“Husband, there’s a cave here. Let’s sleep here tonight.” As darkness was approaching, Bai Nianqing spotted a cave with her sharp eyes.
“I’ll go in first with the torch to check. Wait outside.” Shen Wenhe was worried there might be animals inside the cave.
The torch had been prepared in advance. Although Bai Nianqing had flashlights in her Dimension, torches were more suitable at this moment since small animals generally feared fire.
Shen Wenhe carefully entered the cave to investigate.
Soon, Shen Wenhe emerged: “Wife, come on in.”
The cave wasn’t large, only about two meters deep, but relatively clean inside. Aside from dust and leaves, there were no other dirty things.
After inspecting both inside and out, Bai Nianqing found it acceptable and took out the tent. “Husband, set up the tent. We’ll rest here tonight. Though the cave entrance is a bit too wide and not very safe. How about we light a fire at the entrance?” Bai Nianqing suggested.
“Alright. After I set up the tent, I’ll go gather firewood.” This was Shen Wenhe’s first time handling such a tent. He knew Bai Nianqing’s Dimension contained many peculiar items, so he didn’t show much surprise. After setting it up, he remarked: “Wife, this tent is excellent. It’s completely windproof inside.”
He had just sat inside briefly and found the tent remarkable. Touching the material, he estimated it would remain dry even during rainfall.
“Of course it’s good. This is made of rainproof cloth – both windproof and waterproof. It’s an essential artifact for wilderness survival. I bought two back then, just in case we ended up in the wild,” Bai Nianqing explained.
“This is great. We won’t have to worry even if we have to camp outdoors during travels,” Shen Wenhe said.
“Wife, wait here. I’ll go gather firewood.” Seeing darkness approaching, Shen Wenhe prepared to leave.
“I’ll come with you. I see many dead trees around here. Let’s chop several and store them in the Dimension.” As she spoke, Bai Nianqing took out a machete.
“Whoa! Wife, you even have a machete? Your preparations are quite thorough!” Shen Wenhe was startled when Bai Nianqing suddenly produced the machete.
“Yes. I didn’t know what situation we’d face after crossing over, so I bought all daily necessities. I bought two machetes for self-defense too. Not just these, I’ve prepared other things as well. You’ll see later,” Bai Nianqing said.
Actually, even Bai Nianqing herself didn’t remember everything she had prepared – she had simply purchased whatever seemed potentially useful.
“Let’s hurry. If we don’t go chop wood now, it’ll get dark.” Bai Nianqing glanced at the sky.
Being in the mountains, there were plenty of trees around. Combined with the current drought, most trees had dried up and died.
After walking a short distance, the couple found several dead trees. Shen Wenhe chopped them down while Bai Nianqing stored them in her Dimension.
After busy work chopping about a dozen trees, they returned to the cave.
At the cave entrance, Bai Nianqing took out the dead trees again and retrieved a rechargeable electric saw from her Dimension for Shen Wenhe to cut the trees into sections.
She had bought the electric saw incidentally while shopping at a hardware store, thinking it might come in handy someday – and now it proved useful. However, they could only use it this once since it was rechargeable and she had no way to recharge it in her Dimension.
But that didn’t matter – she had also purchased several old-fashioned large saws that didn’t require electricity.
“My lady, this works really well.” Shen Wenhe was using a chainsaw to swiftly cut through a withered tree.
Bai Nianqing collected the cut logs into her Dimension as the two worked in coordination. Hearing Shen Wenhe’s remark, she stood up and said, “This is the only one I have. Once it runs out of power, it’ll be useless. But there are non-electric ones in the Dimension too—they’re just harder for one person to operate.”
With the chainsaw, the work went quickly. They finished cutting ten withered trees in just an hour.
“Husband, let me boil some water for you to bathe. Otherwise, you’re too filthy to sleep,” Bai Nianqing remarked, noticing Shen Wenhe covered in sawdust.
“Alright, I’ll start the fire first,” Shen Wenhe replied, busying himself with lighting the stove.
This was one advantage of having the Dimension—the stove had been bought by Shen Wenhe just yesterday and stored inside. Now, it came in handy.
Bai Nianqing’s Dimension also contained a kettle and water, making it convenient to heat water. Unfortunately, there was no bathtub, but that didn’t stump her. She cleared out a large plastic bucket, which fit Shen Wenhe perfectly as he crouched inside.
For dinner, Bai Nianqing cooked instant noodles. Since Xiaochun had always handled the cooking at home before, there had been no chance to bring them out. With just the two of them today, she took the opportunity to satisfy their cravings.
“My lady, these instant noodles are delicious,” Shen Wenhe said, slurping them down without regard for decorum.
“Right? I think so too, but we shouldn’t eat them too often—it’s not good for our health,” Bai Nianqing agreed. She loved instant noodles as well but restrained herself due to common advice against overconsumption.
After the meal, Shen Wenhe gathered a few more logs and built a bonfire at the cave entrance. Bai Nianqing entered the tent, laid out an extra mattress on the ground, and the two settled down to sleep.
The next morning, at Shen Wenhe’s request, they had instant noodles again. This time, Bai Nianqing added ham sausage and a fried egg, making the meal so enticing that Shen Wenhe couldn’t lift his head from the bowl.
Bai Nianqing skipped the noodles and instead boiled ten of the leek and egg dumplings she had made the previous day, which were incredibly fragrant.
After breakfast, they continued deeper into the mountains. Crossing another ridge, the surroundings improved slightly, with at least some greenery visible now. Wild rabbits and pheasants occasionally darted past.
“Husband, I think there must be water here. Look at these trees—their leaves are still green, and there are more small animals than yesterday,” Bai Nianqing paused, observing the half-yellow, half-green trees ahead.
“Mm, I agree there’s probably a water source nearby. Let’s stop advancing and search the area for a stream or something,” Shen Wenhe scanned the surroundings, also sensing water was likely. They had already crossed four large mountains and were nearing the edge of the deep mountain core. Further in, they might encounter tigers, wolves, and other large animals.
Shen Wenhe had remained highly vigilant all day, never letting go of his machete. Fortunately, they had been lucky enough to avoid tigers and wild boars.
“My lady, let’s go this way,” Shen Wenhe said after careful observation, leading Bai Nianqing southward.
“Why this direction?” Bai Nianqing asked curiously.
“Because it’s more likely to have water. See how the grass to the south is greener than to the north?” Shen Wenhe pointed ahead for her to see.
Bai Nianqing took a look and indeed, the grass in the south was noticeably greener than that in the north, and it grew increasingly lush the further south one looked.