Before dawn had even broken, the Lin family set off again without stopping.
“So we probably won’t be short of water anymore, right?” Old Madam Lin asked cheerfully.
“That’s right, Grandma. Just drink without worrying,” Lin Zhiyue replied helplessly with a shake of her head. The old lady’s greatest concern was still water.
Before setting out, Lin Zhiyue had distributed water to everyone again. This time, no one refused it. Everyone drank happily.
“I don’t think I should’ve used my fists. I should’ve slapped her instead. Slapping feels more satisfying.”
Lin Zhixing rubbed the back of her hand as she replayed in her mind the heroic scene of beating up the old woman.
“Big Sis, you were so fierce!”
Lin Zhili looked at Lin Zhixing with shining eyes full of admiration.
Lin Zhixing proudly hooked an arm around Lin Zhili’s neck.
“Hah, did you notice how strong I am?”
“I think my strength has gotten a bit bigger too,” Madam Li said doubtfully.
“These past few days, not only have we not gone hungry, we’ve actually eaten better than we did back home. If we still didn’t have strength after that, wouldn’t we just be eating for nothing?” Old Madam Lin concluded.
Lin Zhiyue watched her family chatting excitedly without the slightest sign of exhaustion and said,
“I think we really should practice martial arts. See? Not only does it strengthen the body, it also lets you protect yourself from being bullied.”
“Yueyue’s right. From now on, the children of the Lin family won’t just study literature—they’ll practice martial arts too. Cultured and skilled in combat, hahaha!”
Old Man Lin gave the final word.
“Right. That’s settled.”
“Hahaha!”
For a while, the carriage was filled with laughter and cheerful voices.
The carriage swayed along the road as the sun slowly began to rise.
Once the excitement faded, exhaustion gradually crept in. Before long, the carriage fell quiet. Lin Zhili and Lin Zhixing had already nodded off with their heads tilted to the side.
The rocking carriage only made people sleepier. Madam Li adjusted her son’s and daughter’s sleeping positions.
Then she gently patted Lin Zhiyue’s head.
“Yueyue, you should sleep too.”
Hearing Madam Li’s soft voice, Lin Zhiyue quietly answered, “Mm. Grandpa, Grandma, you should rest too.”
Then she obediently closed her eyes.
When she woke again, it was already noon.
Lin Zhiyue had awakened from the heat. The carriage was still moving.
“Dad, Guard Pei, you should rest too. And so should Uncle and Big Cousin—they haven’t slept all night!”
Lin Zhiyue frowned, especially worried about her eldest uncle and eldest cousin.
In weather this hot, under such a blazing sun, it would be terrible if they got heatstroke.
Her father had always been drinking spirit spring water, and Pei Guang knew martial arts, so she felt a little less worried about them.
“We’ve been looking for a suitable place too, but after traveling this long, we still haven’t found anywhere with shade,” Lin Yan replied, turning his head back.
Lin Zhiyue looked ahead. The road and surrounding land were completely barren.
“Dad, just stop wherever it’s wide enough.”
Continuing like this endlessly wasn’t a solution. They had to rest eventually.
Lin Yan called to Lin Dian in front, and the carts came to a stop. Lin Zhiyue climbed down from the carriage.
“Dad, find some longer wooden poles.”
“Uncle, bring the oilcloth over.”
Lin Zhiyue thought of modern RVs. They placed wooden poles across the top of the carriage, spread the oilcloth over them, and secured it with stones.
Of course, Lin Zhiyue only directed while Pei Guang did the actual work.
Luckily the oilcloth was large enough. Lin Yan and Lin Dian stretched it out underneath, while another sheet of oilcloth was spread across the ground.
Soon, a small tent leaning against the carriage was finished.
“All done. Now the sun won’t hit us anymore.” Lin Zhiyue clapped her hands.
“Yueyue is really smart!”
Lin Dian laughed loudly as he crawled into the oilcloth tent. Sitting with his back against the carriage, he shifted around a bit before praising again:
“Nice, nice. Not sunny at all.”
They took out the leftover rice balls from yesterday and ate them. Lin Yan and the others closed their eyes to rest inside the makeshift tent.
Even though they couldn’t lie down properly, this was already pretty good.
While feeding spirit spring water to the horses and mule, Lin Zhiyue secretly splashed some water over their heads when no one was paying attention.
Back in the carriage, she closed her eyes. Though she appeared to be sleeping, her consciousness entered her space.
She wandered around inside, looking at the clumps of grass growing beside the thatched hut, wondering whether the horses and mule could eat them.
They probably could, right? These were things that naturally existed inside the space. Surely they wouldn’t be poisonous.
Inside the carriage, everyone tried to stay as quiet as possible so they wouldn’t disturb Lin Yan and the others resting outside.
Lin Zhili and Lin Zhixing also obediently stayed silent and closed their eyes again.
An hour later, the well-rested group resumed their journey.
“We still have to travel another three or four days on roads like this before reaching the next town. I wonder how far the villagers from home have gotten already,” Old Man Lin sighed.
“Old man, don’t worry. Everyone’s taking the same road. We’ll run into them eventually,” Old Madam Lin comforted him.
“That’s right, Grandpa. The whole village is traveling together. With so many people, they’ll definitely be fine,” Lin Zhiyue added.
Although the Lin family had been traveling by horse and mule cart these past few days, they had already been delayed three days in Yiyang City.
After leaving Yiyang, they also hadn’t rushed too hard. At most, they would probably meet the villagers in the next town.
And so they continued onward, traveling and resting for another three days.
Just like before, whenever the sun was about to set, they would spend some time practicing martial arts.
The one improving the fastest and most obviously was Lin Zhiyue. Her movements were becoming increasingly agile, and her strikes quicker and quicker.
Perhaps it truly was the effect of the spirit spring water—even Lin Yan was progressing well.
With such a large family eating and drinking together, their visible supply of food was quickly running low, and there wasn’t much visible water left either. Cooking rice these past few days had also required water.
Lin Zhiyue began worrying again.
There wasn’t any rice left in the house inside her space either. There were still snacks and instant foods, but she couldn’t exactly take those out.
In the novels she used to read, things inside people’s magical spaces would replenish themselves every day after being used.
So why couldn’t her space regenerate supplies too? If it did, she could secretly add more rice every day.
Sigh.
And how was she supposed to bring out more water?
Grandma had started conserving water again, only taking tiny sips each time she drank.
Lin Zhiyue grew more frustrated the more she thought about it.
Sometimes she wanted to just tell everyone the truth directly and boldly declare that they could drink freely because she had unlimited water.
But she couldn’t.
Ever since transmigrating here, she had naturally felt the genuine love her family had for her.
She was willing to gamble on telling her family the truth.
But Pei Guang? Absolutely not.
Pei Guang might be carefree and simple-minded, but that master of his clearly looked like someone full of schemes.
And Pei Guang listened closely to his master’s orders. If Pei Guang knew, then his master would know too.
She still didn’t even know who they really were.
No. Absolutely not.
Sigh, forget it.
At least Dad knew about her space already.
Otherwise she’d just dump the problem onto him to worry about.
Lin Zhiyue irritably scratched her head.
“Yueyue, what’s wrong? Is your head itchy?”
Seeing Lin Zhiyue scratching her head, Lin Zhixing subconsciously scratched her own head too—only for it to grow itchier the more she scratched.
“Stop scratching, Sister Xingxing!”
Lin Zhiyue grabbed Lin Zhixing’s hand in horror.
Don’t tell me they were getting lice?!
They had to wash their hair. Definitely had to wash their hair.
“Look! That mountain ahead!”
At that moment, Lin Zhili suddenly shouted excitedly.
What was so special about a mountain? It wasn’t as if they’d never seen mountains before.
Everyone looked into the distance.
There, far ahead, stretched a chain of rolling mountain peaks.
The whole group was instantly overjoyed.
They were green mountains.
Not barren, bald hills.