With Third Grandma Tang and Second Grandpa Li presiding over the Tang family courtyard, the villagers extended their helping hands.
Those who had worn-out straw mats at home brought over a roll.
Those with abundant firewood carried two bundles.
Those whose wells hadn’t dried up yet delivered water in cracked jars filled to the brim.
Of course, precious items like grain were not among the offerings.
Tang Tian pretended to return to the shack and brought back the small amount of coarse rice along with the chipped bowls, chopsticks, and tattered bedding, thus making their possessions publicly known.
Meanwhile, Li Qiushuang and Tang Chuan had been helped onto the kang, and the villagers gradually dispersed.
Seeing that no one was around, Tang Tian secretly slipped a piece of candy into Tang Hai’s mouth and tasked her simple-minded brother with tending the fire. As she cooked the porridge, she pondered how to start from scratch—going from nothing to something—without drawing too much attention.
Now, their family of four couldn’t withstand the slightest disturbance.
Laying low and developing discreetly was the way to go!
Tang Chuan was propped up and fed warm porridge, and his complexion finally improved somewhat.
As for Li Qiushuang, the sudden divorce had drained all her strength and shattered her long-held beliefs, dealing her a heavy blow. Not only had she not woken up, but her forehead had become burning hot again.
Tang Tian wasn’t overly worried; she secretly gave her mother a fever-reducing pill stored in her Space and kept watch until midnight. Sure enough, the fever subsided.
After a busy day, Tang Tian’s small frame couldn’t hold up any longer, and she eventually curled up beside her mother and fell asleep.
Tang Chuan, concerned about his mother and feeling heartbroken for his sister, kept his eyes closed to rest but didn’t dare sleep. Only when he heard his sister’s steady breathing did he finally relax…
At the first light of dawn, Tang Tian got up, checked that her mother’s forehead was fine, and then pulled Tang Hai along, planning to head up the mountain.
Tang Hai, being a sleepyhead, was reluctant, but with another candy slipped into his mouth, he became like a four-wheel-drive vehicle fueled up—ready to go wherever directed.
Tang Chuan wanted to stop them, but he started coughing as soon as he opened his mouth. By the time he caught his breath, his sister and brother had already vanished…
Two li east of Tangjia Fort lay the Muxue Mountains, a range of over twenty hills of varying heights connected together. It was said that in winter, when the snow sealed the mountains, the view from afar was magnificent, hence the poetic name.
Unfortunately, romantic scenery was a luxury for the wealthy. For common folks, the Muxue Mountains were like a nurturing mother, providing wild vegetables in spring and summer, game in autumn, and firewood in winter, saving countless lives.
Especially in recent years with continuous natural disasters, the survival of the nearby people literally depended on these mountains.
It was now late autumn, and the crops in the fields, having endured three seasons of drought, had long withered and turned yellow, yielding yet another harvest of nothing.
To survive the winter, all the folks in Tangjia Fort entered the mountains daily, trying to find something to fill their bellies.
Along the way, Tang Tian and Tang Hai encountered many people, each warning them not to venture deep into the mountains and to beware of wild animals driven desperate by hunger.
Tang Tian acknowledged each warning and led Tang Hai into the dull, gray forest. After carefully scanning the area, she hurried toward a particular cliff.
Having survived the apocalypse for over a decade and awakened a Space ability with a spiritual spring, her senses were far sharper than an ordinary person’s.
This cliff appeared ordinary, but hidden behind the bushes was a crevice too narrow for adults to squeeze through, yet easily accessible for two children.
The valley behind the crevice was small, with low-lying terrain and no rare natural treasures, but it had a small mountain spring. Thanks to this, the moist grass remained green, even sustaining a wild chestnut tree and a wild jujube tree.
Only half the jujubes remained on the jujube tree, likely having been visited by small animals many times already.
As for the wild chestnuts, their shells covered in sharp burrs meant nearly all of them were still intact.
Tang Tian called Tang Hai to swiftly pick the jujubes into the basket, while she stepped on the chestnut shells to crush them, quickly extracting the brown oval nuts.
Tang Hai ate as he gathered, his cheeks stuffed full like a squirrel’s.
Tang Tian paid him no mind, swiftly smuggling the chestnuts into her Space.
Although the Space wasn’t lacking in food, there weren’t many things she could openly bring out during this famine. These chestnuts might just become her excuse for venturing into the mountains later.
Next time, she could even try hunting some wild game to bring back.
Once these ten days or half a month passed, with the household stabilized and the villagers no longer paying close attention, she could focus on figuring out how to prosper and quickly improve their lives!
Soon, the worn basket Tang Hai was carrying was full.
Tang Tian checked the sun’s position, hurriedly took a dozen eggs from her Space, wove a simple pouch from dried vines, and called her second brother to slip out through the mountain crevice…
Back in the Tang family courtyard, Li Qiushuang had woken up and, finding the two children missing, frantically rushed out to search.
Tang Chuan followed behind, gasping for breath every few steps, wanting to explain, but his mother, overwhelmed with despair and fear, gave him no chance to speak.
The villagers were also alerted, and seven or eight gathered to discuss whether to help search around.
Just then, Tang Tian finally appeared, pulling Tang Hai along.
Li Qiushuang rushed over in a few strides, grabbed Tang Tian, and gave her a light slap.
“You wretched girl, where did you run off to! You nearly scared me to death!”
Though she raised her hand high, it came down with no strength at all.
Tang Tian, held tightly in the embrace, felt a bittersweet warmth in her heart.
She suddenly recalled her previous life—when disaster struck, the world fell into chaos. Though she was rescued early and taken to a national base, sparing her much suffering, she had always lived in loneliness, never knowing the feeling of being missed by someone, an indelible regret.
But in this moment, returning laden with food, being scolded and lightly struck by her mother, all those regrets dissipated like wisps of smoke.
In this life, she had a home, she had family who cared!
“Mother, I found food! Wild jujubes, and wild bird eggs!” Tang Tian held up the vine pouch like a treasure, her small face flushed with exhaustion but beaming with an unusually bright smile.
Tang Hai also struggled to lift the basket, hoping his mother would take a closer look.
Before Li Qiushuang could speak, the gathered villagers exclaimed in surprise.
“Oh my, they really are jujubes! Where did you find them? Such luck!”
“Yes, and so many wild bird eggs, and they’re quite large! Tang Bao’er is truly blessed. We’ve gone into the mountains so many times and never seen even a feather, let alone eggs!”
Tang Tian didn’t want them asking too many questions, as explaining would be troublesome.
So, she grabbed some jujubes and gave each villager a small handful.
Of course, with her small hands, a handful was only three or four jujubes.
The villagers waved their hands in refusal but eventually accepted them, after all, jujubes were such a treat—sweet to eat and could fill the stomach. Bringing them home would surely make the children happy.
After bidding farewell to the villagers, Tang Tian noticed her elder brother leaning against the wall catching his breath and quickly helped him home.
Having been ill all night and experiencing a false alarm, Li Qiushuang pushed aside her sorrows, no matter how heavy they felt.
After all, nothing was more important than her children.
Their safety and presence by her side were a mother’s final bottom line.
Of course, when her daughter added dates to the coarse rice, the subtle sweetness and warmth settling in her stomach as she ate strengthened her will to live.