Now deep in the mountains, Liu Ye really started digging wild vegetables. From the foolish girl’s memory, she recognized them as shepherd’s purse. After blanching in boiling water, they could be eaten—used for dumplings, soups, basically edible in many ways.
Suddenly, she thought of something.
If I can store firewood in my space, can I also cook inside it?
Right—she still didn’t have a fire starter. She’d have to go back to the Liu family and steal one. She had forgotten it when she took things yesterday.
After digging a basket of shepherd’s purse, Liu Ye stored the knife and basket into her space. She brushed the dirt off her hands.
These were all dead trees—she could just store a couple into her space for firewood. If the space couldn’t produce fire, she could still use them outside later.
So Liu Ye swung her left hand, then her right hand, and stored more than ten dead trees into her space.
Only then did she stop.
She took out a flatbread from her space and sat by a tree root to eat. This was her first meal of the day.
Crunch, crunch.
Suddenly, Liu Ye shot up, alert, staring into the forest behind her.
Footsteps on fallen leaves.
She definitely wasn’t wrong.
Bai Zilin walked out from behind a large tree. A bow and arrows were on his back, and he was holding a wild chicken in his hand. His chest bulged slightly from what he carried.
“So you’ve got sharp ears, foolish girl. Not many people could notice me.”
Seeing it was him, Liu Ye instinctively trusted he wouldn’t harm her.
“Brother Bai…”
Hearing her call him that again, Bai Zilin felt strangely restless, almost wanting to reach out and ruffle her head.
“Mm. Why did you come so deep into the mountain? Don’t you know there are wolves and even tigers up here? Don’t come this far next time. If you want wild fruit, you can’t go so far… it’s too dangerous.”
He took out two apples from his clothes and handed them to her.
“Here. I didn’t find many today.”
Liu Ye took them without hesitation.
“Thank you, Brother Bai. You’re amazing—you even hunted something again. Are there a lot of animals in the mountains?”
Bai Zilin shook his head. “Not many. I walked all morning and only got a wild chicken. But there are wolves, so don’t go deeper into the mountains. Just pick some wild vegetables and go back down.”
Liu Ye nodded. She hadn’t planned to go deep anyway—she had no strength, and meeting a wolf would be the end.
“Oh, I understand. Brother Bai, you should go home now. I’ll go back when it gets dark.”
Bai Zilin hesitated. “At night… are you still sleeping in that broken house?”
She nodded.
“Mm.”
He nodded. “I’m going down the mountain. You should head down early too. Don’t stay too late.”
After speaking, he turned and left.
Liu Ye watched his figure disappear, then scratched her messy hair in confusion.
“Is he… worried about me? He’s actually kind of nice…”
She looked around and found a thick tree, hiding behind it before entering her space.
The moment she went in, she saw lush green farmland.
She ran over excitedly.
Everything she had planted yesterday had not only sprouted—it had already grown tall and strong.
Soybeans reached her calves and were already flowering. Corn was as tall as her shoulders and already had ears forming.
The vegetables were even better—spinach, cabbage, rapeseed, lettuce, scallions, leeks, peppers, eggplants, tomatoes… even cucumbers had started forming on vines that spread across the ground.
“Oh my god!”
“It’s growing too fast! Didn’t I only plant it yesterday?”
“Everything is already flowering and fruiting?! As expected of this black soil space!”
“This means I won’t starve anymore!”
Right—cucumber vines needed support.
She went outside, gathered straight branches, and brought them back into the space. Then she propped up the cucumber vines.
“OK. From now on, this space is my home.”
She turned to the deadwood she had stored and easily lifted one pile to the side.
Only after finishing did she realize something was off.
“Huh? Wait a second…”
“Was the foolish girl this strong before?”
That didn’t seem right.
Yesterday she had even barely been able to push someone. From the memory of the foolish girl, she was always weak from hunger—so weak she couldn’t even run when beaten.
Her eyes turned toward the spiritual spring.
Is it the spring water?
That must be it.
“Great! From now on I won’t be afraid of anyone!”
“Haha! I’m basically a super strong beauty now!”
She grabbed a bowl and drank five bowls of spring water in one go, only stopping when she couldn’t drink anymore.
Then she left the space.
It was already midday.
Too early to go down the mountain. That girl who made her gather wild vegetables might still be waiting below.
She couldn’t go back yet.
Maybe she should follow Bai Zilin’s direction and find wild apple trees.
And so she walked further into the forest—and indeed found them: not just one, but eight wild apple trees scattered around.
The apples weren’t many, and most were small, with a few larger ones hanging high in the branches.
She tried jumping to reach them—but couldn’t.
“Forget it.”
She waved her hand.
One apple tree disappeared.
“Wow… it really works!”
She waved again.
Another tree vanished.
“Hahaha! Success again!”
She stored two more trees. Only four remained outside.
“Perfect. I can go down the mountain now.”
By the time she left the mountain, the sun was already setting. The hillside was empty.
As she walked back to the village, she thought:
Should I go to the abandoned house, or return to the Liu family first? I still need a fire starter… I should steal one.
Inside the village, people were eating dinner and sitting outside chatting.
Children pointed at her as soon as they saw her.
“Foolish girl! Foolish girl! Deaf and mute idiot!”
“Stupid fool! Nobody wants you!”
Adults just laughed and watched, no one stopping them.
Liu Ye ignored them and walked straight to the Liu family house.
She gritted her teeth and pushed the door open—
Inside, the whole Liu family was sitting in the courtyard cooling off.
The moment she appeared, every single one of them turned to her with cold, malicious eyes.