But soon, another thing caught his attention.
Lin Zhilan pulled him back, shushed him, and then took a slingshot out of her small bag.
Li Xuan's eyes widened as he watched her pick up a pebble from the ground, quickly draw back the slingshot, and shoot at the tree.
With a swish, a flock of birds scattered from a nearby large tree, and something fell from the branches.
"She definitely hit it again!"
Wang Rou's voice was full of pleasant surprise. She pulled the dumbfounded Li Xuan forward, grabbed a bird from the grass, and smiled. "This one is so plump!"
Lin Zhilan also smiled.
Her magical space was a bit underwhelming; it was only useful if she cultivated it herself, and no one else could enter. As the sole laborer, she only spared the effort to grow medicinal herbs and occasionally some vegetables she wanted to eat.
Lin Zhilan originally thought the spiritual spring was equally useless, serving no other purpose than making a person more beautiful.
But over time, she gradually discovered that her strength was growing, and even her five senses had become sharper.
Things like shooting birds with a slingshot were now a piece of cake for her, otherwise she wouldn't dare bring Wang Rou into the mountains alone so often.
This display of skill completely stunned Li Xuan, who hadn't seen much of the world.
The way he looked at Lin Zhilan was practically glowing; looking at him like this, he actually resembled Wang Rou a bit.
Lin Zhilan chuckled, "One isn't enough, we have so many kids here."
Since there were many people today, Lin Zhilan didn't plan on going deep into the mountains.
Instead, they stopped at a flat area at the foot of the mountain.
Seeing the plump bird in Li Xuan's hand, Jiang Chengzhou ran over excitedly, "How did you catch this?"
Li Xuan glanced at Lin Zhilan. "Auntie Lin shot it down with a slingshot."
"Auntie!"
Lin Zhilan covered her ears. "Jiang Chengzhou, you're going to make me deaf with your shouting."
"Auntie, Auntie," Jiang Chengzhou jumped up and down in excitement. "I want to learn how to use a slingshot too."
"Alright, alright, come with me."
Lin Zhilan motioned for the children to be quiet and then singled out a tree.
Among the branches, several sparrows were hopping about.
Lin Zhilan picked up a slightly rounder pebble from the ground and pinched it in the leather pouch of the slingshot.
The children instantly held their breath, not moving a muscle.
With a swish, the stone tore through the air.
Soon, a sparrow fell in response, flapping its wings as it dropped into the grass.
"Wow!"
The children erupted in cheers and all rushed over in a swarm.
Jiang Chengzhou was the first to dash over, retrieving the sparrow.
"Auntie! I want to try too!"
Lin Zhilan raised the slingshot above her head and met the children's gazes. "Everyone can play, but you must follow the rules. You cannot shoot at people, understand?"
"Understood!"
Lin Zhilan shot a few more birds before handing the slingshot over to them.
Jiang Chengzhou said, "My sister is the youngest, let her play first."
The others had no objections.
But Linlin didn't know how to play at all. She had just been joining in on the fun with her brothers. After holding the slingshot and playing with it for a moment, she immediately lost interest and gave it back to her brother.
Since she wasn't playing, only the three boys were left.
Yan Yuan played once, carefully observed the structure of the slingshot, and then yielded it to the others to go play with Linlin.
Linlin was too young, and he was worried about her.
Li Xuan gave him a strange look, then continued taking turns with Jiang Chengzhou to play with the slingshot.
Linlin was very good at entertaining herself; if her brother didn't play with her, she would go pick small flowers on her own.
Yan Yuan was very dexterous. He wove a flower crown for her using vines and taught her how to insert the small flowers into it.
After a while, Linlin wore the flower crown and went to show off her treasure to her mother.
Lin Zhilan had just returned from cleaning the game by the stream when she saw her daughter wearing a flower crown on her head. Pale yellow flowers dotted the crown, making the little girl look like a flower fairy.
"So beautiful," Lin Zhilan smiled. "Who made this for you?"
"Brother Yan Yuan." Linlin raised her small hands, touching the flower crown on her head, and then her eyes were drawn to her hands, which were also adorned with two small flower bracelets.
"You have them on your hands too, how pretty."
"Mhm," Linlin didn't hold back her praise. "Brother Yan Yuan is awesome."
"You're right, baby."
Among the three boys of the same age, perhaps due to not having parents, Yan Yuan was actually the most mature one.
Li Xuan would keep things bottled up inside without saying them, while Yan Yuan thought a lot and was always used to taking care of others.
Jiang Chengzhou loved his sister very much, but he was very playful, and sometimes he would forget about Linlin while playing.
But Yan Yuan would put taking care of his younger sister first. Sometimes Lin Zhilan even felt that he treated Jiang Chengzhou and Li Xuan as younger brothers and took care of them too.
Lin Zhilan smiled, "Little Yuan, why aren't you going to play with them?"
Yan Yuan shook his head, took out a flower crown from behind his back, and handed it to her. "Auntie, this is for you."
"My hands are full, could you help me put it on?" Lin Zhilan squatted down, gesturing for him to place it on her head.
Yan Yuan's face turned a little red as he gently placed the flower crown on her head.
"Mommy is pretty, just like me." Little Linlin clapped happily.
The corners of Yan Yuan's mouth turned up.
Wang Rou originally hadn't reacted much and wasn't familiar with Yan Yuan, but his expression just now looked a bit like Li Xuan, so she couldn't help but look at him a few more times.
Yan Yuan met her gaze. "Does Auntie Wang want one too?"
He was braver and more outgoing than Li Xuan.
Wang Rou asked, "Can I?"
"Yes," Yan Yuan nodded. "I can make one very quickly."
By the time Jiang Chengzhou and Li Xuan returned, Yan Yuan had already won the hearts of all the girls.
Wang Rou had already gathered some firewood earlier. Lin Zhilan snapped a few branches, whittled them with a small knife, skewered the game, and tied them together with vines so they could be placed perfectly on the rack to roast.
By the time she turned around, Yan Yuan had already started the fire.
"Little Yuan..."
"Hmm?" Yan Yuan looked up in confusion.
Lin Zhilan wanted to tell him to go play, but realizing this might just be his personality, she changed her words, "Did you use to go up the mountain to play before?"
"I would go up the mountain with my grandpa to chop wood."
"You're amazing."
Parents nowadays weren't used to praising their own children; instead, they often complimented other people's children while belittling their own.
Lin Zhilan's direct expression of praise left Yan Yuan a bit overwhelmed.
Fortunately, their precious darling Linlin was there.
She grabbed her mother's pant leg and asked, "Mommy, am I amazing?"
"You're amazing too."
"Hehe," Linlin held Yan Yuan's hand and swung it. "Brother Yan, we are all amazing."
Yan Yuan blushed at her words and hastily walked away. "I'll go gather some more firewood."
He ran off, leaving Linlin a bit puzzled as she looked down and touched the small flowers on her hands.
The firewood had just been lit, and the fire was too fierce, which would easily burn the meat.
Lin Zhilan poked at the campfire, spreading the flames out.
She then buried a few sweet potatoes and ears of corn in the hot ashes.
It wasn't until the aroma of the roasting meat gradually wafted through the air that Jiang Chengzhou was attracted over. Li Xuan, however, stubbornly kept playing with the slingshot until Wang Rou called him back.
