The whole family stared at Liu Ji’an without blinking, waiting to see if he would die.
A quarter of an hour later, seeing that nothing was wrong with him, they finally felt relieved.
Wu Cheng hurriedly stuffed shredded potatoes into his mouth. “Mmm! So delicious.”
Seeing this, the rest of the Liu family also started eating.
Potatoes were a popular food even in modern times, so it didn’t take long for them to win over the Liu family as well.
At the table, everyone devoured the food hungrily, not even having time to talk.
Potatoes were very filling. For the first time in a long while, the Liu family ate to their hearts’ content.
Father Liu stroked his beard, still savoring the taste.
“This thing tastes good and doesn’t spoil easily. It would be great if we could find more.”
Mother Liu shot him a glare. “You old man, ugly as you are, yet you dream big.”
She had already heard from Wang Shi that finding these potatoes was all thanks to Shen Qingge.
Being able to eat at all was already because of their daughter-in-law. How could they still think of getting more?
Father Liu naturally understood this and had only said it casually.
After the meal, Mother Liu warned the whole family, especially the children and Feng Shi.
“Whatever we eat every day, keep it to yourselves. If anyone dares to talk nonsense outside, I’ll skin them alive.”
The children immediately covered their mouths, showing they would never say a word.
Finally, Mother Liu’s gaze landed on Feng Shi. “Feng Shi, did you remember?”
Feng Shi felt extremely dissatisfied. Calling her out in front of everyone was clearly meant to embarrass her.
That old woman is so biased.
Fortunately, she still remembered the lesson Shen Qingge had given her that afternoon and didn’t dare talk back.
No matter how unhappy she felt, she could only nod with a forced expression.
After everyone dispersed, Feng Shi pulled Liu Laosan to complain.
She kept crying about how badly Shen Qingge had beaten her.
But when she lifted her clothes, there wasn’t even a single red mark on her body.
Feng Shi rubbed her eyes, thinking she was seeing things. “Th-this… how is this possible? She really hit me!”
“Are you done yet?” Liu Laosan disliked her habit of stirring trouble and simply ignored her, getting up to go squeeze onto a bed with his nephews.
Feng Shi was full of anger, and in the end, she vented it on Fourth Girl.
“You useless girl! Because I gave birth to you, I’ve suffered so much injustice, yet I don’t even have the right to speak. It’s all your fault—why don’t you just die…”
“Die! Die! All of you should just die!”
…
Early the next morning, Shen Qingge and Liu Ji’an went to see the village chief.
Before leaving, Mother Liu held onto Shen Qingge and gave her a long list of instructions before finally letting them go.
Coincidentally, they ran into Ying Huan not long after.
This time, she only glanced at Liu Ji’an with a resentful look, clearly still unwilling to give up.
Liu Ji’an quickly moved behind Shen Qingge, looking like a timid little wife.
Shen Qingge sharply noticed Ying Huan’s hand—it was completely bandaged, and the injury looked serious.
There was no need to guess who did it—it must have been Liu Ji’an.
Shen Qingge turned back and gave him an approving look. The two of them ignored Ying Huan and walked straight toward the village chief’s tent.
At that moment, the village chief was waiting with more than ten strong villagers.
Seeing Liu Ji’an and Shen Qingge arrive together, the village chief, who had been a bit worried, finally felt at ease.
It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Shen Qingge’s ability.
But she was still a woman. If she led the team, others might be dissatisfied, and trouble could arise along the way.
Liu Ji’an was different. He was the most knowledgeable and capable among the younger generation in the village and held great prestige, so no one would dare object.
“Today, take your water bags and go up the mountain to find a water source. If you can find any food, no matter what it is, that would be good.”
“Once you’re on the mountain, everything must follow the instructions of Ji’an and his wife. Make sure to return safely.”
…
“Don’t worry, Village Chief. We’ll come back safely.”
“Good.”
After the village chief finished giving instructions, the group headed up the mountain.
Not far from where they were resting stood a large mountain.
Unlike the smaller hills where even the tree bark had been stripped clean, the depths of this mountain faintly showed signs of greenery.
This gave the villagers of Liu Village hope, so they decided to send people to search for water and food.
However, after climbing for three whole hours, they found nothing along the way.
Many people began to lose heart.
“How much longer do we have to keep walking?”
“Yeah, I think there’s nothing left on this mountain. We might as well go back instead of wasting our energy.”
“Rather than starving to death here, we might as well die together with everyone else.”
“I agree.”
“Me too.”
…
Their gazes all turned toward Liu Ji’an, waiting for him to nod so they could head back immediately.
Liu Ji’an said unhappily, “We’ve only been out for such a short time, and you already want to give up? Have you thought about how you’ll explain this to the villagers or your families when you go back?”
“Without water and food, everyone in the village will die. But if we find them, everyone can live.”
Shen Qingge sighed. This would have been easier if she were alone.
She could just fly a plane around and scout the area. Why bother wandering around like this?
She needed to find a chance to slip away.
Shen Qingge said to Liu Ji’an, “Take them and keep going. I’ll catch up later.”
Noticing something unusual about her expression, Liu Ji’an didn’t ask further.
He handed her a firework. “I’ll wait ahead with them. If you run into danger, set this off, and I’ll come find you immediately.”
Shen Qingge nodded.
After they walked far away, Shen Qingge found a hidden spot and took out a drone from her space.
A plane would be too noticeable, so a drone was more suitable for scouting.
She controlled the drone to survey the entire mountain.
The outer areas had already been searched by countless people. Anything edible had been completely taken.
Fortunately, in the deeper parts of the mountain, she found several places that might have water sources and food.
But since no one had been there, it also meant there could be other dangers lurking.
After finishing the survey, Shen Qingge put the drone back into her space and followed the marks Liu Ji’an had left to catch up with them.
Liu Ji’an hadn’t gone too far, worried she might not find them.
When Shen Qingge caught up, they were resting.
“There’s nothing left in the outer area. If we want to find water and food, we have to go deeper into the mountain.”
Everyone looked at each other.
After walking for so long and finding nothing, they had already come to the same conclusion.
But going into the deep mountains was no small matter.
Even in times of disaster, there were still many wild beasts there.
If they encountered any, they might become food for those animals.
“Either take the risk or sit and wait to die. Your choice.”
After saying that, Shen Qingge ignored them and pulled Liu Ji’an along as she continued forward.