Su Nianyuan squatted down to take a look. There was a cracked clay pot, a notched kitchen knife, some rags, and a small bag of dry rations.
There was even a dried chicken leg.
Looking at the chicken leg, Xiaohu felt extremely aggrieved. “I saved this to eat for my birthday next month.”
Mother Hu said crossly, “Your dad dried all of these! You stinky brat.”
Mentioning his father, both Mother Hu and Xiaohu fell somewhat silent. Their tears had long since dried up over the past three days, and now they couldn’t cry even if they wanted to.
On the day the mountain torrent erupted, Tiger Dad had been hunting up on the mountain; the possibility of him surviving was very slim.
Su Nianyuan said earnestly, “I’m buying these. Once the people are rescued, we’ll need clean hot water and food.”
“Scour this ruined temple one more time, and find everything usable.”
“Where did you get the money?” Xiaohu curled his lip. How could a five-year-old little girl possibly have money?
Su Nianyuan glanced at Xiaohu, and after a moment of silence, pulled a piece of fragmented silver from her bosom.
That bright, white silver was displayed before everyone’s eyes. Although it was only one liang, it was enough to shock them.
Mother Hu asked, puzzled, “Little Village Chief, where did you get the money?”
Green Bamboo Village was an exile village. Forget about making money; just staying alive was already extremely difficult.
Villages from elsewhere were completely unwilling to trade with them.
Su Nianyuan thought for a moment and chose to shift the blame onto the immortal.
“The immortal gave it to me.”
“The immortal??”
Su Nianyuan nodded. Actually, it was given by the system.
The “Make a Fortune Every Day System” account still had 4,220 copper coins at this moment.
The first day had 238 people, the second day 126 people, and today 58 people, totaling 4,220 copper coins.
She said very earnestly, “The immortal said that those who survive a great disaster are bound to have future blessings. In the future, we will live a good life, a life better than anyone else’s.”
Unlike modern times, money acquired for no apparent reason in ancient times always needed an origin.
Therefore, starting from this moment, she had to quietly plant the image of the immortal into everyone’s minds.
Old Lady Lin gave a bitter laugh. “What kind of life could it be? Even if we’re still alive, it’s just muddling along day by day.”
Su Nianyuan looked at the old lady, gazing into her eyes as if looking deep into her inner soul.
She said word by word, “The young are nurtured, the elderly are supported.”
“Green Bamboo Village will become a utopia, and I will let you live a life with something to look forward to.”
The words were simple, but they left all eleven people present stunned.
A life with something to look forward to?
Su Nianyuan was not prepared to say much more. Although she already had a plan in mind, the most important thing right now was still survival. Only by staying alive could they go out, and only by going out could they buy food; otherwise, everything was just empty talk.
She put the one liang of silver away again. Xiaohu opened his mouth, but ultimately closed it.
Because he felt that the current Su Nianyuan was even more terrifying than his dad.
“Get moving, or we can only wait to die.”
Su Nianyuan placed the items on the altar table and turned to walk outside.
The ruined temple was not large. Besides the grand hall where they were staying, there were two guest halls on the left and a monastic dining room on the right.
The location was well chosen. Aside from a few leaks, the beds, stoves, and other facilities were still intact.
The women began to clean up, and two elderly women tidied the guest rooms, searching for all kinds of usable items.
Su Nianyuan led the three children to find wooden buckets to collect water.
The rainwater needed to be boiled before it could be drunk. After setting the wooden buckets in place, they went to gather firewood.
The firewood in the backyard woodshed was only enough to last two days; the firewood they picked up could also last a while if dried near the stove.
Half an hour later, the first batch of rescue workers returned. They carried back two people with injured legs, both still alive.
An hour later, Su Jiancheng returned with five able-bodied people, and they also brought back the food from their homes.
After drinking a bowl of hot soup, they went right back out to search.
Ten people, twenty people, thirty people…
With every person brought back, everyone’s faces gained an extra share of joy, and their bodies gained a bit more strength. Su Jiancheng wiped the sweat from his forehead and looked at Su Nianyuan, who was busy serving water. His heart felt a peculiar itch.
It was a mix of guilt and pride born from watching his child grow up while realizing his own incompetence as a father.
Combining the two made his emotions somewhat restless.
He put on his straw rain cape again, his tone much firmer than at the beginning: “A-Yuan, there are still five people left. Dad will go out and look again, and also find a way to get some food back.”
The water level in Green Bamboo Village had not receded yet; only a rooftop could be seen at their house now.
Since they couldn’t go out, they could only find a way to survive.
Su Nianyuan turned back and looked at Su Jiancheng. She felt a bit more appreciation for this cowardly old father. A very faint smile appeared on her face, and she said with pride, “Dad, you’re amazing.”
Inspired by this remark, Su Jiancheng was filled with drive from head to toe.
The moment Su Nianyuan turned around, she saw Xiaohu’s somewhat sorrowful expression. Tiger Dad hadn’t come back.
She was about to go do other things when Xiaohu grabbed her arm, his face full of hesitation: “Little Village Chief…”
“What’s wrong?”
“Is my dad still alive?” he asked cautiously. Su Nianyuan could not give an answer.
The system could only give the headcount; this was a loophole she had to work around.
Before Su Nianyuan could reply, Xiaohu nodded to himself: “My dad is definitely still alive. He always tells me stories about the mountain. He said he has a secret base, a cave, where he hid quite a few good things!”
“A cave? Do you know where it is?”
Xiaohu shook his head; his dad had never taken him there.
Su Nianyuan consoled him: “Don’t overthink it for now. Do the task I gave you well, and from now on you’ll be the great hero of Green Bamboo Village. When your dad comes back, he’ll definitely be proud of you!”
Xiaohu was only seven years old, at an age where he was most easily excited. Hearing Su Nianyuan’s words, he broke into a bright smile. “Mn! I’ll go help take care of the uncles right now!”
Su Nianyuan looked up, and the sky was gradually turning the pale white of dawn.
The rain was about to stop.
The people who were rescued each received a bowl of ginger soup porridge—only with a few grains of rice, of course, because pooling all their food together, plus that dried chicken leg, amounted to less than five catties in total.
If fifty-eight people didn’t want to starve to death, they had to make do like this. At least there was ginger, which made people feel a bit better after drinking it.
Su Nianyuan planned to go out and look for herself once the rain stopped.
At that moment, Xiaohu rushed over, panting, “Little Village Chief, Grandma Lin insists on going out to look for people.”
Old Lady Lin was getting on in years, and after working hard for several hours, she had fallen asleep from exhaustion. Why was she suddenly wanting to go out again?
Hearing this, Su Nianyuan hurried toward the main entrance. At that moment, Old Lady Lin was being held back by others, but her expression was extremely persistent: “I’m going to save my Feng’er! Don’t stop me!”
Mother Hu, who was holding Old Lady Lin back, had a massive headache: “Auntie! Nobody even said for sure!”
“What’s going on?” Su Nianyuan asked in a deep voice.
Seeing her like a savior, Old Lady Lin knelt in front of Su Nianyuan and cried out, “Someone said they saw my Feng’er before he passed out! He came home to look for me at that time! I can’t just ignore my son.”
She cried even more heartbreakingly than before.
Previously, Old Lady Lin’s heart might have subconsciously assumed that Lin Shoufeng was dead; while sad, it was mostly despair.
And now, hope had been reignited, making her emotions even more agitated than before.
Su Nianyuan looked at her, then looked at the sky, her gaze gradually turning resolute.
“Go. I’ll go look.”