Chapter 25

After lunch, Liu Tong took Xu Ran away. It was only a few days since Xu Ran recovered. He didn’t expect that Ran would dare to go up the mountain alone. With so many beasts on the mountain, if he encountered any of them, could he come back alive?

Just by imagining those scenes, Liu Tong was terrified.

Xu Ran also noticed that he was worried, so he obediently followed behind him. Only when they were alone did Xu Ran start to comfort Liu Tong.

“Tongtong, don’t worry. I know how to deal with it. You see Wu Mei and the others have helped us so much. And we have so many people here to feed. I am obliged to do something in return. I will not go deep into the mountain, and I have just looked for food on the hillside. Trust me. I still need to take care of you. I won’t let anything happen to myself. ”

What Xu Ran siad was so moving that Liu Tong’s eyes almost turned red. He hugged Xu Ran and said, “Ran, it’s all my fault.”

Xu Ran patted him on the back, “What do you mean? I’m in charge of the family. I should support my family. Dear, I won’t go up the mountain alone in the future. I’ll take you with me in the future, okay?”

“Okay,” Liu Tong nodded repeatedly, “Take me with you. I’ve learned to hunt with my dad, and I’m also familiar with the mountain.”

“Alright. I’ll go with you.” Xu Ran held Liu Tong in his arms tightly and tried to comfort him.

At this time, Wu Mei was cleaning up the kitchen. He suddenly found a half basket of potatoes behind the door. He called Xu An over, “Xu An, come. You see there are still a half basket of potatoes here. It is clear that Xu Ran has dug a lot of potatoes in the mountain today. It’s really a hard job for him.”

Looking at the potatoes in the basket, Xu An knew that Xu Ran must feel so embarrassed to live and eat in their house that he went up the mountain to work alone. He thought for a moment and said, “Let’s just eat the potatoes! Otherwise, Xu Ran will not be at ease living here.”

“Fine.” Wu Mei agreed readily since his husband said so.

Soon, the bamboo was ready. Next was to lay the foundation and build the house. And Xu Ran was trying to cook potatoes in a variety of ways these days. The potatoes were delicious but not greasy, so they were more popular than brown rice.

Because of the good early preparatory work, the house was under the construction quickly, No materials like mud or wood were needed, and the bamboo was light and clean. The seven of them worked very effectively. Soon the structure of the house was built in four or five days.

Although everything was done in a hurry, the building was indeed strong and sturdy. It looked good too.

What came next was to get the tiles back which Wu Mei had helped find. In the village, there was a special place to make tiles. The price was not cheap, with twenty pence for each piece. Thus all Liu Tong’s money was spent on the tiles.

Another ten days passed. And it had also been twenty days since Xu Ran came to this world. The house was finally built. Once the house was furnished necessarily, they could move into the new house.

The bed was made of bamboo, which was helped by Xu An. Actually, most things in the house were made of bamboo.

Xu Ran didn’t specially make a stove for cooking, instead, he directly built a fire pit with four stones. When he was young, his family did cooking in this kind of fire pit. It was also convenient for people to get warm in winter just by sitting around. They just needed to hang a jar on a hook when cooking. As for the cooking pot, he just made something to lift on its cover.

In fact, it was not that Xu Ran didn’t want to build a stove. It was just that they didn’t have money now, so they had to do without.

Except the pot, the other tableware was all made of wood. Xu An’s  craftsmanship was good, and the wooden bowls were also very good.

In the evening, Liu Tong went to a village’s elder who knew about the auspicious days and chose a good day to move into the new house.

On the day of moving, in addition to Wu Mei’s and other two families, Xu Ran also invited the village head’s family as well as the elder’s, who chose the lucky moving day for them. This elder was also a member of Xu’s clan. The villagers called him Grandad the Third.

On this very day, Xu Ran did all the cooking. Though there were no potatoes, the dishes included cordate houttuynia salad and other wild vegetables.

The reason why he didn’t take out the potatoes was that he wanted to keep it as a secret. If the village head knew about it, everyone in the village would also know the truth.

Potatoes were Xu Ran’s present way to feed his family. He didn’t want to let them known to all.

That day, Xu Zhen went to the town to buy meat and wine. And two big characters of “happiness” in red were put up on the wooden door of Xu Ran’s new house.

And since that day, Xu Ran, who had been a fool for seven years, was no longer stupid.

And the rumors about Xu Houcai’s family, which had been stopped in the village, spread again.

Standing at the door of his own home, Xu Ran gazed at his spouse by his side, tall and strong, as well as his two lovely children affectionately. Looking back on the month he had been here, he finally felt that he had at last taken root.