Xu Yue returned to the main hall.
The family’s only torch had been moved from the kitchen to the main hall. At the small square table, Xu Yue, Xu Erniang, Xu Da, and Wang Shi each occupied one side.
On the table were four bowls of rice bran and a pot of boiled water.
As for the rabbit or pheasant meat that Xu Yue had thought would be an extra meal, it didn’t appear on the dining table. Instead, Wang Shi had cleaned and cut it into small pieces, wrapped them in leaves, and placed them on the kitchen counter, seemingly for other purposes.
Wang Shi picked up her chopsticks and gave the command: “Let’s eat!”
Only then did Xu Yue and the other two begin to eat, but…
Even though tonight’s meal was more substantial than those of the previous few days, as soon as Xu Yue stuffed a mouthful of barely steamed, flavorless, soggy rice bran into her mouth, she found she couldn’t swallow it.
Sneaking a glance around, she saw it wasn’t just her who couldn’t swallow it. Her father’s brows were furrowed deeply, a mouthful of rice bran held in his mouth, neither swallowed nor spit out.
He, Xu Qingyang!
A genuine second-generation cultivator, raised in luxury, accustomed to eating only the finest delicacies.
As a fashion icon in the cultivation world, a trendsetter among cultivators, and a profligate son in the eyes of his enemies, even the simplest Spirit Rice had to be arranged into an exquisite snow lotus shape before he would eat it.
And now, this bowl of rice bran in his hands—he had never seen such a thing in his life. In his four hundred years of existence, this was the first time he had learned that such a thing as rice bran existed in the human diet!
Compared to Xu Da’s inner turmoil, Xu Erniang’s resistance to the rice bran was less obvious. She simply stared at the rice bran in her hands with her phoenix eyes, so similar to Xu Da’s, lost in thought.
Who on earth invented this food?
How could anyone think this was fit for human consumption?
Stupid humans!
The great Light Mage Serena would never yield!
Wang Shi’s ability to adapt to her environment was remarkable, perhaps because she had experienced even harsher conditions before.
As the most outstanding general of the contemporary Cosmic Federation, she and her troops had once faced a severe supply crisis due to the schemes of political rivals.
At that time, her unit was stranded on an entirely unfamiliar planet, where resources were extremely scarce, and even the most basic water had to be extracted from the air using distillation technology.
To fill their stomachs, the soldiers had no choice but to venture underground to capture those cunning sand rats.
In the end, despite being completely isolated, she managed to bring every single soldier back to the Federation, giving those political rivals who thought she had starved to death on that foreign planet a huge shock.
Therefore, in Wang Shi’s eyes, nothing was more important than survival. Even in the most desperate situations, she would stubbornly persevere until the very end.
Admiral Wang Pingping of the Empire would never bow her head!
Perhaps Xu Yue’s gaze was too obvious. Noticing her stare, the three of them looked up, and eight eyes met. They all knew that the others had changed inside.
They saw through it but didn’t speak of it.
Seeing that no one could eat, Wang Shi simply put down her bowl and chopsticks and stood up.
The father and his two daughters put down their bowls and chopsticks and looked at her.
“I have an announcement to make,” she said seriously, looking at everyone.
Wang Shi said, “We must leave this place. From my observations these past few days, the drought is extremely severe. Fewer than one in ten nearby villages remains, and the only water source is at Dawang Village ten li away. But when we went there today to trade game for water, we found that the people in Dawang Village are preparing to move away.”
“This world has become a complete mess. Various powerful forces are rebelling under the banner of opposing Dong Xing. The county magistrate of our district has already fled. Meanwhile, refugee armies in the north are staging uprisings and moving southward, pressing toward Shanyang Commandery. Since we’re on their southward route, we’ll inevitably suffer sooner or later.”
“Every day when we go out, we see new corpses by the roadside. These bodies are completely exposed to the air. With such hot weather, they’re collectively fermenting. I’m very concerned about a cholera outbreak.”
“So, do any of you have objections to my decision?” Wang Shi asked.
The father and two daughters looked at each other, then shook their heads in unison: “No objections.”
Wang Shi immediately made the decision: “Then it’s settled. First, fill your stomachs. After eating, pack your own belongings. We’ll set off tomorrow morning.”
Having said this, Wang Shi sat back down and, with water, finished the bowl of bran rice. From start to finish, you couldn’t detect a trace of distress on her face.
Xu Yue silently swallowed, thinking that since they would begin their long journey tomorrow, they needed to maintain sufficient energy. Steeling herself, she imitated Wang Shi’s example—one mouthful of bran rice, one sip of water—forcing herself to finish the entire bowl.
Seeing that even the youngest, Xu Yue, could eat it, Xu Erniang, not wanting to be outdone by her younger sister, took the bran rice in her hands, shaped it into small balls, closed her eyes while pretending it was delicious food, and also finished it all.
Inspired, Xu Da molded his bran rice into lotus shapes and began eating with elegant movements, making Xu Yue feel hungry just watching him, as if he were enjoying some rare delicacy.
After dinner, the four prepared for tomorrow’s departure.
Wang Shi filled bamboo tubes with boiled water—five sections in total, two of which had salt added. The five tubes were neatly arranged in the backpack.
Rolling up his sleeves and disregarding any aristocratic demeanor, Xu Da stood by the stove shaping bran rice balls. Noticing Wang Shi adding salt to the water, a look of confusion appeared in his eyes.
What strange thing was this woman up to now?
Boiling water to drink was one thing, but why add salt to it?
Wang Shi, busy with her tasks, had no time to bother with her useless husband. She took out half of the previously prepared meat pieces, roasted them, wrapped them up—this was for the family’s extra meal tomorrow. To travel quickly, they needed to eat better.
The remaining half of the meat, Wang Shi used up the coarse salt from the household pottery jar to preserve it, making it easier to store in such hot weather.
There wasn’t much bran left either. Aside from tonight’s extravagant meal, the remaining bran could only make twenty balls the size of a baby’s fist. At most, combined with the meat in Wang Shi’s backpack, it would barely last the family of five for four days.
The couple packed all the food and water into the backpacks, then went into the room partitioned by wooden boards inside the main hall.
This was the couple’s bedroom, next to the sisters’ room. Usually, Xu Dalan slept on a makeshift wooden bed in the main hall.
Xu Da followed Wang Shi into the room and watched as she rummaged under the bed, pulling out a pottery jar. His eyes lit up.
However, Wang Shi only took ten large coins from the earthen jar—this was all that remained of the Xu family’s assets.
Wang Shi counted these ten coins three times but failed to make even one more appear. Humiliated and enraged, she shot Xu Da another glare.
Xu Da retorted, “If I were in charge of the household, I would never have let you and our child fall into such dire straits.”
The implication was clear: blame the original owner of this body, not him, the true Xu Da.
Wang Shi snorted coldly and handed the ten coins to Xu Da, who accepted them and carefully tucked them close to his body.
These ten coins were the last lifeline for their entire family.
This small interaction between the couple set the tone for the household’s future dynamic: the man would manage internal affairs, the woman would handle external matters. Wang Shi would lead the charge, while Xu Da provided logistical support.
As for his current teammate, Xu Da was satisfied. Though she didn’t act like a conventional woman, this very fact made him breathe a sigh of relief.
If Wang Shi had been the type to burst into tears at the slightest trouble, and he alone had to drag this entire family forward… he would have chosen to end his life on the spot!