In the darkness, Jiang Zhi closed her eyes and felt as if she were floating lightly in the air.
Suddenly, a flash of white light appeared, and she abruptly saw "herself" reclining on a large sofa cushion at home, her favorite chrysanthemum lamp lit, the AI reading voice on her phone still reading a novel at a leisurely pace, and even her pet cat Mimi still fast asleep on her lap...
What's going on? How come I'm at home, but I've been transported into a book?
What book was you listening to? I can't hear it clearly.
Before she could even figure out what was going on, she was suddenly jolted awake by Qiaoyun beside her: "Mother, Mother, down the mountain... there's a fire down the mountain!"
Mother, but who is Mother?
The next second, Jiang Zhi sat up abruptly: "What? There's a fire?"
Her movements were so sudden that they startled Qiaoyun, who explained, "Mother, the village is on fire."
Oh! It was just a dream!
Jiang Zhi composed herself.
Errui drank too much soup that night. He went out to pee in the middle of the night and saw some noise. He came back and woke people up.
Jiang Zhi was fast asleep and couldn't be woken up no matter how much they called her. They had to shake and push her to get her to open her eyes.
Xu Errui had already gone out to check the situation, while Jiang Zhi and Qiaoyun stood beside the Qinggang Forest, looking down the mountain.
The area where the village was originally dark has now been transformed into patches of orange-red light.
Qiaoyun burst into tears: "Our house was burned down."
Xu Errui stumbled back, incoherent and crying with snot and tears streaming down his face: "Burn it, burn it all!"
Although they took all their valuables with them and decided to stay on the mountain for a while, watching their former home being consumed by fire was still heartbreaking.
Jiang Zhi was also distressed. War brings power and wealth to a few, but it also brings more harm. It is always the common people who suffer.
Fortunately, everyone is still alive and well, including Nie Fantian.
The firelight gradually faded, and darkness returned. Nothing could be seen except the mournful sound of the night wind whistling through the woods.
Back in the shed, Jiang Zhi could no longer sleep, drifting in and out of sleep. So she simply sat up to add charcoal and keep watch, listening to the cawing of crows outside until dawn.
The custom of farmers in the Great Yan Dynasty was to eat only two meals a day. As soon as it was light, Qiaoyun, with red eyes, began to cook.
Xu Errui wanted to go see what was happening in the village, but Jiang Zhi stopped him: "What are you looking at? The refugees down there are waiting for someone to come and see them so they can grab you and cut your flesh."
One sentence was enough to scare the mentally challenged son so much that he dared not mention it again.
Curiosity killed the cat. This silly roe deer from Northeast China got shot and instead of running away, it turned back to look for who shot it.
The houses in the village burned down, but people still had to live.
Jiang Zhi was still worried about the villagers who hadn't left. She didn't know if the refugees were just stealing or hurting people.
There are stubborn people everywhere.
Yesterday, Xiaoman's family went up the mountain, but they didn't see Xu Youcai's family. They must have been fighting with the refugees again.
However, because they are familiar with the area and have a large population, the refugees cannot easily harm them. It is hard to say whether they will lose their lives in the long run.
Xu Errui didn't go down the mountain; he just went to Xiaoman's charcoal shed.
Everyone was in a rush when we went up the mountain yesterday, so there was no way to help.
Now that a night has passed, I wonder how his family is doing.
Jiang Zhi didn't leave either. She took out the oak seeds she had picked yesterday and smashed the hard shell of each one with a stone.
They dug a shallow pit below the pond, poured all the oak berries into it, and then filled the pit with water, just enough to submerge the oak berries. The excess water flowed automatically into the bushes on the hillside.
This avoids polluting the water source, and the continuous flow of water eliminates the hassle of changing the water.
Jiang Zhi was able to eat corn rice generously last night because she had a staple food to fill her stomach. If there were no more food, she wouldn't dare to squander it. It would be too late if she really ran out of food.
Qiaoyun watched as her mother-in-law cracked open the oak fruit and soaked it in water, and asked in confusion, "Mother, these oak fruits are poisonous, why are you soaking them?"
Jiang calmly replied, "The whole family will eat."
No wonder last night's meal consisted of both meat and rice; they must have poisoned the whole family after eating all that food.
Overwhelmed with grief, Qiaoyun's legs gave way and she knelt down: "Mother, I only drink clear soup every day, and I dare not eat rice anymore!"
Jiang Zhi was stunned: "Why are you so startled? Get up. With your body like a dry twig and you're pregnant, you're risking your life by only drinking soup."
Qiaoyun pointed at the green oak seed and said cautiously, "Mother wants poison..."
Jiang Zhi suddenly realized: "Who said it's going to poison people? These oak berries are edible, but the poison needs to be removed first."
Qiaoyun was skeptical. Since childhood, people around her had warned her that Qinggangzi (a type of fruit) was inedible. Even if someone was starving, they could cook one over a fire and eat it without any problems, but no one dared to use it as a meal.
However, no one could disobey her mother-in-law's words, so she could only pray to Buddha to bless her so that she could eat less oak seeds.
Breakfast was a thick porridge made with dried vegetables. Jiang Zhi asked her to make it thicker, and Qiaoyun did so with a worried look on her face.
Errui hadn't returned yet, so Jiangzhi soaked the oak seeds in water and stood on the edge of the cliff leading down the mountain, looking out.
On the same mountain, the charcoal sheds are not far apart as the crow flies, though it might take several tens of minutes to walk there, but they are within sight.
Jiang Zhi didn't know exactly where the other houses were, but she could see wisps of smoke rising from several groves of trees, which were quickly dispersed by the wind.
It's a good thing that someone is cooking for you.
A short while later, Xu Errui ran back, panting: "Mom, everyone is fine, and Xiaoman's family has cooked and eaten."
I didn't expect his charcoal shed to be better than ours. Brother Dazhu used to build the walls with stone slabs; he cleaned it up yesterday and moved in.
Dazhu is Xiaoman's paralyzed older brother. He has been a diligent and sensible person since he was a child. Every winter, he would stay in the mountains with his grandfather to burn charcoal for more than a month. Naturally, he would set up a place for eating and sleeping in the charcoal shed.
After he fell ill, he went up the mountain during the Lesser Fullness of Grain (小满).
Jiang Zhi was puzzled as to why Grandpa Xiaoman would rather wait to die despite having such good conditions.
Xu Errui was unaware of the situation in the village, and everyone tacitly refrained from mentioning the departing village chief and his group again.
This is how refugees move from one home to another, fleeing from their own to someone else's.
The migrants now rushing into the village were once simple-minded people who farmed and cultivated the land.
Jiang Zhi doesn't have any special abilities or the capacity to care for other villagers. All she wants is a clean and comfortable home and to live peacefully until the end of the book.
The charcoal shed continues to be renovated.
With the mother and son working together, the stone wall was completed the next day, leaving only the door frame for the time being, to be installed later.
Next to it, a kitchen was extended from the thatched roof, and a stove was built with stones to make it easier for Qiaoyun to cook.
On the third day, Jiang Zhi and Xu Errui built a retaining wall with stones on the slope next to the thatched hut, filled and leveled it with fine soil, and moved a few oak trees that had been cut down for charcoal before, in preparation to build another room.
The three of them stayed together for the past few nights, and although it was cold, they slept in their clothes without taking them off. However, Xu Errui's smelly feet and snoring were enough to make Jiang Zhi feel nauseous, and she urgently needed a private room.
However, before construction even started, Xiaoman arrived, saying that his grandfather wanted Aunt Jiang to go there.
Jiang Zhi readily agreed, as she also had something to ask Grandpa Xiaoman: When will this winter end?
It's almost March, and according to the modern climate of Southwest China, it should be raining and peach blossoms all over the mountains, but the world in the book is still dry and cold.
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