Sisters in the Deep Forest Valley: Many Fun Things

Lin Lanshan looked at the corn she had only picked half of, sighed, tossed the one behind her back, and picked the next one.

"Then we'll have to suffer again when we're husking corn in a few days..."

"Let's hurry up and finish picking the corn today so we can rest for a few days."

They planted six rows in total, with ten seedlings in each row.

More than a hundred ears of corn were picked in one morning without taking too much time, and then dumped on the open ground in the outer yard.

The two of them were covered in dirt and sweat. Without taking a shower, they sat down at the gate of the courtyard, picked up their bowls, and ate the food from the space.

Lin Chunyi took several large gulps of the ice-cold plum juice and said:

"Let's not bother cleaning ourselves yet. Let's sit here and rest for a bit. We can come back and take a shower after we've finished peeling the corn husks."

Lin Lanshan finished her plum juice in one gulp, then put the bowl, chopsticks, and cup directly into her storage space.

"My body feels sticky and itchy, it's really uncomfortable. Let's finish cleaning up in one go before we rest."

I want to take a shower early and then get some sleep. If I rest now, I'm afraid I won't want to get up and do my work later.

She picked up a wooden stool, sat down on the threshold, and began peeling the skin.

Lin Chunyi went to the storeroom and took out a drying mat, which she spread on the open ground. The two of them then threw the peeled corn cobs onto the mat.

They spread the golden corn cobs out on the drying mats and left them to dry, even covering them with a large pile of corn husks.

After tidying up, Lin Lanshan slowly straightened up, turned her stiff neck, and twisted her sore waist.

"Finally finished. Let's go, let's go, let's go back and take a shower and get some sleep. I feel like I'm going to die from exhaustion."

It doesn't look like much, but cleaning it up was surprisingly not easy at all!

"Let's go."

The two went back to the kitchen, boiled a pot of water, took a good shower, changed their clothes, and went back to the bedroom to fall asleep immediately.

……

After being exposed to the sun for a long time, the corn cobs dried quickly. The two sisters rested for two days and then started shelling the corn kernels again.

They didn't have awls, so they had to peel the grains by hand.

Lin Lanshan picked up an ear of corn, peeled it to make a path, and threw it back onto the mat, scattering the kernels everywhere.

"Put it down gently, or the corn kernels will fly off and we'll have to pick them up from the ground later."

She chuckled, "Not many have fallen, no need to pick them up. Just wait, it'll be done in a minute..."

Then he shouted towards the inner courtyard, "Taozi, Tuantuan, Yuanyuan, An'an, Kangkang, come out for dinner!"

It's too hot, so Taozi and Tuanyuan Ankang stay at home all day, not going out at all.

"Da da da……"

Footsteps of varying weights reached their ears and quickly approached them.

Dinner's ready? Where are we?

Lin Lanshan waved her hand and said, "Go ahead, eat as many of the corn kernels on the ground as you like, but make sure they're clean."

"..." Lin Chunyi glanced at the four corn kernels that had fallen to the ground!

The five little ones stared at each other, speechless for a moment.

She grabbed a handful and tossed it over, saying, "Eat up, eat up." Then she continued peeling the grains.

The two spent most of the day peeling corn kernels, spreading them out on mats to continue drying, and then bagging them and putting them in the cellar.

Lin Lanshan cut open a watermelon, scooped out a spoonful, and started eating.

"We've finished harvesting the corn, now we can finally get some rest. Sis, shall we go to the mountains and take a look?"

In early September, the hawthorn berries and Japanese raisin tree fruits began to ripen.

But there's something even more important than wild berries, which is also ripening...

That's ginseng!

The deep mountains are rich in wild resources, including wild animals, wildflowers, wild grasses, wild vegetables, wild fruits... there is no shortage of anything wild.

Precious wild herbs are also plentiful.

When Lin Chunyi said this, Lin Lanshan added another comment:

And those two savages too!

……

For a long time, whenever they had free time, the two sisters would run into the deep mountains in order to find a few valuable medicinal herbs.

The ginseng was discovered last month; to be precise, Lin Chunyi found it in a thicket.

Yes, it is actually the familiar herb that Lin Lanshan saw when she caught the snake last time!

Neither of them were in a very good state at the time. It was only after they got home that they remembered to look up the book and went back to confirm it.

"Rest for two days, clean and process the vegetables in the cellar, then we'll go dig for ginseng!"

For the next two days, the two sisters were busy shuttling between the kitchen, the courtyard, and the cellar.

Two sections of lotus root were stewed with corn and pork ribs to make soup, which we ate that very evening.

Next, I stir-fried shredded pork with green peppers and scrambled eggs with tomatoes, as well as eggplant with minced meat and sweet and sour pork ribs. I also steamed a large pot of rice and put it all into the space.

"Pitter-patter..." It's raining.

A fairly heavy rain started falling the day before they were supposed to go out.

The two sisters moved two small wooden stools and sat under the eaves. They both rested their chins on their hands and began to watch the rain.

"Sister, we were all planning to leave early this morning, but now that it's raining, we'll have to wait for several more days. What if the ginseng gets lost..."

When Lin Chunyi got tired of supporting herself with one hand, she switched to the other hand and continued to watch the rain scene in the yard.

She said slowly:

"Then let's wait a few more days. Rain is a good thing, after all, it only rains a handful of times a year here."

Who told you ginseng can run away? Stop reading those novels that make up nonsense.

Do you think every ginseng root can become a spirit? With so many roots, does it think it can pull them all up and run away?

"You... why are you eating again? What kind of family do you come from, eating like this?"

Her sister has been sitting here for less than an hour, and she has already eaten a corn cob, four slices of watermelon, five strawberries, three pieces of pastry, and drunk half a pot of tea.

Lin Lanshan took out a slice of watermelon from her spatial storage and continued eating, then stuffed her mouth full of blueberries.

"It's raining and I have nothing to do. If I don't eat, what else can I do?"

……

In areas with more rain, the rainy days tend to be shorter; in areas with less rain, the rainy days may occasionally be longer.

The rain lasted longer than they expected, almost half a month... until mid-September.

After the rain stopped, the two ignored the muddy road and, eager to get started, headed into the deep mountains the next morning with their few tagalongs.

The outer perimeter of Youxian Mountain.

The ground was still a little damp, and the two sisters had gained several pounds on their feet by now.

Lin Lanshan tossed a piece of watermelon rind behind her, then took out a second slice of watermelon from her basket and began to eat it.

"Lin Lanshan, can't you be a little nicer to my precious peach? The rind fell on the ground, and it ate dirt in its mouth!"

Then he used a bamboo knife to cut the melon rind in his hand into small pieces and fed them to Tuanyuan and Ankang.

Lin Lanshan turned around and exclaimed, "Hey, how come you eat the melon rind slower than I eat the melon pulp?"

"Sis, it's eating too slowly and can't keep up with me."

"..." At your speed of eating a melon in three bites, even an elephant couldn't catch it.

"Eek..." The peach felt wronged, but it didn't say anything. After all, having a melon rind to eat was better than having nothing at all.