Seeing Jiang Yuwei's appearance, Xiao Jiu on the hillside hurriedly used its paws to pull out a new vine and flung it in front of Jiang Yuwei.
Seeing this, Jiang Yuwei quickly grabbed the vines and scrambled up using both hands and feet. Jiang Yuwei was now completely limp on the ground, thankful that she hadn't been hurt. Turning to look at the cliff behind her, she broke out in a cold sweat again.
At this moment, all she wanted was to find the way down the mountain as soon as possible, return to her own courtyard, and lie on the earthen bed for a good night's sleep.
Thinking this, Jiang Yuwei forced herself to calm down, ate some dry food with Xiao Jiu, then got up, straightened her tattered clothes, found a cane, and followed the direction of the sun to find the location of her courtyard.
When she reached the middle of the mountain, she bumped into Ning Tiezhu and Ning Wu, who were still searching for her on the mountain.
"Sister Yuwei, is that Sister Yuwei?"
Ning Wu spotted her from afar and came to greet her. Jiang Yuwei recognized him and was overwhelmed with emotion, her eyes brimming with tears.
"What are you two doing up in the mountains?"
Ning Tiezhu said anxiously:
“You didn’t come home last night, and Brother Huai was very worried. He went to the village head and asked us to go up the mountain to help look for you.”
Ning Wu chimed in from the side:
"That's right, Sister Yuwei, if you're alright, let's go back quickly so that Brother Huaizhi can rest assured."
Jiang Yuwei thought of Ning Huaizhi's anxious look, hurriedly wiped away her tears, and nodded:
"Yes, I'm fine, I can still walk. Let's hurry down the mountain, thank you."
The three of them walked down the mountain without stopping for a moment.
When Jiang Yuwei reached the foot of the mountain, she saw Ning Huaizhi sitting at the entrance of his courtyard, his eyes dark as if he hadn't slept all night. Ning Huaizhi, seeing Jiang Yuwei return from afar, was also very excited and called out to her:
"Yuwei, how are you? Are you hurt? Are you alright?"
Seeing this, Jiang Yuwei quickly ran a few steps forward and smiled:
"I'm fine. Look, I'm back safe and sound. I just got lost on the mountain yesterday, so Xiao Jiu and I stayed there for the night. Today, we found our way down the mountain."
Jiang Yuwei did not tell Ning Huaizhi about the dangers she encountered on the mountain, because she did not want Ning Huaizhi to worry about her anymore.
Ning Huaizhi looked at Jiang Yuwei with red eyes, wishing he could examine her from head to toe countless times. He had considered a thousand possible outcomes, but the fact that she was alive and well in front of him was the best result. Seeing her like this, he knew she must have suffered a lot on the mountain. Ning Huaizhi took Jiang Yuwei's hand and held it tightly. He was afraid of losing her. He was becoming more and more inseparable from Jiang Yuwei.
Ning Huaizhi looked at Ning Tiezhu and Ning Wu behind Jiang Yuwei and smiled:
"Thank you both for today. I'd also like to trouble you two to help me call my fellow villagers back. I've prepared a meal at my house, so please come and have a meal before you go back to rest."
Ning Tiezhu and Ning Wu nodded hurriedly and went back to call the villagers who were still searching for the missing person back.
Jiang Yuwei looked down at her tattered clothes, then patted Ning Huaizhi's hand and laughed:
"The villagers will be here soon, so I'd better go inside and tidy up. It wouldn't look good for them to see me like this."
Ning Huaizhi looked at the disheveled Jiang Yuwei and pulled her into his arms, saying in a low, hoarse voice:
"Yuwei, do you know how I got through last night? I was so afraid of losing you. My leg is beyond repair. You are never allowed to go up the mountain again, do you hear me!"
Jiang Yuwei reached out and patted Ning Huaizhi, who was trembling slightly. She had never seen Ning Huaizhi like this before. However, she had already found wild ginseng, so it didn't matter if she didn't go deep into the mountains in the future. It was just a pity about that fruit forest. If the trees weren't so big, she would have dug up a few trees and planted them in her space.
Seeing that Jiang Yuwei did not reply, Ning Huaizhi said in a deep voice:
"Yuwei, please listen to me this time, okay? I'm really scared..."
Jiang Yuwei patted Ning Huaizhi on the back and laughed:
"Okay, I'll listen to you. I won't go to the deep mountains anymore."
As she spoke, Jiang Yuwei struggled out of Ning Huaizhi's arms, patted his shoulder and smiled as she looked at his worried expression:
"I'm back safe and sound, aren't I? Alright, alright, the villagers will be back soon. Have you prepared the meal?"
Ning Huaizhi nodded:
"I steamed two pots of rice, prepared some pickled vegetables, and saw that there were still some green vegetables in the kitchen, so I stir-fried some green vegetables and heated up the leftover meat and vegetables from yesterday."
Jiang Yuwei pondered for a moment and then smiled:
"This is probably not enough. I'll go inside and tidy up a bit, and then I'll add some more dishes for the villagers. You can wait here for them to come back. We need to thank them for their help today."
After giving her instructions, Jiang Yuwei turned and went inside. At this moment, Ning Wan, who was sleeping on the kang (a heated brick bed), heard the noise in the yard and got up. Seeing that it was Jiang Yuwei, she ran and rushed into Jiang Yuwei's arms.
"Mother, Mother, I thought you didn't want Wan'er anymore, sob sob..."
Jiang Yuwei smiled and picked up Ning Wan, saying:
"Wan'er, be good. How could your mother not want you? Okay, stop crying. The villagers will be back soon. If they see you crying like this, they'll laugh at you. Go wash your face and let me go inside to change my clothes."
Jiang Yuwei put down the reluctant Ning Wan and went into her room. She took out the light green jacket she had bought in town that day, quickly rinsed it with spiritual spring water in her spatial storage, and also took some wild eggs with her when she left.
After leaving the room, Jiang Yuwei went straight to the kitchen and made a stir-fried egg dish with chili peppers and eggs. Usually, the villagers would save up eggs to take to the market to exchange for food, so it was perfectly acceptable for Jiang Yuwei to bring out eggs to entertain everyone.
Jiang Yuwei thought for a moment, then took out some fruit, peeled and washed it, sliced it thinly, chopped it with salt, put it in a bowl and marinated it for a while. Then she added some minced garlic, honey, fresh chili rings and her own previously marinated chili sauce to season and mix well. Finally, she added an appropriate amount of white vinegar and water to the bowl and marinated it. Now she could wait to eat it.
Jiang Yuwei thought that she should dry more chili peppers and grind them into fine chili powder so that she could use them to make pickled fruits and sell them at the market later.
Just as Jiang Yuwei was thinking, Ning Wan ran in, hugged Jiang Yuwei's leg, and said:
"Mother, the villagers have all returned. Father said you can go out for dinner."
Jiang Yuwei patted Ning Wan's head and smiled:
"Okay, let's take the food out now."
Jiang Yuwei carried the freshly stir-fried chili and eggs, while Ning Wan obediently followed behind her with fruit and pickles as they went out the door.
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