picked up the young prime minister while fleeing famine

Banxia knew that Wu was old-fashioned, so of course she agreed immediately. What a coincidence that she was taking a bath so quickly!

However, Banxia felt she needed to find the village carpenter to make her a large bucket to use as a bathtub.

She's only a little over a meter tall now, so she probably doesn't need a very big bucket, right?

Banxia had no idea that someone soaking in the river was thinking the same thing as her.

The first thing Lian Chengmo did after finishing his swimming lessons and coming ashore was to go to a carpenter to order a large bucket.

"Young master, didn't you already have Banxia come over to talk to you? Why did you come here yourself?" Carpenter Yao scratched his head, completely puzzled.

"Um, let's make one more. I've been thinking, one isn't enough." Lian Chengmo paused and quietly explained.

Since the little girl had ordered them herself, he wouldn't interfere. However, he also wanted to take a good bath, so he decided to make two.

He couldn't bring himself to take off his clothes in the river in broad daylight, so he figured he could make one to use in the tent later.

As for Banxia, ​​she had already ordered one. How could a dignified man like him share a bathtub with a young girl? It was improper!

And so, the matter of ordering a large tub for bathing was left unresolved. Since the little girl had ordered one herself, Lian Chengmo didn't tell her, which led Banxia to find out that Carpenter Yao had actually made two large tubs when it was time to pick them up.

Right now, Lian Chengmo has returned to his residence. Wu is stewing chicken soup. There are too many people in the family, and three chickens are probably not enough. Stewing chicken soup is the most cost-effective way to eat both meat and soup.

Meanwhile, Banxia was fiddling with the wild grapes, planning to make them into jam after dinner.

"Lian Chengmo, you're back! Come and sit down. These are some wild grapes I found on the mountain. They're so sweet, have a taste." Banxia waved to Lian Chengmo and handed him a bunch of wild grapes as she spoke.

Lian Chengmo took the mountain grapes with his long, slender fingers. When he saw what was in his hand, he was stunned and looked up at Banxia with a puzzled expression.

Lian Chengmo had seen these so-called mountain grapes before, although they were given to him by the wise ruler as a reward after he assisted him in ascending the throne.

But this thing actually appeared in the Great Xia Kingdom long ago. The founding emperor of the Great Xia Kingdom was brave and skilled in battle. At the beginning of the dynasty, he subdued a small country in the east.

The tribute this small country sends every year is grapes. I've heard that these grapes are very difficult to store. The distance between this small country and the Great Xia Kingdom is more than a thousand miles.

Therefore, even when thousands of kilograms of goods were transported to the country along with ice, only a few hundred kilograms would remain. Those who received the reward were definitely either very rich or very noble.

Now that the Great Xia Kingdom has weakened, that small country stopped paying tribute more than 20 years ago. Unexpectedly, these grapes were able to take root and sprout in the deep mountains and even bear fruit.

"What's wrong? Why are you looking at me like that?" Banxia touched her face. Did she have something on her face?

"It's nothing, I've just never seen this kind of fruit before. Where did you find it?" Lian Chengmo looked away and asked casually, pretending not to care.

He reached out and picked a fruit, holding it up to his eyes. The wild grapes the little girl had found were even bigger than the tribute items offered to the emperor.

Thinking it over, Lian Chengmo peeled a small opening in the grape skin, put it to his lips, and gently squeezed it, letting the sweet flesh enter his mouth.

Mmm, it's even sweeter than the offerings!

"It was found on that mountain. If you're curious, I can take you up the mountain to see it later. Oh, and there are several grapevines there too."

"Lian Chengmo, once we find a suitable place to live, how about we come back and dig up those grapevines and plant them? These wild grapes are really sweet."

Banxia smiled and pointed to a mountain, saying happily.

Little did she know that she was thinking to herself, "How rare! There's something that Lian Chengmo has never seen before."

Fortunately, he didn't know her, otherwise she wouldn't have been able to explain why she did.

Grapes were apparently a tribute item in ancient times, and ordinary people really had no access to them.

But since it was found in the mountains, Banxia wasn't afraid of being asked questions. At most, she just let the grapes grow a little bigger and sweeter.

As for how tribute items could grow in the mountains, she had no idea.

"Okay, I'll dig them all up for you then." Lian Chengmo swallowed the grapes in his mouth and nodded; he also thought it was a good idea.

Regardless of why these mountain produce offerings, there's nothing wrong with taking such good things home.

And so the matter was settled. After lunch, Banxia and Wu were busy making jam, while the children ate grapes as dessert and helped out.

Lian Chengmo continued to watch over the selected people as they learned to swim.

Yao Lizheng has already cut down several trees and moved them down the mountain as required, but the freshly cut trees need to be dried in the sun before they can be used.

Fortunately, it's summer now, and the wood will only take two days to dry. They continued cutting down trees in the afternoon.

The two buckets of grapes yielded a good amount of jam. By the time they finished, it was almost dark, so Banxia gave up on her idea of ​​going for a stroll up the mountain.

The next morning, after Lian Chengmo and his men left, Banxia called Lin Chun and went up the mountain again. This time, Banxia didn't avoid Lin Chun much, since she didn't know what ginseng looked like anyway.

While pretending to dig for wild vegetables, Banxia turned her back to Lin Chun and forced the ginseng to mature, then quickly moved away from that direction.

Perhaps because the commotion yesterday was too great, and Banxia's catching of three pheasants yesterday may have disturbed the animals on the mountain, she didn't see a single chicken feather today.

Rabbits, being fast and agile, hide even deeper.

With Lin Chun watching over her, Banxia couldn't go deep into the mountains. Besides, she knew her own abilities; there really were ferocious beasts in these deep mountains, just like the wolf packs and wild boars she had encountered before.

Having learned from her previous experience, Banxia dared not venture too deep, only daring to stay within the range where Yao Lizheng and the others could hear her.

However, the reason she went up the mountain before was because it was next to the official road and she didn't climb very high, so if she shouted, people below could hear her. Who knew she would be so lucky as to encounter those chasing Lian Chengmo.

While suppressing her restless heart, perhaps even the heavens couldn't bear it any longer, for Banxia actually found a pheasant's nest with seven or eight bright eggs inside.

"We've struck gold! Sister Lin Chun, come quick! There must be other chicken coops around here." Banxia shouted as she collected the eggs.

Two of the pheasants she caught yesterday were hens, and if you include the ones that escaped, there must be more than one henhouse here.

It's unclear whether they've disturbed some rooster's harem, but Banxia and her companion actually found three or four more chicken coops, making their harvest quite substantial.

Carrying nearly twenty eggs and a basket of wild vegetables, Banxia strode down the mountain.

The little ones gathered around her as soon as she came down the mountain, but when they didn't see that Banxia was carrying prey, they were all a little disappointed.