After washing the dishes that evening, Meng Ping’an added a bucket of spiritual spring water she had drawn to the water jar, mixing it with the well water. This would help Big Brother’s injuries and also make Second Brother and Jin Yuan’s bodies stronger.
After closing the door to the eastern room, Meng Ping’an entered her space. She took a bath in the wooden basin inside, washed herself thoroughly, then lay down on the bed in her space and had a good night’s sleep.
When she woke up the next morning, she was lying on the bed in the eastern room.
The bedding was the same set she had used at the abandoned temple, with thick dry grass and a straw mat underneath.
Meng Ping’an’s heart warmed.
Her two brothers, despite being boys, were even more thoughtful than she was.
After washing up, she went to the kitchen and began preparing breakfast.
She took several eggs from her space and mixed them with the eggs already in the basket, leaving two aside to make egg pancakes later.
She went to the vegetable patch outside the kitchen and pulled out two leafy vegetables and some green onions.
She planned to make egg pancakes and some wild vegetable porridge for breakfast.
Seeing that there were quite a few wild vegetables in the basket beside her, she casually grabbed a handful, cleaned and washed them, and set them aside.
She also took a bag of white flour from her space and mixed it into the flour jar.
Although the family had some food stored at home, it wouldn’t last forever.
She could secretly add some supplies every few days. That way, it wouldn’t be too obvious, while also making their food last longer.
Now that she had joined this family, she couldn’t simply live off them without contributing anything. She could consider it bringing her own share of food.
By the time the food was ready, the three brothers from the western room had also gotten up.
“Ping’an, why did you get up so early?”
Jin Ze smiled somewhat sheepishly.
“Mm. I heard A Yuan say we’re going up the mountain to gather firewood later. I’ll go with him. We can also see if there are any wild vegetables or mushrooms in the mountains and pick some to dry for the winter.”
Meng Ping’an thought that since it was already late summer, they needed to start stockpiling food as soon as possible.
Winters here were very cold. Without enough food, surviving would be even harder.
Last year, she had experienced heavy snow that had completely blocked the town. She had spent more than half a month inside her space because it was simply too cold outside.
Fortunately, she had her space. The temperature inside remained constant, neither too cold nor too hot.
Otherwise, she wouldn’t have survived that winter.
“All right. A Ye, you three can go together later. I’ll organize the food at home. After that, we’ll move all of it into the mountains too.”
“Mm!”
The three of them nodded after hearing their elder brother and began eating breakfast.
After breakfast, Meng Ping’an followed her second brother and Jin Yuan toward the mountains east of the village.
“Ping’an, the mountain path is steep. Be careful!”
Jin Ye turned around and reminded her.
“I know, Second Brother!”
Jin Yuan handed her a wooden stick.
“Take this. When we come across tall grass or bushes, tap them first to make sure there aren’t any snakes.”
“Okay. Thank you, A Yuan!”
Meng Ping’an accepted the stick and smiled at Jin Yuan.
The three of them walked for about an hour before finally reaching a relatively flat area.
“Not far from here is the valley where our village takes shelter.”
Jin Ye pointed toward the middle of the mountain wall, where there seemed to be a cave.
“In that cave?” Meng Ping’an asked curiously.
“Come on. I’ll take you to see it.”
Jin Ye thought about it.
Since they were already here, he might as well take them to see the place and check on the house they had used before.
They could also clean it up so that next time they could simply move their belongings over and live there.
“Okay!”
Meng Ping’an became excited when she heard this.
She also wanted to see whether the village’s chosen refuge was actually safe.
The three of them climbed for another half an hour and arrived at the entrance of the cave halfway up the mountain.
Jin Ye didn’t take them into the cave.
Instead, he walked around it to a large stone.
He pressed a small stone beside it.
The large stone suddenly moved, revealing an opening about the same height as Meng Ping’an.
“Follow me!”
After saying that, he took out the fire starter from his clothes and lit the oil lamp on the stone wall.
Once Meng Ping’an and Jin Yuan entered, he pressed the switch on the wall, extinguished the oil lamp, and closed the stone door.
“How amazing! Who made this mechanism?”
Meng Ping’an stared at the scene before her in astonishment.
She had only ever seen things like this on television in her previous life.
“It was passed down from our ancestors. We don’t even know who built it. Let’s go.”
Jin Ye took a torch from the wall and lit it using the flame from the oil lamp. He then blew out the oil lamp and led them deeper into the cave.
The cave gradually became wider.
After walking for roughly the time it takes to burn a stick of incense, they finally emerged from the cave.
The intense sunlight stung Meng Ping’an’s eyes.
She waited for a moment before opening them and looking at the surroundings.
It was a valley.
Steep mountains towered around them, reaching high into the sky.
At the foot of the mountain on the western side was a stream.
To the north were more than a dozen stone houses and small courtyards.
“Our house is over there!”
Jin Ye pointed toward an inconspicuous little courtyard on the easternmost side.
The courtyard was several hundred meters away from the others—not particularly far, but still somewhat separated.
The other courtyards were also spaced more than a hundred meters apart.
The whole place looked quiet and secluded.
“This place is beautiful!”
At first, Meng Ping’an had thought that the little village at the foot of the mountain was a paradise.
Compared to this place, however, this was the real secluded paradise.
There was a bamboo grove beside the stream, along with many wild fruit trees.
The trees were covered with numerous unripe fruits.
The fruits at the very top had already begun turning slightly red or yellow.
In another month or so, they would probably be fully ripe.
“This is where our ancestors have come to escape disasters for generations. Some people also live here year-round. Look, those are the few households over there.”
Jin Ye pointed toward several small courtyards in the northeastern corner.
Even from here, they could see thin smoke drifting from the chimneys of the stone houses.
“It isn’t too cold or too hot here. It’s so comfortable!”
Only then did Meng Ping’an notice that the temperature here wasn’t nearly as hot as outside.
Even the breeze was cool and refreshing.
Jin Yuan chimed in, “It’s warm in winter and cool in summer. At the easternmost side, in the direction of our house, there’s also a hot spring pool. There are some in other places too, and they’re larger than the one near our house. So the smaller pool in our area belongs exclusively to our family.”
“There’s a hot spring?”
Meng Ping’an excitedly grabbed Jin Yuan’s hand.
“That’s amazing!”
“Hehe, I’m glad you like it! Come on, let’s go home and clean things up first. Then we’ll move some of our grain up here. We’ll probably spend this winter here.”
“Okay!”
Meng Ping’an was already impatient to move here.
Looking at the scenery throughout the valley, she was sure there were plenty of treasures waiting for them to discover.
They could stockpile plenty of wild fruits, mushrooms, bamboo shoots, and game.
Then they wouldn’t have to worry about having nothing to eat during winter.
Before Meng Ping’an could recover from her excitement, the three of them arrived at the small courtyard.
The courtyard wall was built from stacked stones and stood more than a meter high.
There were several empty patches of land inside the courtyard, which were now covered with weeds.
Directly opposite the entrance were three main rooms.
There were another three rooms on the northern side.
On the southernmost side was a thatched shed and an earthen room. They appeared to be a stable and woodshed.
“The three rooms on the eastern side, against the mountain, will be where Big Brother, me, and A Yuan stay. Ping’an, you can stay in the room on the northern side next to Big Brother’s room. The middle room can be used to store grain, and the last one can be the kitchen. How does that sound?”
Jin Ye looked at Meng Ping’an for her opinion.
“Sounds good. I’ll listen to Second Brother.”
“Mm! Good. Then let’s start cleaning.”
“Okay!”
Without another word, Meng Ping’an picked up a broom and a wooden basin and began cleaning.
Jin Yuan went to get a bucket and headed to the river in front of the house to fetch water.