In the following days, Bai Taotao went out again.

She was afraid of missing the visit from that person coming to propose marriage.

But staying at home with nothing to do, Taotao waited for a time when Song Zhi was at home, then sat down with Little Grape to chat.

Taotao said, [Little Grape, can you help me ask Grandpa something? My second brother is in another place and might run into trouble. Is there any way to protect him?]

Little Grape took a long time before responding, [Where is Second Brother?]

Taotao replied, [At the border. By the way, can you understand the language of plants in Vietnam?]

Little Grape: [What did you say? @_@]

Taotao patted her forehead. Plants didn’t communicate through language like humans.

However, Little Grape quickly gave an answer. [Taotao, Grandpa asked me to tell you that plants can communicate without a problem. But plants in faraway places haven’t received Grandpa’s blessings. Even if we send messages to them, they might not be willing to listen to Grandpa.]

Taotao thought to herself—this made sense.

Little Grape asked again, [Taotao, what kind of danger will Second Brother face?]

Taotao shook her head blankly.

She didn’t know what might happen to Second Brother. All she knew was that even his body hadn’t been found by the military—this was secondhand news she’d heard from silly Xingxing.

Taotao hesitated, then asked again, [Little Grape, if I make a sachet and put plant seeds in it, then send it to Second Brother for him to carry with him, could those seeds save him if he runs into danger? Just like how Sweet Bamboo helps us guard the house?]

After a long while, Little Grape answered, [Taotao, Grandpa said there are a few kinds of seeds that might meet your requirements.]

One type was called False Banana. Its seeds only needed sunlight and moist soil to grow half a meter tall and bloom within two days. The flowers would produce a small amount of nectar. While this plant could later bear fruits resembling bananas, it would take three months…

But in emergencies, the flowers, nectar, leaves, stems, and stalks of the False Banana could all be eaten.

The other two plants, like False Banana, sprouted quickly and could grow rapidly in one or two days, provided they had enough water.

Little Grape added, [Taotao, Grandpa also said that after you find these seeds, you need to awaken them, just like you did with me. Otherwise, we won’t be able to get them to help Second Brother at a critical moment.]

Little Grape explained further—plant communication wasn’t as precise as human language. Only a few ancient plants possessed communication abilities. The Sweet Bamboo Brother and Bayberry Sister it mentioned were actually several hundred years old, and Uncle Banyan was over two thousand years old…

But Little Grape itself was only a month old. It had gained the ability to communicate thanks to Taotao’s spiritual energy nourishment.

However, whether the seeds could be awakened by Taotao was even harder to say.

Taotao fell into deep thought.

Up until now, only two plants could communicate with her directly—Grandpa and Little Grape. She had tried infusing spiritual energy into other plants before, but nothing ever came of it.

So Grandpa’s meaning was clear—he could use his vast knowledge to assist Taotao, but in the end, it would still be up to her to use spiritual energy to awaken the seeds.

Taotao asked Little Grape to pass on her gratitude to Grandpa.

No one knew what dangers her brother Nansheng might face. Grandpa’s advice was already very thorough. Now, what Taotao needed to do was gather those seeds, awaken them, pour spiritual energy into them, and pack them into a sachet to send to her brother for him to carry.

Hopefully, they could ward off disaster for him.

But finding those three types of seeds required going deep into the forest.

For the past few days, Taotao hadn’t gone out. Instead, she asked her eldest sister for some scraps of fabric and thread, staying at home to make the sachet.

Xingxing noticed and asked, “Fourth Sister, what are you making this for?”

Taotao casually replied, “Children’s Day is coming up. I’m making a sachet for Brother Nansheng!”

Bai Xingxing: Children’s Day…???

Then she saw her silly sister had Hongdou’s Chinese language textbook open in front of her. It looked like she was copying the design from one of the illustrations in the book, piecing it together with embroidery fabric???

By dinnertime, everyone at home had heard about it—Taotao was making a sachet for Nansheng to celebrate Children’s Day.

Hongdou asked, “Fourth Aunt, what about my Children’s Day gift?”

Huangdou added, “Fourth Aunt, what about mine?”

Bai Taotao: …

“Fine, I’ll make the two of you… Hmm, and for your little brother who’s about to be born, I’ll make each of you a set of clothes!” Taotao said.

Everyone looked at each other.

Tang Liren suddenly thought of something, “Speaking of Nansheng, I just remembered—the Dragon Boat Festival is coming up soon. Since Taotao’s sending him a sachet, why don’t we also send some zongzi for him to eat?”

Bai Zhenggan said, “It’s so hot. Sending a package will take at least half a month. It’ll spoil! Besides, by the time he gets it, the Dragon Boat Festival will be over!”

Tan Fenghui suggested, “Why don’t we send dried bamboo leaves and glutinous rice so he can make his own?”

Bai Dongsheng said, “The army has everything. Would he really be short on zongzi? Plus, he’s probably busy training every day. Where would he find time to make zongzi?”

Song Zhi empathized and said, “It’s better to write him letters. Everyone can write one. Letters are meaningful, and he can read them whenever he misses home to feel better.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Song Zhi froze.

—Had he just inserted himself into the Bai family’s meeting? Would the Bai family… dislike him speaking so casually and discussing their family matters?

While he was worrying, Bai Zhenggan clapped his hands and said, “It’s decided! Everyone writes Nansheng a letter tonight!”

Only then did Song Zhi relax, a small smile forming at the corners of his mouth.

Tang Liren muttered, “Since we’re sending a package anyway, I’ll make some homemade sauce for Nansheng. Sauces don’t spoil and can last for two or three months… I’ll start making it tomorrow!”

Hongdou said, “Grandma, make that shrimp chili sauce! It’s so tasty! Tomorrow, Huangdou and I will catch shrimp in the river!”

Tang Liren clapped her hands. “Good! Do your best to catch lots of shrimp and little fish too. I’ll make a few more jars. Song Zhi likes that sauce too…”

Song Zhi, hearing his name, lowered his head, his smile widening.

Huangdou added, “Grandma, can you also make some salted duck eggs for Second Uncle? Just save one for me!”

Back when they hadn’t moved out of the ancestral house, Tang Liren had secretly kept a few laying hens in the cellar. Later, she had asked Third Aunt to sneak some out, even giving her two of them.

Now raising chickens didn’t need to be so secretive, but there weren’t many left. These days, Tang Liren gave Taotao a boiled egg every day, saving the rest to prepare for Tan Fenghui’s confinement ^[1]In China and a lot of places in the world women tend to take extra care of themselves postpartum, to heal from pregnancy and childbirth. meals.

Grandma Qi heard about it and secretly sent over a few half-grown ducks. Tang Liren then had Hongdou and Huangdou go outside every day to catch crickets and small bugs to feed the chickens and ducks. Half a month later, two ducks had already laid red-yolked eggs.

Huangdou felt particularly proud. “I promise to catch bugs every day to feed the ducks, so they’ll lay lots and lots of eggs! So many… that we’ll fill the whole house, and then we can eat duck eggs every day!”

Hongdou looked a little sad. “You love eating duck eggs so much, no wonder you always get zeroes on your tests^[2]zero is the same shape as an egg… Let me ask you this—did you sing your mountain songs today?”

Everyone burst into laughter.

Huangdou pouted, feeling wronged.

Two days later, Taotao’s sachet was finally finished.

Now, they just had to find time to go into the dense forest to look for wild banana seeds.

With nothing else to do, she gathered a few old clothes that family members had worn out, and carefully cut them according to Hongdou and Huangdou’s sizes.

That day, it was Bai Lili’s turn to do the household chores. When she saw Taotao sitting on the kang bed cutting a basketful of fabric scraps, she picked up a piece and inspected it. It actually looked pretty decent, so she asked, “Taotao, when did you learn how to make clothes?”

Without even looking up, Taotao replied, “I learned it from my sister-in-law!”

—Tan Fenghui’s belly had grown larger, and with her due date approaching, the family had already forbidden her from going out. With nothing to do, she had taken apart a few old adult clothes and resized them into smaller ones for her two children.

Bai Taotao had watched for two days.

In her previous life, she was the Saint of the Meizong Sect. Her most important task every day was to make herself look beautiful. Whether it was altering dresses or modifying accessories, she was naturally skilled at it.

Even though she didn’t have the right tools now, simple cutting and sewing, combined with a bit of color matching…

How hard could it be?

But Bai Lili exclaimed in amazement, “You only watched for a bit, and now you’re already sewing? Hey! If you ask me, you must’ve used up all your stupidity in the first seventeen years of your life, and now you’ve suddenly become clever!”

“You’re the one who’s stupid!” Bai Taotao scolded her.

Lili laughed and walked away but returned shortly with two cups of tea. She placed one beside Taotao and the other by their father, then opened the window a little wider. She said, “Dad, Taotao, raise your heads and don’t keep looking down—you’ll strain your eyes! Here, Dad, your ginger tea, and Taotao, here’s your jasmine tea—six tea leaves and three half-bloomed flowers!”

Taotao glanced at her sister with a smile, picked up the jasmine tea, and took a sip. The temperature was just right, and the tea was light and fragrant with a strong jasmine aroma—exactly how she liked it.

Taotao liked her sister Lizi even more.

“Third Sister, what kind of husband are you looking for?” Taotao casually asked.

Hearing this, Bai Zhengqian couldn’t help but look up at his daughter too.

Bai Lili let out a surprised “Ah!” and froze for a moment before blushing furiously. She scolded, “You silly girl, what do you know?!” Then she ran off with a red face.

“You’re the silly one!” Taotao huffed.

Bai Zhengqian felt helpless.

These two little girls were always like this—bickering one moment and getting along the next…

He picked up his ginger tea, took a sip, and, finding it satisfying, finished it in one go before continuing with his weaving.

Bai Zhengqian was skilled with his hands. He knew a bit of masonry, carpentry, and blacksmithing—all out of necessity to support his family. Now that he was recovering at home, he couldn’t stay idle. So, he had Lizi and Xingzi cut some bamboo from the mountain and bring it back. He split the bamboo into strips, piled them on the kang, and made handicrafts every day.

With summer approaching, he wove a few bamboo mats. Then, at Taotao’s suggestion, he used the leftover bamboo strips to make all kinds of toys that children loved to play with.

There were dragonflies, butterflies, and beetles with movable wings, and he even added small bamboo whistles to some of them…

Hongdou and Huangdou were overjoyed!

The family thought Bai Zhengqian’s craftsmanship was quite good. They discussed that after Tan Fenghui gave birth, they could go to town to buy some chicken, duck, and fish to help her recover. At that time, they could also sell these little toys.

Hearing this, Bai Zhengqian kept busy making more of them every day.

“Is Dongsheng’s dad home?” Someone suddenly called from outside the door.