Chapter 6

Silently watching the entire process, Sang Luo clicked her tongue in admiration: so sensible. Yet, she bore far too much on her shoulders; it was a hard life. In her previous life, she spent her childhood in an orphanage, then during university she was busy studying and earning money. In her first year of work, she worked tirelessly to save for a house. Later, she fell ill and lived alone in the mountains for five years. The last stretch of her life was spent in a hospital. Truly peaceful days were few and far between.

Now, seeing Shen An was like looking at her younger self. Unable to bear the heavy expression on the little one’s face, she smiled and stood up, grabbing two empty baskets from the corner: “I promised to take you both to find food. I’m feeling a bit stronger now. Let’s go for a walk.”

Qi County was mountainous, and Ten Mile Village was a small settlement nestled against the hills. The main cluster of villagers lived to the east, still mountainous but not so close to the high peaks. Sang Luo’s home, where Shen An and Shen Ning lived with her, was a bit farther away from the village center; to reach the nearest household in the village, one had to climb over three mountain ridges to the east.

Of course, the closer mountain ridges were claimed by villagers who regularly went there to gather firewood. The ridge Sang Luo’s family settled on was one of two mountain ridges allocated to them when they first settled here. These ridges, closer to the village, had well-trodden paths and were relatively safe.

To the west lay endless overlapping mountain peaks, an unknown expanse that few from Ten Mile Village ventured deeply into, at least according to the memories of the original inhabitant. A contributing factor was that the village was now mostly occupied by the elderly, women, and children. Most able-bodied men had been conscripted to the front lines—some had been away for years, still in the military but alive; others, like Shen Lie, had gone to battle and never returned.

Conscription was a constant in this era, especially under the Great Qian Dynasty, which had intensified military campaigns under the recently enthroned emperor. Nearly every household had someone drafted to the front; the conscriptions a couple of years ago were neither the first nor the last.

With only the elderly, women, and children left, no one dared venture deep into the mountains.

Now, Shen An and Shen Ning each carried an empty basket on their backs, their hesitant footsteps trailing behind Sang Luo. Shen Ning hesitated and urged, “Sister-in-law, your health isn’t good yet. Why don’t you rest a few more days at home? We can find wild vegetables ourselves; we have enough grain to last for a while if we save it.”

They had been frightened by Sang Luo’s previous condition.

Shen An looked toward the west with confusion: “Sister-in-law, you didn’t say we couldn’t go into the mountains before? Big brother didn’t allow it either.”

Sang Luo certainly wouldn’t dare venture deep into the mountains. Besides... glancing at the shorts on the little siblings—so short they were almost capris—and the large stretch of exposed ankles, she wouldn’t risk leading them deep where venomous snakes or insects could strike. If one bit an ankle, and it was poisonous, her guilt would be unbearable.

“We won’t go far inside, just around the outskirts.”

Shen An’s shoulders visibly slumped. “There’s nothing left on the outskirts. Don’t we already look around there every day?”

Why had he foolishly believed that sister-in-law had a solution? If she really did, why hadn’t she used it all this time? They were nearly starving.

Now, Shen An felt truly foolish. It must have been the delicious white rice porridge from the morning that muddled his mind.

While frustrated, he was also glad he had at least saved some rice in his bag and was glad he had saved half the porridge to give to Ning.

Saving half the porridge had been the right choice. Sister-in-law was kind to him and his sister but truly unreliable, especially since falling ill; she seemed even less dependable.

Before, she at least knew to ration the food. Now, the way she consumed their grain made him uneasy. With their current pace, how long would the borrowed grain from Grandma Chen last? Once it was gone, who else could they borrow from?

Just a few steps out of the grass hut, Shen An was already overwhelmed with worry.

He wanted to say, “Why do we need two baskets just to roam nearby?” But seeing sister-in-law had just recovered and had just boasted confidently, he didn’t want to offend her. Besides, the baskets weren’t heavy.

Still, in his heart, he vowed never to let sister-in-law decide their meals again tonight.

If she was sick, let her eat a bit better by herself, but not so thick. Prepare her portion separately with fewer wild vegetables to help her recover in a few days.

He and his sister would stick to the usual: dig up more wild vegetables, ask their third uncle for some, and stew it to get by.

They absolutely couldn’t keep making such thick white rice porridge for three people like this morning. This wasteful eating would make winter unbearable—maybe even this autumn.

Shen Ning shared a worried glance with her brother; their expressions mirrored each other’s thoughts.

Unaware that she had already been classified as highly unreliable by the siblings, Sang Luo smiled confidently: “Whether we find anything, just come with me and we’ll see.”

She looked at the empty baskets on their backs with some regret—if only they had more baskets, but they owned so little.

One adult, two children, two very different mindsets, with a stick and bamboo branch in hand, headed toward a mountain path nearby.

Sang Luo indeed didn’t lead them deep into the mountains, only searching near their western ridge for a mountain stream.

Shen An watched the small fish swimming in the clear water and finally understood where sister-in-law’s plan lay.

“Sister-in-law, these fish are very agile and hard to catch. Ning and I have been here before and didn’t catch a single one after half a day.”

Shen Ning confirmed, “They swim too fast and are slippery.”

Sang Luo laughed: “It’s hard to catch fish with our hands, but we won’t use our hands. We’ll set traps and wait for the fish to swim into them.”

She reached for one of Shen An’s baskets, bent some grass leaves by the stream, grabbed a handful of pebbles, and dropped them inside. Then she placed a fist-sized stone, took off her shoes and socks, and stepped into the stream.

The mountain stream was flowing water, extremely clear, and the deepest parts didn’t even reach her knees. She placed the basket slantwise at the deepest point, gathered several moss-covered stones from the bottom, dropped them inside, and then stepped back to the shore.

Shen An and Shen Ning stared, stunned.

“Can this really catch fish?”

Sang Luo nodded: “If we had bait, it would attract more, but unfortunately we don’t have any now. Still, there are plenty of fish here. We’ll try it first, and if we catch few, we’ll move and try again.”

She was about to use Shen Ning’s basket to make a second trap.

Shen An grew excited.

“Sister-in-law, let me do this!”

“Fine.” Children love to play, and the water was shallow, so Sang Luo smiled, agreed without hesitation, taught them the basics, and let the siblings have at it while she watched.

Shen Ning followed her elder brother like a little shadow, helping to gather pebbles and fetch stones from the water.

The two chose another spot and repeated the process according to Sang Luo’s method. They came ashore, excitement glowing on their faces. Shen An’s eyes sparkled as he looked up at Sang Luo: “Sister-in-law, when will we check the baskets?”

Finally showing some childlike spirit.

Sang Luo smiled: “At dusk. For now, let’s set up some branches to catch shrimp.”

In truth, these traps usually were best checked the next day for a bigger catch, but since they were counting on the food now, the waiting time had to be shortened.

The words “catching shrimp” immediately captured the siblings’ attention.

“How do we catch shrimp?”

The shrimp traps were particularly simple. Sang Luo and the two children gathered leafy branches by the stream and bundled them up, then placed these bundles a little distance from the fish traps, pressing them into the water with stones.

This new method delighted the two children, and they happily set seven shrimp traps along different stream sections before feeling satisfied.

After coming ashore, still eager for more, they asked, “Sister-in-law, what now? What do we do next?”

“Do we have to wait until dusk for the shrimp too?”

Each took turns asking, their eyes shining brightly on Sang Luo.

Though the catch hadn’t yet materialized, Sang Luo’s credibility in the children’s eyes had clearly risen.

Looking at the two children, who were much brighter and more spirited than the night before when they were fearful and dejected, she smiled: “We have to wait. For now, let’s go find something else.”

She beckoned them to follow.

Shen An hesitated, glancing back at the baskets in the stream: “Sister-in-law, are we just leaving like this? What if someone takes the baskets?”

The brief joy faded, and the responsible little steward returned. The fish was one thing, but the baskets were their only two. In fact, everything they owned was precious and scarce.

If they failed to catch fish and lost the few possessions they had, Shen An wouldn’t even have a place to cry.

Shen Ning paused too, turning to look at Sang Luo.

She, however, was not so worried. She smiled: “It’s fine. Look for yourselves—the baskets are placed so close to the shore that you’d barely notice if you didn’t pay attention.”

The siblings looked toward where the baskets lay, indeed barely visible, and gave up the idea to guard them there.

Sang Luo ruffled Shen Ning’s little head: “Let’s go. I’ll take you to find more food.”

Hearing there might be other ways to find food, the siblings’ eyes lit up instantly.

“What is it?”

Author’s note:

Regarding place names, I need to clarify that this story is set in an alternate reality and should not be conflated with real geography. The county’s name, Qi Yang, was chosen after searching dozens of place names on Baidu and finding they all existed in reality, either homophonous or sharing characters. In the end, I had to settle for it. The names of prefectures later on will also use historical place names; the prefecture names won’t differ much. But please don’t link the locations in the novel too closely with real places—it’s a fictional setting with its own private lore. For example, the great mountain behind Ten Mile Village doesn’t correspond with any real-world geography.