Fang Yuniang is actually not that old now. She was only sixteen when she came here pregnant thirty years ago, and now she is only forty-six.

However, she has suffered a lot over the years, struggling to survive in barren mountains and swamps, and raising a child alone. Her health must have deteriorated significantly; her once black hair has turned completely white, and her face is deeply lined.

Her health has been poor for years. If it weren't for her medical knowledge, she probably would have died long ago. How could she still be alive today?

Two years ago, she fell seriously ill and almost didn't make it. It was her son, Zhao Shui, who racked his brains to collect a lot of medicinal herbs and even found a wild ginseng, which saved her life.

Because she had talked too much, she was breathing rapidly. Zhao Mingyue fed her a few sips of water to calm her down, and she started talking again. Zhao Shui advised her to lie down and rest, saying that they could talk about it tomorrow.

"I'm fine, Shui'er. I want to finish what I have to say today. If I keep putting it off, it won't do."

"Mother, don't say that. You'll live to be a hundred." Zhao Shui's eyes reddened; she didn't want to hear her mother say such discouraging things.

"Don't cry, don't be sad. Everyone has to go through this day eventually. We've already gained back thirty good years of life, that's enough, we don't need it to be too long."

Zhao Shui knew that his mother had suffered too much over the years, and if she hadn't been worried about him, she probably wouldn't have been able to hold on for long.

Later, he married and had children, and many more obedient people appeared in the village. Mingyue also grew up, and she could finally rest easy. This world was not worth her lingering in; her mother's heart had long since died along with her father's.

"Where were we? Oh right, it's Big Ox. Big Ox seems to have understood what I said. Since then, it has disappeared from the depths of the swamp during the day, but it will come back here at night. Sometimes it will even leave the swamp and come to land. I saw that it looks a bit like an ox, but it is bigger than an ox, so I named it Big Ox."

Thankfully, Da Niu was there. We could finally sleep soundly by the fire at night, with him watching over us. Unfortunately, our peace was short-lived. A month later, a sudden downpour began. There was nowhere to take shelter by the swamp, so I had to take my child to find a cave.

Perhaps Heaven took pity on us, mother and child, and stopped making things difficult for us. I quickly found a cave on a high slope not far from the stream. The cave was clean, with no snakes, insects, or wild beasts. The fire outside had been extinguished by the rain, so I had to start a fire again by rubbing sticks together. The rain was heavy and lasted for a long time, for two whole days and two nights before it stopped. I was so hungry that I felt dizzy and almost stopped producing milk.

Finally, the sky cleared, and I carried the child out of the cave. But I was so hungry that I couldn't find anything to eat while carrying the child. So I pulled up some tough vines to make a baby carrier and carried the child on my back.

That day, my son and I were lucky; we dug up kudzu roots and yams. Later, we also found a stone shaped like a pot. From then on, I had a stone pot that I could use to cook hot soup.

Women are inherently weak, but become strong when they become mothers.

Fang Yuniang is becoming more and more accustomed to life in the forest. She no longer trembles with fear at the sound of wolves howling and tigers roaring. She has learned many skills that she did not know before, and she can also apply herbs with anesthetic properties to various grasses or pour them into water.

She observed for a long time and knew which animals went where to drink water. She hid upstream and put the anesthetic solution in the water. Of course, because the effect of the anesthetic would be diluted in the water, she had to prepare a large amount of the solution for it to be effective.

The anesthetic juice applied to the grass helped her catch many wild rabbits, and the medicine poured into the water helped her find many small fish and loaches. She even found a wild boar once and a few roe deer.

After finding her prey, she had to drag it to the edge of the swamp to process it, otherwise it would easily attract other wild beasts that would steal the prey and endanger her. There were large bulls guarding the edge of the swamp, so other wild beasts dared not approach.

She had to learn how to skin animals and then make the hides. Winter was approaching, and without winter clothes, she and her child would freeze to death. At first, she had wasted several wild boar hides and a lot of rabbit fur.

There was nothing she could do; she didn't know what kind of prey she would be able to hunt. So whatever she hunted, she would learn to skin it and make animal hides until she mastered it.

Lacking iron tools, she thought of her own stone pot and picked up some sharp stones to use as daggers, sharpening them even more when she had free time in the evenings.

The hardships she endured are self-evident, but she persevered. Her child grew up year by year under her care. Unfortunately, no matter what she tried or how many herbs she gathered for her child, the child's health remained poor.

"Because we didn't have scissors, Shui'er's hair had never been cut since birth; it was so long it dragged on the ground. Later, I suggested using a stone knife to trim it short, but he said no, it was fine as it was. When this child was twelve or thirteen, he started to have his own ideas."

He would secretly have Da Niu take him to the other side of the swamp while I went into the woods to hunt. This child had been learning to read and write and studying medicine with me since he was three years old, and he followed me everywhere to collect herbs. Because of the miasma in the swamp, I was worried that he might accidentally wander into it sometime.

Since he had inhaled miasma while still in the womb, I taught him to identify various herbs that could counteract miasma poisoning at a young age. This child was precocious and very intelligent, with a photographic memory. He even secretly made a lot of pills to counteract miasma poisoning, and then, while I was in the mountains, I had Da Niu take him to Chaimu Village.

I didn't notice until two years later. The child had brought back a lot of ironware, clothes, shoes, chickens, ducks, pigs—anything he wanted.

Fang Yu's mother was very worried about her son, fearing something might happen to him outside. She scolded him severely. Zhao Shui hugged her and cried. The young boy choked back tears and said, "Mother, you told me what it's like outside. I want to go and see. I'm so lonely. When you're not here, no one talks to me."

You told me there's a type of iron tool that's sharper and more durable than stone tools. I wanted to get it for you, but your son isn't in good health, and you wouldn't let me go hunting. Seeing you work so hard makes me very sad.

Fang Yuniang burst into tears upon hearing this. "It's all my fault, Shui'er. Don't cry. I don't blame you. I shouldn't have scolded you just now. If you want to go out to play again, I won't stop you. But you have to tell me before you go out. You can only go out three times a year at most. Promise me."

“Okay, Shui’er will listen to his mother and only go out three times a year. He won’t do anything reckless. Mother, can I bring a companion back?” This was the first time Zhao Shui had asked to bring someone with him. He was only fourteen years old that year.

“Shui’er, be good. You must not hurt innocent people. In the future, we can seek revenge on our enemies. We can kill our enemies, but we cannot kill others.” Fang Yuniang was afraid that her son would not be able to distinguish between good and evil, so she would teach him how to conduct himself whenever she had time.

Zhao Shui was very intelligent and understood immediately. He shook his head and said, "My son would not harm anyone. There has been a natural disaster outside, and many people are displaced. They have nothing to eat and no place to live. Many of their families have died, leaving them all alone."

No one knows a son better than his mother. Seeing the shift in his eyes, Fang Yu-niang sensed something was amiss and pressed him, "Tell me honestly, have you brought someone back?"