Sisters in the Deep Forest Valley: Many Fun Things

The sun was setting behind the western mountains, but outside it was still a world of ice and snow, with a biting wind.

Inside, a brazier burned, making it warm and cozy.

On the dining table in their bedroom, they set out their first New Year's Eve dinner since arriving in this era:

A pot of radish and pork bone soup, a pot of pheasant stew with mushrooms, a plate of stir-fried pumpkin, a plate of stir-fried pork belly with green peppers, a plate of stir-fried cabbage with cured pork, a plate of braised pork ribs (wild boar), a plate of dragon beard candy, and a plate of fruit.

There were also two bowls of dry rice and two cups of hot peach water.

After dark, they lit candles, ate fruit, and continued chatting.

Staying up all night is a bit difficult, but going to bed later is achievable.

Chinese New Year is a special festival that represents happiness and joy.

It signifies that a year has passed, and that people have grown another year older.

This is the first New Year that the two sisters have spent in this world, and also the first New Year they have spent away from their parents.

I feel a little sad, and I miss them a little.

But they gradually got used to it, used to it being just the two of them relying on each other.

happy New Year!

May everyone enjoy family reunion, peace, joy, health, and good fortune!

On the first day of the Lunar New Year, you can't stay in bed.

Lin Chunyi and Lin Lanshan got up early and put on their festive cotton-padded jackets.

"Sis, you look silly, hahaha."

"Aren't you the same..."

After breakfast, the two sisters were reading. A brazier was burning in the room, roasting chestnuts with slits cut into them.

Lin Lanshan excitedly pulled out her beloved book, "The Domineering Prince Runs Away with the Baby," which she had been wanting to read for months!

She read two pages and exclaimed in astonishment:

"Sis, this novel's author is really fearless. He directly used the titles of the current emperor's own brothers. Prince Jing, Prince Jing... He just changed one homophone, tsk tsk tsk, and he even had a child with him."

Lin Chunyi, flipping through "Travelogues of Local Areas," suddenly replied:

"Perhaps this novel... really is about his story."

Lin Lanshan couldn't help but ask:

"Huh? Prince Jing ran away with the ball? Whose ball? How did you know?" He looked like he was asking for an answer out of curiosity.

Lin Chunyi beckoned to her younger sister to look at the second page she had turned to, and said:

"I thought I was seeing things when I got to this point. The second page of the travelogue actually mentions Prince Jing..."

Lin Lanshan leaned over to look, and the book read:

The second year of Chongyu.

Prince Jing, Sheng Chengrui, met a remarkable woman and fell in love with her.

The day before their wedding, the woman suddenly disappeared. Prince Jing led a search party throughout the Central Plains, but to no avail.

Another year passed, and the woman appeared again, carrying a six-month-old baby. She handed the baby to Prince Jing and then mysteriously disappeared before his eyes once more.

Prince Jing prayed to gods and Buddhas, but to no avail.

From then on, he traveled the world with his beloved's child, always on the road to finding his lover...

What a strange woman, such a familiar tactic...

Lin Lanshan's expression after reading this passage was indescribable.

asked:

"Sis, she suddenly disappeared... Could she have traveled from another time and then gone back? What should we do then..."

Lin Chunyi pondered for a moment, then shook her head and said:

"Prince Jing has been searching for this woman for over three years without success. Where can we even ask her if she's like us? And judging from this description, she's likely dressed in... different clothes. We are different from her."

Lin Lanshan knew that going home was out of the question, and sighed.

After composing himself, he said:

"I never imagined that the prince would run away while pregnant like this. Prince Jing is quite the romantic. Could he have written this travelogue himself?"

Lin Chunyi shrugged and said:

"Maybe, who knows. But the descriptions of local customs in the book are quite interesting..."

“On this page, Zezhou has developed water transportation and fertile land… On this page, Zhuzhou is by the sea… And on this page, Zhongzhou…” Lin Lanshan turned page after page.

The two sisters quickly became engrossed in the book.

This book, "Travels in Places," currently only has the first and second volumes.

The first volume, the one they possessed, recorded the story of Prince Jing's travels from the second to the third year of the Chongyu Emperor's reign...

With a thud, the golden chestnut flesh was revealed.

The rich aroma of roasted chestnuts woke Lin Lanshan from her book, and she happily reached for them.

"Hot, hot, hot! Woohoo!"

Lin Lanshan grabbed a roasted chestnut, blowing on it and tossing it back and forth between her hands, unwilling to put it down.

"During the Chinese New Year, you still performed the act of pulling chestnuts out of the fire for me. You must have worked so hard, hahaha."

Lin Chunyi joked.

"Hmph, you're making fun of me. I was going to share half with you, but I'm not giving you any."

Lin Lanshan ate the two chestnut halves in her hand in one bite.

The roasted chestnuts were soft, sweet, and fragrant, and happiness radiated from her face.

This also aroused Lin Chunyi's cravings.

So they put aside the "domineering prince" and his "travelogue," and gathered around the brazier, one by one, to enjoy the cool air and peel and eat roasted chestnuts.

The winter passed slowly as the two sisters practiced martial arts and archery, read books, and ate snacks every day.

February.

The ice and snow have not yet melted, and the winter chill has not yet dissipated.

And on the barren land, a few tender green branches and leaves have already begun to grow.

"Lanshan, once the snow melts and the weather warms up, we'll work hard to plant vegetables!" The two sisters were eating breakfast.

Lin Lanshan took the last bite of her steamed bun, counted on her fingers, and shook her head as she said:

"We need to go dig for wild vegetables first. There are so many wild vegetables in the mountains, such as shepherd's purse, bracken, and dandelion, waiting for us! We're so busy, the more we think about it, the busier we get."

Lin Chunyi said with a smile:

"Let's cook more food and store it in our space these days, we'll probably be working ourselves to death in March..."

At the end of February, dandelions began to sprout new leaves.

Dandelion:

Also known as dandelion, its leaves have hooked edges and downward-pointing serrations, and it produces yellow flowers. When harvested, a white sap will be released from the broken part. It is believed to have effects such as clearing the liver and improving eyesight, clearing heat and detoxifying, and reducing swelling and lumps.

"Let's go, the dandelions are blooming, let's go dig for wild vegetables, haha..."

Lin Chunyi pulled her younger sister along, and today they went to dig up dandelions.

Along the way, the dry branches had already begun to show some green, and spring had thus given way to winter.

They did not linger in the valley, but went straight through the inner perimeter to the outer perimeter.

Lin Chunyi asked her younger sister to search carefully.

Before long, they found a lot of dandelions on a grassy field.

It's newly grown and still very tender.

They took out small hoes from their baskets and turned over the entire patch of land, digging up all the dandelions.

Just as I was about to get up, I heard several women, around twenty years old, talking.

"Hurry up, I remember there's a big patch of dandelions ahead, don't let someone else get there first. Freshly sprouted dandelions are best eaten raw in a salad."

"The wild vegetables are just starting to grow, how could they be dug up so quickly?"

"Yes, why are you in such a hurry? The roads in the mountains are difficult to travel, so be careful."

Yes... The two sisters looked at each other, touched their noses, and covered their mouths to chuckle.

Lin Chunyi made a hand gesture to her younger sister:

go.

Ok.

The two gently hoisted their baskets onto their backs, scrambling their footprints across the ground, and headed in another direction.

After walking for a while, I could still faintly hear the angry voice of the woman who had spoken at the beginning.