Unfortunately, when Madam He and He Zhiran went out, they did not bring anything like a bamboo basket with them. The cherries were too large, and after Madam He picked a few, her hands were too full to hold any more.
With no other choice, she first went back to He Zhiran's side and let her daughter satisfy her craving first.
He Zhiran never cared much for the etiquette of ancient genteel ladies. Seeing her mother come over, she directly lifted up her skirt to make a pouch shape.
"Mother, just put them here."
At first, Madam He was somewhat astonished by her daughter's actions. When they were in the capital, although her daughter did not like learning the skills of proper young ladies, she was no less well-behaved than the other young misses.
Now He Zhiran's actions were worlds apart from those of the original when she was in the capital.
Madam He was astonished for a moment, but quickly found an excuse for her daughter's behavior.
Her daughter must have suffered too much hardship on the road and was now living in the countryside, so the rules of etiquette she had learned were completely useless.
Especially on the exile journey, when they possibly couldn't even eat their fill. Who was she keeping up appearances for?
Thinking of this, Madam He suddenly felt sore in her heart. Thus, she did not have the slightest intention of reminding He Zhiran to mind her manners. Instead, she placed the cherries in her daughter's lifted skirt as she wished.
Not only that, but when Madam He turned back to continue picking cherries, she actually imitated He Zhiran's style and used her skirt as a pouch until she had picked quite a heavy load before heading back.
"Ranran, do you really like eating these? Look how many your mother picked."
Since her old lady was acting so down-to-earth, He Zhiran had to encourage her.
"Thank you, Mother. I like them."
Seeing her daughter say this, Madam He was extremely happy. After almost a year, she could finally do something for her daughter again. Although it was just a helping hand, for a mother it was still blissful.
After picking so many cherries, it was inconvenient for the mother and daughter to go any further, so they folded back home together.
Do not look down on the cherries bundled in Madam He’s clothes - He Zhiran estimated that there were at least seven or eight catties.
Although the yield of large cherries on each tree was not much, there were many fruit trees. Madam He had only picked some nearby trees and already gotten this many.
He Zhiran estimated that if all the cherries on every tree were picked, there would still be several hundred catties.
For now, she did not intend to sell these hundreds of catties of cherries.
First of all, there were many people in the Mo family, plus so many former subordinates who had also come to join them, as well as Meng Huaining and Tang Mingrui and other friends. It would be good for everyone to try them fresh first.
If they wanted to make money, waiting for next year's bumper harvest, they would surely make a fortune. There was no hurry for the time being.
But she and her mother would not be the ones to pick the rest of the cherries.
Upon returning home, He Zhiran immediately ordered Yu Er to call people to pick cherries. She had tasted some earlier and found they were completely ripe and at the peak flavor.
The Mo family did not lack manpower at present. In less than an hour, Yu Er came back leading a group of people carrying several baskets full of large cherries.
He Zhiran took advantage of the freshness of the food to distribute it.
For each Mo family elder branch, she allotted 10 catties.
Liang Hao and several others were currently in a state of being single men with no family, so she gave 5 catties to each person.
Anyway, they had big appetites, and would probably be able to eat it all in one day.
Although the Mo family had not openly divided into branches, everyone was living their separate small families now. Naturally such delicious fruit had to be distributed to each family.
There was also the Fifth Elder Brother and others working on gunpowder research in the mountains. He Zhiran also had Mo Jiuye deliver them a basket.
As for Tang Mingrui and Meng Huaining's groups, Liang Hao was responsible for delivering some over, 10 catties each to sample the fresh cherries.
In addition, shares were allotted to Nan Rui, Hu Cong, the Fang family and the Xie family.
Even several Mo family-adjacent village households received some, which He Zhiran sent over through Yu Er.
Seeing her daughter’s generosity, Madam He quickly distributed most of the cherries. She suddenly felt a bit heartbroken.
She had attended palace banquets before as well, and knew that with the deliciousness of these cherries, they would be top-tier even in the palace.
Yet her precious daughter had given away almost all of them in just a few words...
He Zhiran was unaware her mother was distressed over her large donations. She sat there eating cherries and chatting happily with everyone.
Suddenly, a series of muffled booms came from the mountainside direction.
He Zhiran immediately stood up and strode towards the outside of the house.
She was all too familiar with this sound - it was the sound of an explosion.
The elder brothers had been up the mountain researching gunpowder for many days without coming down. Mo Jiuye had been busy with domestic affairs and also hadn't gone up the mountain to check the progress. So currently she was unclear on how the gunpowder research was going.
However, based on this sound, He Zhiran could determine that the gunpowder should have been successfully developed, it was just that the elder brothers had not yet fully grasped the proper measurements, resulting in the explosion.
What was more important was that gunpowder had extremely strong destructive power. She didn't know if the elder brothers were injured.
The sound was not small. Although Madam He didn’t know the origin of the sound, that didn’t prevent her from being frightened.
She thought that He Zhiran had suddenly stood up because she was also scared. Not minding her own quickening heartbeat, she hurriedly went up to comfort her daughter.
Madam He gently patted He Zhiran's shoulder, "Ranran, don't be afraid, Mother is here."
Of course He Zhiran was not afraid, she was worried. But currently there was no possibility of her going up the mountain to check things out.
Fortunately, Mo Jiuye had just delivered a basket of cherries over, so he must have heard the explosion and would head over at top speed to go investigate.
Sure enough, Mo Jiuye had just walked halfway up the mountain when he heard the series of loud booms.
He considered the same possibilities as He Zhiran, and was mainly worried about the safety of the elder brothers.
He had personally experienced the might of his wife's hand grenades. Although this explosive was not as powerful as the grenades, it still should not be underestimated.
The more Mo Jiuye thought about it, the more afraid he became. He pushed his lightness skill speed to the maximum.
After about an hour, he appeared at the entrance of the mountain cave where Fifth Elder Brother and the others were researching gunpowder.
The scene before him stunned him speechless.
The entrance of the gunpowder research cave was in a mess, and not only that, the ground had also become scorched black, with countless craters of various sizes around it.
Mo Jiuye put down the bamboo basket in his hand, intending to go take a look around, when he heard someone shouting at him from behind.
"Ninth younger brother, hurry and pull Fifth Elder Brother up!"
The voice not only sounded weak, it was even somewhat miserable.
Mo Jiuye turned around to see a person currently crawling out from a deep pit not far behind him.
Fifth Elder Brother’s hair was messy and disheveled, looking thoroughly “exploded”.
Apart from flashing a mouthful of pearly white teeth when he spoke, his face was basically pitch black all over.
Not only that, but Fifth Elder Brother’s clothes had also become tattered and torn, comparable to Big Elder Brother and Second Elder Brother’s states when they were at the sixth hillock.
Seeing Mo Jiuye still standing there in a daze, Fifth Elder Brother became somewhat anxious.
"Ninth younger brother, hurry and pull me up!"
