Xia Qingyue went to the stream to retrieve the fish trap.
On the way back to the sinkhole, she kept looking over her shoulder, afraid that someone might be following her, always feeling as if there were thorns on her back.
Heihei showed no signs of alertness, which eased her mind a little.
After returning to the sinkhole, to her own small world and little home, the tension in her heart finally eased somewhat.
She sat on a large rock to catch her breath, recalling the scene from earlier when she saw the white dog respond to the whistle.
A cool breeze swept over her in waves, blowing her loose strands of hair into a mess. Wearing her thin long-sleeved shirt, she began to feel cold.
Pat, pat.
Raindrops began falling from the opening of the sinkhole.
Xia Qingyue hurried to gather the half-dried bamboo shoots, bamboo fungus, mushrooms, and water celery.
She had just finished collecting them when the rain suddenly grew heavier. Water poured down from the mouth of the sinkhole like strings of broken beads, shrouding the mountain pit in a hazy curtain of mist and rain.
Crystal-clear raindrops struck the ground, splashing up tiny sprays of water.
The wind blew coldly. Xia Qingyue crossed her arms over her chest and rubbed her hands through her sleeves.
Then she turned to pour out the small fish and shrimp from the fish trap and chopped some reed shoots to feed the chickens and ducks.
Heihei ate the slightly larger fish, about the length of chopsticks.
Today she did not catch any big fish weighing two or three jin, so she fed all of them to the animals.
On rainy days, night fell quickly. Xia Qingyue hastily cooked some dough lumps as dinner.
After washing up, she lay down on the bed. Even with the two windows tightly shut, wind still seeped in through the tiny cracks. She wrapped herself tightly in the thick quilt, feeling cold.
The weather had been good over the past few days, so she had taken the quilt outside to dry for several days before putting it away.
This quilt had been handmade by the original owner’s mother. It was stuffed with reed fluff and sewn together stitch by stitch with burlap.
It would definitely not be warm enough for winter, but in weather like this, it could still keep out the cold. After being dried in the sun, it carried the faint scent of sunlight.
Outside, cold gusts of wind howled, making the trees growing on the slopes inside the pit rustle loudly, sounding like ghostly wails. In the quiet night, it was especially frightening.
All she could see was pitch-black darkness. Lying flat on the bed, Xia Qingyue began thinking about making defensive weapons.
In her previous life, when she was young, she lived in the countryside with her grandmother. Her parents were not around, and in the eyes of children her age, she was a wild child without parents.
Even at such a young age, they already knew to bully the weak, often insulting and beating her both verbally and physically.
After it happened several times, her grandmother found out. Furious, she took Xia Qingyue to confront those children and said on the spot:
“Yue’er is also a child who is loved, protected, and supported by someone. Yue’er, whoever hits you, scolds you, or bullies you, you hit them back right now. In the future, if anyone dares to bully you again, don’t endure it and don’t give in. Don’t let them develop these bad habits!”
From then on, she firmly remembered her grandmother’s words. It was those words that gave her courage and confidence.
In the days that followed, whenever someone dared to bully her, she never hesitated to retaliate.
During that time, she grew fond of using a slingshot. At first, she practiced by shooting at dead objects like trees and bottles. Later, she used it on those who bullied her.
Gradually, her accuracy with the slingshot improved more and more. The children in that rural area no longer dared to provoke her and would avoid her whenever they saw her.
Thinking of those memories, Xia Qingyue choked up as she softly called out to her grandmother several times, tears streaming down her face.
That night, she dreamed of her grandmother.
Just like before, her grandmother smiled at her with kindness and warmth. “Yue’er, keep going. You’re the best!”
At dawn, Xia Qingyue woke up smiling from her sweet dream.
She had gotten up a little late. The sky outside was already bright, and a light drizzle was falling.
She walked out of the cave. A cold breeze rushed toward her, the air fresh and pleasant, carrying the scent of grass, trees, and damp soil.
After being washed by rain, the vegetation looked especially lush and green, a sight that was pleasing to the eye.
She stood there admiring the greenery for a while, then turned to chop reed shoots and mix them with wood chaff to feed the chickens and ducks.
Three new eggs had appeared on the straw in the pen, and two of them were still warm to the touch.
For breakfast, she steamed eggs with cassava.
After eating, she went to the storage room and found the bow and arrows Xia Dasong had used for hunting.
The bows had been handmade by Xia Dasong using oak wood and ox tendon. There was a newer one and an older one.
Xia Qingyue picked one up, nocked a sharp arrow, and pulled the string.
Drawing the bow required great strength, and the bowstring had to be pulled to its maximum in a short time. This heavily tested the archer’s physical ability, including back, waist, and arm strength.
She released the arrow. It flew only a few meters before drifting down like a kite with its string cut.
No good. Her strength was limited, and she had not received professional training.
Xia Qingyue had a clear understanding of herself. She knew archery was a technical skill that could not be mastered in just a day or two.
She dismantled the old bow and selected a section of ox tendon that was not worn.
Ox tendon was tough and elastic, making it very suitable for making a slingshot.
She remembered that when she first moved into the sinkhole, Xia Dasong had cut wood to make furniture. Some pieces had been left unused, along with scattered scraps, all piled in the storage room.
After searching for a while, she really did find three Y-shaped wooden stakes that Xia Dasong had originally made to support bamboo water pipes.
These three were defective products, with less refined appearances.
Xia Qingyue measured out the size of the slingshot with her hands, used an axe to chop off the excess length from the bottom of the stake, then tied the ox tendon onto the Y-shaped wood using rope as a connector.
She picked up a small stone, pulled the tendon tight, and aimed at a green plant swaying in the wind not far away.
Whoosh.
The sound of air being torn rang out. The stone shot forward with unstoppable force, striking the target directly and shattering the green plant into pieces.
It was the familiar feeling again.
She couldn’t put down the new slingshot.
The light rain had not stopped. Xia Qingyue put on her straw raincoat and bamboo hat and went out.
Although the weather was bad, this was exactly the time when mushrooms and bamboo shoots were more likely to grow in the mountains.
She needed to hurry and stock up on mountain goods. Now, it was no longer just herself she had to support. She also had to take care of the poultry’s daily food.
She also needed to find some arborvitae leaves to smoke cured meat. On rainy days, the moisture in the air was heavy. If the moisture in the meat was not driven out, it would easily spoil and go bad.
She went to the stream to set the fish trap and, considering the stronger water flow on rainy days, placed an extra small basket. As usual, she used pork cracklings as bait.
She had come to this part of the stream yesterday to pick mushrooms and wood ear fungus. After just one night, the newly grown mushrooms were still small, so she walked toward the upstream forest, which she had not explored yet.
After walking quite a distance, she saw shepherd’s purse and wild scallions along the way, as well as some medicinal herbs: He Shou Wu, astragalus, licorice, half-edged lotus, and purple ground ivy. She picked them all along the way.
When she turned her head, she was drawn to the green and purple plants growing on the opposite hillside.
“It’s bracken!”
There were quite a lot of them.
Xia Qingyue ran over and snapped off the bracken shoots. They were all tender and easy to break.
After finishing one hillside, she harvested two full baskets of bracken.
She silently memorized this location so she could come back later to dig up bracken roots to make bracken starch.
Climbing up the slope, Xia Qingyue walked while scanning her surroundings. Soon, she discovered clusters of grayish-white things in the grass ahead.
They looked a bit like termite mushrooms.
She walked over to take a closer look. It really was them.
There were so many growing across this patch of grass that she could hardly take them all in.
Xia Qingyue happily took out her shovel and began digging. Each dig unearthed a whole cluster, bigger than her head.
As she kept digging, she caught a familiar, fragrant scent.