There were some things Cui Shi kept hidden from her son.
She didn’t tell him about the burglary at home. She didn’t want these matters to affect his studies.
Gu Shiguang didn’t have much affection for his mother to begin with. He had never been very willing to talk to her.
So when Cui Shi told him these things, he only responded with a faint acknowledgment, then turned around and went back to the academy to continue studying.
Gu Shiguang had long expected that his mother would eventually sell the farmland, so he wasn’t surprised at all.
That was just the kind of person she was. Less than two months after his biological father died, she had already sold off the family property and remarried into the Gu family, even changing his surname to Gu.
Gu Shiguang even knew that he would probably have a new father again very soon.
After hastily finishing his lunch, Gu Shiguang quickly asked his teacher for leave and rushed toward Dahe Village without stopping.
He ran the whole way, not daring to delay for even a moment.
When he reached the entrance of the village, he carefully looked around to make sure no one was watching, then took a small path toward the Gu residence.
He climbed in through the collapsed wall in the back courtyard and went straight to the place where he had hidden his silver.
The spot was extremely well hidden—no ordinary person would ever find it.
He crouched down, pulled out a brick, and revealed a small bundle.
When he opened it, inside was a neatly arranged pile of silver, totaling two hundred and thirty taels.
“Good, it’s all still here,” Gu Shiguang said, finally letting out a sigh of relief.
This was no small amount of money. One hundred and eighty taels came from two ginseng roots he had once dug up in the mountains and sold in town.
More than forty taels came from gathering herbs in the mountains during his days off.
The remaining silver was earned from copying books for a bookstore, along with some pocket money given to him by Cui Shi.
He had always been frugal, unwilling to spend even a single coin carelessly, saving all of it over time.
Gu Shiguang knew he couldn’t control his mother’s actions, nor was it his place to interfere.
He had always worried that her behavior would eventually bring consequences upon herself.
So he could only secretly save money to prepare a way out for himself—and for her—in case of future trouble.
In fact, on the second day after Gu Shiyi entered the mountains, Gu Shiguang had deliberately returned to the village once.
He wanted to see whether Gu Shiyi had taken the chance to escape.
As soon as he entered the village that day, an auntie came up to him and told him shocking news: Gu Shiyi had been carried off by wolves after entering the mountains!
The moment he heard this, Gu Shiguang immediately understood—Gu Shiyi had successfully escaped!
He just didn’t know whether she had taken any silver with her. As a girl on her own, how could she survive without money?
He had previously told her where Cui Shi kept the keys, but he didn’t know if that foolish girl had taken anything.
After learning that Gu Shiyi had escaped, he had no interest in going home. He immediately turned around and hurried back to the county.
The auntie noticed that instead of worry, there was a faint trace of relief in his expression.
Seeing that, she became a bit angry and couldn’t help but scold him harshly in her heart.
Meanwhile, Gu Shiyi, after leaving the Gu family, ran wildly the whole way, with the two dogs closely following behind her.
Her destination was clear—the sinkhole.
She didn’t dare stop along the way.
Finally, at around eight in the evening, Gu Shiyi arrived at the sinkhole in the dark.
By the time she returned to the small courtyard in the sinkhole, she was utterly exhausted, both tired and hungry.
She collapsed into a chair, breathing heavily, while the two dogs were also worn out, sticking out their tongues and panting.
After resting for a while, she felt a bit better. She got up, poured herself a cup of water, and gulped it down.
Then she released Xiao Hua from her space.
As soon as Xiao Hua came out, it excitedly ran circles around her.
Seeing the cute Xiao Hua, Gu Shiyi’s mood improved a little.
She took out several meat buns from her space to feed the dogs.
Unfortunately, the space didn’t preserve heat, and the buns had already gone cold.
However, the dogs didn’t mind at all. They happily ate the cold buns, while Gu Shiyi had no interest in them—she didn’t want to eat cold food.
With no other choice, she lit a fire to heat the buns before eating.
Before setting out that morning, she had taken out the fish and grapes she had been keeping in the space.
The fish had originally swum freely inside the space, but after being left outside for a whole day, they were clearly not in good condition—some had even floated belly-up.
The grapes, although placed in a cool spot, had also wilted slightly from lack of moisture.
Seeing the poor fish, Gu Shiyi quickly took out some other items from the space to make room, then put the fish and grapes back inside.
Sigh—raiding the house had been satisfying, but organizing everything afterward was exhausting.
At the time, she had just stuffed everything she could into the space without thinking about how to sort it later.
Now, faced with a space packed full of messy items, Gu Shiyi felt a headache coming on.
Especially the vegetables she had pulled up at the end—she had shoved them in along with the soil, making the cleanup even more troublesome.
Without overthinking it, she decided to start with the vegetables.
She piled them all together, then began taking other items out of the space one by one, temporarily placing them in the courtyard.
Perhaps because she was inside the space, she gradually felt less tired, but her stomach was still growling with hunger.
“If staying in the space could make you feel full without eating, that would be great,” she muttered.
Fortunately, the buns in the kitchen were already heated. She wolfed down two large meat buns and finally let out a satisfied burp.
After eating, she returned to the space and continued organizing the remaining items.
Once all the miscellaneous things were taken out, she began sorting the grain, arranging it neatly for easier access.
She stacked the rice taken from the Gu family at the bottom, then placed two bags of wheat on top.
The Gu family had lived quite well—they usually ate white rice and white flour.
She roughly estimated that there were about fifty jin of white rice and twenty jin of white flour in the storeroom.
There were probably even more rice and flour in the cabinet in the kitchen.
After organizing the grain, she turned to the dying fish.
She carefully cleaned the chipped water vat she had taken from the Gu family’s backyard, filled it with fresh water, and placed the fish inside, hoping they would recover.