“Clothes made of cotton!”
“Throwing away leftover food!”
“Polished white rice for one copper coin a pound!”
“Pork fat for five copper coins a pound!”
Yun Xiu told the village chief’s family about his daughter’s miraculous encounter word for word.
Village Chief Li Zheng stared blankly at him.
His wife counted on her fingers, while the sons, daughters-in-law, youngest daughter, and grandchildren all gasped in disbelief, their mouths hanging open.
The more they listened to Yun Xiu talk about Zhen Niang’s miraculous encounter, the more they yearned for the world he described!
“Brother Li, you should know my character.
I wouldn’t spin lies to deceive people!” Yun Xiu’s mouth was dry from talking so much, desperate to earn the family’s trust.
Li Zheng looked up, his gaze heavy and his tone solemn.
“Yun Xiu, if what you’re saying is true, this is the only way out for Taoyuan Village!”
Before Yun Xiu’s arrival, he couldn’t think of a single way for the villagers to survive.
The heavy snow had sealed the mountains, making travel impossible.
They couldn’t get out, and outsiders couldn’t get in.
The snow on the mountains was even deeper than in the village; not even the hunters could go up there to hunt.
But now that Yun Xiu was here, he immediately realized this was a life-saving opportunity for the entire village.
Yun Xiu continued, “I came here specifically to tell you this.
Zhen Niang said you should gather everyone in the village and announce the news.
From now on, we’ll all eat from a communal pot!”
Having just eaten the rice porridge, the village chief’s family suddenly felt hungry again.
Yun Xiu hadn’t brought much porridge; everyone only got half a bowl.
They had licked their bowls clean, but unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to fill their stomachs.
Hearing Uncle Yun mention eating from a communal pot, their stomachs began to rumble all over again.
“I’ll head to the village entrance right now and gather everyone to tell them about this!”
Without a moment’s delay, Yun Xiu followed the village chief’s family to the village entrance.
At the entrance, the village chief struck his brass gong.
A loud BONG echoed through the freezing, deathly silent village.
It had been a long time since the village had heard anything other than the howling wind and snow.
Most people were stunned for a long while before they realized it was the village chief sounding the gong, signaling that an important matter needed to be discussed.
“Dashan, hurry!
The village chief is ringing the gong.
There must be something major he needs to discuss with the village.” Li Cuilan shoved her husband, Zhou Dashan, awake.
It had snowed for another full night, and the newly awakened Zhou Dashan shivered uncontrollably from the cold.
He wondered, “In a disastrous year like this, why is Brother Li ringing the gong?” Unable to figure it out, he still followed his wife to the village entrance.
Along the way, they ran into other villagers, all trembling and moving at a snail’s pace.
Everyone was so weak from starvation that they had to stop and rest after every single step.
The village hunter, Wang ManCang, hurried toward the entrance with his family in tow.
The widow, He Lanhua, arrived with her two sons and one daughter.
Even the hunchbacked Grandpa Zhang and the elderly Granny Wu showed up.
Everyone in the village had gathered!
Over a hundred people congregated at the village entrance.
They wore clothes stuffed with willow catkins and wrapped their feet in straw and ragged cloth.
Everyone was skin and bones, their eyes dim and lifeless.
Their faces were not only sallow but marked with glaring frostbite, and their lips bore an unhealthy, livid hue.
Everyone’s food rations were nearly depleted.
There was nothing left to eat, leaving them to strip bark from the trees and boil it.
Some didn’t even have bark.
With their firewood exhausted, they couldn’t boil the bark long enough to soften it, leaving it rough and throat-scratching.
They were all just waiting to die.
Li Cuilan was the first to ask, “Second Uncle, is there an emergency?”
Looking at the villagers’ emaciated, sallow faces, Li Zheng felt a pang of sorrow.
But at the thought of the news Yun Xiu had brought, tears welled up in his eyes.
The village was saved!
“I called everyone here today because there is indeed an important matter—one that concerns the life and death of everyone in Taoyuan Village!” the village chief shouted, his voice hoarse.
“A matter concerning everyone’s life and death?
Are we fleeing the famine?” someone guessed.
Someone else was overjoyed.
“Are we finally fleeing?
If we leave, we might still have a chance at survival, but if we stay in the village, we’ll only be waiting for death.
I don’t want to die!
Village Chief, when do we set off?”
“Flee the famine?” Hearing this, others weren’t as optimistic.
“The heavy snow has sealed the mountains.
We can’t even make it out of the village!
If we get lost in the snow, we’ll either freeze or starve to death.
We’d be better off freezing or starving at home—at least we won’t become wandering ghosts!”
“I agree with fleeing!” someone shouted, raising an arm.
The white-haired Granny Wu began to cry.
“I don’t want to leave the village!
I’m old, and I’d rather die right here than become a wandering ghost!”
Grandpa Zhang wiped away his tears.
“Just let the young ones leave.
Us old folks can die at home, so we won’t drag you down on the road or become wandering ghosts.”
“SOB SOB!
With the snow this heavy, can we really make it out of the village?”
“But if we don’t leave the village, we still won’t survive!”
“Why is God so cruel?!
Why must He force us to die?!”
“Fleeing is our only way out!”
“You all go!
If I’m going to die, I’m dying at home!”
“I’m not leaving, I’ll stay here with Mom and Dad.”
The village chief was completely dumbfounded.
He hadn’t even announced the news yet.
What was this crowd arguing about?
Fleeing the famine?
Absurd!
Let alone the fact that they couldn’t even make it out of the village, even if they did, they wouldn’t survive for long.
Fleeing a famine in the dead of winter was far more difficult than in any other season.
Out of the over one hundred people in their village, it would be a stroke of luck if even ten percent survived the journey.
That was exactly why he hadn’t advocated for fleeing earlier.
Fleeing would only make everyone die faster and more miserably!
At home, there was at least a chance the snow might stop eventually.
Furthermore, they still had tree bark on the mountain to eat.
“Everyone, stop arguing!” he shouted, cutting off the villagers’ wild speculations.
“Where are your heads at?
If I had decided we should flee the famine, I wouldn’t have waited until now to say it!”
Knitting his brows, his voice cut through the villagers’ wails.
“Hold your tears back, all of you!
I’m not talking about fleeing the famine.
I’m talking about a monumental piece of good news!”
Huh???
It wasn’t about fleeing?
The crowd immediately quieted down from their clamoring, confusion written all over their faces.
“If it isn’t fleeing the famine, what other good news could there be?”
“Everyone in the village is about to die.
What good thing could possibly happen to us now?” someone said in despair.
Seeing them settle down, the village chief finally took out an orange.
Yun Xiu had brought two oranges; he and his family had shared one, and he had kept the other for the village chief to use while addressing the village.
A bright, warm yellow hue appeared in the village chief’s hand.
The villagers stared with wide eyes, locking their gazes on the warm yellow object.
It was the only touch of warmth in their freezing, snow-white world.
“Village Chief, what is that?”
“Why does it look like food to me?”
“That’s impossible.”
“COUGH COUGH!” The village chief coughed heavily, clearing his throat.
“This is an orange.
It’s a type of fruit!”
“What?!”
“Fruit?
How can there be such a plump fruit in the dead of winter?
Village Chief, are you pulling our legs?”
The villagers all squeezed toward the front, wanting to get a clearer look.
Yun Xiu advised from the side, “Don’t rush, everyone.
Listen to the village chief explain.”
“An orange is a type of fruit.
It’s sweeter than the fresh fruit sold in town, and those pear trees on the mountain can’t even compare.”
“There’s really food?
Village Chief, is it really food?”
Everyone looked earnestly at the village chief.
He didn’t waste any more words and directly revealed the fruit’s origin.
“This was brought by Zhen Niang of the Yun Family!”
“Zhen Niang?” someone asked impatiently.
“Zhen Niang found edible fruit?
Where is it?
When can we go pick some?”
The village chief’s gaze turned sharp.
“Don’t be impatient.
Let me finish speaking.” Everyone held their breath, falling into a pin-drop silence without the slightest noise.
“Everyone knows there’s no food left on the mountain, only tree bark.
It’s impossible for Zhen Niang to find food around the village.
This is an Immortal Fruit she brought back from the Immortal Realm!
Yesterday, she accidentally fell while going out, and an immortal took a liking to her and accepted her as an apprentice.
“Upon hearing her say that the villagers were suffering from hunger and cold, the immortal couldn’t bear to see us starve and freeze, so he sent her to a magical Immortal Realm.”