“Have you found out about the refugees?” Bai Nianqing was still concerned about the refugee situation.
“I asked around through acquaintances and learned that these refugees are all from Shaoxing Prefecture in the south, which is over a thousand li from here. According to them, along the way the crops have withered and rivers have dried up. At first, they could still see green leaves and wild grass by the roadside. Later, there were only bare tree trunks, with no green to be seen at all. I also inquired about the situation in the north – it’s similar to here, with no rain for several months. We need to hurry with our preparations. I’ll go up the mountain tomorrow to look for a suitable shelter location.” Shen Wenhe drank some water first before explaining in detail.
“Is it already this serious? In that case, I’ll go with you tomorrow.” Bai Nianqing’s heart stirred, surprised that things had deteriorated so much.
“No need for you to come. Mountain climbing is very strenuous. I’ll just take Chang’an with me.” Shen Wenhe couldn’t bear to see his wife suffer hardship.
“I should go with you. This trip will probably take two days. Places too close to the outside don’t seem safe enough. We should go deeper inside and find multiple backup locations.” After speaking, Bai Nianqing gave Shen Wenhe a meaningful look.
Although Bai Nianqing didn’t say it explicitly, Shen Wenhe understood her meaning.
Bai Nianqing had her Dimension – bringing her along would indeed be much more convenient.
However, Shen Wenhe had concerns too. If they went deep into the mountains, there would certainly be many wild animals. He feared he might not be able to protect Bai Nianqing properly.
“Darling, it’s not that I don’t want you to come with me. It’s because in the deep mountains and old forests, there are bound to be many wolves, tigers, and leopards. I’m afraid I might not be able to protect you adequately,” Shen Wenhe said.
“It’s fine. Have you forgotten? I have ways to protect myself.” Bai Nianqing hinted.
This wasn’t Bai Nianqing being overconfident – her Dimension could accommodate people, allowing her to take refuge there at critical moments.
Shen Wenhe clearly remembered this point and nodded in agreement: “Alright, then we’ll go together tomorrow.”
“You go rest first. There’s still one more batch of steamed buns I need to finish.”Seeing Shen Wenhe covered in sweat, Bai Nianqing painfully urged him to rest.”
“I’m not tired. Where’s Nianchen? I’ll go check on him.” Shen Wenhe looked around but didn’t see his brother-in-law.
“He got tired from playing and fell asleep.” Bai Nianqing gestured with her lips toward the room.
“Then let me tend the fire for you.” With his wife working outside, Shen Wenhe didn’t want to go inside and rest alone.
“Maybe you could go check how much firewood Chang’an has collected?” Since Xiaochun was still in the kitchen, Bai Nianqing didn’t want Shen Wenhe to help with the work.
“That works too. I’ll go check.”
Chang’an was behind the firewood storage. There was a small back door leading directly to the rear mountains.
“Wow, Chang’an, how did you collect so much in such a short time?” Shen Wenhe was astonished seeing the large pile of firewood stacked against the wall.
“Young master, you’re back.” Chang’an was directing people to stack the firewood higher.
“You collected this much today?” Shen Wenhe went forward to inspect the firewood.
Not bad – all of it was Hard firewood, and quite dry too.
“Since we’re close to the mountains, these villagers lack everything except firewood. When I went to the village today and mentioned we were collecting firewood, the villagers rushed to carry their stored firewood over. In less than a day, we’ve already collected several hundred dan of firewood.” Chang’an reported.
“I think this should be enough. Let’s stop after collecting these last few loads.”
“The mountains are full of dead trees in this weather. We can also chop some ourselves up there,” Shen Wenhe said.
If they had to take refuge in the mountains later, as Chang’an said, the mountains had plenty of wood if nothing else. They certainly wouldn’t lack firewood.
The reason he had Chang’an collect some from the villagers was in case heavy rain caused floods, leaving them without anything to burn.
“Master, look at my firewood. All cut from dead trees in the mountains by my son, dried thoroughly by my wife. Burns really well,” an elderly man who had just arrived with a load of firewood quickly said upon hearing Shen Wenhe say they would stop collecting.
He was afraid Shen Wenhe wouldn’t take their firewood.
“Yes, your firewood is all hard firewood, truly good quality. Chang’an, let’s take the elder’s load.”
“However, elder, we’ll take this load, but please go back and tell the villagers we have enough firewood now and won’t be accepting more. Ask them not to deliver any further,” Shen Wenhe said.
Since the elder had carried it from far away, he couldn’t make him take it back.
“Ah, yes, yes,” the old man was overjoyed to hear they would keep his firewood.
They usually had no means to earn money. Today, upon hearing that Shen Manor was buying firewood, he quickly brought his best household firewood with his son.
After delivering what they had at home, his two sons went to the mountains to chop more—they were still up there now.
But it was fine; they could keep whatever they chopped for their own use since they had sold the good firewood from home.
“Elder, here’s the payment. Please take it,” Chang’an handed five copper coins to the old man.
“Ah,” the old man took the coins and left.
“Young master, we got this huge pile of firewood for less than five hundred wen. It’s really cheap,” Chang’an remarked.
Shen Wenhe also thought it was cheap—five hundred wen wasn’t even enough for one of his meals.
This was because Shen Wenhe and the others didn’t understand the situation.
It was hard for rural men to earn money. Besides farming, they could only find odd jobs in town during the off-season.
On a good day, they might earn twenty wen, and on a bad one, just over ten wen.
Even that wasn’t guaranteed daily; they needed luck too.
Now, with Shen Wenhe paying five wen per load of firewood—which was readily available in the mountains, just requiring some effort—it was a boon.
Take the old man from earlier: in one day, he and his two sons delivered twenty loads of firewood, earning a hundred wen.
With just some effort, they made money that would have taken three or four days to earn in town.
Since they were no longer collecting firewood, Chang’an locked the backyard gate again.
For dinner, they didn’t cook anything new, just ate some buns.
Early the next morning, Shen Wenhe and Bai Nianqing set off for the mountains.
Although their manor was at the foot of the mountains, it was actually quite a distance from the main range.
Bai Nianqing estimated it was about five or six li away.
Now, not a trace of green could be seen on the mountains.
“Husband, it seems the situation in the mountains isn’t good either. Look, even the wild grass has withered up here.”
“We’ve been walking for quite a while and haven’t seen a single pheasant or rabbit,” Bai Nianqing said, wiping sweat from her forehead.
“Yes, I’ve been in the mountains before. There used to be plenty of pheasants and rabbits. This year, there’s probably no food in the outer areas, so they’ve all moved deeper into the mountains.”
“We need to go further in too. I suspect disaster victims might have come to the outer areas searching for food.”
“Let’s scout a few more spots. If there’s danger, we can relocate,” Shen Wenhe said.
After exchanging a few words, the two fell silent and focused on climbing the mountain.
Throughout the day, they had crossed two consecutive mountains without finding a suitable location.