Ye Dashan was so angry that the veins at his temples throbbed. Clenching his fists, he glared back at them.
“Hidden supplies, my ass! My own family is about to starve! If I hadn’t been soft-hearted and taken all of you with me back then, would I have ended up like this? And now you’re turning around and biting the hand that fed you!”
His son, eyes red with fury, roared, “Let go of me! These ungrateful bastards—I’ll fight them!”
His mother used all her strength to hold onto his arm, tears streaming down her face.
“Foolish child! What good will rushing over there do? We can’t afford any more trouble!”
His daughter was still young and was frightened into tears. She couldn’t understand how the villagers who had once been so kind to her had suddenly become so fierce and terrifying.
“Uncles, please don’t bully my father.”
The child’s tender sobbing instantly quieted the noisy crowd.
But the silence lasted less than two seconds before Ye Lao San sneered.
“What does a little girl like you know? Your father is useless and made everyone go hungry. So what if we bully him?”
As he spoke, he even stepped forward.
The anger in Ye Dashan’s heart shot straight to his head. The temper he had been suppressing finally exploded. He kicked Ye Lao San to the ground with all his might. The kick was so powerful that Ye Lao San couldn’t get back up and could only lie there groaning in pain.
Ye Dashan pulled his wife and children behind him and glared at the crowd with bloodshot eyes.
“Whoever dares touch my family, try it! Today, either we work together to find water and food, or we go our separate ways. If anyone wants to bully my family, they’ll have to step over my dead body first!”
The scene instantly became even more chaotic. People pushed and cursed at one another, while Ye Lao Er stamped his feet anxiously, shouting until his voice cracked, yet no one listened.
The village chief was already dizzy from heatstroke, his head spinning badly. Hearing the endless commotion, he forced himself to rush over. Grabbing the iron pot in his hand, he banged it loudly several times.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The noisy crowd immediately fell silent. They looked at one another, and no one dared make another sound.
“Go on! Keep making trouble!” the village chief shouted, panting heavily. His voice was hoarse but carried unquestionable authority.
“We’re fleeing from famine and can barely keep our lives! Haven’t enough people died already? If anyone causes more trouble, they’ll leave the group immediately and find their own way to survive!”
Ye Dashan glanced at the people who had been acting like ferocious beasts only moments ago and were now as quiet as cicadas in winter. His heart turned completely cold, and every last bit of attachment he had for them vanished.
He turned around, pulled his wife and children over, quickly packed their meager belongings, and left without looking back.
Seeing this, the village chief panicked and shouted after him.
“Ah! Dashan! Ye Dashan, don’t go! If you leave, what will happen to the rest of us?”
Even after the village chief shouted himself hoarse, Ye Dashan never once slowed his steps.
“Hmph! You bunch of ungrateful wretches. Let whoever wants to care for you do it!”
Ye Lao San kicked a stone on the ground and cursed.
“Go then! Who cares? Do you think we’ll starve to death without Ye Dashan?”
Though he said so, everyone else looked uneasy. Even those who had been joining in the scolding earlier fell silent.
Throughout the journey of fleeing the famine, they had relied entirely on Ye Dashan to find the way and locate water. Now that he had left, the group had lost its backbone, and no one felt secure anymore.
The village chief covered his dizzy head. His vision darkened, and he let out a heavy sigh. He didn’t even have the energy left to curse. Waving his hand, he dismissed everyone to disperse, but deep down he knew that this group was likely about to fall apart.
Halfway up the mountain, Ye Qing was busy tidying the entrance to the cave.
She had no intention of cleaning up the cave’s exterior. Instead, she wanted to keep it looking as natural as possible.
Every piece of firewood she found along the way was stored in her space. She would need a lot of it in the coming days.
The next day, she spent the entire day digging up nearly all the wild yams in the area. Afterwards, she gathered a large amount of dead grass and withered branches and spread them thickly over the dug-up ground, covering every trace of her harvesting.
Back at the cave, she looked around.
The cave entrance wasn’t small, and leaving it wide open was too dangerous. What if wild animals wandered in, or worse, someone discovered the place?
After some thought, Ye Qing directly used several large boulders from her space to block the entrance. The cave instantly became much darker, though several interconnected smaller caves still allowed dim light to filter in, making it easy enough to move around.
With the entrance blocked, small wild animals wouldn’t be able to get in. It would also conceal the firelight and the smell of smoke inside, and from the outside, no one would be able to tell that someone lived there.
She first cleaned up a sleeping area, choosing a dry, sheltered spot toward the back of the outer cave. She took several quilts and blankets from her space and spread them out.
On top, she laid a relatively new bamboo mat.
After lying down to test it, she found it extremely comfortable.
Next came the task of setting up the cooking area.
Using the stones she had collected, she built three large stoves and two smaller ones. She left ventilation openings beneath the fireboxes to make it easier to add firewood and remove ashes.
Beside them, she reserved a simple storage area. Otherwise, things would end up piled everywhere and become difficult to find.
She moved over several large, flat stones and added a few sturdy wooden shelves, creating a simple storage rack.
She organized commonly used items—fire starters, matches, pottery bowls, wooden spoons, and the like—placing them neatly so she could grab them at a moment’s notice.
Considering the airflow, Ye Qing chose a spot near the pond and placed the cooking area in the farthest corner of the outer cave, far from her bed. That way, she wouldn’t have to worry about sparks flying onto her bedding or smoke filling her sleeping area.
After working for most of the day, Ye Qing looked at the completely transformed cave and could hardly believe it was the same place.
She lay down on the soft, comfortable bedding, and all her exhaustion washed over her. Yet her heart was filled with peace.
At last, she no longer had to sleep out in the open. She finally had a little home where she could shelter from the wind and rain and settle down in safety.
She rested for less than half an hour before getting up again. After working all day, she was starving and decided it was the perfect opportunity to test her newly built stoves.
First, she took out a clay jar and used it to pour half a pot of clean water into the large iron pot resting on the outermost stove.
She casually pulled a few thin sticks from the firewood pile and stuffed them into the firebox. With a strike of the fire starter, the dry grass ignited immediately. A gust of wind caused the flames to leap up, and she gradually added thicker logs.
While the water heated, she took out a piece of cured pork, a handful of dried cabbage, and two bowls of fine rice.
She washed the dust off the cured meat and diced it into small cubes of lean and fat. The dried cabbage was soaked until soft, squeezed dry, and chopped up. The rice was washed until clean and left to drain.
Once the water boiled, she poured the rice into the pot, added the right amount of water, spread the diced cured pork on top, covered the pot, and let it simmer over low heat.
Then she put another pot on the fire, tossed in some fatty pieces of cured pork, and rendered out the oil. When the delicious sizzling aroma rose, she added the dried cabbage and stir-fried it, seasoning it with a little salt.
The fragrance instantly filled the cave.
The moment she lifted the lid of the rice pot, white rice steamed invitingly, its aroma mingling with the scent of the meat.
The delicious smell made Ye Qing’s stomach rumble loudly, and saliva flooded her mouth.
She first served herself a heaping bowl of braised cured pork rice, topped it with a generous spoonful of stir-fried dried cabbage soaked in savory pork fat, mixed it all together, and sat down on a stone stool beside her bed.
Then she began eating in great, hearty mouthfuls.