Just past noon, the sun hung high in the sky, casting a lukewarm glow. The house held no warmth; instead, it was permeated with a sharp, drafty chill. Shen Qiao had just swallowed two coarse grain cakes. The rough, dry bread was hard to gulp down, leaving her throat feeling tight and constricted. She took a few sips of water and rested for a good while before her throat finally felt somewhat comfortable again.
Thinking that since she had taken over the original owner’s body, she ought to first get a clear picture of her household’s situation, she stood up and walked slowly toward the wardrobe in the bedroom.
The wardrobe was made of old elm wood, its painted surface flaking and peeling, with a thin layer of dust settled inside its grain. As she reached out and gently pulled the door open, it let out a harsh, piercing creak. The contents inside were pitifully sparse—hanging there was only the original owner’s sole set of old cloth clothes. Patches of various sizes and shades of color covered the cuffs, collar, and hem, while the fabric itself had been washed paper-thin and soft. Stacked at the bottom of the wardrobe was a shabby padded coat with its cotton stuffing peeking out in places, while a single pair of coarse hemp shoes with worn-out toes sat forlornly in the corner. Aside from these, there was not a single other piece of clothing or miscellaneous item.
Shen Qiao pursed her lips, turned, and walked into the room that had belonged to the original owner’s parents. This room was even more bare. The wardrobe was just as decrepit, holding only a few sets of faded, heavily patched old clothes and a quilt that had been mended multiple times. The cotton inside had long since clumped together, looking incredibly thin without even a spare pillowcase to go with it. A coarse straw mat was spread over the bed, with nothing else in sight.
Without lingering, she stepped into the kitchen. The space was small and dark, the smell of cooking fires so faint it was almost non-existent. Sitting atop the earthen stove was only an iron pot with a chipped rim, while beside it sat three chipped earthenware plates and three coarse porcelain bowls—the most ordinary of utensils. In the earthenware salt jar in the corner, there was only a thin layer of coarse salt at the bottom, its large grains mixed with sand and soil. The rice vat was completely empty, and the oil lamp didn’t hold even a single drop of oil. Aside from these, the corner held only a small bamboo sickle and a wood-chopping cleaver. The entire kitchen was utterly bare, a sight that made her heart sink.
Seeing the household in such an impoverished state, Shen Qiao knew full well that if she didn’t find some food or trade for grain soon, she would sooner or later starve to death. Her gaze fell upon a crudely woven bamboo basket in the corner. Reaching out, she picked it up, slung it over her shoulders, and decided to head up the mountain behind the village to look for edible wild herbs or fruits to relieve her immediate crisis.
Carrying the basket, she stepped outside and walked along the winding mountain path. Weeds grew rampant along the trail, interspersed with thick thorns and briars. Keeping her eyes lowered, she carefully identified the wild herbs along the path. As long as something was edible, she would crouch down, carefully pull it up by the roots, and place it gently into her basket, terrified of damaging it. Absorbed in her search for wild herbs, she unwittingly wandered further and further. The surrounding forest grew increasingly dense, the crisscrossing branches blocking out much of the sunlight. The woods turned quiet, leaving only the rustling of leaves in the wind and the sound of her own footsteps.
Realizing she had walked quite a distance, she instantly grew alert. As long as I don’t get ambushed by wild beasts from the deep mountains, keeping my little life intact shouldn’t be a… problem, right? Thinking this to herself, Shen Qiao continued walking forward at a slow pace. Just a few steps later, a sudden, rapid rustling sound burst from the bushes beside her. Immediately following it, a wild pheasant with bright, vibrant feathers flapped its wings frantically and dashed out of the grass, its loud clucking shattering the silence of the forest.
It turned out she had accidentally snapped a twig while walking, startling the wild pheasant hidden in its grassy nest. Shen Qiao didn’t know how to hunt, so she could only stand frozen on the spot, helplessly watching the pheasant spread its wings and fly away, quickly vanishing into the depths of the dense forest. Yet a thought struck her: since a wild pheasant nested here, there might be wild pheasant eggs where it had taken flight.
At this thought, she quickly stepped over to the patch of grass where the pheasant had taken off. Bending down to part the tangled wild grass, she indeed found over a dozen plump, round wild pheasant eggs tucked inside the hidden nest, their shells a faint olive green. Overjoyed, Shen Qiao dared not delay and immediately gathered the wild pheasant eggs into her basket.
Straightening up, she was just about to turn and head back when her gaze accidentally brushed past an old tree beside her. Pushing down the weeds while gathering the eggs had unexpectedly revealed several mushrooms growing beneath the tree. Taking a closer look, Shen Qiao couldn’t help but feel a surge of delight—it was a small patch of wild shiitake mushrooms growing at the foot of the tree! The brownish-brown mushrooms had been layered over and hidden by weeds; had she not coincidentally parted the grass just now, it would have been impossible to spot them.
Suppressing the excitement in her heart, she carefully avoided the loose stones and thorns on the ground as she stepped slowly over to the tree. It was a small cluster of shiitake mushrooms. Working with gentle movements, she soon picked over a dozen mushrooms from beneath the tree, cradling them in the hem of her shirt, already able to catch their rich, earthy aroma.
However, just as she was cradling the mushrooms and about to take a step back, her foot suddenly slipped. A loose stone beneath her foot gave way, causing her to instantly lose her balance and tilt sharply to the side, on the verge of tumbling to the ground and rolling down the slope. Shen Qiao’s heart leapt right into her throat, certain she was in for a nasty fall. In that moment of panic, a broad, powerful hand covered in light calluses reached out out of nowhere, firmly wrapping around her waist and hauling her falling body back up.
Stumbling back to her feet, Shen Qiao looked up in lingering shock. Meeting her eyes was none other than Lu Zheng. Standing tall and upright, his features were cold and sharp, bearing little expression, yet the strength with which he had just held her was steady and reassuring. Gathering herself, Shen Qiao quickly took a step back and thanked him softly, “Thank you, Brother Lu. You’ve saved me once again.”
At this moment, she was still tightly holding the mushrooms in the hem of her shirt, while over a dozen wild pheasant eggs lay inside the basket beside her. Shen Qiao made no attempt to hide them, saying, “Brother Lu, I just gathered some wild pheasant eggs. Here, take a few.”
As Shen Qiao spoke, she reached out to grab the eggs, but Lu Zheng stopped her. “No need. Keep them for yourself.”
“Then once I have money in the future, I’ll definitely repay you.”
Shen Qiao didn’t push the matter. It wasn’t that she was stingy, but rather that she was far too poor right now and couldn’t even fill her own stomach. It was better to wait until she earned some money in the future to repay Brother Lu.
Lu Zheng didn’t take her words about repaying him seriously, simply saying, “Let’s head down the mountain.”
The sun was gradually sinking into the west, and the deep mountains grew fraught with danger after dark, making it unwise to stay long. Without further words, the two walked side-by-side along the mountain trail, quickening their pace down the mountain.
As they neared the foot of the mountain, Lu Zheng came to a halt. Shen Qiao walked a few paces forward before realizing he hadn’t followed, turning back in confusion.
“Brother Lu, why did you stop?”
Lu Zheng replied, “You go ahead first. I’ll head down in a bit.”
Shen Qiao paused for a second before realization hit her. In this conservative ancient world, if a man and a woman walked down the mountain together like this, gossip alone could drown them alive.
Understanding his intent, Shen Qiao said no more and went down the mountain toward home first.