“There’s still jarred meat, wild boar, bird meat, wild eggs, mushrooms, and all kinds of wild vegetables at home. Eldest Sister, what do you want to eat?”
As she counted them out, a smile unconsciously appeared on Li Qiao’s face.
Without carefully counting, she would not have realized that in just a few short days since they arrived in the deep mountains, they had already gathered so much food.
The vast majority of it was thanks to their eldest sister. As the main contributor, she naturally had the privilege.
So Li Qiao handed over the choice to her.
Li Mai thought for a short while, trying to connect the ingredients stored in the cave with the recipes in her memory.
In the end, she recalled two dishes, braised pork ribs with potatoes, and wild vegetable mushroom soup.
Hearing the straightforward dish names, Li Qiao had already imagined how to prepare them.
Still, she habitually let her eldest sister take command. “Eldest Sister, later you should guide me from the side.”
Hearing this, Li Mai nodded. In her mind, she was already imagining the taste of those two dishes.
Before them, smoke continuously filled the enclosed space, spilling out in strands that drifted into the sky and gradually disappeared.
At the same time, the meat strips being slowly smoked over low heat began to release a unique aroma.
Within the scent of meat was a hint of smokiness, not too strong, yet it was quickly detected by Li Mai’s keen sense of smell.
She unconsciously sniffed, finding the fragrance novel.
Seeing her eldest sister drawing closer and closer, Li Qiao quickly called out,
“Eldest Sister, be careful!”
She knew that only when her eldest sister had free time would she focus entirely on the smoked meat.
However, the temperature required for smoking was not high, and for the moment, there was no need to watch the fire closely.
Li Qiao’s gaze drifted to the newly cleared land. An idea immediately popped into her mind, and she suggested,
“Eldest Sister, let’s go burn the grass we just cut together. That way we can completely deal with it, and it can also leave enough nutrients in the soil for when we plant seeds later.”
Hearing this, Li Mai felt she had learned yet another useful piece of knowledge.
She followed Li Qiao to the cleared land.
The two of them piled the weeds together, leaving enough distance between the pile and the surrounding vegetation.
After being exposed to the blazing sun, many of the weeds had already become dry and shriveled. Burning them into ash should not be a problem.
With that thought, Li Mai used a fire starter to ignite the dried twigs and fallen leaves at the bottom as kindling.
“Pa pa pa!”
The dried branches, quickly burned through by the fire, immediately made cracking sounds.
At the same time, the flames in the pile of grass grew larger and larger.
At first, only an orange-red opening appeared at the base. Gradually, blue flames emerged within it.
Even the top of the grass pile, which had initially produced only thin wisps of smoke, began to emit thicker smoke, mixed with drifting ash, surging upward in an unstoppable manner toward the sky.
The bluish-black smoke stood out sharply against the lush green mountains, so noticeable that it could be spotted at a glance.
Thus, the smoke created by the Li sisters was instantly noticed by another household in the mountains, a hunter.
Liu Hu had just stepped out of his house, preparing to sharpen his now dull machete. As soon as he looked up, he saw the smoke in the distance.
This kind of smoke was definitely not something minor. At a glance, it looked like the mountain was on fire.
He could not help but glance up at the blazing sun, wondering if something had been ignited by the intense heat.
Seeing that the smoke was not far from his home, Liu Hu could not help but feel worried.
If the mountain fire became uncontrollable and spread to his house, what would he do?
Thinking of this, he no longer cared about the machete in his hand and casually set it aside.
He turned and went inside, picked up a sharper blade, and prepared to head toward the source of the smoke to assess the situation.
If the fire was too large and could not be controlled, his family would have to prepare to flee.
However, in his haste to enter the house, he paid no attention to how forcefully he moved, making quite a bit of noise.
The next moment, a violent coughing sound suddenly came from the inner room.
“Cough, cough, cough…”
It sounded as though the person coughing might cough their lungs out.
Liu Hu immediately panicked. He could not even hold onto the knife in his hand and rushed toward the inner room.
As soon as he entered, he was startled to see his wife trying to get up from the bed.
He quickened his pace again, reaching the bedside in just two steps.
Liu Hu sat down beside her, supporting his wife with one arm while gently patting her chest with the other, saying self-blamingly,
“Was my noise too loud? Did I wake you?”
“No… no, I… I’ve rested enough from my nap and was about to get up. I hadn’t even spoken before I started coughing. Don’t worry, it’s just my old condition. It’ll pass after a while.”
Qu Xi’s gentle words and reassuring smile only made Liu Hu feel even more guilty.
Ever since his wife had agreed to live with him, he could not bear for her to suffer even the slightest harm.
Without asking, Qu Xi knew exactly what her husband was thinking.
Being able to meet someone like Liu Hu was already the greatest fortune of her life. Otherwise, how could she have lingered on for nearly twenty years?
She knew her own body well. It was nothing more than a worn-out garment, barely held together with patchwork.
Sensing her husband’s guilt, Qu Xi quickly spoke to change the subject.
“What’s wrong? It’s already afternoon, where are you planning to go?”
At this, Liu Hu regained his focus. He immediately recalled what he had been thinking earlier and told his wife everything.
This completely open attitude was precisely what Qu Xi loved most about him.
“Alright. Since you’re going, take more tools with you. Also, the moment you see the fire is beyond control, come back immediately. Tingting and I will be waiting for you at home.”
“Alright!”
With such a wife, what more could a man ask for?
Liu Hu carefully helped his wife sit back against the bed, then quickly left the inner room, took the knife he had prepared earlier, and stepped out of the house.
Before setting off, he looked once more in the direction of the fire and mapped out a faster route in his mind.
At the same time, it was also a more dangerous route.
Thinking of his wife waiting anxiously at home, Liu Hu had no choice but to take this risk.
Years of hunting deep in the mountains had given him experience that allowed him to move through the forest as if walking on flat ground.
Although there were some dangerous spots, he managed to overcome them all without incident.
In just half a shichen, Liu Hu appeared on the mountaintop at one side of the valley.
The moment his figure appeared, Li Mai, who was in the valley, noticed him.
Her first reaction was, what kind of wild beast would dare come to her territory?
Ever since she had cut down trees and hunted countless birds, almost no wild animals dared to set foot on the opposite mountain.
But when Li Mai raised her head, her gaze shot directly toward the source of the movement.
Through layers of overlapping branches and leaves, she discovered that the one who had come was actually a person.
She immediately connected this with the house she had seen earlier when choosing their residence. The other party must be the hunter Li Shu had mentioned.
Li Mai carefully sensed for a moment. After confirming that the other party held no ill intent, she withdrew her gaze and continued observing the fire.
But on the other side, Liu Hu had been startled by the sudden direct gaze.
He had never expected that he would be noticed the moment he arrived.
He had just been about to crane his neck to take a closer look, to see whether the other party had looked over by coincidence or had truly noticed him.
But Li Mai had already lowered her head naturally.
Liu Hu could not help but take a deep breath and mutter to himself,
“It must have been an illusion. At such a distance, even someone with eagle eyes wouldn’t be able to detect me.”
After the initial shock, both joy and worry surged within him.
Seeing people again in the deep mountains brought him undeniable happiness, the excitement of encountering his own kind after long isolation.
But after observing for a while, he realized that there were only three children in the valley.
Only three children, with no sign of any adults.
Liu Hu could not understand how three children had managed to reach this place from the outside.
While he worried about their survival, he also began to worry about changes in the outside world.
If nothing major had happened, almost no one would abandon their stable life to come to the deep mountains, let alone three children.
His concern about the situation outweighed his joy.
After confirming that the smoke was caused by the children clearing land, Liu Hu quickly turned and headed back, intending to tell his wife.
At the moment his figure disappeared, Li Mai raised her head once more.
Beside her, Li Qiao had no idea what had just happened. She glanced at the burned-out weeds, where only faint embers remained flickering.
Standing under the blazing sun to tend the fire had been uncomfortable to begin with.
Seeing that the task was complete, she immediately felt like leaving.
She turned to her eldest sister and reminded her,
“Eldest Sister, let’s go. Everything’s burned, there won’t be any problems. We can start making dinner now, and I still need your guidance.”
Compared to pondering why outsiders had appeared here, Li Mai was clearly more concerned about preparing dinner.
Her mind immediately discarded the earlier thought as she replied,
“Let’s go!”
She followed Li Qiao toward the cave, while the faint flames behind them gradually disappeared in the wind.
At first, Li Qiao walked ahead, but as Li Mai’s pace grew faster and faster, Li Qiao gradually fell behind, clearly showing Li Mai’s eagerness.
However, there was someone moving even faster than the two of them.
That was Liu Hu, who was hurrying back home.
This time, since he had already confirmed that it was not an accident and would not cause an uncontrollable mountain fire, he chose a safer route.
But thinking of his wife waiting anxiously at home, he could not help but quicken his pace. His legs moved through the forest almost like fleeting shadows.
By the time he returned home, he was panting heavily, drenched in sweat.
Hearing the commotion, Qu Xi slowly walked out of the house, only to see her husband in a rare state of dishevelment.
She could not help but quicken her steps. Taking a handkerchief from her sleeve, she gently pressed it against his forehead and said worriedly,
“There’s no need to rush like this. Be careful of your health.”
A faint fragrance lingered at the tip of his nose. Liu Hu, a rough man, could not help but blush even more, and quickly explained,
“It’s fine, I took the ‘main road’ back.”