Liu Yuelan quickly hid the family's grain in the pit she had dug in the ground, and hid everything she could in the house.

After hiding the things, he quickly ran out. Song Ning got off the ground, put on her shoes, and hurriedly followed him out.

Song Dahai has already run off to catch the thief with the villagers, leaving only Liu Yuelan and Song Ning at home.

Liu Yuelan grabbed a stick in the yard and shielded Song Ning behind her, saying, "Er Ya, don't be afraid, Mother will protect you."

Song Ning also picked up a stick and held Liu Yuelan's arm: "I'm not afraid."

A moment later, footsteps were heard from not far away. Song Ning immediately tensed up. Before the two of them could speak, the person spoke up: "Yue Niang, are you there?"

It was Aunt Zhao. The two women breathed a sigh of relief. Aunt Zhao went into the yard, and the group quickly went back into the house.

"Moon Maiden, are you alright?"

"We're alright, sister-in-law, are you alright too?"

"Don't worry, I'm fine. My husband went to catch the thief, so I came here."

The thief hasn't been caught yet, so the women and children are afraid to wander around. It's still dark, so they're all huddled inside the house, occasionally hearing sounds of people catching the thief outside.

"Sigh, I wonder whose family has suffered this time."

The thieves who come into the village now are all after the grain. The villagers already have little way to survive, and if their grain is stolen, it will be a disaster.

"The village chief has already led people to chase after them, but we don't know if they can catch up."

The three of them dared not sleep and stayed awake until dawn. Only when the noise outside subsided did Song Dahai and Li Daniu drag their exhausted bodies home.

Liu Yuelan and Aunt Zhao quickly ran out.

"How's it going? Did they catch the thief?"

The two sighed: "The Jiang family's grain nearby was stolen. The village chief led people to chase after them, but they couldn't catch up."

Liu Yuelan and Aunt Zhao felt a chill run down their spines, a sense of lingering fear washing over them.

Their two families lived in the west of the village, not far from the village entrance. Coming out of the Song family's house, down a slope was the Jiang family's house, and their house was quite secluded. If a thief were to come in, they would first sneak into their house.

It must be because they lived on high ground that the thief didn't expect there to be other people living on the slope, thus avoiding disaster.

The slope behind the Jiang family's house was quite high, and the houses above couldn't be seen from below, which saved their lives.

The commotion was quite loud, so Aunt Zhao and Liu Yuelan went to check on the situation.

Jiang's mother sat on the ground, wailing, "Those damned bastards! We only had so much food left... and it's all been stolen! How are we going to survive? We finally managed to save up some food, and now it's all gone. They're leaving us no way to live..."

The whole village knew about it, and some people tried to comfort Granny Jiang, but after what had happened, no amount of comforting would be of any use.

Now the crops aren't growing in the fields, and all the remaining grain at home has been stolen. How we'll survive is a problem.

The village chief sighed. Even as the village chief, there was nothing he could do now; he couldn't conjure up any more food.

The onlookers all frowned deeply. At this moment, even people who didn't get along normally couldn't muster any schadenfreude.

No matter whose family suffered this misfortune, no one in the village could laugh.

The village chief originally thought that everyone in the village should contribute a little to tide them over for a while so they wouldn't starve. But when he looked at the people present, all of them were pale and thin, with no light in their eyes, he couldn't bring himself to say anything.

Jiang's mother-in-law cried again, her wailing disturbing everyone around her. Eventually, she couldn't bear it any longer and fainted from the crying, which finally stopped her crying.

But no matter how much we cried out, the food wouldn't come back. Life had to go on, so we had to find a way.

After returning from the Jiang family, Liu Yuelan and Song Dahai remained silent for a long time.

Everyone has their own struggles, and they could tell what the village chief was trying to say.

These days, it's considered a good family in the village if they can keep themselves from going hungry, so how can they possibly care about other families?

No one in the village slept well last night, so the village is much quieter today.

Song Ning stayed up all night yesterday and couldn't hold on any longer, so she went straight to sleep.

It wasn't until noon that the village became lively again.

After waking up, Song Ning called Song Dahai and Liu Yuelan into the house and took out the leaves she had picked in the valley last time.

"Dad, Mom, look, do you recognize these leaves?"

Song Dahai and Liu Yuelan examined the leaf several times, turning it over and over, before finally shaking their heads: "I don't think I've ever seen it before."

Song Ning had never farmed before, so he didn't really know much about these things. The fact that even Song Dahai and Liu Yuelan didn't recognize them meant that they had never appeared in Nanshan Village before.

"Er Ya, what is this?" Liu Yuelan asked.

“I went up the mountain the day before yesterday and found a valley that was full of these things.”

"Valley?"

Song Ning told Song Dahai and Liu Yuelan about what happened to her going up the back mountain the day before yesterday. The two were shocked and worried.

Even now, when people are starving, few villagers go up the back mountain, because they know how dangerous it is.

Song Ning readily admitted her mistake, but still wanted to go again.

She always felt that things growing there must be good things. She didn't recognize the topmost leaves, and the fruit might be growing in the soil.

Having made up his mind, Song Ning decided to go up the mountain again.

With Song Dahai joining them this time, the family was worried, but they couldn't dissuade Song Ning, so Song Dahai had no choice but to come along.

Standing at a distance and looking up at the mountain, Song Ning noticed that the trees on the mountain were quite different. One group of trees was noticeably taller than the trees on either side. Song Ning guessed that it was an extension of the valley she had encountered last time, and because of the water, it had grown more lush.

The traces of her last ascent were still there; the father and daughter were still using sickles to clear a path as they walked uphill.

Having learned from the previous experience, this time it was much faster. They reached the edge of the valley, parted the surrounding grass, and Song Ning pointed down and said, "Father, this is it."

The two followed the slope into the valley, still incredulous that there was such a place here.

Song Ning didn't linger and took out a shovel to start digging.

It wasn't shallow at all; Song Ning dug for quite a while before finally seeing what was below.

Round and covered in mud, with roots still attached, Song Ning fell silent.

This is a potato, isn't it? The same potato she knows?

This stuff is a real treasure; it can fill your stomach and save your life during famine years.

Song Ning stared intently at the large field of potatoes, already imagining countless ways to cook them, and swallowed hard, unable to contain his saliva.

"Dad, let's dig some up and take it back."

It was Song Dahai's first time seeing potatoes, but after hearing what his daughter said, he didn't ask any questions and started digging them up.

They only brought shovels today, which made digging difficult. Seeing that it was getting late, they only dug one basketful and started heading down the mountain.

Before I even reached my doorstep, I heard someone shout in the distance.

"Grandma Jiang has hanged herself!"