Chapter 13 Clearing Land and Planting

Shen Dong and the other two arrived at Village Head Zhou’s house.

“His name is Shen Feng. I found him at the village entrance last night. This child was abandoned by his family because he was considered foolish. I couldn’t bear to see him fend for himself, so I wanted to adopt him. Please, Uncle Zhou, write a certificate. I need to go to the county to register him.”

Without a household registration, he would be a black household. It would be inconvenient for him to go anywhere in the future. He could also be caught by the government and made a slave, or stolen by kidnappers and sold without anyone caring.

To register, a certificate from the village was needed. As for the content, the village head could just make something up. The government wouldn’t come to investigate in detail.

Village Head Zhou looked at Shen Feng. He did see Shen Dong leave the village yesterday, but he didn’t know what he did or when he came back. But Shen Dong went out and brought back a child, and he wanted to raise him as his son. It was too unexpected. He felt something fishy.

Village Head Zhou couldn’t help but ask a few questions. Shen Dong didn’t say much. His attitude was firm. He wanted to register Shen Feng under their Shen family’s household.

“You’re so stubborn.” Village Head Zhou muttered to Shen Dong. Out of trust, he knew that Shen Dong wouldn’t do anything like human trafficking, so he wrote the certificate.

Shen Dong took the certificate and smiled brightly, “Thank you, Uncle Zhou.”

Shen Nian, who was held in his arms, also smiled sweetly and politely, “Thank you, Village Head Grandpa!”

Shen Feng followed Shen Nian and repeated the words.

The road to town was snowy and difficult to walk on. Shen Dong planned to go tomorrow.

Back home, Shen Nian took her brothers to her fourth uncle’s place. The brothers had worked hard all afternoon yesterday and finally finished the homework assigned by their fourth uncle. Even the most foolish Shen Ang had written those twenty characters.

Shen Bei was deeply relieved and assigned another pile of homework.

Shen Nian was full of energy and felt that there wasn’t enough homework. The brothers wanted to cry. They missed the good old days at the private school. They wanted to go to school.

The next day, Shen Nian and the other children continued to study. Shen Dong went to town. Because the road was far and difficult to walk on, he didn’t return until nightfall.

He had obtained the household registration and bought some cloth and external wound medicine. The medicine was for Shen Feng to apply, and the cloth was enough to make two sets of winter clothes and two sets of spring clothes for Shen Feng.

Seeing Wei Shi using a measuring tape to measure his size, Shen Feng felt a strange feeling in his heart. He thought Wei Shi’s smile was beautiful, and Shen Dong’s smile was also beautiful. Everyone in the Shen family was so kind.

They were just as kind to him as Little Dot and Gao Song.

While Wei Shi was squatting down, Shen Feng suddenly tiptoed up and, imitating Shen Nian, kissed her on the cheek, “Thank you, Mother, for being kind to me.”

Without Shen Nian’s guidance, he said these words himself, and his articulation was clear.

Seeing Shen Feng’s change, Shen Dong and the elders all smiled. Shen Nian smiled the most happily.

Wei Shi touched Shen Feng’s head with a sense of relief, “You don’t need to thank me. You’re my son. It’s my duty to be kind to you.”

At that moment, Shen Feng deeply imprinted the smiles of the Shen family in his heart.

…

Winter passed and spring came. Two years had passed in a blink of an eye.

In a small forest, two little ones were digging holes with small hoes. Behind them stood a white wolf guarding them.

“Dig faster, dig faster. Fourth Brother and the others will be here soon!”

“Nian Nian, what kind of saplings are we planting this time?”

Shen Nian smiled, “These are apple saplings.”

Shen Feng, who was digging the soil, looked up, “Apples? These are tribute items! Fourth Uncle said that only the emperor can eat them. They were introduced from Longyuan Kingdom.”

Longyuan Kingdom was a superior country. Huayue Kingdom was only an inferior country. Although Huayue Kingdom’s territory was no smaller than the superior countries, most of it was barren land. Its agriculture, military, wealth, and manpower were all inferior to Longyuan Kingdom.

Shen Nian raised her little face, “I know they’re tribute items! I can’t eat them because they’re tribute items, so I’m going to plant my own.”

The three-year-old girl had overcome her speech impediment and spoke very fluently.

Shen Feng was truly impressed by Shen Nian.

Since last year, she would always drag him to the mountain secretly, hiding from the adults, and plant all sorts of things in the mountains. Then, she would find a way to pester the adults to take her to the mountain to discover these things and have the adults transplant them to the fields.

He just couldn’t understand where she got all those seeds and saplings?

Oh, right, there were also some strange and wonderful foods.

What instant noodles, compressed biscuits, all these things are strange. Nian Nian told him not to tell anyone, saying it was their secret.

So, he kept it to himself and didn’t tell anyone.

After digging ten small pits and planting ten apple saplings, Shen Nian took Shen Feng in another direction, “Come on, before Fourth Brother and the others find us, let’s go see how the blueberry trees we planted last time are doing!”

They soon arrived at the place. The sunlight was excellent here. They had planted twenty-seven blueberry trees, and they were growing very well.

Shen Nian smiled in satisfaction, “My blueberries are really amazing. They’re so easy to grow. We’ll have blueberries to eat next year!”

Blueberry seedlings take two to three years to bear a small amount of fruit and five years or more to bear a large amount of fruit.

After looking at the blueberries, they went to see the other fruit seedlings.

In the past two years, the crops in the village had been plentiful. Villagers had food and rarely came to the mountains to hunt, especially this area. Because there was a pack of wolves here, no one would come.

Shen Nian divided this area into ten small areas. Each small area had many fruit saplings planted, and she also scattered some rare vegetable seeds. When the seedlings grew, she would take Shen Feng or let Shen Feng come here alone to pick the seedlings and plant them down the mountain.

Perhaps because Shen Nian was truly blessed, every sapling and seed she and Shen Feng planted grew extremely well, none of them died.

“Shen Feng, we’re so amazing. I can see my little orchard and vegetable garden shining brightly.” Shen Nian took a deep breath in a daze, “I’m so glad I had a whim to collect these things.”

In the apocalypse, because of the lack of resources, the competition was too fierce. Her space was over a thousand square meters, and the supplies she found couldn’t fill it. During her escape, she accidentally passed by a place that wholesaled fruit saplings and seeds. Thinking of her dream orchard, she casually threw those saplings and seeds into her space. Later, she collected some medical equipment and materials that didn’t require electricity, as well as farm tools, gasoline, and dirt bikes. She collected everything.

Besides these, her space also contained various practical books, cookbooks, agricultural encyclopedias, and some weapons that were distributed to her when she joined the national army. Although there weren’t many, they were enough to protect her family.

Shen Feng looked at Shen Nian. Seeing her happy, he was also happy. He knew Shen Nian had secrets, but he didn’t ask. He wasn’t curious to investigate. He just wanted to protect her well.

They soon came out of the mountains, while the white wolf stayed in the mountains to guard the saplings.

Shen Cai (fourth brother) happened to be looking for them with others.

“Nian Nian, you’re disobedient again! I’ve told you so many times, this place is too far from home. You can’t come here. Why don’t you listen? You made us worry sick!”

“Sister, if Big Uncle knew you came here again, we’d be beaten by him when we go back.”

Shen Nian said, “If my brothers don’t tell, my father won’t know.”

She rushed over and hugged the eleven-year-old Shen Cai, “I’m sorry, Fourth Brother. I didn’t mean to. I accidentally got lost. Ninth Brother saw that I was missing and came to find me. Then we both got lost together.”

Shen Cai was amused and pointed at her forehead with his finger, “You always use this excuse. You two got lost together? Can’t you come up with a new one?”

Shen Nian giggled, “It doesn’t matter if the excuse is lame or not. As long as Fourth Brother believes it.”

Shen Ang (eighth brother) came over, “Nian Nian, do you and Ninth Brother have a secret in that mountain? Can you take me next time?”

Shen Cai kicked him, “You dare! Can you compare to Ninth Brother? You’re as timid as a mouse and you want to go into the mountains? Do you want me to go in and carry you out?”

Shen Xuan (seventh brother) said, “Don’t say anything. Fortunately, Nian Nian and Ninth Brother are fine. It’s almost time for lunch. Let’s go home. Otherwise, the adults will be worried!”

Shen Nian nodded, “Yes, yes, let’s go home for lunch. After lunch, we’ll go clear the land and plant.”

As soon as she said this, Shen Cai and the others all changed their expressions.

Shen Ang shouted, “We have to clear the land again? Nian Nian, we’ve already cleared an acre of land with you. Isn’t that enough to plant all the things you brought back from the mountains?”