“Clop-clop-clop…”
The chestnut horse galloped forward, and soon they left the forest behind, arriving at the foot of the mountain.
“Mother, there seems to be a cave up ahead…”
Qin Sui Ning climbed onto the carriage frame to look ahead and quickly spotted a suitable place.
Zhou Shi followed her direction and indeed saw a large cave at the base of the cliff.
“Let’s hide in there first. If we go further, we’ll have to climb the mountain, and the road will be too rough for the carriage.”
This time, both of them had learned their lesson. They didn’t rush in immediately but first checked carefully. Only after confirming no one was inside did they enter.
The world was dangerous, and human hearts were unpredictable—they had no choice but to learn caution step by step.
Fortunately, the cave was quite spacious, and the entrance was flat enough for the carriage to drive straight in.
In one corner, there was already a pile of firewood and dried grass, with traces of a campfire in the middle. It looked like someone had once stayed here.
After running under the blazing sun for so long, both the people and the horse were exhausted and thirsty.
Qin Sui Ning placed a wooden bucket in front of the horse and took out some fodder from her space.
“Why don’t I stay outside and keep watch first while you move the carriage and horse into the space?” Zhou Shi suggested after drinking some water.
Judging by the situation, continuing the journey today was impossible.
Better to hide in the space and wait for the locust swarm to pass.
Qin Sui Ning agreed and, after confirming safety, brought both the carriage and horse into the space.
Then she went out again and brought Zhou Shi in.
With so many seeds bought earlier, Zhou Shi had long been eager to start farming.
The space’s land was vast, fertile, and loose.
A little digging, sowing seeds, and watering from the river—that was enough.
It was a big task and couldn’t be finished in one go.
So they only cleared a corner of about two acres.
“This piece alone is enough to feed us,” Zhou Shi said with satisfaction after finishing.
Back in Qin family village, their family only had about two acres of land.
After that, they planted the water vegetables and arrowhead plants directly into the river.
Then they harvested the overgrown vegetable garden.
Tomatoes alone filled six large baskets.
“Mother, these taste sweet and sour—try one!”
Qin Sui Ning took a ripe tomato and bit into it, smiling in satisfaction.
“If we sold these in town, wouldn’t we make a fortune?” she said excitedly.
Zhou Shi also ate one and nodded.
“Such good fruit… what a pity. With this drought and locust plague, no one has spare money to buy fruit anymore.”
Their mood dimmed slightly—but at least the space preserved food well.
Then they discovered more vegetables: cucumbers, beans, eggplants, and even red chili peppers.
“Eh… spit it out—spit it out!”
Qin Sui Ning suddenly felt like her throat was on fire.
Zhou Shi’s face turned red too as she kept panting.
“What is wrong with this chili? Didn’t those ‘immortals’ say it was delicious?”
They rushed back into the wooden house to drink water.
After gulping down two bowls, Qin Sui Ning finally felt the burning sensation ease.
Looking at the floating comments, she couldn’t help but feel embarrassed.
It was too humiliating.
She had acted without thinking—and even dragged her mother into the embarrassment with her.
The “heavenly commentators” were still laughing endlessly, while she could only lower her head in frustration.