The small amount of brown rice was barely enough for one meal for her and Heihei. Gritting her teeth, she took only half.
She tossed the rice into the cooking pot and poured in half a ladle of water from the water tank.
Their drinking and cooking water came from a mountain spring that trickled down the pit’s inner walls and collected in a deep pool at the bottom. The spring flowed slowly, never filling the pool completely.
During the hot summer months, the water level would drop, and they had to lower a wooden bucket on a rope to draw water.
Near the stove, she found a flint and steel. Xia Qingyue struck them together, and the moment sparks flew, she quickly held them over some pine needles, which caught fire.
These tasks were second nature to her, having grown up in the countryside.
Adding dry firewood to the blaze, she soon smelled the fragrant aroma of cooking rice.
Once the porridge was cooked, Xia Qingyue divided it into two bowls: half for herself, half for Heihei.
Too impatient to wait for it to cool, she held her bowl, its grains settled at the bottom, leaving only the milky white broth visible. Blowing on it to cool it slightly, she took small sips.
After finishing half the bowl, she was still hungry, but at least the food settled the gnawing in her stomach.
Xia Qingyue washed the cooking pot and bowl, tidied up the kitchen area, and, weakened by her injury, decided to rest in the cave.
Before entering the cave, she glanced back at the sinkhole. The light had turned a warm orange-yellow, and the glow within the pit was noticeably dimmer than before.
The sun was about to set.
Xia Qingyue entered the cave. It wasn’t dark yet, so she could see clearly inside without a lamp.
The main cave was quite spacious, about thirty square meters. A stone wall stood in the center, with two small openings on either side.
To her left was the cave where the original owner’s parents had slept, measuring over twenty square meters.
Inside was a bed with neatly folded blankets and quilts, a two-tiered nightstand, and a wardrobe against the far wall, about two meters long and one meter wide, divided into upper and lower sections.
Since her mother’s death, Xia Qingyue had been sleeping in this cave, missing her parents.
Entering the small cave on the right revealed a hidden chamber. After walking about two meters, another opening appeared.
The original owner’s father had carved two square windows into the sun-facing stone wall and framed them with wooden sashes. The windows were wide open, allowing a dim light to filter in.
This chamber, roughly ten square meters, was used as a storage room for farming tools and miscellaneous items.
Emerging from the room, she walked another ten meters to reach the entrance of her own living space, also about twenty square meters. The layout was similar to her parents’ cave, with two windows providing decent light.
Heihei followed Xia Qingyue inside. Seeing her lie down on the bed, it quietly curled up at the foot of the bed, gradually falling asleep as well.
Waking up, Xia Qingyue felt a bit chilly. Even in April, the cave was still cold.
She found a thin robe and draped it over her shoulders. The robe hadn’t been washed in a while and had a faint musty smell, but she was too worried about catching a cold to care about anything else.
Yesterday, she had collapsed into bed and slept soundly through the night without waking. The rest had done her good; she felt refreshed, and her wounds ached less.
After a full night’s sleep, she needed to relieve herself urgently.
The outhouse was a small wooden structure built by the original owner’s father, several hundred meters outside the cave.
As she emerged from the outhouse, her stomach began to rumble. Xia Qingyue groaned inwardly, remembering another pressing issue: in this ancient world, there were no tissues or sanitary pads.
She sighed heavily, her face grim. “This is going to be a real challenge!”
Glancing up at the rim of the sinkhole, she saw the sky was just beginning to lighten, probably between five and six in the morning.
Xia Qingyue decided to get breakfast first before venturing out to find more food.
The mention of food reminded her that her family had cultivated farmland at the bottom of the sinkhole. The fields, protected from rain runoff and exposed to sunlight, grew crops right there.
Good spots like this were rare. There were only a little over two acres of land, mostly used for growing vegetables.
The original owner’s family hadn’t moved in yet. For years, rainwater had fallen and naturally carved out a ditch at the bottom of the sinkhole.
When the family finally arrived, they widened and lengthened the ditch into a water channel to prevent flooding. The low-lying channel connected to the outside of the sinkhole, with several outlets hidden by vegetation to let the water flow out.
Normally, they could use the channel water for watering the garden and washing dirty things.
On either side of the channel, the original owner’s parents had reclaimed over two acres of rice paddies. Though currently dry, the soil was similar to that of the vegetable garden.
When Xia Qingyue arrived at the vegetable patch, she was shocked by how overgrown and neglected it was, overrun with weeds.
The land had been abandoned since the original owner’s mother passed away. The only remnants were a few sweet potatoes left unharvested from last autumn. Now that spring had warmed the air, sweet potato leaves were beginning to sprout from the ground.
“We need to quickly plow and repair this land for planting grain,” she thought.
She remembered seeing some seeds in the storage shed.
But those tasks could wait. Right now, the most important thing was to fill her stomach, let her wounds heal, and build up her strength. Only with a healthy body would she have the energy to work.
Just like the night before, Xia Qingyue cooked the remaining brown rice, sharing half a bowl with Heihei, her dog.
By the time they finished eating, dawn had broken.
Xia Qingyue heated a large pot of water and thoroughly rinsed all the dishes, utensils, and kitchenware twice with boiling water, soaking them briefly before placing them in a sunny spot to dry.
Once that was done, she went to the storage room to fetch a woven basket, two vegetable baskets, and a sickle.
Iron tools were rare and expensive in ancient times. The original owner’s family only had one of each: a knife, sickle, hoe, axe, and pair of scissors.
After gathering her supplies, Xia Qingyue called out to Heihei, and the pair set off toward the hidden entrance to the sinkhole—a narrow, well-concealed cave just wide enough for one person, obscured by vines and overgrown plants.
The entrance had been specially carved out by the original owner’s father.
Their family had originally lived in a village at the foot of the mountain. Her father, a hunter, often took Heihei with him on hunting trips. One day, while chasing a wild rabbit, Heihei stumbled upon the outer rim of the sinkhole.
The rabbit darted into a small hole and disappeared into the sinkhole. Heihei barked furiously at the spot, refusing to budge no matter how hard her father pulled.
Intrigued by the dog’s behavior, her father investigated further and discovered the hidden entrance, catching a glimpse of a hidden world inside.
The entrance was sealed with mud that matched the color of the surrounding stone walls. A handle was attached to the inner door. Xia Qingyue pulled it back, and the door swung open silently.
As she emerged, her face brushed against the dew-laden weeds, feeling cool and slightly tingly.
The outer door had no handle to avoid suspicion, it simply needed to be propped shut and concealed by the surrounding vegetation. Even close inspection would reveal nothing amiss.
After confirming everything was secure, Heihei led the way. Xia Qingyue crawled out of the weeds and onto the relatively smooth mountain path.
It was Heihei’s first time out in four months, and the little dog was clearly overjoyed, bouncing excitedly and wagging its tail wildly.
The original owner, having lost both parents, had lost the will to live and hadn’t ventured out once this year.
Xia Qingyue inhaled the crisp, fresh air, finding everything new and fascinating. Yet she didn’t forget her primary goal for coming out: foraging for edible mushrooms, bamboo shoots, and wild vegetables. Spring was the perfect season for finding such things.
In the forest, among the towering trees, Xia Qingyue discovered mushrooms nestled in the soft, damp leaf litter: scattered morels, porcini, and chanterelles. She picked every one she spotted.
People in the Dawan Kingdom were wary of eating dark-colored, oddly shaped mushrooms, sticking instead to familiar varieties like shiitake and oyster mushrooms.
The deep mountains teemed with wild animals, so while mushrooms grew here, they were scarce, as if some creatures had been foraging on them.