Chapter 3

Xue Man placed the flatbread on the embers to toast, then picked up a sweet potato, brushed off the ash, and carefully peeled back the charred skin. The golden flesh underneath revealed itself, emitting a sweet, fragrant aroma. Xue Man swallowed hard and took a cautious bite.

The soft, glutinous texture melted on his tongue, carrying a unique, honeyed sweetness. In the past, even when they managed to get sweet potatoes, the whole family would boil just one, adding water and wild greens until the sweetness was completely diluted. If only they could have two every day.

Jiang Li watched the two children eat the sweet potato with such delight. She understood them. In the first few years after the apocalypse began, everyone had lived through far worse than this famine. She looked up at the night sky; the moon was full and the stars were plentiful. At the very least, the air here was fresh, and even with the drought, it wasn't hot enough to be uninhabitable. From the apocalypse to this chaotic era—perhaps this was truly her stroke of luck.

As she ate the roasted sweet potato and felt the cool breeze, Jiang Li’s keen hearing picked up the sound of scattered footsteps. She glanced in the direction of the noise and saw several children crouching under the ridge of the earth. She guessed they were the children from the Xue clan, sneaking over to see what they were eating. Jiang Li pretended not to see them. When it came time to fix the roof in a few days, perhaps she should also put up a fence and create a small yard. But that would have to wait; securing food to fill their bellies was the priority.

After the three finished their sweet potatoes, the flatbread on the fire had turned crisp and red. Xue Man picked it up, broke off a piece, and offered it to Jiang Li, but she waved him off.

"You two eat it."

Xue Man persisted, holding it out with the stubbornness of a child, so Jiang Li finally took it. It didn't taste like much, but it was dry and crisp. The three of them each poured a bowl of the water they had boiled earlier; it was scratchy on the throat, so they drank the water to soothe it.

Once finished, Xue Man and his younger sister, Xue Ning, both sighed.

"It’s been so long since I felt this full."

"Tomorrow, we can't eat like this anymore, or our stash of sweet potatoes won't last a few days. Mother, tomorrow morning, my sister and I will go dig for wild greens."

"We'll see."

Jiang Li stood up to fetch more firewood, keeping the blaze going. She began to trim the branches off some bamboo. Xue Man hurried over, "Mother, let me help you."

Jiang Li didn't refuse. She instructed, "Pick up all these bamboo twigs and stack them together."

"Alright."

"Mother, I'll help too."

Xue Ning followed behind Xue Man. Jiang Li nodded at her, and Xue Ning, catching her gaze, shyly lowered her head. Jiang Li trimmed the branches and divided the bamboo into several sections, taking two pieces to toast over the fire. She had to be careful with the heat—too much and it would burn, too little and it would lack the necessary flexibility. As the bamboo began to steam and grow hot to the touch, she flipped it over to continue roasting.

Xue Man and Xue Ning sat quietly by her side, watching.

"Mother, are we going to burn all of this bamboo?"

Jiang Li shook her head. "Just these two sections for now; we'll worry about the rest later."

As she roasted the bamboo, Jiang Li remembered she needed feathers. She couldn't find goose feathers, but chicken feathers would suffice.

"Xiao Man, does anyone in the village raise geese?"

Xue Man shook his head. "No."

"What about chickens? Do you know who raises chickens?"

"There are several families that do, and Grandmother keeps some too. Mother, are you planning to raise chickens?"

"No, I just need a few chicken feathers."

Xue Man pondered this. "If we pluck someone else's chicken, they probably won't be happy about it."

Xue Ning tugged at Xue Man’s sleeve. Jiang Li looked toward her.

"We don't need to pluck anyone else's," she whispered. "I know where to find some."

"Over on that hillside, the chickens always go there to find bugs. I’ve seen feathers there before."

Following the direction Xue Ning pointed, Jiang Li saw only darkness, like a mouth that could swallow a person whole. She confirmed the location with her and made a mental note, planning to go look when the sky turned bright.

Once the bamboo over the fire was ready, she took it off, split it down the middle, and whittled each piece to the thickness of a thumb. She carefully scraped each one into a round shape, smoothing down the joints so they wouldn't protrude, and carved a 'Y' shape into one end to hold the feathers.

With all the prep work done, she began sharpening the arrowheads. Without metal, killing prey might be difficult, but given the limited conditions, this was the best she could do. Fortunately, there was a wood-chopping knife among the farm tools.

By the time everything was ready, the night was deep. The two children’s eyelids were drooping, as if they were ready to fall asleep at any moment. At this hour, they would have been long asleep in the past; Jiang Li hadn't paid attention to the time.

"Go wash up and get to bed. I'm finished here."

Jiang Li gathered the remaining bamboo in front of the house and took the half-finished arrows and all the tools inside. Once she had cleaned up, she realized there wasn't even a washbasin. Her washcloth was just a small, square piece of fabric. After a long moment of silence, she heated some water in a clay pot and poured it onto the cloth, dabbing at her body as best she could before lying down on the bed.

Xue Man slept against the wall, Xue Ning in the middle, and Jiang Li on the edge, the three of them huddled together. Before long, she heard the steady sound of Xue Ning’s breathing. Jiang Li was tired, but her mind was still racing. After tossing and turning, she felt Xue Man, who was against the wall, shift as well. Not long after, he turned back toward her. Jiang Li frowned.

"Still not asleep?"

"No," Xue Man replied.

"Does something hurt?" Jiang Li asked.

"No."

Jiang Li didn't speak again. After a long while, Xue Man finally asked with trepidation, "Mother, you won't hang yourself again, will you?"

"You've been tossing and turning just thinking about that?"

"Rest easy and go to sleep. I won't hang myself again."

Having received her word, Xue Man felt much more at ease. "Mother, in a few years, I'll be grown up, and I will definitely be able to protect you and my sister."

Jiang Li smiled. "That would be good."

It had been only five days since Jiang Li had entered the Xue household. On the evening of the day she arrived, Xue Chengju, as if knowing his time had come, had called her, his son, and his daughter together to entrust them to one another. The next morning, Xue Chengju was dead. Then came the funeral.

Xue Man knew Jiang Li wasn't his biological mother, but his father was gone, and Jiang Li was the woman his father had married; she was an elder. Whether she was his birth mother or not, he viewed Jiang Li as his pillar of support. Seeing Jiang Li having hanged herself that morning had caused him a pain he couldn't put into words. If Jiang Li were gone, he and his sister would not survive. Regardless of whether Jiang Li could support them, as long as she was there, he had a glimmer of hope.

After those few brief sentences, Jiang Li heard the steady, rhythmic breathing of Xue Man as he drifted off to sleep. She stretched and soon fell into a deep slumber herself.

The next day, Jiang Li woke with a start. The sky was just beginning to turn grey, and the figures of Xue Man and Xue Ning were gone from her side. She quickly climbed out of bed, but they weren't in the yard either. She checked the farm tools, and they were all still there, so they hadn't gone to dig for wild greens.

Just as she was about to go look for them, she saw two small figures in the distance on the hillside, holding hands and walking toward the house. Jiang Li walked out to meet them. As the sky grew brighter, the faint, distant sound of a rooster crowing could be heard.

Xue Man was leading his sister, telling her to watch her step, when Xue Ning said, "Brother, look, is that Mother?"

Xue Man looked in the direction Xue Ning pointed and saw Jiang Li. He pulled his sister along, quickening his pace. As they got closer, Xue Man called out, "Mother, why are you here?"

Jiang Li paused and waited for them. "What were you two doing out so early?"

Xue Man trotted up to her, holding his sister's hand. "Mother, I took my sister to go find chicken feathers. Look, is this enough?"

Jiang Li looked at the feathers in his hand—there were about twenty of them. She saw his thin, dark face flushed red from running, beads of sweat on his forehead, and she patted his head.

"It's enough."

"What time did you go?" Jiang Li asked.

Xue Man rubbed his head. Jiang Li looked at Xue Ning, who timidly replied, "When the rooster crowed and we could see the path, brother took me."

"In the future, you must tell me before you go out."

Jiang Li brought them back and set about washing the feathers, arranging for Xue Man to start the fire to continue roasting the sweet potatoes.

"Xiao Man, put a few more sweet potatoes on. I'm going to take one into the mountains."

Xue Man agreed, taking out five sweet potatoes and burying them in the embers. Jiang Li finished cleaning the feathers, dried them by the fire, and finally attached them to the bamboo arrows. She took out the bow and tested it in the yard; it was still usable. She packed the wood-chopping knife and the small hoe she would need in the mountains into a bamboo basket, along with the bow and arrows.

"Mother, the sweet potatoes are ready."

Jiang Li acknowledged him and took the items outside. The sky was quite bright now, and the sun was slowly rising.

"Xiao Man, give me two. I'm heading into the mountains now. You stay here with your sister and watch the house. Our door doesn't have a lock, so don't let anyone steal anything."

Xue Man nodded. "Don't worry, Mother. My sister and I won't go far to dig for greens."

Jiang Li rubbed her forehead. "You don't need to dig for greens. If I find edible greens while I'm in the mountains, I'll bring them back. You and your sister just stay home and wait for me to return."

"Mother, are you going deep into the valley?" Xue Man’s face was full of worry.

Jiang Li replied, "I'll see how it goes. If I manage to catch some game without going too deep, I'll certainly bring it back."

"It's very dangerous in there, Mother. Please don't go in."

"If you go now, can you be back before the sun sets?"

Jiang Li replied, "I will try."

"We will wait for you to come back so we can have dinner together."

Jiang Li looked at him quietly and said in a firm voice, "When the time comes, just have dinner with your sister. Don't wait for me. If I catch anything, I'll be back, but I can't be sure of the time."

Xue Man watched Jiang Li’s determined expression, feeling anxious. Game wasn't that easy to catch; if it were that simple, the men in the village would be running into the mountains every day, and it wouldn't fall to a woman like Jiang Li to do it.

"Mother, whether you catch anything or not, you must be back before dark."

Jiang Li patted Xue Man’s head. She couldn't convince the child, so she simply agreed.

"Take care of your sister and watch the house."

Carrying two roasted sweet potatoes, a basket on her back, and her bow and arrows over her shoulder, Jiang Li headed into the mountains. Xue Ning stared blankly at Jiang Li’s retreating figure. "Brother, can Mother really catch a wild chicken?"

"I don't know."

Whether she could catch anything was something Xue Man hoped for, but he didn't hold much hope. He was simply worried about Jiang Li.

At the foot of the mountain, Jiang Li finished one sweet potato. She placed the remaining one in her basket and pulled out the wood-chopping knife, gripping it in her hand.