If war really broke out, the thing Xia Qingyue worried about most was the “scorched earth” strategy. It was a military tactic.
It meant that if Prince Xiang was defeated and had to retreat elsewhere, the situation would be extremely urgent, leaving no time to carry away large amounts of useful supplies.
To prevent the enemy from using these resources or finding shelter, they would take emergency measures to clear villages of food, houses, farmland, and other materials.
As a result, villagers at the foot of the mountains would lose their means of living and inevitably have to move up the mountains to find new shelter until the war ended.
When that time came, she didn’t want to go out. She wanted to stay in her little home, farming and raising livestock, working from sunrise to sunset.
After thinking it over, Xia Qingyue decided she would go tomorrow to check the area near the cave Chen Yuzhen had mentioned, to gather some information.
Know your enemy and know yourself, and you can fight a hundred battles without disaster.
As the sun set and the evening glow spread over the land, Xia Qingyue went to the creek to collect the fish traps she had set. She hadn’t collected them in the morning, and they had been in the water for two days and one night.
Both traps were heavy. Unable to lift them, she reluctantly returned to the sinkhole, put her things down, and then went back to retrieve the traps.
Through the bamboo slats, she could see plenty of fish in the traps. Her eyes drifted to the water channel, considering whether to build an ecological pond.
The chickens and ducks needed fish every day. If she couldn’t go out to catch fish later, their food supply would be cut off. Heihei was fine, as he could eat with her, but the chickens and ducks couldn’t just survive on wild grass and rice bran every day.
Ever since the chickens and ducks had eaten fish and shrimp, they had been laying eggs every day.
She decided, “I still have to build one!”
Since she planned to build it, she had to do it well. Relying on herself alone, it couldn’t be done quickly. She would have to work day after day, gradually making progress.
Having decided to build the pond, she needed to choose a location.
She scanned the sinkhole and finally settled on the area near the paddy field to the left of the water channel. The space was wider and relatively flat.
She roughly estimated that even if she built a pond about ten meters in diameter, it wouldn’t feel crowded.
Later, she would be busy planting rice seedlings. When the sun came out and the firewood on the mountain dried, she needed to gather more wood.
The wood she was currently using had been collected by the previous owner’s mother before she passed away, and it was almost used up.
For dinner, she planned to cook dry rice with two stir-fried dishes: deer-ear chives with eggs and garlic sprouts with cured meat.
The deer-ear chives she had brought back yesterday hadn’t been planted yet. Because of the cool weather, they hadn’t withered, so she planted over thirty of them in the field.
She also planted the watercress she had brought along at the edge of the water channel, unsure if it would survive.
After feeding the chickens and ducks and collecting two chicken eggs and three duck eggs, she noticed that over several days, the wooden trough for storing eggs had accumulated more than ten eggs.
By the time it was dark, she had prepared dinner. The deer-ear chives were crisp and tender, and paired with the fresh eggs, it was a delicious combination.
The garlic sprouts with cured meat were flavored with dried chili, making them spicy, numbing, and appetizing.
Fortunately, she had set aside half for tomorrow morning; otherwise, she would have eaten it all herself.
After dinner, she tidied the kitchen and roasted the cured meat with mulberries. Heihei, full, lay down and slept soundly.
After roasting for a while and letting her meal settle, she covered the fire with some arborvitae leaves to slow-cook. Then she went to the open space for her evening exercise.
An hour later, Xia Qingyue finished exercising, exhausted and longing to lie down, but she hadn’t showered yet.
Exercise made it unwise to bathe immediately, so she rested a little and finalized her plan for the next day.
After showering, she called Heihei and went back to her room, eagerly lying down to rest.
She slept soundly through the night. By now, Xia Qingyue had developed a habit of sleeping early and rising early, waking up at six each morning as daylight broke.
In her previous life as a corporate worker, she had longed for endless sleep.
But living in this different world without electronics or entertainment, repeating the same routines every day, she still felt fulfilled and happy.
It proved that going to bed early and sleeping well allowed her to wake early, energetic and full of vitality.
Perhaps because of her regular routine, changing the bandage on her forehead wound every day and keeping it clean, the scab had begun to fall off.
While washing her face, she used the water as a mirror and noticed that half the scab had fallen off. The exposed area was slightly darker than the surrounding skin.
“I wonder if it’ll leave a scar.”
Everyone cares about appearance, and she was no exception.
“Ah, let it be,” she sighed, brushing her stray hair down to cover the ugly mark.
With everything ready, Xia Qingyue went out. In the morning, she went to check the area near the cave Chen Yuzhen had mentioned. In the afternoon, she returned to plant rice seedlings.
The bright sun shone overhead, and the forest was full of life. Wildflowers bloomed in vibrant reds, whites, and yellows, while busy bees collected nectar from the blossoms.
As she admired the scenery, she stopped to collect medicinal herbs, ignoring the scattered wild vegetables and mushrooms that were too sparse to gather.
After about an hour of walking, she reached her destination, though she didn’t know the exact location of the cave. She decided to search by looking for traces on the ground.
After some time, she found tracks of wild animals on the muddy path—some big, some small, some like rabbits and pheasants, others like wolves.
Some footprints were even larger than human feet, sinking deep into the ground; she guessed they might belong to a black bear.
The forest was full of dangerous beasts, and an accidental encounter could be disastrous.
After searching, she finally found messy human shoe prints and followed them, only for the tracks to disappear later.
“Hmm…”
Heihei lifted his head and started running in a certain direction. Xia Qingyue’s face brightened. He had found a clue, and she followed him closely.
They crossed a tangle of grass and a slope overgrown with long grass. The slope led to a relatively flat sandy area with scattered trees and dense weeds.
She stopped beside a large tree and saw a cave entrance about a hundred meters ahead, several meters wide and over ten meters high.
Faintly, she could see human figures moving inside, with some furniture and tools placed outside.
This must be the cave Chen Yuzhen had mentioned.
Using the cover of trees and grass, Xia Qingyue slowly approached, crouching in the grass a few dozen meters from the entrance.
Chen Yuzhen came out with her mother-in-law, Madam Li, and Master Li, discussing where to place the items outside the cave.
Judging by the surroundings, the cave was deep in the forest and not easy to find without knowing its location, though it was fairly secluded.
When Xia Qingyue arrived, they had crossed a river. There was water nearby, and the forest was rich in resources. Strictly speaking, the cave was a good place to live.
“Once our father and sons make one more trip, everything will be moved. From today, our family will live on the mountain,” Master Li said in a heavy tone.
Madam Li sighed. “Yes, there’s no way to survive without moving to the mountain. At least it’s stable there, and we can find wild vegetables. From what I know, we’re not the only ones; several households are planning to move to the mountains too.”
Chen Yuzhen opened her mouth to speak when footsteps and voices signaled the arrival of Li Benfu and his two sons, carrying more items up the mountain.
Xia Qingyue turned at the sound and saw the three, each red-faced and panting, clearly exhausted from carrying heavy loads.
As her gaze followed them, she noticed a few more sneaky figures in her peripheral vision—figures that looked very familiar.