“Clatter!”
The moment Lin Shengxia finished speaking, Lin Qizheng and Dong Wanqiu’s chopsticks slipped from their hands and fell to the ground.
Dong Wanqiu looked at her daughter, wanting to say something but hesitating. In the end, it was Lin Qizheng who spoke first.
“Do you realize what will happen if anyone discovers this…?”
He didn’t finish his sentence, but the meaning behind his words was obvious.
Of course Lin Shengxia knew exactly what consequences she would face if she were discovered.
But…
She had something to rely on!
“Dad, Mom, watch this…”
After saying that, Lin Shengxia silently commanded in her mind, “Put away everything I bought.”
The next second, Lin Qizheng watched in disbelief as everything that had been piled beside the fire vanished without a trace!
Even the empty packaging left over from the dried noodles disappeared!
“This…”
If his daughter hadn’t been sitting right in front of him without moving an inch, Lin Qizheng might have suspected that she was performing some kind of magic trick.
While he and Dong Wanqiu were still stunned, Lin Shengxia silently brought everything back.
“Dad, I have a way to protect myself, and I understand what you’re worried about. But if our family doesn’t find a way to survive, are we supposed to just sit here and wait for death?”
Lin Shengxia didn’t speak loudly, yet every word struck Lin Qizheng like a hammer, leaving him shaken to his core.
He stared at his stubborn, determined daughter before finally letting out a long sigh.
“In the end, I’m the one who failed you and your mother and brother.”
If he hadn’t trusted others so easily and given them the chance to scheme against him, how could his wife and children have ended up in such a miserable place, forced to endure such hardship?
“Dad, we’re family. There’s no need to talk about who owes whom. Besides, we still need you to catch the fish and shrimp in the river. The three of us don’t know how to fish. Also, when Mom and I went digging for wild vegetables today, we saw some clay on the mountain. I was thinking…”
Before she could finish, Lin Qizheng already understood what she meant.
“You want to reinforce the courtyard wall, don’t you?”
With his daughter possessing such an extraordinary ability, they truly needed to take extra precautions.
Besides, they had only just arrived, and the villagers still didn’t know much about them. That was probably the only reason those who liked to bully the weak hadn’t come knocking on their door yet.
But who could guarantee that no one would harbor malicious intentions in the future?
Both Dong Wanqiu and Lin Shengxia had been striking beauties even back in the capital. They were the kind of women who stood out wherever they went.
Lin Qizheng couldn’t afford to risk even the slightest harm coming to them.
Seeing that his parents and sister had settled everything in just a few sentences, Lin Handong cheerfully said, “I’m one of the two men in the family now! Later, I’ll go dig clay with Dad.”
Lin Shengxia glanced around at their utterly impoverished surroundings and said softly, “There’s no rush to dig the clay. The next time I go over there, I’ll buy some proper tools. We can’t possibly expect you and Dad to dig with your bare hands, can we?”
It would be a terrible bargain if they barely managed to dig any clay but injured their hands in the process.
Lin Qizheng knew his daughter was right, but he was still worried about what might happen if someone saw them using tools they shouldn’t have.
“Dad, since we’ve already decided to do this, there’s no point constantly worrying about every little thing. If you’re concerned about being seen, go early in the morning or late at night. At those hours, forget the villagers—even the birds in the forest won’t be out.”
After hearing his daughter’s words, Lin Qizheng finally nodded.
That night, the family of four slept more deeply than they had in a long time.
It was the peaceful sleep that came from finally having something to rely on, a sense of security that nothing else could replace.
The next morning, Lin Shengxia opened her eyes before dawn.
She quietly turned over and sat up from the pile of straw. Just as she was about to take the bamboo basket and head up the mountain, she felt someone gently tugging at her sleeve.
Looking down, she saw her mother’s thin, bony hand.
Dong Wanqiu had woken up the moment she heard movement beside her. She was afraid her daughter would sneak off to the mountain alone.
Mother and daughter quietly pushed open the back door. Only after they had walked some distance from the ruined temple did Dong Wanqiu speak.
“You are absolutely not allowed to go up the mountain alone!”
Lin Shengxia actually wanted to tell her mother that there was no need to worry.
Last night, while everyone was asleep, she had secretly conducted an experiment.
She had discovered that she could enter the mysterious space herself.
In other words, if she ever encountered danger, Lin Shengxia could simply disappear on the spot. No matter who came looking for her, they wouldn’t be able to find her.
But when she saw the determination and concern in Dong Wanqiu’s eyes, Lin Shengxia couldn’t bring herself to refuse.
After yesterday’s experience, mother and daughter now knew which wild vegetables were valuable.
Unfortunately, they had already picked all the wood ear mushrooms from the place they had discovered yesterday.
If they wanted to find more, they would probably have to wait until after it rained and come back to the mountain to try their luck.
Perhaps because they now knew these wild vegetables could be exchanged for precious white rice, the two of them were especially careful while gathering them.
After returning to the ruined temple, they neatly sorted the vegetables, tied them into bundles with grass rope, and carefully placed them inside the bamboo basket.
Lin Qizheng didn’t catch any carp that day, but he did manage to catch a little over half a kilogram of small river shrimp.
He had no idea whether they were worth anything, so he simply put them in a basin and asked his daughter to take them along.
“These river shrimp won’t survive long once they’re out of the water. Be careful with them.”
Lin Qizheng quietly reminded her several times.
Lin Shengxia nodded repeatedly. After making sure she hadn’t forgotten anything, she took a deep breath, pushed open the door, and stepped outside.
Only when the familiar sounds of vendors calling out their wares reached her ears did she dare open her eyes.
She quickly made her way to Li Xiangqin’s stall and smilingly handed her a bunch of wild fruits.
“These fruits are sweet with a little sourness. They’re perfect for whetting your appetite. Auntie, why don’t you try some?”
Li Xiangqin knew that this girl didn’t like owing favors, so she happily accepted them.
She washed two, eating one herself and handing the other to Xiao Zhang, her kitchen helper.
Then she turned her attention to the good things Lin Shengxia had brought today.
The moment she spotted the basin of small river shrimp, Li Xiangqin immediately straightened in her seat.
“Oh my! Are those river shrimp? I haven’t had these in ages! Did you catch them yourself?”
“My dad caught them. He didn’t manage to catch any fish today, but he caught a little over half a kilogram of river shrimp, so he asked me to bring them over and see if anyone wanted them.”
“These are great! They’re rich in calcium, and they taste best stir-fried with chives!”
She had barely finished speaking when Xu Aixia’s booming voice came from the neighboring stall.
“Shengxia, you’re here! What good stuff did you bring today?”
Before Lin Shengxia could even answer, Li Xiangqin swiftly hid the basin of river shrimp beneath her steamed bun stall!
After hiding it, she even winked at Lin Shengxia.
Understanding immediately, Lin Shengxia smiled and gave her a slight nod before turning toward Xu Aixia.
“Auntie Xu, I only brought wild vegetables today. Would you like to take a look?”
Yesterday, Xu Aixia had bought the largest four-holed carp and taken it home.
Not only had her husband, Old Xiao, devoured it eagerly, but even her three-year-old grandson had eaten without lifting his head from his bowl!
The little boy had never liked eating fish before, so yesterday had truly been an unprecedented occasion.
Xu Aixia was a little disappointed when she heard there was no fish today.
But after thinking about it, she remembered that Lin Shengxia’s vegetables were freshly gathered from the mountain. Perhaps her little grandson would enjoy eating them too.
With that thought, she smiled, came over, selected a bundle of vegetables, and left.
After her, several more customers stopped by Lin Shengxia’s stall.
Knowing that the young girl came from the mountains and didn’t have a phone, they had deliberately brought cash with them today.
Her bamboo basket had been packed full of wild vegetables, yet in less than half an hour, everything was sold out.
Even Lin Shengxia hadn’t expected business to be this fast…