《Socially Anxious Girl Starts Hoarding Before the Apocalypse》


 Chapter 1

    Chapter 1


    April. Outside the window, the sunshine was brilliant. At this time of the transitional period between spring and summer in An City, the temperature was rtivelyfortable.


    At 11:59 a.m., Wen Qian''s gaze moved away from herputer screen. She got up to heat up her lunch.


    Thepany had a water dispenser and microwave oven. Wen Qian brought meals every day.


    There was no other reason, only that it was cheap and saved money.


    "Wen Qian, what are you eating today?" A female colleague behind her ced her lunch box next to her in the queue.


    "Ding¡ª" the microwave oven timer went off.


    Wen Qian took out her lunch box and showed it to her colleague.


    On top of the white rice were some seaweed crumbs, sour and spicy potato shreds, and braised pork.


    Her colleague joked, "It looks pretty good."


    Wen Qian took her food back to her office seat and started eating.


    Except for the fish and meat that Wen Qian bought at the market, the rest of the vegetables were all bought online.


    What to buy depended on what was on sale that day.


    If carrots were the cheapest, she would buy carrots. If green peppers were heavily discounted, she would buy green peppers. In short, as long as there was meat and vegetables, it was fine. She didn¡¯t care if it was repetitive.


    For normal people, eating the same thing over and over would make them bored. But Wen Qian was different¡ªas long as it was cheap, she could eat it for a long time.


    Lunch was quickly finished. There was still time before the lunch break, so Wen Qian startedparing prices on her phone.


    The rice and cooking oil at home were running low. Wen Qian was looking at which price was cheaper.


    Afterparing three tforms, Wen Qian bought a 10kg bag of rice and a five-liter bucket of oil from two tforms respectively.


    When exiting the shopping app, she found a sh sale had started¡ª550ml bottles of mineral water, 24 bottles for 8.99 yuan.


    Not finding anything cheaper than this, Wen Qian decisively ced an order.


    ording to Wen Qian¡¯s usual money-saving ways, she would normally boil and drink water instead of bottled water.


    However, when Wen Qian was in school, she had experienced being trapped by a flood. So she had a fondness for bottled water and biscuits.


    Even now living in a ten-plus story apartment building, she would still regrly stock up on bottled water and some instant food.


    In recent years, it seemed like all kinds of disasters were increasing. Having some things at home made Wen Qian feel more at ease.


    After finishing shopping, Wen Qian started checking coupons on Weibo to see if there was anything she needed.


    She needed to rece her underwear and socks, and she was also out of seaweed. As for summering, thepany would distribute work clothes, so she didn¡¯t need to buy any.


    Thepany distributed two seasons¡¯ worth of tops, so Wen Qian didn¡¯t have to buy clothes. Anyway, she couldn¡¯t wear anything else to work.


    Other than working, Wen Qian spent all her other time saving money.


    She was now 26 years old. She had been working at thispany with her sry rising from 4,000 to just over 10,000 now. She managed to save quite a bit every month.


    People around knew she was frugal, but only she herself knew the extent.


    Wen Qian had always been very poor since she was little, destitute and down on her luck. Now that her sry was not bad, why was she still saving so much?


    Because she wanted to buy a house so that she could have a home of her own in An City.


    Wen Qian grew up in a remote little mountain vige in An Province, located in the hilly areas. Residents always lived scattered in batches of two or three families per mountain depression.


    Where Wen Qian lived, there were only three households, but the other two had moved to slightly bigger mountain depressions, leaving only the Wen family couple behind.


    Wen Qian was an abandoned baby, thrown at the roadside in the cold winter. The Wen family couple happened to be passing by to visit rtives. They found her and brought her home.


    The Wen family couple was nearly sixty years old and had no children.


    They''d had children before but could never raise them to adulthood. Finally they couldn''t have any more and gave up hope.


    This time finding an abandoned baby, the Wen family couple thought they finally had a descendant. So they summoned up their energy and started raising the child again.


    This time, the child grew up well.


    Because of their advanced age, the Wen family couple had Wen Qian call them Grandpa and Grandma.


    Having such a child made the Wen family couple''s days less dreary.


    Grandma was responsible for raising the child while Grandpa farmed thend.


    If they were a bit younger, Grandpa might have even gone to the city to work. But now that they were older, he could only farm at home.


    Fortunately, when the Wen family couple turned 60 years old, the vige applied for the rural ¡°Five Guarantees¡± support policy for them. In addition to the pension after 60 years old, there were also grain subsidies. It was enough for them to get by.


    When Wen Qian was 12 years old, Grandpa passed away, leaving only Wen Qian and Grandma relying on each other.


    At that time Wen Qian had just graduated from elementary school.


    Afterwards, with some state subsidies Wen Qian obtained, she attended middle school and high school.


    Grandma stayed at home growing vegetables and raising chickens, waiting for her toe home during school breaks.


    Later Wen Qian tested into a first-tier college and chose to study in An City¡ªfor the sake of being closer to Grandma.


    Grandma was very happy that Wen Qian was promising, but some vigers said that she had raised this girl in vain. The girl probably wouldn¡¯t be able to provide for Grandma in her old age.


    But Grandma had long epted this.


    Before Wen Qian even had the chance to repay Grandma, in Wen Qian¡¯s sophomore year of college when she was 20 years old, Grandma passed away.


    At that time Wen Qian was home during summer break taking care of the sick Grandma, so she was able to see Grandma off.


    After Grandma¡¯s funeral, Wen Qian left the vige alone. The vige director issued her a certificate. That year, Wen Qian returned to school and applied for orphan financial aid.


    Since then, she had been alone.


    Although there was still an old home she could return to, Wen Qian only came back once a year in the summer, just checking on the home. For the rest of the time, she was working part time in the city until her graduation.


    After graduation, Wen Qian stayed and found employment in An City. In order to reduce rent, she lived in the urban vige area with rent of 400 yuan per month.


    The urban vige area was crowded with poor environment, but because the rent was cheap, everyone still gathered there.


    However, thestrge-scale urban vige area in An City was also to be demolished. Under such circumstances, when it was time for Wen Qian to move and switch jobs, she started saving money towards the down payment for her own home.


    Although Wen Qian had always been frugal before, after having this goal, her level of saving went up another notch.


    She prepared her own meals, and a lot of her clothes and shoes came from ssmates and friends. She saved money to an extreme degree.


    After work, Wen Qian would take her lunch box and the drink her colleague bought her back home with her. She could even sell the bottles for money.


    Wen Qian kept the express paper boxes in her rented apartment and the usual stic bottles, umting them to a certain level before taking them to sell. Although the money was not much, every little bit counted.


    At five thirty today, Wen Qian got off work on time and was in a good mood. She got off the bus and went up the overpass to the other side.


    Someone was operating a small stand on the overpass. Phone cases, charging cables, socks,bs...


    Suddenly, one stand owner attracted Wen Qian''s attention - an old granny with white hair.


    In front of the granny, there were only two paper shells the size of pillowcases. On them were some hair clips and hair ties.


    ording to Wen Qian¡¯s thrifty personality, she would not buy them, but the granny''s appearance reminded her of her Grandma who raised her. So she leaned over to take a look.


    Wen Qian was going to buy two 5 yuan ones. She picked a cute strawberry hair tie, and then tried to find a suitable hair clip.


    "How about this one?" The granny smiled and held up a hair clip to rmend.


    It was a pearl hair clip, with three evenly spaced pearls, and the middle pearl was pink.


    Wen Qian thought about it and epted the rmendation. She took out her wallet from her backpack and took out 5 yuan cash.

 Chapter 2

    Chapter 2


    Many elderly people do not know how to use smartphones, but still use their children''s payment codes for business, and the money may not necessarily end up back in the elderly people''s hands in the end.


    The elderly still prefer cash a bit more. Phone payments are convenient but Wen Qian still prepares some cash.


    After buying some little things, Wen Qian puts her earphones back on and happily walks down the overpass.


    The ce Wen Qian rents is on the 4th ring road in An City, so going anywhere with lots of people takes a lot of time.


    But it doesn¡¯t matter, she won¡¯t go to too many ces anyway, because she hates spending money.


    Back home she goes into the kitchen, takes the food she prepared out of the fridge, stir fries 3 dishes and puts them on the table.


    Her roommates have graduallye back, they either eat out ande back, or order takeout. Cooking takes too much time for them.


    The apartment Wen Qian rents now was two of thendlord¡¯s apartmentsbined by him into one. There are 3 big rooms and 1 small room total.


    The 3 rooms all have floor-to-ceiling windows with ample light.


    Only the room Wen Qian rents, on the 2nd floor, is the smallest with a small window facing the stairs, no sunlight, needing the lights on even during the day.


    Of course it also has the cheapest rent, 500 RMB.


    Downstairs there is a shared living room, dining room and kitchen. If needing sunlight, just go downstairs.


    Anyway most of the time the roommates who share the apartment don¡¯te out of their rooms much.


    The other 3 roommates are all girls, Wen Qian doesn¡¯t mind wearing pajamas and walking around downstairs.


    In a sense, Wen Qian gets to enjoy a pretty nice rental situation for the cheapest price.


    There is a fridge, washing machine, gas stove, much better than her previous vige-in-the-city ce.


    To save money, Wen Qian buys cheap buns or pancakes to store in the fridge, going to the market to buy fish or meat twice a week.


    She washes and cuts up all the ingredients to have handy, then stir fries them at night. She eats some for dinner and also brings leftovers for lunch the next day.


    To bnce nutrition, she tries to vary the dishes, making each portion a bit smaller.


    After eating, she washes up and sits on the 1st floor sofa to y on her phone, read or exercise untilying down to sleep before 10 pm. Wen Qian¡¯s schedule is very regr.


    She gets up at 6:20 am, goes downstairs to take some custard buns out of the fridge to steam in the egg steamer, and washes up in the bathroom.


    After breakfast is ready she takes it and her lunch box and is out the door before 7 am.


    Work starts at 8:30 am, but she needs to transfer buses in the middle to get to the office. Herpany is kind of out of the way, and the 2nd bus onlyes every 20 min, so she takes an earlier bus to wait for the 2nd one.


    The radio is ying in her earphones while Wen Qian uses a bus app to see where her bus is.


    If she misses it she¡¯ll have to take a taxi, not worth it.


    Wen Qian works as an office clerk. This is her 2ndpany after working at the firstpany for 1 year after graduating.


    In thispany with high turnover, she is considered an ¡°old staff¡±, always very busy.


    But this year is a bit better, some new people joined thepany, and it¡¯s not peak season, so she still has fairly regr work hoursing and going.


    When it¡¯s almost time to get off work, the Bosses back to the office with 2 clients in tow, so Wen Qian ends up mooching a free meal.


    The Boss is a woman in her 50s, and Wen Qian is familiar with the clients, so it¡¯s not awkward.


    Wen Qian rides in the Boss¡¯s car with the clients to their regr restaurant for dinner.


    Since she can mooch a free meal, Wen Qian doesn¡¯t feel like it¡¯s a waste of her after work time.


    The Boss says she would just eat alone at home after work anyway, might as well eat out lively together.


    What Wen Qian needs to do is order food and pay the bill after they order, not things the Boss would do herself.


    While they chat Wen Qian just focuses on the food, but also remembers to listen attentively to their conversation.


    Afterwards, Wen Qian can take home leftovers for lunch the next day, saving herself the trouble.


    After the meal the Boss drops Wen Qian off at a bus stop partway, and Wen Qian takes the bus home herself from there.


    Because there is road construction near her home, the road is very narrow. After getting off the bus Wen Qian has to walk a bit farther.


    Just as Wen Qian isining to herself about how they''re pointlessly tearing up the perfectly good sidewalk to ry bricks.


    "Boom!¡±


    A huge noisees from behind and Wen Qian reflexively hunches her shoulders, covering her ears with her hands.


    Looking back, it¡¯s a white sedan that has crashed into the pile of paving stones at the roadside.


    These things were going to be used to ry the curb and sidewalk. Half this road is cordoned off but the stones still got crashed into.


    The front of the car is dented in, the A pir also damaged, and there¡¯s no movement inside the car.


    Wen Qian hurriedly puts down her things and runs over to check out the situation.


    People eating BBQ across the way alsoe over.


    Wen Qian can¡¯t open the back door so reaches in the shattered front window to open the front door.


    In the front seats are a man and woman, still seeming dizzy. In the back seat is a child in a safety seat, less injured than the front seat people and starting to cry loudly.


    Many people havee to help. A strong man helps pull the adults out. Everyone helps move the adults to level ground.


    Wen Qian takes the child out of the car.


    It doesn¡¯t take long before before everyone¡¯s eyes the front of the car suddenly catches fire. People nearby start using fire extinguishers.


    Wen Qian is holding the child who was just frightened, not injured thanks to the safety seat. The child clings tightly to her.


    The group moves the people to the BBQ shop entrance. By now the car ispletely engulfed in raging mes.


    The car is unsalvageable but the family made it out alive.


    After Wen Qian hands the child to the traffic police she leaves. By the time she goes back to get her food she realizes her own hand is injured.


    There is a small cut on her right palm that is bleeding, probably from inside the car.


    Because she just helped save people she is in great spirits, and the minor cut doesn¡¯t warrant too much concern, so she happily heads home.


    After putting the food on the table Wen Qian goes to the bathroom to wash her hands and sees herself in the mirror still wearing a pearl hairclip. She reaches up to take it off with her injured right hand.


    As soon as her hand touches the hairclip, Wen Qian feels a sudden sharp pain in her palm, so painful her entire body breaks out in a cold sweat.


    Wen Qian crouches down. The pain onlysted a moment before quickly disappearing.


    She thought her hand just identally poked the hairclip, but it shouldn¡¯t hurt that badly, right?


    It felt like the pain coursed through her whole body.


    She opens her hand, wanting to see if the cut got worse, and discovers the cut has disappeared.


    Yes, disappeared.


    Wen Qian repeatedly examines both hands but finds thempletely uninjured without any cuts or wounds.


    But there was definitely bleeding on the way home.


    She looks up at the mirror. The hair clip is still on her head. She takes it off and sees one pearl is missing from the hairclip. There are bloodstains on one of the two remaining pearls.


    Fresh bloodstains, proving her wound really existed.


    Also, the middle pink pearl on the hairclip is gone. Just before, all 3 pearls were there.


    It seems the wound touched the hairclip.


    The pearl and wound disappeared together?

 Chapter 3

    Chapter 3


    Standing in the bathroom and pondering over what had happened, Wen Qian started to convince herself.


    She must have had an illusion, the pearl had dropped during the day.


    What about the wound? Was the wound also her illusion? But the wound had suddenly disappeared, that was unscientific!


    Should she inflict a wound on herself to test it out? Better not do that.


    Just when Wen Qian doubted herself, something even more unscientific happened.


    She just muttered to herself: "Could it be that the wound ate the pearl? Can it eat other things too?"


    Then, right before Wen Qian''s eyes, the hair clip disappearedpletely, in her own hands.


    The hair clip vanished in her hands!


    So Wen Qian picked up ab.


    What kind of magic trick was this?!


    Could this be a ghost? Recent college graduate Wen Qian started to doubt life itself.


    Where did the disappeared items go? Just as Wen Qian was examining her palms, the items reappeared in her hands.


    So what she saw was real!


    The disappeared items coulde back!


    How did they disappear into thin air?


    She blinked hard, then reached for the soap.


    Thinking, would this disappear too?


    Then the soap was gone too.


    Her hands had be ck holes?


    Wen Qian went to the kitchen, opened the cab, and reached for the bowls and tes left by previous tenants, and the items disappeared one by one from her hands.


    My god! Things that she touched disappeared, where did they all go?


    Would her wallet disappear if she touched it?


    She was already very poor.


    After rummaging around the kitchen, she finally noticed the trash can.


    She wondered if she even needed to throw out trash anymore, she could just let her palm take care of it.


    But on second thought, that would make her a trash can, which felt weird.


    The disappeared items coulde back out, so where were they in between disappearing and reappearing?


    Also, this felt strangely familiar.


    "This, this is just a storage space!" Wen Qian had only been exposed to online novels in college, and had read many stories about storage spaces.


    Could it be that this pearl hair clip she bought opened up the space when it encountered her blood?


    This was too bizarre!


    Did she hit some huge luck here?


    The storage space, how big could it be? It would be great if she could go in and take a look, Wen Qian thought.


    Then Wen Qian realized the scene before her eyes was no longer the kitchen.


    Below her feet was a gray floor, the four walls were also gray, but right above was white, emanating soft light that allowed her to see everything in this space.


    On the floor were the soap and bowls and tes that had disappeared.


    As Wen Qian looked around this space, she felt it was about the same size as her small rented room, a little over 2 meters wide and 4 meters long. As for the height, she couldn''t quite tell for now.


    When she wanted to leave, she blinked and found herself back in the kitchen.


    So Wen Qian immediately went back to her room, closed the doors and windows, drew the curtains, and quietly tried going in and out of the space alone in the dark.


    She realized that only her gaze could enter the space, and gradually she could see the inside of the space in her mind, but clearly, her body could not enter the space.


    Everything inside the space was clear in her mind.


    She tried putting her bed inside and found she could do so, so she put all the items from her room inside, and found the process very smooth.


    Taking things back out was also easy.


    As Wen Qian tried it herself, she found herself getting more and more adept.


    With this portable storage space, wouldn''t moving be even more convenient?


    But Wen Qian had no ns to move, and nned to use this space as her storage room.


    She started putting things she didn''t need for now into the space, like her luggage and her thick winter clothes.


    To test the space, she even put the frozen meat from the fridge inside, and a cup of hot water, to see if this space could maintain the temperature of items.


    Just because this space appeared, Wen Qian was very excited, and didn''t go to bed until midnight after showering.


    Even so, her mind was still thrilled, suspecting she was the chosen one, wondering if she should buy a lottery ticket to see if she would win.


    The excitement persisted until after 1 am before she fell asleep listening to thunderstorm white noise in her earphones.


    Wen Qian had a dream.


    Sometimes it was her own perspective, and sometimes it seemed to be the audience perspective watching a movie.


    She dreamed that she was hit in the head by a mineral water bottle blown over by strong winds when she went out to work.


    She dreamed of the high temperatures persisting, so hot that An City issued a work suspension notice, and the nts on the mountains started turning yellow.


    The whole summer was scorching hot, and many people died from the heat. There was also news on screens about mountain fires it seemed.


    She also dreamed of thunder and rain. At this point, Wen Qian was a little confused, she felt like she had woken up already but her body couldn''t move.


    Because the sound of this rain and thunder was very simr to the white noise she listened to while sleeping, she felt like her brain had woken up first


    but the rain kept going.


    She saw that theke near the apartment building she lived in had merged from two sections into one, and the area kept expanding.


    The temperature had lowered a bit due to the rain, but it was still hot and muggy. After the cool down, the mosquitoes came back to life.


    At the same time, people all over the world were caught up in various natural disasters on the news, as if the Earth had started a cleansing.


    The term "apocalypse" began spreading again.


    Next in the dream came an epidemic disease that broke through the previous pattern of "highly contagious, low fatality rate", spreading through the world.


    It spread quickly and had a high fatality rate, making it even harder for people to survive in these disaster conditions.


    In Wen Qian''s dream there were some parts without images, only different sounds, but they all sounded like news broadcasts.


    Thest scene she dreamed of was heavy snow, thick heavy snow covering the ground, but it was not atitude or altitude that would be covered by heavy snow.


    People seemed to have fallen into an even more dire situation.


    The dream was very chaotic, without a specific timeline or order.


    Wen Qian suddenly sat up in the dark, frantically feeling around to turn on the lights.


    The light went on. Thendlord had chosen very bright white lights which Wen Qian found ring.


    She reached over to grab some tissue by the bed to wipe her sweat.


    She had woken up drenched in sweat, Wen Qian hadn''t been this scared in a long time.


    These dreams were extremely realistic, her heartbeat still hadn''t gone back to normal.


    The time was just past 5 am, it seemed she could lie down for another hour plus.


    Wen Qiany back down, but turned on a smallmp before switching off the big light. She couldn''t calmly fall back into darkness right now.


    She looked at the dim smallmp, and started recalling the dreams that were almostpletely forgotten, trying to find videos or photos she had seen before in the few remaining images.


    The human brain was veryplex. Wen Qian felt the scenes in her dreams should be things she had seen before but forgotten, only to be discovered again in the corners of her memory this time.


    She had examples before of suddenly remembering childhood images.


    But she couldn''t find any matches in her mind now no matter how hard she searched.


    So the very tired Wen Qian fell asleep again.


    This time when the rm woke Wen Qian up, she did not have such a pleasant waking up. She hadn''t had such difficulty getting up in a long time.

 Chapter 4

    Chapter 4


    Because she did not sleep wellst night, and also because of the space incident, Bai Tian felt a little listless today.


    She heated up some buns in the morning but did not eat them, instead she searched for news online while waiting for the bus, reading about all kinds of disasters happening on Earth.


    There were forest fires, wars, volcanic eruptions and cold waves in foreign countries, with different parts of the world exhibiting different disasters. The global economy was also in a downturn.


    Wen Qian could feel the economic downturn, but she only learned about the other events through the inte, things that she had previously thought were very distant suddenly felt closer due to her dream.


    Yes, we live on the same after all, those things I dreamt about have happened before in the past.


    It''s just that for most of my life so far, things have been rtively peaceful.


    Wen Qian grew up in a mountain vige. Since she could remember, she had experienced blizzards, floods and lockdowns.


    She was very young during the blizzard and only felt cold. There was plenty of firewood in the countryside, so they kept warm by the fire.


    Most rural areas would stock up on grain, so there was never a situation where they had to scramble for food or had nothing to eat. This was the older generation''s habit since they had suffered from hunger before.


    She encountered the flood when she was in school in Ancheng. The school dorms on the first floor were flooded because the nearbyke overflowed from heavy rains that didn''t stop.


    At that time the waters were static, there was just a power outage. The school still sent food over andter transported students out of the dorms so things were fine.


    In contrast, the small river street in her hometown which was built alongside the river was surrounded by flood waters. The vigers were trapped for a whole day and night before being rescued, amidst the thunderous sound of the rushing waters.


    A few old houses were washed away by the waters, without a trace afterwards. An 80 year old at the time said he had never seen such major flooding in his memory.


    As for the lockdown, it was when Wen Qian was working a winter break job in Ancheng during school. She didn''t fall sick then, she just stayed in her room like everyone else.


    Being locked down in the city was different from the countryside. The countryside had fields andnd, they could still find food, but everything in the cities required distribution.


    After this incident, like many other migrant workers, Wen Qian felt that her rural family home must be preserved properly.


    It was hard to imagine cities losing electricity or water for days, with the dense poptions, everything requiringrge scale centralized supply and distributionworks. If the supply was disrupted, things would turn scary.


    But the countryside was different, it could survive independently from the cities, be self-sufficient.


    During the severe lockdowns in An province, even if the whole province fell silent, lockdown in the rural countryside was still different from the cities.


    After the lockdowns, many people in Wen Qian''s hometown went back to repair their old houses.


    People who previously thought their old vige houses were useless since they owned properties in the city, now felt the rural homes were a good backup n.


    In the year after the lockdowns, prices of bricks, tiles and some building materials in the viges rose, evenbor costs went up. But even then, demand exceeded supply.


    Before she passed away, Wen Qian''s grandma had the roof of their house reced with good quality,rge red tiles. The existing house was still the old red brick house, very sturdy.


    Although old, it was still a good home.


    At least for now, Wen Qian didn''t need to spend more money on the old house back home.


    Their house was the only one in the gorge, not very tall but located high up in hilly terrain. Walk further up the hill behind Wen Qian''s house and you reach the highest point of their vige area.


    Due to the hills, the slopes here were very gentle. Geologic disasters were also lessmon. Even the lowest lying areas were just the winding river in the distance, its banks and surrounding fields would be partially submerged during floods.


    Because of the lockdowns, these areas felt far removed from modern life, but also far from lockdowns and disasters.


    Wen Qian recalled the doomsday survival fiction books and movies she had previously read/watched, all pessimistically imagining the future, and depicting people struggling to survive.


    The news made Wen Qian feel her dream may not be that far removed from reality.


    Because of the dream, anxious Wen Qian felt that she could at least return home if she found city life too tough in the future.


    The reason the dream had such great impact on Wen Qian was because of the space.


    If it was just a normal dream, she would have brushed it off as such.


    But having had the space and confirming it still existed after she woke up, Wen Qian felt the two must be connected. She worried her dream mighte true, since the space was real.


    Maybe she should stock up her space with food supplies and move back to her rural hometown?


    But on second thoughts, while the vigers lived quite spread out, news traveled even faster than the wind, getting more distorted as it went.


    Returning home single without good reason would not be seen positively. Plus she was still single.


    The rural hometown was not very friendly to single adult females. They felt adult women should not remain single.


    Because in the hundred years of the vige''s history, they had only heard of bachelor men, never spinster women.


    But if her dream really came true, the rural hometown would still be more conducive to survival.


    ------------------------


    After a full day''s work, tired Wen Qian simply boiled some noodles and added lots of side dishes.


    Only after eating her fill did Wen Qian remember the stuff she put in her space for experiments.


    She discovered the frozen meat she put in was still frozen solid, while the cup of hot water she took out still burnt her hands with its scalding temperature.


    Wen Qian realized stuff she put in would remain in their original state so this space could definitely function as a thermal locker.


    Wen Qian guessed time should be static inside the space. So she tried to put in a small pot of mint she bought, but it wouldn''t go in.


    "Living things can''t enter?" Wen Qian put down the mint, snapped a small stem and found she could put it inside.


    So indeed, living things were not allowed.


    Wen Qian also wrapped her leftover food in cling wrap and put it inside to observe it after some time.


    By now, Wen Qian wasn''t concerned about returning home anymore. She decided to first buy more things for her space.


    The disasters in her dreams were mostly natural ones. She felt other than food, she should also stock up on a lot of daily essentials.


    The first thing Wen Qian thought of were actually sanitary pads, what could be more important right?


    So she started checking her browsing history on PinPin online mall. She regrly used this reasonably priced domestic brand with guaranteed quality.


    After adding everything to cart, Wen Qian did not immediately check out.


    She then searched her order history for stuff she previously purchased. As long as the shops still existed and prices were reasonable, she added them to cart.


    Wen Qian exited the shopping app and started searching online for information regarding "natural disasters", "doomsday", and "stocking up".


    After searching on a few apps, Wen Qian discovered a forum called Survival Mania.

 Chapter 5

    Chapter 5


    Rted videos show that in modern life, although in different countries and regions, there are the same kind of people who have an extreme sense of anxiety about the future.


    Both domestically and abroad, there are those who hoard food, tools and medicine, and even build doomsday fortresses.


    Domestically it is jokingly called ¡°hamster syndrome¡±, meaning liking to store things like a hamster.


    The professional knowledge on the forum goes far beyond this.


    Wenshao feels that she should join this forum and learn a thing or two.


    On different survival methods under various disaster situations, as well as tool applications and extreme environment survival methods.


    The things in the forum have a high level of professionalism. Wenshao thinks she will read them slowlyter, so she went to watch some more basic popr science videos.


    Without any transition, reading things that are too professional is also iprehensible and unclear. Wenshao still thinks she should look at some entry level stuff first.


    In the process of finding information, Wenshao realized that her worries were not particrly special, and quite a few people were the same as her.


    Some people always worry about theing of doomsday, although the way ites is different.


    Some people think that humans are the cancer cells of the earth, so one day they will destroy themselves, such as nuclear war.


    Some people think that if a small asteroid hits the earth, humans will bepletely finished.


    Some foreigners think there will be wars, so they not only hoard food, but also hoard guns.


    Some people in China believe that natural disasters are more likely, such as long-term droughts or floods, severe cold weather and earthquakes.


    Since the earth was formed, the major disasters experienced by living things living on it, humans may encounter them at any time.


    But in any case, survival enthusiasts are only making preparations for the scenarios they envision.


    This kind of personal behavior or small team of like-minded people, they are just silently preparing by themselves, basically not affecting other people''s lives.


    Even if some people ridicule them for worrying groundlessly, so what, letting themselves feel at ease is the point, isn¡¯t it?


    With popr science understanding, plusizenments, Wenshao discovered a very interesting set of books that appeared with very high frequency in everyone''s barrage andments.


    A set of books called "Doomsday Survival Manual", Wenshao found someone sharing PDF versions online, so she downloaded them.


    At the same time, she ced an order on Taobao and bought these books. When the payment was sessful, Wenshao felt that she could finally rest assured to continue learning.


    When unsure what to pay for, Wenshao always feels a little uneasy.


    Looking at the sessful payment interface, Wenshao began to calcte her savings.


    Her original goal was to save money to buy a house. If she buys a small house far away from the city center, Wenshao thinks she should have enough money already.


    It''s just that ording to Wenshao¡¯s habit ofparing goods, in such a bad economic environment, the farther the house is, the more the price drops.


    So Wenshao has been watching. She felt that buying early would suffer losses. She even thought that buying at the age of 30 would not be toote. After all, good locations and big houses are unaffordable for her.


    Counting now, the eighty thousand yuan left by her grandparents is the principal that has not been touched. Wenshao just renewed it when it matured recently. It is now one hundred thousand yuan in integers.


    Wenshao saved twenty thousand in the first half year after graduation. The second year she changedpanies and saved fifty thousand for the whole year. The third year was eighty thousand.


    This year she has only been paid for three months plus a ten thousand yuan year-end bonus. She saved thirty thousand in a fixed deposit and left the rest in her bank card tied to her mobile phone for use.


    She now has a total of two hundred and eighty thousand.


    This is Wenshao¡¯s entire bank deposit.


    Wenshao''s deposits can only be fixed deposits, then payroll cards, and a separate bank card used solely for consumption. After the sry arrives, the money to be spent is transferred to the card, and other amounts on the payroll card are deposited into fixed deposits when they reach ten thousand.


    The money that can be spent is only on one card, mobile phone binding or cash consumption, just these.


    So Wenshao will not have the situation of not knowing where the money went. She knows clearly where every one hundred yuan was spent. Her monthly online shopping list is also very clear.


    She does not overspend, does not use credit cards, does not borrow money from others, and rarely chips in.


    After figuring out her savings, Wenshao wanted to n her shopping list. She first wrote down some big items in her memo.


    Food: rice, flour, cooking oil, white sugar, edible salt, eggs, millet, green beans, sweet potatoes, chicken, duck, pork.


    For Wenshao, food is mostly about being full, then being delicious. In addition to these, drinking water also needs to be stocked.


    Daily necessities: sanitary napkins, toothpaste, toothbrush, soap,undry detergent.


    Medicines: iodine, band-aids, gauze, anti-inmmatory medicines, stomach medicines, fever reducers, loratadine.


    Tools: iron pot, kitchen knife, scissors, firestone, nail clippers, axe, saw.


    These are some of the things she can think of at the moment, so she wrote them down first, and then searched for prices online.


    Under the same quality, market prices will generally not differ too much.


    At the same time, Wenshao also remembered that if the purchase quantity of items like rice isrge enough, wholesale markets are cheaper.


    The most famous market in Ancheng is the Baisaha Market. It is said that everything can be found there. Even if you squat next to the trash cans there, you can pick up food.


    This was something she heard from someone she knew. He heard that a lot of potatoes were thrown away there once, so he ran to pick them up and picked several sacks, all good ones.


    If it was before, she would have just listened. But now, she felt it was a very good way to save money.


    With 280,000 yuan, she really has to calcte carefully if she wants to buy stuff.


    If the price of finished products is too expensive, then buy raw materials or semi-finished products.


    Later, Wenshao specifically searched for hoarding knowledge online. Some popr science UP owners would give something like a checklist.


    For example, what a family of three needs for two months.


    How much food an adult needs to eat in a year, what is nutritionally bnced.


    Then Wenshao discovered that ording to the severity level of certain disaster environments, once the social system copses, crime will breed, thew of the jungle, the animal world.


    And once the various industrial assembly lines established by humans stop, it means that the current standard of living will regress, from industry to agriculture.


    Food is a necessity, even after a disaster, there will definitely be people farming and breeding.


    But some daily necessities may not be reproduced, such as some stic products.


    At that time, maybe even sanitary napkins will be unavable.


    As a woman, what Wenshao thought of first was this. After all, during the epidemic at the time, some people kept saying the embarrassment of not having sanitary napkins.


    And then, having space to herself means she can only keep the secret alone.


    That means Wenshao needs to live alone, like before.


    But as soon as someone gets close to her, they will definitely notice something wrong. Once people have curiosity, they will explore, and the leakage of secrets is fatal.


    The human heart cannot withstand the test.

 Chapter 6

    Chapter 6


    Wen Qian''s name originated from the character "Qian", which means she and her biological parents were not closely connected by fate.


    It would be easy to find out which viges the child abandonment site was close to and which women in those viges were pregnant and about to give birth, if one asked around a little.


    However, since the baby girl was abandoned by the roadside, the Wen family couple assumed the parents simply did not want her and were trying for a son instead.


    The Wen family couple did not want the child to find her birth parents in the future, so they secretly brought her home without telling any rtives.


    Yet vigers love to gossip, and Wen Qian was very sensible. Her grandparents were getting older and she did not have the father and mother that most families had.


    When she started elementary school, Wen Qian noticed a boy in her ss whose father had passed away was also being teased by other students. At the time, she thought both her parents must have passed away.


    The mother of that boy whose father died had gone to the city to work. She often sent money back home, yet the boy''s grandparents imed his mother had run away to enjoy city life.


    As a result, that ssmate always went to and from school alone, not interacting with other students.


    It was said that after graduating from a prestigious university, that boy was finally reunited with his mother.


    As Wen Qian grew older, she realized that she truly was an abandoned baby picked up by the roadside. She felt heartbroken for a period of time, but then thought about how she still had two family members and did not think about it anymore.


    After her grandfather passed away, someone who attended the funeral asked Wen Qian if she wanted to look for her birth parents. Wen Qian declined.


    The person even clearly knew which vige she was picked up from, so if she really wanted to find them, it would probably be possible.


    But since they abandoned her in the first ce, what would be the purpose of taking her back now?


    Wen Qian was no fool. People always have motives behind their words and actions. In this context, what good could possiblye from getting to know one''s birth parents?


    There would be no benefits.


    Wen Qian has always assumed the worst intentions of humankind.


    She should prepare some means of self defense now.


    She was a petite girl without much physical strength.


    If disasters really urred like in her dreams, causing social order to copse, even something as small as a cookie in her hand could get snatched away by others.


    She was quite certain of this. During childhood, she had experienced getting knocked down and having candy taken from her hand by stronger kids, who clearly knew they were stronger than their peers and could thus take things from them.


    Whether humans or animals, everyone clearly knows who they cannot mess with and who they can freely bully.


    And that was just with children. Adults could surely be no better.


    Even if she luckily escaped a surprise attack, when confronted with overt harm, the only options would be to run away or counter attack.


    In a very stable social environment, there would still be darkness lurking, so what would a copsed environment be like?


    Back in school, Wen Qian had experienced tentative bullying. She would yell back when scolded and fight back immediately when hit, so no one bullied her further.


    It was the same when she first started working. When squeezed on workload by sly old-timers, she outright rejected them.


    By counterattacking during trials, naturally no one bullied her anymore.


    But all this was built on rtively stable social conditions. When disasters like those in her dreams urred, how sinister could the human mind be?


    It would probably be even worse than the criminalw programs on TV.


    What should she prepare?


    Pepper spray? Stun guns or some hidden weapons? Were bows, crossbows and other medieval weapons allowed without guns? Were 3D printed weapons feasible?


    Oh right, she would still have to buy kitchen knives to cut ingredients.


    As for stabbing people, it''s better not to. Anyone stronger could just take the knife and turn her weapon against her. She should just focus on cutting vegetables.


    Wen Qian felt she should hide in the deep mountains and old forests when disasters came, avoiding crowds and bad people.


    Online searches showed that even pepper sprays and stun guns could not be sold domestically.


    Of course, it was illegal ording to the country''sws.


    Guns were banned in her country. Like most people, Wen Qian had not even seen one before, let alone know how to use them.


    She even imagined whether people from foreign countries with guns would enter her gun-banned country if disasters really happened one day.


    She shook her head. Indeed, her imagination was expanding. If she ever got to see real guns one day, she could probably try using them since they were tools created by humankind after all.


    For now, she should learn to make her own pepper spray first.


    With these thoughts, Wen Qian finally fell asleep.


    The disaster scenes in her dreams were still there. But this time, she heard not just ordinary disaster coverage, but reports of disasters that had already caused social unrest and turmoil in countries.


    Some countries directly dered bankruptcy as society entered a turbulent period with many refugees appearing in various ces.


    Her own country still had decent order with the government able to keep things under control.


    The country started evacuating citizens, beginning with some countries and regions. Later on, it could no longer handle the growing situation.


    With the refugee problem, conflicts erupted between countries due to limited resources and continuous waves of unorganized refugee flows.


    Birds that fed on corpses could be seen circling in the skies above, like Wen Qian had watched in previous documentaries. Only this time, the bodies awaiting decay were not of animals but of humans.


    At this point, sympathy was no longer enough. People within the country began worrying about their own circumstances as simr disasters descended upon their homnd as well.


    Work and school suspensions began. Gradually the nights in cities were no longer brightly lit, and people could see stars instead of the blinking aircraft warning lights they were ustomed to.


    Treasuring food and conserving water was no longer just a slogan. Wasting either would lead not just to criticism but beatings.


    People gradually doubted whether conditions could improve. Some began losing hope and pleading to heaven for a turnaround of events.


    Doomsday rumors emerged once more. Simultaneously, some cults also appeared, preying on people''s fragile and confused mental states to recruit followers, asking them to hand over their property, food and possessions.


    Eventually, people ended up penniless and destitute, with broken families or even loss of life simply due to putting faith in apocalyptic cults before any actual doomsday arrived.


    In short, unnatural deaths skyrocketed, along with many deaths from irresistible disasters.


    The fragments in this dream sequence were more disjointed than previous ones, but Wen Qian remembered more details when she awokepared to prior nights.


    She felt as lifeless and exhausted as pulling an all-nighter.


    Nheless, Wen Qian persisted in going to work. For the first time ever, she took a taxi to get there.


    She just needed to get through this work day, and then she would have a day off to catch up on sleep.


    That morning, standing outside herpany entrance, she recalled the scenes in her dream.


    At work, it was constantly about giving one''s all for meager pay that could barely meet needs, let alone wants. She mocked herself as a corporate ve with a lifespan mapped out before her eyes.


    Yet when disasters gradually descended in the dream, people lost their jobs, and money gradually became useless.


    In some small countries, just one or two minor disasters was enough to destroy families.


    For vast countries, all sorts of disasters stacked up.


    Wen Qian''s dreams contained massive snow storms, torrential rains, droughts, and new infectious diseases emerging abroad and spreading globally.


    Wen Qian became more determined to resign. During the period when she stocked up on supplies, she reckoned she should continue working for another month to earn an extra month¡¯s pay.


    Unsure when exactly disasters might hit, she decided to just keep working for the time being.

 Chapter 7

    Chapter 7


    After a day of work, Wen Qian borrowed the pickup truck of thepany''s Master and drove home. The Master was the boss''s rtive, and it was more convenient to borrow his car when they were a little familiar. Wen Qian snapped a picture of the fuel gauge and nned to refill the tank after using it up.


    Although Wen Qian was frugal, she was not the kind of person who took advantage of others. She still had face.


    After dinner, Wen Qian concentrated on sitting at the table. She looked up wholesale prices of grain online, rice, flour and so on.


    Wholesale market price trends could be queried online, including price tables for the past 30 days. At this moment, Wen Qian realized that the units at the wholesale market were calcted in kilograms. Comparing with the prices at the vegetable market, she finally understood the profit situation in this industry.


    At the same time, she also marveled that hoarding anding to the wholesale market was really the right thing to do. If she bought at the most downstream, Wen Qian would feel the pain.


    Wholesale market, if bought inrge quantities, the price could still be negotiated.


    Wen Qian nned to buy one tonne of rice and one tonne of flour first. What would one tonne of flour or rice look like?


    Flour was packaged 25KG per bag. One tonne would require 40 bags.


    Thinking that the pickup''s carrying capacity was only 0.75 tons, which meant she would have to make several trips to take both the rice and flour away.


    Things could not disappear or appear randomly. She had to find a ce to conceal the fact that she was taking such arge volume of items into her space.


    There was another problem that there were still many things she wanted to buyter, some shipped and some she would go to the wholesale market herself. She needed a ce as the receiving point in reality.


    Wen Qian then searched for rental car garages on her mobile phone. She needed a warehouse in reality as a transition, but this was not particrly urgent, after all she had not resigned yet, so she could take a closer look first.


    Bai Sha Wholesale Market in An City was very famous. It was said that everything could be found there. Wen Qian was thinking that in addition to purchasing rice and flour tomorrow, she should also familiarize herself with the general zoning of this market.


    Then look around the market to see if there were ces not covered by surveince cameras, which would be convenient for her to receive things into her space.


    After nning, Wen Qian went to sleep. She had to rest well in order to get things done.


    The next day, Wen Qian got up very early, but when she arrived at Bai Sha Wholesale Market, she realized there were a lot of people and vehicles here, all kinds of trucks, vans and tuk-tuks.


    Since it was Wen Qian¡¯s first timeing in, she was very curious to observe the surrounding environment.


    After following the traffic flow in, she found a ce to park, and then began to observe how people around were picking up goods.


    She went to the vegetable area. The trucks were piled high with all kinds of vegetables. The wholesale prices inside were all calcted in kilograms.


    Cardboard boxes, stic crates, stic baskets with different names written on them, mesh bags and woven bags, the packaging methods for different vegetables varied.


    The brightly colored carrots were neatly ced in transparent stic bags. Wen Qian thought that even if she didn''t like them, she had to hoard some for bnced nutrition.


    After observing the way goods were handled in the vegetable area, she went to the grain and oil area.


    Once she determined where to get the goods, Wen Qian drove the car over. She first took half a ton of rice out of the market, then drove around the vicinity.


    At this moment, Wen Qian realized that she could have actually emptied the car first and looked for a ce around here. Now that she had cargo loaded, it wasted fuel driving out.


    Fortunately she quickly found an unmonitored location nearby.


    With the tarp covering the cargo, she reached in and put the rice into her space, then drove back in to load half a ton of flour.


    In the morning she stored one ton of grain in her space, and Wen Qian was not so panicked anymore. She then started walking around the market.


    There were abundant goods here, and peopleing and going were all very busy.


    An City was thergest city in An Province, with a poption of tens of millions. Wen Qian happened to be doing a winter internship in the city.


    Overnight, the entire city shut down. There were no cars or people on the roads.


    It was eerily quiet.


    After a brief chaos and panic, support teams from all over the country entered An City.


    People from all over sent supplies. Wen Qian saw on her phone that treatment points were built up in days.


    Downstairs from the staff dormitory building, on the unknown number of days, personnel began going door to door to confirm the number of residents in each household and collect contact information, setting up group chats.


    Everyone reported normal temperatures every day, and regrly purchased 10-yuan packs of vegetables and frozen meat.


    They also received free vegetables shipped in from other regions, some of which Wen Qian didn''t even recognize.


    An City finally got through it and the city regained its vitality.


    Only in that year, those who passed away from illness could nevere back.


    Although Wen Qian did not save up money during that winter internship, she got through it safely, and became even more fond of hoarding stuff.


    If she lived in a dormitory, she would definitely keep water and ready-to-eat food.


    After graduating and renting an apartment, Wen Qian began hoarding rice, flour and oil again. She wouldn''t wait until she ran out before buying more.


    And now, because of the dream, Wen Qian had started storing evenrger quantities of goods, and the fear brought on by the dream was greater than ever before.


    Humans were no match for nature.


    If the earth really started a big purge, no one could stop it.


    She couldn''t tell anyone about having the space. Even if she told others about the dream, no one would believe it.


    Wen Qian stood by the roadside. It was very noisy around her and the sunlight above was ring, heating the top of her head.


    But Wen Qian''s heart was getting colder and colder.


    She couldn''t save anyone. She felt everything around her would be ck and white, like the ck and white photos of the departed at funerals.


    When disaster struck, most people would be objects to be cleansed, perhaps a small number would survive.


    Or maybe no one would survive, and the earth would restart a new cycle of development.


    What would happen to her, who had the space?


    Wen Qian couldn''t imagine.


    After these random thoughts, Wen Qian went to the seasoning area. The aroma here was very noticeable, but the first thing she wanted to buy was table salt.


    How much salt does one person consume in a lifetime?


    Wen Qian had never cared about this question before, but now when she needed to buy salt, she would do her homework in advance.


    More than ten years ago, someone had hoarded a lot of salt due to rumors and panic, and was written up as a news joke. Some people still had unfinished stockpiles left in their homes today.


    But now Wen Qian was going to do the same thing.


    Based on the amount of salt purchased over the lifetime of a person living eighty years, Wen Qian bought some iodized salt and non-iodized salt.


    Considering she might also need saltter for cured meat or pickles, Wen Qian also bought some coarse salt.


    Simrly, Wen Qian bought some of the cheapest edible oil in the market. If she still had spare money when she had stocked up on the main items, she could buy some other types of oil then.


    Wen Qian drove the car out and parked it in the shade to eat something. She would go transport the rice and flour in the afternoon.


    Stocking up on staple foods first was like taking a tranquilizer. Next she could slowly n the subsequent matters, making ns while replenishing goods.


    Wen Qian didn''t know how long one tonne of rice and one tonne of flour wouldst her, so she should probably continue stocking up afterwards.


    If she was too busy, she could resign then.

 Chapter 8

    Chapter 8


    The average housing price in Ancheng had already exceeded 20,000 yuan per square meter. Wen Qian wanted to buy a small two-bedroom apartment, so she needed to save up at least 250,000 yuan before she could afford to buy a house.


    She had already been looking at housesst year, but she realized that prices in central areas had not dropped recently, while prices in surrounding areas had fallen quite a bit.


    More importantly, the news about unfinished pre-sale housing from when she first graduated left a deep impression on her.


    So Wen Qian hesitated. She could not afford the central areas, but housing prices in the third and fourth ring roads were falling. She did not dare to buy pre-sale housing, so second-hand housing was popr.


    Therefore, Wen Qian started to wait and see. Fortunately, she was still young, so it would be better to buyter rather than buy now and regret it.


    It was fine if she did not buy a house. Having money in her hands meant she did not need to worry.


    And so there was now a scene of people stockpiling goods.


    The more than 200,000 yuan she had in her hands originally made her feel quite reassured, but after buying a ton of rice and a ton of flour at the wholesale market, over 8,000 yuan was gone.


    Then after buying oil and salt, she had already spent over 10,000 that day.


    At this rate, Wen Qian felt that the money she had was far too little. Too little, pathetically little.


    Money still had to be spent on necessities, so Wen Qian drove home. While waiting at a red light, she saw the sign for the fruit shop next door.


    Fruit had always been expensive. Even buying wholesale was very costly. It would be great if she could grow it herself.


    Thinking about growing it herself made her think of seeds and fruit saplings.


    When Wen Qian was in college, she often took the bus past a ce lined with shops selling seeds. At that time, she still found it strange - why were there shops selling seeds in the city? Now when she thought back, there should have been a seed wholesale market.


    In rural areas, her grandparents bought seeds in small packets at the farm chemical and seed shops at the rural markets. Back then, the seeds they bought the most were just rice seeds.


    They rarely spent money buying other types of seeds at home. They usually kept some vegetable seeds, although the quality of their self-retained seeds was not very good.


    Now Wen Qian remembered that seeds were also very important stock. She should store some.


    No matter how much disaster urred, as long as people were alive, they would need food. And at times like that, seeds would be extremely important.


    So Wen Qian started searching shopping rankings in her mind, stocking up on goods based on order of importance - buying the important stuff first so that if she ran out of moneyter and could not buy less important stuff, it would not matter.


    After returning home, Wen Qian quickly ate dinner and started searching online for the old seed shop''s address. As expected, it was a seed wholesale market, so she took note of the market''s location to go buy seeds when she had time.


    In addition to buying seeds suitable for An Province''s climate, she also needed to buy crop seeds suitable for other climate zones in China, whether tolerant of cold, drought, damp or high altitude areas.


    It was hard to predict what the future climate would be like, or where she might end up living if she survived, so it was best to prepare a variety of seeds in advance.


    Since Wen Qian would not go buy them on location personally, she could only shop online. At times like this, it was not aboutparing three shops - she had to avoid fake seed sellers.


    It just so happened Wen Qian followed a balcony gardening enthusiast online, who advised buying directly from the official websites of seedpanies.


    If only buying small amounts, she could also buy packeted seeds online.


    Wen Qian also found some online shops that other followers had bought from and tried out, nning to get familiar with different varieties first before adding them to her cart.


    That night, Wen Qian ced an order online for sanitary pads.


    In the past, she would stock up half a year''s supply at a time. Now Wen Qian nned to stock up 30 years'' worth.


    Born in an era with sanitary pads, Wen Qian could hardly imagine how to cope if she had to return to an environment without them. Ancient and pre-modern women had various methods that Wen Qian was unwilling to adopt.


    Having periods really was troublesome for women in Wen Qian''s opinion.


    Although troublesome, hoping that human females would evolve to stop having periods altogether seemed too difficult.


    In the end, Wen Qian spent 2,800 yuan on buying sanitary pads, choosing a rtively well-reputed brand with reasonable prices that did not advertise too aggressively.


    Wen Qian somehow felt that for products with excessive advertising, arge part of the pricing went towards advertising fees. So the more a product was advertised, the more reluctant she felt about buying it, suspecting the price would definitely be higher.


    Of course, this was just her personal guess - she did not actually know if it was true.


    After buying those, Wen Qian realized she was missing side dishes to go with the staples, so she ced an online order for 10 boxes of pickled mustard stems and 10 boxes of kongming da tou pickled Chinese cabbage, spending a total of 500 yuan.


    These were two of her favorite pickled vegetables, but making them herself would definitely be very troublesome, so she opted to buy readymade ones instead.


    Wen Qian considered that relying solely on what she had stocked up so far would stave off hunger, but would not provide bnced nutrition.


    So she purchased some Vitamin ABC supplements online too - the kind that came in 100-tablet bottles for 2 yuan each.


    After browsing online for so long, she discovered such pharmaceuticals were very affordable to buy online. If she went to a pharmacy, the staff would always push the 100-200 yuan brands instead. Even if she insisted on asking for the 2 yuan ones, they would stand in her way, rambling on about them being out of stock or disparaging them until she gave in, as Wen Qian had experienced recently at the pharmacy downstairs.


    After spending 500 yuan on assorted vitamins, Wen Qian also thought of othermon medicines to keep on hand, like cold and flu medication, anti-inmmatory medication, gastrointestinal medication, antihistamines, etc.


    Wen Qian held off on purchasing them immediately, wanting to firstpare prices and manufacturers.


    Iodine, hydrogen peroxide, alcohol, gauze, medical forceps, scissors, surgical sutures and such also went into her shopping cart.


    Once done with all this, she already felt very tired, both physically and mentally, so she fell asleep quickly.


    And so she dreamed again, this time of heavy snow.


    Compared to previous fragmented dreams, this dreamscape was more unified - just the sound of the wind howling, the sound of snow falling, the sound of branches snapping.


    Nothing but heavy snow and harsh cold. When Wen Qian woke up, she felt as if she had emerged from hibernation.


    Perhaps because the dream was so focused, after sleeping, Wen Qian did not feel tired at all upon waking. She got up and went to work smoothly.


    If working hard previously was to umte money to buy property, Wen Qian now felt very conflicted.


    On one hand, work seemed meaningless - what was the point of working when she could not see a future? She felt like cking off and could calmly face work-rted urging and conflicts.


    On the other hand, she needed the sry to purchase goods and stock her personal space, so it was good to work as long as she could.


    The two emotions tugged at her, but her work quality did not slip. She took things slowly, one by one, even earning her boss''s praise.


    Perhaps precisely because Wen Qian did not care, fear, or worry anymore, work somehow no longer caused her much trouble. Her colleagues said she had started to be cooler and more carefree in how she handled matters.


    She did not know about being carefree or not. But the chill she felt every day after work while stocking up - now that pierced her heart.


    Such paltry sums of money, yet so many things she wanted to buy.


    If she were rich, she could just wave her hand, not looking at prices but only quantities and weights, getting people to deliver goods to her doorstep - now that would be wonderful!

 Chapter 9

    Chapter 9


    April ended, and people around Wen Qian were living their lives as usual, but she feltpletely different.


    ording tost year''s temperatures, An Province and An City should have warmed up in May, but it was still cold from time to time.


    Wen Qian felt that spring seemed tost longer this year. In the past, spring and autumn were very short seasons, and they were already in the next season before they even had time to get their clothes out.


    Of course, no one thought this mild weather was bad, Wen Qian would just feel a little worried about it. She began to have bad imaginations.


    At the same time, having space made Wen Qian a little overly nervous about space, she would check if her space was there from time to time in her mind, or take something out to prove to herself that she was not imagining things or that there was nothing wrong with her head, or she would worry that her space would suddenly disappear, as if she had never had it before.


    Of course, the remaining part of the hairpin was put in her space by her, this was the evidence that proved the matter really existed.


    Because she was stockpiling, Wen Qian no longer used thepany driver''s car, but nned to rent a van that could transport goods.


    She nned to go to the wholesale market whenever she had time.


    Obviously, the May holiday was a great opportunity.


    Because thepany had to have someone on duty, she discussed with her colleagues that she would be on duty during the holidays, and take time off after the golden week holiday ended.


    Wen Qian felt that car rental prices shouldn''t rise after the holiday, simrly, the passenger flow should also decrease a little after the holiday.


    Her female boss also joked with her that she was 26 years old now, and had been single while working in thepany for these years, afraid it would dy the big event in her life.


    Wen Qian just smiled without answering. Even if she was not busy with work, she didn''t have much expectation for the so-called big event in life.


    She was a person who was very good at observing and thinking, but it was enough that she understood it in her heart, she rarely spoke it out.


    Regarding people around her wanting to fall in love and get married, she believed that everyone should be responsible for their own choices, and that was it.


    So it was very difficult for people around to persuade Wen Qian. She never felt that marriage would be a happy beginning, nor did she feel that others were her lifeline.


    Life was in her own hands. When she walked alone on the tree-lined campus road, looking at the streetmps beside her after spending a day in the library, she felt joyful and fulfilled inside.


    She would never panic because she was not in love, nor would she feel lonely as she grew older.


    But she had imagined raising a child.


    The child could be her own birth child, or an adopted one.


    Perhaps because she herself was picked up and raised by her grandparents, so she didn''t dislike children.


    She had given up the idea now. Seeing the pressure of people around her raising children in today''s rtively stable society, it was better to just take care of herself if her financial ability was too weak.


    If the stable society disappeared, it would be better not to give birth to children who would suffer, of course, this great truth of human reproduction could not stop her.


    After all, even dinosaurs did not leave survivors, and the great Qing dynasty had long perished.


    So what if humans became extinct?


    Just live well if you can live, and let it go if you really can''t live.


    Wen Qian, born in 2000, got space and dream enlightenment in 2026, an optimist in pessimism.


    During the vacation, Wen Qian drove to the seed wholesale market.


    Wen Qian had learned about all kinds of seeds suitable for the climate and soil of An Province, and bought different varieties of rice, wheat, and many other seeds.


    Wen Qian bought things she remembered seeing nted at home as a child, such as peanuts, soybeans, peppers, sesame, cotton, cucumbers and tomatoes.


    The shop owner felt it novel to see a young girling to buy seeds, and purchase these seeds as if they were novelties.


    "Are you going to buy a little of everything?" The aunt asked curiously but still kindly reminded, "Seeds have a shelf life, the longer the time, the lower the germination rate."


    "Oh, it''s fine, I''m buying them back for many people to share, not just for myself." Wen Qian exined.


    Previously, a te of food wrapped in stic wrap and left in space for many days showed no signs of spoge or rot when taken out.


    Seeds left in there should also remain in their original condition.


    This seed wholesale market not only wholesaled but also retailed. The retail prices were not much cheaper. Wen Qian did not look for cheap deals here, as long as the seeds were real.


    Wen Qian spent over 2,000 yuan in this aunt''s store, buying a lot of seeds, with rice, wheat and corn taking up most of the amount.


    Some were nned purchases, while others were impulse buys, thinking that having more varieties woulde in handy for herselfter.


    At the same time, Wen Qian specifically marked "not for consumption" when putting them into space.


    After buying staple food seeds from physical stores, Wen Qian nned to buy some seeds on official seed websites, such as all kinds of tomatoes and some fruit seeds, like watermelon and honeydew melon.


    Also, the seed wholesale market in An City had mostly seeds suitable for the local area. If Wen Qian needed to purchase seeds from other regions, she would have to carefully find some credible online stores in those ces to purchase.


    In short, the more seed varieties she had, the better they woulde in handy no matter how the living environment changed in the future.


    After purchasing the seeds, Wen Qian went to Bai Sha Wholesale Market to buy things. This time she nned to buy white sugar, pork and some seasonings.


    Wen Qian was not fond of white sugar, but she knew from stockpiling information that white sugar was referred to as a strategic material, so she also included it in her wholesale list.


    When looking up wholesale prices of various grains and oils online earlier, Wen Qian could find recent price data for most items, but not white sugar, which was always priced by the ton.


    Wen Qian bought half a ton at the wholesale market, spending nearly 3,000 yuan.


    After loading the goods, Wen Qian didn''t need to leave the market, she drove directly to other wholesale areas and put the items into her space right in the car.


    The wholesale price of pork that day was 30 yuan per kilogram. Wholesale pork was sold in sections, with the pig''s head and internal organs removed and the spine split into two halves, so two sections.


    Wen Qian had seen pig ughtering in the vige when she was little. The pork here was not as big as home-raised pigs in the countryside.


    So Wen Qian took three sections of pork, spending nearly 3,000 yuan again. She liked to eat meat, but buying this much was already her limit.


    Cheaper than pork was poultry. Wen Qian nned to buy someter.


    Buying meat required seasonings.


    Wen Qian originally thought hot pot soup bases were very convenient, butpared to buying ingredients, buying ready-made soup bases was less cost-effective.


    Things like star anise, cinnamon, bay leaves and other spices, Wen Qian purchased these, and could make her own mixester. Although not as good as ready-made hot pot soup bases, it saved money.

 Chapter 10

    Chapter 10


    In the wholesale market, frozen chicken and duck were cheaper, so Wen Qian spent four thousand yuan on buying whole chickens and ducks.


    As for beef and mutton, Wen Qian did not buy them in the wholesale market. If there was leftover money in the future, she would spend it on them then.


    In the big wholesale market, Wen Qian also went to the dried goods area. Even though it was wholesale, the dried seafood was still not cheap. Anything rted to the sea, she felt she could only afford seaweed.


    So Wen Qian bought some dried seaweed. When the timees, she can braise it and the taste should be pretty good.


    Wen Qian didn''t like mushrooms, so she didn''t buy any.


    There were also some dried fruits that Wen Qian nned to buy some ofter.


    Any fresh items she wanted to try, she would find time to buyter, because they were too scattered right now.


    Everyone else was on vacation while she was working, and when she took time off, she was personally stocking up.


    She felt like she had taken on a part-time purchasing job and was working overtime right now, exhausted to death.


    But with the goods bought, her body was very tired but her heart was at ease. If she didn''t buy them, then she would be worried.


    If she really ended up not needing them in the end, Wen Qian figured she could open a grocery store.


    Of course, if there was no disaster, Wen Qian''s preparations would really be useless, which would also be a good thing.


    Food preferences also existed. Stocking up of course meant choosing what she didn''t dislike and also what she could afford.


    As for those rtively expensive nuts, even more expensive sea cucumber and abalone, and things like cordyceps,


    Wen Qian would just look at them. To be honest, these kinds of things, in peaceful and prosperous times she couldn''t afford them, and if there really was a disaster, she knew she wouldn''t be able to buy them ahead of time when stocking up, since she didn''t have money.


    She could only buy rtively cheap but plentiful goods to store away.


    If after buying cheap goods she still had money left over, she would consider buying less to try some delicacies then.


    It was a bit sad to say. Some people felt useless in peaceful times but thought they could aplish something in chaotic times.


    Wen Qian was very pessimistic - in modern society she lived an ordinary life, if she could live through natural disasters that would be a blessing already, not to mention living brilliantly, it was best not to think about that.


    Just like now she came to the wholesale market but still couldn''t afford those premium goods, if there really was a disaster, she felt that being able to eat her fill would be good enough, she didn''t dare hope for anything else.


    After touring around, Wen Qian drove to the vegetable area to scavenge.


    She had always kept this in mind - here you could scavenge vegetables.


    Some unsold vegetables or discarded vegetables picked up were veggies earned.


    Wen Qian really did scavenge some - intact celery, discarded potatoes, as well as limp bok choy and carrots.


    Wen Qian was very happy scavenging vegetables, this was much more delightful than spending money to buy them.


    Free stuff, why not pick it up.


    But scavenging vegetables was also luck-based, generally intact and good looking vegetables were hard to scavenge. The auntie also scavenging vegetables said this celery was left behind because a businessman was in a hurry, otherwise with a little time it could also be sold.


    It would be great if she could frequently run into good things like this, Wen Qian knew this was impossible, but still hoped for it briefly.


    She then thought that every year during graduation season, graduating university students would abandon things they couldn''t bring away, so she decided that when she had time she would go to campus to scavenge usable things.


    That was the end of one day''s activities, Wen Qian was both tired and thrilled.


    Not wanting to cook, she ordered takeout.


    Whether eating out or getting delivery, it would be impossible to do so when disaster came and materials were scarce.


    Standing at the window looking at the streetmps and cars driving below, such an ordinary day would one day be gone for good.


    The delivery arrived, Wen Qian ate while watching videos. Herputer was bought during university days, now also very old, but still working.


    Now Wen Qian was either watching survival-themed posts or watching wilderness survival videos. Even when riding in a car, she would put on earphones to listen to novels.


    Some of the novels were about the apocalypse. She would asionally read what kinds of things the characters stocked up on, to see if there was anything she had neglected.


    But the characters in novels really had money, they could just buy buy buy, unlike her poor self who had to scavenge vegetables.


    Just now in the video, she saw the idea of using a bike with pedals to grind flour, she felt this was more time and effort saving than grinding by hand, and she made a note of this idea.


    Before sleeping at night, she made a list of what to do tomorrow. Time-wise it wasn''t very tight, as long as the main tasks wereplete, the rest could be postponed.


    On the second day of the break, Wen Qian returned the rented car and took the chance to browse the supermarket.


    She wasn''t there to buy, but to check the names and prices of products.


    Some things couldn''t be made from scratch, and making them would be veryborious, she made a note of these to buy online or get from the wholesale marketter.


    Seeing the snack section, Wen Qian thought, so much good looking chocte and shiny candies, the puffed snacks on the shelves.


    These would all cease being manufactured and producedter.


    Thinking of this, Wen Qian wanted to buy some, but looking at the prices, she''d rather boil white sugar and water.


    Reminding herself that it was various chemical additives that made food tasty, Wen Qian wanted to search what chemicals they were, still wanting to buy them.


    So Wen Qian decided thatter she would buy some puffable snacks to fry at home.


    Just like the slices her grandma used to fry, fried in oil once and sprinkled with seasoning, it was very delicious.


    Passing the cookware section, Wen Qian looked at the various bowls and dishes, recalling that her old home still had quite a few, although they had been used for a long time and were rather old-fashioned, she didn''t need to buy new ones.


    But she remembered now that disposable meal boxes needed buying,ter she might make a lot of prepared dishes, portioning them out into boxes, to take out directly when needed.


    And kitchen knives, she would buy those online, after all the supermarket goods were not cheap.


    As for bedding, Wen Qian also chose to buy online, defective cotton homespun and simr products.


    In the fruit section, Wen Qian thought thatter she could directly buy wholesale from growers. As for some expensive fruits, she could just not eat them.


    Seeing the milk powder area, Wen Qian thought of stocking milk powder, she could mix and drink it herselfter, and also thought of soy milk.


    A ssmate''s family ran a breakfast shop back then, they had to select soybeans and grind soybeans to cook soy milk every day.


    When she was little, her family would go make tofu on the streets during New Year''s, using their own soybeans. Watching others make it in the workshop, she could also drink a bowl of hot soy milk.


    Wen Qian nned to buy more soybeans, and purchase tools.


    As for the skincare section, Wen Qian nced at it and already had ns.


    Go to the official gship store of an old domestic brand online, affordable and effective, Wen Qian felt she could use it from young till old.


    As for the hundred-plus yuan or thousands of yuan ones, Wen Qian thought she wouldn''t get to touch those in her lifetime.


    Finally when leaving, Wen Qian bought two rows of half-priced yogurt.

 Chapter 11

    Chapter 11


    After getting home, Wen Qian put the yogurt in the fridge and then cooked lunch for herself.


    Her roommates were not at home. There was a big window in the kitchen. Wen Qian listened to an audiobook while preparing food, with the sound of cars outside as background noise.


    In city life, utilities like water, electricity and gas were very convenient, but you had to pay for them. If they were cut off, you would panic.


    Wen Qian''s thoughts had drifted to the scenario of her going back to her rural hometown and burning firewood.


    As young people moved to the cities to work, those with children also brought their kids to the city for education. The countryside was really left with just the elderly.


    As the elderly poption gradually declined, the viges became more and more deserted.


    When Wen Qian was under 10 years old, most families were still in the vige. So there were always issues over the ownership of resources like water and cow dung.


    At that time, conditions were poor. The fields and mountains collectively allocated to each household were important sources of ie.


    If they could be exchanged for money, they did. If not, keeping them for personal use was good too.


    Now the deserted mountain viges, even during New Year when people returned home, they stayed in the vige for a shorter time. After all, some had made a home in the city.


    Those without a home in the city had to work. With a stable job, it was basically impossible to go back home on the 15th day of the 12th lunar month, and return to work on the 15th of the 1st lunar month.


    Everyone lived busily.


    The fruit trees in the vige no longer had childrening to stealthily pick fruit. The fallen leaves on the mountain piled upyer uponyer, and there weren''t many people raking them back as fire starter.


    The small paths overgrown with weeds were difficult to traverse.


    Without human intervention, the woods grew increasingly lush. ces you could previously walk through were now inessible.


    Simrly, there were more wild chickens, rabbits, weasels and badgerspared to the past. Even wild boars roamed wider.


    These were scenes she saw every year when she went back to check on the house.


    After dinner, Wen Qian started working overtime again. The things she had ordered online sessively arrived. Wen Qian had to move them from the delivery station back home, then disinfect them. After opening the packages and inspecting the items, she put them away.


    Just the sanitary pads took up many boxes to move. In the end, she borrowed a small trolley from the delivery station.


    She disinfected the things first before taking them back in batches.


    Wen Qian increasingly felt like a little squirrel hoarding acorns, or a small ant preparing to move house.


    Still, this sense of fulfillment and security gave her somefort. The more thoroughly she prepared, the better.


    After taking away a batch of deliveries, Wen Qian went to the pharmacy with her health insurance card. There wasn''t much money left on the card, but she had to use it up. She picked some reliable brand medications in the store, all with clearly marked prices. Even if they weren''t cheap, she still bought them.


    The same medications, Wen Qian took two bags full back home.


    The polite pharmacy staff were very curious. They thought because the girl was buying non-prescription drugs in such diverse applications, she must be trying to use up her money.


    As long as she wasn''t asked, Wen Qian wouldn''t exin. She took her things and left.


    Medications were very important. Clearly the money on the insurance card was insufficient. Wen Qian would continue searching online to buy more medicine.


    That night, Wen Qian was in her room opening deliveries with scissors, organizing the things she bought, roughly grouping simr items together.


    She checked that she had bought everything on her list, then marked them as received.


    Luckily there weren''t big issues with the items. If there were problems the seller could just resend them.


    As for copsed cardboard boxes, Wen Qian nned to tidy them up and sell them for recycling. Every little bit counted.


    Seeing the number of awaiting packages decrease gave Wen Qian a sense of aplishment. She decided to buy more things.


    Finally Wen Qian mentally reviewed the stockpile she had bought, very satisfied, and went to wash up for bed.


    Lying in bed, Wen Qian was still adding items to her online shopping cart on her phone.


    Toilet paper was needed too. She nned to buy very cheap regr toilet paper, to get as much paper as possible for the limited money.


    When using a search tool online, she came across bug out bags and first aid kits. She was very interested in their contents list.


    Emergency supplies like power banks, window breakers, fire starters,passes etc. Wen Qian felt it would be more cost-effective to buy these things separately.


    She then selected some packaged seeds from foreignpanies, opting for smaller quantities and more variety.


    After randomly browsing for a while, she came to the section for rural living supplies. As many things she''d bought were raw materials, they required processing.


    She didn''t know if she would have the chance to live an electrified life in future. And there wouldn''t be market stalls to cube pork bones for her after a natural disaster.


    She had to do these things herself, so she needed tools.


    Some non-electric tools that could still savebor.


    She ordered 10 cheap but durable cleavers online, 10 pots, totaling 700 yuan.


    And manual meat grinders and blenders. Without electricity in future, if she wanted to mince lean meat into filling, she wouldn''t have to keep chopping with a knife.


    Wen Qian also ordered several small stone grinders and stainless steel hand-cranked grinders online.


    She thought of the water boiling toolsmonly used in her rural hometown. After an online search, she found the rural wood-burning water buckets for sale that she remembered. They were cylindrical sheet metal buckets with a hollow column in the middle. You put it on the ground and lit a fire with sticks in the column to boil water. Very convenient. Deciding they were practical, she bought 8.


    Then on the rted item page, Wen Qian saw a new stainless steel heating furnace for rural areas. It was like a mobile stove made of stainless steel, also functioning as a heater.


    ced indoors with a flue to vent smoke, it could burn wood or coal for heating. The metal rings on top could open to put pots for cooking. It could also boil water when not cooking.


    There were matching stainless steel round tables, very sturdy and durable. The cheapest were just over 300 yuan each.


    It was a multifunctional top choice. So Wen Qian ced an order for 4 furnaces, and also 5 extra linings as recement. The total came to 2,000 yuan.


    She could already envision herself spending winter in a cozy cottage in the countryside.


    What a wonderful invention the inte was.


    The delivery address she put was for an empty factory building in herpany''s industrial park.


    Wen Qian now realized there was an unrented and unfurnished factory building next to her workce. It was empty inside, and colleagues asionally parked their cars in it when it rained.


    Now she had a ce to receiverge deliveries. She could save on warehouse fees.


    After that, Wen Qian bought a box of lighters. Considering the quality of cheap lighters, she subsequently bought a lot of fire starters and magnesium strips, as well as a batch of candles.


    Having bought these, Wen Qian thought of other things she might need, and went to buy two tents and farm sheet stic.


    She then ordered several cheap fishing rods online. The rods themselves were secondary, there was plenty of bamboo that could substitute at her hometown. She was more focused on buying fishing line, hooks, floats and sinkers.


    While she was at it with water rted items, Wen Qian simply bought lifejackets and a small intable boat together, keeping it under 1,000 yuan.

 Chapter 12

    Chapter 12


    On thest day of the holiday, Wen Qian went to the smallmodities wholesale market in An City.


    Zhengyang Street was a famous street for goods, where you could find everything.


    Not only was there arge building here that specialized in selling clothes, bags, leather goods, but the surrounding area was also full of small hardware stores, household appliances, shoes, ceramics, fabrics, sundries, stics, handicrafts and other professional markets.


    It was bustling with peopleing and going every day.


    The retail prices were not cheap either, but the wholesale prices were different.


    Wen Qian nned to take a general look around the wholesale markets in An City, so as not to miss anything.


    In the clothing building, summer clothing was in season now, and there were also inventory liquidations and off-season discounts. Clothes that had been stored for a year before being sold again were even more so.


    Wen Qian bought two off-season down jackets for herself, spending 1,500 yuan.


    It should be known that buying these clothes in autumn and winter would cost more than double, and off-season shopping was taught to her by knowledgeable colleagues.


    For example, buying electric fans, mosquitos and straw mats in winter, and thick nnel pajamas and padded jackets in summer, the quality is the same but the price is not so high.


    After carefulparison of price and quality, she finally took the two pieces of clothing.


    Wen Qian had always worn cotton clothes, and only bought down jackets after starting work. Wearing them was really light and warm.


    In summer when everyone wore little, big differences were not apparent, but in autumn and winter, the texture of the clothes really showed.


    Of course, fragile and precious luxury goods were not included. They needed more care than babies, and only wealthy people like Wen Qian''s boss could treat them casually.


    After buying this, she left. There were still many things she wanted to buy.


    Wen Qian bought raincoats, rain boots, waders and dry suits, spending 2,000 yuan in total because of therge quantity. She could buy these online, but could not really confirm the quality, so she first bought a batch at a physical store.


    Some cheap things were fine, but some things still needed to be felt in person at a physical store.


    Next were winter shoes, thick, non-slip, short and long, Wen Qian bought six pairs for 1,000 yuan.


    In fact, she wanted to buy more, but first bought some.


    She also went to the fabric store and bought a lot of fabric. The money spent on ready-made clothes could buy more fabric.


    Wen Qian chose fabrics suitable for close-fitting clothing, and would make her own clothes following their example in the future.


    There was an old sewing machine at her rural hometown, which her grandma had used before. Wen Qian nned to buy another old sewing machine and essories herself.


    Wen Qian''s first job was in the clothing industry, and she had also gone to clothing factories and design departments, so she was not so unfamiliar with the entire process of making clothes.


    The shop owner thought she was not an outsider to the industry when hearing her speak.


    The fabric cost 1,500 yuan. Wen Qian also nned to buy other cheaper fabrics online. Even if the quality was not good, it would be fine as long as it was usable. The material of chemical fiber may not be encountered again in the future.


    Wen Qian bought several kinds of ropes and threads. Ropes had many uses, with a wide variety of thicknesses and colors.


    She also bought fishing thread specially used for weaving fishings online. She could weave fishings herself when she had nothing to do in the future.


    She had seen adults weaving all kinds of fishings like this when she was a child in the vige.


    In the vige, some people wove fishings, some were carpenters, some were wicker weavers, some fired kilns and made charcoal. There were many craftsmen in the countryside.


    Looking at it now, their ability to work with their hands was quite strong. Wen Qian nned to try to pick up all of these skills and learn as much as possible.


    It was very likely that Wen Qian would live alone in the future, so she must have the ability to live independently.


    With clothing and warmth settled, Wen Qian went to the hardware area next. She bought old-fashioned door locks, door fittings, nails, screws, wire, and somemonly used wrenches, screwdrivers, pliers and other tools.


    These things were familiar yet unfamiliar to her, but it was still better to have them on hand.


    There were also pulleys, gears, rollers and belts that she bought.


    These were things she had deliberately remembered when looking up hardware categories. Without electricity and fuel to drive things, she could only rely on human power to get things done.


    Why not make tools to save effort if possible?


    She had even searched for the tools of old carpenters, and even ways to make old waterwheels and windmills, which maye in handy in the future.


    After buying 2,500 yuan worth of odds and ends, Wen Qian felt that her task for today was almostplete.


    By the time she was ready to go back, it was already afternoon. Wen Qian walked lightly in the crowd, holding a shopping bag of clothes. The benefit of having space was that she could store most of the things she bought that day.


    Her hands were free but Wen Qian could not feel happy. Passing through the square and seeing theing and going people, her mood sank again.


    Wen Qian took out her phone and took a picture of the square. She basically didn''t take selfies or photos of others, but she would take pictures of beautiful clouds and lovely sun and moon, and also take photos of flowers blooming by the roadside.


    But for some reason, there was an idea in her mind that she should start taking some now.


    When Wen Qian walked into the subway entrance, she took a final look at this ce, as if every look at a ce was equivalent to saying goodbye to it.


    After entering the subway, Wen Qian was no longer struggling with this. Instead, she thought about what to eat for dinner, and even wondered what foods she needed to stock up on that were reasonably priced and difficult for her to recreate.


    Cakes seemed to be veryplicated to make. Wen Qian began searching for cake shops online, thinking of buying several at once.


    The boring ride finally ended. When Wen Qian came out, looking at the steamed bun shop sign on the side of the road, she suddenly remembered that she seemed to have not bought yeast and simr items yet.


    Then Wen Qian ced an online order for a lot, including yeast, baking soda, baking powder and sweet yeast rice wine.


    She had seen recordings of making steamed bread in the noodle section before. It was done so well, as if she could feel the softness and fragrance of the steamed buns through the screen.


    Wen Qian thought she could try it when she returned home.


    During the process of renting and living, Wen Qian had always cooked for herself. She had learned more dishes in the city than she knew from her rural hometown.


    The diverse restaurant cuisine and takeout, Wen Qian would also make some home-cooked dishes for herself asionally. Although she was not very picky about food, she was still curious about some foods.


    She would asionally buy something she had never eaten before to try it out, so she wouldn''t have endless imagination about it.


    Sometimes when Wen Qian saw cooking videos online, she would sigh and think that being able to cook and edit and share to gain fans, and then have advertising revenue, was quite remarkable.


    People who needed eating videos or clear steps for cooking recipes really liked watching such videos.


    Maybe she couldn''t make beautiful cakes, but she could probably make cake batter.

 Chapter 13

    Chapter 13


    Wen Qian got up early to finish dinner after the end of the holiday, moved herputer downstairs to the coffee table, and went online to download videos.


    Wen Qian even shopped online for some USB drives, transferring things she had previously downloaded on herputer, as she was not very good withputers and had not deleted the movies and TV shows she had downloaded before.


    Thinking that she might not have the chance in the future, Wen Qian even nned to buy a DVD yer, one that could y discs and plug in USB drives.


    Although they have been mostly phased out now, they can still be bought online, and the prices are not expensive either.


    Wen Qian shopped on her mobile phone while listening to news broadcasts, buying charging shlightsmonly used in rural areas, and hand-cranked shlights. She ced orders for home sr panel boards.


    Now even slightlyrger viges or road junctions in the countryside have installed sr street lights.


    Wen Qian also ordered several radios for herself, some hand-cranked, some sr-powered.


    The next day when Wen Qian woke up, she had been having fewer and fewer dreams recently. She was busy hoarding things, which consumed too much energy, and she had been sleeping very soundly every day.


    Whether she dreamed or not, Wen Qian was worried. But there was no solution to the anxiety and fear, the only thing that could alleviate it was to make preparations to the best of her ability.


    Once she started work, Wen Qian did not stop except to go to the bathroom and drink water. Her colleagues said she was too diligent, sometimes even calling her but she could not hear.


    Amidst many distractions, Wen Qian felt it was a good thing that she could still stay focused, although she felt her eyes and cervical spine were not so good after staring at theputer screen for so long.


    Especially her cervical spine, sometimes when working overtime she would feel dizzy. There were employees who had started thepany with the boss. One of them could no longer get out of bed due to cervical spine problems.


    To avoid having this kind of problem when she got older, Wen Qian could only put reminders on post-its to get up and move around every now and then, but the effect was limited.


    Work time passed quickly. At lunch, a male colleague next to hermented the dire situations in foreign news as he looked at his phone.


    "Last year''s wildfires are only being extinguished now? I don''t think they''re extinguished, there''s just nothing left to burn now."


    The female colleague next to him also shook her head: "You probably haven''t seen thetest news yet. There''s another new fire somewhere else. It feels like they never stop."


    "It feels like there are particrly many disasters this year?"


    "No, it was like this before too, you just didn''t pay too much attention. Disasters happen on Earth every day."


    Wen Qian listened to everyone and nodded, "That''s true, if you search, things like this happen every year. It''s just that our environment is rtively peaceful, but natural disasters are still quitemon every year."


    "The power of nature is not something humans can fight against. cier melting and abnormal climate is verymon now."


    Everyone agreed with what she said. The speed of environmental degradation was intensifying. In the past, protecting the environment was just propaganda and advocacy, but now people could feel the fragility of the environment.


    Speaking of which, they talked about how foreigners would go crazy hoarding toilet paper whenever a disaster struck, which colleagues found quite amusing.


    Chinese people hoarded food first, while some foreigners hoarded toilet paper first. Anyway, hoarding something was the right thing to do.


    Taking this opportunity while they were talking, Wen Qian asked colleagues what they would hoard. An enthusiastic female hoarder said she would buy all kinds of things during the two major shopping festivals every year.


    Grains, snacks, tissues and so on.


    Some people would hoard rice, flour, oil - habits left over from the days of staying silently at home a few years ago.


    Mentioning this, everyone reacted that they did not use to hoard much before, and would even feel their family members'' hoarding habits were not good.


    But after that incident, everyone became more disaster-conscious, and those family members who liked hoarding finally stood tall and were affirmed by their families.


    Wen Qian also said she liked hoarding things herself, it made her feel less anxious.


    Some colleagues felt there was no need to hoard too many things, or they would expire.


    They went from talking about environmental deterioration, to the end of the world, then from the end of the world to migratings, and finally to aliens.


    Regarding the apocalypse, some colleagues joked that if that day really came, not having to go to work would be pretty good.


    Wen Qian felt that if such a day really came, she would definitely want everything to go back to the way it was before.


    Wen Qian had finished her meal. She was a little interested in her colleagues talking about finding a new home, and decided to go home and check if there were any rted documentaries to watch.


    Humans rose on this, but also destroyed and eroded everything on it like cancer cells, perhaps they would self-destruct one day.


    If she was not afraid of being considered crazy or being taken away, she really wanted to tell everyone that disasters would really happen.


    It was just that she could not say it. She had also typed out the things about her dreams on theputer before, but did not have the courage to post them.


    She was worried people would not believe her and mock her. She was also worried people would believe her, which could expose her.


    Wen Qian decided she would first see if anyone else posted simr posts. With so many people in the world, there must be some who were worried like her.


    Imagined things must have at least some basis in reality. There must be simr people with simr concerns, right?


    Wen Qian decided to post when she got home today.


    After work, while Wen Qian was waiting for the bus, she checked the delivery path of her packages to see where her things had arrived.


    Wen Qian had already attracted the attention of the staff at the delivery station near her residence because she had so many packages. They would call to remind her how many had arrived that day.


    Fortunately, Wen Qian used separate addresses for her three shopping apps, otherwise it would be even more eye-catching if they were all in one ce.


    Wen Qian would be leaving in the future. Even if she bought a lot of things now and was remembered, it did not matter.


    Not revealing one''s wealth was something Wen Qian had been taught since she was very young.


    From primary school to university, almost every school Wen Qian attended had thieves. The thieves were never caught, so Wen Qian was very careful about preventing theft.


    Thieves were not necessarily poor, some were addicted, some found it thrilling, some felt their things were not as good as others'' so they stole them.


    In primary school coins from the drawer may have gone missing, or a newly purchased protractor disappeared.


    In middle school a newly bought padded jacket hanging in the hallway was taken away.


    In university everyone in the dorm had theirptops stolen, and high quality fitted sheets hanging outside were sometimes stolen too.


    The more Wen Qian thought about it, the more she felt she should buy more tools for self defense.


    Things that could be used for self defense all had a certain lethal capability, so they were basically prohibited from being sold both in physical stores and online.


    Whenever Wen Qian saw officials confiscating knives, guns and the like, she found it incredible. There were even machine guns, mortars and other weapons turned in by the public.


    She did not know how all these people obtained them. Could they really all have been family heirlooms?


    But in any case, Wen Qian had to prepare tools for self defense.


    This had to go from n to execution.

 Chapter 14

    Chapter 14


    After returning home, Wen Qian registered an ount online to browse discussions about the apocalypse.


    There were many spections about the future, such as alien attacks on Earth, the third world war, disasters caused by the disappearance of the moon, asteroid collisions, and environmental issues like cier melting.


    Listening to people''s opinions, Wen Qian felt like she was hearing the same thing over and over again.


    She noticed that some individuals were overly anxious and made bold ims, only to end up promoting products in the end.


    Some considered these discussions baseless rumors, while others suggested being prepared and learning from survival enthusiasts both domestically and internationally.


    In the end, Wen Qian decided to anonymously share her own dreams and even provided movie screenshots resembling the scenes she had witnessed as a reference.


    Afterpleting these tasks, she posted her threads in various ces, although there were some oveps, the content was not exactly the same.


    Dreams don''t ur in a single day, and for different dreams, she posted different threads.


    Before going to sleep, Wen Qian nced through her posts. Since the content had passed the moderation process, it was not blocked. However, not many people paid attention to her content on most tforms.


    It was normal for a new ount to go unnoticed.


    Only the initial tform where she posted seemed to have hit the right audience. She saw the number of viewers reaching a three-digit figure and naturally left somements.


    Some imed that her anxiety stemmed from watching too many disaster movies and novels, while others believed that what she said could actually happen.


    There were even suggestions that the dreams she shared might be experiences of her parallel self in another world.


    Wen Qian pondered over these ideas and thought that perhaps there was indeed another version of herself going through such events.


    Some dismissed it as groundless worrying, while others appeared indifferent, believing that everyone would face the same oue, so there was no need to be afraid¡ªjust live in the present.


    After finishing reading thements, Wen Qian closed the page. She had said everything she could, and the remaining concerns rted to her personal safety, which she wouldn''t disclose to anyone.


    If she didn''t post, she would feel a vague sense of self-me. At least by doing this, she wouldn''t keep thinking about these things.


    -------------------------------------


    While on her way to work, Wen Qian received a phone call. The delivery person had left the heater at the entrance of the industrial park.


    Wen Qian was in her office nearby, and through the window, she could see the delivery van entering the park.


    The heaters were quiterge, requiring two people to move them. There were also pipes and innerpartments, but Wen Qian wasn''t worried about anyone taking her things since she was right there.


    However, even so, she waited until noon when everyone was having lunch break to go and collect her items.


    She could imagine the delivery person wondering why someone would buy several heaters and a heated table in the summer.


    Wen Qian had purchased these tools for heating her house for thetter half of her life. She still remembered the heavy snow in her dreams.


    In the small mountain vige where Wen Qian lived, everyone relied on firewood and charcoal for heating. There was no central heating system, and few people burned coal. Using electricity was too expensive.


    There were often cases of carbon monoxide poisoning due to poor venttion during heating, and in severe cases, entire families would perish.


    Whether there would be electricity in the future was uncertain. Wen Qian even estimated that when she returned to her hometown, she would have to stock up on charcoal in advance.


    After arranging everything, Wen Qian returned to her office and continued working.


    Wen Qian felt that it was the right decision not to quit her job, especially now that she had received a sry deposit of nearly ten thousand yuan. If she felt things were not going well, she could always leaveter.


    Since she didn''t have any means of transportation, Wen Qian thought it would be a good idea to have at least a bicycle in her space.


    She also believed it would be useful to have various types of wheels or small carts for future loading and unloading purposes.


    As soon as she received her freshly earned sry, it was immediately allocated for winter preparations. In addition to clothes and shoes, Wen Qian thought she should also have snow skis and goggles.


    She made associations with snow-rted items such as frostbite ointment and water purification tablets for after the snow melted.


    Wen Qian also nned to buy some yarn and knit sweaters for herself. She felt that two down jackets were not enough; she needed waterproof and windproof clothing as well.


    The winter work clothes provided by thepany were assault jackets, but they only included the top. Wen Qian checked online and found that the cheap ones were unreliable, while the reliable ones were expensive.


    So, she decided to postpone the purchase for now.


    She did, however, buy a lot of inexpensive underwear, bras, and socks online. Especially socks, it was easier to buy readymade ones than to make them herself.


    During her vacation, she rented a van and went to Baisha Market to stock up on rice and noodles, about a ton in total.


    This time, she put privacy film on the rental van''s windows so that she couldn''t see what was inside. She loaded the goods and left without having to look for a ce outside the market; she just made a round inside and went to another ce to shop.


    It was even more efficient than before.


    This time, she bought four pieces of pork, a small amount of beef, and a lot of frozen chicken and duck products.


    After buying the cheapest cooking oilst time, this time she also bought peanut oil and sesame oil, which were rtively more expensive, but it was good to have different oils for variety.


    She also spent some money on seafood, about six thousand yuan, to try something different.


    She also bought some fruits like strawberries and blueberries that were in season.


    She decided to stock up on seasonal fruits every now and then in the future. The prices of fruits in season wouldn''t be too high, although fruit prices in the city were never cheap.


    At first, Wen Qian kept track of her expenses meticulously, butter she stopped doing so.


    She had a deposit slip for twenty thousand yuan that would mature in a month, which she kept for purchasing self-defense tools. She only needed to keep enough money for living expenses and the fare back home.


    In the process of shopping, Wen Qian also didn''t forget to buy some snacks, such as wholesale milk tea powder, which was actually nt-based creamer.


    But things with additives tasted really good, and she might not be able to drink them in the future, so she bought several boxes of milk tea powder and a few barrels of popping boba.


    She also bought snacks like cups, fruit hard candies, and jelly powder.


    She even purchased some ss jars for storing jam, as she might make her own jam and fruit preserves in the future.


    Anyway, she bought a lot of white sugar, which could be used for various purposes.


    At the wholesale market, she also bought a lot of doubanjiang (broad bean chili paste) and yellow bean paste. Although there were recipes for various sauces, homemade ones were always different from store-bought ones. She wanted to keep some authentic vors for slow enjoyment in the future.


    So far, Wen Qian''s imagination of the future was all about survival in difficult conditions, finding a safe ce to live alone, and the content of her life would be sleeping, eating, and working.


    She even began to doubt that she would forget about time and age.


    To address this, she bought an almanac so that even if she forgot the time, she would have a rough idea of the year and month.


    Through her constant actions, she shifted her focus from dreams and worries to the present and future, envisioning what kind of troubles she might encounter someday.


    It is said that without long-term ns, one will inevitably face immediate worries. In times of peace, the problems she worried about were clearly different from those after the urrence of dream disasters.


    What should she do when encountering bad people? What about encountering extremely wicked and malicious individuals? What if one day in the future she needed to kill someone in order to stay alive?


    When the end of the world truly arrives and thew bes ineffective, what can she do to ensure her safety?

 Chapter 15

    Chapter 15


    In order to protect herself, she also bought pepper spray, spending 600 yuan, which she could use to make her own spray sincemercial pepper sprays were prohibited from being sold.


    She searched for stun guns to buy but couldn''t find any. Wen Qian could buy bows and arrows, but not crossbows, which were also illegal.


    So she bought a bow with arrows and steel balls, spending 900 yuan total.


    As for crossbows, Wen Qian would need to research the materials needed to make one herself and see if she could build her own.


    There were also guns - private gun ownership was banned domestically, and privately manufacturing firearms was illegal too. But from news reports it seemed some people were still buying gun parts online to build their own guns.


    Some people also bought molds to make their own lead bullets.


    If discovered, they would face criminal penalties.


    But if one had the skills to build weapons, when the state of the world changed, these people would likely be more capable of building arms to protect themselves.


    At the same time, Wen Qian was also researching self-defense training courses for women. Later, she discovered an incredible book online called "Unrestricted Fighting Techniques" that needed to be studied alongside criminalw books.


    Wen Qian felt this method of learning suited her well, so she began self-studying videos and books.


    It would be best not to need to use these skills, but Wen Qian felt sure there woulde a day when she did.


    Whenever she watched hoarding or doomsday prepper videos,ments floated by saying "While others hoard food, I hoard guns - others be my food storehouse."


    While meant jokingly, there was truth to the words.


    In foreign countries where guns weren''t banned, riots in cities were often apanied by looting.


    Using guns to protect oneself and family, to defend one''s property and prevent theft - like that famous rooftop Korean defending his store during the LA riots.


    A slim, single woman - in others'' eyes, Wen Qian felt she would seem like an easy target.


    To understand how to build weapons, she bought books on the subject and climbed VPN walls to view overseas bloggers'' construction videos.


    But those able to build modern weapons had ess to very modern tools. Wen Qian did not, so she could only make do.


    The look of her creations mattered less than their functionality.


    She also needed to buy items that could double as weapons or serve other purposes - shovels, axes, saws, some agricultural tools like hoes, rakes, sickles, seeders.


    Wen Qian also nned to buy a chainsaw and stockpile fuel. Chopping trees with an axe or handsaw would be far too difficult otherwise.


    With the trees chopped down, she would need carpentry tools, so Wen Qian spent 2,500 yuan on two sets of traditional woodworking tools, anticipating many uses for them.


    Wen Qian felt that learning more skills would open up more options for her future. Skills outweigh burden, as the saying goes.


    -------------------------------------


    By the end of May, Wen Qian finally decided to tally up her ounts, though she felt the savings she had umted over many years were now more or less depleted, leaving her somewhat dismayed.


    From her survivalist hoarding until now, bit by bit, she had already spent over 120,000 yuan. Beyond stockpiling food, Wen Qian saw self-defense preparedness as critical.


    Her storage dimension, originally filled with many items, now seemed to expand a little more each time she added new things, as if growing along with her.


    So Wen Qian no longer worried whether there would be space - she simply kept adding items inside.


    In the time that followed, when Wen Qian went hoarding at Baisha Market, she stockpiled anotherbined six tons of rice and flour, bringing her stores up to ten tons.


    She bought half a ton of sugar, plus one ton of soybeans costing over 6,000 yuan, one ton of dried corn nearly 3,000 yuan, one ton of millet over 6,000 yuan.


    Beyond these staples, she bought smaller quantities of assorted grains totaling about 8,000 yuan.


    She had nned to buy ingredients needed for hot pot broths and marinades. Besides spices shemonly used like star anise and bay leaves, she purchased Sichuan peppercorns, fennel seeds, cloves, jujubes, nutmeg, gngal, and lemongrass, spending 1,500 yuan.


    Besides these, she spent 1,500 yuan on cooking wines, vinegars, soy sauces, ck peppers, and dried chilies.


    After seeing sr cookers in a documentary, she bought two along with reflective instion film for sr cookers, spending 1,600 yuan total.


    For gasoline and water storage, she purchased gas canisters and water tanks for 2,100 yuan total.


    Another hoarding run cost over 70,000 yuan this time.


    Wen Qian then stocked up on medical supplies, spending around 5,000 yuan.


    At Baisha Market, she wholesale purchased some nuts and dried fruits for about 3,500 yuan.


    She bought 20,000 eggs for 2,000 yuan. Eggs were versatile - they could be eaten simply boiled or made into salty eggs or tea eggs.


    Powdered dairy products like milk powder and goat milk powder cost over 5,000 yuan.


    Though Wen Qian didn''t know how to use them herself, she worried that one day they would prove useful, so she stocked some liquor, tea leaves, and cigarettes, spending 3,000 yuan.


    She purchased another batch of specialized books online for 2,800 yuan.


    For less crucial books, she nned to buy used copies.


    She also hoarded some pens and paper, spending 1,000 yuan.


    With 70-80,000 yuan remaining, Wen Qian didn''t feel an urgent need to keep hoarding. Some things could wait until she returned to her hometown.


    Her main hoarding ns were finished for now. Only mopping up remained. Wen Qian''s mood lightened considerably. Though she still felt asional gloom, it was like watching a movie when you already know the ending.


    In June, after long months of spending money, Wen Qian received an e-vite. A high school ssmate she hadn''t seen or contacted in years was getting married.


    Back then they had been quite close, but they had not kept in contact even after exchanging contacts. Now this person was inviting her to her wedding. Wen Qian said she was too busy to attend but sent a 123 yuan virtual flower bouquet for the digital invitation.


    Wen Qian had few friends to begin with. Changing schools meant losing touch with most former ssmates entirely.


    She used to talk on the phone monthly with a close friend she had known for a decade, but after her friend married and had a child, she no longer even had time for their once-monthly call.


    It was as if an invisible wall stood between the married and unmarried, separating them. Wen Qian used to actively reach out from time to time, but her friend wouldn''t replyte - she wouldn''t reply at all.


    After enough time passed without responses, Wen Qian stopped contacting her first.


    As for men, Wen Qian interacted with none on a regr basis outside of work.


    Yet wedding invites kept periodicallynding like red bombs in her inbox. Besides obligatory appearances, Wen Qian would not shell out any money and felt not one bit awkward about it.


    Compared to face or social credit, she treasured her hard-earned money far more.


    Now one invite required a 500 yuan cash gift and travel expenses paid out of pocket. She could buy a lot of rice for that much money.


    After so many trips to the wholesale markets, Wen Qian had be even more attuned to money and numbers.


    So this red paper bomb was promptly disposed of.


    The money she saved, Wen Qian spent on a three-wheeled cargo bike to haul things in its rear cart, lifting her mood for a time.


    Her previous social media posts were gaining more viewers, butments remained scarce, so Wen Qian stopped posting opinions.

 Chapter 16

    Chapter 16


    In June, as the weather was gradually getting hotter, Wen Qian bought some medicines for preventing heat, mosquitoes, and insects in addition to the ones she had bought previously, spending 500 yuan in total.


    On her day off, Wen Qian went to visit her college dormmate who had continued to study and then work at the school after graduation. Having vacation work during summer and winter breaks, it was really enviable.


    With many students graduating and moving out of the dormitories every June, a lot of things would be thrown away each year around this time.


    Before even meeting up, Wen Qian had already wandered around the school where sounds of luggage being dragged and students gradually leaving could be heard everywhere.


    The graduating students had topletely empty out their dorm rooms, otherwise the cleaning staff woulde inter and throw everything away.


    Wen Qian saw many discarded things at the female dormitory area, such as yoga mats. There were also shoe racks, clothing drying racks, straw mats, ice pads, some storage fabric boxes and stic drawers. These things were inconvenient to carry and pack up when moving out so they were simply left behind.


    There were also unwanted school-issued quilts. But mostmonly, there were clothes. The cotton or kapok stuffing from the quilts could be reprocessed. As for the clothes, Wen Qian only picked out some that she wanted to use as patterns for future sewing.


    She was not a professional tailor. She would take apart different sections of existing garments and then assemble them togetherter by imitation.


    When scavenging, Wen Qian would either pick things from piles of trash on the ground floors or from items the dorm residents had swept out and stacked in the corridors. She did not go into the dorm rooms.


    She had taken quite a few yoga mats, feeling they woulde in handyter. Looking through the trash piles at the female dorms was actually fun, like shopping on Taobao.


    Wen Qian had also picked up various sized dumbbells and jump ropes for working out.


    Later on the tree-lined path, she came across a small flea market in business. People inside were selling their belongings cheaply, but there were not many buyers. Items like electric fans and books still attracted some customers, but few people were buying used clothes and quilts.


    Wen Qian browsed through and picked out books she didn''t already have to purchase.


    Originally, Wen Qian''s ssmate Zhang Yi had wanted to take her out to eat, but Wen Qian was more interested in going to the school cafeteria.


    She had not eaten at the student cafeteria for a long time and wanted to relive the memory.


    Although many students had left, the cafeteria was still lively. Wen Qian ordered a te of sweet and sour pork ribs, a steamed egg, and rice.


    Her ssmate joked that Wen Qian was helping her save money, but Wen Qian said this was plenty.


    The two chatted while eating, catching each other up. After the meal, they went back to Zhang Yi¡¯s staff dormitory and talked some more.


    In the afternoon, they went out for a stroll, with Wen Qian treating Zhang Yi to dinner.


    Upon hearing that she might resign, Zhang Yi felt puzzled, ¡°Your sry is decent though. Is the work pressure too much? You''re not nning to buy property in An City?¡±


    The younger generation tends not to settle in small ces, which also cannot amodate the young.


    ¡°I don''t necessarily have to put down roots in An City. I n to return to my hometown for some time, or going to the small city near our area wouldn¡¯t be bad either.¡±


    ¡°I see. Smaller cities have a slower pace of life, so days would be more rxed.¡± Zhang Yi felt life in An City moved too fast, with high work pressure, but at least she was free here.


    The reason why Zhang Yi did not go back home was that she could not stand her family¡¯s nagging for her to get married, as if a woman not marrying was likete-stage cancer. Every one of them would say she caused them endless worry when in fact they just could not tolerate her being single.


    It was as if not getting married warranted a death sentence. Zhang Yi thought if that were the case, she might justpromise. Clearly she was not bothering anyone, yet she still received ridicule and sarcasm.


    Wen Qian did not care about any of this. She no longer had much contact with rtives.


    Her grandparents¡¯ generation had mostly passed on already. And their descendants in the next generation became estranged after starting their own families.


    Contact was even lesser by the third generation.


    Initially, Wen Qian¡¯s grandparents had worried she would have a hard time living alone when older, afraid the vigers would take advantage of her.


    Later, most vigers also left to work outside. Things that used to cause petty squabbles no longer mattered. Now no one paid attention any more.


    If this had happened in the past, Wen Qian would not have been able to safeguard her family''s belongings on her own.


    Additionally, when facing trials from others, Wen Qian would either ignore thempletely or strike back immediately.


    As long as people spoke nicely to her, she was usually quite mild-mannered and courteous.


    However, thinking of how tumultuous things could be if society copsed, Wen Qian felt the remote mountain vige she lived in would likely revert to its former ways. She would probably be the first easy target in others¡¯ minds as well.


    Despite this notion, Wen Qian still decided to return. She felt it would be even more difficult to preserve her secrecy and survive in the city.


    As night fell, Wen Qian bid Zhang Yi farewell. There were things she had wanted to tell her ssmate during their chat in the day which she didn¡¯t get to in the end. Instead, she steered the conversation toward the wilderness survival videos and post-apocalyptic novels she had been watching and readingtely.


    The two exchanged quite a bit about theirtest interests, and her ssmate seemed intrigued as well, saying she would look them up.


    Having decided to return home, Wen Qian figured she would share the list of things she had gone through with Zhang Yiter.


    Stepping out from the subway in June, Wen Qian felt the pleasant night breeze. Summers in An City were famously scorching. Even at night, windster on would still be hot winds.


    After washing up at home, Wen Qian sat in the living room downloading things while chatting about novels with Zhang Yi when she suddenly noticed a sh outside and realized it was probably going to rain.


    Sure enough, a storm rolled in right after lightning and thunder. Wen Qian already had all windows and doors shut. She watched the rain and vehicles outside through the windowpane.


    Staying home on a rainy day felt very safe and cozy.


    The heavy rain also passed quickly.


    Before bedtime, Zhang Yi messaged that she had read more and seemed quite interested in post-apocalyptic type works, also enjoying watching people hoard supplies.


    Seeing this, Wen Qian smiled and replied that not only did she like watching others hoard, but enjoyed stocking up herself too.


    Zhang Yi said she also wanted to try. Unlike perishables like greens and meat that had to be fresh, items with long shelf-life could be stockpiled. However, she did not really enjoy cooking and could barely finish the MREs the disaster preparedness brands sent over.


    So Wen Qian suggested canned foods, instant noodles, dumplings, wontons, scallion pancakes etc. that were convenient.


    The reason why Wen Qian did not buy these herself was because she did not love eating them, especially the dumplingsmonly sold, with weird mystery fillings that even made her burps strange afterwards. She was not very fond of them.


    If she were to eat dumplings, she would buy just the skins and make her own fillings.


    Thinking about this, she ced orders for a dumpling rolling pin and stainless steel round dumpling wrapper cutters. She would roll out a big piece of wrapper and cut out rounds rather than pleat and wrap them one by one.


    She also ordered some more stainless steel cookware for herself like stock pots, tes and kettles. In the future, these could be used to cookrge portions simultaneously.


    And so Wen Qian browsed through the shopping apps again until sleepiness hit.

 Chapter 17

    Chapter 17


    On thest day of June, at 5:01 AM, Wen Qian was woken up by a sound.


    Wolf howl? Whistle? Scream? The shriek of a microphone?


    She then opened her bedroom door and heard more sounds, but her roommates'' doors were closed shut.


    At this time everyone was still sleeping, so Wen Qian went downstairs to check what it was, confirming it was the wind.


    A huge wind.


    Wen Qian''s heart sank as she remembered this was the very beginning of her dream.


    The wind.


    Wen Qian stood at the door struggling to open it with one hand. She used more strength with both hands to pull the door open.


    The moment the door opened, the gust blew in and fully woke Wen Qian up. The windows downstairs were left open with only the curtains closed, now connecting with the hallway window, letting a strong wind inside.


    Wen Qian closed the door. Now fully awake, she sat on the sofa browsing her phone.


    She opened social media and saw Anshi''s big wind was already trending. Many people said they were woken up by the wind sounds, describing it as terrifying. The weather app also sent out a strong wind warning.


    Some expressed shock. Others described it as magical. And some started making jokes.


    The strong windsted two hours before subsiding.


    In the meantime, Wen Qian washed her face, brushed her teeth, went back to her room to put on noise-cancelling earbuds, and searched online for windbreaker jackets and other items to purchase.


    When Wen Qian came back downstairs, she met her roommate who was also discussing the big wind. They were woken up early but with extra morning time stayed in bed ying on their phones instead of getting up.


    The other three rooms faced outside windows for observation while hers did not get any natural light.


    But the whole building was enveloped by the wind sounds from inside out, and Wen Qian said she was woken up by it too.


    Luckily, the wind urred when most people were still sleeping, so it didn''t cause too much damage.


    It was still very windy outside, and Wen Qian struggled to open and close the downstairs door.


    Stepping outside, the door area wind was still strong too, and the slender Wen Qian felt she was being pushed to walk.


    So she turned around and went back in.


    In her dream, it seemed like she was hit by things flying in the wind.


    Should she not go out today? Call in sick?


    Give up perfect attendance?


    Still should go. This time she chose to take a taxi there.


    Taking a taxi got her to work safely.


    Her colleagues who came in also chatted about today''s weather, most seeming to be woken up by the wind sounds like her, while the few deep sleepers were clueless about it.


    Wen Qian nced at the small calendar on her desk, turned on herputer, and started working, entering into a work state where she temporarily forgot about other things.


    In the morning when the boss came, Wen Qian responded well to all the tasks that needed handling and received praise.


    But right after, Wen Qian put in her resignation.


    The boss was very shocked, asking if she was dissatisfied with thepany or felt it was too busy.


    Wen Qian firmly shook her head, citing personal reasons.


    By noon, Wen Qian had typed out and submitted her resignation letter to HR.


    In a month, at the end of July, she could leave this job.


    Her apartment lease was up at the end of August, and Wen Qian nned to rest in Anshi for half a month after resigning before going back home.


    After submitting it, Wen Qian felt much more rxed, even though she was still working, her mindset had started bing more carefree.


    The countdown would start from now.


    Wen Qian hadplicated feelings, not towards the job itself, but rather her dreaming true.


    Iting true meant everyone''s days would be more difficult; if not, her own behavior would be a joke.


    Her previous unease had finally settled down.


    Other than the morning wind sounds, today was no different than normal.


    After finishing a day of work, Wen Qian turned off herputer and sprawled back in her chair heaving a sigh of relief.


    Today after work, Wen Qian didn''t directly head home, but went to a lively neighborhood district instead.


    It was the ce closest to Wen Qian where she could hang out, the intersection of several metro lines, very busy with peopleing and going.


    Upstairs and downstairs were filled with many people out shopping and eating. Wen Qian bought a cheap milk tea and walked while drinking it.


    She didn''t n to shop around. Coming out here to wander was a whim. Usually in this city she rarely went out shopping. Each time buying things was pre-nned with a budget in mind.


    This timeing here was more to experience the lively atmosphere, which would likely be hard toe byter.


    Finding a ce to sit, Wen Qian opened the posts she previously made, which had all sunk away unseen on the various tforms.


    Right, who would believe what she said? Without harming herself, it seemed there was no way to warn others.


    Wen Qian put on earbuds, no longer looking at her phone, just wandering around aimlessly.


    For dinner she bought some deep fried food, saving her the trouble of cooking when she got home.


    On her way home seeing an overpass, Wen Qian went up again to take a look. There were still people selling things, but she didn''t see the granny who previously sold hair clips.


    Standing on the overpass blowing some wind, Wen Qian looked at the cars and headed home.


    That night Wen Qian dreamed that it rained. She walked alone in the rain but couldn''t find shelter anywhere. Suddenly she started chopping down trees and building a lean-to shed.


    The next morning on July 1st when Wen Qian woke up, she forgot what the shed looked like in her dream. Only remembered herself being very busy in it, still feeling tired waking up.


    Her resignation was gradually found out by more colleagues. Those closer to her thought she found a better opportunity somewhere else, even secretly asking if the new ce had better benefits.


    But Wen Qian said she hadn''t found a new job yet, and they didn''t believe her.


    After all in this day and age, finding a job wasn''t hard, but finding a good job was very hard. The economy wasn''t good. Having no job would only make one more anxious.


    But Wen Qian didn''t care about any of that. She was a single person; as long as she was fed no one else starved.


    Co-workers weren''t friends. After leaving they basically wouldn''t cross paths again. Wen Qian only needed to do her job well.


    Work was now on a countdown, and Wen Qian''s hoarding period had ended too. She lived each day very carefreely, asionally browsing new recipes.


    Recently Wen Qian had developed an interest in cooking, not the home cooking she knew before, but dishes with manyplex steps that were time consuming to make, which she hadn''t eaten herself yet.


    She bought cookbooks, studied cooking videos. Having the space, she even considered batch cooking a week''s or a month''s worth of meals at a time, then taking them out to eat when needed without having to cook daily. If using a firewood stove to cook at her hometown, making one meal a day from scratch herself would probably feel tedious.


    Luckily Wen Qian had stocked up on a lot of disposable meal boxes. She just needed to prepare and portion out the food then store it away.


    In July the highest temperature was 36¡ãC (97¡ãF). Back at her apartment after cooking up batches, she had no appetite left; it was too hot.


    Wen Qian made herself a noodle and meatball soup. She didn''t want to eat rice.


    At this time Wen Qian remembered she seemed to have forgotten to stock up on one thing: bulk buys of ice pops.


    How could sizzling summer daysck something cooling?

 Chapter 18

    Chapter 18


    Perhaps it''s because Wen Qian quit her job, but recently she has been feeling light-hearted, although there is also a hint of confusion mixed in.


    But all of that is not really important. Wen Qian has already been envisioning her life in the countryside. She has started buying some household items for herself, as she knows she will need to clean and disinfect when she goes back home. She will also need to spray insect repellent to keep away snakes, bugs, and ants. The countryside is teeming with them, and Wen Qian is particrly attractive to mosquitoes. When a group of people is together, she always gets bitten the most.


    In the past, Wen Qian would definitely have to carry a lot of bags, but now she has her own space. She puts everything in the space and only brings back a small suitcase.


    When someone asks, she can simply say that she is temporarily staying in the countryside and will return to the cityter.


    There are fewer people and less activity in her hometown, but Wen Qian is used to being alone. Besides theck of urban conveniences, she doesn''t really have any other difficulties adjusting.


    The only thing she finds difficult to adapt to is the toilet in her hometown. It''s an outdoor dry toilet, so you can see everything, and there are many mosquitoes and flies, which is quite disgusting.


    The toilet is located a short distance away from her house, and at night she has to use a shlight and summon the courage to walk out of the door. In the summertime, she has to spray insect repellent or light mosquito coils in advance, or else she''ll be carried away by mosquitoes.


    She will also need to renovate the toilet when she returns home, but she probably won''t be using it for long. If she decides to rebuild it, she''ll need to buy bricks, sand, and cement.


    Even if she doesn''t hire anyone, trying to do it herself will still require time and effort.


    The most troublesome part is that she can''t take the toilet with her. Wen Qian finds it quite inconvenient.


    She starts searching online for temporary toilets andes across one that costs just over 1,000 yuan. She ns to buy one and use it in her hometown. Moreover, she discovers that some temporary toilets can be equipped with shower facilities and washbasins.


    If it''s a temporary toilet, she can store it in her space, and in the future, if she moves to a different ce, she can save some time by already having a toilet.


    But storing a used toilet in her space? Wen Qian finds it repulsive.


    After much contemtion, she decides to buy a cheap temporary toilet and then store it in her space while it''s still brand new.


    As for the toilet in her hometown, Wen Qian decides to build a new one nearby herself. Yes, she will construct her own toilet.


    Wen Qian even considers buying some construction materials and storing them in her space.


    That way, no matter where she goes, she can start anew and build a new home.


    In An City, July is already scorching hot. It''s impossible to sleep at night without air conditioning.


    If she were in her hometown, they would sleep on the roof of a bungalow, or if there was no bungalow, they would bring out a cot and sleep by the front door.


    When Wen Qian was young, she heard adults talk about how some children were taken away by wolves when they slept outside during hot weather.


    Fortunately, there are no wolves in the vige where Wen Qian lives, and even wild boars are rarely seen.


    After dark, she would sleep between her grandparents, gazing at the stars in the sky, and before she knew it, she would fall asleep.


    Sometimes it would rain, and her grandparents would carry her inside.


    During that time in the countryside, there was a big temperature difference between day and night. Even if it was scorching hot during the day, it would be cool at night.


    In An City, the urban heat ind effect makes the temperature even hotter. Even at night, the temperature can reach 30 degrees Celsius, and the breeze outside feels scorching.


    Back in her hometown, Wen Qian used to sleep on the roof of her bungalow and only needed a thin nket. The only inconvenience was having to bring in the cool bed during the day to avoid sun damage.


    Time flew by, and before she knew it, July came to an end.


    After finishing herst day of work, Wen Qian returned home and ordered takeout.


    She sat there eating fried food, sipping c, and watching food videos on herputer.


    Her life as an unemployed wanderer officially began.


    With no job to wake up early for, Wen Qian slept in until noon the next day. After brushing her teeth and washing her face, she returned to her room to eat, sleep, and y.


    Without the structure of a job, Wen Qian''s regr routine quickly crumbled. She started skipping meals, reducing them to just two a day, and spent most of her time lying on her bed.


    Except for going out to collect packages, Wen Qian stayed in her apartment all the time.


    August arrived, and An City entered a scorching mode.


    Due to the high electricity consumption of air conditioners in summer, each bedroom had a three-tiered energy-consuming unit, causing the electricity usage to skyrocket.


    Fortunately, each bedroom had a separate electricity meter. Otherwise, the shared electricity bill alone would have made Wen Qian consider moving out.


    Originally, Wen Qian had nned to stay in An City for half of August. Her n was to resign from her job and spend some time exploring the city.


    Now she decided to return home earlier since she spent every day inside the apartment anyway.


    The weather was too hot, and Wen Qian didn''t feel like going anywhere. Why waste electricity in An City?


    So, on the fifth day after quitting her job, Wen Qian handed over the keys and left the apartment she had lived in for a long time.


    Before she had a chance to reminisce, she carried a light suitcase and set off on her way back home.


    An hourter, the high-speed train took her to Lu City, a small city in the same province as An City. The heat warning message of 38 degrees apanied her. Wen Qian got off the train with her small suitcase.


    The heat wave hit her face.


    From the bus station in Lu City, she still had to take a forty-minute bus ride to reach her hometown. And from the town, she had to take a minivan to get to her actual home.


    In the afternoon, there were hardly any buses in the town, so Wen Qian prepared herself to walk back.


    The small bus swiftly traveled on the rural roads, making continuous rattling sounds. It looked like it could fall apart at any moment, but it was surprisingly fast.


    There was no air conditioning on the bus, only a small fan above the driver''s seat.


    The midday sun heated up the entire bus, and if it weren''t for the open windows and the breeze blowing in while the bus was moving, Wen Qian wouldn''t have been able to endure a single minute.


    When she arrived at the final stop, Wen Qian headed straight to the supermarket, buying groceries while enjoying the coolness of the air conditioning.


    Knowing her home was likely covered in dust, Wen Qian had to clean up before she could find a ce to sleep. Without tidying up her room, there would be no ce to rest. Without cleaning the kitchen, there would be no ce to eat.


    Although she had water and instant noodles at home, she still bought some items to make it look like she had things in her hands.


    As she walked out of the supermarket and crossed a bridge, she happened to see a minivan at the corner.


    So, Wen Qian spent 10 yuan to have the driver take her home.


    The mountain road meandered as the local driver, familiar with the terrain, swiftly drove the car along the cemented road, and in no time, Wen Qian was delivered to the threshing ground.


    The driver could only take her to the threshing ground; from there, she had to walk home on her own along a dirt road.


    Originally, each household only needed to spend a few thousand yuan to have the road extended to their doorstep, but unfortunately, there were too few households in this area.


    Many people went out to work and buy houses, so they didn''t want to bother fixing thest stretch of road in their hometown.


    Wen Qian tried to avoid passing by the houses in the vige, but the small path, untouched for a long time, was now overgrown with weeds and bushes. She had no choice but to pass by people''s doorsteps.


    She heard the sound of dishes being fried in the kitchen and thought that they probably hadn''t noticed her.


    "Oh, isn''t this Xiaowen? Why have youe back? It''s such a hot day," said the person speaking, Chen Jiawang, holding a sickle as he walked over from the other side of the house, seeming to have just finished working in the fields.


    "I quit my job and came back to take a break for a while."


    "What happened? What happened? Who is it?" Chen Jiawang''s wife came out with a spat in her hand.


    "Oh my, Xiaowen is back! You must be hungrying back at this time. Come on,e on,e to my house and have lunch!"

 Chapter 19

    Chapter 19


    Xiaochenwa had a total of four households. Chen Jiawang''s house had one household above and two households below. Due to the terrain, the houses were not adjacent to each other.


    The houses faced south with the mountains behind and the fields in front. Further below were terraced fields, and the top of Xiaochenwa was a reservoir.


    In this hilly area, residents lived scattered about. The reservoir and terraced field model destined thatrge-scale mechanized agriculture was not possible here.


    Wen Qian declined by saying she had eaten lunch already. Auntie Chen could tell at a nce that she was making an excuse.


    "Do you dislike the food at my home?"


    "No, no, not at all."


    "Then put your things away ande over." Auntie Chen then turned and went into the kitchen, "If you don''te, I''ll go get youter."


    So Wen Qian went home, put her things away, took some grapes from her storage space, and came down carrying a stic bag.


    Chen Jiawang¡¯s house had three rooms on two floors. His son had brought his girlfriend home before, so the house had been newly renovated and looked quite new.


    There were three rooms downstairs and two upstairs, plus arge balcony used for drying things.


    To the left of the house were cattle and pig pens and the toilet.


    Wen Qian walked down a slope and saw that their toilet had been demolished. It appeared that the toilet had been moved indoors.


    When Wen Qian entered, the ceiling fan in the house was whirring. Uncle Chen was sitting below catching a nap. Auntie Chen could still be heard busy in the kitchen.


    Wen Qian put the grapes on the table and went to the kitchen to chat with Auntie Chen.


    Auntie Chen was stir-frying thest dish of greens. Seeing here in, she smiled and said, "Your aunt didn''t make many dishes."


    This was amon humble phrase they used. Even if the table was filled with dishes during the holidays, they would still say to guests that there was no food.


    Since there were still burning embers in the stove, Wen Qian did not help add fuel. Instead, she chatted with Auntie Chen.


    Auntie Chen talked about her son and daughter-inw. They had called yesterday to say the weather in Anshi City was extremely hot and told them not to work outside to avoid heat stroke.


    Of the few households in Xiaochenwa, only Uncle Chen and Auntie Chen still lived here year-round, along with the two families below them. After the elderly passed away, the children and grandchildren all worked and lived elsewhere, onlying back for the New Year.


    As for the household above them, the man worked construction and drove a motorcycleing and going. The woman was in the city taking care of her grandson. Their house remained locked up all year.


    When Auntie Chen heard that Wen Qian would be staying for a while, she said they had a new person around, as before it was only the old men and women from Dachenwa and Lijiawaning over to chat.


    Shemented that there were fewer and fewer elders in the vige. She reckoned that when her daughter-inw got pregnant, she would have to go to Anshi City to help care for the child.


    The stir-fried greens were done. Auntie Chen brought out dishes from the cupboard to serve. Wen Qian also came over to help. On the table there was a bowl of greens, a bowl of egg drop soup with sliced cucumber, a te of red braised small carp, and a te of pickled radish and shredded pork.


    Auntie Chen urged Wen Qian to sit down, repeatedly saying there was no food, just make do.


    Wen Qian said that she had been missing the country cooking from the brick stove back home.


    Uncle Chen, always a man of few words, simply told her to eat more.


    When Auntie Chen saw the grapes on the table, she said Wen Qian was too courteous.


    After lunch, Wen Qian returned home as there were still many things to tidy up. Auntie Chen did not ask her to stay either.


    Back home, Wen Qian turned on the power and carried out a floor fan from the room.


    The fan was covered by a dusty stic bag. Wen Qian took off the bag and the fan was clean inside.


    She turned on the fan, felt the breeze, and started working.


    She opened the kitchen door, sprayed insecticide, then closed the door again.


    In the central room she wiped two benches clean of dust, and took the quilts out from the cab to air out on the benches.


    She then sprayed insecticide in the bedroom as well and closed the door before going back out.


    She removed the lever from the well under the wash area and brought it outside to install. Wen Qian took out a bucket of water from her storage space and poured it into the well. With the primer, water started flowing from the well after a short while.


    Every rural household had a well. Wen Qian''s house was higher up so the well was in the fields below. Later they had hired someone to dig it deeper so it never ran dry.


    When Grandma got older, they had installed a water pump in the well. On the t roof they put a stainless steel water tank and ran pipes into the house.


    When there was no water, they could just turn on the power to fill up the tank. By opening the faucet right above the water barrel, they could get water. This was much more convenient for the elders.


    Although they rarely used the external well now, it was still in working order.


    Other than the rooms where insecticide was sprayed, she opened all the doors and windows for venttion.


    In the central room she wiped three chairs clean and lined them up to take a nap after just having eaten.


    She napped for half an hour.


    Wen Qian roused herself and started tidying up the house.


    Wearing a mask, Wen Qian first loosely swept down the high corners and cobwebs with a broom made of bundled sorghum stalks.


    She fetched several buckets of water, added 84 disinfectant tablets, and began washing and scrubbing inside the house¡ªthe chairs, tables, and surfaces that would be used, giving them a rough wipe followed by a rinse with clean water.


    Finally she swept the floors clean.


    After finishing this, Wen Qian took out a popsicle from her storage space. Lying in front of the fan and eating it, she remembered that the refrigerator and washing machine also needed cleaning.


    So she shifted the washing machine out onto the front porch.


    These two appliances were purchased during the home appliance subsidies. They were fairly priced then, not too big or heavy that Wen Qian could move them herself.


    The refrigerator just needed an extra scrub or two to be clean.


    As for the washing machine, she poured in several buckets of water, added disinfectant tablets, and left it to soak first.


    At this time she opened her bedroom door to tidy up her sleeping quarters.


    Wen Qian''s house had three single story rooms. The central room was the living room with two doors on each side leading to side rooms.


    The front left room was Grandpa and Grandma''s bedroom. The back left room contained the stairs and farming tools.


    Up the stairs was the t roof. Originally all three rooms were meant to be tiled, but in the end only two were done, leaving one cemented over with railings added¡ªgood for hangingundry.


    The front right room was Wen Qian''s bedroom. The back right room was a guest room. As it was less sunny, Grandpa and Grandma would sleep there in the summer while finding the central room too stuffy when hot.


    Outside the front door was a corridor. Going right passed Wen Qian''s window was the kitchen, very spacious, with one stove for cooking and another walled off behind it for cooking pig feed.


    Next to Grandpa and Grandma''s room were the cattle pen and pig sty, only a wall separating them from the cattle. Grandpa said they could hear the cattle at night¡ªalerting them if anyone tried stealing them.


    As for the toilet, it was still inside the bamboo grove next to the cattle shed, quite a long way to go.


    Wen Qian turned on the light and went upstairs. The t roof was covered in fallen leaves that she swept up, preparing to hang things up to dry the next day.


    Each time she came back, she would have to meticulously clean wherever she stayed, even if only for a night. No wonder people who went to the cities to work weren''t willing to return home.


    Of course, this was different if one still had family living there.

 Chapter 20

    Chapter 20


    Wen Qian cleaned inside and outside of the room she was going to sleep in, took all the curtains off the windows and brought them outside, closed the windows tightly and put in thetch, then tore down the window gauze that was nailed outside before.


    Because it had been too long, the previous window gauze was all rotten by the sun, as soon as she touched it, it was dusty and ky, Wen Qian felt that she must wash her hair after doing this.


    She swept away all the cobwebs and clutter on the outside of the windows with a broom, then stood on the windowsill to wipe the windows.


    Wen Qian took out the mosquito she had hoarded in her storage space, and fixed it to the window frame with thumbtacks.


    The windows in the house were still the old-fashioned wooden ones, the windows opened inward, and there were vertical steel bars outside for burry prevention. If someone lived in the outermost ce, they would also subscribe ayer of stic window gauze to prevent mosquitoes and insects.


    After Wen Qian finished the window gauze, she went inside, opened the windows, took out air freshener and sprayed it everywhere, then spread out the beddings she used to sleep in Anshi from her storage space onto the bed.


    Because there was no air conditioner in the house, she alsoid out a straw mat, which was picked up at school, washed clean and put in the storage space.


    The room had been tidied up to the point that she could go to sleep at night. Wen Qian took out a box of mosquito coils, opened it and lit it.


    This was a must-have item in rural hometowns in the summer, without it you shouldn''t think about sleeping, and your skin shouldn''t expect to be at peace either.


    After doing these, Wen Qian wondered what she would eat for dinner, when suddenly she heard someone calling her name.


    She went out and saw it was Auntie Chen.


    Auntie Chen had told Wen Qian at noon toe over for dinner tonight too, but she was worried the girl would refuse out of politeness, so she came over specially to call her before cooking, telling her she muste down for dinner.


    Auntie Chen''s ce was Xiaochenwa, while the gulch where Wen Qian was was called Yuanao. She had to walk over for a few minutes and climb over a small hill to get to Wen Qian.


    Yuanao originally had two households, one of which moved to Dachenwa, so now it was just Wen Qian''s family alone, and she was the only one living there now.


    When Auntie Chen saw Wen Qiane out, she said to her: "Little Wen, aren''t you afraid living here alone? There''s not even someone to talk to."


    Wen Qian smiled and said, "It''s fine, I''m used to being alone."


    This was where she grew up, even back then when there were still kids in Xiaochenwa, she wouldn''t go looking for them to y.


    Auntie Chen felt she was just putting on a brave face, so she asked again, "Used to being alone? Don''t you have friends in the city?"


    Wen Qian shook her head.


    Auntie Chen didn''t say anything more. She knew young people these days didn''t like being rushed into rtionships.


    Back then it was the same with her son. She was anxious in her heart but didn''t say it with her mouth. In the end he still brought his girlfriend home.


    So she felt everything needed to rely on fate and go with the flow. Saying too much would be counterproductive.


    After looking at the cleaning Wen Qian did at home, shemented her hard work, then told Wen Qian she was going to start cooking and toe down for dinner in a bit.


    Seeing Wen Qian look a little embarrassed, she reassured her: "It''s not like youe to my house to eat every day. Today the whole house is dusty. Even if you tidy up, the pots and pans still need to be washed tomorrow. Hurry up ande, don''t feel bad about it, you hear?"


    After saying this, Auntie Chen left.


    So Wen Qian had no choice but to agree.


    Wen Qian took out the bucket she had bought for boiling water, washed it clean, filled it with water, put it outside in the yard, and started a fire underneath with kindling to boil the water.


    When the kindling finished burning and the water finished boiling, this way she coulde back and wash right after eating.


    Then Wen Qian closed all the doors, and took her phone to walk to Xiaochenwa.


    The sides of the road were full of lush vegetation, with the chirping of cicadas and birdsong in the distance. Rural summers were very lively.


    They were also very dangerous. Wen Qian held a bamboo pole in one hand, had her phone shlight on, and was also ying music, in order to prevent encountering snakes.


    If you asked what Wen Qian feared most in the countryside, it would probably be snakes.


    During the day they were always basking in the sun everywhere, and as soon as Wen Qian heard a little rustling of leaves, she knew there were snakes crawling around, and 9 times out of 10 she could see the tail.


    Soter whenever Wen Qian went out in the summer, she would deliberately make a lot of noise to let snakes sense her arrival and leave ahead of time, avoiding running into them.


    But there was also a kind of snake called the deaf viper in the local dialect, which couldn''t hear sounds, so Wen Qian would tap the ground with the bamboo pole, which was also a way of giving notice.


    From afar Wen Qian could see the light on in front of Auntie Chen''s house. When she went in, Auntie Chen was bringing out dishes and said with augh that her timing was just right.


    On the table there was a dish of stir-fried cured pork with green peppers, a te of greens, a te of cold marinated tomatoes, and a bowl of red-cooked yellow croaker fish.


    During the meal, Auntie Chen invited her to go to the market together the day after tomorrow morning.


    There was someone in Dachenwa who drove a three-wheeled vehicle. For just 2-3 yuan they could take people to town. The elderly in the area who wanted to go into town would arrange to go together and agree on a time with the driver.


    The elderly here used to walk by themselves when they were able to, now they were older and couldn''t walk anymore, so they had to spend money to take the vehicle.


    The street market had hot and cold market days based on whether it was an odd or even day by the lunar calendar.


    Today was a hot market day, but it had already dispersed by the time Wen Qian came back. The next hot market day was the day after tomorrow.


    Wen Qian hadn''t gone to market in a long time, so she agreed to meet up and go with them. The time was set at 7am the next day, which meant Wen Qian had to be at Auntie Chen''s by 7.


    That said, back when there were more people, many would get up at 4-something in the morning to go to market. Back then Wen Qian didn''t understand - were they not sleeping when they got old? It wasn''t even light out yet and they were going to market, wasn''t that too rushed? But taking out the time spent on the road, spending more time wandering the market, they''d get back around 8:30. Going to market didn''t interfere with going home to farm thend and let the cows out.


    Later when she thought about it, it was pretty funny. The elderly were always saying they didn''t get enough sleep, but actually they went to bed at 8pm and got up at 4am, still getting a full eight hours of sleep. This was something she only realized when she called her grandma while at school.


    After dinner, Auntie Chen had Uncle Chen walk Wen Qian back.


    Wen Qian had Uncle Chen turn back when they got to the hill, but Uncle Chen stood at the top of the slope until Wen Qian got home and he saw the light in the housee on before turning around to leave.


    It was a little more lively here with a young person.


    After Wen Qian got home, she lit the mosquito coil in the room, went out and turned on the washing machine to wash clothes, pumped a few buckets of water from the well and left them next to the washing machine.


    When it needed water, she would pour it right in. It worked fine without a water pipe connected.


    After the washing machine finished washing, tomorrow it would wash many more things.


    The water boiling outside in the yard had finished heating up. Wen Qian added water and poured it into a basin to start boiling washing water for her bath.


    She took out the basin she used often from her storage space, and found a big red one from the house. She added some cold water, then started washing her hair.


    After the big clean today, she was covered in dust and couldn''t get into bed without washing from head to toe.


    Although the rural nights in summer were lively, there were no other sounds.


    The cattle pen had no cattle, the pig pen had no pigs.


    There were also no chickens in the chicken coop behind the kitchen, not a single cat or dog either.

 Chapter 21

    Chapter 21


    Other than the soundsing from Wen Qian, the house was quiet. She moved the TV, which was covered in the room, onto the altar and turned it on. It still worked. The small color TV set was bought years ago and was still heavy.


    Therge satellite dishes that were originally used in the countryside could receive many TV stations, probably from other countries too.


    Later, the state banned them and free small satellite dishes were installed in rural areas that could receive a few dozen domestic channels.


    Wen Qian turned on the TV and found it was showing news, so there was no need to change the channel. She went to the corridor to wash her hair.


    She still remembered when she was in primary school, her grandma told her that they used mulberry leaves to wash their hair. She had even picked mulberry leaves herself, added water and kneaded them. It made the leaves feel slippery.


    Washing with them was also quite nice, though there would be some leaf dregs remaining in the hair. All natural and green. Wen Qian thought she should pick some mulberry leaves another day and try washing with them.


    After washing her hair, Wen Qian stood at the front door drying her hair with a towel, asionally looking up at the sky and getting shocked.


    Oh my god! So many stars! She had lived in An City for too long, whenever she looked up, the only lights shing in the sky were those of airnes.


    It was impossible to spot a few stars in the sky. Instead, there were too many unnecessary lights on the ground.


    Now as she saw the starry sky with twinkling stars, she stared nkly for a moment. After a while, she went back to the room to take photos with her mobile phone, but realised that unlike the naked eye view, the phone couldn¡¯t capture the starry sight at all.


    Wen Qian then recalled that the sky in her hometown had always been like this, and such star-studded skies would continue to be here.


    That night, Wen Qian went to the toilet around 8 pm. She then closed the main door andy in bed ying on her phone in the dark. She fell asleep soon.


    This was a rare sleeping hour for her in An City. Though she thought she wouldn''t get used to the bed here after noting back for so long, she fell asleep quickly probably because she was too tired that day.


    Outside, the buzzing of cicadas, croaking of frogs and chirping of insects continued. Inside, the fan kept whirring.


    Sleeping early meant waking up early too. Wen Qian got up at 5 am the next day.


    The windows wererge and had no blinds. As day broke, she woke up but was toozy to get out of bed.


    She yed on her phone for a while then went back to sleep. When she woke up again, it was 7 am.


    Wen Qian crawled out of bed, washed her face and brushed her teeth. Then she took out two buns from her storage space to eat. She had stored these in her space when she was in An City some day, so they were still hot when taken out now.


    After spending a night at home, the only inconvenient thing was probably washing up and using the toilet.


    She nned to ask the Chen family how much cement, sand, bricks etc she would need to build one herself¡ªa tiled bathroom.


    The floor of Wen Qian¡¯s house used to be yellow earth, which waster coated with ayer of cement.


    Her family worked in the fields every day with muddy feet, so the cemented floor made things much easier.


    After people in the area built houses, they would only tile the second floor or bedrooms. Other ces still had cement floors. Later, they paved the yard in the front as well.


    This prevented it from getting muddy when it rained.


    It was still cool in the morning. After breakfast, Wen Qian started a fire outside to boil some water before going out to collect firewood.


    Holding a smooth bamboo stick in one hand with gloves on, she wore sneakers on her feet.


    Two years ago there was a freak tornado in this area. Everywhere the tornado went, the treetops were shaved off. Many branches were snapped while some, though not broken, shed all leaves the next year, clearly signifying the death of those branches.


    Many big trees around had bare branches sticking out in twisted shapes.


    That year when she came back to check on her house, other than two trees fallen near her home, and some branches strewn around because of the winds, her single-storey house nestled in the valley had no tiles blown off at all.


    She heard that in some viges, the makeshift iron sheet shelters built on top of second floors were entirely blown off by the winds, and many rooftop sr water heaters were damaged too.


    Then came the big windsst year, blowing down more of the bare branches left since two years ago.


    So when Wen Qian went out now she found firewood lying everywhere.


    Today she hauled some back. In her free timeter, she nned to gather all the fallen branches in this area.


    With hardly anyone left in the vige, there was firewood everywhere but no one to collect it.


    Wen Qian didn¡¯t go far. She just hauled some branches near the house back.


    Once home, she pushed the water pump switch on to check if it still worked. She would turn it on and pump some water every time she came back over the years.


    Hearing the water flowing sound from above, she turned off the pump. Holding a piece of cloth, she climbed up the small t-roofed house to wash the water tank.


    Wen Qian set up adder. Opening the stainless steel cover, she found half a tank of old water still inside. She tied a cloth to the bamboo pole and lowered it in to scrub inside, before letting the water out from the bottom instead of just draining to the ground. She had taken out some big buckets from her space below to collect the water.


    There were several cracks on the t roof. She had noticed signs of leakage downstairs too while cleaning yesterday. She needed to buy some asphalt from town to patch it up. Though it wouldn¡¯tst very long, some mending had to be done since she was staying here.


    Before that, Wen Qian tried not to ssh water on the t rooftop. After cleaning, she filled up the tank with water and threw in some disinfectant tablets.


    She wouldn¡¯t drink the first two tanks of pumped water, only using it for sanitary purposes. For now, the drinking water was the cheap bottled water she had panic-bought online.


    After some time when the well water was nearly finished, she would take out the huge water tanks purchased earlier to fill them up with well water.


    Seeing the weather getting hotter, Wen Qian dragged two bamboo beds that were in the stair gap to the rooftop tform. Propping up one side with a stool, the whole bed now nted downwards to the balcony edge for easy water drainageter.


    Just as Wen Qian was diligently scrubbing the bamboo beds, Auntie Chen shouted for her from downstairs. Looking down, she saw Auntie Chen holding a bamboo basket.


    On the steps were a small winter melon topped with frost, two young pumpkins, a handful of greens and a few green and red peppers.


    Wen Qian wasn¡¯t very close to the Chen family before. Perhaps Auntie Chen felt sad seeing her living alone here with an empty house and no food, hence the thoughtful gifts.


    Even if she wanted to buy vegetables from the Weekly Fair Market tomorrow, it would have to wait till the market opened. What could she eat today then?


    The vegetables currently avable in most kitchen gardens were limited. If they couldn¡¯t finish them, they would feed pigs or sell the veggies in town without making much money. Giving some to Wen Qian cost them nothing when the alternative was letting them go to waste. Moreover, the girl also brought grapes when she came over for meals.


    Hearing sounds from the room as she walked to the house side, Auntie Chen realised the TV was on but didn¡¯t see anyone around. Only after noticing the water sshing sounds from above did she spot Wen Qian on the rooftop. Auntie Chen told her toe over to her home gardenter to pick vegetables after finishing these, since timing mattered for some that had pesticides sprayed on them recently. She had to bring Wen Qian along for the picking.


    As Wen Qian was still busy cleaning, Auntie Chen didn¡¯t chat further and left after cing down the basket.

 Chapter 22

    Chapter 22


    Auntie Chen''s was the only vegetable garden in the vicinity that had not gone to ruin. The other vigers did not mind her nting in their gardens and fields as long as she let them know.


    If thend was left uncultivated, it would soon be overgrown. Some fields had weeds taller than Wen Qian. One could well imagine howborious it would be to reim themter.


    Auntie Chen grew more delicate vegetables in her own patch, while she nted a few pumpkins and winter melons in her neighbors'' plots. That was enough to cover the entire area.


    There were also loofah gourds. She grew some along the ridges near the houses. By the time they fruited, vines crawled all over the trees and thorn bushes.


    Now there were pumpkins and winter melons everywhere. If she harvested them all, they could form a small mountain. Fortunately, the two pigs she kept could take care of them.


    There were also silky gourds crawling all over the ce down the valley. The trees on both sides of Wen Qian''s house had old dried gourds hanging from them.


    Speaking of which, young gourds could be stir-fried or boiled in soup, while mature ones could be used as dishcloths. Wen Qian had heard that they used to serve as loofahs for bathing.


    In some ces, decoctions of gourd pulp could clear summer heat, though Wen Qian was unsure of the actual effects. She had only read about it online.


    Nevertheless, she quite enjoyed using them to wash dishes. She was also curious to try bathing with them. After all, they were all-natural, chemical-free, and needed no fertilizers or pesticides to grow lushly.


    There were still a few unpeeled mature gourds hanging on the kitchen wall. Wen Qian would peel and use them when she had time. She also nned to save some seeds in her storage space.


    After Wen Qian carried everything Auntie Chen had brought into the house, she ced the ingredients that needed refrigeration in the fridge and left the rest on the floor. She would cook them for dinner.


    Once the bedframe on the second floor was cleaned, Wen Qian opened it t to let the sun shine on the mattress.


    She then went downstairs, turned on the faucet by the water vat, and started scrubbing the vat and the nearby stovetop and pots.


    Although she had wiped the ceramic wall tiles yesterday, today she needed to clean out the iron pots and water vat, as well as the bowls and dishes in the cupboard.


    The wooden chopsticks had be hairy. She threw them all out and used disposable ones instead.


    It was the peak of summer. No chicks, ducklings or goslings could survive at this point, and seedlings were impossible to obtain.


    At this temperature, nothing could be grown either. As a result, Wen Qian felt rather listless doing nothing in the countryside.


    Yet people always needed something to upy themselves. Over the next few days, therefore, she set her agenda to be cleaning, tidying and gathering firewood.


    Once the water vat was cleaned, Wen Qian turned on the faucet to fill it. After washing the pots clean, she also filled them with water and put some firewood in the stove to keep the water warm.


    Wen Qian then took the pot lids outside to scrub off the soot. She left the wooden ones in the sun and put the stainless steel ones back on the pots.


    With these chores done, there were hardly any matches left in the house, save for some dry twigs. To start a fire, she would need pine fur or oak leaves.


    From the cattle shed, Wen Qian fetched Grandma''s tools for gathering tinder¨Da pine needle rake and a triple millet sieve.


    She was unable to maneuver the triple sieve properly under the pine tree. Next time, she would bring a bamboo basket or a woven bag instead.


    There was a thickyer of pine fur umted beneath the pine, as no one had been there to gather fire starter for years.


    Wen Qian raked up an apronful of fur and spread it out at the front door to dry before storing it in a corner of the kitchen as tinder.


    Pine fur caught fire easily with just a spark. With the addition of some small twigs, thicker branches could be added once the fire grew, followed by logs to sustain it. That was how the traditional brick stove worked¨Dthis wasmon knowledge for starting a fire back in the vige. Aside from pine fur, oak leaves were alsomonly used.


    The water in the pots came to a boil. Wen Qiandled it into buckets and brought it out to soak the bowls and dishes on the corridor bench.


    She would need to boil several rounds of water in the pots today to use for cleaning. This would also get rid of grime in the pots themselves.


    As it was hot out, Wen Qian nned to wash all the bowls clean then dry them in the sun before putting some away in her storage space.


    If not for the fact that the house shared a foundation with the ground, she reckoned she might try storing the entire building in there!


    The temperature quickly soared after 10 a.m. By that time, even the farmers would have retreated indoors to escape the scorching sun.


    The summer sun was merciless. It was asking for trouble to linger outdoors between noon and 3 p.m. One could easily get sunburnt.


    At least the current Wen Qian could not stand it. She had also heard of people being literally cooked alive in the heat.


    She took out a couple bottles of water frozen into ice cubes from the fridge and ced them in front of the electric fan to cool down a little.


    Grandpa used to spread a thin film on the floor of the main hall and sleep right on it to keep cool in summer. As a child, Wen Qian used to run around barefoot.


    Thinking of the elderly couple, Wen Qian decided she would go to town tomorrow to buy some paper offerings for them.


    For the next three hours she needed not step out. Lunch was the packed rice from her storage space.


    Having just eaten, she was not inclined to nap right away. So Wen Qian busied herself with some housekeeping.


    She nned to organize all the farming tools and containers like vats, buckets, and winnowing baskets in one spot.


    Any free space would be cleared, and whatever could fit would go into the cupboards.


    There was too much clutter in the house.


    Wen Qian hoped to keep her home tidy and sparse, with only the essentials and a couple decorative items¨Dnext to nothing else.


    It would be much easier to keep clean, pleasant to behold, and agreeable to the mood.


    A messy environment clouded one''s thoughts.


    Before getting started, Wen Qian tied a scarf around her head to keep dust from her just-washed hair. She was not about to soil the bed she would soon retire to.


    Even in summer, she was not keen on washing her hair daily. For one, she waszy, and for another, it was bad for the scalp.


    Of course she would still wash after sweating, to avoid odor issues that would banish her from her bed.


    The washing machine had been disinfected since yesterday and was now stationed at the corridor once more. Wen Qian collected all the bedsheets and quilts in the house for it to start working on.


    She hung someundry lines and propped up bamboo poles in the yard, for there was nock of sunlight in summer.


    Wen Qian also took out the winter clothes to sun. Some were hers, some Grandpa and Grandma''s¨Dshe could not bear to throw their things away so she had kept the wearable ones.


    She brought the winnowing baskets and vats out to sun and wash as well. There were all sizes of vats for storing rice, flour, fried peanuts and such. A decent variety of jars and crocks too.


    Wen Qian wondered where they hade from¨Dwhether they were store-bought or homemade.


    She had always felt these containers superior to stic boxes for storage, though they were a bit cumbersome.

 Chapter 23

    Chapter 23


    Wen Qian''s family''s yard used to be under a grove of trees, which like the big trees around were all willows. Later they were chopped down and sold, and thend was made into dry crond.


    After that, nobody nted there anymore since they had all gone out to work, and now willows were rented in the fields.


    Originally they were saplings as thick as thumbs, but now they had grown to be as thick as calves.


    Wen Qian only knew this after randomly scanning with her phone. She found out that the trees they called willows locally were actually called pors elsewhere.


    Their scientific name was acer negundo, and their leaves used tomonly be rubbed and put between toes to cure foot odor. It was a folk remedy, but now it''s discovered the leaves are toxic. They really can kill germs and mold, which is scientifically proven.


    Further down from the grove was Wen Qian''s family''s two plots of vegetable gardens, now overgrown with weeds.


    Below the vegetable gardens was a small D-shaped pond dam.


    Looking down from the dam, there were terraced fields of various shapes, extending all the way to Xiaochenwa, where there was a slightly bigger pond dam. Further down were more terraced fields.


    Standing in the middle of the dam, Wen Qian could already see the corner of Auntie Chen''s house.


    The terraced fields here were different from scenic terraced fields in other ces. The vertical drop of the fields here was only 2-3 meters, and the widths of the fields were also much wider.


    In the mountain valleys, it was difficult for harvesting machines and such to go up and down the terraces, so it could only be done manually. Only fields along rivers and roads were suitable for machinery.


    nting just a small area, a small machine was not very cost effective, so 3-4 families would share an ox for plowing.


    In recent years, some who had picked up and nted others'' fallow fields bought small machinery for those fields, but that was only along the creeks.


    Wen Qian had boiled the two pots in the kitchen several times, using the hot water to soak clothes, sheets, addingundry detergent to make more bubbles, then putting them into the washing machine to wash.


    A water pipe from the kitchen wall went to the washing machine, so after putting the clothes in, Wen Qian didn''t have to do anything else for theundry.


    Wen Qian tore up old clothes into strips, nailed them onto a wooden handle to make a mop, and mopped the cement floors all over the house.


    After finishing cleaning, Wen Qian wiped the dust off herself, changed into pajamas, and started her afternoon nap.


    Cleaning is so tiring!


    The weather was hot, so Wen Qian slept on a nket and mat on the floor, with an electric fan blowing on her. She thought to herself that in the future she should store some ice in her space, otherwise summertime would be so unbearable.


    After her nap, Wen Qian ate an ice cream, then took out a bit of meat and dumplings from her space and put them in the fridge.


    Although she had space, she still needed to keep some food in the house, in case someone came and saw there was no food, which would arouse suspicion.


    Thinking this, she also took out the leftovers she had - a small bag of rice, half a bag of instant noodles, half a pot of oil - all stuff left over from when she was in the city, and brought back here.


    Now all these were ced on the big table in the central room, as if she had brought them back herself in small boxes.


    Wencai''s fields were all near the house. The dry fields above the pond dam had long been overgrown with weeds, and the nearby bamboo grove was flourishing, with bamboo shoots sprouting along the surrounding paths and growing into bamboo stalks.


    Wen Qian was toozy to deal with it all. As for the good fields, they were all below the pond dam, three plots big and small in total. These three plots had always been nted by nearby families, originally for growing rice.


    Later when granny was alone, she only nted a small area for self subsistence, using the rest to grow other crops.


    After that, granny no longer had the strength to farm, so she asked people to help plow, and nted some peanuts, vegetables, radish herself.


    After granny passed away, Auntie Chen''s family from Xiaochenwa came to nt the fields.


    But they grew their rice right by their own house. Wen Qian''s fields were generally used to nt rapeseed, beans, sesame and such.


    Wen Qian felt that if her family''s fields were left fallow, they would just grow more weeds year after year, and be hard to nt again in the future.


    It was better to have others nting things there, at least keeping the soil loose.


    This year Auntie Chen''s family nted sesame. After they harvested it, Wen Qian nned to nt some herself - pay Uncle Chen to plow the field, then nt some radish, cabbage to get through winter.


    Having been away from the countryside for so long, Wen Qian could no longer remember the specific nting and harvesting times for crops, just the general seasons. She would follow Auntie Chen''s lead when the time came.


    But she should still study the farming calendar and sr terms well in private. She may have to do everything herself in the future, without anyone to ask.


    On the way home Wen Qian saw the golden rice paddies, and the neat rows of corn and sweet potato fields.


    In a while she nned to go to nearby viges to buy some produce to store.


    The corn and sweet potatoes from her hometown were mostly used to feed pigs.


    She still clearly remembered what pigs ate - originally it was pigweed foraged from the mountains, mixed with bran and wheat husks cooked together.


    Later pigs were also fed pumpkin vines, sweet potato vines, corn and sweet potatoes. In short, the meat of these homemade pigs was very good. Auntie Chen''s family raised two pigs.


    In Wen Qian''s hometown, most of what was grown was for people to eat a bit, and more to feed pigs. This was not a joke.


    In Wen Qian''s hometown, only rice, wheat and sweet potatoes would be sold. Some people came to the vige to buy produce too.


    Rice prices didn''t fluctuate much, and sweet potato prices were even lower.


    Corn was only nted moreter on. While young and tender it could be boiled for people to eat. When old, it was harvested and taken home to be processed into pig feed, cobs and all.


    Onlyrge scale farms on t ins could earn more money. In hilly regions like Wen Qian''s vige, with small family plots, you could avoid starving, but forget about saving money.


    When not busy, Auntie Chen and Uncle Chen would go out to do odd jobs - transnting rice seedlings, nting, building houses, chopping trees, collecting pine mushrooms and herbs in the mountains, catching river prawns, eels and loaches.


    These were also sources of ie, an inseparable part of life in their rural vige.


    That''s how it was - in years of bad harvests, ie would be even less.


    In the countryside, tiny bits of money were earned bit by bit like this. So many people went out for migrant work.


    To get rich in rural areas, you had to get involved in business. Just farming would definitely not lead to diligence and wealth.


    Wen Qian had also seen on TV that nting one specialty crop in a region - such as scallions, Sichuan pepper, kiwifruit - then building roads and opening markets, with unified nting, transportation and sales, required someone to lead, invest money and technology, and unite people, spending years to build up scale.


    Things like this Wen Qian could only watch on TV.

 Chapter 24

    Chapter 24


    That evening, Wen Qian was at home and used a charcoal stove to cook for the first time. She stir-fried a te of pumpkin and a te of greens, adding the braised pork and a small bowl of rice she had taken out from her personal space.


    When one person is cooking and eating alone, it''s a little bit at a time. Make too much and there will be leftovers, especially when cooking rice. Even using a slightly bigger rice cooker requires adding a little water to cover the bottom, and it still takes two meals to finish.


    Now that she had space, Wen Qian cooked a bit more at one time and divided it into portions so she wouldn''t have to cook every day.


    However, now that she had returned to her hometown, she was quite looking forward to trying cooking rice and congee on an earthen stove, things she normally couldn''t eat when away.


    But the stainless steel sieve hadn''t been washed yet, and she didn''t n on using the bamboo sieve if it couldn''t be washed clean. The tools to serve rice weren''t ready yet so it would have to wait.


    Although the things stored in her space gave her peace of mind, Wen Qian tried to arrange more things for herself to do every day so she wouldn''t sit idle.


    Wen Qian was somewhat pessimistic. The space had appeared suddenly, so it might disappear just as suddenly. The most important thing was still to maintain her own survival skills.


    As long as she learned how to survive, even if her space disappearedter she could still support her own life.


    The space was a reassurance, her secret, while also an obstacle to opening her heart to others.


    But Wen Qian had always been a bit of a loner. Most of the time she felt crowds were noisy.


    In a disaster environment, people could survive together with reliable family and friends, which would increase the chance of survival.


    But if there was someone among them with their own agenda, it would be even harder than surviving alone, having to worry about being stabbed in the back.


    Wen Qian was more inclined to go it alone.


    After dinner, Wen Qian went up to the t roof of the house. She spread bedding on the cool bed, nning to sleep outside tonight.


    She put up the mosquito she had previously purchased. It was self-supporting. She lit a coil of mosquito repent by the wall to keep the sleeping area protected, then went back downstairs to wash up.


    From August onward, the weather reports had shown no drop in temperatures. Returning home, she hadn''t seen rain either. Wen Qian wasn''t worried about getting rained on while sleeping outside at night.


    After washing, Wen Qian closed the doors and windows and went upstairs. She crawled under the mosquitoting andy down. The t roof was nice and cool.


    Worried the light from her phone would attract insects, Wen Qian set an rm. She yed music on her phone.


    Just like when she was little, looking up at the stars in the sky, connecting them and making shapes with her imagination.


    asionally the wind would blow, and the trees both near and far would make a rustling sound.


    Everything was back to the familiar nights of the past, when she hadn''t been alone.


    Rural areas had bigger differences between day and night temperatures. The nights were quite cold and there was a lot of dew.


    So Wen Qian put a light quilt over herself and slept soundly until dawn.


    At 6 am, her phone rm rang. Today she was going to the vige market so she had to set off early or else she''d have to walk if she missed the ride.


    Wen Qian immediately got up and put away all her things from the cool bed, then took out some fairly clean bedding she had picked up in her school dormitory and hung it out to air.


    Putting several mattresses on the cool bed meant the bedding would get sun while not damaging the bed. She also hung some barriers around the edges.


    After a round of zing sun the next day¡ªshe had picked up other people''s things after all¡ªWen Qian wanted to sun them a few more times.


    Later she would take them to the batting shop in town to be remade into nice thick quilts.


    That was how her family''s old cotton quilts were renewed, still soft as ever.


    Batting cotton took skill. Wen Qian wanted to get the bedding and such prepared early so she wouldn''t have to learn that herselfter.


    After getting this ready Wen Qian went downstairs, washed up, slung on a bag, and grabbed her phone, keys and wallet. She locked the door and went to Auntie Chen''s.


    Not wasting a second.


    It was 6:30 when Wen Qian arrived. The light was on at Auntie Chen''s ce and the front door open.


    Uncle Chen was on the porch, holding an eel basket and emptying eels. Traditional eel baskets were made of woven bamboo strips, though now there were simpler methods.


    Take arge empty orange juice bottle, cut off the bottom, and sew on a conical base. The eels could go in but not out.


    Puncture air holes near the bottle''s cap, and a simple eel basket was made.


    Every afternoon around four or five o¡¯clock, put some worms in as bait and lower the basket into an irrigation ditch with water. Mark the spot and return to collect the next morning.


    There were people in town buying these, and they paid well. Of course the price was even higher once they reached restaurant tables in the city.


    Auntie Chen had just finished feeding the chickens and was cooking pig feed over the fire when Wen Qian arrived. She hung the pot and came out.


    "I was just about to call you. You''re right on time, let''s go." She greeted her husband with a shout, picked up her basket, and headed out.


    Wen Qian walked alongside Auntie Chen down the road. Clearly Auntie Chen had tidied herself up for the trip to town, looking neat and clean. Wen Qian¡¯s grandmother used to do the same.


    Auntie Chen asked what she was buying in town. Wen Qian said she needed quite a lot, even toilet paper.


    "Sounds like you''re going to buy up the whole town." Auntie Chen talked about her own shopping list. She nned to buy a big grass carp and some cookies and snacks. They were out of salt and spices at home too.


    Locally, ¡°family fish¡± mainly referred to silver carp, also the cheapest fish.


    As they chatted, the two arrived at the threshing ground, formerly a public area for threshing in the vige. No one used it anymore. The cement road passed through here while the rest was overgrown.


    From home to here, Wen Qian¡¯s shoes were covered in dew. The early morning was still a little cold so she wore a light jacket.


    In the morning sunshine, Auntie Chen took a stic bag out of her basket and started pulling grass that grew along the edge of the cement road.


    "What''s this?" Wen Qian had never noticed it growing all along the road before, trailing on the ground.


    "No idea. Your Uncle Chen calls it curly grass. He saw someone collecting it where he sells medicine and said fresh is seven yuan a jin, dried over ten or twenty."


    There were many unidentified nts in the countryside that people called whatever they wanted.


    Wen Qian took out her phone to take pictures and do an image search. It turned out to be Lysimachia congestiflora, used in traditional medicine.


    When Auntie Chen saw Wen Qian identify it from her phone she was quite curious and asked how it worked.


    So Wen Qian downloaded an app for her. If they saw an unfamiliar nt they could take a photo and identify it. Most of the time it sessfully gave a name.


    Auntie Chen had a smartphone but all she knew how to use so far was making calls, sending texts, WeChat audio and the like.


    After her son got her unlimited data she learned to watch videos, but simrly, many random junk apps had umted on her phone.


    Wen Qian taught Auntie Chen how to use the app then kept deleting junkware to free up memory.


    Wen Qian had heard colleaguesin that cleaning parents'' phones was a huge chore. Now she understood what they meant.


    Just as Wen Qian handed the phone back to Auntie Chen, their ride arrived.

 Chapter 25

    Chapter 25


    What came was a half-enclosed three-wheeled vehicle with blue color. The front driving position had doors and windows, while the rearpartment was open.


    Auntie Chen greeted inside the car and then climbed up and sat down using her snake skin bag as a cushion, Wen Qian shared half of the space with her.


    After they sat down, Auntie Chen waved her hand to signal ready, then the driver started the vehicle.


    Because it was an openpartment, everyone sitting inside was blowing wind. Wen Qian thought thatter when it gets cold, they should just walk to the trifurcation and take the bread car. Blowing people catch a cold would not be good.


    There were three other people above, two women and one man, all looking in their sixties. Because the three-wheeler made loud noises when driving, they talked loudly in the wind.


    "Is this your daughter?" One of the elderly women wearing a flower cheongsam asked Auntie Chen while looking at Wen Qian.


    "No, she is Yuan Ao''s girl." Auntie Chen also answered loudly.


    "Oh oh." The other party''s expression showed exaggerated sudden realization, "Yuan Ao, that''s your upper one? The one alone? Wen Old Head and his wife picked up the girl?"


    "It''s not the one who said when the old man died, the girl ran away! I heard she went out to work and ran away! And didn''te back!" The hard-of-hearing old man who cut in still had a cigarette in his mouth.


    Wen Qian rolled her eyes in her heart. Really not considering the person involved was here at all.


    What kind of ran away or not, either the daughter-inw ran away or the girl ran away. If not seen, then say ran away.


    "Ai ya ya, where did you hear such words!" Auntie Chen scolded the old man in her heart for unable to speaking properly, "The girl got admitted to university and seldomes back as she stays there."


    The few people on the opposite side said "oh" to show that they understood.


    One olddy said, "Of course one studies in big cities if admitted to university. How can it be studied in the vige? What can be studied in the vige, Yellow Mud University! Carrying rod falls to the ground, horizontal is number one, vertical then nothing known!"


    Everyoneughed loudly.


    Wen Qian asked Auntie Chen directly, "Who are they? Where are they from?"


    Auntie Chen introduced them one by one to her, this is from which vige, this is from where.


    The people living here were scattered. Apart from those from the four or five gullies nearby that she was familiar with their faces, she did not know the others.


    There was only one whom she knew, the rest two were not from nearby gullies, so it was normal Wen Qian did not know them.


    The three-wheeler went uphill and downhill. Another person came up at the trifurcation. Then it took them all the way to town.


    After more than ten minutes, it stopped at the edge of town and dropped them off, with scheduled return before nine o¡¯clock.


    After that, Wen Qian split up from Auntie Chen.


    Wen Qian did not have anything particr to buy, could only said to buy while seeing.


    A river forms boundary, managed by different towns separated at two sides.


    Across the bridge is a town called Fengletown. This side of bridge is a vige called Liuhe Vige. Where they said go to town is just one street, starting from bus station at town opposite of bridge through bridge to this side¡¯s street corner.


    Wen Qian is from this side of Liuhe Vige. Liuhe Vige is managed by Pinghe Town. They need forty minutes ride and ten yuan bus fare to go Pinghe Town from their vige. It is such a hassle.


    Unless it is for school, hospitalization, or applying documents, people nearby won¡¯t easily go. As they are near Fengletown, they shop or save money on this side, anyway the supermarket, bank are avable in the town center.


    All stalls concentrate at this one street, with first floor of residential buildings at both sides bing shops, opened to all sorts of stores.


    Wen Qian crossed the bridge and stopped at a stall selling steamed mungbean flour pancakes, she missed it for so long.


    The steamed mungbean flour pancakes are called "fa mian pian pian" based on local dialect here. Mungbean flour and water added with yeast powder are proofed twice. Water is applied on surface then stick onto pan. Leave some water at pan bottom then steam to cook.


    Different from "mo mo" or steamed bun, one side is crispy while other side is soft.


    Some other ces call the mungbean pancake "pian pian" use glutinous rice flour to make, also different.


    Wen Qian basically did not see such breakfast sold at An City.


    Already many waited in front of the stall, with big and small revolving pots with wheels, covered by cone-shaped pot lids.


    The small pot was ready, started to collect money and distribute pancakes.


    Smaller one was one yuan and fifty cents each, bigger one was three yuan each. So Wen Qian directly told the shopkeeper she wanted ten big ones, to takeawayter. The other party agreed and Wen Qian made mobile payment before leaving.


    Wen Qian bought two packs of salts, stopped by pig meat stall to take three pork ribs and one piece of pork belly with fiveyers.


    The butcher shop owner knew Wen Qian, asked her what she currently does. Wen Qian said she was clerk but recently resigned. Then owner did not ask further.


    Owner''s child and Wen Qian were primary and middle school ssmates. ssmate already married when Wen Qian had not graduated from university yet.


    Then, bought one bamboo sifter, one pannier, and oneundry basket from the bamboo artisan grandpa stall. Asked Auntie Chen beforehand so knew the rough prices, was not overcharged during purchase due to being a young adult.


    Wen Qian asked if he had been setting stall at the spot. He nodded, said the space behind his stall belonged to his son''s store, so had been here for long term.


    Wen Qian felt she may frequent purchase in future, thus asked about bulk purchase discount possibility. Owner smiled seemingly not believing she would buy a lot.


    Wen Qian went into an alley at roadside holding the stuff, towards the past location making cotton-padded mattress. Found the one-floor-and-a-half house roof tiles copsed down entirely.


    Looked around without any people, Wen Qian put all stuff into her space, only holding theundry basket. Went to the spot with people, she asked and knew the shop had relocated.


    Wen Qian came to ask for the price per jin using their home cotton or kapok cotton,bor fees, and inquiry details, before going to take pancakes.


    On the way back to take pancakes, Wen Qian saw fish stall and bought one jin grass carp at four yuan and fifty cents per jin.


    Returning, the packed pancakes were ready. Wen Qian put into theundry basket, fish held separately.


    She looked roughly around what weremonly sold at the street, seemingly no urgency on particr purchase, so went to street side to wait for ride.


    Auntie Chen was also there when arriving. Surprised at Wen Qian''s amount of pancake purchase, "Why you buy so many? Moreover all big ones?"


    "I''ll store to slowly eat over time." Wen Qian put two into small packs to Auntie Chen, "These are for you and Uncle Chen."


    Auntie Chen first reaction was to reject. She only asionally goes to town to buy some pancakes and fried dough sticks, normally would have breakfast at home.


    Wen Qian did not let her reject and directly stuffed into her basket.


    After she requested Auntie Chen help watch over her stuff, while she buys paper goods and incense at shop near bridge, with Auntie Chen naturally happy to help.


    Wen Qian noticed the town has express delivery station, also some shops have delivery tform receiving points.


    Shop owner told her delivery here can only send to town offices, address needs to write Fengletown instead of Liuhe Vige, otherwise the delivery would be sent to Pinghe Town instead.


    Wen Qian thought it convenient for herself to buy goods in future. Hence purchased some more snacks from the shop owner.


    Returning with the goods, happened to encounter the three-wheeler came over when Auntie Chen lifting her stuff onto vehicle. The three-wheeler driver called Chen Lin, almost forty years old, living at Dachenwa. He knew Wen Qian and asked how long she would stay at hometown.

 Chapter 26

    Chapter 26


    Almost everyone who met Wen Qian felt that she could not stay in the countryside for too long. In their opinion, the countryside was a ce for retirement and returning to one''s roots.


    Young people like her would live in towns or cities even if they got married and had children, rather than returning to live in such a remote and isted mountain vige.


    It was too quiet and boring here, with no way to make money, just repeating the same farm work day after day and the same mundane family life.


    Wen Qian told Chen Lin that she was not sure when she would leave.


    Chen Lin thought she would stay in her hometown for the second half of this year, so he said, "It''s fine to have fun at home for a while, just think of it as a long vacation. It won''t be toote to find a job after New Year."


    However, he felt that young people couldn''t stand staying so long. They would definitely want to go to towns and cities to have fun in between. After all, the vige was too boring.


    Chen Lin used to work outside, but had to frequentlye back to help out with the farm work as his elderly parents at home needed care. His child was still attending school in town, so he simply started raising sheep and cattle in his hometown.


    However, the ce where he grazed his sheep and cattle was not in Dachenwa, but rather much farther away in the mountain gullies. So some of the people he picked up in his car in the morning were strangers to Wen Qian.


    During the conversation, Chen Lin also showed her the sheep and cattle on his farm through the surveince video on his phone. After seeing that he could monitor his sheep and cattle from anywhere with this, Wen Qian asked if the vige had inte ess now.


    Chen Lin shook his head. Other than Liuhe Vige which had more people making it easier to ess the inte through wired connections, it was very difficult to get wired inte ess in other mountain gullies. At least five households would need to apply together for it.


    So that was the issue. There weren''t even five households in a ravine. Running wires that extensively would be too demanding.


    What Chen Lin used was the mobile inte on his own phone.


    Wen Qian had an inexpensive phone n. Once her data usage exceeded a certain amount, there would be no additional charges, only slower speeds. This had little impact for Wen Qian.


    There were two seats in the cab. The one in the front passenger seat was Auntie Chen from Chen Lin''s vige. When she saw Wen Qian, she asked if Wen Qian found a husband''s family yet.


    Wen Qian shook her head. Auntie Chen then started asking her what her criteria was for finding a husband''s family, but Wen Qian just said she had no particr preference.


    Auntie Chen then began giving her the "I understand, you''re shy" kind of look.


    Chen Lin interrupted to ask Auntie Chen if she bought the medicated ointment. Auntie Chen suddenly remembered and hurried off to buy it.


    "Young people don''t like staying in the vige. One reason is it''s not fun here. Another is the elders always nagging them with questions," said Chen Lin with augh.


    Auntie Chen added, "That''s right. My family used to just turn our heads away whenever we were asked too many questions. Being nagged too much just makes young people dislike you."


    Chen Lin said, "Nowadays young people get marriedte. In the past, they would start looking at seventeen or eighteen years old. At twenty-five they would say they are getting too old. Now twenty-five is when they start looking, and it''smon to only get married at thirty."


    Auntie Chen replied, "We got married at eighteen. Our weddings had shadow puppet shows. Times have changed!"


    These two clearly understood that each generation was different, so they were not being overly judgmental in what they said or how they acted. They were quite adaptable to the times.


    Wen Qian just listened quietly from the side while continuing to help Auntie Chen organize files on her phone, asionally chiming into the conversation. The discussion topics ranged from appropriate marriage age to the difficulties of raising children nowadays.


    Auntie Chen''s son was married but had no children yet. She wanted to understand the challenges of raising kids today in advance, worried that she might not be able to keep up with the times and annoy the young couple in the future.


    When it was time, Chen Lin started driving.


    It was the same people on the ride back, just that everyone had bought a lot more things. For them, going to town might only happen once or twice a week, sometimes even just once every two weeks. Naturally they would buy plenty when they did go to town.


    After nine o''clock, Wen Qian arrived at the threshing ground. She and Auntie Chen walked back home together. Along the way, Auntie Chen told her about other nearby viges and families.


    There was only Wen Qian left in Yuanao. Xiaochenwa just had Auntie Chen and her husband. There was another who worked outside with irregr hours and hadn''t returned from his son''s ce in town yet.


    There used to be eight or nine households in Dachenwa, now there were only two couples, Auntie Chen, and Chen Lin.


    There was another household in their vige that only had an old man. His son sent him to a nursing home in the city.


    While working, the son also took care of his father. But his father''s mental state was declining, so he was admitted into the nursing home.


    From Auntie Chen''s gossiping tone, Wen Qian learned that this old man did not get along well with his daughter-inw in the past.


    Whenever his daughter-inw was making noodles at home, he would nag her, saying they were too long, too wide, too thick...no matter what she did, he would find fault and nitpick without lifting a finger to help.


    His son always took the stance that he should be grateful to have his own father raising him, and did nothing to stop his father''s behavior, until his wife waspletely exasperated.


    In the end, she took their child and left too.


    Only when the old man had a stroke in his advanced age did the son panic and frantically try to get his wife back. But she was now working hard to raise their child on her own and very content with her life. She had no desire whatsoever to return.


    "When an elder shows no virtue, at fifty they still have the energy to nitpick; at sixty they can still herd cattle and feed pigs, always bragging about not relying on anyone! At seventy their health takes a turn for the worse. Aha! Only now do they shed tears and beg for forgiveness, but it''s toote!" said Auntie Chen.


    Wen Qian knew she was not only talking about that other family, but also her own family.


    Auntie Chen married into the family. Her mother-inw had three sons. She favored the eldest and doted on the youngest, but for some reason did not like her second son, Auntie Chen''s husband.


    One can imagine how much grievance and tears she suffered in her youth. Yet in the end, her mother-inw still died in her second son''s home.


    The other two treasured sons had no intention of properly caring for their old mother. Just before her death, she deliberately confessed remorsefully in front of her second son that she had done wrong her whole life and now no one was by her side in her final moments.


    In the end, it was still Second Uncle Chen who brought her home to personally care for her. At that time, although Auntie Chen still held resentment, she did not object.


    Wen Qian had heard bits of this story during the funeral feast at their home in the past. After all, it was a small vige and many things were publicly known.


    Whether it was the elders recounting the past or telling ghost stories, it repeated every now and then just like the animal programs on television.


    As Wen Qian listened to Auntie Chen telling her all this, sheforted her, "Auntie, you have a kind heart. Even if your mother-inw did wrong, as long as you have a clear conscience, that''s good enough. Your children are now very filial to you too. That''s wonderful, isn''t it?"


    As soon as Auntie Chen heard about her children, her expression rxed. "That''s true. My two kids are pretty good. But I don''t meddle in those young people''s affairs. My husband and I work hard so we can feed ourselves without being their burden. It would be even better if we can leave them something when we pass."


    "All parents think that way," said Wen Qian. She often heard people at funerals discussing what the deceased left for their children. Those aging folks greatly hoped they could leave more for their children after they died, as they cared a lot about their posthumous reputations.


    When they arrived at her home, smoke was still billowing from Auntie Chen''s kitchen. It seemed like Second Uncle Chen was waiting to eat with her.


    Wen Qian bid them goodbye and continued uphill.


    In her opinion, when one died, everything ceased to be. She did not care what others thought of her after death. But it seemed like the elders, or rather their descendants, cared a great deal.


    One of Auntie Chen''s uphill neighbors had a water dispute with the household below them, resulting in a decade-long feud where they refused to interact.


    Finally, when someone in one family passed away and they held a funeral, they still went to invite the other family to attend. Why? Because they feared gossip.


    What kind of gossip?


    They feared others would say the deceased was so petty and malicious in life, yet adhering to the tradition of putting the dead first, even their own neighbors refused to attend their funeral after death. Clearly this reflected very poorly on the deceased''s character in life.


    Thus that family''s children swallowed their pride and begged the other family toe. And although the other family was very reluctant, they still ended up coerced into attending by everyone appealing to them with titudes like "the deade first."


    Afterwards people optimistically felt that this could be an opportunity for the two families to reconcile.


    But Wen Qian felt that the other family was extremely aggrieved. She thought this way because she sat at the same table with them during the funeral feast.

 Chapter 27

    Chapter 27


    After returning home, Wen Qian unpacked and organized her belongings. She sat at the table and poured herself a ss of cold water, then ate some rice cakes with the water. She couldn''t finish arge rice cake after eating two-thirds of it.


    Wen Qian ced paper and incense in a basket, and also put a sickle inside. With the door slightly ajar, she headed up the mountain. Her grandparents were buried near their home, and as she walked up the narrow path, it was now overgrown with weeds and thorns. Wen Qian used the sickle to clear the way.


    She focused mainly on cutting branches and thorns, while the weeds could be trampled down on the ground. Wen Qian made a lot of noise, alerting any hidden snakes in the process.


    On a small hill, slightly elevated, Wen Qian could see a stream stretching out below. The spot was originally chosen by her grandfather so that he could see their home, the fields, and the vige. Later, her grandmother was buried there as well.


    Wen Qian arrived at the gravesite and ced her things down. She cleared the surrounding weeds in a circle with the sickle, and then burned some paper as an offering.


    For her, this was an annual activity. She didn''te back specifically for the Qingming Festival; whenever she had free time, she would make a trip home to check on the condition of her ancestral home and the two graves, while also burning some paper.


    To Wen Qian, these were the things she cared about when she returned to her hometown. She took out her cellphone and yed some traditional operas.


    On the grass, Wen Qian burned paper bit by bit, with the cellphone ying the favorite operas of the elderly. She spoke to the mes, addressing her words to the two departed souls.


    The sun was shining down on her, making her feel a bit hot. In a soft voice, Wen Qian recounted the things she had experienced in An City during this period of time.


    Then she shared her ns for the future, mentioning that she might leave the vige at some point, so she wanted to inform the departed souls in advance.


    There were many things she used to be unwilling to share with others because it was pointless; she had to rely on herself for everything. But now, even if she spoke up, it wouldn''t make a difference, or it might even bring danger. So she could only share these things with the two deceased elders.


    After the paper burned out, Wen Qian sat in a shady ce nearby for a while, making sure there was no danger of a fire before leaving.


    Every year, there were forest fires caused by improper burning of paper, and Wen Qian didn''t want to burn down the woods during this hot season.


    Wen Qian went to the street and took a look at the things being sold, but she didn''t have any idea of what to buy yet.


    When she returned home, she took out a notebook and wrote down her future shopping ns. She realized that she needed to buy many things such as bamboo baskets,rge iron pots, and stainless steel items.


    If she were a skilled bamboo weaver, making bamboo baskets would be a breeze. But Wen Qian didn''t think it would be that easy for her. So she decided to buy these skill-oriented items in advance to save herself from strugglingter on. She didn''t want to spend time making tools only to find out that she couldn''t produce the same quality or better than what others made.


    For her, preparing the tools in advance meant she wouldn''t have to spend time making them in the future.


    After writing down some items, Wen Qian took out a water storage tank she had bought and cleaned it before cing it in the room to drain.


    Wen Qian nned to save some water every day. Drawing water from the well and replenishing it takes time, and in the countryside, apart from a little electricity, there isn''t much else to pay for.


    However, in the city, stockpiling arge amount of water would raise suspicions and prompt inquiries. Wen Qian didn''t know how to exin it, and the water bill would also soar.


    Coincidentally, the weather was hot at the moment, so during noon when Wen Qian was at home, she would draw and store water every day. In the countryside, all she needed to pay was the electricity bill.


    Aside from storing water, there was another important matter: repairing the toilet. Wen Qian had Chen Lin''s contact information, so she inquired about where to buy cement and sand. Chen Lin said his family had extra bricks, and Auntie Chen had sand. As for the cement, Chen Lin gave her the address.


    Chen Lin knew that she wanted to repair the toilet at home and offered to help by bringing back two bags. Wen Qian entrusted the task to Chen Lin.


    Chen Lin was a practical person, and since Wen Qian was an acquaintance, things were quickly arranged.


    When he asked who she had hired to build it, Wen Qian pointed to herself.


    Chen Lin was surprised. "Are you saying you want to build a toilet by yourself? How long will that take? Can you build a house? Even if it''s just stacking bricks, you have to learn."


    Wen Qian replied, "If that''s the case, why don''t you be the master craftsman? Can you do it? Name your price, and I''ll just hire you as the master craftsman."


    So Chen Lin readily agreed, saying, "Then I''ll do it. Let''s go with the price the local craftsmen charge. How big should it be? Where should it be built?"


    Afterward, Chen Lin followed Wen Qian around inside and outside the house.


    Both of them were young people who certainly didn''t like dry toilets. Chen Lin''s toilet at home was spacious, almost half the size of a room, with separate areas for bathing, washing clothes and faces, and using the toilet.


    He didn''t know if it should be built in the original room of the house or next to a wall.


    "Well, it depends on where it''s easier to dig the pit for drainage and waste. Dig it below your doorstep. Where should we dig the trench and bury the pipes? We''ll build it where it''s most convenient."


    So Chen Lin suggested that she build the toilet behind the kitchen or in the stairwell.


    Finally, they decided to build it in the stairwell. This way, they only needed to add one wall and a door, raise the floor and install a squat toilet, and alsoy some ceramic tiles and connect a water pipe.


    Wen Qian wanted it to be simple, just a squat pit with tiles, without a shower, heated hand-washing basin, only a light and a faucet.


    Chen Lin negotiated the wage, and they agreed that Wen Qian would provide him with lunch every day at noon. Thus, the matter was settled, and the next day, he came to build the wall.


    Wen Qian bought a cheap stic folding sliding door online, the type that doesn''t require drilling holes. She could install it herself and take it downter.


    The next day, Chen Lin finished building the wall in the morning.


    At noon, Wen Qian prepared three dishes and a soup for him, including fish and meat, and also brought a can of beer.


    Chen Lin smiled and said she was quite good at cooking. He had initially thought she would ask Auntie Chen to help with the cooking.


    In the afternoon, they started to dig trenches and bury pipes. The pipes followed the back gutter and went towards the side, following the downward slope. They didn''t need to dig deep, just enough to cover the pipes with soil and prevent them from leaking out.


    As for digging a pit, there''s no need. It can be directly connected to the original toilet pit. If Wen Qian wants to demolish that toilet, she can do it herself. Afterwards, just cover it with two cement boards.


    The next day, fill the ground, install the squat toilet, test the water flow, and tile the walls.


    On the third day, tile the floor and finish up.


    The progress was swift, and Wen Qian soon had a simple squatting pit at home. As for the outdoor dry toilet, Wen Qian didn''t have time to demolish it for the time being. It can be dealt withter.


    Afterpleting everything, Wen Qian started using this ce as a toilet and shower two dayster. Finally, thefort level improved a little.


    Auntie Chen came to see themotion andmented that their family had already made things convenient like this.


    At noon, Wen Qian cooked and invited two people from Auntie Chen''s family to have a meal. Auntie Chen hesitated a bit, but Wen Qian insisted and said to let Uncle Chen apany them and have a drink with Chen Lin.


    Auntie Chen thought about it and agreed. So, the two of them came for lunch, and Auntie Chen even helped Wen Qian with cutting vegetables and starting the fire.

 Chapter 28

    Chapter 28


    As we watched, the hot weather persisted without rain. The highest temperature rose from the original thirty-eight degrees to forty-one.


    At dinner, Chen Lin and Uncle Chen also talked about how the weather had not been good recently, with no rain from the heavenly lord, making things difficult for the farmers.


    They could only roll up cables and water pipes to fetch water from the river, sometimes having to fetch water in the middle of the night too.


    Since the couple were both at home, they nted a little more rice at home.


    However, looking at how things were this year, the harvest would not amount to much.


    Auntie also said that this summer was hot, so winter could be very cold.


    The idioms about weather and sr terms that she uttered casually reminded Wen Qian of her own grandmother.


    When Wen Qian was little, she would hear her grandfather and grandmother talk about phenomena rted to the three fu sr terms and the three jiu days.


    Wen Qian asked her, ¡°If it gets cold, Auntie, will you burn coal at home?¡±


    Uncle Chen replied, ¡°Of course we¡¯ll burn it. In winter when it¡¯s warmer we¡¯ll burn less, but in winter when it¡¯s colder we¡¯ll burn more. We can even sell it when it¡¯s colder since the price will be higher.¡±


    ¡°I told your Uncle Chen this year that we need to burn more, since our son maye back to celebrate New Year this year.¡±


    ¡°When it¡¯s time to burn, call me over and I¡¯lle learn how to burn some too.¡± Wen Qian made an appointment with them.


    The ce for burning coal was at the small Chen Wa Dyke by the pond. There was a two to three meter high ridge, with the water''s edge on a sloping bank below, very suitable for firing an earthen kiln.


    At that time, people nearby had dug an earthen kiln there for firing bricks, green tiles and charcoal. Later, after a long time when no one fired at that ce anymore, it was abandoned.


    Until nearly two years ago, Auntie Chen said her family nned to burn charcoal themselves, so they cleared out the stuff again. Burning it oncest year, it looked not bad, so they prepared to burn more charcoal twice this year.


    Wen Qian asked them what kind of timber they needed to prepare. Auntie Chen told her what trees were best, how thick and long, and asked her to prepare before winter came, and bring her along to burn when the time came.


    Wen Qian said she had never seen burning done before, so she could film the process at that time.


    Auntie Chen still felt it was quite novel but also somewhat embarrassed. Young people nowadays were so creative, Wen Qian called this sharing life.


    Previously online Wen Qian had often seen some people¡¯s recordings of rural life experiences and some outdoor survival. At that time she thought that if she returned home, apart from stocking up on supplies she would have nothing else to do, so she wanted to try filming videos, taking advantage of still having inte ess now to upload them online.


    Wen Qian was the kind of person who acted as soon as she spoke. Taking her phone, she filmed some footage like going up the mountain to gather pine needles and oak leaves anding back, as well as the process of gathering small branches and kindling in the hills. She edited them into short videos to upload online.


    She even bought another phone and tablet online to use and store videos.


    At the same time she bought a cheap audio recorder. Although she did not have much money left she still wanted to spend this bit, so she bought affordable but functional devices as much as possible.


    Her main reason for buying the audio recorder was that initially online she often listened to white noise to sleep, like sounds of strong wind, the babbling of a brook, and croaking frogs on a summer night.


    There were bird calls in a mountain valley, but what she liked most was white noise with thunder in heavy rain.


    For her this was very reassuring. Now she was back at her rural hometown, yet there was not a drop of rain let alone thunder. So all she could do was record sounds like the evening wind in the woods, cicada calls, cricket chirps and frog croaking to make do.


    She did not know if anyone online could watch the videos or if they could bring in ie, but she just wanted to record them anyway, since she had to be doing something everyday.


    One day when she was bored, she recorded a two hour long video of gathering kindling.


    It only had the picture of her scrabbling about in the yard gathering kindling with her hands and feet, with the crackling sounds, andmentary in the bullet screen saying it was very soothing and soporific.


    So afterwards Wen Qian¡¯s videos featured sounds of climbing mountains and walking, the tuk-tuk-tuk of drawing well water, the sounds of gathering pine needles on the hills, as well as sounds of stacking firewood and boiling water in the yard and recordings from the earthen stove door of burning brushwood.


    Apart from sounds, there were also videos identifying nts. Wen Qian would often grab some grasses she did not recognize on the hills and identify them with her phone camera. Some she recognized herself and could name in the local dialect, while some had no names whatsoever.


    Some people watched Wen Qian¡¯s white noise and hillside firewood beating videos identifying nts.


    asionally they would leavements, missing the rural childhood they had spent in viges themselves.


    After all, many people had spent childhoods in the countryside before moving to cities as adults, so seeing Wen Qian use an earthen stove, gather firewood, identify various nts in the hills, they would feel nostalgic.


    In mid August, temperatures remained high without falling, mostly sunny days with some cloudy days, but stillpletely without rain.


    Wen Qian noticed from watching the news everyday that not only the local countryside and An City, but even the whole An Province and surrounding provinces were experiencing varying degrees of drought and high temperatures.


    In previous years even with high temperatures there would also be heavy rain. Sometimes there would be annual flood prevention measures taken in some river basins. But this year the rivers were dried up from upstream to midstream and downstream without heavy rain or flooding anywhere.


    Auntie Chen said it was strange how if things carried on like this even the grain harvest would be bad and grain prices could even rise. Her family was not nning to sell any grain but to keep it stored up instead.


    Wen Qian greatly admired that elderly people in the countryside would always store up grain no matter how good or bad the harvest was. And there would always be a stockpile of rice in the family granary, kept in case of running out of food someday, since they had truly experienced periods of starvation before.


    After all her elders at home often quoted old sayings like ¡°Fine streams flow long, full granariesbat famine¡± teaching people to prepare for adversity in advance.


    Because of the heat there was no air-conditioning in Wen Qian¡¯s home and she did not n on buying any. At night she would sleep on the t house roof, while resting inside a shaded room during the day.


    In various novels and videos Wen Qian came across the traditional method of making ice with niter. So she started searching online for relevant videos and methods.


    She finally discovered that most people were just recounting ancient stories and methods, with very few attempts at applying them in modern society, and those were failures.


    She searched online again. The niter for sale was mainly medical grade nitre for use in traditional Chinese medicine, not the traditional niter that could be used to make ice.


    However some people also said that ancient methods of producing this substance were extremely rare. Now even with mastered production techniques its channels of sale were also regted. Without qualifications like entering a chemistrypetition, pharmaceutical production or being a chemicals enterprise it was basically impossible to obtainrge quantities of raw materials.


    So Wen Qian looked up prices online, and found pharmacies selling them for hundreds of yuan per jin (0.5kg). Many individuals buying them for medical use would only purchase 50-100g.


    Unable to meet the criteria, Wen Qian gave up on the idea. She decided to store more ice herself in winter instead.


    There was no way she could make ice with niter after all.

 Chapter 29

    Chapter 29


    In August, Wen Qian was on the mountain picking mugwort everywhere, this is a kind of nt often taken to sell in the countryside, both wet and dry are fine.


    When Auntie Chen was free, she would also go around picking, even going to the remote valleys in the mountains to pick.


    Sometimes Wen Qian would go with her, each looking for a ce, but absolutely staying within shouting distance of each other.


    The two could go together to pick, but Wen Qian only went with her to sell mugwort once, the rest she dried on the roof and stored it.


    Wen Qian really liked the smell of mugwort, and she also liked using mugwort to soak in water for bathing.


    When she was little, whenever she grew lumps or itchy spots on her body, her grandparents would give her a mugwort bath, which was good for her skin.


    It didn''t rain at all throughout August, so many provinces had power shortages, including Ontario which was usually abundant in water and electricity. Now because of the depletion of water resources, high electricity demand caused tight electricity supply.


    Many ces turned off their night lights, air conditioning electricity was tight, why keep ornamental ones on.


    Shopping malls in many cities also had rolling ckouts floor by floor, which showed the severity of this heat wave drought.


    There were rolling ckouts in many ces, even the industrial park where Wen Qian used to work had two ckouts, eachsting a day, because residential electricity usage had to be prioritized.


    These were what her former colleagues told her. In mid August they still contacted Wen Qian twice, because there were some unclear handover issues at work passed onto her colleagues so they came to ask her.


    When they heard that Wen Qian was living at home without looking for a job, they even expressed envy. Wen Qian just said she would be back next year.


    As for rural areas, ckouts became the norm, basically every week there would be one or two ckouts.


    From 8am to 8pm like this. Fortunately it wasn''t several days in a row.


    Otherwise with fridges in rural households now, too long of an outage would also cause problems.


    And because of the hot and dry drought and little rain, like Ontario, some ces in hot provinces also had sporadic mountain fires.


    The vige party secretary here also started going to every household to urge fire prevention.


    Wen Qian also cleared the weeds in front of and behind her house, and picked up all the firewood on the mountain.


    However this was not just a phenomenon in some ces in one country, it also happened in other countries.


    Online people were saying the climate was abnormal, this year''s climate went from bad to worse.


    ces that were supposed to be flood prevention, now became drought resistance, ces that weren''t supposed to rain, now had torrential flooding.


    Whenever times were like this, people would start saying the world has be hard mode.


    Some people also said wait until next year people would still say the same, just like teachers always say the ss they teach this year is the worst ss.


    August ended, Wen Qian summed up what she did this month.


    She went to town alone and bought a lot of tools, including everything on her list like sickles, she bought several more, as well as some stainless steel tools and bamboo containers.


    She built a new toilet.


    At the same time Wen Qian also stored a lot of water in the water tanks she bought for home, no matter how severe the drought she wouldn''t be thirsty.


    Wen Qian also gathered a lot of oak branches on the mountain, the side branches with leaves she left on the mountain to dry then she would bundle them back home, oak branches with leaves burned very well.


    The dried oak branches, Wen Qian also stored some in the shed, the rest she put in the pig pen.


    The arm-thick oak branches needed to be air dried for a period of time. When Uncle Chen''s family made charcoal, she could go learn with them. In the future she could make some charcoal herself and store it, only leaving some outside.


    September was still mid August in the lunar calendar. A kind of fruit called August melon ripened in the countryside.


    Opening it the white flesh wrapped ck seeds inside, very sweet and sticky. If there were no seeds, the texture would be a bit like banana, but there were just too many seeds.


    Whenever these August melons ripened, her grandparents would pick some to bring back.


    Picked when they were about to split, brought home they would split open on their own.


    If they split open on the vines, then the fragrance would attract all kinds of bugs and birds to feast.


    Then humans could not eat them.


    Just as Wen Qian was only eating them as fruit, Auntie Chen went around looking for these fruits to pick.


    Unbroken ones could be sold. There were buyers at the purchasing stations in town. They wouldter slice and dry them, it seemed to also be a medicinal ingredient.


    Speaking of which, everything that could be foraged from the rural mountains could be medicine, everything could be sold.


    Uncle Chen often could not name these nts. He just saw what the nts looked like at the purchasing stations, then relied on memory to look for them when he came back.


    When free, they would go into the mountains to look for these things, ording to the purchasing stations'' requirements whether they wanted wet, dry, or fried, to sell. The prices were pretty good.


    Wen Qian was also looking for these things, just she was using them to make videos and photos, to introduce the nts growing in her surroundings to everyone.


    Many peoplemented below these nts'' dialect names in their local regions, the dialect terms were all different in each ce.


    Of course, if one really wanted to use these things to make money in the countryside, the money earned would really be hard-earned money.


    You''d have to traverse the woods and mountains, climb up and down the mountains, and also watch out for snakes, insects, rats and venomous bees.


    A nearby vige''s elderly, just trying to pick wild chrysanthemum flowers to sell for money, then identally falling into a pit and breaking bones.


    Now nothing they sold would be enough for medical fees, leaving the children sighing, and having someonee back specially to take care of the elderly.


    Yet the elderly''s original intention was just to supplement their own living expenses right?


    All the way until the end of September, the lowest temperature reached 17, 18 degrees, gradually as the temperature dropped people in cities didn''t need air conditioning, electricity supply was finally not so tight.


    At home Wen Qian also greatly reduced her use of electric fans, her time able to stay outdoors became longer.


    In mid September Wen Qian nted vegetables with Auntie Chen. Although it was still very dry, there was now a big difference between day and night temperatures, so there was a lot of morning dew.


    Wen Qian''s field and Auntie Chen''s were both plowed by Uncle Chen. Only now did Wen Qian know that the Chen family also had a small shallow plow machine.


    So Wen Qian paid some money for oil andbor, and treated Uncle Chen and Auntie Chen to a meal, asking them to help plow her field.


    What greens they would eat in winter depended on Wen Qian''s seed sowing skills now.

 Chapter 30

    Chapter 30


    Wen Qian mainly followed Auntie Chen to learn, while also filming the nting process.


    Feeling a little shy, Wen Qian sent her videos showing her face to Auntie Chen to watch herself, while only publishing the audio without showing her face online.


    After nting well herself, Auntie Chen went to Wen Qian''s home. The seeds were all bought by Wen Qian herself, plus the seeds from previous years that Auntie Chen had kept.


    Wen Qian was nting while Auntie Chen instructed at her side, sometimes even getting her hands dirty herself.


    Auntie Chen told her that the seedlings would emerge before long.


    Radishes and cabbages were the main winter vegetables, great for hot pot or pickling.


    Auntie Chen said vegetables grew quickly and abundantly. Wen Qian only needed to nt one field, she didn''t even need to nt any if she just came to pick them from Auntie Chen''s home.


    Even nting just one field would be enough to eat, with some leftover. But unexpectedly Wen Qian had nted three fields.


    Only Wen Qian herself knew clearly, with the ability to nt, she stored these in her dimension space to eat for a long time.


    But there was only one short rain the entire September, meaning it had been dry for two months straight.


    An Province had already issued a red drought warning in early September, and of course it still hadn''t eased up, with the drought also worsening in other ces.


    The pond by Wen Qian''s door only had a bit of water left, and that was without anyone drawing water here.


    In ces where people drew water, the ponds had long dried up, even the nearby streams had be small puddles.


    From upstream to downstream they were all in a sorry state.


    Because there was so little water in the river, many people went fishing. The mostmon wild fish in these rural streams were crucian carp, with the asional bigger fishted too.


    Wen Qian followed Auntie Chen to gather many small fish, big ones asrge as a palm, and small ones asrge as a thumb.


    The bigger ones had their innards removed and frozen in the fridge, to useter for braising.


    As for the small fish, after washing them clean, they could be frozen and then pan-fried, and some could be dried to make dried fish snacks for New Year.


    In short, it was a free gain, and Wen Qian gathered very happily, although she was covered in mud.


    September was the season for rural harvests, and Wen Qian also prepared to purchase and store some staple grains, like rice, peanuts, and sweet potatoes.


    Auntie Chen''s family grew these themselves, but they needed to keep the rice for themselves, press oil from the peanuts, and keep some sweet potatoes to feed the pigs.


    The amount Wen Qian wanted would make them wonder why one person needed to buy so much.


    So she wouldn''t purchase locally. She nned to buy from more remote viges where there was no interaction with her own vige, not even the same market towns.


    At the Chen''s home Wen Qian bought two sacks of around 100 jin of dried peanuts, which were peanuts they had dried. They didn''t sell too much more because they needed to eat and press oil themselves.


    One day, Wen Qian borrowed Chen Lin''s three-wheeled cart and went alone to other viges to purchase some dried peanuts, buying at the price paid by street vendors.


    Everyone wondered why a young woman was buying peanuts. Wen Qian of course didn''t say she came alone, just that her family was in another vige and she came ahead to ask around.


    Having purchased many things now, Wen Qian was adept at calcting prices and weighing amounts. She also wouldn''t take bad quality goods from sellers.


    Previously when following Uncle Chen into town to press oil, Wen Qian understood the local oil pressing market. She discovered the workshops there pressed the peanuts shells and all.


    Wen Qian didn''t really like this oil pressing method, so she nned to take her peanuts to arger workshop to press oil.


    Wen Qian found a slightly bigger oil workshop in a town further away. They could remove the peanut shells before pressing. The peanut cake left after pressing oil could be taken or sold to the workshop.


    Wen Qian chose to pay a processing fee, then took away both the peanut oil and cake.


    Pressing oil didn''t take very long but the wait in line was lengthy. Everyone was bringing their freshly harvested peanuts, dried nice and dry, to add some healthy, unprocessed oil for their families.


    Whether for eating themselves or giving to children and rtives, it was a great thing.


    Simrly, this oil workshop also pressed rapeseed, sesame, and soybean oils, as long as you had the ingredients you could press any oil.


    If you only wanted a little, you could also directly exchange ingredients for oil.


    Many didn''t trust the oils sold in markets, feeling there were too many additives, so many city folks with rural rtives would ask them to press and gather oils and eggs when visiting the countryside.


    Because she was gathering more than just peanuts, Wen Qian couldn''t take her bike or three-wheeled cart.


    She told Chen Lin she wanted to rent theirrger three-wheeled cart and went to even more remote viges, bigger viges.


    She gathered a lot of sweet potatoes and corn. Sweet potato prices weren''t high now. Although roasted sweet potatoes in the city weren''t cheap, Wen Qian easily gathered a lot.


    She was like a little hamster or squirrel continuously storing up food. Although eating too many sweet potatoes could cause tulence, which was a bit unpleasant.


    Luckily she had stored a variety, so she could alternate.


    Of course, in this process some had tried to take advantage of her.


    Wen Qian''s usual response was to drive away. With interconnected viges everywhere, there would always be one or two households. Failing that she could just buy from grain vendors in the towns.


    Luckily most were honest, weights were urate, prices were agreed upon, and product quality was decent without adulterations or substandard goods.


    Wen Qian went out early and returnedte continuously for a week, spending most of her remaining money to buy a lot of things.


    These were all primary agricultural goods. Seeing the mountains stacked up in her dimension space, she felt even more at ease.


    October came and it was time to harvest the rice. Wen Qian went again to distant viges and gathered a lot of rice. She spent a whole week.


    Rice prices were indeed slightly higher thanst year, but only by a bit.


    In a poor harvest, some wouldn''t sell this year''s new grain and sold old stockpiled grain from previous years instead. So Wen Qian also bought some, since it might be even harder to buy next year.


    After a trip gathering things she had spent a lot of money, and also became familiar with the roads and families in this stretch of countryside.


    Previously in An City she had bought maps and apass, and constantly looked at satellite maps online, downloading offline maps too.


    She plotted out several possible migration routes for herself, in case she had to leave here in the future, so she prepared in advance.


    Knowing where there were small paths, where there were paved roads, which viges had more families, which had fewer, who kept dogs.


    Which tracts of mountain might have wild boars, and she''d even heard there might be wolves deeper in the mountains, though she didn''t know if that was true.


    After running around everywhere for several months, Wen Qian felt her body had be more fit. She could walk for a long time now without easily getting winded going uphill.


    The weather grew colder, and the mountain grasses and leaves started yellowing.


    Previously she had gathered leafy branches, and now seeing therge oak forests on the mountains shedding leaves, Wen Qian wished she could gather them all.


    Unfortunately her home was already stacked full, in the end she neatly lined one side of her porch wall withrge firewood bundles, just the part Auntie Chen could see.


    She had stored a lot more firewood in her dimension space.


    Like shearing a sheep for wool and not just one, Wen Qian had only gathered firewood from part of her family''s woods.


    Then she went deeper where people rarely ventured, and chose some crooked unsound trees for firewood.


    She had been obsessively stockpiling these things, already a habit.

 Chapter 31

    Chapter 31


    In addition to hoarding grain and fodder, Wen Qian also bought things online and had them delivered to the post office in town.


    She bought several dozen catties of soap base for herself online, nning to make soap at home.


    She just bought the raw materials. If she really started from the soap base, it would be too much trouble for her.


    With soap base, she could add some ingredients she liked to make it easier.


    Because of sharing online, she also earned some pocket money to continue buying things.


    When Wen Qian went to exchange shifts with Chen Lin, he was sawing wood at home with a power saw. He sawed the trees into very short sections and did not split them. He said they were for the heating stove.


    When Wen Qian went to his house, she found that they had a room with a heating stove in it, the same style she had bought online before.


    Chen Lin bought it online.


    So Wen Qian went back home and took out her things and installed one in a room behind her bedroom too.


    The chimney extended into the sunny alley behind the house where it could vent smoke and avoid wind.


    Wen Qian spent half a day assembling it. She lit a small fire to test it. It worked very smoothly. ording to the size of the stove, she also sawed quite a few logs.


    While she was installing her heating stove at home, when Auntie Chen saw it, she also thought it was great. She went home and called her son to have him buy one, nning to put it in the stairwell room on the first floor.


    When the fire burns bigger, a small room gets warm. Their ce had no heating. Air conditioning was expensive and ineffective.


    With this, they could sit warm and cozy in the room. It just took a little more firewood, which they had plenty of in the mountains.


    The wood also didn''t need to be split too small. A section of log put inside, as long as it caught fire and the stove door was shut, it would burn slowly for a long time. It was not smoky like a fire bowl, and there was no danger of poisoning like burning coal.


    When Auntie Chen went to town to get the heating stove, she gave money to Chen Lin to help carry it back.


    As he pushed it through the market, many people asked where to buy it. Auntie Chen happily said her son bought it, she didn''t know how, it was an online item.


    After a while, some shops outside put out two heating stoves, but the styles were different than the one bought online. There was arge pot ced in the middle. It was like a movable earthen stove made of iron.


    When Auntie Chen came back from going out, she said this one was not as good as the one bought online! The variety online was really something!


    She also told Wen Qian thatter if there was anything else good to buy online, she would just give her son the money and he could buy it.


    Many middle-aged people after learning to use smartphones fell into the new online shopping world.


    In October, the rural viges had already started nting wheat. Auntie Chen was home alone while Uncle Chen went to help others spread fertilizer and nt wheat.


    Wen Qian didn''t have much to do, just continuing to take October scenery photos for everyone, deliberately finding some white clouds and autumn breeze scenes.


    Recently she had been filming and editing videos of herself cooking, making amounts that looked like enough for arge family to eat.


    Usually after cooking good food, Wen Qian would only eat a little that day, saving the rest.


    Filming twice a week, the number of viewers gradually increased.


    Sometimes she would go live, simr to a study room. Wen Qian did not show her face, still mainly live streaming her voice. Sometimes she was peeling peanuts, sometimes she was grinding corn.


    Sometimes she was pumping the well to get water, sometimes she just live streamed the view inside the stove burning firewood, and the sound of her chopping firewood.


    Many online fans didn''t care what the content was. They just listened to the sounds.


    In October it finally rained, so Wen Qian was very happy to take her audio equipment to record the sound of heavy rain falling.


    Many people listened to this kind of white noise. Combined with her previous ieing in bits and pieces, she earned back the money for the audio equipment and then some.


    Wen Qian wanted to go live from morning to night once winter came and she started using the heating stove.


    Live streaming the firewood crackling away inside the stove, as well as baking sweet potatoes next to the small door.


    Just as Wen Qian was engrossed in roaming the inte recording videos and sounds everywhere, Auntie Chen''s loud voice called to her from the valley below.


    At this distance, the other person was toozy to call her, just relying on shouting.


    Wen Qian thought Auntie Chen was looking for her for something. When she came down, she saw two old men and an auntie sitting at her door.


    They were all from the greater valley, apparently walking over the extra distance from their vige which had fewer people to chat at Auntie Chen''s.


    The auntie was the same person who rode with her in the three-wheeled vehiclest time going into town. Seeing Wen Qian again she was very happy, and pulled over a stool Auntie Chen had brought out for Wen Qian to sit next to her.


    Wen Qian''s first reaction was ill intent - the other person wanted her to do more work.


    Sure enough, this person named Wang Guihua asked Wen Qian if she wanted to poke her nose into an affair.


    In the local rural areas, they humbly referred to matchmaking as poking their noses into other''s affairs.


    Wen Qian secretly rolled her eyes in her heart. You''d better not get involved! But she just said, what''s up?


    So Wang Guihua leaned in toward her, grabbed her hand and patted it, beaming.


    "You''vee back here for this time now with no friend. I know a pretty good young man. Do you want to try at least bing friends? Take a look at each other with him?


    Right now you''re off work, and probably won''t be leaving again until after New Year''s, just right to meet while you''re both home on vacation during this time?"


    "He''s a year younger than you, steady and hardworking out there, his parents are young enough to help raise your three kids..."


    With a nk face Wen Qian replied, "No need for that, Aunt Wang."


    "I''m not joking with you. I''m being serious, speaking from my heart to you. Don''t be shy. This is a lifetime event. Your age is not small anymore either. Picky choosing won''t get you another chanceter." The other person with her worldly wise face had a hand still grasping Wen Qian''s as if it would not let go.


    Wen Qian didn''t reply, just pulled her hand free.


    Guihua: "How could you want to be a nun already at your age? You''ll definitely regret itter when you''re older. You''ve got a health problem and there is no one to offer a helping hand."


    Wen Qian asked her: "How do you know he won''t die before you? Maybe you''ll have to take care of him but he goes first."


    That struck a chord.


    Guihua''s husband had died suddenly two years ago, but Wen Qian hadn''t aimed her remark at Guihua''s personal life, just used amon argument to rebut her.


    This person only profited off others, never herself at a loss. When things went her way, that was proper and right. If people amodated her requests one hundred percent she only reciprocated fifty percent.


    So Wen Qian''s strategy was to let the other party be discouraged or even dislike her, then they would not try again.


    As expected Guihua was very unhappy: "How could you want to be a nun already at your age? You will definitely regret it when you''re older. You''ve got a health problem and there is no one to offer a helping hand."


    Wen Qian asked her: "How do you know he won''t die before you? Maybe you''ll have to take care of him but he goes first."


    That struck a chord.


    Guihua''s husband had died suddenly two years after getting married, but Wen Qian hadn''t aimed her remark at Guihua''s personal life, just used amon argument to rebut her.

 Chapter 32

    Chapter 32


    For the promised benefits of getting married, one can say that year after year, day after day, there are always the same few things said over and over again.


    Simrly, the downsides of getting married - after so many years Wen Qian has seen so many examples.


    So is it important whether one gets married or not?


    If you want to get married, then go get married. If you want to stay single, then stay single. It''s not against thew. Why must you always try to pair someone up?


    She never felt that getting married was the start of happiness. Happiness starts from loving yourself.


    Loving yourself means facing yourself, not necessarily finding someone to validate you.


    The two old men next to them wouldugh out loud from time to time when they heard the dialogue between Wen Qian and Gui Hua, probably also seeing that Wen Qian did not have that intention.


    But Gui Hua felt that as long as she said a few more sentences, the other party would agree with her view, so she continued.


    Finally, Wen Qian rolled her eyes to the sky. This time, Auntie Chen also saw it and said that everything was up to fate, if there was no fondness then forget it.


    Matchmaking is not a bad thing, but in Auntie Chen''s opinion, it only works if both parties are interested. If the child is unwilling, what''s the point of still talking about it so enthusiastically?


    Gui Hua was unhappy inside. In previous years, matchmaking was considered umting virtue. Now matchmakers could earn quite a bit of money. Youngdies were all coy and reluctant. With more persuasion, they would give in.


    Moreover, right under her nose, how could there be someone staying single?


    In all her years, in the surrounding dozens of viges, she had only seen bachelors who couldn''t find a wife, and never an unmarried youngdy.


    So Gui Hua pretended to reminisce and talked about the dire situations of those without men back in her maternal vige being bullied.


    Wen Qian said, "They''ll get bullied if there are no men in the family? These people are reallycking in moral character, only knowing how to bully the meek and fear the strong. Not one good person among them!"


    Gui Hua was very happy. "That''s right, that''s right. You see, educated people understand things instantly. Even if they had a son or brother in the family, others wouldn''t dare bully her, for fear of the son growing up and taking revenge."


    Wen Qian: "Bullying single women, widows, oppressing orphans, this just shows it¡¯s a bad vige. For ces like this, it¡¯s best not to continue living there. Move away."


    Wen Qian sighed heavily. "Auntie Gui Hua, it was the right family you married into. Look at my grandparents without children, yet living well in our vige. Then look at your vige and you¡¯ll know it¡¯s a ce that bullies people."


    When Gui Hua heard this, she quickly exined, "Oh, just one or two bad apples. The rest are quite kind-hearted."


    "What kind-hearted? Orphans and widows being bullied yet all you vigers just stand by huffing and puffing, no one lending a hand? With so many of you, not one helped? What do you pay your vige secretary for? Not to uphold justice? And the elders in your vige didn''t say anything?"


    The two old folks next to them listened in a daze. They nodded in agreement when Wen Qian said their vige had good traditions, and that even in adversity, no one would oppress seniors or the weak.


    The topic was sessfully steered away.


    So Gui Hua was determined to press on and list the excellent conditions of the groom''s family.


    The old man frowned and asked, ¡°The conditions are so good. Why does he still need someone¡¯s introduction? Shouldn¡¯t he be able to find a match himself?¡±


    ¡°Oh, I''m telling you this kind is a proper gentleman. Not fooling around outside, ying with willows and flowers, fickle types. Getting together with him will definitely be stable.¡± Gui Hua didn¡¯t care if Wen Qian responded. As long as someone was listening to her, that was fine.


    Wen Qian uttered an ¡°Oh¡± and said, ¡°So he¡¯s the honest type!¡±


    ¡°Yes, yes, that¡¯s right. An honest person. Isn¡¯t that what you look for in a husband? Dishonest folks either hit or scold. If they¡¯re too capable, others covet them too. Honest people are the best!¡± Gui Hua thought her words had caught the other party''s attention and felt hopeful again.


    "So not hitting or scolding people, not socializing, not earning money, and not very eloquent means being honest?" Wen Qian pretended to be puzzled. "Are you praising or ridiculing him?"


    If he was eloquent, say he has goodmunication skills. If he''s good-looking, say so directly. Talk about capability when ites to earning money.


    If there''s nothing good that can be said, then just say he''s honest. Nowadays, ¡°honest people¡± is nearly an insult.


    Wen Qian felt that Gui Hua¡¯s packaging skills were too good to just do sales. Speaking of which, weren¡¯t matchmakers a type of salesperson?


    "Auntie Gui Hua, have some water. I already said no need after you talked to me for so long."


    "Aiya, child you really are stubborn. I''m so sincere yet you still refuse to even take a look for my face? You can juste back if you don''t like him."


    "No need for that. I''m toozy to bother." No need to give her face. Wen Qian felt she didn''t deserve it.


    "Then can I bring him to your door? It''s just a few steps, no need to walk far. I''ll bring him over to meet you. Go through with it if suitable, otherwise forget it. That should show my sincerity right?"


    "Don''t bargain with me. I said no so it''s no. Don''t bring anyone else to my house either."


    "I''m just concerned for you. Both elders in your family have passed. It¡¯s just you alone now. Wouldn¡¯t you feel more secure with someone I''m familiar with? If you got cheated while dating outside, knowing nothing about the other party or their family, they could abuse you. Then you wouldn¡¯t have anyone to turn to for help.¡±


    Wen Qian impatiently replied, "ording to you, if I don''t get along with the person you introduce, will you bear responsibility?"


    "Uh, of course not. One has to live their own life. It''s not like I''m living it for you." Who does matchmaking while bearing lifelong responsibility?


    "Since I have to live my own life and not yours, I don''t fancy your opinions on him. Hurry and introduce someone else. There are so many people in this world. Go introduce to others."


    "Now where are there many youngdies? The girls are all in the cities. None left in viges."


    "There are! How can there be none? In the woods, rivers, grass thatches, the messy weeds of that gully over the hill. So many girls everywhere, all over the ce if you throw a rock." This was what Wen Qian''s grandmother told her about where newborn girls were discarded.


    It took a while for those present to understand Wen Qian¡¯s implication. Gui Hua sighed, ¡°Times were hard then. Couldn¡¯t afford to raise them. Even with many births, most couldn¡¯t survive.¡±


    ¡°How strange. Boys and girls eat the same food, drink the same water. Howe boys could be raised but not girls?¡±


    Wen Qian directed the conversation to gender preference. From what she knew, Gui Hua''s family had a daughter-inw who aborted a female fetus, only wailing loudly for the whole vige to know when she discovered it was a boy after the abortion.


    Auntie Gui Hua stammered for a couple sentences. ¡°That was because of favoring sons in the past. So girls are precious now. Less girls, so you''ll definitely be living the good life at his home.¡±


    "Isn''t it to give birth to sons?"


    "It''s best to have both a son and a daughter. Besides, having the girl first and then the boyter is also very good - the older sister will take care of her younger brother," said Auntie Chen.


    "What if the second child is another girl?" asked Gui Hua.


    "Oh, didn''t the three-child policy just get introduced?"


    "What if the third is still a daughter?"


    "How could anyone be so unlucky?" Anyways, since you already took the matchmaker''s money, who cares whether you give birth at all or what you give birth to.


    Auntie Chen watched as Gui Hua was led away by the nose, and sighed inwardly.


    Wen Qian said: "It''s not about luck really - I''ve seen several families with whole bunch of sisters, who keep trying for a son to carry on the family line, even paying fines for extra children."


    What Wen Qian said stabbed Gui Hua in the heart. Gui Hua''s elder daughter-inw had secretly given birth to a third child while working away from home, and still had to pay a fine when she returned. She was already 38 when she had the third child, still trying for a son.


    Wen Qian was just giving examples actually, not targeting Gui Hua specifically.

 Chapter 33

    Chapter 33


    Auntie Chen was really worried that they would start arguing. Although Wen Qian spoke eloquently, Gui Hua was so shameless that Auntie Chen was afraid the young one would suffer a loss.


    "Why, girls and boys are all born from a woman''s belly. But if there''s no son, people will say youcked virtue in your past life and couldn''t give birth to a son, right? I heard aunties quarreling about this on the hillside when I was young."


    Gui Hua: "..."


    An old man spoke up to smooth things over: "Now, now, people say nowadays that sons and daughters are the same. Haven''t you seen the slogans on the roads have changed?"


    "Oh, I only remember the slogans painted on the walls from before, ''Goodnd left fallow for three years, good woman left childless for three births.'' I just can''t change my old-fashioned thinking."


    Auntie Gui Hua still wanted to say something more.


    Wen Qian got up and left. She''d said what she wanted to say. As for what others wanted to do, she didn''t care at all. She was satisfied as long as she was happy.


    After she left, Auntie Gui Hua heaved a long sigh: "This girl really has a sharp tongue. Old Couple Wen don''t have such an eloquent mouth, and they even picked her up."


    An old man recalled the past: "It was the New Year when they picked her up, wasn''t it?"


    "That''s right, it was when they were visiting rtives that they picked her up by the roadside. Do you know whose child she is?"


    "Of course we''d know! There are only a few families in the vige. Just the one road and a few viges. Ask a few people and you''d know."


    Auntie Chen was speechless about what the others said: "The old couple picked her up and raised her, so she''s the old couple''s child. Shees back to clean the house and burn paper during festivals every year. That''s something she has to do herself. Even if she didn''t enjoy blessings growing up, at least someone saw her off at the end, right?"


    "That''s true, that''s true. At least she left without pain and illness in the end, that''s a good thing."


    When people got older, they saw dying without illness as a good oue.


    Auntie Gui Hua pondered when she heard this: "I wonder if she''s ever thought about looking for her birth parents all these years?"


    Auntie Chen: "What parents? Parents who abandoned her? Whether it''s yearning for a son or having one''s own daughter, if you can feed and raise a child with a bowl of rice, why not do it?"


    "People like thatck virtue. The old couple raised her for so many years and even sent her to university. I''ve never heard theme visit. And you want her to look for them? Ridiculous! Only someone dumb would do that."


    "But blood is thicker than water. Fellow vigers tear up when they see each other. If she met her birth parents, they might reconcile on the spot. Also, girls who don''t have family on their mother''s side can be bullied by their inws."


    Auntie Gui Hua continued murmuring to herself: "The match I introduced was from their vige. If she marries over, they might run into each other. There would be someone to look out for her then."


    "What? There''s this too? Why didn''t you make it clear earlier?" Auntie Chen felt that if Auntie Gui Hua had said this earlier, Wen Qian would have sted her to death.


    As expected, Auntie Gui Hua had kept this up her sleeve: "If I said it outright, it definitely wouldn''t work. What if she held a grudge? That wouldn''t be good."


    Auntie Chen said: "So you know that! Forget about looking out for each other. It would simply be retribution, if you ask me."


    "Let me tell you, young people nowadays aren''t the same as our time. They make it very clear whether it''s yes or no, never equivocating. If you provoke her too much, don''t me her for not respecting her elders in the future."


    Auntie Gui Hua: "I was just saying it. Who cares about this gossip?"


    The old man chimed in: "That''s right, that''s right. She''s still one of our vige''s children. Don''t make enemies at our age."


    That was the end of it.


    But Auntie Gui Hua didn''t think the same in her heart at all. She felt this girl had a sharp tongue and the elder couple clearly hadn''t taught her well. If she were their own daughter with such poor discipline, talking back to her elders, they would have squeezed her to death with one hand long ago.


    Later after they left, Auntie Chen went to find Wen Qian again.


    "Don''t take Auntie Gui Hua''s words to heart. She just likes to poke her nose into other people''s business but doesn''t have malicious intent. We''ve all talked to her."


    "It''s fine. Just don''t call me over if shees again next time. It''s tiring every time I talk to her."


    Auntie Chenughed and agreed, then said she was going to An City in a couple days.


    At this time of year, going into the city, Wen Qian guessed it must be because someone there needed care. It was likely a joyous asion.


    Auntie Chen had saved up many things at home: fragrant oils, eggs, she ughtered two chickens. There were also some things from their home vegetable garden, a small winter melon and a pumpkin from the house that looked very sweet.


    Before leaving, Auntie Chen also gave Wen Qian several pumpkins and winter melons, telling her to eat what she could and throw out what she couldn''t, but to save the seeds.


    Wen Qian asked when she''d be back. She said it might be a short week or as long as a month.


    Not only did Auntie Chen return in a week, she also brought someone back: a young woman. Wen Qian felt she should be Auntie Chen''s daughter-inw.


    Sure enough, Auntie Chen introduced: "This is my daughter-inw. Have you two met before?"


    "I don''t think so."


    "You''re both young women and she''s not much older than you. She came back early for New Year''s and will oftene y with you in the future."


    "That sounds nice, more people make things more lively."


    Although her stomach was t, Elder Sister Fang would cradle it with her hand from time to time.


    Wen Qian felt she should be pregnant but it wasn''t convenient to announce it yet.


    Pregnancies generally aren''t made public before three months when it''s safer before informing others.


    Wen Qian hadn''t guessed wrong.


    Auntie Chen''s son called to share the happy news with his mother that his wife was pregnant.


    Elder Sister Fang''s pregnancy wasn''t going very smoothly. She had severe morning sickness that even affected work. In the end, she simply rested at home. Auntie Chen went for a few days with supplies to take care of her. Then her daughter-inw said she might as well just go back home to the countryside.


    With nothing to do cooped up at home every day, Elder Sister Fang would often go chat with Wen Qian.


    On Wen Qian''s rmendation, Elder Sister Fang would read some hoarding novels when she had time, and her desire to buy things increased.


    Winter wasing up soon anyway, so buying some more stuff shouldn''t be an issue.


    Her husband''s parents at home were hardworking and frugal by nature, reluctant to eat or use things and wanting to save for their children.


    After Elder Sister Fang came back, the standard of living at home increased exponentially. She''d originally thought she wouldn''t be able to stay long, but unexpectedly her husband''s parents catered very thoughtfully to her in every way.


    Whenever she wanted to go out to see Wen Qian, Auntie Chen apanied her over, afraid that Elder Sister Fang might slip on the morning dew if walking alone.


    If not for her and her husband working in An City, and their future child needing to attend school in An City, she would be very willing to live in the countryside.


    The rural pace was slow and the air quality wasn''t bad.

 Chapter 34

    Chapter 34


    Various green vegetables and radishes nted in September have grown very well after nearly a month.


    Ever since they were seedlings, Wen Qian had been picking vegetables from the fields.


    The young greens were very tender and juicy. She pulled out some to set aside.


    In addition to eating some, Wen Qian cleaned the rest and bundled them up to store in her space. She didn''t buy many green vegetables since there were some growing in the fields that she kept picking.


    The seeds had been sown very densely, so the greens grew crowded together. Auntie Chen told her that she needed to thin them.


    Especially in winter, there really weren''t many green vegetables that could be eaten in her hometown. Every year during the Spring Festival, the green peppers and celery sold on the street would cost 10 yuan per jin.


    The colder the weather, the more expensive the greens became.


    Wen Qian basically stored a batch every day. The young greens grew thickly clustered. If they weren''t thinned, they wouldn''t grow wellter on.


    Auntie Chen would also asionally pick some tender ones from the field and bundle them to sell on the street, but there were quite a few people already selling these greens since they were seasonal. The price was very cheap.


    The locals rarely grew off-season vegetables, so when certain vegetables became oversupplied in season, the price would drop.


    In October, Uncle Chen told her that they could start making charcoal.


    With their consent, Wen Qian began filming their charcoal-making process¨Dhauling branches into the kiln pit, arranging them, sealing the opening, lighting the fire, and seeing smoke emerge from the vent holes on top. This kiln could only be opened the next day.


    The results of the first batch actually turned out quite well. The charcoal pieces made a crisp tingling sound.


    Uncle Chen said a second batch still needed to be made. He felt that since it would be cold this winter, making some more wouldn''t hurt. It could be sold in town.


    If Wen Qian wanted to make charcoal, she could go first.


    She declined since the kiln was originally maintained and used by them. She told Uncle Chen to finish up before she started.


    And after Uncle Chen made charcoal a few more times, she would watch and learn. Then she could try it herself. It was another skill to pick up¨Dthe more skills, the better.


    Uncle Chen smiled. Many of the things they had learned in the past, young people nowadays didn''t even know about, let alone seen them before.


    Hearing Wen Qian say this, he simply decided to finish making all the charcoal for his family before anything else.


    By the time Uncle Chen was done, Wen Qian had already uploaded rted videos.


    Although electricity had been set up in this area, they didn''t have ess to natural gas, running water, or the Inte.


    Most of the people who stayed here had been using firewood their whole lives. In winter, they would burn some charcoal in a brazier for heating. They didn''t have the kang warming bed found in northern China or heating units.


    Moreover, coal wasn''t used much here. At best, people would buy a small basket of honeb coal to take home, asionally for starting up the stove to cook soup.


    They had been making and burning charcoal or firewood like this since ancient times, and no one had ever interfered.


    After Uncle Chen finished making charcoal, when Wen Qian made her first batch, he came to observe and said her procedures were all correct. There were just some details that could use improvement. After that, he stopped getting involved.


    So he didn''t know that the amount of charcoal Wen Qian made was actually more than what his family had, and a significant portion of it was being stored in her space.


    Fang Ya also watched one time. She felt this girl really waspetent at everything she did. Fang Ya had never seen charcoal production before either, so it was quite eye-opening.


    She had heard that in the past, people would make their own bricks, roof tiles, vats and pots at home.


    If it wasn''t for no one doing that stuff nowadays, she really would have liked to see it too.


    So Wen Qian let her watch some videos online first about traditional crafts. After taking a look, Fang Ya felt making those things on her own would be tooplicated¨Dshe might as well just buy them.


    Wen Qian felt there were some skills she could still try to pick up, but with others, sess couldn''t be achieved just by giving them a try.


    Although coal wasn''t popr here, Wen Qian still bought several truckloads of loose coal from other towns and stored it in her space. She also purchased tools for making honeb coal. Later on, she could make it herself following the proportions in the books she read and videos she watched.


    The heating stoves she had bought earlier could burn either firewood or coal, so she could alternate between the twoter on.


    By November when Auntie Chen and her family were still concerned about the wheat, Wen Qian felt she already had nothing left to do.


    As temperatures gradually dropped, frost had appeared and the grass on the mountains had slowly turned yellow. Further away, the oak forests had leaves that were also yellowing and falling inrge swathes.


    Soon, there would be nothing left here but bare branches.


    ncing around, the sparse trees like pines and cypresses still retained a hint of verdant green, while everything else was barren and yellow.


    Wen Qian had stored so much firewood, made charcoal, stocked up on coal, and hoarded vegetables. Along with the agricultural crops she had bought earlier that autumn, she had basically spent all the money she wanted to for now.


    The self-defense equipment that had been on her mind¨Dshe had started purchasing materials andponents ever since arriving in An City.


    Tinkering with them all this time, she now basically had everything she needed.


    However, most of the production was done behind closed doors. She would test them out in the mountains afterwards before storing them in her space.


    Sometimes she would go out during the day, then hike in the mountains and eat lunch alone there, before heading back home before sunset.


    In the past, she might have been scared. But now, she was constantly building up her courage.


    The path ahead was one she would have to walk alone regardless of whether it went through woods or streams. She felt she was bing more and more like those lone survivors in the videos.


    When Auntie Fang came to find her and saw her watching these wilderness survival shows so often, she also asked why Wen Qian liked these kinds of programs.


    Wen Qian said she didn''t like lively shows with big crowds, not even rural living shows if there were too many people.


    And survival shows were very educational¨Dskills and methods that might never be used could be found in them. If anything unexpected happened one day, they might end up saving her life.


    After Fang Ya came back, she set up a wirelesswork card to have Inte ess when at home. She also taught her inws how to get online. Her father-inw seemed quite interested in online shopping, while her mother-inw really enjoyed watching shows.


    It happened to be the off-season for farming at the moment, so they also had time for the Inte.


    One morning after breakfast, Fang Ya was changing clothes upstairs, preparing to go chat with Wen Qian, when she heard the sound of a vehicle downstairs.


    ncing out the window, she saw someone parking a small car at their front door. Fang Ya assumed it was a family rtive visiting.


    "Who are you looking for?" Auntie Chen asked. Fang Ya listened in from the upstairs window.


    "Um, let me ask, does a family with the surname Wen live here? Wen as in the character for culture?" A middle-aged woman got out from the car, smiling politely as she asked.


    "Who are you? Why are you looking for the Wen family? What business?" Auntie Chen was wary of strangers.


    It was very rare for outsiders toe here. Sometimes there would be scammersing through, either iming they dug up gold or peddling fake medicine and quack treatments.

 Chapter 35

    Chapter 35


    "I''m her rtive, uh, I came to visit rtives," said the woman.


    "So you are a rtive. May I ask what rtion you have with her?" Auntie Chen was a little puzzled. Wen Qian had very few distant rtives.


    Her paternal grandfather''s side of rtives lived far away and spoke in different ents. Her maternal grandmother''s siblings had mostly passed away, and their children were around the same age as Wen Qian, but they barely kept in touch with her.


    As for the next generation, they had no connection at all with Wen Qian.


    There''s a saying that goes "One generation are considered rtives, two generations are acquaintances, three generations are strangers."


    Auntie Chen had a good grasp of this situation clear during the funeral of the elderly people.


    Rtives? What rtives that Auntie Chen didn''t even know about?


    So Auntie Chen called Wen Qian directly and said her rtives hade but the road was not easy to walk. She asked if Wen Qian coulde to pick them up.


    Wen Qian was puzzled for a moment on the phone, but finally said she woulde down right away. She really didn''t know what rtives woulde looking for her since she hadn''t been in touch with any rtives for years.


    In fact, ever since Grandma passed away, even her maternal uncles, aunts and cousins rarely came by.


    When Auntie Chen said Wen Qian woulde down, the woman quickly waved her hand, "Oh no need, I can go up myself. It''s up this slope right? Ah, this ce is so remote with barely anyone around."


    Auntie Chen had always been very clear about people''s connections and rtives around the neighborhood - who was whose cousin, aunt or inw. She knew more than Wen Qian.


    So she gradually formed a spection in her mind.


    "You are her rtives but have never been here before?"


    "Ha ha, there''re too many trees now and we don''t recognize the way. We came before. Someone down by the river just told me to keep going this way," said the woman, seeming to want to get closer.


    "Oh really?" As soon as Auntie Chen heard this, she thought of Gui Hua and felt these people were probably brought here by Gui Hua.


    At this moment, the door on the driver''s side opened, and a man looking in his early 20s came out, "Mom, how much longer is this going to take?" He didn''t want toe in the first ce, but since he was the only one in the family who could drive, he was getting impatient seeing his mother chit chatting instead of getting things done.


    Why do adults always get into lengthy half an hour conversations whenever they meet someone?


    Wen Qian came down quickly and looked at the man and woman, "Who are you?"


    "I am, I am..." The woman''s expression and emotions seemed somewhat exaggerated. Wen Qian would describe it as overacting.


    Wen Qian calmly pointed out, "I don''t know you."


    "You don''t recognize me, but I am your, I am your..." The woman again had a hesitant look.


    Wen Qian just looked at her without saying anything. She had no curiosity towards this hesitant act at all. Let her act however she wanted. So Wen Qian simply observed like a bystander to see their next move.


    Seeing the girl not responding, the woman dabbed her non-existent teary eyes again, "Never mind. I just came to see how you''re doing and if you''re living well."


    So Wen Qian still didn''t say anything and just stood there allowing the two to examine her, without uttering a single word.


    She thought to herself: Done looking? Can you leave now?


    The man frowned, feeling that guests should usually be treated very politely. But facing this girl was like facing a piece of wood - no manners or courtesy at all.


    Apparently this aunt didn''t know how to start a conversation with Wen Qian either, not to mention Auntie Chen was still watching by the side.


    Auntie Chen''s gossipy mind was getting more and more lit.


    Fang Ya had been listening by the window. The more she listened, the more bizarre it got.


    She had also chatted about Wen Qian with her mother-inw, so she naturally knew about Wen Qian''s background too.


    "Well, why don''t we go to your home and sit down to have a good talk? Doesn''t seem right standing outside someone else''s door like this," the woman awkwardly suggested.


    The girl showed no curiosity, longing or resentment towards them, only indifference. This somehow made her at a loss of how to start.


    She figured the girl probably wouldn''t react even if she cried in front of her, so she thought she might as well save it till they got to her house. Plus there was a neighbor watching, and she worried about drawing unwanted attention.


    But Wen Qian didn''t budge at all, showing no intention of hosting any guests.


    "I won''t let strangers into my house. You said you came to see me. Now that you''ve seen me, you can leave," said Wen Qian.


    "How rude! A guest is a guest. How can you talk to people like this?" The young man wondered if she already knew their purpose here, but still picked on herck of manners wanting to call her out.


    Wen Qian raised her brow, "Do I know you?"


    The woman pulled her son, "Don''t say anything more." They came to get on good terms, not to fight.


    "If you are guests, why show up empty handed without any gifts?"


    Gifts were indeed in the trunk, but the rude question irritated the young man. He rolled his eyes feeling this girl was too thick-skinned. How could she so openly ask for gifts?


    As soon as the woman heard this,ugh lines appeared on her face, "Oh I brought them. They''re in the trunk! I just haven''t taken them out because we haven''t gotten to your home yet."


    Auntie Chen almost burst outughing hearing this. Nowadays, except for gold or other valuables, Wen Qian wouldn''t care much for gifts.


    Wen Qian was just messing with them on purpose. She was always very courteous in front of others, reciprocating food and drinks whenever invited over.


    But now facing these two strangers, she was so blunt that Auntie Chen became more convinced of her spection.


    What amused her even more was Wen Qian''s next question - asking to see the gifts first.


    It was as if insufficient or unsatisfactory gifts meant no hospitality.


    The woman immediately went to pop the trunk, and thought for a moment whether the box of milk and apples would be looked down upon.


    She wondered if she should give the girl a red packetter. The girl didn''t seem easy to get along with.


    And right after, Wen Qian said, "That''s it? You can go back where you came from."


    "How can someonein gifts are not enough? Are you kidding or deliberately messing with us?" The young man became impatient again. What was the point of suddenly showing up! Just to get humiliated?


    "Yes, I''m so rude. Now leave!" Wen Qian was about to turn and walk away.


    The young man felt this was the most shameless person he had met -pletelycking manners. Why bother dealing with someone like this?


    The woman patted her fuming son to calm him down.


    "Looks like you know who I am, so you feel ufortable inside. But I understand. Over the years, it has been weighing on me, so I just had toe see you, otherwise I won''t die in peace."


    Her words were miserable and pitiful.


    Wen Qian turned around with an official smile, "I see. Well, now that you''ve seen me fully intact with eyes, nose, mouth and limbs, you can die in peace."

 Chapter 36

    Chapter 36


    When Sister Fang upstairs heard this, she hurriedly covered her mouth. Although it felt good to say it, talking like that was likely to get Wen Qian hit, right?


    Wen Qian of course knew that speaking like this would anger others, but she didn''t care with certain people whether they got angry or not.


    Sure enough, the man walked forward two steps aggressively: "How can you talk like that!" He seemed to want to teach her a lesson.


    The woman hugged the man, looking aggrieved but magnanimously tolerant, reminding Wen Qian of the white lotuses in novels, though this was an old white lotus.


    "She talks to you like that and you still defend her," the man said angrily, even pointing at Wen Qian, "I''m telling you, don''t always be like a mad dog, biting whoever you see. We didn''t mean any harm!"


    "And who are you? What business is it of yours to speak?" Wen Qian looked at him as if only now noticing his presence.


    "How is it none of my business? Do you know who I am?"


    "I don''t care who you are. I don''t know you, but if you''re looking to be unlucky, I don''t rmend making an enemy of me."


    The young man didn''t care about ridges and ditches. He just felt this woman needed to be taught a lesson. That mouth of hers begged for it; she must have made enemies with quite a few people.


    If not for his good upbringing, he would have gone over earlier to teach her manners.


    In the past, Wen Qian certainly wouldn''t have spoken like this or deliberately provoked others.


    But now she had her space, and she had learned to use it as a weapon.


    Some time ago when she went to collect grain, she picked up a few cement boards by the roadside.


    The cement blocks were from an old road that had been pried up when a new road was built.


    When Wen Qian saw these things, her first reaction was to smash heads with them. Such a big cement b could crush someone into meat paste.


    If her life was truly threatened, she wouldn''t mind using her "stockpiled goods" to drop a Mount Tai on her opponent.


    What difference was there between a dead person and the pork she had wholesale-bought and stored in her space?


    Wen Qian had secretly tested in the mountains the angles and ways to turn her space into a weapon.


    If they didn''te looking for her, she would just think about it. But since they insisted on harassing her, they couldn''t me her for being ready to kill and wanting to test it out.


    "If you were really uneasy, you would havee long ago. Over so many years, even the ants have crawled here from your vige. So what is it? What do you want from me?"


    "We don''t want anything from you. We just wanted toe see you." The other person''s words were suddenly gentle. It was as if he hadn''t heard the first half of what Wen Qian said.


    "Since you don''t want to take anything from me, then you must want to give me something, right? If you feel guilty, can you give me this car? Having a car would be quite convenient."


    The young man rolled his eyes. The car was bought for him by his family. Did she think she was somebody, asking for his car right off the bat?


    He didn''t want to stay here another moment. He had never met anyone so materialistic.


    The woman seemed to understand that Wen Qian was deliberately provoking them, so she said, "I know it''s difficult for you, but I''lle often until you''re willing to see me."


    "If you daree here often, I''ll go to your home. I know where you live. From the 15th day of the 12th lunar month to the 15th of the 1st month, I''ll buy a truck full of paper money and burn it for your whole family from morning to night!"


    Wen Qian pointed up the mountain: "My grandparents are buried up that slope. Or why don''t you go ask them underground? See if they''ll agree to youing here."


    The young man may not care about paper money, but older folks couldn''t stand such curses.


    Making such trouble at New Year''s was clearly deliberately provoking ill fortune. So the woman looked at Wen Qian mournfully again before being bundled into the car by her son.


    Just as the man opened the car door to leave, Wen Qian stopped him: "Take your rubbish that you dumped here back with you. At least you spent your hard-earned money to buy it. Take it home and eat it yourselves to make up for it."


    Wen Qian''s condescending mocking words made the mother and son very ufortable.


    The young man quickly grabbed the things, drove off cursing all the while.


    "She''s just crazy! And you were still thinking abouting to see her. Look at how she is. No one taught her, so she has no upbringing!"


    He said this whilepletely forgetting that the people who should have raised her had abandoned her at the roadside.


    "What''s so hard about it? Our family at least has a car. And her? Still living in this broken-down ce! And she still dares to look down on me!"


    The young man''s name was Zhang Jiale. He was a few years younger than Wen Qian and had two older sisters.


    His mother''s name was Wang Xiaoping. If she hadn''t abandoned her child, their family would now have four daughters and one son instead of one son and two daughters.


    And that was just the ones who had survived. Who knew how many more hadn''t made it.


    Although young, Zhang Jiale had already been married once before. Because his wife didn''t get pregnant for over a year, he divorced her.


    Now he was looking for a second wife. Zhang Jiale didn''t know what madness had seized his mother to suddenly want to look for her daughter.


    There were still his two sisters and father at home. His father wouldn''t stoop to this, but his mother insisted oning. He was the only one in the family who could drive, so he had no choice but toe along as driver.


    After the car drove away, Aunt Chen''s first words were, "So this is your...." She didn''t finish the sentence.


    Wen Qian nodded. She had known since high school.


    Wen Qian''s grandparents didn''t hide anything from her. When Wen Qian asked, they directly exined everything clearly.


    Likewise, they also understood that other family''s circumstances very clearly, including that they had given away another child after abandoning Wen Qian, before finally having a son.


    That must be this young man now.


    Wen Qian had heard from others while collecting grain that he was divorced and looking to remarry again.


    Wen Qian had been to their vige before and found out everything just chatting.


    "What? What madness is this that they suddenlye looking for you now? You''re already twenty-six, seven years old. Why look for you suddenly now?"


    Actually, when chatting with Wen Qian''s grandparents in the past, Aunt Chen and the others had talked about this possibility¡ªwhat if the child''s family came looking when she was grown up. The olddy said the child wouldn''t go with others. If she left, she would at least y them first before going. Her child had a temper that wouldn''t stand being taken advantage of.


    Now it seemed the olddy was quite right.


    So Aunt Chen couldn''t help repeating what she had said. Hearing this, Wen Qianughed. That was indeed the case.


    "I''m not concerned with their reasons for looking for me, and I don''t n on having anything to do with them."


    "Don''t you want someone living who can walk around?" Aunt Chen looked at her, thinking that she was alone on festivals and holidays. When she had lived in the city, there were many people. Now living in the mountains, it seemed lonely.


    "Whether or not I walk around with someone, there''s no need for it to be with their family. You agree, right?"


    Aunt Chen was somewhat worried: "That''s true. I just don''t know if they''lle again."


    Fang Ya hade downstairs long ago and had been standing by without speaking. Hearing Wen Qian give a mockingugh, her tone icy,


    "If they daree, I dare bury them."

 Chapter 37

    Chapter 37


    This matter can be considered over at Wen Qian''s ce, now it is a peaceful and prosperous era, she can only be a little sarcastic.


    If the world bes chaotic in the future, and they dare to appear in front of her again, Wen Qian will definitely make them regret it.


    A few dayster, it was the Beginning of Winter. After the Beginning of Winter, Wen Qian recorded the sound of winter thunder in her white noise recorder.


    It is said that winter thunder is not a good omen, so Wen Qian checked some relevant axioms, and none of them had anything good to say about winter thunder.


    Some of the descriptions of winter thunder even mentioned corpses strewn all over.


    Simrly, Uncle Chen and Auntie Chen said it was not a good sign. Although no one starves to death these days, they were still very worried that if the rain or cold weather is bad, their wheat would be done for.


    The wheat grown here is winter wheat, so even if it snows, it would only be a light snow to cover it to reduce pests and diseases, which are considered auspicious signs of a good harvest.


    However, if it gets too cold and the wheat cannot survive the winter and freezes to death directly, wouldn''t all their previous hard work go to waste?


    Sigh, a day''s work in the fields leads to a day''s worries.


    While they were worried about surviving theing winter, the north had already been in winter for a long time, and the heating was already turned on.


    The news also reported that this winter would be colder than usual, reminding everyone to prepare for the cold.


    Wen Qian had already lit up the stove at her home, she even stacked firewood in the empty rooms, so she wouldn''t need to go out for firewoodter.


    Wen Qian lived alone, she took a small pot and cooked on the stove, inside were pork belly and white radish. The radish was sweet, and she threw in some tender greens she stored earlier to nch, eating alone leisurely.


    Of course, she would also turn these into videos to post online to earn a little extra money, otherwise she wouldn''t be able to earn anyter.


    Someizens expressed that they envied her lifestyle, carefree and unrestrained, she must be well off financially right?


    Wen Qian thought about it and figured no one else would have spent all their money like her, she really did store a lot of food, which was why she had no money left.


    Having nothing much to do, Wen Qian set a goal for herself to exercise her body. She followed along with the exercise videos on her phone and practiced moves from the unlimited wrestling tutorial book.


    With food stores set for years, she had no worries for the foreseeable future, so she should start ensuring her personal safety.


    As the weather grew colder, waves of frost finally wiped out the struggling greens.


    When it was just frost at Wen Qian''s ce, the north had been in winter for a long time, with more than one snowfall already.


    Some posted videos online of snowball fights, all kinds of thick snow pictures, making many southerners rather envious.


    However, the weather forecast showed that this winter would be exceptionally cold, reminding everyone to prepare supplies for the winter in advance.


    Wen Qian listened to the news every day. She also looked up past meteorological records for An Province.


    Compared tost year and the year before, this summer broke heat records.


    The current rate of cooling was also faster than previous years.


    Wen Qian also searched for records of extreme weather events, An Province¡¯s coldest winter, warmest winter, hottest day, and highest annual rainfall on record.


    She considered the situation in the most extreme scenarios, and even brought it up in conversations with Fang Ya.


    In her opinion, extreme referred to events that even elders would say it¡¯s the first time seeing it in their long lives.


    Ten years ago, Liuh Vige had a major flood, with water reaching two meters high on street level houses.


    When they talk about that major flood now, they would still say even in their 70 years of life they¡¯ve never seen the likes of it.


    In Wen Qian¡¯s dreams, a heavy snow would be something old folks living over 100 years would not get to see.


    At the Chen family''s door, a few elders were chatting about a snowstorm that happened over ten years ago.


    At that time, heavy snowfall was experienced even in southern regions, stranding many people unable to go home for New Year celebrations due to the snowstorms


    However, it seemed that rural viges were not majorly affected back then. The only impacts were poorer mobile signals asionally, and temporary ckouts, though power would be quickly restored.


    Another effect was people got bored being stuck at home. Some even went to the mountains to catch wild chickens, since after the snowfall, traces of the wild chickens became very noticeable.


    However, winter ckouts were nothing much in rural viges, as they mainly relied on burning firewood to stay warm.


    Just the amount of firewood and leaf stalks Wen Qian stored at home was already astonishing to Fang Ya.


    She thought it was only elders who hoarded stuff, she didn¡¯t expect there was such a young hoarding enthusiast here.


    But Wen Qian said she wasn¡¯t the only young person who prepared in advance like this, and she even gave Fang Ya a survival skills handbook.


    However, with the description of harsh winters in the news, Fang Ya felt stocking more supplies for winter was important.


    She also told her husband who worked in the city about this. Her husband jokingly asked if her parents didn¡¯t already hoard enough. But Fang Ya felt preparing some non-perishables was always good for New Years.


    As such, Fang Ya took over the cooking duties, allowing her mother-inw to go to town to shop, and took out her own private savings for her inws to prepare for New Years.


    Fang Ya meant that if they ended up with too much to finish by themselves, they could bring the leftovers back to the city to continue eating.


    Usually when Fang Ya visited Wen Qian her mother-inw would personally apany her, worried about her falling or something alone on the way.


    Actually the slopes here were quite gentle. Her worries stemmed from the recent frost and and slippery ice only.


    At Wen Qian¡¯s ce, Fang Ya saw her sun-drying cabbage leaves, preparing to make pickled cabbage, removing bad outer leaves first before letting the sun dry it slightly to remove some moisture.


    It would then be ced in a vat with water and salt, pressed under rock weightspletely submerged. Lactic acid bacteria would turn the cabbage sour.


    Once fully pickled, it could be taken out, rinsed and stir fried, or cooked with lean meat, or added to hot pot, for a very refreshing appetizer.


    Seeing Wen Qian had pickled a small tub of pickled cabbage, Fang Ya was rather surprised.


    She wondered how long it would take her to finish that amount alone?


    Wen Qianughed and said she could give some to her friends, or bring it back if she returned to the city.


    Hearing this, Fang Ya was no longer puzzled.


    The north also had the habit of stocking up cabbage, but in evenrger quantities.


    Southern rural areas normally aren¡¯t as cold in winter, so not a lot needed to be preserved.


    In fact, Wen Qian didn¡¯t just pickle cabbage at home. She previously purchased various pickling jars using methods from other provinces to pickle quite an assortment stored in her shed.


    She could take them out and eat whenever she wanted.


    Especially pickled vegetables with spicy vors were simply amazing meal apaniments.


    Fang Ya wasn¡¯t skilled in this area, but she showed her mother-inw the videos. Her mother-inw said she could give it a try.


    Hence Auntie Chen also experimented with pickling things she didn¡¯t usually pickle in previous years.


    In the morning, Wen Qian saw that ayer of ice had formed on top of the water vat left outside.


    The ice gradually thickened. So Wen Qian ced rows of shallow stic containers she previously bought online to store things, on the t house roof, now using them to store water.


    Initially only a shallow level of water was added. Wen Qian collected the frozen ice blocks the next morning.


    As the weather grew colder, the ice blocks also grew thicker.


    She stored quite a lot of ice bricks like this.

 Chapter 38

    Chapter 38


    In early December, the first snow fell here.


    It was nothing special for An Province to have snow in December; it happened in previous years as well, sometimes even earlier.


    The snow fell for two consecutive days, nketing the entire mountain vige in white. At this time, Auntie Chen wouldn''t let Fang Ya go out, so she came to ask Wen Qian to visit her home.


    Wen Qian also felt it was better to meet in person rather than just chatting on the phone, plus she could take the opportunity to encourage the vigers to store more provisions.


    Wen Qian went upstairs and shoveled the snow off the t roof above her cottage, then used a bamboo pole to knock some of the snow off the roofs of the other two houses and the kitchen.


    Before leaving, she added a couple of logs to the stove, closed the stove door, locked the door, and headed out.


    When she arrived at Fang Ya''s house, they were all sitting around the stove as well.


    They were talking about the snowfall, mentioning that many ces in the south were also experiencing snow. Areas that typically don''t have winters were suddenly experiencing a drop in temperatures.


    Apparently, lightweight down jackets were in high demand at the supermarkets.


    In some cities where it rarely snows, many people were overjoyed, feeling they could finally build a proper snowman with the substantial snowfall.


    However, the snow also brought many inconveniences.


    The entrances and exits of many highways were blocked.


    On the news, they sawrge and small vehicles gathering at various service stations.


    With the snow falling and low temperatures, and so many vehicles at the service stations, many people had no choice but to spend the night in their cars.


    Some of therger trucks might have had some supplies, but some smaller cars hadn''t nned on stopping and were essentially stranded at the service stations.


    People recalled the snowstorm from over a decade ago, saying that the current response measures were much fasterpared to back then. Those stranded were quickly provided with proper amodations and would be able to return home once the snow stopped or the roads became passable.


    However, after two days of respite, a new round of snowfall began.


    This time, the snowsted for a week, and Wen Qian''s main activity each day was pushing the snow off the roofs, then shoveling the snow off the t roof, almost an everyday urrence.


    She did this not just out of concern for her own house, but more importantly to maintain a certain level of physical activity, as the snow meant there was nothing else to do outside.


    This snowfall also caused another round of snow disasters, with many greenhouses and houses copsing under the weight of the umted snow.


    At night while sleeping, Wen Qian heard the sound of trees snapping more than once, likely the nearby pine and cypress trees breaking branches due to the heavy snow.


    Behind Wen Qian''s house stood a slender cypress tree that looked like a tree trunk topped with an explosion of branches. Now, the top was piled high with white snow, gradually bending lower, as if bowing in a curtsy. Remarkably, despite being bent in this way, the entire tree remained unbroken.


    After Wen Qian knocked the snow off, it only straightened up a little bit, with the trunk still bent over. It was unclear when it would recover, if ever ¨C perhaps it would remain bent from then on.


    The kitchen roof of the house on the very edge of Xiaochenwa had also partially copsed. Auntie Chen called the family who owned that house.


    For two consecutive years, this family hadn''t celebrated the New Year in their hometown, only returning during the summer. Come winter, they would send Auntie Chen money to help put up red couplets on their behalf.


    Upon hearing that the kitchen had copsed, they simply said they wouldn''t bothering back, since the kitchen was a separate structure anyway, so let it be copsed.


    At first, Chen''s home didn''t pay much attention and didn''t shovel the snow after the first snowfall, only clearing the t roof.


    During this heavy snowfall, however, they started propping adder against the roof and shoveling the snow every other day.


    Winter is a tough season for many elderly people, and sometimes they don''t make it through. As Wen Qian listened to the news reports, she wondered what this winter would be like.


    Wen Qian built a snowman on the edge of the yard.


    Due to the extreme cold, the water pipes at Auntie Chen''s house even froze and cracked.


    When Uncle Chen went to the street to buy pipe fittings, he found that basically every house with water in the pipes on that entire street had issues. So he decided to revert to using the well.


    They used to have a well at their home too, but after switching to an electric water pump, they had filled in the well''s reservoir.


    So they temporarily bought a roll of piping and a well frame, and started drawing water directly from the well.


    Their well was in their field, and the pipes ran from above ground to below, with no areas where water could umte.


    They nned to properly set up the well again once the snow stopped.


    Auntie Chen was also worried that if the snow kept falling, there might be a power outage one day, rendering the water pump useless.


    Seeing that Wen Qian could still draw water from the well, they felt it was wise for her family to have always kept their well.


    After the municipal water system was installed, most people on the street stopped using well water.


    Only one or two households still had wells at their doors, and now neighbors were lining up to fetch water from them.


    The fittings Uncle Chen bought, Wen Qian had already purchased many simr ones from the stores on the street, so she could continue using the well even in a different location.


    The New Year''s Eve was in early February, and traditionally the vige would ughter their own pigs in the twelfth lunar month. The temperatures would be just right for curing fish, making preserved meat and sausages.


    Who would have thought there would be such heavy snow as early as December?


    Uncle Chen nned to call in professionals to ughter their two pigs once the snow stopped.


    This snowfall had changed many people''s ns.


    Auntie Chen''s son decided to take his vacation earlier ande back home.


    Some people working in the cities felt that if they were to return home for New Year''s, they would only stay for a few days, so since the snow made travel so inconvenient, they might as well note back at all.


    At the same time, more and more people started stockpiling warm clothing and heating supplies.


    Not just clothes and shoes, but even the coal sellers on the street started raising prices.


    Uncle Chen began firing up his kiln again to make charcoal from what he had previously made, but this time he nned to sell it instead of keeping it.


    Nearby residents also wanted to buy charcoal from Uncle Chen, pre-arranging the quantity and price.


    Auntie Chen dug up all the radishes from the field and buried them in a sand pile at their home, while the sweet potatoes had already been stored in the sweet potato cer long ago.


    After learning that Wen Qian grew bean sprouts at home, Fang Ya also started trying to grow them herself. After two failed attempts, the bean sprouts she grew were finally edible.


    Mung bean sprouts, soybean sprouts, peanut sprouts, and pea shoots were all added to the routine.


    Wen Qian used small jars at home, cing them near the stove if the temperature was too low, as that room was slightly warmer.


    Speaking of bean sprouts, every year Auntie Chen would grow a small amount of soybeans.


    Before the New Year, she would take the soybeans to the tofu maker''s house on the street to have tofu made.


    All she needed to provide was the soybeans and firewood, and only pay for thebor.


    In her younger years, Auntie Chen would make a whole basket of tofu to bring home, and she would also bring back the soybean dregs to feed the pigs or make soybean residue cakes.


    Nowadays, people aren''t as keen on eating lots of firm tofu, so her household only makes half a basket each time.


    This year she nned to make a bit more, and Fang Ya suggested they could leave some outside to freeze into frozen tofu, which is great for hotpot.


    During Wen Qian''s procurement trips, she had also collected various kinds of beans and legumes.


    Previously, she had made tofu several times at the tofu shop on the street, and the owner said she was almost an apprentice, but she only brought half a basket back home to store there.


    The rest she had collected into her space on the way home.


    These days, Wen Qian would make a big pot of food in the kitchen and store it in her space.


    For meals, she would just heat up a small pot on the stove to warm up the dishes, as they would quickly get cold if left on the table in any other room.

 Chapter 39

    Chapter 39


    After the snow stopped, Wen Qian went up the mountain again. She had seen traces of wild chickens, and then tried to make a wire trap using the methods described in a book, hoping to catch some wild chickens.


    She had previously bought snow goggles to prevent snow blindness, and they came in handy now.


    She assembled the essories she had purchased earlier, and went to try them out in the distant mountains, but they made quite a loud noise, like setting off firecrackers. Wen Qian didn''t dare try it too many times and came back.


    In her dream, the snow was constantly falling without stopping. Wen Qian wondered if it might not be this winter.


    Later, when the sun came out, the snow melted bit by bit, and it became even colder than before. Wen Qian froze more ice blocks, nning to use them next year.


    Her wire trap had actually caught a wild chicken.


    After mastering this skill, Wen Qian didn''t try it again. She was attempting to learn other skills.


    She tried to find things to do for herself every day, unable to lie in bed or stay by the warm stove.


    Sometimes she read books to learn knowledge, and sometimes she tried to make things.


    The body cannot stop working, and the brain cannot stop thinking.


    Once a person ckens, inertia will quickly overwhelm them. She never felt that having space and storage meant she could rest easy.


    She had previously purchased a lot of fabric. In addition to the down jacket she bought, Wen Qian nned to make a few pieces of clothing herself.


    Because the stove was set up in a north-facing room, the window faced the back canyon.


    When they initially dug the foundation for the house, they had dug out the foot of the slope, resulting in a ledge about two meters high.


    Wen Qian''s previous bedroom had arge window in the old style, so she didn''t sleep there, but rather in the room with the stove.


    During the midday when the sun was directly overhead, she woulde to this room for exercise.


    When the snow melted, it dripped water in front and behind the house, feeling like it was raining.


    The ground in front of Wen Qian''s door wasn''t paved with concrete, so when the snow melted, anyone walking would get mud on their feet.


    Fortunately, the toilet was already installed inside the house. Otherwise, going out once would mean getting two pounds of mud on one''s feet, and the muddy conditions would be unbearable.


    For this reason, no one came to Wen Qian''s ce.


    Wen Qian tinkered with things at home by herself, and no one knew what she was doing.


    But during this period, she did see a trail of footprints that circled around the side of her house before leaving.


    Moreover, these footprints didn''te from the little Chen Depression path near Auntie Chen''s ce, but rather from the mountain slope behind her.


    In other words, someone had bypassed the little Chen Depression ande over the mountain behind them. Wen Qian found this strange, but when she asked Auntie Chen, the other party said the prints weren''t theirs.


    Wen Qian became more vignt. In the bitter rural winters, there were always petty thievesing to steal chickens and dogs, quite literally.


    Every winter, the vige dogs faced hardship, as mutton and dog meat hot pot were quite popr, and some people wanted to make a quick buck. They didn''t raise dogs or sheep themselves, but stole other people''s dogs to sell.


    Wasn''t it just an easy profit?


    Auntie Chen''s family used to have a dog, but it got stolen every year.


    Sometimes they even came to steal it three times in one night, until Auntie Chen herself sold the dog.


    Wen Qian was worried that someone might be casing her ce. When she mentioned this, Auntie Chen was a bit concerned too.


    With Wen Qian living alone, she asked if she wanted toe stay at her ce.


    Wen Qian refused, but also checked and reinforced all the doors and windows of her house.


    Before going to bed, she ced objects behind the main door and the door on the t roof.


    Some things she would eventually have to face alone. And if she was overly pessimistic and thought that if someone really came looking for trouble and she couldn''t escape with her abilities, then it would just be her fate.


    Wen Qian could stay at Auntie Chen''s ce for a few days, but how many? After all, she wasn''t part of their family, so she couldn''t stay there forever, could she?


    Ultimately, favors have to be repaid. If her secrets were discovered, would they still treat her the same as before?


    The human heart is better left untested.


    After some time, when Wen Qian and Auntie Chen went to town, they heard that all the chickens in one vige had been stolen. Someone had dug a hole in the wall and taken every single one.


    In rural areas, raising chickens is very difficult. In the past when viges had more people, the surrounding weeds were cleared, and small animals didn''t daree near homes.


    Now viges are quite deste, with fewer and fewer people and denser forests. Some small animals became bolder, dragging chickens right into the thickets, without leaving a single feather behind.


    Auntie Chen said that when raising chickens nowadays, from chicks to edible age, the attrition rate was over half. So when chickens that were painstakingly raised got snatched all at once, there was nothing to do but curse.


    In their area, no one reported chicken or dog thefts to the police station, as it was too remote, so they just had to let it go.


    Auntie Chen''s son bought them a surveince camera to install at the door, saying it might act as a deterrent.


    Wen Qian thought this was a good idea, so she bought an inexpensive one for herself too.


    After that, there were no more strange footprints near her home, probably because the other party realized they didn''t raise chickens or ducks.


    One morning, Wen Qian was reading a book in the heated room when her phone vibrated with a notification from the surveince camera that someone was at the door.


    Wen Qian called Auntie Chen, asking if any vehicles had passed through their vige, but Auntie Chen said no, someone had just walked past her front gate while she was in the kitchen.


    So Wen Qian took a kitchen knife and a sharpening stone, and went to open the main door.


    Wang Xiaoping, who had been trying to peek through the window, was immediately startled. Before she could exin, she saw the knife in Wen Qian''s hand and retreated two steps back.


    Unfortunately for thisdy, she had umted a few pounds of mud on her shoes while walking over, and stepped back unsteadily, plopping right down on her bottom.


    Fortunately, it was on the covered walkway and not the muddy yard, but Ms. Wang was quite frightened.


    Wen Qian held the knife in one hand and the sharpening stone in the other, scraping the knife against the stone.


    The familiar sound of sharpening a knife rang in Ms. Wang''s ears, causing her heart to pound with fear.


    "What''s the matter? Want me to see you off to the next life?"


    "Child, please calm down. I know you resent me, but I had my difficulties too. I apologize to you, I was in the wrong."


    "Are all your family members dead?"


    What? Wang Xiaoping didn''t know why the other party was cursing her like this, but she felt that the other party still hated her and was thinking about her.


    If she could dispel that anger, perhaps they could reconcile.


    She felt human hearts were made of flesh, so if she kept persuading and talking, maybe it would work.


    "I asked if all your family members are dead? Why did only youe alone?" Wen Qian impatiently asked. "Since this is an apology, howe there''s not a shred of sincerity? Where are the rest of your family?"


    "Well, uh, the weather isn''t too good, so I came alone." It seemed she came with too few people, so Wang Xiaoping decided to bring her whole family next time, thinking it might change Wen Qian''s mind.


    "On this visit to see me, does your family know about it?"


    "They, they don''t know. Otherwise, they would definitely havee with me." Wang Xiaoping''s intention was to say that their noting wasn''t because they didn''t want to, which was an exnation for Wen Qian''s question.


    Hearing this, Wen Qian smiled in satisfaction.


    "Oh? So they don''t know where you went?"


    "Yes, yes, they did say before that they wanted toe, but the timing didn''t work out."


    Wang Xiaoping''s intention was to put her family in a positive light, but then she saw Wen Qian raise the kitchen knife.


    Walking towards her.

 Chapter 40

    Chapter 40


    Auntie Chen was a bit perplexed when she received Wen Qian''s call. When Wen Qian mentioned someone passing by, Auntie Chen wondered if Wen Qian had discovered more footprints to investigate.


    So she decided to go out and take a look. As she reached the slope, she heard a wail.


    Someone ran past her faster than a flying swallow, letting out a terrified scream as they brushed past her.


    Auntie Chen hadn''t seen who it was yet, but then she saw Wen Qian ahead, holding a knife and slowly walking step by step.


    Her expression had a smile on her face.


    Auntie Chen stood frozen, wondering what was going on, when she heard that woman say she was going to kill someone.


    "She''s going to kill! She''s going to kill! Oh my god! She''s crazy, she''s gone mad! She''s going to kill me!"


    Auntie Chen looked at the other woman, who seemed deranged, with mud stuck on her hands and body, and thought this person looked more like a madwoman.


    It wasn''t until she saw Wen Qian walk past her, continuing forward and raising the knife in her hand as if to throw it, that she finally got scared.


    She hurried over and grabbed Wen Qian''s hand: "Child! Child, you can''t do this, you can''t. You''re so young, killing someone means going to jail. You''ll have a criminal record, and your life will be ruined. I''m telling you, you can''t do this, you can''t. Listen to auntie, you can''t do this, you can''t."


    Wen Qian tilted her head and whispered in Auntie Chen''s ear: "I was just pretending."


    Auntie Chen was stunned for a moment, then let go of Wen Qian''s hand and turned to look at that frantic woman, who had already scrambled and rolled her way to the side of Auntie Chen''s kitchen and run off quite quickly.


    It wasn''t until she couldn''t see the woman anymore that Auntie Chen finally rxed.


    That woman had been scared, but Auntie Chen herself had been scared too.


    She was really afraid that Wen Qian would impulsively do something irreversible in the heat of the moment. Wen Qian was still so young, she shouldn''t ruin her future because of these messy situations.


    Then Auntie Chen gave another lecture about abiding by thew, repeating what she had heard from her son - that those who break thew will ruin three generations. Not only themselves, but the second and third generations too, and they won''t even be able to work for the government in the future.


    What does it mean to have a clean family background? This is what it means to be clean.


    Wen Qian didn''t nod in agreement after hearing Auntie Chen''s words. She only looked up and told Auntie Chen that if they dared toe a third time, she would dare to bury them.


    Every time she talked about burying someone, Auntie Chen thought she was just making an empty threat to scare people.


    But now that she said it so seriously, Auntie Chen felt a bit scared.


    She thought she should keep a closer eye on things in the future, so those people wouldn''te over again.


    Wang Xiaoping stumbled her way to the threshing ground.


    Her son didn''t want to send her there, so she found a vige pedicab to take her.


    The pedicab was waiting for her at the threshing ground. Seeing how dirty she looked like a mud figure, her face pale as if she had seen a ghost, the driver asked her what had happened, if she had fallen down.


    Wang Xiaoping trembled and waved her hand: "No, no, just take me home, take me home."


    After returning home, her family saw her in that state and asked what had happened. But she didn''t say a word, appearingpletely out of it.


    It wasn''t until nighttime when she woke up from a nightmare that her husband impatiently asked her what had happened that day.


    That''s when Wang Xiaoping finally told the truth.


    After listening, her husband fell silent for a while, then told her not to look for Wen Qian again, and to just pretend it had never happened.


    As for their son''s situation, they would figure it out slowlyter on.


    Two of their daughters had already married, but not into good families, so they couldn''t help much.


    The third one was the one who wanted to stab someone with a knife, so they couldn''t count on her either.


    The fourth child was still studying and asking them for money, so they hadn''t approached her.


    For a remarried couple wanting to find a first wife, the conditions would have to be even higher, leaving the couple feeling depressed.


    But if the person could scare Wang Xiaoping like that, she probably wasn''t someone to mess with lightly. If they provoked her and she caused trouble for their son, that wouldn''t be good either.


    After hearing her husband''s words, Wang Xiaoping lost her determination, thinking she would just pretend that person didn''t exist from then on.


    Wen Qian thought that after this, Wang Xiaoping''s family probably wouldn''te over again, unless they were desperate.


    Auntie Chen also told Uncle Chen about Wen Qian scaring people with a knife, and asked him to pay attention to anyone from Wang Xiaoping''s family passing by and trying to find Wen Qian''s family.


    She told them not to go, in case something really happened and it ended badly.


    Wen Qian was quite satisfied with Wang Xiaoping''s panicked and terrified state, even eating an extra bowl of food happily at noon.


    The white radishes pulled from the field tasted sweet, but because of the snow and cold, the radishes would gradually be hollow and lose their taste.


    Luckily, Wen Qian had put them in her spatial realm, so when she took them out to eat, they would always be sweet.


    The pickled vegetables that Wen Qian had made earlier, she put different aging stages into the spatial realm, so she didn''t have to worry about them bing too sour and could eat them at their best condition.


    When Fang Ya heard about this incident, she came to find Wen Qian again and advised her once more not to act impulsively.


    An impulsive moment could lead to a lifetime of regret.


    Feeling the concern from Auntie Chen''s family, Wen Qian told them not to worry.


    As long as the world didn''t descend into chaos, she would naturally abide by thew.


    Fang Ya had never considered the possibility of the world bing chaotic, but she was reassured by Wen Qian''s clear understanding.


    It was only when turmoil urred that demons and monsters would naturally emerge as well.


    Wen Qian looked at Fang Ya''s belly and asked her what preparations she was making for the baby.


    At the mention of the baby, Fang Ya had a lot to say, and she started talking about baby-rted matters.


    "Are you preparing clothes for her in advance? Diapers, form, and things like that?"


    "Not that early! But I have been looking at baby clothes online recently. As for diapers and form, those have expiration dates, so it''s still too early for me."


    Wen Qian thought about it and agreed it was still quite early.


    However, Fang Ya mentioned that Auntie Chen was looking for used children''s clothes and old clothes from home to make into diapers.


    She said that while disposable diapers were convenient for 24-hour use, it would be better to change the baby periodically during the day if possible.


    Fang Ya didn''t have any objections to this, as her mother-inw would always consult and discuss these things with her. If she didn''t want to, then it was fine.


    Her mother-inw was much easier to get along withpared to others.


    After two snowy periods, the sun came out for a few days, and then it started snowing again.


    Uncle Chen and Auntie Chen decided to take their rice to a nearby mill to process more rice.


    Due to the snow, online shopping deliveries were also dyed for a long time.


    Wen Qian told Fang Ya that when she went to the street, it would be better to withdraw some cash, in case there was a power outage, inte disruption, or system failureter on, making it impossible to use mobile payments.


    Fang Ya agreed it made sense, so when she went to the street with her inws, she withdrew some cash from the bank.

 Chapter 41

    Chapter 41


    Fang Ya wanted to give money to her inws, but they refused, saying they had enough of their own and told Fang Ya to keep the money for herself.


    With a child on the way, future expenses would be high, so they didn''t want to take money from the young couple.


    Perhaps seeing others on the street with their arms full of purchases, some even pushing small carts, Fang Ya urged her inws to buy more of everything.


    When Auntie Chen went out, she saw Chen Lin selling sheep on the street.


    Nowadays, people''s living standards have improved, and there are many more ways to spend money during the holidays.


    Even if you don''t buy a whole sheep, just a leg would be nice. Auntie Chen said she would reserve one for her family for the holiday.


    Actually, Chen Lin hadn''t nned to sell too many sheep, but with the consecutive snowfall, the elderlymented that this winter was particrly cold.


    So he decided to keep fewer and sell the rest, and as for the cattle, he was negotiating prices with potential buyers.


    At this time, Wen Qian was also preparing to buy fish and make preserved fish. She went to the town to have someone make cured sausages for her, using machine-ground meat and ready-made seasonings of various vors for convenience.


    So Wen Qian nned to make a bit more, leaving a small portion out to sun-dry while storing the rest in her space.


    The only things she could disy in front of others were just enough for her own consumption.


    There were too many things at home, and cured meats could be stolen these days.


    Auntie Chen''s family was debating that therd-curing month usually didn''t start until the first lunar month, and they generally ughtered pigs in the middle of that month.


    But with the unfavorable weather this year, they thought they''d ughter the pigs early to avoid not being able to hire a butcherter.


    They had a refrigerator and a freezer.


    They could salt-cure some portions and put the rest in the freezer.


    In theory, everyone prefers fresh meat, but they''d have to wait a couple more months for Auntie Chen''s son to return home.


    Taking advantage of the two clear days, they found someone to ughter the pigs.


    They found that the butcher was very busy. Traditionally, the family hiring a butcher should provide him a meal.


    But because he was so busy, he declined the meal, saying he''d leave right after finishing. So they invited one of their neighbors and Wen Qian over for the ughtering feast.


    Wen Qian had witnessed pig ughtering since childhood, so she wasn''t afraid.


    However, Fang Ya was a bit scared that day when she joined Wen Qian upstairs, but she got over her fear once the pig was hung from the tree.


    She even studied the pig''s anatomy carefully from the side since she had mostly eaten pre-prepared meat and never anything so fresh.


    With the pig halved andid on the cutting board, the butcher skillfully began carving the meat with hisrge knife.


    He tore off a strip of fresh, tender meat from the pig''s back and handed it to Auntie Chen - part of the fresh loin that is customarily served at the ughtering feast.


    Watching the butcher''s deft movements, Wen Qian recalled the half-pork carcasses in her space and thought that even if she dissected all of them, she could not achieve the butcher''s level of skill.


    But then she realized the butcher had ughtered pigs for decades, so it was no wonder she couldn''t match his expertise so quickly.


    Wen Qian told Fang Ya that having elderly family members meant their chickens and pigs were raised on pure grains, which was more reassuring to consume.


    Fang Ya agreed because these animals ate the same food as humans with no added additives, which could not be easily obtained elsewhere when purchased.


    Nowadays in the city, one had to pay a premium to obtain such healthy foods.


    It was unclear when this became the norm.


    After the two pigs were ughtered, their rtives also bought some, and Uncle Chen helped reserve portions for them at the street price.


    After observing the ughtering process, Wen Qian had a meal at the Chen family''s home.


    The butchers then packed up and drove off to their next job, as they were in a hurry.


    A few days after the ughter, the temperature dropped even lower. Although the sun came out every day, the snow melted very slowly.


    The melting snow had caused the water in the ditch in front of the door to rise again.


    Wen Qian still maintained her daily routine of exercising, eating, asionally pondering the content of books, and of course, taking the opportunity to y on her phone while it was still usable.


    If this snowfall had happened long ago, this area might not have had any signal, but Wen Qian could see the signal tower in the distance from her home.


    Despite being in a rural area, her calls and data usage were currently smooth and uninterrupted.


    Due to the extreme cold, Wen Qian rarely went out, and neither did the Chen family. Fang Ya could only move between floors and didn''t dare go outside much either.


    Some ces were still snowing, and television reports about the snow became very frequent, including news of soaring electricity prices abroad.


    Fortunately for them, the snow fell for a few days and then stopped for a few days, preventing their homes from being overwhelmed.


    Now, even southerners no longer envied the snow, as the brief delight had dissipated, and the prolonged ice and snow had be a nuisance.


    After the snowfall, the roads became difficult to traverse, causing many people to slip and injure themselves while walking outside. Many drivers also had idents due to slippery roads.


    Fang Ya worried about her husband''s safety, as he had to drive to work every day.


    Once the snow stopped in An City, the major transportation routes would be cleared, so conditions in the urban areas were better.


    Fortunately, theirpany was quite considerate, with flexible working hours, so there was no rush.


    As for long-haul truckers, many abandoned the idea of continuing long-distance hauling, as it was simply too difficult - either being stuck on the road or trapped at service stations.


    Wen Qian''s former colleague told her that due to the snow, business at theirpany had been dismal, and there wasn''t much for employees to do even if they went to the office.


    But the boss couldn''t stand the sight of paying employees to do nothing.


    So he had them shoveling snow outside thepany, and if there was still nothing to do once the skies cleared, they would disperse the piled-up snow against the walls, in an attempt to elerate its melting.


    Her former colleague''s tone was one of resignation, as it would have been better to just work normally instead of performing such silly gestures.


    Those working odd jobs outside also returned to their hometowns, causing an increase in pedestrian traffic on the streets, no longer dominated by the elderly.


    Auntie Chen''s family members had returned from her son''s house, but since he didn''t farm, they had to buy food, so they just came back for a while before going to her son''s house again for the holidays.


    Uncle Chen advised them to stock up on rice and flour, as there might be more snow, and it would be morefortable staying in their hometown.

 Chapter 42

    Chapter 42


    After the New Year, Wen Qian started her ns for the new year, which was still during thest month of the lunar calendar.


    At this time of year, migrant workers who typically work outside would return home, washing up and purchasing goods for the New Year''s celebrations.


    However, this year was exceptionally difficult due to transportation inconveniences and severe snowstorms, causing prices of vegetables and fruits to soar.


    Even for inted prices, it was a hassle to go out and buy things on the streets.


    The roads in their area were hilly, making it very difficult to walk in heavy snow.


    Even with snow chains installed, Chen Lin only dared to go out during clear noontime, avoiding driving at other times.


    The closer it got to the New Year, the more people with homes in the countryside would return, unless they had a house in the city, otherwise they wouldn''t want to spend the New Year in a rented apartment.


    Wen Qian didn''t n to go out to the streets anymore, as she had already prepared most of the things needed for the New Year celebrations beforehand.


    She even bought a box of firecrackers to set off on New Year''s Eve.


    In their area, firecrackers were not prohibited, and people would sporadically set off some during the New Year.


    In the middle of January, it started snowing again, and this time the snow was steady. During the snowfall, Wen Qian went upstairs to shovel and sweep the snow.


    Following local customs during thest month of the lunar calendar, Wen Qian began preparing for the New Year by deep-frying various items, with one item fried each day.


    She fried pork belly, sweet potato balls, dried small fish, potato chips, and many other items.


    When Wen Qian was at home roasting peanuts and seeds, it was still snowing outside.


    Wen Qian and Fang Ya chatted on their phones, with both families frying snacks. Fang Ya''s family even fried peanuts and broad beans, which looked quite good.


    Fang Ya said her husband was considering returning to his hometown earlier, but employees would have to follow theirpany''s arrangements. Her husband wanted tobine his annual leave before and after the New Year to get a longer break.


    This was because the snow made them feel uneasy.


    In rural viges, the worst-case scenario would be being cut off from the world, but in densely popted cities, the consequences of severe cold and snow would be much worse.


    A simr situation had urred once before, which was documented in detail in a documentary over a decade ago.


    If such a situation were to happen now, the response would undoubtedly be much faster than back then. But what if an even more terrifying snowstorm urred?


    The snow kept falling, and Wen Qian felt that if it continued like this, their single-story house could be buried.


    Fortunately, there was ample space below her house to pile up the snow, so as long as she shoveled it away, it wouldn''t be an issue.


    Wen Qian''s daily work was shoveling snow, even using it to build a short wall around her yard, only shoveling the snow within the yard and leaving the rest untouched.


    Her activity range was limited to this area, and if she wanted to visit Chen Lin''s family, she would need to bring a shovel to clear a path, so she simply didn''t go.


    At this time, no one came to visit her either, and Wen Qian was quite content being alone.


    Fang Ya informed Wen Qian that her husband had decided to return home for the New Year after all, as the situation in the city was not ideal. Although people typically stock up on New Year''s goods, the heavy snow had severely impacted highways and transportation routes.


    Many items were not just a matter of price hikes, but rather apleteck of supply as they couldn''t be delivered.


    Wen Qian advised Fang Ya to remind her husband to drain all the water from the pipes at home before returning to his hometown.


    Fang Ya said that in the city, water pipe maintenance was already in disarray, and southern cities were ill-equipped to deal with such a severe snowstorm.


    Regarding the impact of the snowstorm, people in their neighborhood had recently experienced water pipe bursts, leading them to line up at households with wells to fetch water.


    While such local situations could be resolved independently, in big cities with massive poptions, it was unclear where to even begin addressing the problems.


    In provinces further south, where some areas essentially had no winter, they were also hit by the cold wave.


    Although people had previously experienced cold snaps and purchased warm clothing, as temperatures dropped further, these more southern cities found themselves in an even more challenging situation.


    Since the satellite dish was on the roof of their single-story house, Wen Qian would climb up and sweep off the snow whenever she wanted to watch TV. News channels reported that the entire northern hemisphere was experiencing simr conditions of heavy snow and dropping temperatures, along with stories of rising electricity costs and death tolls.


    Before the New Year, an elderly person passed away in Da Chen Wa vige.


    Chen Lin helped with the funeral arrangements. The deceased was a former resident of the nursing home who was supposed to be picked up by his son to celebrate the New Year, but unfortunately didn''t make it.


    Since the passing urred before the New Year, the funeral had to be arranged quickly. Nearby residents all attended, but due to transportation issues, many rtives couldn''t make it.


    The elderly person was cremated there, and their son brought the ashes back.


    Rtives could only wait for better conditions to hold a memorial service, but the simplified funeral had to be expedited.


    Those from the local hometown who could attend did so, but the funeral was quite solemn, with only three tables of attendees arranged upstairs and downstairs in the main house.


    In such weather, it was impossible to set up tents outside for long periods, so everyone simply gathered indoors.


    Traditionally, opera troupes would be invited to liven up funerals, but that wasn''t possible this time.


    However, the main family expressed gratitude to those who attended, ensuring their father''s funeral wasn''t too somber.


    People discussed the deceased''s past andmented that many elderly individuals struggle during winter, with several other elderly residents in the town having passed away recently.


    They said the elderly were "leaving together, like a group departing to y cards."


    After the meal, Wen Qian returned home with Auntie Chen, who seemed somewhat somber after the funeral, saying, "When people grow old, they be like this, with their bones aching at the slightest chill. So you young people must be sure to keep warm, or you''ll regret itter when it''s toote."


    After arriving at Chen Lin''s house, Auntie Chen walked Wen Qian a bit further. Seeing Wen Qian bundled up like a penguin, Fang Ya, who was pregnant and staying at home, asked how she managed to walk.


    Since they carried tools with them, it wasn''t too difficult, and following their original path made the return journey easier.


    The next day was the burial, so they would need to attend again.


    Vigers helped select the burial site, and tomorrow they would take the ashes up the mountain.


    The snow in the north was on a different scalepared to the south, but northerners were skilled in instion and heating, so they tried to stay indoors as much as possible and waited for the severe cold to pass.


    This year''s winter in the north would undoubtedly be longer, and they were worried their supplies might run out.


    Meanwhile, people in southern viges could still burn firewood and charcoal for heat, while city dwellers could only use electricity for heating.


    Even more terrifying was the prospect of water outages, which would make their living conditions extremely poor.


    Especially for high-rise residential buildings without water to flush toilets, the odor would be unbearable.


    City sewers were freezing up and clogging in many areas, turning the once-convenient urban life into a series of hardships.


    Even at home, Wen Qian faced the issue of using the toilet, but fortunately, she had been collecting wood ash since returning to the vige.


    Wood ash has always had various uses in rural areas.


    In the past, her grandparents used it as fertilizer and even for washing clothes and hair when cleaning products were unavable.


    Although Wen Qian hadn''t found a use for it yet, she had collected all the wood ash, which came in handy now.

 Chapter 43

    Chapter 43


    One morning, Wen Qian woke up to find there was a power outage.


    However, when she turned on the radio, she found she could still receive news broadcasts. She had also received a message from Fang Ya.


    Two hours ago, Fang Ya had informed her about the power outage.


    Wen Qian stayed at home, burning a stove to keep warm, eating and reading books. Apart from not being able to use her phone, the power outage didn''t seem to have any other impact.


    As for lighting, during the day, the outside snow reflected plenty of bright light.


    At night, she had candles and shlights. Even without those, she could make a wick from cotton and create an oilmp using cooking oil.


    Speaking ofmps, she had previously bought online one of those oilmps with a ss shade that were shown on TV, which could be used as a windshield. But for now, she felt candles would suffice.


    The stove burned steadily, keeping the stainless steel tabletop warm. Wen Qiany on it, drowsily dozing off.


    She watched the news every morning, noon and night. Currently, TV stations were all showing scenes of disaster relief and people struggling against the ice and snow.


    This time of year, people would normally be looking forward to the new year. But now, with the new year approaching, many couldn''t return home.


    In the afternoon, Fang Ya told her that Chen Ming had finally made it back to his hometown. Getting from An City to the station was okay, but after leaving the station, the snow was too heavy for any vehicles.


    Their group paid a high price to hire a van to take them to a nearby town, after which Chen Ming''s husband walked back.


    This new year, the news urged everyone to celebrate where they were, since there was no way to travel anyway.


    Visiting rtives for the new year, as was the tradition, would likely not happen this year. With the heavy snow, it was difficult to even step outside, so everyone would have to stay home.


    For those who had thought their busy lives prevented them from reading and studying, but now found themselves with free time, they realized they still didn''t want to study.


    When there was electricity, they yed games on their phones. Without electricity, they yed cards and chatted, but didn''t want to study or read books.


    Of course, this had been proven long ago in the home environment as well.


    After two days, the power was restored. It was said that a fallen tree nearby had caused the outage.


    For the most part, the power supply could be guaranteed. Although the snow and ice were heavy, many areas were protecting the power lines. Plus, with modern technology, deicing techniques ensured the lines were well-maintained.


    It was just that in some smaller areas, repairs couldn''t be done immediately, so the outagessted a bit longer.


    The day before New Year''s Eve, in the afternoon, Wen Qian was braising meat in the kitchen. This meat was meant to be eaten on New Year''s Day morning.


    She had prepared all the new year items, following the same routine as in previous years.


    It wasn''t that Wen Qian needed any sense of ritual. She just felt that in these peaceful times, there might not be many New Year''s Eves left, so she took it seriously.


    She cooked a huge pot of meat by herself. With the low temperature, she could just cover the pot, and add some fire in the morning to start eating.


    On New Year''s Day morning, Wen Qian had a bowl of the braised meat.


    That day, it didn''t snow, and the sun came out.


    Wen Qian took some red-hot embers from the stove and put them in a brazier, then went out to bask in the sun. But she didn''t stay in the sun for long before getting distracted by other things.


    Wen Qian then took out the Spring Festival couplets and put them up. In this rural area, everyone put them up today. But when Wen Qian did it, her mood was rather heavy.


    She figured she might not want toe out in the afternoon, so she went ahead and put them up at that time.


    Chen Ming, Auntie Chen''s son, came over to deliver some things. He said that if the road was difficult to walk the next morning, he wouldn''te over to pay New Year''s greetings.


    Traditionally, on the morning of the first day of the new year, everyone would visit each other''s homes to pay respects.


    Wen Qian lived alone. If she went out, she''d have to close the door. But on New Year''s Day, it''s not allowed to close the door - it must remain slightly ajar.


    Hearing what Chen Ming said, Wen Qian felt it was more convenient this way.


    With all this snow, why bother with those formalities? So they agreed.


    Chen Ming wasn''t that close with Wen Qian when they were students, and after moving to the city, they basically lost contact.


    Seeing that Wen Qian was alone with her Spring Festival couplets already put up, Chen Ming asked her why she had returned to live in the rural vige.


    Wen Qian gave the same answer as before - that she had quit her job to live here for a while, and would go back next year.


    Chen Ming thought to himself that next year was uncertain - it seemed each year was harder than thest, with bizarre natural phenomena urring.


    For now they still had inte ess. Manyizens felt this new year would be difficult to celebrate properly, but some were pessimistic, believing it would be the best new year they could hope for from then on.


    Wen Qian also felt she might not experience a new year like this again.


    In Xiaochenwa, there were just two families. In Yuanao where Wen Qian lived, she was the only one. In Dachenwa, there were four families in total.


    Plus the few households across the river on the mountain slope were still there.


    Some people felt more free living in the vige than in the city. But with poor transportation and caring for elderly rtives and children, they had no choice but to celebrate the new year where they were, unable to make the difficult journey home like Chen Ming had.


    As for the street where they used to live in town, that entire street used to have every household return for the new year. Now it was about half empty too.


    Wen Qian felt having fewer people in the vige was a good thing at this time - less disturbance.


    But she had also psychologically prepared herself, keeping a knife under her pillow. Ever since her dreams began, she had done this.


    Although Wen Qian hadn''t experienced too much, she could draw the conclusion from small incidents that human nature is difficult to fathom.


    When it came to evil, what could be more evil than humans themselves?


    Any evil plot from novels, TV shows or movies paled inparison to what humans were actually capable of.


    Before dark, Wen Qian cleared the snow from upstairs one more time, then went back inside.


    She cleared all the kitchen items, moving the oil, salt, sauces and vinegar to the table in the main hall.


    When eating, she would just heat up dishes on the stove. But she only cooked small portions, as she felt a bit overheated, so she also brewed some chrysanthemum tea for herself.


    In the evening, TV stations were still broadcasting the new year''s g, clearly meant to encourage people to get through the harsh winter.


    With significant cuts to manpower and resources, the program was less than half its original length.


    Fireworks were usually set off around midnight, but Wen Qian thought she might already be asleep by then. So at 10pm, she went out and set off some firecrackers.


    They really were loud, making the ground seem to shake.


    Originally she had nned to keep the lights on while sleeping, and since there was electricity, she turned on a fewmps in the other rooms and plugged in a small nightlight where she slept.


    Around midnight, scattered fireworks went off outside, but they didn''t disturb Wen Qian''s sound sleep.


    It started snowing again that night. When Chen Ming came out to set off fireworks, he sawrge snowkesnding on his clothes and sighed with concern.


    If it kept snowing like this, it would be troublesome. He looked at his pregnant wife, worried about whether he could give the newborn a happy life.


    If the child was born only to suffer, Chen Ming would feel guilty.

 Chapter 44

    Chapter 44


    The snow kept falling, originally just a light flurry, but gradually turning into a blizzard by nighttime.


    When Wen Qian woke up in the morning, she was surprised too, judging by the area she shoveled each day to estimatest night''s snowfall.


    With the snow unrelenting, Wen Qian got up and used the hot water from the stove to brush her teeth and wash her face.


    Afterwards, she put on her hat and gloves, grabbed a lightweight iron shovel and bamboo pole kept upstairs, and began clearing the umted snow from the roof and outhouse.


    After clearing the roof, she returned inside to eat the hot food warmed on the stove, then went back out to continue shoveling snow.


    From top to bottom, from the back alley to the front.


    This task could likely take her the entire morning, but it was still better than doing nothing at all.


    Due to the snow, she didn''t go to Xiaochenwa to pay New Year''s visits, nor did anyonee to her ce.


    Her outermost clothes were windproof and waterproof, but Wen Qian was sweating, feeling stuffy even with heryered clothing.


    She also shoveled some snow from the hill behind her house, worried that snow sliding down from there might block the back alley, possibly burying the stove''s chimney too.


    Fortunately, since she had been clearing it regrly, there wasn''t too much snow buildup on the back alley.


    After lunch, she took an afternoon nap, sleeping very well as she had been getting more resttely by going to bed earlier.


    Damp clothes had to be changed or dried by the fire promptly, as catching a cold at this time would be extremely unpleasant.


    Moreover, being ill would zap her energy, perhaps leaving her too weak to continue shoveling snow, risking the house being buried if left uncleared.


    Wen Qian was always mindful of her health, bundling up fully whenever leaving the warmth of the stove.


    In Xiaochenwa, Fang Ya was also sitting by the stove, with sweet potatoes roasting in the drawer giving off an enticing aroma.


    However, she had already eaten enough, leaving these for Chen Ming.


    Fang Ya remarked how foresighted Wen Qian was to have stockpiled so much firewood, unusual for a young woman.


    Chen Ming wasn''t surprised, saying that was just how the vige operated.


    Uncle Chen wasn''t one to sit still, venturing into the mountains daily in addition to shoveling snow.


    Spotting pheasant footprints, he wished to catch some, but only found exceptionally long feathers, not any live creatures, in the traps he had set.


    If the snowfall persisted, he might just seed eventually.


    Uncle Chen had already given up hope for his wheat crop surviving this year''s heavy snowfall, only wishing to have time to rent after winter passed.


    Compared to the boredom of rural life, city dwellers were having it much worse, to the point that those with rural homes regretted not returning sooner.


    Only after passing the Lunar New Year could one truly consider the holidays over, with the snow continuing unabated from night into day.


    Weather reports showed varying degrees of snowfall across different regions, and despite the New Year, there was no festive atmosphere as people stayed home as much as possible, awaiting warmer weather and a return to normal life.


    When working, everyone looked forward to holidays, but now unable to work, they couldn''t ept being cooped up at home all day either.


    Even ying on phones eventually grew tiresome.


    Wen Qian''s ce lost power again, but she didn''t care how long it wouldst, as it would return eventually, and life would go on even if it didn''t.


    Wen Qian boiled some snow into water, discarding the bottom residue and keeping the rest in a bucket.


    Soaking her feet before bed would help her sleep more soundly.


    A weekter, Chen Ming should have returned to work, but thepany postponed its reopening.


    After a few days without electricity, power was restored to the vige, so he brought hisptop back, preparing his work tools despite the uncertain restart date.


    When the snow let up slightly, he and his father would venture into the mountains.


    Since Uncle Chen had been clearing one particr path, it wasn''t too difficult for them to go out each day, albeit not too far from their usual route.


    Through their efforts, they managed to catch a pheasant, their sole prize so far.


    Compared to the plight of city dwellers, or at least the general public, Chen Ming felt it was better to remain in their hometown.


    In the city, there weren''t even ces to burn firewood, and relying solely on electricity for 24/7 heating caused bills to soar, a significant burden when many were unpaid during work stoppages, exacerbating food insecurity.


    Of course, the government considered this, providing rations and vouchers to struggling households.


    In areas with heating difficulties,munity warming centers were established, as huddling together was preferable to freezing alone, while some ces offered food in exchange for maintaining municipal operations.


    Later, even inte ess was lost, depriving the homebound of their main diversion.


    With their pent-up energy and inability to go outside, tensions rose from the constant confinement, casting a gloomy pall over cities.


    The cold weather brought increased health issues, with some losing their lives to the extreme chill.


    Fortunately, being the New Year, vigers had ample provisions, enough for some until the Lantern Festival, for others beyond the first lunar month.


    Especially with the heavy snowfall approaching the holidays and forecasts of worsening conditions, many stocked up heavily, clearing out grain reserves at local depots.


    Only those addicted to smoking and drinking were truly suffering, having never imagined such an extended period of immobility.


    Without her phone, Wen Qian began handwriting records during the day, not quite a diary but noting her main activities week by week, leaving nk days when uneventful.


    Every day was snow, or more snow, so in such circumstances, one had to find tasks to avoid bing despondent, fortunately something Wen Qian could easily do.


    She began organizing her space, including many hoarded items previously left in disarray. She also assembled survival kits and medical supplies based on advice from online forums, packing them into boxes or small bags for ready ess.


    Some were online purchases, opened or still sealed, which she unpacked and repackaged.


    She also portioned out previously prepared foods into disposable containers, ready to eat without cooking.


    While working on these projects, she kept her doors and windows securely closed.


    Though visitors were unlikely at present, it was still wise to take precautions.

 Chapter 45

    Chapter 45


    The Lantern Festival had arrived, and it was a clear day.


    After washing up in the morning, Wen Qian''s first task was still shoveling snow, her daily routine. Once she had cleared some of the snow, she would have breakfast.


    It was a bowl of portioned congee and a boiled egg, plus an apple.


    After finishing the disposable bowl, Wen Qian would wash it clean with snow and put it away. Although she had bought many stic bowls, she would never throw them away after just one use.


    She kept them in her space, ready for whenever needed.


    Simrly, even when throwing away trash, she would never dispose of more than she had used. An outsider could deduce the owner''s living situation from the trash.


    As for the many paper boxes from her online purchases, she would store anything that could be stored in them. Those that couldn''t be used for storage, she had previously taken apart and sold for money when she was in Anshi City.


    After finishing her breakfast, Wen Qian went to shovel snow behind the house, and then heard someone calling her name.


    It turned out to be Auntie Chen. Having stayed indoors all day, she was feeling cooped up, so she took advantage of the clear day and brought a shovel to clear a path to visit Wen Qian and chat with her.


    She hadn''t had much to dotely, and she felt like she was going silly. Apart from her husband and son asionally going up the mountain to try hunting wild chickens, they had spent most of their time at home ying cards and mahjong.


    She just hoped the snow would melt soon so it wouldn''t be so difficult to walk around. The boredom was driving her to want to go up the mountain to collect firewood.


    Of course, Auntie Chen had another reason for visiting her. Everyone knew that the Chen Lin family raised sheep, and after selling some, they still had some left over, but they didn''t expect the winter tost this long.


    Auntie Chen wanted to see if Wen Qian needed any, and suggested going together to buy sheep from them.


    Most people would have some cash on hand for the New Year, and since they weren''t going to visit rtives, buy gifts, or gamble, the money was in their own pockets.


    She wanted to buy from the Chen Lin family, and they would probably be willing to sell since the cold weather might make it difficult to keep raising the sheep.


    So Wen Qian went with them, as it was better to walk together than alone.


    Auntie Chen was quite clever. She took a basin and two bamboo poles, and on the gentle slopes, she would just sit in the basin and use the poles to move herself along.


    If they had to shovel snow or walk on their own, it would take forever.


    They also approached from the side of the vige and went uphill, crossing a small hill to see the Chen Lin family''s home on the other side of the valley.


    Then they shouted to ask if they were selling any sheep.


    Chen Lin happened to be worried about this issue. He would kill a few sheep every so often, and while some were taken by people in the vige, the rest were frozen at home.


    So after some negotiation, Auntie Chen paid for two sheep.


    Previously, Wen Qian had bought one whole sheep, so this time she bought half a sheep. The Chen family simply sold two and a half sheep in total.


    Three sheep in all. Chen Lin and his family came out of their home, crossed the fields, and went down to the bottom of the slope, where Wen Qian''s group lowered a basket tied with ropes down the slope, and they put the sheep in.


    The transaction wasplete with the exchange of money and goods.


    The snow was just too deep to climb up, otherwise they would have at least greeted each other in person.


    This transaction took quite a long time, and both parties hadn''t been out for a while, so it felt good to be able to go out and buy something.


    Wen Qian didn''t buy too much, as she still had some money left, but she didn''t dare spend it all yet, so buying half a sheep was just a symbolic purchase.


    It made sense, too ¨C half a sheep would be enough for her since she lived alone and wouldn''t be eating it as a main dish.


    The group returned the same way, and Auntie Chen insisted that Wen Qian stay for lunch before leaving.


    Fang Ya also asked her to stay and chat for a while, as the entire vige had been snowed in for too long.


    Everyone wanted to talk to someone, to learn what the outside world was like, something they could only imagine.


    Only asionally could they see the scenes reported by TV stations, and Fang Ya couldn''t help but worry.


    In the north, the snow had even buried one-story buildings, and some people had died in their sleep during this winter.


    The situation in the cities wasn''t much better either, and as a pregnant woman, Fang Ya was naturally concerned.


    She felt that being pregnant at this time wasn''t ideal, but spring woulde eventually, right?


    After all, they had four seasons here, so even if spring came a littlete, it would stille, wouldn''t it?


    However, this time Wen Qian didn''t even need to rmend anything to her ¨C Fang Ya herself was thinking that once transportation and delivery services resumed, she would definitely stock up on more supplies at home, including items for the baby.


    The Chen family agreed on this point ¨C the worse the situation, the more they needed to stock up at home.


    The distant signal tower was still standing, and when they received calls, they could check online news on their phones.


    It''s just that the news they received from friends and colleagues wasn''t very good.


    The snow had trapped people, and at the same time made them feel hopeless and depressed.


    Although the signal was intermittent, they also had a radio, and the news from the cities wasn''t good either.


    No one had expected the snow tost this long, and many cities had already established centralized shelters.


    Everyone hoped the snow would disappear soon and not continue, and that as long as the snowfall didn''t increase, the current situation wouldn''t worsen.


    The remaining half of the first lunar month would still have two days of snowfall and two days of clear weather. In previous years around this time, the temperature in their area would gradually rise, and clear days would be more frequent.


    But now it was still just endless white snow, with no sign of winter passing.


    There was no telling when spring would arrive, and January had passed like this.


    However, Wen Qian kept her space tidy, never neglecting her daily tasks, and she also had a rough idea of what she owned.


    But she felt she should prepare more cold-weather gear. The amount she had was enough for staying at home, but if she had to live outdoors in the future, she would need to prepare more.


    Fortunately, Wen Qian had learned some tailoring skills at home. Now, she could follow the examples she had, taking apart old clothes she had scavenged, and cutting fabric to her size and measurements. She had grasped the simple techniques for now, but she hadn''t quite figured out how to work with thick winter clothing yet.


    With winter not over yet, Wen Qian didn''t n to stay at home every day. Whenever it was clear, she would try to go out.


    If the snow was too deep, she would use skis. She had never used them before, so she practiced on the slopes near her home first.


    With skis, walking was difficult but at least she wouldn''t get buried in the deep snow.


    In some areas, the snow was so deep that at her height, she could have beenpletely buried if she fell in.


    So she only walked on the more gentle slopes she had taken before, going along the slope behind her house for a stretch, and all she could see below was just white snow and bare tree branches.


    She rarely even saw sparrows. This winter must have been extremely difficult for small animals trying to survive.


    Before the New Year, she would asionally hear the pping and calls of wild chickens.


    Now the entire mountain vige was silent, with only the smokeing from the chimneys in the Yangou valley behind her.


    With such deep snow, Wen Qian wondered if the wheat underneath in the terraced fields would survive.

 Chapter 46

    Chapter 46


    Even in February, the temperature remained so low, and on days without snowfall, it was still overcast.


    However, theck of snow was fortunate. Just as people were grateful that it might not snow again, strong winds started blowing here.


    The bare tree branches cracked and snapped in the wind, sometimes with the sound of breaking.


    To Wen Qian''s ears, it sounded like nature was chopping firewood with the wind. She thought that after the wind stopped, she might be able to go and collect some of those fallen branches.


    After the strong winds, Wen Qian heard on the radio that some areas were hit by blizzards, while others experienced severe hail storms that could even punch through rooftops.


    Wen Qian was a bit worried that such extreme weather might reach her area too. Her home had only one level, and she was concerned about not having a ce to take shelter.


    So Wen Qian added anotheryer of false ceiling between the roof and walls, using some boards she had in her living space to construct a simple false ceiling.


    Her bed was beneath this false ceiling, so at least when sleeping at night, she wouldn''t have to worry about being struck by hail.


    Fortunately, there was no hail in her area, but then it started to rain and snow, and with the low temperatures, everything turned to ice, making the trees glisten.


    In this situation, Wen Qian could only stay at home, with her range of activity limited to the area just in front of and behind her house. She basically had to check the surroundings of her home every day.


    Because the temperature remained extremely low, with asional light snowfall, there was no sign of the snow melting on the mountains.


    It wasn''t until the end of February that the snow finally seemed to diminish a little, as icicles started forming under the eaves, and Wen Qian had to knock them down with a bamboo pole every morning.


    As the snowfall reduced, transportation gradually resumed, and as a result, some of the people who had gone to the city for the New Year actually returned, especially the older ones who felt it was better not to endure the harsh conditions in the city.


    Chen Ming from the Chen Family also had to return to work, as he had been in the countryside for too long.


    As March arrived, temperatures gradually rose, and the snow finally started to melt.


    With so much snow turning into water, Wen Qian thought that if they nted crops, there should be no shortage of water. People in the vige started moving around.


    There was little wheat left, and they were nning to re-sow wheat.


    Water dripped steadily from the eaves, and Wen Qian went up the mountain to collect firewood, as many branches had been blown down by the strong winds in February.


    She collected them andid them on the slope to dry out, nning to bring them backter.


    Around this time, she started uploading outdoor videos again, as previously she had mostly been indoors, except for a few live streams of the sound of the stove burning.


    Once all the snow had melted, the water level in the ditch at the entrance rose, and everything seemed to be progressing towards spring.


    Within a week, the snow had vanished without a trace, and the buds on the branches on the mountain were faintly visible.


    The temperature was still low, but the midday sun was warm enough for sunbathing.


    With no snow to shovel, Wen Qian would sit outside during the sunny periods, sunbathing while snacking on seeds, with a foot warmer beneath her feet.


    In the meantime, they went for a stroll in the town, where fruit was still expensive.


    Whenever Wen Qian went to town, she would definitely buy something, even though she had a lot of supplies at home. She just couldn''t resist buying a few items whenever she went to town.


    The weather forecast showed another drop in temperature, so Wen Qian took the opportunity when the sun was out to wash her clothes and hang them up to dry.


    During this cold spell, she had been drying her undergarments indoors after washing them.


    Leaving clothes outside would only cause them to freeze into icy sheets. Many people in the small town were busy retrieving roof tiles that had fallen off their houses.


    After the umted snow melted, their homes had developed leaks to varying degrees, exacerbated by pipes that had been cracked by the freezing temperatures. Some people started wrapping instion around their water pipes to prevent them from freezing again, even though this was an unusual precaution in past years.


    In Xiao Chen Vige, two families with children had returned, saying that life in the city was too difficult for them. At first, they were just confined to their homes, then they experienced water outages every two or three days. Later, they often ended up staying at public warming shelters.


    They nned to recuperate in their hometowns for a month before returning to the city, as the weather forecast predicted another drop in temperature wasing. So they decided to just stay in their hometowns for the time being.


    After a brief few sunny days in March that cleared the snow from the mountains, it started snowing again, but this time with sleet.


    Sleet hitting the roof tiles sounded different from regr snowkes. Snowkes mostly fell silently, while the sleet was noisy.


    Wen Qian also found it difficult to clean up after the sleet.


    The two families who had returned were out collecting firewood. Fortunately, besides firewood, there was nothing else on the mountain, although the wood was a bit damp. They managed to gather a lot of firewood from their own slopes.


    They had a car, and they also bought many supplies in town.


    One family''s kitchen roof was damaged, so the two brothers decided to share one kitchen and eat together.


    These two brothers were craftsmen, and with the bad weather, they had no business, so they just returned home.


    Besides, the cost of living in the city was quite different from living in the vige.


    The snow in March was just annoying, but this time it didn''t make it too difficult to get around.


    Wen Qian could still visit Auntie Chen and Fang Ya. During the snowfall, they had almost finished the vegetables they had, so they went out and bought some more.


    As for the rest, they tried sprouting beans at home. After getting tired of the bean sprouts, they eventually put some soil in containers inside the house and started growing some small greens like mustard greens.


    Wen Qian also had seeds for these, so she prepared two stic containers, dug up some soil from outside, and scattered the seeds in them near the stove.


    On sunny days, she would move them outside to sunbathe, and when it was cold or at night, she would bring them back inside near the stove.


    Through this process, she even managed to grow some small leafy greens.


    Auntie Chen said that if the temperature rose a bit more, the wild vegetables on the mountain would start to sprout, and then they could pick some to make dumplings with pork filling. But for now, with the snow covering and then disappearing, it was just frustrating.


    Fortunately, this snowfall only left a thinyer on the mountains before stopping, followed by two days of strong winds.


    The temperature then rose, and by the end of March, a tinge of green appeared on the mountains, although from up close, it was still a sea of yellow.


    Various grasses and leaves sprouted tiny green tips, and Wen Qian longed for the time when they would grow big enough for her to dig up some wild vegetables.


    The weather forecast indicated that there would be another drop in temperature in April, which would essentially be ate spring cold spell.


    People in the vigeined about the strange weather, saying the cold hadsted for so long, and now there would be another drop in temperature in April.


    They would have to dy their nting schedule, or else the seedlings would sprout and then be killed by the cold again.


    Sure enough, at the beginning of April, the winds were as strong as they were in February.


    Fortunately, the temperature forecasts had warned everyone, so they were spared much damage.


    However, this meant that the green cover on the mountains would be further dyed before spreading across thend again.


    By the time the wild vegetables were ready to be harvested, Wen Qian realized it was already mid-April.


    It seemed that everything was finally back on track, with some vigers returning to the city and others starting to nt crops again.


    Uncle Chen asked Wen Qian when she nned to go to An City.


    As for the three plots ofnd fromst year, Wen Qian had still sown vegetable seeds there, mostly fast-growing leafy greens.


    She didn''t expect anything else, as long as she could harvest them quickly.

 Chapter 47

    Chapter 47


    After sowing the seeds, Wen Qian didn''t bother much with them; she spent her other time foraging for wild vegetables on the mountain.


    After thete spring cold spell, the temperature rose with each passing rain shower. People began shedding theiryers of clothing.


    However, the rain was rather bothersome, with a drizzle thatsted for days, followed by a day or two of sunshine before raining again. It felt like the plum rains had arrived early.


    Apart from videos of Wen Qian digging for wild vegetables, she also recorded the white noise of the rain. It was rare for such a continuous drizzle tost for four or five days without stopping.


    A towel left hanging would grow moldy.


    Although the temperature rose, so did the humidity. Wen Qian had no choice but to use a heater, not for warmth but to dry out her room and prevent dampness.


    The rain was peculiar, with the entire southern region experiencing this light drizzle. It wasn''t very harmful, but it was annoying.


    The constant light rain kept the sun hidden, leaving people feeling gloomy after emerging from the winter snow only to face this dreary weather. Their frustration remained undiminished.


    Fortunately, it didn''t significantly impact their lives, or at least not majorly.


    The raincoats and rain boots purchased earlier now came in handy. Wen Qian would light the heater at home and then venture out in the light rain to forage for wild vegetables. Sometimes, she would also go fishing by the small river.


    Although she didn''t catch any fish, with the continuous rainfall, she needed to find ways to pass the time.


    Crops were struggling to grow, as delicate nts can''t withstand such unrelenting rain.


    Fortunately, leafy greens seemed unaffected, and the wild vegetables on the mountain were thriving.


    During the brief breaks between showers, some people went to the mountain to gather mushrooms. However, Wen Qian never dared to eat mushrooms. What if she picked poisonous ones while foraging?


    The locals were wary of eating mushrooms because an elderly couple who had gathered and consumed them for years ended up in the ICU after one incident, costing them tens of thousands in medical bills.


    Since then, the elderly and children in the area avoided gathering mushrooms. Considering the exorbitant hospital expenses, it was safer to buy mushrooms from the market with guaranteed safety.


    Wen Qian could only identify one or two edible mushroom varieties. She considered all others poisonous and wouldn''t eat them unless absolutely necessary.


    Wen Qian picked some leafy greens from the fields. While people say "spring rain is as precious as oil," too much rain was also troublesome.


    The constant gloomy drizzle caused weeds to grow faster than the crops! They couldn''t keep up with the weeding.


    Additionally, Wen Qian had nned to raise more chicks and piglets in the spring, but with the continuous rain, the young animals could get sick.


    Perhaps the confinement indoors due to the snow and now rain had caused many people''s immunity to weaken fromck of exercise.


    Many fell ill, though mostly with flu-like symptoms.


    Lack of outdoor activity and prolonged idleness at home took a toll.


    During seasonal transitions, Wen Qian paid extra attention to her health.


    Originally meant to be a vibrant spring, the constant rain left her with fewer opportunities to admire the blooming flowers while foraging for wild vegetables.


    However, having wild vegetables to gather was still a blessing. Although Wen Qian didn''t eat mushrooms, she could collect a type of moss called Nostocmune that grew in patches on the grassy slopes.


    Its texture was even softer than wood ear mushrooms. Lying on the grassy slopes, the moss only grew in the shallowyer of grass, nestled in the crevices.


    At times, Wen Qian would spend a long time lying on the ground, collecting the Nostocmune. Many people enjoyed eating it, but gathering it was tedious, and washing it was even more troublesome due to the bits of grass and debris.


    Stir-fried with cured meat, it tasted delicious. Despite being scarce, it fetched a high price when sold.


    However, Wen Qian didn''t intend to sell it for money.


    But if the rain persisted, she estimated she could gather a substantial amount. If anyone wanted it, she might sell it in exchange for other goods.


    After all, she didn''t particrly crave it; she just needed to keep herself upied every day.


    Amidst the rain, the mountain gradually turned green, a fresh vibrant hue.


    Yet the rain showed no signs of stopping, which was quite frustrating.


    The bowls, cupboards, wooden lids, and wood trims in Wen Qian''s home began to grow mold and mildew.


    Fortunately, Wen Qian had stored away most items, preventing her home from bing overly musty.


    At Auntie Chen''s house, they had to burn mugwort to smoke out the rooms.


    Excessive mold growth is unhealthy, so it needed prompt attention, especially with a pregnant woman in the household. They were extra cautious about what they consumed.


    Fortunately, the rain allowed them to shop in town, and deliveries could still reach them. Fang Ya had stocked up on plenty of food and moisture-absorbing bags, as well as two dehumidifiers, one for upstairs and one for downstairs, to reduce mold growth.


    As for clothes, they would air-dry them and finish drying them in the heated room near the heater.


    In short, they found solutions one by one.


    By then, both city and rural residents felt that this year was ominous.


    Wen Qian didn''t find it surprising, as every year could be considered the best year yet; that''s how she chose to think.


    The box nters Wen Qian had set up in the corridor were thriving, but recently, insects had started to infest them.


    Wen Qian had no choice but to remove the affected leaves, unsure of where the pests hade from.


    The fields and grassy areas also had pests, but as the leafy greens emerged, they risked being overgrown by weeds if left unchecked.


    With the rain, pesticides were ineffective, so she decided not to use them.


    Fang Ya''s belly had grown quiterge, and she was due soon. So during the rainy days, she wouldn''t visit Wen Qian. Instead, Wen Qian would visit her when she had time.


    The bigger her belly grew, the more anxious Fang Ya became.


    After a long stretch without seeing Fang Ya, Wen Qian noticed her belly had swollen like a balloon, with intense fetal movements.


    Apparently, the growth sped up significantly in thest few months.


    Perhaps the rain had dampened the mood of the expectant mother, which is why Auntie Chen sometimes asked Wen Qian to visit more often.


    Auntie Chen felt that the less-than-ideal living conditions at home had made the pregnant woman mncholic.


    However, Fang Ya wasn''t dissatisfied with the living conditions; she was just concerned about the poor environment for her pregnancy. Even living in An City wouldn''t have provided muchfort.


    The harsh winter, the adverse environment ¨C she would have struggled to livefortably there, too.


    Living in her hometown had its limitations, but overall, it was decent. However, Fang Ya grew increasingly worried about the circumstances her child would be born into.


    From conception until now, or even before that summer, the environment had been dreadful ¨C first the intense heat, then the drought, followed by heavy snow, and now the incessant rain.


    With the baby due in May, Fang Ya and Chen Ming had bought many supplies, fearing that money might not be enough when the time came.


    Giving birth at the town hospital was decent, but Chen Ming wanted her to have the baby in An City and do her postpartum confinement there.


    Chen Ming''s intention was to prevent his parents and wife from any hardship, so he nned to send them to a postnatal care center or hire a confinement nanny.


    However, with the dreadful weather, whether in the city or the countryside, Fang Ya couldn''t find any relief.

 Chapter 48

    Chapter 48


    Wen Qian did not fully understand the feelings of a pregnant woman, but she could see that the other party seemed anxious.


    So she suggested that she prepare some things for the baby. Since she was worried about the environment not being good for the baby after birth, she should try to create a good environment for the little one.


    However, Wen Qian first advised her to decide whether to give birth and have her confinement period in her hometown or go to the city.


    This decision was up to her, Auntie Chen had no opinion either way. After all, they also hoped that the third generation would be born in a better environment, and she could go to the city to take care of them if needed.


    In the end, Fang Ya decided to give birth and have her confinement period in her hometown.


    If she could have a natural birth, it would be best to return home early.


    So in May, Chen Ming took leave and came back, driving with his family to the town hospital. The baby was born within the expected due date. Fortunately, it was only raining, and the temperature was not low, plus it was a natural birth.


    They soon returned home, and Fang Ya began her confinement period in her hometown.


    Auntie Chen racked her brains every day to make confinement meals for her, and the chickens at home did not escape unscathed.


    Auntie Chen bought chicks and raised them in the cow shed because at this time, if the chicks went out in the rain, they would get sick and die, so they had to be kept indoors.


    With a new baby in the family, the mother''s milk supply was still sufficient, and they had also stocked up on plenty of infant form, so there was no worry about the baby not having milk to drink.


    During the confinement period, Wen Qian came to take a look at the newborn baby, who was indeed very tiny.


    The little girl''s nickname was "Tangyuan" (Sweet Rice Ball), because she was the family''s first baby in over 20 years, and everyone was very excited.


    It rained continuously, and Auntie Chen''s cloth diapers were not put to use because she knew they were difficult to wash and dry, and the smell from drying them inside was unpleasant. So she simply bought more disposable diapers and pants to change directly.


    Since it was raining, there was little sunshine, and the newborn baby had a slight jaundice.


    Many people would sunbathe to treat jaundice, but at this time, even sunlight was scarce, causing Fang Ya some anxiety.


    However, the parenting book said that physiological jaundice would subside on its own in a week or ten days. Only pathological jaundice required intervention.


    Fortunately, the baby''s jaundice subsided naturally, putting her mind at ease.


    Wen Qian came to visit and brought some fresh fruits and a red envelope gift.


    In this weather, the baby probably wouldn''t be able to have any activities, so since Wen Qian had a close rtionship with them, she gave the red envelope directly.


    Looking at this little one who needed to sleep for most of the day was quite adorable.


    However, Fang Ya''s concerns were not unfounded. As a mother, she might me herself for giving birth at the wrong time, but she could not have foreseen these circumstances.


    Fortunately, the Chen family treated adults and children well, so Fang Ya''s worries did not be more severe.


    By June, the temperature rose further. However, the rain did not stop, and the rainfall became even heavier.


    Fang Ya had not finished her confinement period when one night, the baby was woken up by the sound of thunder and started crying.


    After continuous light rain, it suddenly started pouring heavily. Chen Ming told her that An City was experiencing heavy rain.


    In previous years, heavy rain in An City during this period was not unusual, but the problem was that it had rained for half of April, and the entire month of May had seen continuous rainfall.


    Now it was June, and it was still raining, which was very strange.


    The heavy rainsted all night, and the next day, Uncle Chen went out to take a look and said that the small river at the bottom had already started to rise, submerging the small bridge.


    It was not a big deal if transportation was disrupted, but they were worried about the baby''s future vinations and check-ups.


    Auntie Chen became even more diligent in taking care of the baby, fearing that the baby might fall ill at this time.


    Infants often need to go torge hospitals as small clinics generally do not treat or prescribe medicine for infants.


    Moreover, people living on the street noticed that the nearby Liu River had started raging.


    Some people recorded videos of the rising water levels, and people on the street began to stay with rtives and friends, as weather forecasts showed that it would continue raining for the next few days.


    Hence, the people on the street started moving things from the first floor upstairs, as the area had experienced flooding ten years ago, which had submerged and washed away many items.


    This time, no one needed to remind them, and they started moving things on their own. After finishing, they began staying with rtives and friends.


    In any case, they would not stay on the street anymore. On the other side of the bridge, in the town area, when the water rose previously, due to the town''s slightly higher elevation, except for some water umtion in the houses by the river, the other buildings were still in good condition.


    Those who could not stay with rtives or friends went to the public hall on the other side of the town to take shelter and rest.


    Indeed, the heavy rain did not subside afterward, and An City also experienced simr heavy downpours.


    The continuous rainfall overwhelmed the city''s drainage system. It was no longer a matter of whether the sewers had a conscience; the rain was simply too insane, causing the sewers to have a heart attack.


    Many residential areas became flooded, with some people dying from electrocution in the water, while others passed away because they could not be reached by ambnces due to illness.


    At this point, Fang Ya felt that it did not matter where she had her confinement period, as long as her family members were safe.


    Since they lived in a hilly area with a gentle slope, there were no major issues like copses,ndslides, or mudslides.


    However, the rain was too heavy, and some of the ridges in the terraced fields below were slightly washed away, but it was not a big deal.


    The rain was so heavy that Wen Qian did not go out but stayed at home doing chores or recording white noise videos during the downpour.


    However, now that it was raining every day,izens became sick of this sound.


    Previously, the sound of rain was the most soothing for sleep, but now hearing it made them angry and annoyed.


    So Wen Qian started recording videos of herself cooking in the kitchen, always makingrge pots of food.


    Because she liked to eat fried dough twists, during this period at home, she experimented with making dough.


    After several attempts, she made fried dough twists that she was quite satisfied with.


    Then, following this method, she started making fried dough twists and steaming buns.


    While white noise was no longer popr, delicious food always had its fans, so Wen Qian regrly converted the extra ie into cash for emergencies.


    In any case, she would not keep it on cards or her phone.


    After several days of heavy rain, the street along the river was once again hit by flooding.


    Videos taken by nearby spectators showed the river roaring, and the street had turned into another river.


    The houses there were submerged, with conditions worse than ten years ago when the water level reached about 2 meters, but this year it was over 3 meters.


    Some people regretted not moving their belongings to the third floor, but with such heavy rain, the water could not drain fast enough, causing leaks in many rooms on the third floor as well.


    However, fortunately, there were warnings, so there were no casualties, except for people who drowned while trying to salvage items from the floodwaters.


    After the flood, each household was disinfected and given water purification tablets.


    This was just the situation on the street. In some t towns, the losses were even more severe, with some people not even having a chance to escape and drowning in their homes.

 Chapter 49

    Chapter 49


    The scenes of Liuhe Vige after the flood receded, although Wen Qian had not witnessed them in person, many people in the town shared videos of it.


    These days, with the widespread use of smartphones, even a pumpkin growing a bitrger or a radish with an odd shape in the vige would be posted online.


    When the flood came, someone from the town across the river captured the footage.


    After the waters receded, videos of each household clearing mud, scraping walls, and cleaning up started appearing.


    Wen Qian only needed to check nearby people''s posts to see a lot of flood-rted content.


    The electricity was cut off when the flood arrived but was restored the second day after it receded.


    After scraping off the flooded wall ster, people would either repaint or retile the walls once their homes dried up. Some even had to rece their doors that were swept away by the floodwaters.


    At the bridge entrance, mineral water, instant noodles, and a medicine stall were set up.


    Those who had experienced the flood often felt a sore throat and skin problems shortly after returning home.


    The staff at the medicine stall provided free medicines for the flood victims, including treatments for bruises, skin disinfectants, and anti-inmmatories. Minor ailments could be treated by getting medicines there.


    Disinfection workers woulde and spray disinfectants in the mornings and evenings. Extra attention was paid to sanitation after the flood to prevent outbreaks.


    At this time, people''s respiratory and digestive systems were vulnerable, and the elderly and children could easily fall ill, which would only worsen the situation.


    Every household was cleaning and sanitizing, and many who had sought shelter with rtives or friends had returned.


    Those with rtives in town went to check and reported that it was a mess with a lot of garbage on the streets.


    When the flood came from upstream, it washed down a lot of things, including manyrge logs of wood.


    So in the downstream sections where the river slowed, some things would get stranded, and many people were salvaging items like motorcycles and lumber.


    There were even those checking electronic devices, though it was uncertain whether they would still work.


    People were picking up discarded items, and Wen Qian even considered joining them, mainly to collect wood.


    But with so many people there, she would have to drag away anything she picked up herself, so she decided against it.


    Thinking about how difficult it was to obtain building materials, Wen Qian turned her attention to the nearby bamboo grove.


    After the rain, new bamboo shoots had grown into a new batch of bamboo trees.


    Wen Qian cut down a lot of bamboo, reducing the density of the grove and storing a good amount in her space.


    Uncle Chen told her that there was a bamboo grove in Dachenwa with much thicker bamboo trunkspared to the thin ones near her home.


    After inspecting it and asking the vigers who didn''t have much use for it, Wen Qian cut down over a dozen particrly thick bamboo trees and took them away.


    Considering the high altitude of their location, with everyone living in the valley, Wen Qian figured they were unlikely to encounter floods that could submerge their homes.


    Floods and waterlogging generally urred in t and low-lying areas.


    The heaviest rainfall in their area only caused the river downstream to overflow and submerge some farnd, temporarily disrupting transportation but not causing much else.


    The small river in the vige had long been segmented, with bridges built over each section and the sections made narrow. When water needed to be stored, sandbags would block the openings to raise the water level for irrigation.


    During times of abundant water flow, the openings would be unblocked to allow water to drain.


    After this major flood, one or two bridges had issues where the connection between the concrete and soil was eroded away.


    However, since there were many bridges in their area, if one bridge couldn''t be used, they could simply walk a bit further to cross another one.


    Wen Qian searched and found that An Province wasn''t actually at a very high altitude.


    If living on tnd became impossible one day, people would inevitably have to move to mountainous, hilly, or teau regions.


    Wen Qian wondered if one day the poption of her vige might increase, with more people seeking refuge in their hometowns.


    Wen Qian felt that her ideal ce should have both forests and tnd, far from areas prone to disasters like floods, snowstorms, and earthquakes.


    At the same time, it should have a sparse poption, naturally leading her to consider the western regions.


    However, she wasn''t sure whether to leave now or wait untilter.


    While transportation would be more convenient now, Wen Qian felt she wasn''t adequately prepared, and it wouldn''t be easy to adapt to apletely unfamiliar environment.


    She even wished she could continue living in this small valley, but with no one around to notice it except her.


    Unfortunately, she didn''t know any blinding or barrier spells, so someone like Wang Xiaoping coulde and bother her anytime,ing and going as they pleased.


    For now, the situation was tolerable, so Wen Qian nned to observe for a while since living anywhere was just about passing time.


    Over the next week, it was sunny in their area, and people affected by the flood or those unharmed in the vige all took their belongings out to wash and sun-dry.


    Within a week, the cleanup in town was mostly done.


    When Wen Qian went there, she noticed that the first-floor walls of every home had been scraped off, and an interesting phenomenon was that every household had mahjong tables drying outside their doors.


    The localmunity halls hadrge wooden tables, and adding a mahjong table would make them feel cramped.


    So clever people ced the mahjong tables inside the wooden tables. During meals, it served as a dining table, but when flipped over, there was a mahjong table underneath that could be used by plugging it in.


    Many households felt it wasn''t trendy not to have a mahjong table at home. Even if they couldn''t afford fancy meals, they would still buy a mahjong table to disy at home.


    When evacuating, many people carried refrigerators and washing machines upstairs, but the heavy mahjong tables were left on the first floor.


    Yet even when the floodwaters burst open their doors, the sturdy mahjong tables remained unmoved.


    After the flood, they disassembled and cleaned the tables, allowing them to be used again.


    So when Wen Qian came to town, she saw mahjong tables drying outside.


    The garbage on the streets had been cleared, leaving the entire street clean with the lingering scent of disinfectant.


    Wen Qian hurried across the bridge to the town on the other side, where only one row of residential buildings had been flooded this time, with no other major damage.


    Even during peak hours, there were still many people in this town.


    Whenever Wen Qian had the chance to go out, she would definitely go and spend some money buying things to store more items in her space.


    She felt she had be addicted to hoarding.


    People were discussing this recent flood, which hadn''t caused any casualties on this street, but they had heard that upstream, someone holding a child fell from a bridge while watching the flood. The child fell into the water and the body still hadn''t been found.


    Wen Qian couldn''t understand the mentality of people watching the spectacle. Couldn''t they just observe from a safe distance?


    As she listened to the conversations around her, she waited for the rotating dough sticks in the pot to be ready for serving.


    The only casualty caused by the flood on this street was an elderly man who had left home to stay with rtives before the flood. After the waters receded, he returned with his family to clean up.


    The second day after the flood, when the river level had significantly dropped, many people were washing things or rinsing mops on the usual river steps.


    Around noon, when most were resting at home after cleaning, this elderly man went to wash his mop but never returned.


    His family assumed he had gone for a walk and became worried when they couldn''t find him anywhere in the vige or town after a few hours.


    Eventually, they discovered his drowned body not far from the steps. He had likely slipped and fallen, without anyone nearby to notice or rescue him.


    His family wailed as they carried his body home.


    Having survived the flood, yet perished in its aftermath.


    People sighed at the impermanence of life.

 Chapter 50

    Chapter 50


    The weather was clear in Wen Qian''s hometown, but it was still raining elsewhere.


    There was a droughtst year, a snow disaster in winter, and now floods. People were increasingly uneasy.


    No matter how much regtion, disaster relief, and emergency response took ce, people had varying degrees of worry about the future.


    At this time, different parts of the world were suffering from varying degrees of natural and man-made disasters, with little good news on the news.


    No matter how muchfort and encouragement was given, the mundane routine of the past could no longer return.


    People began to reflect if they had been too ungrateful before - turning on the tap provided water, flipping a switch gave electricity, transportation was convenient, life was easy.


    Although work and school were arduous, at least eating and sleeping was normal in spring, summer, autumn, and winter.


    But now, they were constantly facing extreme weather, with no chance to catch their breath, making it impossible to continue even the ordinary hustle and bustle of life.


    In some countries and regions, due to people''s fear and despair of disasters,


    some took the opportunity to amass wealth, seeing through the fragile psychology of many, using the excuse offorting them, under the guise of giving them faith and support, they took away their savings.


    Fortunately, this behavior was prohibited domestically, as the country did not allow such things to happen.


    The disaster had not yet caused people to copse, but their actions of squandering family fortunes led to the breakdown of families, and the loss of trust and affection.


    Of course, for events happening in distantnds, Wen Qian only read about them in the news.


    She hung a map on the wall at home and searched for alternative locations, wondering where she could go next when she left this ce.


    Where could she temporarily settle, where could she live for the long term? She wanted to find a ce with fewer people than the town and start over.


    After all, if those rtives she wanted to bury didn''t live well, they mighte and bother her again.


    Wen Qian even thought of resolving those rtives before she left, but since she was going to leave, it seemed unnecessary to get her hands dirty.


    Her first choice was to head west. The east had lower elevations and denser poptions, so it was ruled out first.


    The west was more vast and sparsely popted, but she was not yet sure where exactly to go.


    She would first rule out famous ces, routes, and scenic spots, preferring her activity range to have no neighbors - this was very important.


    As the saying goes, distant rtives are not as good as close neighbors. Having a good neighbor is fine, but having no neighbor is better than having one with ill intentions.


    Wen Qian originally found it difficult to trust others, and after gaining ess to her spatial ability, she became even more distrustful.


    So she searched online and in her stored books for all kinds of information, hoping to find a ce where she could farm or raise livestock.


    Relying on the mountains to eat from the mountains, relying on the sea to eat from the sea, she needed to continuously hoard supplies.


    After all, the things in her spatial ability were hoarded little by little by herself, and would eventually run out.


    She herself had no great skills and did not expect to earn a lot of money, nor did she dare to do anything illegal.


    After all, those illegal ways of making money were still things she did not have the courage to do. She just wanted to avoid trouble and had no intention of killing her way through any crowd - that was not her style.


    This meant she had no way to loot during chaos, or buy things for zero dors when the world was in disorder. With her small stature, she would instead be targeted, so she had to make preparations early.


    Before the transportation system copsed, she could still take advantage of the convenient transportation to shorten the time needed for migration.


    If she waited too long and had to travel by foot or random vehicles, the difficulty would be too great.


    Once the world was in chaos, it would be too troublesome for her to move. Thin and small, she would be seen as an easy target that anyone would want to pinch. It was better to leave sooner.


    Wen Qian also had to consider that even if disasters urredter, the migrants would not stop or gather in the ce she chose, which was also very important.


    Wen Qian marked a few locations and pondered how to quickly establish a home of her own after arriving. She wished she could take her current home brick by brick.


    But then she thought better of it and decided to leave this home in the town behind, feeling that perhaps one day she might be able toe back and see it.


    Of course, this was just her wishful thinking.


    She had stored gasoline, chainsaws, and various tools.


    In the meantime, she could cut down trees in advance and prepare the lumber, so that she could quickly build a small wooden house when the time came. At this point, she thought of mobile prefab houses or shipping containers, but realized Wen Qian could not afford to buy them, so she considered building one herself.


    Wen Qian had also often watched videos about building safe huts in the wilderness. The people in the videos seemed to build small houses with ease, but Wen Qian knew from personal experience of chopping trees that it would be very tiring.


    Using an axe was different from using a chainsaw, and she still had to build a home for her entire daily life, so the workload would definitely not be easy.


    This process could take a long time, but she needed to determine it in advance.


    She really did not want to spend money on buying a prefab house, even if building a hut herself was slower. Before the home was built, she needed a safe ce to settle.


    She still needed to slowly think of another good solution, as she could note up with one for the time being.


    It all came down to not having enough money, but at this point, Wen Qian was not thinking about earning money either. She was truly just drifting through her days slowly.


    The rush of going to work and leaving home was long gone, but she had not entered a frantic survival mode either.


    Rather than a desire to survive, her social anxiety and tendency to avoid trouble more so dictated her lifestyle.


    As Wen Qian was pondering alternative locations, the clear skies in the countryside gave way to rain once again.


    This time it was the same as before, a continuous light drizzle that made one feel annoyed.


    As the temperature continued to rise, the drizzle did not bring much of a cooling sensation.


    High temperature, high humidity - what people call a steamer.


    No need to mention the crops in the fields, Auntie Chen and the others had already given up on the first half of this year''s harvest.


    It was just too difficult.


    They were hoping for the second half of the year, and would grow some grain if the weather improved.


    Seeing their parents working so hard but gaining no harvest due to the weather, their son told them to stop growing grain altogether.


    They could just grow some vegetables at home and buy grain with money from the town.


    But Uncle Chen, unless he was physically unable, would continue farming. It was just that the current weather was not good, so he needed to consider what crops to grow next and modify his original nting n.


    However, no matter what crops were grown, extreme conditions like severe drought, heavy rain, strong winds, and heavy snow all seemed to make it difficult for them to thrive.


    Wen Qian did not know what would happen next, as her dreams were not that clear.


    She only knew there would be natural disasters, but could not match the time with the specific disaster to prepare. All she could do was hoard supplies as much as possible and find a safe ce to hide.


    Due to the excessively humid weather, some things would spoil if bought and stored at home inrge quantities.


    Under normal circumstances, everything had an expiration date. Wen Qian had her spatial ability, so things remained in the same state as when they entered when taken out.


    So she did not need to worry about storage time limits, but others, even if they could store a lot of food, would not be able to use it as it spoiled and expired, and could even invite deadly consequences.


    Current vacuum-packing, nitrogen-flushing, and canning methods could dy expiration dates and preserve freshness as much as possible.


    There were even ims online that military rations from past wars decades ago were still edible.


    If not for Wen Qian''s limited finances and the ability of her spatial ability to preserve freshness, she would have chosen to hoard canned goods as well, instead of just buying a small amount to try.


    Before the end of June, Wen Qian had chosen about three backup destinations for herself, all located in different parts of the western region.


    If she really ended up in a sparsely popted area, she felt that she could slowly survey the locations in person.


    After all, the information avable online and the descriptions in books were not enough.

 Chapter 51

    Chapter 51


    As Wen Qian contemted where to go next after leaving the vige, she realized there was an important matter she needed to take care of before leaving.


    Her identity card was about to expire and needed to be renewed, otherwise she wouldn''t be able to take any transportation.


    So Wen Qian took her chance and traveled to the town, which was over 45 minutes away from their vige by car.


    The roads built in the hilly area were based on the old dirt paths, so out-of-town drivers had to be very careful, while local drivers were quite skilled and adept.


    On the way, she saw tea gardens on the slopes, as well as newly constructed high-speed rail elevated bridges.


    They passed by cement factories and brick kilns with advertisements and prices posted.


    Wen Qian roughly calcted the prices for bricks and decided to give up on the idea of building her own home for now.


    However, when she saw some old abandoned houses that had copsed due tock of maintenance, an idea shed in her mind - why not make use of those materials?


    The bricks and tiles used for building houses in the past were made of red y or mud bricks, and she had seen vigers making mud bricks when building cattle sheds, which was an early construction material used in this area.


    She didn''t know why the brick kilns now produced dark gray cement bricks that didn''t seem as sturdy as the old red y bricks.


    Many old houses, if left unupied and unmaintained, would eventually copse, and theirnd and household registration would be canceled.


    Nature would take over, with grass and trees growing taller than the houses, and no one would bother to collect the scattered bricks and tiles, so some vigers would use them to build chicken coops.


    Wen Qian thought that since no one wanted them, she might as well take them all.


    The mainponents she needed were the bricks and beams, while the tiles, mostly small mud tiles from the past, were unnecessary to collect inrge quantities. When her family had reced the tiles, most of the small old tiles were left intact and neatly stacked at the side of the yard, which would be easier to take with her.


    Another point was that the safe haven she had chosen might have different construction methods from her area, so she wanted to collect as many materials as possible, just in case they could be useful in the future.


    Moreover, with the current abnormal climate conditions, she couldn''t rely solely on past climate and environmental records anymore. It was hard to predict what challengesy ahead, so she needed to prepare as much as possible.


    After all, sincest year, the climate issues had persisted until now, breaking past records repeatedly, and it was difficult to foresee what would happen next.


    Along the way, she silently observed the scenery outside the window, her mind still mulling over her ns, as if she were just out for a breath of fresh air.


    Usually, Wen Qian wouldn''t go to her own town unless she had something to do, usually opting for the town near Liuhe Vige to buy supplies and attend gatherings.


    Upon arriving in town, Wen Qian asked around for the address of the police station, only to find that it had moved from its previous location.


    The address on her phone map was still the old one.


    The townspeople gave her conflicting directions, and she ended up going in a big circle before finding the new address of the police station in an alley.


    She always wondered why people would give wrong directions or intentionally mislead her in such situations.


    Once there, she quickly took a photo and got her fingerprints scanned, and afterpleting the process, she went to explore other parts of the town.


    This town was slightlyrger than the one near her home, with more ces to visit.


    However, Wen Qian didn''t have much money, so she could only afford to look around and buy very little. If it weren''t for the low wages andck of job opportunities in town, she might have considered working there.


    She was truly as poor as a church mouse!


    However, after being unemployed and living in the mountains for a long time, Wen Qian didn''t really have much desire to actively seek work. She would rather scavenge for bricks from copsed houses.


    Holding a cup of soy milk, Wen Qian stood by the street, watching the peopleing and going as she sipped her drink absentmindedly.


    The road was wide, with many cars parked on both sides. It would be best for her to leave in the morning, as there would be no cars returning to her hometown in the afternoon.


    "Wen Qian? Is that you?" A voice came from beside her.


    Wen Qian''s first reaction was not wanting to engage in conversation with anyone, so she didn''t respond immediately, but she did straighten her back.


    After reducing her interactions with people, Wen Qian preferred to maintain this state of solitude. She could talk to herself, but she didn''t want to add any new interpersonal rtionships.


    She felt that she could bear loneliness and solitude on her own, but the psychological burden and guilt that came with deepening rtionships were something she couldn''t handle, so she had to minimize her interactions with others as much as possible.


    The person approached Wen Qian and said with a smile, "It is you! What are you doing in town?"


    Wen Qian looked at him without speaking, nning to y dumb.


    She recognized this ssmate, whose name consisted of two characters. They had been in the same ss for a year when they attended middle school in town. She remembered him being a thin and small boy, and he still appeared rather frail.


    Her ssmate Ren Jie, whose name consisted of two characters, looked down at her and scrutinized her. He had found her familiar when he saw her from across the street, and upon getting closer, he realized she was his middle school ssmate.


    Wen Qian was wearing an old white t-shirt and jeans, carrying a canvas bag.


    Her clothes and bag were from a few years ago, looking old and shabby, or one could say rustic.


    This outfit still had a student-like vibe, without any semnce of a mature adult, and even students nowadays dressed better than her.


    Ren Jie greeted her, saying it had been a long time, and then asked where she had attended high school.


    Wen Qian mentioned her previous upation before quitting her job as a clerk, and upon hearing this, Ren Jie understood her likely ie level. He then politely asked if she was avable to attend their ss reunion, which was held every summer or winter.


    During their school years, they would gather in the summer, but after starting their careers, the reunions gradually shifted to winter.


    The heavy snow at the beginning of the year had prevented any lively gatherings, so he symbolically invited this once-excellent student to join the reunion.


    A fresh face would be a wee addition.


    Wen Qian had basically stopped attending such events after graduation, and since her future ns were still uncertain, she only said she would consider attending if she had time.


    Ren Jie asked for her contact information and added her to the group chat.


    However, Wen Qian didn''t have much to say, so she was just nning to lurk in the group.


    Ren Jie felt a bit awkward, as a conversation should flow both ways. Since he had asked about Wen Qian, it would be polite for her to ask about his life as well, such as how he was doing these days, or some other small talk.


    But Wen Qian didn''t seem to have any curiosity about him and didn''t initiate any conversation.


    So Ren Jie had no choice but to continue asking her if she was waiting for someone or waiting for a ride while standing by the street.


    Wen Qian hesitated for a moment. Originally, she had nned to wander around some more, but now she just wanted to hurry back home.


    So she told him she would be heading home soon.


    Ren Jie asked if she had driven there, offering to give her a ride if not.


    Wen Qian then asked where he lived.


    Ren Jie said he lived right in town.


    Wen Qian declined his offer, saying she had already arranged for a driver from her vige to pick her up.


    So when she saw the van that had brought her in the morning, Wen Qian bid farewell to Ren Jie and quickly boarded the vehicle.


    In Ren Jie''s eyes, Wen Qian hadn''t changed at all. Not only did her appearance remain the same, but her personality also seemed unchanged - still so unsociable and quiet.


    Shouldn''t she have be more sociable and engage in some small talk after bing an adult?

 Chapter 52

    Chapter 52


    After Wen Qian left, Ren Jie introduced her in the group chat, and quite a few people came out to greet her. Wen Qian also sent a friendly sticker.


    She answered one question at a time, quite uninterestingly and without much enthusiasm to start new topics. The chat soon quieted down.


    As for the ssmate reunion they mentioned, she could find a time and say she couldn''t make it when it came.


    Or perhaps she would be gone from here even before the reunion.


    For Wen Qian, whether in the past, present, or future, interpersonal rtionships were never a necessity, or one shouldn''t invest too much thought into them, that''s just how it was.


    Of course, she understood that if she were a bit more flexible, things might be a little easier.


    But her flexibility would only be applied to work, when she needed a job to earn a living.


    Her best friend from before gradually lost contact with her after getting married and having a child. Now, even when Wen Qian reached out, they could hardly chat. She didn''t force it.


    Rtionships were never one-sided.


    After returning home, Wen Qian immediately set out, walking up the mountain, crossing over two peaks through arge Oak Forest to a small vige called Oak Bay.


    Five households were scattered here, thest remaining being an elderly couple.


    Other families had either moved to the nearby Liuhe Vige streets or went to the cities.


    By the time Wen Qian was in high school, only that one elderly couple remained.


    Later on, it was said that the grandmother passed away due to illness, and with their family members all studying or working outside, the grandfather could hardly take care of himself.


    Wen Qian''s grandmother had mentioned that the old man would often go to town to buy food because he couldn''t cook well himself. Luckily, he had some money to frequently buy things in town.


    A few yearster, the grandfather became increasingly senile until one day he passed away, leaving the vigepletely deserted.


    The houses in the vige gradually became overgrown with weeds and trees.


    After returning home from wandering about, Wen Qian had passed through that area. Below the old houses were ponds and terraced fields, with two or three adjoining ponds.


    When her grandfather was still around, she had used a fishing to catch fish there. There was even a pond where they grew lotus roots.


    Wen Qian''s memories of this vige included beautiful lotuses and emerald green lily pads.


    Now, she thought, it must all be in disrepair. She didn''t know if she could still dig up any lotus roots.


    However, the ponds now were probably quite deep. Even if there were free lotus roots to dig up, she wouldn''t risk it.


    For the other two ponds, she tried using a fishing to catch fish. At home, there was an old dra as well as a sticky she had bought herself.


    She set up the sticky in the first pond and tried using the dra in the second.


    The sticky needed time, while the dra was truly tiring. Mainly because the pond was now deep, making it difficult to haul up. She had to tug the rope like a porter, yet ended up catching hardly any fish.


    She realized her grandfather had probably only used these when the water was low. Using them now seemed like the wrong approach, so she decided to try a cast instead.


    However, casts require strength to open into a full circle. As a beginner, Wen Qian first practiced in the pond with the sticky, which could also scare the fish into the.


    Once she could open it somewhat, she went to cast the in the pond and actually caught some fish, though her casting circles gradually became smaller until she almost threw herself in.


    These ponds had no one to tend to them, and the fields were also untilled.


    She had originallye to see if there were any usable bricks or tiles but ended up only catching fish on the first day.


    Having caught some fish was good. By the pond, Wen Qian used buckets and basins to process all the fish, then washed thes clean.


    Her haul was not small, mostly small fish but with a fewrger ones as well.


    After storing everything in her spatialrent, she began clearing a path to the houses with a sickle.


    The five houses reflected the changes in construction over the years: a very old rammed earth house that had copsed long ago, a gray brick house, two red brick houses - all single-story.


    There were also two two-story small buildings, likely where the elderly couple had lived.


    The rammed earth house was unrecognizable, its roof tiles having caved in, littering the interior and exterior with shards.


    Wen Qian didn''t know the condition of the wooden beams underneath, so she probed them with a stick before shifting one with her foot. Three beams seemed intact, so she collected them.


    As it was gettingte, Wen Qian didn''t linger and returned home.


    The next morning after eating, she went back.


    The roofs of the brick houses had varying degrees of damage, the walls still standing but withrge cracks and peeled ster exposing the bricks.


    Wen Qian cleared a path, deciding for the slightly damaged houses to dismantle from the top down.


    If the roof only had a fewrge holes in the center but the tiles on both sides were intact, she would set up adder, collect the remaining tiles from the sides, check the wooden rafters, and remove any good ones along with their nails, then collect the wooden beams before knocking down the walls to collect the bricks.


    This process carried some risk, so she used her spatial rent as much as possible and set up a sturdy tripoddder.


    The wooden beams wererge and thick - they must have been carefully selected from sturdy, straight trees in the mountains when the houses were built. Wen Qian collected every good one.


    She also dismantled a few door and window frames. With the corrugated iron sheets in her spatial rent, she could nail them onto the door panels to make new doors.


    When knocking down walls, she would lean salvaged concrete bs against the fragile walls from the side before pushing them over.


    The resounding crash echoed, making Wen Qian feel she didn''t need to be discreet anymore.


    From the fallen bricks, she collected any intact ones.


    To save costs when building, these single brick walls were made hollow, using single bricks for non-load-bearing walls.


    The back wall of Wen Qian''s own house was also a single brick wall, allowing her to easily punch a hole for the stove''s chimney pipe when installing a heater.


    Now that it was Wen Qian''s turn to dismantle walls, she could easily identify the ones prone to copsing without needing to judge the structural integrity. For walls already fallen, she just needed to remove the bricks, leaving behind any adhered mortar to be cleanedter. For now, she prioritized collecting the bricks.


    This solo demolition was physicalbor for Wen Qian. She started meticulously but became more haphazardter on.


    She used her spatial rent''s power to directly collect the scattered wall sections, leaving the task of sorting them into individual bricks for when she had time. Now, she just collected them en masse.


    She also didn''t want to make too much noise in the vige for long in case someone passed by. How would she exin herself?


    So it was better to work quietly. As for the crashing sounds of falling walls, if anyone heard, so be it.


    She could just hide in the woods. Who would know what she was up to amidst the overgrown vegetation?


    Collecting the walls crudely inrge chunks like this and moving swiftly to the next house, Wen Qian spent three days amassing quite a collection of bricks.


    Thest building was a two-story house that Wen Qian initially thought she shouldn''t touch.


    But upon closer inspection, it seemed this house was also abandoned.


    The sand, stones, and bricks that had once filled the walkway under the front porch had copsed.


    The concrete bs above were also in shambles, and the steps in front of the main entrance were impassable.


    A tree had grown as thick as Wen Qian''s calf by the steps, its branches reaching up to the second floor.


    The wooden windows had rotted away, and peering through the broken ss, the first floor''s ceiling had grown moss from the leaks.


    Both stories seemed to have been leaking, rendering it uninhabitable.


    However, demolishing the two-story house was too difficult a task, so she only took away the bricks from the adjoining kitchen and the livestock shed.


    If the two-story house were to identally copse, Wen Qian''s life could be in danger, so she decided to let it be.


    But she was determined to take away all the scattered sand and bricks from the hallway downstairs.


    After removing thest of these items, it was already noon. Wen Qian did not return home to rest but instead went to the edge of the pond, where she found a grassy spot to sit and eat her lunch.


    As she ate, Wen Qian''s gaze turned towards the lotus pond.


    It seemed she had found herself another task to do.

 Chapter 53

    Chapter 53


    In An Province, lotus roots are a delightful dish. Lotus root powder, lotus root strips, lotus leaf tea, and lotus seeds - every part is a treasure.


    Wen Qian looked at the lotus pond beside the former fish pond dam.


    In July, the lotus flowers here bloom beautifully, and the lotus leavesyer uponyer. Wen Qian was thinking that she didn''t have the opportunity to dig up lotus roots, but she could at least take some leaves, lotus seeds, and lotus flowers.


    Dried lotus leaves make a nice tea too.


    At first, Wen Qian didn''t n to dig up lotus roots from the pond, as the water was too deep. But she wanted to collect some leaves and lotus seeds.


    Circling around the lotus pond, she found that underneath there were long terraced fields, now densely covered in lotus leaves.


    The water inside didn''t seem deep, as there was a lot of undergrowth beneath the lotus leaves.


    The difference in height between the lotus pond and the fields was about two to three meters. It seemed that people had previously cultivated lotus roots in the fields below.


    If the lotus roots were grown in rice fields, then the mud and water level wouldn''t be as deep as the pond. This was worth a try.


    So Wen Qian quickly finished her meal, then searched online for how to dig up lotus roots and harvest lotus root strips.


    The inte has all kinds of tutorial videos, including how to harvest lotus roots.


    Wen Qian carefully watched one or two videos to learn the technique.


    Then she put on the wading pants she had bought earlier and secured a life jacket over her top, fully equipped. She took her small bamboo pole that she had smoothed out and headed down to the fields.


    The ridges of the fields were overgrown with weeds. Wen Qian made her own path, wearing the life jacket in case she "capsized in the ditch."


    If she identally fell in, at least she wouldn''t drown in the field. Wen Qian was very careful.


    First, she used the bamboo pole to prod from left to right, checking the water depth. Apart from the deep drainage ditches on both sides, the other areas were only slightly deeper than a regr rice paddy.


    The surface water was even shallower, which was why so much undergrowth had grown. Wen Qian cut some lotus leaves, then felt around in the water.


    Under the still tightly furled young leaves, she could feel the lotus root strips by reaching down.


    Lotus root strips are much more valuable than lotus roots, and they''re also very delicious, especially in a sour and spicy dish.


    So she bent over in the small field, feeling around and harvesting quite a few lotus root strips.


    She figured there must also be some in the pond, but the videos she watched showed that to harvest lotus root strips from a river or pond, one had to fully submerge themselves, which was too dangerous.


    Come to think of it, Wen Qian didn''t know how to swim or dive. At this thought, she realized she should learn how to swim.


    Mastering that skill coulde in handy one day.


    That''s what she thought, even though she, andlubber, had always stayed away from any body of water before.


    But now, she felt she should learn to swim after all.


    In this small field area, she had collected quite a few lotus root strips, but her back was aching and the sun was setting.


    Wen Qian then took her bamboo pole with a sickle attached and hurried to the edge of the pond above, harvesting lotus leaves from the areas she could reach before rushing home.


    For the next few days, she continued thisborious routine, worried that she might make herself sick from overexertion.


    So she nned to go down to the fields again in the following days to feel around for lotus roots that she could store.


    Before going home, Wen Qian took off her wading pants and conspicuous life jacket, putting her harvest into her space, taking only a small bundle of lotus leaves and lotus root strips back with her.


    She didn''t know if anyone had seen her while she was harvesting the lotus leaves.


    She figured if anyone else came to collect lotus roots or lotus root strips here, it would be reasonable too.


    But in this area, the viges were mostly inhabited by the elderly at this time of year, so most would be unwilling to go through such effort.


    So Wen Qian didn''t worry about whether she had been seen or not.


    The next day, Wen Qian went back to the lotus root field, trying to feel around for lotus roots inside.


    Finding lotus roots in the mud was strenuous, as they were long and tubr. She had to feel for them bit by bit, being careful not to break them or let mud get inside.


    But as an amateur, her patience quickly ran out. If they broke, so be it - she would just put them in her space.


    So she felt around while washing them, managing to collect quite a few.


    After looking at the mess she had made of the lotus root field, Wen Qian ended her lotus root digging activities.


    She did want to spend more time there, but it was just tooborious. Even though she hadn''t finished, she didn''t want to continue any further.


    She wondered if she should try growing some lotus roots in the pond by her house.


    There weren''t many lotus seeds in this field, and Wen Qian had taken them all. As for the lotus flowers, she had picked some but left the rest to bloom.


    From her impressions, lotus flowers were also edible. She had seen on TV that they could be deep-fried, so she nned to try thatter.


    With things being stored in her space every day, Wen Qian felt a great sense of fulfillment. As long as she had thingsing in, she felt like she was earning.


    Compared to studying materials and videos to find safe locations, learn about the local geography and culture, and understand how the locals lived, she preferred this kind of physicalbor that didn''t require too much mental effort. When she got too tired, she could just sleep, and she slept very soundly.


    But those studying and thinking activities kept her mind constantly stimted. Even when she had a headache andid down, she couldn''t fall asleep quickly.


    Fortunately, these days ofbor allowed her body and mind to rx, so she resumed her leisurely routine of simmering lotus root soup at home while watching documentary shows.


    She had previously watched some aerial documentary footage of the western provinces, recording variousndscapes and customs.


    For her, there were some ces, including locations featured in TV shows and movies, where she felt living in seclusion would be wonderful. But often those ces were famous tourist attractions.


    So she shifted her gaze to ces with simrndscapes and culture but far less renowned than those scenic spots.


    What kinds of nts and animals grew there? What local specialty herbs were there? What were the local architectural styles? What were the personalities, customs, and traditions of the local people?


    One thing Wen Qian was very concerned about was the altitude. The average elevation of the ces she wanted to go was very high.


    Many tourists visiting high-altitude areas had to carry oxygen tanks. Wen Qian wondered if she should go from low to high altitudes gradually, little by little, to limatize.


    This made her think about going to popr, well-known ces first to stay for a while, then traveling alone to less-known areas with fewer people.


    This would provide a transition period, so she wouldn''t abruptly change environments and get sick from the new climate and soil.


    If she recklessly wandered into an uninhabited area, she might fall ill or even die from being unable to adapt.


    At this point, Wen Qian only wanted to live cautiously. For her, after umting so many things, it would be a pity to suddenly die.


    Moreover, she didn''t know if this so-called space would still exist after her death or if it would be inherited by someone else - she was unclear about all that.


    She had painstakingly umted these things bit by bit, like an ant moving house, using her own savings.


    If she was going to die, she should at least use up all these things first, Wen Qian thought simply.

 Chapter 54

    Chapter 54


    July seemed to be a bit more normal in terms of the weather, but Wen Qian knew it was only a temporary normality in her region.


    ording to the news from the emergency management department she followed, floods, hail storms, and wind disasters were currently the main disasters urring nationwide, with typhoons, earthquakes, and geological disasters also happening to varying degrees.


    She paid attention to various websites, and now in addition to watching the news every day, she also kept an eye on and recorded the times and locations of disaster-rted events.


    Some ces on Earth are more disaster-prone than others, such as certain countries located in volcanic and seismic zones.


    Wen Qian looked at the ces marked with different disasters on the map. Some areas would inevitably face typhoons or worry about flood peaks at certain times of the year, and those were definitely ces to avoid.


    Earthquake-prone areas should also be avoided as much as possible.


    Areas that are the first choice for refuge after major disasters were also on the list to be excluded.


    Xiaochenwa''s vige was rtively secluded, which had its advantages during times like before the founding of the nation or during the recent pandemic.


    No one came and went.


    However, there were two reasons why Wen Qian wanted to leave: first, there were annoying people watching her, and second, in case of a disaster, this ce would also be a choice for people to seek shelter with rtives.


    Take Xiaochenwa for example. His older generation of rtives might be around here, but their younger generation of rtives could be everywhere.


    If something happened, for instance, Fang Ya might ask her parents and brother toe over, and her brother''s wife would also have rtives.


    One thing would lead to another, and eventually this ce would be crowded. When there were too many people, even a de of grass or a piece of wood could be a source of conflict.


    The vige would then revert to a state where whoever had more men in their family could walk around arrogantly, which would not be a good thing for Wen Qian. At that time, she might not even be able to maintain her single status.


    At that time, Wen Qian might not even have the choice to be alone, which was not the life she wanted.


    With more people, she might be exposed, and Wen Qian had even thought of 365 ways she could die.


    All these thoughts prompted Wen Qian to leave herfort zone, even though the mere thought of leaving was already very stressful for her.


    If it were so easy to step out of thefort zone, it wouldn''t be called afort zone. It took a long time just to continue thinking about leaving.


    The subsequent mental struggle also took time, and the preparation before leaving was even more painful and anxious.


    However, it was better to start doing than thinking too much. Once she started taking action, Wen Qian''s anxiety would dissipate, and although the remaining anxiety still existed, it didn''t seem to affect her much as she took action.


    After the initial period of worry, Wen Qian''s mindset became steady again.


    After the past few days of hard work, Wen Qian arranged some leisurely activities for herself in the following days, such as gathering firewood in the mountains.


    Although her spatial dimension already had a lot of firewood stored, she would continue to store it as long as there was space.


    Wen Qian also walked through all the nearby mountains, with a vague feeling in her heart that she might nevere back. Before going on a long journey, she still wanted to walk around and take a closer look at the ce where she grew up.


    Wen Qian had her ID card expedited. She paid a fee, filled in her address, and had it mailed to the nearby town, saving her the trouble of going to pick it up herself, which would cost more in transportation fees than postage and take more time.


    If the weather was nice, she would take leisurely walks in the mountains to gather firewood. If it rained, she would tinker around in the kitchen preparing food. In general, her life was fulfilling and rxed.


    Half a monthter, when she received her ID card, her mood was not particrly bright that day.


    Wen Qian still bought some things in the street and brought them back home. She stood in a daze at the entrance of the hall, and then booked a ticket for four dayster.


    The reason she chose four dayster was that she saw a discounted flight ticket, with economy ss fares starting from half price.


    To her, it didn''t matter whether she left early orte by a few days. She didn''t consult the Chinese almanac and choose an auspicious day.


    At this point, she had to consider her financial situation and find a cheaper option. Wen Qian had very few opportunities to take a ne, with the only times being when she apanied her boss on business trips during her working years.


    This time, Wen Qian had her spatial dimension, so she didn''t need to carry any luggage.


    The high-speed hard seat would be too long and ufortable for Wen Qian, and there were no other direct routes either. With thebined cost of transfers, she might as well fly.


    Once the ticket and time were confirmed, Wen Qian started packing up at home. She took away everything that could be taken, except for the house that her grandparents left behind. She nned to take all their other belongings with her.


    If she didn''t worry about how the neighbors would react, she would even take the big red tiles from the roof, but she decided against it in the end.


    She also took the old-style windmill and the brazier, and sealed any holes in the walls with yellow mud.


    Since she was departing from the airport in Anshi, she needed to buy a ticket in advance to get to Anshi for her flight.


    Wen Qian packed her backpack and luggage, and of course, when she left, she would pull the suitcase. Once she was out of the vige, she could put it into her spatial dimension, making it easier to travel.


    At the same time, she didn''t forget to let Auntie Chen Fang Ya, Xiaochenwa''s wife, know that she was going to Anshi. Everyone just assumed she was going to look for a job in the city.


    Originally, the people here thought she was just staying here temporarily, and that going to the city was her long-term n.


    When Fang Ya heard that Wen Qian was leaving, she asked her toe over for dinner the next day, with an obvious intention.


    During their time together, the two of them had be quite close.


    Therefore, Wen Qian also prepared a gift for her, a set of survival books packed in a waterproof box.


    In their conversations, Wen Qian also mentioned that Fang Ya should stockpile more infant form for the child. The Chen family was already storing some supplies, so Wen Qian didn''t need to say much more.


    After experiencing heavy snow and rain, Fang Ya and her inws realized the importance of stockpiling supplies. Wen Qian''s suggestion to stockpile infant form was naturally out of concern for the child.


    They mentioned the typhoon disasters in coastal areas and the floods and earthquakes that urred in various ces this year. Stockpiling supplies was to buy peace of mind.


    The next day, Wen Qian had dinner at the Chen family''s home, and Fang Ya even said that when she returned to Anshi in the future, she would meet up with Wen Qian for a meal.


    Of course, Fang Ya wouldn''t return to Anshi until after her child turned one year old, when the child could start attending kindergarten. At that point, Fang Ya would need to start working again.


    As she talked about her future ns, Wen Qian thought about her own vastly different direction.


    Despite the many rumors about the apocalypse and disasters, most people still followed their original inertia, moving forward step by step, which was a in and painful routine, but also a safe one for them.


    Once this rhythm was disrupted, no one knew what awaited them.

 Chapter 55

    Chapter 55


    The night before leaving, after nightfall, Wen Qian packed up everything from every room in her home. She had already removed some items previously for the sake of tidiness.


    Now that she was leaving, she naturally packed away everything she could, even fitting two of the three bed frames into the space.


    By the time Wen Qian went to bed, everything was gone except for the spot where she slept and the backpack and toothbrush she would need the next day, leaving the ce spotless.


    Lying in bed, Wen Qian couldn''t sleep. She stared at the wooden ceiling.


    From hearing the sound of wind in her dreamst year, she decided to resign.


    Although the dream wasn''t very clear, once she heard the same wind sound from the dream, she was convinced the disaster had arrived. She abandoned both buying a house and her job.


    From then on, she set off on an unknown path.


    Now in July, she was leaving after nearly a year in her hometown. She had saved up quite a bit, but if she had stayed in An City, she would have saved up even more money by now.


    However, that wind sound made her like a startled bird, desperate to leave the heavily popted city.


    She had heard from former colleagues that her previouspany had reduced their sry n once again after the initial reduction. The elderly boss was also feeling weighed down by his age and underlying illnesses, so he had started looking for a professional manager.


    The current trend was not to dare resign out of fear of not being able to find another jobter on.


    While keeping an eye on global disaster information, Wen Qian had already noticed some economic problems in the news.


    The global economy was sluggish. After the pandemic from the previous few years, the economy had yet to recover before being hit by various extreme weather events, furtherpounding the already poor situation.


    When Wen Qian started to give up on buying a house and instead hoarded supplies, her goal had already shifted far away from the city. She no longer cared about people''s ies. Her goal for herself was simply to meet her basic living needs, just to survive.


    She didn''t even dare dream of livingfortably, and even if she had the means, Wen Qian had never imagined she could live a carefree life of luxury.


    She wouldn''t give up her dailybor either, as being inactive for too long made her not want to move at all.


    Simrly, if she didn''t exercise for a long time, when the social system copsed, she would be among the weakest of the weak.


    Wen Qian knew she was weak, and that her spatial ability was a huge advantage, but she couldn''t pin all her hopes on that ability.


    She should stay vignt at all times and mentally prepare for crises early on.


    She wasn''t a lion or tiger, or even an agile little squirrel or hamster. She was just a frail human who happened to hear the warning of disaster in advance.


    The past year might have just seemed like an exacerbation of abnormal weatherpared to previous years to many people, but to Wen Qian, it was merely the prelude.


    While things appeared calm for now, her choice to leave herfort zone was also to force herself to remain vignt, wasn''t it?


    It was only when she truly had to leave that Wen Qian realized she had been avoidingcency, or rather, forcing herself to stop harboring illusions.


    After tossing and turning half the night, Wen Qian finally fell asleep to the lively sounds of frogs and insects outside the house.


    Her ticket was for noon the next day. Wen Qian had plenty of time to get from her hometown to the Lu City high-speed rail station, stay overnight in An City, and then head to the airport early the next morning.


    Her schedulednding time was around 11am, with the first stop being the administrative center of Xia Province.


    Although Wen Qian had sleptte, she woke up early. After washing up in the morning, she packed up thest of her belongings, turned off the main power switch, took one final look around the house, locked the door, and put the key away in her spatial ability.


    Carrying the same backpack and luggage from when she returned home initially, she bid farewell to Auntie Chen and her family on her way out.


    When Wen Qian truly left home, her steps were resolute.


    She had arranged to meet Chen Lin at the threshing ground and soon reached the street.


    After eating breakfast on the street, Wen Qian boarded the bus to Lu City, dozing off on the bus until they arrived.


    Afterward, she waited at the high-speed rail station to take the train to An City, where she would need to find a ce to rest for the night.


    Overall, she had plenty of time, as Wen Qian had not nned an overly packed schedule for herself.


    She could choose to rest or wander around during her free time.


    The weather was nice for traveling. While waiting for her train, Wen Qian felt drowsy, so she set an rm on her phone in advance to avoid missing her ride.


    The weather in both An City and her hometown was pleasant at this time, so the high-speed rail arrived on time.


    The high-speed rail would deliver her to An City in forty minutes.


    During this time, Wen Qian listened to music with her headphones, effectively creating a barrier between her and her surroundings - a "do not disturb" modemonly used by young people.


    As she boarded the high-speed rail again, Wen Qian admired the scenery outside the window, appreciating the speed and convenience of public transportation.


    Although she still lived in a civilized world, she had already started imagining the difficult circumstances people would face after the copse of civilization.


    She didn''t know when she might have herst chance to ride a high-speed rail or ne.


    Even at the moment of booking her ticket, Wen Qian would momentarily imagine the ne she was boarding falling from the sky, ending her life.


    Of course, this was an image many people would think of.


    Sitting under a ceiling fan, one might imagine the des spinning off in a bloody scene. On a ne, one might envision it crashing down. While soaking one''s feet and ying with a phone, one might picture the phone falling into the water.


    Wen Qian reassured herself that these were just routine fantasies.


    Fortunately, the high-speed rail soon brought Wen Qian to An City, stopping her from further imagining.


    Following the flow of people out of the station and into the bright sunlight of therge za outside, Wen Qian shielded her eyes with her hand.


    Having to spend one night in An City, she felt like she was just passing through and had no intention of sightseeing.


    She turned down an alley behind the station, walked for over thirty minutes, and found an inexpensive inn where she nned to stay the night to conveniently take the subway to the airport early the next morning.


    In the simple but cheap inn room, Wen Qian changed the bedsheets and covers to her own, ate lunch in her room, and then began researching information about Xia Province.


    The area was rich in resources. Wen Qian had previously looked into the types of nts, wild animals, and grain varieties here.


    Not only did she need to avoid people, but also the activity ranges of more dangerous wild animals.


    The ne wouldnd at an altitude of around 2,000 meters, while the average altitude of Xia Province was 3,000 meters. Wen Qian nned to take it slow to gradually limate herself.


    She gave herself timelines of one month, three months, and six months but didn''t have a precise daily n. So afternding, she would take a few days to rest before starting to scout the area.


    She had never been to Xia Province before.


    While the rest of the country sweltered in heat, the high-altitude areas remained cool, attracting many tourists seeking to escape the summer.


    Wen Qian had never been on a vacation before.

 Chapter 56

    Chapter 56


    After researching and resting in the room, Wen Qian recharged her energy. The next day, she woke up early and headed to the airport.


    She carried a small bag on her back, with only a jacket inside to wear after getting off the ne, as the temperature there would be much lower than here.


    After the ne took off, Wen Qian watched the ground be increasingly distant.


    An City was a ce where she had lived for a long time, but this time she didn''t even go out for a walk.


    During takeoff, Wen Qian imagined what would happen if the ne really had an ident - would her space explode like loot exploding in a game?


    Fortunately, both the takeoff andnding went smoothly and safely, and Wen Qian arrived at the Xia City airport.


    She put on her jacket. In Xia City, the temperature difference between day and night was significant. The highest temperature in summer was only around 20¡ãC, and the ultraviolet rays were strong. The travel guide advised wearing long sleeves, long pants, and a hat, and using sun protection, otherwise one could easily get a few shades darker.


    Wen Qian chose physical sun protection, covering every part of her body that could be covered, and also wore a mask on her face.


    Before arriving, Wen Qian had already purchased oxygen tanks and oxygen-making materials, which would be delivered soon after she settled down.


    Wen Qian''s first stop in Xia Province was a youth hostel. Back in college, she had a ssmate in the same major who would go backpacking everywhere during vacations, and even after graduation, her blog showed she was still doing the same.


    Most people think traveling is expensive, but this ssmate said otherwise and shared how affordable and decent youth hostels could be.


    Her ssmate came from a well-off family, but her parents didn''t approve of her constantly traveling alone, so she had many money-saving tricks.


    Wen Qian envied her back then. Even after graduation, the ssmate would work for a year and then travel for a year, leading a carefree life.


    Youth hostels are cheap but crowded, and their reviews vary. Wen Qian chose one that was said to have a decent environment, though she didn''t know what the people there during her stay would be like.


    After finding her amodation, Wen Qian washed up and went straight to sleep. When she woke up, it was already 3 PM.


    Those who didn''t sleep stayed in themon area, so she wasn''t disturbed during her rest.


    After waking up, Wen Qian went out with her bag to familiarize herself with the surroundings. The water quality and soil are different in different ces, so she needed to explore unfamiliar areas.


    There''s a difference between seeing videos and pictures online and actual on-site investigation.


    Wen Qian had long dreamed of living alone in a sparsely popted area and imagined what kind of house she would build.


    As a child, she had heard the story of the Three Little Pigs many times, so she had always longed for a house made of stone.


    Now that she finally had the opportunity to build her own house, her first thought was to build a fortress-like house.


    Not so much to protect against wild animals, but against people.


    Coincidentally, in Xia Province, there were stone houses resembling fortresses called "tulous".


    When researching, she saw them and felt a sense of security.


    However, she worried that a stone house might be dangerous in an earthquake since she would be living alone.


    So she had another n to build a stone wall around herpound.


    In any case, when it came to living alone in the future, her requirements for a house were sturdiness and safety.


    Ultimately, she was influenced by the story of the Three Little Pigs.


    There were other types of dwellings in Xia Province, such as yurt houses and cave dwellings.


    However, Wen Qian felt that having a yurt as a mobile home would also be great, but if she were to settle down for the long term, her home would be made of stone.


    The ce Wen Qian went to explore was a city with a dense poption, a concrete jungle like An City or other cities.


    After resting in this ce, she would go to scenic spots away from the city, and then to areas with even fewer people.


    There were also many hiking and camping routes in the area that Wen Qian could try first. She had bought a tent before, so camping, making fires, and cooking outdoors were all possible.


    Once she gradually adjusted to living outdoors, she would move further away from crowds.


    She had also researched the main distribution areas of some threatening local wildlife in advance, as she didn''t want to encounter them in the early stages.


    For example, wolves had been spotted in protected areas and photographed by photographers.


    Wolves were something she would avoid early on, and wolf packs were something she would never want to encounter in the future.


    Transitioning from human society to nature wouldn''t be easy for Wen Qian, and she knew she couldn''t adapt quickly. She could only take it slow.


    Actively adapting and being suddenly forced into the wild were different. The mere despair of thetter could cost someone their life.


    Wen Qian had seen news about hikers entering restricted areas illegally, resulting in massive rescue efforts.


    Among them were novices and experienced hikers alike, but nature is unpredictable. One never knows what might happen next.


    Their willfulness or arrogance sometimes resulted in them paying the price, while other times it cost other people''s lives.


    Wen Qian had no intention of going to obviously dangerous ces, but the wilderness always carried risks.


    She didn''t think she was stronger than professionals, but she also didn''t intend to challenge nature. She just wanted to find a ce to live in solitude, without disturbance or conflict, until her death.


    She had also decided that if she ever got trapped, she would just live on the spot or die alone.


    In times of peace, she wouldn''t burden others.


    Standing on a beautiful bridge over a raging river in the city, Wen Qian''s thoughts drifted far away as she watched the water.


    She finally had a real sense again of her quest to find a reclusive paradise.


    Even if her dream didn''te true, she felt it wouldn''t be bad to live alone and away from others, as her life path had long deviated from its original course.


    The night camete, but the temperature had dropped.


    Fearing she might catch a cold, Wen Qian returned early.


    Although she had only taken transportation, she felt exhausted for some reason. After eating dinner from her space, she went straight to bed.


    This time, she dreamed again - the same dream of heavy snowfall.


    There was nothing new in the dream, only snow.


    Wen Qian woke up in the middle of the night and felt a momentary unease upon finding herself in an unfamiliar ce. She then sat up, leaning against the wall, listening to the breathing of the other people in the room.


    Perhaps she had thoughts during the day that led to dreams at night.


    It had been so long since her initial dream, and she hadn''t recalled it for a long time.


    Only during that brief stay back in An City did she repeatedly revisit her dream, trying to discover more about it.


    So on the first night in this new ce, she dreamed again.


    What was the reason that made heavy snow the most prominent disaster scene in Wen Qian''s dreams?


    Wen Qian couldn''t figure it out.

 Chapter 57

    Chapter 57


    Perhaps due to unease about the dream, Wen Qian abandoned her ns to tour the various scenic spots in Xia City.


    She had only seen the beautiful mountains and waters of this ce in textbooks and promotional videos online, but now she had no interest in admiring these scenic views.


    She had an ominous premonition that the uing events might not be as smooth as before.


    She had to quicken her search, so she left the Youth Hostel and headed out of the city to embark on a hiking trail. She could not stay in the city area anymore.


    The hiking trail she chose was a well-established route, so she would not be alone along the way.


    The locations for camping, resting, and cooking were clearly marked, making it a safe route as long as she did not randomly change the route.


    Wen Qian felt like she was back in kindergarten. If staying in the city made her feel unsafe, then her next n was to embark on a few more hiking trails.


    The terrain of Xia Province wasplex and diverse, allowing Wen Qian to adapt to various environments without having to go elsewhere.


    Simrly, the higher the altitude in the teau region, the more difficult it would be for people from low altitudes to adapt, but the current environment was just right for her.


    Some hikers preferred to walk in groups of three or two, while others enjoyed hiking alone.


    Wen Qian had purchased the necessary clothes and backpacks, so she could easily blend in with the other hikers.


    Due to the high altitude, summers in Xia Province were quite cool, while the average winter temperature ranged from -8¡ãC to 8¡ãC, also due to the high altitude.


    Additionally, there was a significant diurnal temperature variation, with intense sunlight during the day.


    The first hiking trail was nned for 3-4 days, a manageable duration and distance for Wen Qian.


    Moreover, there would be many people on this trail during this period, with hikers ahead and behind her, so she didn''t have to worry about encountering any issues.


    Another point was that Xia Province currently hadprehensivework coverage, so Wen Qian could still receive information from the outside world while she had inte ess.


    It wasn''t that she was in contact with anyone, but with inte ess, Wen Qian could search for real-time information online.


    In the age of the inte, Wen Qian paid close attention to disaster dynamics in various ces.


    She felt that some events did not happen suddenly but had early signs and indications.


    The hiking trail would pass through valleys, grasnds,kes, and marshes, with a rtively t terrain throughout.


    This route was also a famous scenic trail frequented by outdoor enthusiasts and photographers.


    Wen Qian arrived towards the end of the high-altitude flower season, but there were still many people around.


    Many guides for this trail rmended hiking in groups of three or four people, but Wen Qian was alone and not in a hurry.


    She didn''t rush to reach the first campsite, observing others carrying heavy loads on their backs, while Wen Qian only carried a lightweight backpack.


    Mainly because it was her first time out, she had set her backpack with different weights, and this time she had brought the lightest one, with other items stored in her spatial dimension, which she could retrieveter if needed.


    The scenery along the way was quite nice, which delighted Wen Qian as a neer.


    However, the information she had checked advised against excessive excitement and strenuous activities like running and jumping during the journey.


    So Wen Qian was careful not to let her emotions run too high. The open spaces seemed to make her mindset more open as well.


    However, during the hike, she maintained a steady pace, and a small group of people had overtaken her earlier.


    It''s unclear whether they stopped to take photos or for some other reason, but Wen Qian caught up with them again, and after some time, she found herself leaving them behind by a distance.


    When it was time for lunch, Wen Qian also stopped and pretended to take out food she had prepared from her backpack to enjoy a solo meal.


    There were other people nearby, chatting andughing in small groups.


    The trail was neverpletely deserted, but Wen Qian wasn''t mentally prepared to hike such a trail alone.


    Wen Qian was quite satisfied with today''s hike.


    Among the hiking trails she had researched, there were a few that could take ten days to half a month, excluding the more difficult routes. Wen Qian actually wanted to try a long-distance hike, of course, provided that she sessfullypleted this first hike.


    In the afternoon, Wen Qian maintained her walking pace, as the temperature dropped rapidly in the evening, so she needed to reach the campsite within a reasonable time.


    This was a well-established hiking trail, so the campsites were also well-equipped.


    In fact, during her geography studies, she had learned about selecting campsites andpleted rted assignments, but nevertheless, every year there were still many people who met with misfortunes due to choosing the wrong camping spots.


    Many of these people had camped on dry riverbeds and were swept away by sh floods during the night, resulting in their deaths.


    Just like every summer, there were always children who drowned while swimming, despite continuous public awareness campaigns and warnings.


    Camping during hikes was simr, with some people refusing to heed the advice.


    Wen Qian had always been apliant person, heeding the advice and important reminders she had learned from textbooks or found in guides.


    She never dared to take any chances.


    Fortunately, this hiking trail was a very traditional route, with the established campsites set up by predecessors being highly reasonable and safe.


    As long as she didn''t act recklessly, she would essentially encounter no problems.


    Wen Qian sessfully reached the camp on the first day and felt that she had done well. She just needed to pay the fee to set up camp.


    She had previously bought a tent for herself and had practiced setting it up and taking it down at her home entrance after returning to her hometown.


    She was worried that if she ever needed to use a tent, she wouldn''t know how to set it up or would take too much time struggling to do it correctly.


    The previous practice paid off now, as she quickly set up a small tent,id out a mat and nkets inside.


    After finishing her dinner and quickly washing up, Wen Qian returned to her tent.


    Wen Qian took out a quilt from her spatial dimension since no one could see her inside the tent anyway.


    Most people probably used sleeping bags, and Wen Qian had one too, but the weather was still warm, and she didn''t n to sleep; she just wanted to hide under the quilt to use her phone and eat snacks.


    In the winter, she always kept a stove burning, and she had ced many sweet potatoes in the oven.


    If she finished them all, she wouldn''t need to eat regr meals for a day, so she often put the roasted ones into her spatial dimension.


    When bored, she would take them out and eat them at the same temperature as when they came out of the oven.


    She couldn''t help but find this feature of the spatial dimension quite amazing.


    There were many people at the campsite, so it didn''t feel deste at all. Wen Qian asionally heard noises from outside, which gave her a sense of security.


    If she had to sleep alone in a tent in the wild, she estimated that she wouldn''t be able to sleep soundly.

 Chapter 58

    Chapter 58


    The next morning, Wen Qian woke up early and started packing her belongings. After breakfast, she continued on her journey.


    On the road, as expected, there was still signal, though asionally in some areas it might temporarily lose connection, but it would quickly restore.


    Wen Qian''s spirits were high, and her mood was good, which continued until noon.


    Because when she checked the earthquake warning app on her phone during the noon break, she saw a new message.


    In the neighboring country across the sea to the east, a massive earthquake had urred, triggering a tsunami.


    The earthquake app only disyed a brief message, but on other social media tforms, it had already caused an uproar.


    The sheer magnitude of this disaster left people stunned.


    In the inte age, people from other countries learned about the horror of this earthquake through footage captured by locals.


    The power of nature is so formidable that every time such scenes remind us of the insignificance of human beings.


    Some of the footage on the news looked familiar to Wen Qian, as she had seen a documentary about a previous level 9 earthquake in J Country.


    Currently, the footage shown on the news was from a surveince camera, with the camera violently shaking, swinging in arge amplitude, and eventually turning ck.


    There were also clips provided by civilians, showing phenomena like ground cracks and soil liquefaction, with people fleeing to open spaces unable to stand steadily due to the earthquake.


    As for the houses, they were crumbling, with unfixed cabs even "moving" inside the rooms, apanied by people''s screams.


    Dense high-rise buildings began to sway noticeably, with cubicles in office buildings shifting significantly.


    People on the top floors of the buildings felt as if they were not onnd but on a ship at sea, causing dizziness.


    Reports stated it was an 8.9-magnitude earthquake, with some iming thatpared to the previous one, this earthquake had a wider range and should be of a higher magnitude.


    However, as far as Wen Qian could find online, the highest magnitude was only 9.


    The earthquake urred around 11 a.m., and Wen Qian only checked her phone after 12 p.m., by which time the news showed that the tsunami was already approaching.


    Wen Qian''s heart sank, as J Country has always been unstable, with frequent earthquakes, but this time the range was particrlyrge.


    Such an earthquake has immense destructive power, and Wen Qian wondered if any Chinese citizens studying or working there were affected.


    She prayed for their safety and hoped they could return to Hua Country unharmed.


    She put away her phone and started eating, while the people around her also discussed the event.


    Wen Qian slowly finished her meal, and with such a strong tremor, the power of the tsunami goes without saying.


    So she didn''t look at any more news and decided to continue on to the next campsite.


    Seeing too much rted content could also be traumatizing, though many people don''t realize it, but Wen Qian would try her best to stay away from such trauma.


    Along the way, she could hear hikers mentioning the event.


    So Wen Qian put on her headphones and started walking while listening to music, but she knew her mood was no longer calm.


    The evidence was that she kept walking but didn''t appreciate the scenery along the way as she had before; she was now rushing.


    Wen Qian, who had quickened her pace, arrived at the campsite early and started choosing a spot to pitch her tent. She was a bit tired and even skipped dinner, going straight to wash up and sleep.


    When she woke up, it was already dark. Wen Qian shifted her body inside the sleeping bag, sat up, and decided to eat her dinner right there in the tent.


    During dinner, Wen Qian looked for videos to watch while eating.


    But no matter which tform she checked, everything was rted to the earthquake news, and even if she avoided it, she could still see the clear headlines and footage.


    So she chose an animated film to watch instead.


    As she slowly ate her dinner, Fang Ya sent her a message.


    Fang Ya thought she was in An City and asked if she had seen the news.


    She expressed her concern about the recent turmoil on Earth, as disasters had been too frequent, which could easily affect one''s life.


    Wen Qian could only reassure her that everything was fine and advised her to avoid watching disaster news as much as possible, as those who didn''t directly face the disaster would see the videos and images.


    This could cause anxiety and depression, so the media would be cautious in their reporting, and viewers should also be mindful of their own state of mind, trying not to repeatedly watch disaster footage.


    Only then did Fang Ya realize that she might have been affected, and decided to cut back on watching.


    At the same time, Wen Qian told her to learn more about earthquake-rted knowledge whenever she felt anxious, as the "survival essentials" book she had given her contained some survival information.


    Speaking of which, Fang Ya had found the "essential for time travel" books strange at first, but as she read on, she found them really interesting and useful. She was currently reading the "Barefoot Doctor Handbook."


    After chatting with Fang Ya, Wen Qian nned to y on her phone for a while before continuing to sleep.


    But after ying a game for an hour, she still didn''t feel sleepy. Wen Qian thought she might have been too focused on the game, which is why she couldn''t sleep.


    To induce sleepiness, she started listening to white noise, the sound of rain.


    But as she listened, her mood only became more depressed, as she wasn''t in a sturdy, safe indoor environment - she was camping outdoors.


    So Wen Qian turned on her phone and found an English story to y, as she used to listen to English words when she couldn''t sleep, and the boredom would make her fall asleep instantly.


    The story began with a mole painting its house.


    Wen Qian finally settledfortably, nurturing her sleepiness.


    Three hourster, Wen Qian woke up again, finding that the story had reached Chapter 7.


    It was a few minutes past 11 p.m. on her phone.


    Now she really couldn''t sleep, and she had a feeling that this night would be a series of dozing off and waking up, which wasn''t good.


    Wen Qian worried that it would affect her condition the next day, and the more she worried, the less she could sleep. But then she thought, she could simply stay an extra day at the campsite.


    What''s the harm in being one dayte? She wasn''t in a hurry for anything.


    Even if she wanted to gradually distance herself from human society and adapt to an outdoor life, she hadn''t made her schedule too tight.


    Years of studying had taught Wen Qian that a tight schedule would only make her feel defeated.


    Also, ns don''t always keep up with changes, and if one thing fell behind, the rest would be misaligned, making it easy to give up. So Wen Qian''s ns were rtively flexible.


    After reassuring herself this way, Wen Qian felt a bit more at ease, and then started watching videos of people building houses outdoors on her phone.


    Twenty minutester, having finished one video, Wen Qian returned to the homepage satisfied.


    Then she saw an even more shocking news headline.


    Wen Qian immediately sat up.


    After the earthquake and tsunami, a volcano erupted!

 Chapter 59

    Chapter 59


    After the earthquake, a volcanic eruption urred, currently spewing volcanic ash.


    This volcano has long been their symbol, and in recent years, it has been very active. The locals have been worried that one day it would erupt suddenly, and that day has finallye.


    Following the earthquake.


    Massive amounts of volcanic ash scattered like snow, leaving the people of J Country in despair, feeling as though the world was ending for them.


    At the same time, those enveloped by the volcano and earthquake fell into a state of widespread despair.


    Some people, after safely escaping the earthquake, chose tomit suicide upon seeing the volcanic ash, as it resembled an apocalyptic scene for them.


    This country has always lived in insecurity, as seen in their various disaster movies.


    After returning home, Wen Qian watched all sorts of disaster movies and documentaries. Historically, they had once experienced a volcanic eruption following an earthquake, but the scale of this time was evidentlyrger.


    Wen Qian put down her phone, her mind recalling various earthquake-rted scenes. As the bad news piled up, Wen Qian felt she could actually fall asleep.


    Without the aid of white noise or English broadcasts, Wen Qian drifted into sleep.


    The next morning when she was taking down her tent, the people around her had already started discussing the volcanic eruption after the earthquake.


    Wen Qian didn''t watch the news anymore, as she wasn''t a psychologically tough person.


    As a child, when she saw parents rushing into inte cafes to drag their kids out, she realized that games could be addictive.


    She knew she wasn''t a self-disciplined person, so it was best not to try ying games from the start.


    Simrly, as she wasn''t psychologically tough enough, she avoided further exposure to such information.


    However, even just passing by local residents on the road, she could hear them discussing this incident.


    She didn''t know what it was like for those living under the volcano, but more serious events were likely to follow.


    Some were also discussing where the refugees from that country should go if it became uninhabitable, debating their destinations.


    Wen Qian finished her breakfast, packed her belongings, and added some extra weight to her backpack before continuing on her way.


    She felt her body grow weary, so her mind should be less active, making it easier for her to sleep at the next campsite.


    No matter what the future held, she had decided to walk alone, so she needed to pay less attention to other matters.


    Along the way, Wen Qian didn''t admire the scenery as she usually did, but walked silently forward.


    She didn''t think about anything, just walked ahead, stopping to eat when she reached a ce, then continuing on until she arrived at the campsite early.


    Since she came early, she decided to admire the scenery around the campsite, making up for what she had missed earlier.


    Originally, they were supposed to pass by a beautifulke today, but she had hurried through, only remembering to appreciate the scenery after reaching the campsite.


    Fortunately, the area around the campsite was also beautiful. After setting up her tent, she walked towards the nearby mountain.


    On the side was a rather steep slope, with a nted path leading upwards from the edge. Once on the path, the rest of the hillside was quite gentle.


    From halfway up the hill, Wen Qian could look down and see the hiking trail they were following, with people walking towards this direction.


    Further away was a prairie and ake, sparkling under the sunlight.


    Wen Qian found a spot to sit down, admiring the scenery while snacking on some food.


    When in a bad mood, Wen Qian tended to eat sweets, so she had a lollipop in her mouth as she stared into the distance.


    In August in Xia Province, the sun rose after 6 am and set after 8 pm.


    Wen Qian had originally nned to watch the sunset, butter abandoned the idea as it would be toote, so she left when the light dimmed slightly.


    On her way down, she didn''t pay attention at first, but as she was about to slowly descend the steep slope, she overheard someone confessing their love.


    "I should be braver in expressing myself..."


    Wen Qian had no intention of witnessing this, but she also didn''t want to disturb them. So she stepped back a few paces, turned around, walked a few steps up the slope, and sat down to continue daydreaming.


    She decided to wait there for five minutes, no, ten minutes before going down, setting a timer on her phone for this.


    ----------


    Zhang Zixuan stood in the corner, feeling somewhat awkward, as she could easily guess what the person in front of her wanted to say.


    Since yesterday, this person had been acting strangely, and when they arrived at the campsite, she had originally nned to set up her tent with everyone else. But then Feng Haoran pulled her aside, and the other two seemed to understand the situation.


    Now she really wanted to dig her toes into the ground, as she didn''t need to guess what those two remaining friends were implying - they probably thought she was in a romantic rtionship!


    Feng Haoran was nervously making a second attempt at confessing his feelings.


    Previously, when they were in school, he had secretly confessed to Zhang Zixuan by giving her a small gift for a holiday, but she had politely rejected him.


    His friend and Zhang Zixuan''s roommate were a couple, and when he learned they were going hiking, he joined them, giving him a second chance.


    He felt that if he persisted, she would eventually be moved by his sincerity.


    "Yesterday, when I saw the disaster news, I thought that I should be braver in expressing my feelings," Feng Haoran said nervously as he took a box out of his pocket.


    "I like you, and I hope you''ll be my girlfriend." Feng Haoran felt his arms trembling.


    "Sorry, I feel like I was very clearst time." Zhang Zixuan took a step back, feeling that she had made herself clear the previous time, but she didn''t know why he was still persisting.


    Feng Haoran''s hand holding the gift froze, and he opened the box hesitantly, wanting to show her the gift and demonstrate his sincerity at the very least.


    Thest time he gave a gift, his buddy had mocked him, saying that a stuffed toy was not an appropriate confession gift and that he should be more formal.


    This time, he had bought a ne.


    The awkward situation made Zhang Zixuan want to turn and walk away, but that would be rude. So she said, "I''m sorry, I don''t like you."


    She thought this would make him understand, although it was hurtful. But Zhang Zixuan felt that a decisive rejection was better for both of them.


    After saying this, Zhang Zixuan turned and left without looking back. At this moment, she didn''t want to return to the campsite either, so when she saw a path leading upwards, she dashed up it.


    Feng Haoran saw her heading up and forgot his disappointment, calling out to her, "Where are you going? You can''t leave the group on your own."


    He then followed her up.


    Zhang Zixuan ran ahead blindly, but to her surprise, there was someone just ahead, startling her.


    At this moment, Feng Haoran caught up and kept apologizing, "Sorry, did I scare you? You can''t leave the group; we''re in the same team..."


    Zhang Zixuan saw someone else there, so she turned to Feng Haoran and said, "I know, I''ll just sit here for a bit ande back shortly. I won''t wander off."


    "Oh, okay." Feng Haoran seemed to understand that she had run off because she didn''t want to be around him, and since there was another girl here, she would be safe.


    Just as Feng Haoran was about to leave, Wen Qian passed by them, apparently intending to go down the slope.

 Chapter 60

    Chapter 60


    Wen Qian saw someoneing up, so she guessed that the confession below had ended, so she went down directly.


    The two people on the slope just stood there foolishly, Zhang Zixuan sat but wasn''t sitting, and Feng Haoran showed no intention to leave.


    For a moment, neither of them moved.


    Feng Haoran spoke first: "I''m notfortable with you being here alone." He was worried that she would not be safe here by herself, as the person from earlier had already left.


    "Then let''s go back and set up the tent," Zhang Zixuan thought that since they couldn''t be alone, it would be better to go back and join their friends.


    So Feng Haoran nodded, turned around and went down the mountain, with Zhang Zixuan following behind him.


    When Wen Qian returned, she was taking off her shoes by the tent, and saw the two people who were on the slope earlier walking towards her, only then realizing that they were in the tent next to hers.


    However, she pretended not to notice.


    Their friends'' tent was not set up yet when they saw the two peopleing back one after the other, immediately understanding that there was no hope.


    As soon as Zhang Zixuan returned, her roommate pulled her aside and asked, "What happened? Didn''t work out?"


    Hearing this, Zhang Zixuan got angry: "I should ask you, what''s going on with you two? I already rejected himst time, why did you bring him along this time?"


    "What? Rejected? When did you reject him? I didn''t know about that? Why didn''t you tell me?" Her roommate seemed to be hearing this for the first time.


    "Of course I couldn''t tell anyone after rejecting him, it would be too embarrassing," Zhang Zixuan didn''t tell others after rejecting Feng Haoran.


    She felt that being rejected was already miserable enough, and having others talk about it as if it were a trophy would be a second humiliation, so she didn''t talk about any private confessions.


    "How would I know if you didn''t tell me? I thought I was just creating an opportunity for you two, who knew it was the second time. How awkward. Why would I do something like that?" The roommate was clearly innocent as well, so she turned to find her boyfriend to see if he was aware of the situation.


    Wen Qian was forced to listen to the entire conversation from inside her tent. It was obvious that these two people were just whispering to each other as they walked from the left side of her tent to the right, not caring if she could hear them or not.


    So Wen Qian quietlyy in her tent ying with her phone, nning toe out after ten minutes.


    Everyone has a gossip''s heart, especially when the juicy gossip is delivered right to their ears.


    Wen Qian thought it was quite interesting. Being liked by someone makes one feel happy, which is simr to being praised. Even if you don''t like that person and won''t ept them, it doesn''t prevent you from feeling happy.


    If the confessor is someone you like, then you''re very happy. If it''s someone you don''t like, you''re still happy, but if they keep pestering you, then it bes ufortable.


    After a few minutes, footsteps came back to the old spot.


    "It''s our fault, making you feel so awkward. I''ll talk to him, don''t mind it. Tomorrow, tomorrow he''ll leave."


    "I''m leaving tomorrow too, so you two can enjoy yourselves."


    "You''re leaving too? Then there will only be two of us left!" The roommate seemed reluctant.


    "You two are a couple, I don''t want to be a third wheel," Zhang Zixuan said lightly.


    "By the way, why did you reject him? My boyfriend says he''s a good guy, and his conditions aren''t bad either." The roommate was still curious.


    Zhang Zixuan: "Just... I don''t like him." Actually, she had felt that this person was rather dull since they first met, and if they were going to be friends, she hoped they would have things to talk about rather than him being a dull lump.


    But not liking him was enough, there was no need to go into too much detail.


    Roommate: "We were just saying that you two should deepen your impressions of each other, who knew he had already confessed to you once. I asked my boyfriend, and he didn''t know either that he would suddenly confess."


    "He said... he saw the news yesterday, so he wanted to confess early." Zhang Zixuan revealed the reason for his confession.


    Roommate: "News? What news?"


    "The one that''s trending now."


    Roommate: "I really feel like he genuinely likes you."


    Zhang Zixuan: "Why are you taking his side?"


    Roommate: "I''m still on your side, but I just feel that someone like that might be sincere."


    Because seeing such a disaster, wanting to confess early, it doesn''t seem like he''s ying around.


    The two said a few more words and left.


    Wen Qian didn''t expect to get such fresh gossip on this hiking trip. After they left, she came out of her tent.


    As soon as she poked her head out, she saw someone standing at the entrance, who was startled. Then the person stammered: "S-Sorry, I wanted to borrow a lighter. Do you have one?"


    Wen Qian was also a little dazed, then said: "I don''t have a lighter, but I have a flint."


    She didn''t intentionally eavesdrop, so why act guilty?


    "Could I borrow it? I''ll return it right after using it." Zhang Zixuan was a little nervous.


    "Sure, give it back to me when you''re done." Wen Qian had been getting her food and drinks from her space these days, but she did have a flint in her backpack, so she took it out and gave it to her.


    Zhang Zixuan thanked her and left.


    Wen Qian watched her leave, thinking that the reason of confessing after seeing the disaster report was usible.


    Many novels and TV shows have characters confess courageously after narrowly escaping death, because at that moment they would regret not being brave enough to say it earlier.


    Putting it in real life, seeing major events happening on Earth, there were probably quite a few people who would use this as a reason to express their feelings over the past two days.


    Wen Qian left a gap in her tent, then ate inside. At this time, someone walked to the entrance and asked softly, "Miss? Are you there?"


    "Yes."


    Zhang Zixuan stretched the flint through the gap: "Thank you, I''m done using it."


    Wen Qian said okay and took it, withouting out to meet her.


    Zhang Zixuan smelled the aroma of food and briefly had the illusion of being at home. Why did she smell the fragrance of Saut¨¦ed Shredded Pork with Green Peppers?


    It was only when she came to borrow the item earlier that she realized she and her roommate had just been chatting right next to this girl''s tent.


    And she was inside at the time!


    She had bought two cheap stic lighters, one was identally dropped at a previous campsite, and the other one she just took out had cracked, with all the fluid leaked out.


    You should really bring a good lighter or flint when hiking.


    So she mustered her courage to borrow something, but the other person didn''t seem to have any impression of her, which made Zhang Zixuan feel more at ease.


    Wen Qian pretended nothing happened because she didn''t want to feel awkward with her, which was quite sessful.


    After eating the hot meal, Wen Qian quickly washed up, theny in her tent listening to music. She had an MP3 yer, and by changing the storage cards, she could listen to a lot of songs, and it didn''t drain the battery as quickly as a phone.


    But she vaguely heard a buzzing sound, like a vibration. Opening her eyes, she saw that it was her phone.


    Someone was calling her.


    An unknown number, but it showed that it was from Hai City.


    Wen Qian hung up, and soon the person called again.


    This time Wen Qian answered: "Hello?"


    "Wen Qian?" It was a man''s voice.


    "Who is this?" Wen Qian didn''t recognize the caller.


    "It''s me, Xie Zhou."


    Hearing the name, Wen Qian knew who it was - her high school ssmate. But they hadn''t been in touch for a long time, so she couldn''t figure out why he was calling.


    To borrow money or get married?


    Xie Zhou: "Are you still in Jiang City?"


    Wen Qian: "Um, what''s this about?"


    Seeing that Wen Qian didn''t answer the question, Xie Zhou had to state his intention: "Actually, I wanted to call you a long time ago."


    Wen Qian didn''t speak, waiting for him to continue.


    Xie Zhou: "Did you see the news yesterday and today?"


    Wen Qian didn''t speak, but in her heart she felt that this conversation was somewhat familiar. Could it be what she was thinking?


    Xie Zhou: "I''ve been thinking since yesterday that I should have told you sooner. Don''t be scared."


    Please, don''t say it, don''t say it, Wen Qian already knew what the other person was going to say.


    "I like you."

 Chapter 61

    Chapter 61


    Originally, Wen Qian was just an onlooker, but unexpectedly, she found herself personally involved.


    After Xie Zhou expressed his liking, hearing no response from the other side, he continued: "Actually, I had feelings for you when we were in school, but afterwards we didn''t study in the same city, nor did we work in the same city after graduation.


    "After starting work, you didn''t attend the reunions either, so I''ve been wanting to find an opportunity to tell you. Today I finally mustered up the courage."


    In fact, the previous time he mustered up courage was when they were checking their grades in school. Back then, he was nning to confess his feelings to her, but someone else got ahead of him, though Wen Qian rejected that person.


    At that time, Xie Zhou was d that the person who confessed first was rejected, but it also made him hesitate, as he was afraid of being rejected along with that person.


    Yearster, he nervously conveyed his feelings to her again.


    Upon hearing her high school ssmate''s confession over the phone, Wen Qian''s first reaction was that it was fortunate it was over the phone, as it would have been awkward if it were face-to-face.


    "Sorry, I don''t like you," was the only thing Wen Qian could say.


    Xie Zhou: "Was it because I said it toote? Perhaps I should have told you when we were filling out our college applications."


    Wen Qian: "Thank you for your liking, but my answer remains unchanged."


    Xie Zhou: "Okay, I understand. Goodbye!"


    Wen Qian: "Goodbye."


    Xie Zhou: "Just think of it as me being momentarily insane. Don''t take it to heart."


    Wen Qian: "Okay, goodbye." She then hung up the phone.


    Xie Zhou: "..."


    Wen Qian recalled Xie Zhou from high school, and it seemed her impression of him had stopped there.


    In the years that followed, she couldn''t remember what he looked like, only that he had excellent grades, but she didn''t know anything else about him.


    This episode didn''t cause any ripples. After rejecting him, Wen Qian continued to sleep.


    The next day, her hiking trip was about to end. Next, Wen Qian nned to go shopping and then prepare for a second, half-month-long hike around theke.


    She had no time to think about Xie Zhou anymore. Or rather, since she had decided to find a safe ce and live alone, she wouldn''t have a chance with anyone.


    These were just thoughts she kept to herself, and she would never say out loud that she intended to live alone for the rest of her life.


    Moreover, Wen Qian never spoke about setting gs for herself, especially nonsense like "Even if you were thest man on earth, I wouldn''t marry you" or "After finishing this task, I''ll quit and retire."


    She was particrly afraid that words spoken aloud would lead to the opposite oue.


    So her goals and ns could remain in her mind or written down, but never announced publicly.


    The next morning when Wen Qian woke up, she saw messages that had been sent from the same number Xie Zhou had called from in the early morning hours.


    The text messages were quite long, basically reiterating what he had said over the phone.


    However, it was of no use, as Wen Qian''s goals and behaviors werergely inconsistent with most people''s, and her current actions could even be considered iprehensible to the majority.


    Exnations would be useless, and could even put her life in danger. Why would she involve others?


    Wen Qian didn''t even trust herself, so how could she trust others?


    So after reading the text messages, Wen Qian didn''t reply. Instead, she continued to take down her tent, wash up, eat, and then set off.


    With the end of the hike in sight, Wen Qian just wanted to finish hiking quickly and then leave by vehicle.


    Zhang Zixuan ran into Wen Qian when they were setting off, so they walked together, with Zhang Zixuan''s threepanions not far behind them.


    Since Zhang Zixuan was just traveling the same route and didn''t talk to Wen Qian much, Wen Qian didn''t speed up to leave her behind.


    When they finished, they took the same bus back to Xia City.


    Wen Qian put on her headphones and closed her eyes to listen to music, while Zhang Zixuan checked the schedules for uing flights and high-speed rail on her phone.


    The trip was rather awkward. Even if Zhang Zixuan wanted to spend a few more days in Xia Province, she didn''t want to do so alone, and this girl whose name she didn''t even know seemed to be a lone traveler.


    If Zhang Zixuan expressed her desire to travel together, would the other girl think she was sick?


    Despite her apprehension, Zhang Zixuan decided to give it a try.


    So when Wen Qian opened her eyes to drink water during a break, Zhang Zixuan expressed her request to travel together.


    Wen Qian stated that she was going to hike for half a month next, hoping Zhang Zixuan would decline due to the difficulty.


    Although hiking alone would be lonely, having a stranger around, and having to worry about their character, was less desirable than going alone.


    Zhang Zixuan was in a difficult position. Such a long trip would require a lot of time and effort to prepare for, so it was clear they couldn''t travel together.


    So Zhang Zixuan settled for getting Wen Qian''s Penguin Number instead, hoping to see the scenery Wen Qian would capture during her uing hike.


    Wen Qian gave Zhang Zixuan her Penguin Number and also realized she could film and edit videos of her hike herself.


    Unfortunately, she didn''t take many photos during this short hike.


    So Wen Qian nned to properly film and photograph her uing hike, as she could earn a bit of money from it.


    After returning to Xia City, Wen Qian first found a youth hostel, washed up, and took a nap. In the afternoon, she went to the local fruit wholesale market.


    At this time of day, the prices of watermelons, apples, and pears were very affordable, so she nned to buy some.


    Wen Qian had bought these fruits before, but not much.


    In the rural areas of An Province, they also grew watermelons, but the produce from different ces tasted different. Wen Qian still remembered that fruits from ces with arge day-night temperature difference tasted sweeter.


    So she wanted to buy some more.


    She had also researched that the prices for these items were very low at this time.


    Additionally, this area had an early autumn and winter, with winter arriving in September and October. After that, she would be settling down to overwinter, so it was necessary to stock up on more fruit.


    Furthermore, she thought there wouldn''t be many more opportunities to spend money, so she might as well spend some now since she didn''t know when the next chance woulde.


    Simrly, she rented a small van and drove to the wholesale market.


    She would load the items into the van, make a round, unload them, and then go buy another type of produce.


    Before entering, she only nned to buy three types of fruit, but once inside and seeing the local specialty fruits, she bought some of those as well.


    She also bought some local specialties like wolfberries and walnuts.


    It had been a long time since shest stored items in her space, and Wen Qian was delighted. She took out a local pear, wiped it, and bit into it directly - it was indeed very sweet.


    On her way back to the youth hostel, a light rain started to fall. Even in a light rain, Wen Qian used an umbre, as catching a cold at this time and ce would not be good.


    The current temperature in Xia Province was still fine, and there was rtively little rainfall.


    After returning to the hostel, Wen Qian sat in the lobby to eat. She still couldn''t fully adapt to the cuisine here, so for the time being, she mostly ate what she had made back home.


    In contrast to the pleasant weather in Xia Province, heavy rains had started in her hometown of An Province.


    Areas south of An Province experienced sh floods due to the heavy rainfall.

 Chapter 62

    Chapter 62


    The rains in the south fell heavily, making one feel as if the sky had been pierced and was leaking water.


    August was originally a hot month, and the heavy rains did little to cool things down, instead creating high heat and humidity.


    Fang Ya sent Wen Qian a messageining about the constant rain, feeling that the rain missedst year during the drought had all concentrated this year.


    Wen Qian said if it kept raining, they could move to a higher ce to live.


    Fang Ya asked her, they were already in a hilly area, with a high elevation, so if it flooded even there, then a third of the country would be submerged.


    Wen Qian said they would all be cramming onto the hillsides then.


    Fang Ya thought she was joking.


    But thinking about it, whenever they turned on the TV, the news basically had no good news.


    Earlier, J Country had suffered an earthquake and volcanic eruption. The earthquake was now only experiencing small aftershocks, but the volcano remained very active, with increasing emissions.


    Now J Country was in chaos, with its struggling economy bing even more difficult, and people living in constant anxiety.


    Sometimes when Fang Ya looked at her own children, she wondered if she had given birth at the wrong time, otherwise why would life be so hard?


    When Wen Qian said going to a higher ce, she didn''t mean a high elevation, but rather a ce with fewer people, a truly sparsely popted area.


    These ces happened to be either at hightitudes or high elevations, sobining the two, Wen Qian chose a high elevation area.


    She had already seen heavy snowfall in her dreams, and the north already had significant snow, so if it increased further, she didn''t dare imagine what it would be like.


    She hade to Xia Province, and was still adapting to the elevation and trying hiking, no longer paying much attention to the weather in An Province.


    But Fang Ya would sometimes chat with her, though it was mostly about the weather and disasters.


    It wasn''t just Fang Ya - recently, everyone''s conversations seemed to revolve around these topics, as if they had be unavoidable.


    Nothing seemed able to keep people optimistic.


    Wen Qian stopped looking at such news, putting down her phone to focus on eating.


    After washing up, she would go lie down, nning to head to Jade Lake the next day for a two-day camping trip before starting her hike.


    Jade Lake was a veryrgeke within Xia Province, frequently visited by people hiking or cycling around it.


    There were many supply points nearby, so there was no need to worry about not passing through viges or towns.


    The vegetation around Jade Lake was also diverse, with grasnds, forests, alpine shrubs and meadows, and snow-capped mountains visible.


    It was also said to be convenient for stargazing at night.


    This area was Wen Qian''s second choice, and during this hike she wanted to scout out if there were any suitable ces for her to settle.


    Finding a ce with absolutely no people that was still livable would be difficult, but finding a sparsely popted area would be better.


    Head to where transportation is inconvenient, and the answer presents itself.


    Wen Qian''s n was to look around as she hiked, using maps and local transportation information.


    Before winter arrived, she would build a small house and prepare to spend the winter in Xia Province.


    She had it all nned out - build a very small house, then put up a wall encircling it. After winter passed, she would see about building a bigger home in the spring.


    In winter, one''s activity range wouldn''t be too wide, so she figured she could just settle down without too much trouble.


    During her previous hikes, she had wondered why she came to Xia Province, ultimately concluding that she no longer felt safe in her hometown.


    Just as she wanted to leave An City after hearing rumors there, facing the constant rains in her hometown, Wen Qian also wanted to leave.


    Her visions were limited, so timing depended on herself. Leaving early could avoid many troubles.


    But leaving early also brought its own troubles, like having to spend the winter in an unfamiliar ce.


    She had once seen a movie about an old grandfather and a young girl living together on a mountain, surrounded by mountains, raising sheep for a living.


    Xia Province just happened to have terrain simr to that movie, and Wen Qian had already envisioned her life after spring, but first she had to get through the winter.


    Regarding building a house, she discovered that there were many ethnic minorities here with the tradition of tent dwellings.


    Wen Qian thought about getting a cotton tent to spend the winter, adding an encircling wall for safety.


    Thinking about it, she fell asleep.


    The next day, she headed to Jade Lake.


    The hikes here could start from anywhere, so Wen Qian found a suitable camping area.


    This whole area was for self-driving, with a designated parking area nearby where people set up tents.


    When Wen Qian arrived, she saw tents of all sizes, colorful and lively, but also too crowded.


    She set up her tent innermost, to have some quiet.


    During the day she would go for walks, returning by evening. There were many local shops nearby to either cook your own food over a fire, or eat prepared meals.


    For Wen Qian, having the asional meal out wasn''t bad, but she wouldn''t choose to eat in the scenic area.


    Since Wen Qian had just finished a hike and was resting for a day or two, her schedule was rxed.


    She took some nice photos and videos, and recorded the sounds of thekeside.


    The sky was blue, the water was clear, with distant snow-capped peaks and nearby verdant grasnds.


    The more she looked, the more open it felt, and Wen Qian felt her mood lifting.


    After eating lunch, Wen Qian started napping in her tent, putting in earplugs so she wouldn''t be disturbed by noise.


    Not having set an rm, Wen Qian ended up sleeping for over two hours before waking up and immediately checking her phone, realizing she had overslept.


    That''s when she saw the earthquake alert.


    It was a notification that had popped up while she was sleeping that she had missed, with the app warning followed by a text message reminder.


    There had been a level 4 earthquake in a nearby county, showing up as a level 3 quake at their camping area.


    Wen Qian had slept through it, being on t ground with no disturbance.


    She asked someone outside her tent, and they said they had felt the shaking.


    Seeing her just-woken appearance, theyughed that she had missed the earthquake.


    Since it wasn''t very strong, everyone still had an amicable mood and could joke about it, though for Wen Qian it wasn''t very funny.


    There had been an earthquake within Xia Province. While the frequency of recorded quakes wasn''t high nor the magnitudesrge, was there a possibility of a bigger earthquake?


    Wen Qian had nned to set up a cotton tent in a rtively t area for winter for this very reason.


    She no longer really wanted to live under a roof, not knowing when disaster might strike.


    This was her second choice location. Further west in Xia Province, at the edge of the high mountains, was Wen Qian''s first choice - terrain simr to here but even more remote with fewer people and inconvenient transportation.


    More importantly, the elevation was higher there.


    Wen Qian was thinking that after finishing her hike here, she would go check out that area.


    Then she could decide where exactly she wanted to settle down and live.

 Chapter 63

    Chapter 63


    Wen Qian had looked up the local earthquake records, or rather, she had seen the earthquake records of the western provinces. Earthquakes of varying magnitudes were always urring, such as in the Hengduan Mountains region, which she dared not visit.


    In the teau areas where people lived, there were earthquake records, although not of high magnitudes. Areas without earthquake records were uninhabited.


    The uninhabited areas had harsh environments. Whether for adventure or scientific expeditions, it would be dangerous to enter, and some people had not even made it out alive.


    Although Wen Qian had spatial abilities, how long could she survive in the uninhabited areas? She would not feel at ease just eating her stockpile and would not choose to go there unless absolutely necessary.


    However, the only advantage of the uninhabited areas was that they were uninhabited.


    Wen Qian dared not take the risk and would at most live on the fringes of the uninhabited areas.


    She would choose a ce where she could either farm or raise livestock.


    At the very least, there should be a few Xinjiang pors growing. If there was truly not a single de of grass, she would have nothing to do every day, and after a long time, even she would likely go insane.


    Even if she lived alone in the uninhabited area and finished her stockpile of rice and flour, wouldn''t she still have toe out? She didn''t have enough supplies tost her entire life.


    If she truly had money and her spatial abilities could store supplies, buying enough for a lifetime and directly living in the uninhabited area would be possible.


    But it felt like from that day onwards, her life would be over.


    If this were a novel, once everything was stockpiled, there would be nothing interesting left to write about, and the story could end right there without anything else to add.


    Lying in her tent, Wen Qian checked the local list of protected animals. Speaking of which, any wild animal in this area was basically protected, with the only unprotected one being humans.


    Since social order had not yet copsed, these animals could not be disposed of at will, or one would be jailed.


    If a natural disaster truly struck, the animals would suffer even more, wouldn''t they? At that time, so-called national parks and protected areas would be hunting grounds.


    But it was also possible that nts and animals would adapt to the harsh environment better than humans.


    Wen Qian''s spatial stockpile even included hunting tools, including those private citizens were not allowed to possess, which she had assembled fromponents.


    asionally, joyfulughter came from outside, and for a moment, Wen Qian felt disoriented, as if she had been bewitched by the wind itself.


    Perhaps all her actions during this period had been in vain.


    When a real disaster struck, even if she had spatial abilities and stockpiles, she might not survive.


    This thought would emerge when she felt vulnerable. Wen Qian would not always be determined and forge ahead.


    If only there were a paradise like the one described in the Peach Blossom Spring, but such a paradise was meant to escape from war, while a true natural disaster might destroy even that paradise.


    In a disaster situation, even grains and vegetables might not grow well. Without anything to eat, everywhere would be a disaster.


    Thinking this way, Wen Qian no longer felt that her efforts were in vain, for the Peach Blossom Spring was someone else''s imagination, while her own paradise needed to be established by herself.


    Having realized this, Wen Qian felt the powerless feeling within her finally dissipate somewhat.


    At this moment, she had to be her own psychologist. Upon seeing negative signs, instead of immediately stopping them, she should cultivate positive ideas within herself.


    Since she had made her choice and taken action, she should not regret it.


    After consoling herself, Wen Qian went out and took some photos, which she sent to Zhang Zixuan, who had been chatting with her.


    Zhang Zixuan did not want to travel alone, so she decided to return home and booked a flight back to Jiangsu Province the next day.


    Jiangsu Province was coastal, and Wen Qian remembered that there had recently been a typhoon there, so she didn''t know if Zhang Zixuan''s flight would proceed smoothly.


    Zhang Zixuan''s reply was to see how it went, and if necessary, she couldnd elsewhere, as long as she couldnd.


    So Wen Qian told her to check the environmental conditions around Jiangsu Province.


    Zhang Zixuan had thought too simply. After chatting with Wen Qian, she checked and found that the airports nearby were also experiencing thunderstorms, so she didn''t know if she couldnd sessfully that day.


    But it was fine. She had money, so even if she couldn''t return home, she could continue traveling in Jiangsu Province and join a tour group to travel around.


    When Zhang Zixuan said she had no financial burden, Wen Qian felt a bit envious. Although she had some savings before, she had now spent almost everything, with only enough left for transportation.


    If she had to walk, it would take ages.


    She had no ns to buy a car herself, but in many ces in Jiangsu Province, she still needed to rely on trains and buses. In her spatial storage, she had a bicycle, a three-wheeled pedicab, and an old second-hand motorcycle.


    However, she was worried that her body couldn''t handle riding a motorcycle for too long, so for long-distance travel, she nned to buy train tickets.


    After sending the photos to Zhang Zixuan, she deleted them and then changed locations to take more photos and videos, nning to upload them online.


    She didn''t dare use the same photos. Although she felt the chances of Zhang Zixuan seeing her online were slim, she wanted to be safe.


    She didn''t want others to know too much about her, so her online persona had to remain concealed.


    After taking the photos and videos, she returned to her tent to start editing them. The scenery here was very beautiful, which was why so many people came to travel, and this was also the peak tourism season.


    Soon after uploading them, someone left ament expressing envy.


    Someone else wondered how she had the money to travel when she was previously in a rural area.


    Others remarked that Wen Qian hadn''t posted any cooking videos recently.


    Wen Qian did want to continue chopping firewood and cooking, but she was still looking for a ce. Once she found one, she would naturally continue, although by then there might not be any inte.


    After uploading these, Wen Qian continued to read thetest news about J Country online. Previously, reading such news would make her anxious and trigger negative emotions.


    But now, the more she read, the more motivated she felt in her search for a ce, and the more urgent her actions became.


    It was as if she was trying to convince herself that her actions were justified and appropriate.


    In previous disaster movies about J Country, when they were on the verge of destruction, they would request that our country ept their refugees, and our country would indeed agree in the movies.


    One has to admit they had a rather beautiful idea.


    Now, even before they were destroyed, there were already people internationally advocating for us to ept their people first.


    Countries had started engaging in their usual verbal warfare.


    For instance, some countries urged us to ept refugees.


    Our country stated that we could pay for transportation and send those who wanted to leave J Country to wherever they preferred, like M Country. Of course, if they wanted to go to Siberia, our country would also send them there.


    After saying this, of course, more people wanted to go to M Country, as it was the "father" country.


    M Country, however, pretended not to hear these intentions and fiercely used us ofckingpassion.


    As Wen Qian read on, her search gradually deviated, and before she knew it, a lot of time had passed, and it was time to eat.


    The inte was truly a great time-waster.


    Nevertheless, while she still had inte ess, she should make the most of it. Once it was gone, she wouldn''t be able to use it even if she wanted to.


    However, on the teau, the sunlight was indeed intense, so Wen Qian wanted to try out the sr panels and sr cookers she had bought earlier.


    But it would attract too much attention, so she decided to wait until she was alone before taking them out.

 Chapter 64

    Chapter 64


    That night, it started raining lightly around Jade Lake, which didn''t affect Wen Qian much. If it rained harder, she would just need to add an extra rain cover over her tent.


    Since the camping spot had a rtively t terrain, Wen Qian chose the innermost area which was slightly higher. Even if it rained heavily and formed streams, it wouldn''t affect her.


    Fortunately, the rain here was quite light, and apart from some moisture, it didn''t hinder their tent setup.


    The weather forecast also showed that the rain wouldn''tst long, so Wen Qian didn''t wear earplugs to sleep, as it was better to wake up than miss any news.


    The next morning, the weather was sunny. After resting for two days and regaining her energy, Wen Qian officially started her hiking trip.


    Circling the entire Jade Lake would take more than ten days, so Wen Qian allotted herself half a month''s time.


    Along Jade Lake, there were self-driving tours, motorcycles, bicycles, and people like her who hiked on foot.


    Wen Qian thought that if she got tired of walking, she could just ride a bicycle.


    Seeing others carryingrge bags on their bicycles, Wen Qian felt that she had packed too lightly.


    So while walking, she would carry just one bag, but if she rode a bicycle, she would hang more things on it.


    She couldn''t look too strange, as she had seen some cyclists on the road looking like beggars, with messy hair and blotchy faces.


    Wen Qian also nned to make herself look a bit more weathered, to better fit the surrounding environment.


    In the morning, Wen Qian walked, and in the afternoon, she cycled, gradually getting ustomed to the routine.


    The altitude here was slightly higher than thest ce she hiked, so she was concerned about altitude sickness and didn''t want to overexert herself, taking it slow instead.


    On the first day of arrival, a strong wind blew in the evening, apanied by heavy rain.


    Due to the noise, Wen Qian couldn''t sleep well. The next morning, after eating breakfast in her tent, the strong winds and rain continued outside, leaving her unable to pack up her tent and continue on.


    So she stayed in her tent, reading books rted to outdoor camping.


    She knew that Jade Lake often experienced strong winds and rainstorms in September and October, but she didn''t expect to encounter them as early as August.


    However, she should experience all kinds of weather in Xia Province. If everything was just sunny, she wouldn''t be prepared when she actually encountered adverse conditions.


    Fortunately, her tent had an extra waterproof cover, and although the wind howled loudly outside, the tent still provided her with a sense of safety.


    Around 9 AM, everything calmed down. At this point, Wen Qian came out to pack up her tent, and other self-driving campers around her started packing up too. Suddenly, someone came over and spoke to her.


    Wen Qian then realized that this was someone she had encountered before at the Youth Hostel, but she had quickly forgotten about them and didn''t expect to meet them here.


    The person said that a few people from the Youth Hostel had formed a temporary group for a self-driving tour, and wished they had known Wen Qian was taking the same route, so they could have gone together.


    Wen Qian smiled without saying a word. Even if their driving route was the same as her cycling route, their daily schedules would be different.


    However, it was fortunate that the other person wasn''t hiking or cycling, otherwise Wen Qian would have faced many inconveniences along the way.


    For instance, when everyone was cooking and living together, she would be alone in her tent eating hot meals.


    Starting a fire here would be troublesome, even though she had a camping stove.


    Another issue was that at higher altitudes, water doesn''t boil properly, so others carried mini pressure cookers.


    All of Wen Qian''s equipment was cleaned, dried, and stored in her spatial storage without being used.


    Fortunately, the person only came to greet her, said a few words, and quickly left with their group.


    Wen Qian resumed her solo journey, but she realized that while she couldmunicate smoothly online and over the phone, face-to-face conversations became difficult if she had to speak more, and she didn''t know why.


    Perhaps she was just avoiding interaction with others.


    As Wen Qian cycled slowly towards the next destination, she came across a very lively ce along the way.


    Many vehicles were parked by the roadside, and local vigers were leading horses, with a field of rapeseed flowers nearby.


    In Xia Province, rapeseed flowers bloom from June to October, and the locals are quite clever in nting seeds at different times to ensure continuous blooming.


    Some people like to take photos amidst the flower fields, so the vigers charge an entrance fee of about ten yuan per person, attracting quite a few visitors.


    Wen Qian didn''t enter, but took a video by the roadside before continuing on.


    For her, living in overly crowded ces for too long would make her ufortable when alone, so she tried to minimize exposure torge crowds as much as possible.


    After the rain and wind, the sunshine was quite pleasant. Wen Qian stopped for lunch, then pushed her bicycle along slowly.


    The sky was blue and the scenery was beautiful, so Wen Qian took many photos and shared some with Zhang Zixuan.


    As soon as Wen Qian sent them, Zhang Zixuan told her that she was still in Xia Province and had booked an 8,800 yuan tour group to travel to the western edge of the province, likely near the basin.


    The trip wouldst a week, and she offered to share photos and videos as well.


    Without waiting for Wen Qian to ask, Zhang Zixuan exined that her family''s area had been experiencing continuous storms and rain, with many flight cancetions.


    Her parents also said that since the weather was fine in Xia Province, she shouldn''t return for the time being.


    Even if she could fly back home, she would just be stuck indoors, so she might as well stay outside and gain more experience.


    Her parents sent her more money and even said that if the rain persisted, they might take a high-speed train and travel as well.


    When Wen Qian heard about Zhang Zixuan''s destination, she asked if she could share the tour group''s itinerary and schedule as a reference.


    Zhang Zixuan was delighted and asked if Wen Qian wanted to join, offering to postpone the trip so they could go together.


    Wen Qian declined, as the 8,800 yuan cost was too high for her, and she didn''t have the leisure to visit various scenic spots.


    In fact, the itinerary coincided with Wen Qian''s first safety checkpoint, but she didn''t n to spend money on sightseeing and intended to take the train directly.


    The farther into Xia Province, the more limited the transportation routes became.


    Wen Qian knew that many formerly isted residents had gradually gathered in groups of ten or so households, and were now collectively relocating torger towns and counties for better ess to education, healthcare, and public facilities.


    Wen Qian was headed to those ces that used to be inhabited but were now deserted, to explore them.


    She might encounter bears in some random areas, as bears were present in certain parts of Xia Province with their keen sense of smell. Wen Qian didn''t dare risk running into those animals.

 Chapter 65

    Chapter 65


    When Wen Qian reached the grasnds, in addition to taking photos and videos, she also chatted with the nearby people.


    There were quite a few people living in this area, although they were scattered, it was absolutely not lonely.


    Here, some people raised horses, yaks, and sheep. With abundant water and grass, it could be said to be a rtively suitable ce for survival.


    Moreover, some people would also sell handicrafts and specialties by Jade Lake, as there were quite a few tourists. They had ces simr to farm stays in this area.


    As long as the prices were reasonable, the tourists were willing to spend money.


    But most of the people here were ethnic minorities, and many of their customs were different. Wen Qian was an outsider.


    She could live here, but Wen Qian still nned to continue on.


    After reaching the busnd area and going a little further, it would be the forest area. Although this route was said to be around theke, in fact, it was still a long distance from thekeside.


    So there weren''t many people on this route, and most people chose to take a vehicle for this section.


    Wen Qian didn''t take a car but rode a bicycle along the highway.


    Although it was rare to see people here, there were still some. At one point, Wen Qian put away her bicycle and walked up a small path.


    She had previously taken a telescope from her space and looked around the area from a higher hillside.


    She found that there were people living here too, just much fewer than in the grasnds.


    Many people had moved from the mountains and halfway up the mountains down to live, although not as densely popted as the grasnds area, it was not deserted either.


    Wen Qian had bought maps and had offline maps on her phone, so she decided to go up the mountain, to where people had lived before moving down.


    The satellite map screenshot showed a green area, with the locations of rivers andkes clearly marked.


    Wen Qian inquired with the locals, asking them if there were any particrly ferocious wild animals in this area.


    They told her that it was rare to see them before, but as the environment improved, in May of this year, bears and wild yaks appeared in their area.


    Although rare, they did appear, so these animals may still be active in this area.


    Wen Qian thought about it, and it seemed like wild yaks and bears were unavoidable in Xia Province and Qing Province.


    But the residents also told her that it was indeed very rare, and at least in her view, the danger was very small. asionally, people even went up to the rivers to fish and didn''t encounter any issues.


    In the end, she decided to camp near the residents'' homes and then set out early the next morning to go up the mountain, aiming to return within a day.


    That night, Wen Qian was alone, with no other tents around, and the vigers'' homes were not far away.


    Wen Qian thought for a moment and took out some thorny vines and branches she had cut from her hometown, which were very prickly, and then surrounded her tent with them.


    She thought this could somewhat prevent small wild animals, or at the very least, she would be able to hear some noises.


    Shey down before it got dark, feeling a little uneasy being alone here, but thinking that there were vigers nearby made her feel a little better.


    Even so, she didn''t sleep very well that night and woke up very early the next day.


    So she went out of the tent to put away the thorny branches, and even got pricked by them. It seemed like there was no movement on the thorny branches overnight.


    Wen Qian left early. The slope at the foot of the mountain was rtively gentle. The true mountain peak, carved like a knife and covered with snow and clouds, only looked close, but to actually get there was very far away.


    When moving through the mountains, the straight-line distance from the starting point to the destination might be short, but finding a path to reach it was not an easy task.


    Fortunately, there were still remnants of the old paths here. She followed a rtively steep slope upwards, where trees and grasnds were mixed together.


    At a lower elevation on the mountain, ake had formed. It wasn''t veryrge, but the surrounding flowers and grasses were in full bloom, with butterflies flying around.


    Wen Qian heard the sound of sheep bleating, but she didn''t see where the flock was.


    So she continued upwards. After crossing a hill, she saw two wooden stumps on the slope, which were two very thick trees that had been sawn off. Looking at the ck cross-sections, they seemed to have been cut down a long time ago.


    Wen Qian looked at these traces of human activity and continued upwards.


    The slope became a little steeper, and the grass became a bit more lush, with some stones exposed on the ground not far away.


    It was then that Wen Qian saw the flock of sheep, but the shepherd was on another hillside across from her, separated by argerke.


    The shepherd seemed to be a child.


    She recalled the setting in a movie where a girl and her grandfather lived, and if there was a wooden house here, it would be even more simr.


    If she took a photo, it wouldn''t be obvious whether this was in China or abroad.


    Wen Qian took photos and videos. She took out her phone and could still get a bit of signal.


    She could also pick up radio channels, but maybe a few steps further, and she wouldn''t be able to receive them anymore.


    As she walked on, it was nearly 11 o''clock when she finally saw the mountain peak.


    Although it was a peak, its height was insignificantpared to the surrounding mountains, but this ce was indeed very suitable for living.


    From afar, the end was a small forest of straight, emerald-green trees.


    Wen Qian walked to the left of arge slope, afraid that if she slipped down that slope, she wouldn''t be able to stop rolling and might even crash into rocks and die.


    Wen Qian went to the right, afraid of slipping down herself and having to climb back up, which would be very tiring, and she might even hit rocks.


    Her eyes saw the mountain peak, but actually walking up step by step took her quite some time. After passing through a small forest, it was a grasnd with somerge rocks.


    On this inward-sloping hillside, she saw traces of human habitation, which was a copsed house.


    Most of it was stone, with the foundation being nearly a meter high in some ces. It seemed that a solid stone foundation had been built on the gentle slope, and a house was built on top of it.


    Perhaps theter residents moved down, and this ce was abandoned. The foundation area was very small.


    The wooden parts had almost disappeared, looking like it had been abandoned for a very long time.


    Wen Qian felt that a house could also be built here, and she continued upwards.


    When she reached the small forest at the end, she realized that behind the forest was basically a cliff. If she fell from here, she would be mud.


    However, it was also good. Wen Qian stood at the bottom of therge trees and looked down towards the wooden house site.


    Due to the recessed terrain, she couldn''t see it, but standing in this spot and looking in the direction she came from, two ovepping mountains blocked her original path.


    In other words, anyone who wanted toe to this mountain could only approach from the direction Wen Qian came, as the back was a cliff with no path. This made it easier to observe as well.


    Wen Qian found a t grassy area to rest,id out a yoga mat, and felt very content.


    This mountain, nestled among the surrounding mountains, had forests, grasnds, andkes, making it very suitable for grazing sheep.


    She felt that this ce was just like a utopia, and if one wanted to escape from war, living here wouldn''t be bad.


    Moreover, this mountain seemed very safe. She didn''t need to worry about copse,ndslides, mudslides, or the like.


    Unlike the distant steep peaks, Wen Qian didn''t need to worry about avnches, falling rocks, or strong winds either.


    Even in the case of an earthquake, this ce hadrge expanses of grasnd and gentle slopes, with many open areas, so there wouldn''t be rocks falling from the sky with nowhere to take shelter.


    Here, she could renovate the foundation and then build a house on it. The path down the mountain wasn''t very easy to walk. If it rained or snowed, she would have to stay alone on this mountain, essentially cut off from the world.


    She felt this ce was also very simr to her old hometown of Yuanao, except that Yuanao was surrounded by hills, while this ce was surrounded by towering mountains.


    If her first envisioned safe haven wasn''t as good as this one, then she would settle down here.

 Chapter 66

    Chapter 66


    It was noon at twelve o''clock, and Wen Qian began to eat her lunch.


    After eating, she had been climbing for quite a while and was a bit tired, having woken up early. The sun was still shining, and she felt a bit drowsy.


    She couldn''t sleep but also couldn''t continue on her way immediately, so she stood up and looked around.


    There were still traces of logging activities and signs of human presence, which was better than apletely untouched area.


    Of course, the range of human activities could be said to be extremely wide, and it was rare to find a cepletely devoid of human presence.


    The more Wen Qian wandered around, the more she liked it.


    An eagle circled overhead, and Wen Qian took out a sr panel and ced it under the sun. She also took out a telescope and stood at a high point to observe the surrounding mountains.


    This mountain had rtively sparse forests, but there was no need to worry about ack of firewood. The timber needed for building a house could also be found locally.


    The surrounding mountains had many dense forests covering entire slopes, and the trees here grew tall, thick, and straight.


    The more she looked, the more it resembled a filming location from a movie. She really liked it.


    She even envisioned her future life as she surveyed each location, standing atop this mountaintop which had a signal. She vaguely saw traces of a signal tower.


    After circling the area, Wen Qian decided to descend the mountain. She needed to reach her intended camping spot before nightfall.


    Descending was a significant burden on her knees. During the climb, Wen Qian had kept all her belongings in her spatial storage, worried that the excessive weight would prevent her from descending and force her to spend the night on the mountain.


    Having a definite destination boosted Wen Qian''s confidence. She no longer wanted to continue hiking along Jade Lake but instead immediately began clearing the dpidated house, exposing the foundation to build a new house on it.


    Upon arriving, Wen Qian was still a bit concerned about earthquakes.


    She considered whether to build a stone house or a wooden one.


    A purely wooden house seemed quite heavy, and it was clear that this ce wasn''t well-suited for building stone walls.


    She wondered if she should use stones to raise the foundation a bit higher, which could work.


    Just thinking about it made Wen Qian very happy.


    She had already imagined what it would be like to be isted from the world here after the snow fell in winter.


    When passingrgerkes, Wen Qian went to the shore to collect water.


    In her spatial storage, she had already filled manyrge and small containers with water from her hometown, including snow and ice. Recently, she had been drinking abination of water from her hometown and the Xia Province.


    Of course, she needed to collect some water from thekes here too, even if not for drinking. She filled up whatever containers she could.


    Thinking about it, she realized that this kind of ce might notck people in the future.


    Wen Qian arrived at the foot of the mountain around dinnertime. As she approached her destination, she took out her bicycle and luggage again.


    The residents were already cooking dinner. Exhausted, Wen Qian quickly pitched her tent and immediatelyy down inside.


    The night hadn''t fallen yet, and she needed to rest first.


    Indeed, walking on t ground and climbing a mountain were onpletely different levels.


    By the time she had rested, it had already gotten dark.


    She took out a small night light, scattered some thorns around the tent, then washed herself with a towel inside the tent before eating a little and lying down again.


    Wen Qian felt she couldn''t get too tired, as she was afraid of her body giving her trouble in this high-altitude area, which would be very troublesome.


    That night, she slept soundly, having been too exhausted, and thankfully, nothing untoward happened.


    The next day, Wen Qian didn''t n to go too far. She continued cycling around Jade Lake, reaching a broad, t highway with quite a few vehicles passing by.


    Perhaps having resolved a lingering concern, she now felt very rxed, though only in terms of her mood.


    Her body was still somewhat tired, but the next camping spot wasn''t too far, so she could cycle there slowly.


    After reaching the nearby camping spot, Wen Qian didn''t continue further. She spent the entire afternoon inside her tent.


    She wasn''t idle, though, editing her photos and videos. She had filmed specific locations but avoided capturing any scenes that could reveal her intended safe haven.


    The rest of the time, she eithery in the tent sleeping or sat up to eat something.


    Clearly, having achieved her important goal, she wasn''t very interested in continuing the hike around Jade Lake, as it was no longer important.


    However, she still needed to go to a ce convenient for transportation, after which she would head to her first safe haven.


    She nned to spend these few days quite leisurely. On the second day, as she was cycling, she noticed a river.


    Wen Qian wanted to follow the river upstream out of simple curiosity.


    The rivers here generally came from the snow-capped mountains, flowing through valleys with steep banks on both sides.


    Wen Qian walked upstream for a distance and discovered some people fishing.


    She had researched the fish species found in high-altitude areas but had never seen them in real life.


    The fishermen were surprised to see Wen Qian, as female anglers were a rare sight.


    Wen Qian noticed they had already caught some fish, so she wanted to take a look at what the fish looked like. The fishermen allowed her to observe them freely.


    Some anglers had only caught one or two fish, while others had a bit more in their buckets.


    Jade Lake also had fish, but only two species, and fishing was prohibited there since overfishing had severely depleted the poptions in the past. Now, all fishing and angling were banned in the entire Jade Lake.


    In fact, fish poptions grew very slowly in high-altitude regions, while human consumption was too rapid, leading to sharp declines in numbers.


    Seeing the fishermen so focused on angling, Wen Qian also wanted to try.


    She actually wanted to use a fishing, as this narrow river would make it easier to catch more fish with a.


    But since there were people here, Wen Qian took a very ordinary fishing rod instead.


    Unlike the fishermen''s professional-looking gear, Wen Qian''s angling was quite casual. At times, she wasn''t even paying much attention, leaving the rod stuck in the ground while wandering around.


    The gorges here were very deep, and it was only possible to follow the river; climbing the slopes was impossible and unsafe.


    Even so, Wen Qian caught fish after fish,paring them to the species she was familiar with and determining they weren''t protected varieties.


    But then again, in such a small river gorge, it probably wouldn''t be easy to encounter rare species.


    One of the fishermen who had only caught two or three small fish whispered to his friend, "She''s quite skilled, catching more than me."


    His friend consoled him, "Maybe she''s in a beginner''s grace period? Look at her, she''s not even fishing seriously. Maybe being too serious is the problem."


    The fisherman: "..."


    The fisherman looked at his own rod and his friends'' gear, thinking it made sense. If he caught a bountiful haul every time after so many years of angling, the grudge of the fish would probably weigh heavily.


    But then again, he too had enjoyed a beginner''s grace period, or he wouldn''t have be so enamored with fishing in the first ce.


    A beginner, of course, should not be discouraged from continuing to fish enthusiastically.


    Wen Qian, who was thought to be in a beginner''s grace period, had actually been fishing since the third grade of elementary school.


    However, her abundant catch this time might indeed be due to a regional beginner''s grace period.

 Chapter 67

    Chapter 67


    After catching a few fish, Wen Qian killed them on the spot and left.


    Then she rode her bicycle to the campsite, set up her tent, and began cooking fish soup for the day. She took out a portable stove and a small pot, pretending to take out some seasonings from her backpack.


    Wen Qian had pre-packaged these seasonings in small travel-sized portions from her spatial inventory.


    She added a little oil, pan-fried the fish, then added water and the deodorizing ingredients, covered the pot, and began cooking.


    It had been a long time since she cooked, and since she had fish to eat today, she wanted to give it a try.


    However, she only cooked two small fish, and put the rest into her spatial inventory.


    After the fish soup was ready, she carried it into the tent, then took out other food.


    The fish was tender and fresh, and the soup was delicious. Wen Qian ate with great satisfaction.


    She felt this hiking trip around Jade Lake was quite nice, but she nned to take a bus and leave Jade Lake the next day.


    The hiking route around Jade Lake would be interrupted and she would move on to the next destination.


    The next morning, she hiked to a scenic spot where buses departed every hour when full.


    She paid the fare and got on, and the bus soon departed for Xia City.


    Wen Qian bought a train ticket on her phone to travel from Xia City to the edge of the western basin, where there was a small city called Mangge City.


    The train ride would take six hours, with only one afternoon train per day. When she arrived in Mangge City, it would be after 10 PM, so Wen Qian nned to stay at the train station overnight and set out for cycling the next day.


    To the northwest of Mangge City was the basin, an endless expanse of gobi and desert.


    To the south stretched the massive Jade Mountain Range.


    The mountain range ran from west to east, marking the border between Xia Province and Qing Province, and had been famous since ancient times.


    From Mangge City, there was a national highway heading south that passed through the Jade Mountain Range.


    Wen Qian nned to cycle along this road and look for the first safe haven at the foot of the Jade Mountains.


    The basin was below 3,000 meters above sea level, while at the foot of the Jade Mountain Range, the elevation would be around 3,000 meters and above.


    The highest elevation Wen Qian could reach was 4,500 meters; ordinary tourists generally could not go any higher.


    However, Wen Qian''s goal was to find a safe haven, not to summit the peaks. This area also had forests and alpine meadows, where Wen Qian could find terrain environments simr to the second safe haven.


    This was truly a sparsely popted wilderness.


    The reason it was nned as the first safe haven was precisely because of this. Wen Qian hoped to settle down in the Jade Mountains rather than the area around Jade Lake.


    On the bus ride, Wen Qian thought a lot about how she had originally nned toplete the Jade Lake circuit hike before moving on.


    But she wanted to find a ce to settle down quickly, after which she could still go out for hikes.


    Building a house in the Jade Mountains would definitely be more difficult than around Jade Lake, who knows how long it would take, so she decided to just go there first.


    It was possible that she might even have to return the way she cameter.


    In the two days before Wen Qian began her search for a ce to settle down, over in the M Country across the ocean, the stock market was crashing.


    The ck [event] from the history books hade again, apanied by varying degrees of zero purchases.


    In countries where it was legal to own guns, a tiny bullet could easily take a person''s life.


    Wen Qian had seen their bullets in a magazine before, just like candy in her own country, packaged in boxes and sold by weight.


    At that time, she was still a high school student and was just surprised by the magazine''s content.


    But during the stockpiling period, she could buy many things, but she could not stock up on these.


    Nevertheless, she still took an extreme risk to obtain someponents and assemble them herself at home.


    Fortunately, theseponents did not attract anyone''s attention, and no one came to inquire about them.


    Although not as good as professional equipment, being able to obtain these in the country was not too bad.


    She did not intend to use them, but she felt that if the world became chaotic, not having them would be just as disastrous, because those who had them would be the ones calling the shots.


    The route to the Jade Mountains would have uninhabited areas where survival would be difficult for both humans and wildlife. Wen Qian''s original purpose for taking the risk was simply for self-defense.


    In the teau region, documentary records showed the rampancy of poaching gangs.


    They also had real weapons, killing animals for their meat, bones, or fur.


    They would even violently attack and attempt to kill any humans that obstructed them.


    After years of cracking down on such cases, they seemed to have be less frequent, at least ording to the news Wen Qian found online.


    Less frequent did not mean disappearance, so there was still a possibility of encountering them.


    Wen Qian could only hope not to encounter such dangerous situations in the future, and if she did, she would have no choice but toment her fate.


    Wen Qian did not think she could avoid these dangers, so it was better to prepare in advance.


    Being prepared might not help, but not preparing and then regretting itter would be worse; at the very least, the former would give her some peace of mind.


    She really wanted to go to the Jade Mountains now to determine if she could settle down there. If not, she could still go to the area around Jade Laketer.


    Winter came early on the teau, and she had to get things done ahead of time before she could rx.


    She really disliked deadlines, even as a child she hated rushing assignments on thest day.


    As an adult, she still hated dragging things to thest minute. It was good if she couldplete them, but she hated the anxiety and peril.


    Moreover, she did not want to wait until thest minute only to find herself powerless; by then, begging would be useless, and all she could do was wait for her doom.


    The bus arrived in the city, and Wen Qian transferred to a public bus. Even if she went to the train station now, she would have to wait for a long time, so she decided to walk around the city first.


    She also remembered that she wanted to buy some clothes. There were some ethnic minority costumes locally, and Wen Qian wanted to buy some inexpensive items with ethnic characteristics and symbols.


    If she was going to settle down, she definitely wanted to blend in with the localmunity''s way of life, rather than standing out as an outsider.


    With this in mind, she even bought a textbook on an ethnic minoritynguage.


    She thought it mighte in handy, and if not, it was just a book. Books could always be useful someday.


    Afterwards, she went to the train station after buying her items and began waiting for the train. There were free charging stations where a few people were standing and ying on their phones while charging.


    Although the umbilical cord is cut at birth, the sight of people charging their phones as if they were a part of their bodies made Wen Qian suddenly wonder what people would do if the inte was gone one day - they would probably be very anxious.


    And if they didn''t even have books, it would be even more anxious, right?


    Despite thinking this, Wen Qian still found an outlet and stood there charging her phone and ying like everyone else.

 Chapter 68

    Chapter 68


    Finally, it was time for the ticket check, Wen Qian swiped her brand-new ID card to enter the station.


    Her old ID card still had some time before expiration, so she could use both ID cards for now.


    Even so, she didn''t feel at ease, asionally reaching into her backpack pocket to feel for her ID card, checking if it was still there.


    She would have very few chances to use it in the future, but Wen Qian still regarded it as important, a proof of her existence in modern society.


    Wen Qian found her seat and sat down. As the train started moving, she took out her thermos and brewed some tea leaves, adding some hot water.


    She would have dinner on the train as well, nning to cook herself a bowl of instant noodles, as it had been a while since shest ate them.


    Initially, only half of the seats on the train were upied, so it wasn''t too crowded or noisy.


    Wen Qian leaned against the window, lost in thought. The scenery here was quite different, with lush greenery as well as deste grays.


    In general, the farther west they went, the more deste it became. The train stopped at each station, so the journey took longer.


    The people around her changed in waves, and Wen Qian grew drowsy.


    At dinnertime, the train stopped again, and a group of middle-aged women boarded, seemingly together.


    They were all discussing one thing: harvesting Chinese wolfberries.


    In Xia Province, many areas were dedicated torge-scale Chinese wolfberry cultivation, so during the harvesting season, many workers would head there.


    Wen Qian even considered trying it herself, if she didn''t have other things to do.


    If she had built a house at a safe location, the harvesting season would probably have passed already.


    One of the women asked Wen Qian what she was doing there, and another woman quickly answered, "She must be a tourist, what else could she be doing? At her young age, she couldn''t possibly be harvesting Chinese wolfberries like us."


    Someone else offered a different opinion: "Well, I rarely see young people too, but there are some who harvest Chinese wolfberries. Nowadays, young people can earn just as much as we do."


    "Whether it''s working in a factory, delivering food, or picking Chinese wolfberries, they have a stronger drive to earn money than we did when we were young," someone chimed in to defend the younger generation. "But they also spend more freely, not as frugal as us."


    So Wen Qian inquired, "Are you all part of an organized group? Did you go through an agency, or did you make arrangements with people there in advance?"


    "Well, some are with agencies, but you have to watch out for scams. Others have rtives there who helped recruit them, since we don''t grow that stuff in our area."


    "Of course, some people just go there directly and ask around. Basically, the bosses just need people to pick the berries, and they''ll pay you by the pound."


    Wen Qian decided to consider itter, as she might need to take a job there. She made a mental note of what they had told her.


    After the conversation, Wen Qian rested with her eyes closed, and the women ate and chatted for a while before also taking a nap.


    At around 10 PM, they finally arrived at their destination, the terminal station.


    Wen Qian had originally nned to spend the night at the train station, but the Mangge City station was too small, without even a long bench to lie down on in the vicinity.


    Moreover, the temperature difference between day and night was significant, and she couldn''t find a suitable spot to pitch her tent.


    At that moment, the women asked Wen Qian where she would be staying.


    They had a contact for an inexpensive hotel, costing only 50 yuan per night.


    So Wen Qian followed them, feeling safer in a group.


    The hotel was near the train station, closer than Wen Qian had expected. But then again, although called Mangge City, this city was very small.


    On the map, it was just a littlerger than the town in her hometown of An Province, with a simr poption.


    For 50 yuan, the "hotel" was actually an old couple who had added a few floors to their self-built house, dividing it into small rooms.


    Each room had a bed and a small bathroom, with an additional fee for air conditioning if needed.


    Having a ce to stay was already decent, so Wen Qian took a room, while the other women shared rooms in pairs.


    The next morning, Wen Qian left the motel around 7 AM, and from then on, she would have to travel alone.


    Wen Qian filled up her gas tank at a gas station and bought two extra cans of fuel.


    Leaving the city, she rode her motorcycle southward along a highway, with the Gobi Desert stretching destely on both sides.


    The road from Mangge City was well-paved for about half of her route, coinciding with her nned path.


    There were cars on this road, includingrge trucks passing through. Self-driving tour vehicles were rare, and even fewer motorcycles and bicycles, but not non-existent.


    Wen Qian had researched beforehand that some people had traversed three or four provinces on this highway by bicycle.


    For Wen Qian, a motorcycle was better for covering distance, although she would need fuel for many purposes, like operating a gas-powered chainsaw when cutting wood.


    The terrain was t, with the endless Gobi Desert stretching as far as the eye could see, truly deste without a single bird or person in sight.


    Wen Qian, with herpass and various maps, rode for a while, then rested, drank some water, checked her maps, confirmed her direction, and continued southward.


    Traveling alone was incredibly boring, and the scenery on both sides of the road looked like photocopies of each other, just destion upon destion.


    After a long time, it would cause visual fatigue.


    So Wen Qian stopped her motorcycle away from the roadside, temporarily pitched her tent,id out a mat, set an rm, and took an afternoon nap.


    This road seemed to stretch endlessly, and she felt she was about to fall asleep. To prevent fatigue-rted idents, she felt it necessary to lie down for a bit.


    She had set out to find a safe location, and it would be ridiculous if she lost her life on the way.


    In the afternoon, Wen Qian encountered an abandoned temporary shed by the roadside.


    At first nce, she knew she would be staying there for the night.


    However, many abandoned buildings encountered on the road were often treated as haunted adventure houses, which put her off a bit.


    But then she thought that a shed would provide shelter from the wind and rain, and as long as it wasn''t too dirty inside, she could pitch her tent there.


    This shed seemed to have been left behind by people who used to work here, with a cement courtyard in front and tiled floors inside.


    The floor tiles had alreadye loose, and Wen Qian picked up two intact tiles without cement on the back and put them in her bag.


    She could use them as trivets for cookingter.


    Fortunately, there was only some dry trash inside, like abandoned furniture or paper and stic bags, nothing too disgusting.


    She chose a room with doors and windows that could be closed and pitched her tent to rest.

 Chapter 69

    Chapter 69


    After setting up the tent, Wen Qian took a rest and then went out to see if there was anything useful in the rooms.


    On the way, Wen Qian saw empty stic bottles and wanted to pick them up, as it''s uncertain if there would be any stic products in the future.


    She saw that the sturdy security doors and stainless steel window grilles were still intact, which would normally fetch some money if sold as second-hand goods.


    If Wen Qian were the boss, she would do the same - take these doors and windows after the ce was abandoned.


    Thinking about it, Wen Qian wanted to dismantle them.


    If she had bought them originally, it would have cost her a lot of money. But if she dismantled them from here, it would be free.


    The prefabricated houses here were connected in a row, with two floors. Wen Qian nned to dismantle the second floor.


    In some rooms, the garbage was cleared and moved to another room, indicating that someone had camped here before and left traces of their stay.


    Holding a knife, Wen Qian went upstairs, and as she stepped on the stairs, she felt that even the stairs could be dismantled.


    All the rooms here only had some garbage, and there were no wild animals.


    In one room, there was a simple cloth wardrobe, so she put her knife into her space and dismantled and packed the wardrobe into her space.


    The more she looked around, the more she felt like a rag-picker, sighing inwardly.


    After collecting the items, Wen Qian started thinking about where to dismantle the house.


    How should she do it? She knew that during construction, the ground was first leveled, then steel beams were set up, the roof was built, and finally, the panels wereid.


    But now, looking at the abandoned two-story prefabricated house, she didn''t know where to start, and she only nned to dismantle one or two rooms on the second floor.


    She wouldn''t touch the first floor, so that many cyclists passing by could still have a ce to take shelter from the wind and rain.


    Speaking of which, when she was riding a motorcycle, she also saw many cyclists, some in groups of two or three, and some alone.


    Perhaps there were some ssic routes where, despite the harsh environment, cyclists could still find supply points along the way, as there were stillrge trucks running.


    Wen Qian had always been concerned about safety along the way and had researched and gathered information and experiences from others who had been there before.


    How to put it? If Wen Qian hadn''t wanted to find a safe spot herself, she wouldn''t havee here alone.


    In the news she had searched, there were cases of people going missing while traveling alone on the highway, and even the police couldn''t find any trace of them.


    Moreover, wild yaks and wolves could appear here, the living environment was harsh, and at night, the temperature was very low as they had to cross uninhabited areas.


    Whether in movies or novels, these uninhabited areas were not ces that one could easily enter or leave.


    Wen Qian studied the structure of the house on the second floor and first dismantled the security window grilles, then nned to dismantle the doors.


    The window grilles were easier to dismantle, but the doors were tall,rge, and heavy. Wen Qian set up adder to remove the doors, afraid of getting crushed or hit, which would be a waste of effort.


    After dismantling only two doors upstairs, Wen Qian had consumed most of her energy, so she went downstairs to cook some fish soup for herself.


    The hot soup warmed her belly, and with the hot food from her space, Wen Qian ate her fill.


    After resting, Wen Qian continued to dismantle the doors upstairs.


    It''s not that she needed so many doors for her future house, but she felt that having more free materials would always be beneficial.


    She continued until the sky darkened, then returned to her room to rest.


    Whenever she did physicalbor, Wen Qian would leave time to rest, afraid of overexerting herself.


    Moreover, she was in Xia Province and was concerned about altitude sickness, which would be a big problem if it happened.


    Another reason was that excessive fatigue could lead to a weakened immune system and increased susceptibility to illness.


    Since the doors and windows were tightly closed and there were no disturbances, Wen Qian slept soundly that night, unusually not waking up early.


    She had a hearty breakfast, as today would be another day of physicalbor, dismantling the corrugated sheet metal roof.


    Although dismantling it would create holes, she could seal them with foam or ss sent, and a shelter could still be set up.


    She spent the entire morning carefully dismantling the roof, aiming to reach the wall panels of the prefabricated house by the afternoon.


    The main challenge was herck of strength and the need to do everything herself without ess torge tools. She couldn''t simply push the walls down withrge concrete blocks as she had done before, as the panels here were intact, and crushing them would make them unusable.


    Previously, she had nned to dismantle the entire second floor, but realized that the steel beams were welded together from top to bottom, so dismantling just the second floor wouldn''t work, as it would also bring down the first floor.


    So, Wen Qian decided to dismantle the sides instead of the topyer. Instead of dismantling the topyer, she would now dismantle two rooms on each side, making four rooms in total.


    This way, she could obtain the materials for aplete two-story room, with space to set up a shelter on the side.


    Later, she might be able to reassemble it somewhere else.


    Thinking of this, she suddenly remembered downloading the instation instructions for prefabricated houses, but wasn''t sure if there were any disassembly instructions.


    Wen Qian searched online and found the instation instructions but no disassembly instructions.


    However, the order of dismantling from the roof down was correct.


    With this in mind, she quickly got to work and even set up a scaffolding for herself to move around more easily.


    After 4 PM, Wen Qian stored the scaffolding in her space and collected all the dismantled materials, then started wandering around the area.


    Since vehicles asionally passed through this ce, Wen Qian was concerned that someone might also stop and stay hereter.


    In that case, her dismantling work with the scaffolding would seem strange.


    While resting in the room, Wen Qian heard noises outside.


    Someone had indeed stopped and partially opened the ajar door.


    It was a single person, carrying a bicycle loaded with bags, who entered.


    The first thing they said was, "Is anyone here? Is anyone here?" in a cautious tone.


    So, Wen Qian opened the door and replied, "Someone''s here."


    "Holy crap, you startled me!"


    Although the person had asked if anyone was there, they didn''t actually expect a response, and may have just been trying to scare away any wild animals that could be inside.


    Or they were simply announcing their presence before entering an empty building.


    But they didn''t expect someone to actually answer, which quickened their heart rate.

 Chapter 70

    Chapter 70


    Though startled for a moment, Fan Dongdong quickly regained hisposure, shifting from fear to delight.


    "Hello, hello! Are you here for cycling too? Which direction did youe from?"


    Wen Qian had already closed the door, but as the other person''s voice grew closer, Wen Qian stood by the window: "I came from Xia Province."


    "Oh, it seems we came from opposite directions then, I came from Qing Province."


    Fan Dongdong threw his bike by the entrance and walked over, his expression excited.


    "Ah, it''s been so long since I''ve encountered another person. I''ve been camping alone recently. I was quite startled when I saw the abandoned shack, never expecting to actually meet you here.


    "Are you alone? How many days have you been cycling?"


    "I haven''t tidied myself up in a while, but it doesn''t matter since no one''s around," heughed.


    Wen Qian watched as the other person chattered on incessantly, not caring whether she responded or not, probably because it had been so long since hest spoke to anyone.


    He was now letting out all the pent-up words he had umted.


    Of course, Fan Dongdong realized he was talking too much, so after that he said he would go find a room to set up his tent first.


    The other person appeared to be in his twenties too, but his face was blotched with dirt, his hair greasy, looking like he had been cycling for a very long time.


    Fan Dongdong chose the room farthest from Wen Qian, also on the first floor, and quickly set up his tent before inquiring about Wen Qian''s route.


    Of course, when asking others, he would first exin the route he had taken. Fan Dongdong traveled from Shu Province through Qing Province, now in Xia Province, and still nned to go to Jiang Province.


    After reaching Jiang Province, he would take a train home.


    For him, the most treacherous and highest altitude portions had already been traversed.


    When he asked Wen Qian, she told him she started from Xia Province, went to Qing Province, and would then return home.


    Fan Dongdong sighed: "Ah, it really is the case that our future paths are opposite. I had hoped to have apanion on the road."


    The quality of food and amodation didn''t matter, having no one to talk to was the hardest part, feeling like cobwebs were growing in his mouth.


    Afterwards, Fan Dongdong prepared dinner, which was instant noodles cooked with mineral water.


    He also asked Wen Qian what she wanted to eat. Wen Qian said she would have instant noodles too, of course eating the same as others since there was someone else present.


    However, just having in instant noodles wasn''t enough, so Wen Qian added baby cabbages and sausages to hers.


    Soon, the familiar aroma of instant noodle seasoning packets wafted through the air. After cooking, Fan Dongdong ate in the hallway outside the rooms, asionally chatting with Wen Qian.


    Wen Qian''s door was open, and she sat by the entrance eating.


    The two maintained a distance from each other.


    Fan Dongdong seemed to realize that Wen Qian was quite cautious, so he didn''t try to approach her. Conversing from a distance was just fine.


    That night when it was time to sleep, Wen Qian ced bottles by the window sill, and arge rock she had picked up on the road behind the door.


    She had just casually picked it up and stored it in her spatial storage, although she didn''t know what it could be used for.


    With another unfamiliar person in the abandoned house, Wen Qian felt uneasy sleeping, even though she didn''t think the other person was bad.


    But she was still worried about misjudging the situation.


    The night passed peacefully. The next morning after a quick breakfast, Fan Dongdong bid farewell to Wen Qian and left.


    Only then did Wen Qiane out, eat breakfast, and resume her dismantling work from top to bottom.


    Her speed wasn''t fast, but she grew more skilled. By the afternoon, all the boards had been collected, leaving only a few beams.


    So Wen Qian decided to keep going and remove the steel beams as well, hoping to leave the next day.


    By evening, she had finished dismantling what needed to be dismantled.


    Although she had dismantled two rooms on two floors, two of the walls were actually shared.


    If Wen Qian wanted to restore it, she could probably only restore it to a single two-story room.


    Thest thing to dismantle was the staircase, which was separately reinforced outside the temporary housing. Wen Qian nned to dismantle it the next day.


    When it was time for dinner, Wen Qian ate a boxed meal in her room, which also included lotus root and ribs she had previously stewed.


    Being able to eat this now was truly a blessing.


    Before she had finished eating, there was movement outside - someone else had arrived.


    Were there really that many people on this road? Wen Qian felt a bit dazed, thinking she had lingered here for too long and should have moved on earlier.


    "Is anyone there? Hello, hello, I''ming in, just letting you know."


    It seemed a tradition to greet first upon entering, so Wen Qian responded that there was someone.


    The other person''s reaction was identical to Fan Dongdong''s, first startled then delighted. But upon seeing Wen Qian''s face, the person''s expression turned to one of disbelief.


    "There''s really a girl traveling alone? How long have you been on the road?"


    The person looked Wen Qian up and down, feeling there should be others apanying her.


    Wen Qian said she came from Xia Province.


    "Oh, I see, that route is rtively easy then. Did youe from Mangge City? Then you haven''t been traveling too long."


    The person nced behind Wen Qian, trying to confirm if she was alone.


    This ce wasn''trge - whether looking through the windows or the entrance, the rooms inside were all visible.


    Although he didn''t believe she could travel alone, Wen Qian was indeed alone.


    "You really are alone, huh."


    Wen Qian said: "Aren''t you alone too?"


    "That''s different." With that, the person chose the room next to Wen Qian''s. "I''ll stay here tonight. Say, you''re alone here, aren''t you scared? Let me stay next door and keep youpany."


    Wen Qian felt something was off, but this wasn''t her territory, so she couldn''t say much.


    After putting his belongings down, the person poked his head out again to chat with Wen Qian: "Why did youe here?"


    "Then why did youe here?" Wen Qian responded with the same question.


    "Just wandering around."


    Wen Qian: "I''m just wandering around too."


    The personughed: "Then we''re quite like-minded."


    Wen Qian still didn''t respond, inwardly mocking, "Like-minded, my foot."


    The person continued unprompted: "People who travel this route, some do it as a challenge to themselves, some want to see the beautifulndscapes. Of course, there''s also a possibility that some heartbroken peoplee here to purify their souls."


    Seeing Wen Qian''s silence, the person smiled: "I''m just kidding, haha."


    In daily life, Wen Qian could easily perceive from others'' words and actions whether they looked down on her, because it''s something that can''t be hidden.


    If someone is careless, blunt, or harsh, making it part of their character or persona, then they won''t choose when, where, or with whom to express it - simply put, they''ll act that way anytime, anywhere, with anyone.


    But some people are different. They''ll be tactful with their superiors, paying attention to details and usingnguage carefully while disying emotional intelligence. Yet with their colleagues, they won''t do the same.


    Some will immediately speak harshly to their family members, but be polite to strangers.


    Others will speak with decorum when facing stronger individuals, but when facing weaker people, they''ll either mock and ridicule, or recount the person''s embarrassing moments,pletely unconcerned about the person''s displeasure.


    This person had not even set up his tent before asking Wen Qian all sorts of questions - where she was from, how old she was - and never first offered his own information, only persistently questioning Wen Qian.


    Seeing Wen Qian not responding, he muttered to himself: "Ah, I asked the wrong thing, girls are sensitive about age, I shouldn''t have asked a girl her age."


    From his words and facial expression, Wen Qian felt this person was less reliable than Fan Dongdong before.


    This was not at all proper etiquette between strangers.

 Chapter 71

    Chapter 71


    Because Wen Qian didn''t want to talk to the other person, she had closed the door and entered her tent early, but she could vaguely see someone passing by the window.


    It must be the person from the next room, but it didn''t matter as long as they didn''t disturb her.


    Wen Qiany in the tent with her eyes closed, unable to fall asleep for a while, but she also didn''t want to listen to music or white noise since she had to pay attention to any sounds from outside.


    She silently counted sheep in her mind, hoping to fall asleep out of boredom.


    Just as she was dozing off, she heard a voice outside the window.


    It was past ten o''clock at night, and the other person was loitering outside the door: "Are you asleep? If not,e out and chat."


    Wen Qian didn''t say anything, wanting the other person to think she was already asleep.


    Then she heard them knocking on the window: "Are you asleep? Really asleep? Or just pretending to be asleep?"


    Wen Qian wanted to continue pretending, but then she heard the sound of the doorknob turning.


    "What are you doing?" Although there were things piled up behind the door, it was clear that the sound of the door opening was not something Wen Qian could resolve by pretending to be asleep.


    "I knew it, you definitely weren''t asleep. Who sleeps that early?"


    Wen Qian said bluntly, "I was asleep, but you woke me up. You''re disturbing my rest."


    The other person acted as if they didn''t hear her: "Who goes to sleep so early? I''m not a bad person."


    "I''m going to sleep now, please don''t disturb me," Wen Qian thought to herself with a snicker, this statement didn''t sound very convincing.


    "But you''re not asleep yet, are you? Let''s chat, our meeting is fate, right?"


    Wen Qian: "I don''t want to talk."


    The other person joked, "But you''re talking to me right now, aren''t you? Besides, if you''re not polite, you might run into trouble on the road."


    Wen Qian ignored them, and the other person knocked on the window, shining a light in.


    "I won''te in, juste out and chat."


    Wen Qian continued to ignore them, and then the doorknob was turned again.


    Wen Qian sat up abruptly, having been sleeping in her clothes these past few days.


    Damn it! You''re the only one with a light! Wen Qian took out arge shlight and turned it on.


    The person outside saw the light and asked, "You''re not pretending to sleep anymore?"


    Wen Qian took out a whetstone.


    Seeing her ce a stone on the ground, the other person asked, "What are you doing? Do you want to chat through the window? This has a security window, it''s like talking through prison bars, how unlucky. Come out and chat."


    Wen Qian went into the tent and took out a long ethnic-style sword she had bought from a street stall, then went back out.


    Wen Qian sharpened the sword in her roomte at night.


    "What are you doing? Are you doing this on purpose, showing it to me on purpose?"


    This woman actually had such a long sword in her tent, did she know how to use it?


    How scary!


    Wen Qian didn''t say anything, thinking to herself, you knocked on the door after ten o''clock at night, so what''s strange about me sharpening a sword after ten o''clock?


    The sound of sharpening the sword continued, and the other person let out a coldugh and left.


    But Wen Qian didn''t stop, she kept sharpening.


    Wen Qian was a little angry. She couldn''t overpower the other person, but it wasn''t time to pull out a gun either, so she could only sharpen her sword as a warning, though she didn''t know if it would work.


    The other person muttered, "Don''t you know what you look like? Still worried that others will have thoughts about you. You look so safe, yet you''re so self-obsessed."


    These words were spoken at a volume just audible to Wen Qian, but she didn''t get angry. If the other person hadn''t turned the doorknob earlier, these words might have been believable.


    Wanting to open the door for no reason, what kind of good person would do that?


    That person returned to their room, still muttering, but Wen Qian couldn''t quite make it out, then she heard the sound of them throwing and banging things around.


    Wen Qian admired the sword she had sharpened in the light. The sword was nice, but it was a pity for it to see blood in such a peaceful era.


    Wen Qian murmured, "Killing is against thew, killing is against thew," then tossed a kitchen knife onto the ground. After such a bigmotion, the room next door fell silent.


    It was unknown if the other person had retreated because of Wen Qian sharpening her sword, but at least the night passed peacefully after that.


    Wen Qian, who had sharpened three swords before going back to sleep, didn''t sleep well and kept waking up. When she opened her eyes in the morning, she was in a bad mood, one could say she had morning grumpiness.


    As Wen Qian was packing her things, she saw someone standing outside the window.


    Wen Qian was toozy to talk to them, just doing her own thing.


    "Getting up so early, in a hurry to leave?"


    Wen Qian ignored them.


    But the other person didn''t leave, as if waiting for Wen Qian to open the door.


    At first, Wen Qian thought this person was crazy, but then she realized this person was standing arrogantly by the window, as if thinking Wen Qian didn''t dare open the door, or perhaps thinking Wen Qian had just been putting on a show the night before.


    Was this their way of trying to regain face now?


    Wen Qian sighed.


    I had originally nned to go into seclusion alone, but now I have to get caught up in taking a life at this time? How annoying.


    "What did you say?" The other person heard Wen Qian talking but couldn''t make it out clearly. "Why don''t you dare open the door now?"


    It was then that Wen Qian realized she had said her thoughts out loud.


    "Let me tell you, I''m usually quite tolerant, but you disrespected mest night. Apologize to me, and everything will be fine."


    "What do I need to apologize for?"


    "What was that attitude of yoursst night? We just met by chance, and I wanted to chat with you, but you treated me like a thief, defending yourself and sharpening a sword? Who were you trying to scare? Do you think you could scare someone like me that easily?"


    The other person grew more aggressive in their tone, as if they were the ruler of this area.


    They felt that even with a sword, they could easily disarm and kill Wen Qian, and besides, they didn''t think she could actually use the sword, they thought she had just bought it to scare people.


    "Some people shouldn''t be too self-important, they should look in the mirror. Even if it was free, I wouldn''t want your type, yet you lock the door on me? I''ve seen your kind before, what are you putting on airs for? Backpacking, what''s there to show off about? Who doesn''t know?"


    It was then that Wen Qian realized what they were talking about. When researching travel guides online, she had also seen various sensational news stories.


    Saying such things was asking to be beaten up, but since the other person dared to say it, they clearly didn''t think they were being reckless.


    "Because I didn''t talk to you, you flew into a rage, didn''t you? You said those things because you thought there wouldn''t be any consequences for you, right?"


    "Oh? What consequences? What could you do to me? How could you do anything to me? The window is closed, the door is locked. Isn''t that just being a coward, too scared toe out? All bark and no bite, what could you do to me?"


    "No bite? Your mouth is pretty harsh too, why didn''t you stick around longer when I was sharpening my swordst night?"


    The other person grew angry out of embarrassment: "You think just because you sharpened a sword, I was scared of you? I left because I was tired and wanted to sleep, you think I was really scared of you?"


    "Let me tell you, there have been quite a few missing persons over the years, who knows if they were taken by wolves or sold by people. If one or two people like you went missing, who would know?"


    Wen Qian let out a coldugh, thinking about what she could use to kill the other person.


    She feared natural disasters just as she dreaded thew. It was said that thew was a vast that left nothing uncaught - she had seen so many legal TV shows where even after twenty years, murderers could still be caught. Was there really such a thing as the perfect murder?


    Wen Qian felt that if she killed someone now, she would be caught right after, and this vile person would be called the victim.


    How ridiculous!


    Wen Qian didn''t care about all that anymore, her mind made up, she put away the stone and opened the door.


    The other person thought they had seeded in provoking Wen Qian and was pleased. Originally, they hadn''t nned to do anything, it was just that this woman was so disrespectful, if she had just been polite and exchanged contact information to be friends, that would have been fine. But shepletely ignored them, wasn''t that looking down on them?


    They had to make her realize her mistake.


    The next second, Wen Qian said coldly, "In this deste wilderness, aren''t you afraid at all?"


    The other person was stunned, wasn''t that line supposed to be said by themself?


    Then they noticed Wen Qian was gripping a knife or dagger in a reverse grip, with the emphasis on the reverse grip.

 Chapter 72

    Chapter 72


    He saw what seemed to be a murderous look in the other person''s eyes, so he stepped back two paces.


    At this point, his provoking thoughts vanishedpletely. He turned around, went back to his room, mmed the door shut with a bang, and locked it.


    Wen Qian was stunned for a moment. What? She hadn''t done anything yet, why did he shut and lock the door? So Wen Qian took out a hammer and started shouting.


    "Come out and talk, tell me how you''ve grown up to have such behavior! If you have the guts,e out!"


    Bang! She struck the door with the hammer, using all her strength. The door was dented, the walls shook, and even the windows rattled.


    The person inside started yelling: "What do you want? What do you want! If you don''t want to talk, don''t talk, I was just joking with no ill intent, can''t even take a little joke! I just wanted to get to know you, to be friends, do you have to go this far?"


    Bang! Another hammer strike, but not as forceful this time, leaving a shallow imprint on the door.


    Wen Qian thought to herself, big hammer 80! Small hammer 60!


    She was almost hammering to a rhythm now.


    The person in the room had started apologizing, his voice changing tone: "I''m sorry! I''m sorry! I was rude! I was rude, okay, I disturbed you, I, I''ll leave! I''ll pack up right away, I, I''m sorry."


    But your temper is too much, he didn''t dare say that out loud, how could she act like a madwoman?


    Bang! Another heavy hammer blow, really striking his heart, making it leap in fright.


    Would someone who''s just traveling around usually carry so many weapons? It was only then that he started regretting, how could he just start...when he saw she was alone?


    He regretted being rash with his words, how could he not have realized she was a lunatic?


    At this point, Wen Qian felt quite relieved, as if the long-suppressed negative emotions were finally vented through her frenzied door-hammering.


    She finally understood why some people would pay to experience smashing things or hitting punching bags, because destruction really is satisfying and relieving.


    She wasn''t hammering the lock part of the door, but randomly striking the door panel, leaving the once fine door dented and pitted, yet still closed and separating the two of them.


    At this point, Wen Qian got into the mood for an insane literary performance.


    "Come out! Youe out!"


    Wen Qian shrieked andughed maniacally.


    The man felt as if he was trapped in an asylum, what if this mad woman didn''t leave, would he really be stuck here to die?


    He didn''t have much water or food left either, oh dear Lord! Let me leave!


    As the man contemted whether calling the police would be any use, he heard the person outside burst intoughter, a bone-chilling sound, probably the effect often portrayed in horror and ghost movies.


    "What''s wrong? Scared? Should I call the police officer for you?" Wen Qian said while imagining her expression must look like a psychopath''s.


    But what could she do? She felt like she was getting addicted to acting insane.


    ...


    Wen Qian felt tired and stopped.


    Dead silence came from the room, the person inside hugging his bicycle and not daring to breathe loudly.


    Wen Qian put her things into her spatial storage and went out the door to the side stairwell, hesitating whether to leave now or dismantle the stairs before leaving.


    But that damn fly was really too annoying.


    Wen Qian went up the stairs to the second floor corridor.


    Not long after, she saw a person rush out from downstairs, carrying his bicycle and frantically running out of the courtyard.


    When he got to the road outside, he turned back to see the woman leaning on the railing, smiling at him.


    Oh my god, what kind of person is this?


    Although puzzled in his heart, he didn''t have the courage to go back and find out, but pedaled away at full speed instead.


    Seeing him leaving quickly, Wen Qian roared withughter. It had been so long since she experienced such emotional ups and downs, it was quite interesting.


    Although such people were as annoying as flies and mosquitoes, even making one feel they shouldn''t exist in this world.


    But one shouldn''t expend great effort to drive them to extinction, that time and energy should be spent on oneself or important people instead.


    Wen Qian then decided to dismantle the entire staircase and take it with her.


    By noon, Wen Qian had finally dismantled the entire staircase and stored it into her spatial storage, then rode her motorcycle onward.


    It had been more than half a month since she left Xia Province, asionally receiving messages while on the road.


    In the monotonous journey ahead, the chaotic news Wen Qian saw around the world was not a good thing.


    The disasters caused by climate change had already made people''s lives a mess, and now the economic crisis would lead to many losing their jobs, further destabilizing society.


    Even domestically, a wave of unemployment had emerged, although public order was rtively more stablepared to M Country.


    Wen Qian still had two people in contact with her on her phone.


    One was Zhang Zixuan, who said she hadn''t left this province yet, and her parents had joined her, nning to tour the few western provinces.


    Wen Qian once again envied how nice it was to be rich.


    The other was Fang Ya, who mentioned someone hade looking for her.


    It was the person Wen Qian had previously chased away with a kitchen knife, this time bringing a few others. Hearing that Wen Qian wasn''t home, they then inquired about her residence in An City, but unfortunately no one knew.


    They had heard from somewhere that Wen Qian was closest with Auntie Chen''s family, so they must know the location, and went to stake out Auntie Chen''s home.


    In the end, they were chased away by the Chen family wielding brooms, as they truly didn''t know.


    Moreover, knowing she worked in An City would suffice, why did they need to pinpoint herpany or residence?


    It was obvious they had ill intentions, so even if they knew, they wouldn''t tell.


    Wen Qian found it amusing, as now no one knew she had even left An Province, basically no one knew.


    Whatever schemes they plotted would be useless.


    After leaving An Province, she least had to worry about those scumbags stalking and harassing her.


    Wen Qian sped along the road, finally nearing the end of the national highway section, leaving it for the local concrete roads.


    The road headed west from the east, Wen Qian traveling westward. If going by the national highway crossing the Jade Mountain Range, the uing stretch would likely encounter quite a few people.


    Because there were rivers, and some residents living there. Going further west, it would be more deste, with deserts and gobi facing the northern side of the Jade Mountain Range.


    The direction Wen Qian was headed showed a ranch on the map, besides that going west there were no particrly clear ce names marked.


    At the edge of the mountain range, the map indicated there would be rivers formed by snow melt from the mountains.


    Only two or three clearly visible ones could be found on the map, the rest just vaguely shown, possibly because they were too small or short to be clearly disyed.


    The concrete road meant she hadn''t reached the ranch yet, and Wen Qian could see vehiclesing from the direction of the ranch while on the road.


    However, Wen Qian searched and found too many ranches with the same name, with no detailed information online.


    She rode her motorcycle down the road, seeing a herd of white things rushing towards this direction from afar.

 Chapter 73

    Chapter 73


    She slowly rode closer and saw someone on a motorcycle herding a flock of sheep on the other side.


    It was arge herd of sheep, appearing as a white mass from afar, but up close each sheep looked dirty and gray, only thembs seemed a bit cleaner.


    The sheep were slowly blocking the road, and the person at the back was even kicking their bottoms to move them along, seeming to be the shepherd.


    Wen Qian thought she had just received some money from previously edited videos on her phone.


    Wen Qian didn''t know if she could buy a sheep, so she asked about the price, and the shepherd readily agreed to sell her one.


    However, Wen Qian didn''t want a live sheep. She wanted him to ughter it, preferably help skin it, and then she would take it away.


    The shepherd seemed puzzled, wouldn''t taking a live sheep back be fresher?


    But Wen Qian wanted to ughter the sheep and put it in her space.


    If it was alive, would it wander the world with her?


    And if she developed feelings for it, could she still eat it?


    Wen Qian couldn''t ept eating an animal she had bonded with, so it was better not to raise it at all.


    The shepherd said he could kill the sheep, but he needed to do it at home.


    Where was home? Wen Qian looked around, but aside from one road, she saw nothing else.


    The shepherd pointed: "Go this way, up, keep going up. You''ll see my home, there are people there, you can just go buy the sheep. It''ll take me half a day to get back."


    So Wen Qian rode her motorcycle in the direction he pointed.


    When Wen Qian arrived, she found a young, beautiful girl standing at the entrance, seemingly there to greet her.


    Wen Qian conversed smoothly with her, it turned out she was the shepherd''s daughter.


    She looked only a little younger than Wen Qian, but extremely pretty.


    "My dad called and said someone wasing to buy sheep, is that you?"


    "Yes," Wen Qian smiled at the beautiful girl, "Can you ughter sheep?"


    The girl smiled and said she could a little.


    Wen Qian felt she was being modest, as her eyes showed great confidence.


    Indeed, under Wen Qian''s watchful gaze, the girl delivered a fatal, swift and decisive blow, leaving Wen Qian in awe, so she began observing the ughtering technique.


    The girl also skinned the sheep smoothly, and Wen Qian carefully studied her methods.


    With the first sheep, the girl just thought Wen Qian was observing out of curiosity, though she was surprised that Wen Qian wasn''t afraid.


    With the second sheep, the girl began exining carefully, and Wen Qian listened attentively, wishing she could try it herself.


    After taking care of both sheep, Wen Qian put them in her vehicle, tied them down, chatted with the youngdy for a bit, and left.


    On her way back, she saw the shepherd from afar, the flock grazing and slowly heading home, so their pace wasn''t fast.


    Wen Qian didn''t n to return the same way, but to continue forward.


    Seeing her head towards the ranch, the shepherd thought she was from that area.


    Up to this point, Wen Qian could still receive phone signal, likely because of the ranch ahead.


    In the afternoon, Wen Qian finally saw the ranch area, which seemed to be a well-established ranch with good infrastructure.


    Wen Qian nned to go further, and if she couldn''t find a good ce to camp, she would return and camp nearby.


    After passing the ranch, there were no more roads, so Wen Qian had to walk slowly, fortunately the terrain was rtively t and the weather was nice, she just needed to confirm the direction and keep going.


    By dinnertime, Wen Qian set up camp at the foot of a small hill, and also surrounded it with obstacles.


    Not feeling secure, she also made a circle on the ground and lit a bonfire inside.


    In her conversation with the girl, she mentioned that you had to go deeper into the mountains to encounter bears, but this ranch area was fine, no wolves, though further west there might be some.


    In areas with little human disturbance, there might be wolf packs, as they prefer ces with cover and abundant food.


    This made Wen Qian afraid of being prey for wild animals.


    However, the girl also said she had only heard wolves howling, never seen them, which reassured Wen Qian a bit.


    The other thing was that south of the Jade Mountain Range was a protected area, so there was more diverse wildlife there and wolves were moremon.


    Wen Qian safely spent that night, and set out early the next morning heading west.


    So, after repeating such travel days, Wen Qian came across a small river and began following it upstream.


    This area was rtively t but deste, with little dense vegetation or diverse life along the river banks.


    She had only seen small creatures running on the ground, so she didn''t pay much attention.


    She wanted to follow the river upstream, as she had previously noticed that the people living in the Jade Mountain Range basically lived along the rivers, so she wanted to find a ce like the locals.


    Although she was also worried about wild animals, Wen Qian felt that as long as she took precautions, she could get through this winter, and she also had means of self-defense.


    Compared to the lush vegetation in the south of the Jade Mountain Range, the north truly faced a desert.


    She was in an uninhabited area.


    As she followed the small river upstream, Wen Qian didn''t forget to use her binocrs to observe the surrounding environment, so she could run away if she spotted any dangerous animals early.


    But fortunately, she didn''t encounter any.


    Wen Qian found a ce simr to the safe spot at Jade Lake, except with a more gentle slope.


    This ce was also farther from the mountains and closer to the uninhabited area.


    So she decided to settle there first.


    She took out her previous building materials and piled them into a circle, looking like a circr ruin, then lit a bonfire in the middle and set up her tent.


    She really hoped to settle here and not go any further, but tomorrow she nned to explore further upstream.


    For now, she hadn''t used the water here yet, hoping to confirm the upstream area first.


    Perhaps having reached her destination, Wen Qian woke up very early the next day, before dawn, as it got light and darkter here.


    So Wen Qian gathered all her previous building materials and set out upstream.


    The further she went, the less t the path became. At first she could ride her vehicle, butter had to go on foot.


    The river became narrower, then more winding, and she would have to enter the mountains, which made Wen Qian apprehensive as she looked at the steep valleys.


    These mountain valleys were so steep that Wen Qian could even imagine how boulders rolled down from the top.


    Forgive her vivid imagination, but she was also afraid of encountering bears in the mountains.


    So she took out her binocrs and scanned around, only to see smoke.


    Could there still be people living in these mountains?

 Chapter 74

    Chapter 74


    Wen Qian walked upstream and encountered a valley. When she felt afraid, she seemed to see signs of people nearby.


    So she started walking forward. After passing through the valley and reaching the end, she realized that there was a path here, but it was not the same route she had taken. Instead, it extended from a different direction, merely passing through the valley entrance.


    It was then that she realized she should not havee this way. If the valley was safe, there should have been a path, especially since there were people living here.


    But it was toote to worry about that now.


    Wen Qian followed the path to the right, which ran along the foot of the mountain, with a steep slope on one side and water below.


    Using her binocrs, Wen Qian scanned the valley in the distance and noticed a rtively t area between the mountains with two small houses. The rest was obscured from view.


    However, she could see that the river flowed from there to here, with a slightly wider river passing through this area. So the ce where they lived must have been formed by previous erosion, creating a level area.


    There were also crops being cultivated here, though Wen Qian could not make out what was being grown from such a distance. She knew that merely observing through binocrs, she would not be able to reach that area today.


    But she noticed that there were even power lines running to the ce. Standing at the valley entrance, Wen Qian realized there was hardly any cellrwork coverage here.


    Seeing signs of people living there, Wen Qian became even more eager to settle down in this area.


    On her way back, Wen Qian had originally intended to pass through the valley, but after considering it, she decided to take the path to the left for a distance to see where it would lead.


    After walking for a while, Wen Qian realized it was too far and she would not be able to make her way back through a shortcut, so she abandoned that idea.


    She quickly passed through the valley and returned. Upon her return, Wen Qian began nning to build a cabin on the slope near the river.


    She chose a slope with mountains far in the distance behind it, so even if there was an earthquake, it would not affect her.


    In front of her was a t, open area with a clear view.


    Wen Qian settled in a spot nked by trees on both sides.


    This time, she took out all the materials for her mobile cabin, nning to set it up first so she would no longer have to stay in a tent.


    Wen Qian''s construction pace was not very fast, so she could only erect the frame first, then attach the panels to form a circr structure.


    With only the iron frame and thin walls on four sides, but no roof, Wen Qian could look up and see the clear starry sky.


    It was then that Wen Qian realized she had not really seen the night sky since leaving Mangge City. But it didn''t matter; there would be plenty of time for thatter.


    Wen Qian hung ayer of inverted wire mesh above the panels, enclosing herself inside, and then set up a tent.


    That night, Wen Qian brought out the fire pit, added some firewood, and quickly fell asleep.


    After the excitement of the day, she fell asleep quickly that night.


    For a traveler who had finally reached her destination, she must have been exhausted. She slept early but also slept soundly, yet her sleep quality was poor.


    She kept dreaming about scenes from her childhood when she went fishing with her grandfather.


    Back then, she only had a small bamboo rod and would just tug on the line to fish, with no real technique. But one small crucian carp after another kepting up.


    Even her grandfather was puzzled and tried fishing from her spot, but caught nothing.


    Instead, whenever she moved to a different spot, fish would start biting again within a short time.


    Wen Qian was delighted. She really enjoyed fishing during that period - this must have been the real "beginner''s luck."


    Then the scene shifted, and at some point during her school days, her ssmates started calling her an unwanted "stray blossom."


    The difference of not having parents became apparent at that time. Everyone tended to look down on those who were different, so some people simply released their malice innocently.


    Wen Qian only felt briefly upset. The matter seemed to have been resolved by the teacher, though she couldn''t remember exactly what the teacher had said. But children are easy to educate, and she never felt saddened by the incident again.


    She also dreamed about the time when her grandparents passed away. The first funeral was for her grandfather, and she was deeply saddened, feeling like she had lost a source of support. Her grandmother was also very sad.


    But people generally did not seem so fearful of death, no matter where they were. Everyone only talked about the funeral feast.


    The young Wen Qian felt indignant, but as she grew older, she realized that it is a blessing if someone''s life ends without suffering.


    People say a "white celebration" is for the same reason - not that they are not saddened or reflective, but simply that death is inevitable for everyone, so why dwell unnecessarily on sadness?


    When it was time for her grandmother''s funeral, Wen Qian was also deeply grieved, because from then on, she would face death directly, with no more barriers between her and death.


    At night, the firewood crackled as it burned, asionally making a "pop" sound. Wen Qian tossed and turned in her troubled sleep.


    Fortunately, the night would eventually end. Wen Qian woke up feeling like she might have cried during the night, as her face felt somewhat ufortable.


    But she couldn''t dwell on that now. Wen Qian''s priority was toplete her mobile cabin.


    After that, it would take a long time to build a proper house. In the meantime, she could not keep staying in a tent, as the weather would only get colder. She needed to ensure she had a roof over her head first.


    During the day, Wen Qian worked on scaffolding to build the mobile cabin. Although she was a novice, the video instructions and diagrams made the steps quite clear.


    But when she actually started the work, her progress was still slow. It didn''t matter though; Wen Qian was very patient at this point.


    She had alreadye this far. A little more time wouldn''t make a difference. And during the construction process, Wen Qian thought about whether she could expand her search area once the cabin waspleted.


    Using this lodging as the center point, she could start exploring the surrounding area. As nice as this ce was, it was also too obvious. And if winter winds started blowing in, Wen Qian felt it might not be ideal.


    So she had new ns, but the prerequisite was to finish building the cabin first.


    That day, sheid down the roof and floor, mostlypleting the overall structure, and then started assembling the panels and installing the doors and windows.


    Wen Qian took out her space heater, extended the pipe, and ran it through the roof. There was no windbreak in front or behind the house, and she was worried that smoke might get blown back inside at some point.


    If that happened while she was sleeping at night, she might never wake up. So she pointed the smoke pipe straight up and installed a deflector te at the top to block wind and rain.


    She worked on this until around 10 PM as the sun was setting. Wen Qian felt that she could finally rx.


    From now on, no matter what she did, the cabin would provide a fallback option. If needed, she could just retreat inside.


    As soon as she installed the space heater, she added some firewood and lit it. The mobile cabin floor was made of 20cm thick boards from her previous second-floor room, providing instion from the ground. So Wen Qian simply ced her bed in the innermost area.


    The space heater was positioned near the window, allowing her to sit by the window to stay warm while also observing the surroundings outside.


    Wen Qian made herself a cup of milk tea. The light outside was gradually fading.


    It was already getting too dark to see clearly inside, but Wen Qian didn''t feel the need to turn on any lights.


    Logically, she had always felt uneasy, moving from the city to the countryside, and then from Xia Province to here, all to avoid some unknown disaster. But what if the disaster were to start from this very ce? What then?


    It didn''t matter anymore. Wen Qian had already arrived here. From now on, whatever happened, she didn''t care. She felt that she was already exhausted and should take some time to rest and rx.


    Two-thirds of August had already passed, with her constantly on the move. Now she should finally get some proper rest. Yet she couldn''t sleep.


    Upon reaching her destination, Wen Qian felt a sense of relief, but at the same time, a sense of emptiness, as if she didn''t know what to do next.


    At this season and time, she seemed unable to begin either nting or raising livestock.

 Chapter 75

    Chapter 75


    On the first night spent in the activity room, Wen Qian slept rtivelyte as she took a thorough shower and washed her hair before going to bed.


    For a while, she had neglected grooming herself, especially during thetter part of her journey when she had be quite unkempt.


    She would not get into bed without cleaning herself up.


    After a tiring day and a hot shower, using water from her spatial dimension, she sat on the bed and spent a long time drying her hair before finally going to sleep, which led her to wake up quitete the next day.


    When Wen Qian woke up, she had a momentary illusion that she was back home because she was lying in a bed with a heater.


    But then, ncing out the window at the surroundings, she remembered that she had already left.


    She was starting a new life here, alone, without neighbors.


    Unlike Yuanao where stepping outside led to hills, here the area in front was t while mountains loomed behind, presenting a vast and magnificent view as far as the eye could see.


    This was an entirely new experience, and although Wen Qian had been here for some time, she was still awestruck by the scenery.


    After lingering in bed for a while, Wen Qian finally got up and took out a cup of hot soy milk and two buns from her spatial dimension as her breakfast.


    In fact, since arriving in Xia Province, she rarely ate the local food, consuming mostly from her spatial dimension, though she did purchase some local ingredients.


    For now, to save time, she hadn''t prepared any of those local specialties and seasonings, nning to cook them herself during the winter.


    Even boiling water here was different from other ces.


    Of course, everything required an adjustment period, and one day she would adapt to everything here, but there was no need to rush things and risk bing ill from the new environment and climate, which would only bring suffering upon herself.


    She needed to maintain her health, which was of utmost importance, as she was not made of iron and her constitution was not particrly robust.


    After finishing breakfast, Wen Qian went out and walked around her house, checking for any areas that needed patching up.


    After all, the house she had built the previous day was just a basic structure, and she needed to seal it properly to keep out drafts.


    Her main task was to use foam or ss sent to fill any gaps, as the activity room was nailed directly into the ground.


    Even jumping inside would cause the whole house to shake, and forcefully closing the door would have the same effect ¨C it was a decent temporary dwelling, but far from her ideal home.


    Wen Qian nned to build a small house for herself over the course of September, though her childhood belief in a stone house had now wavered.


    She worried that a stone house might be a stone tomb in an earthquake, so she considered building a wooden house instead, which seemed slightly safer.


    She could still use stone for the foundation, raising it a bit higher.


    Afterpleting these minor repairs, Wen Qian headed west on her bicycle, as she didn''t expect to go too far.


    The scenery ahead was simr to what she had seen before, with rolling grasnds stretching out towards the foothills, not entirely t but with undtions.


    The depressions between the slopes could potentially conceal wild animals or pools of water.


    Wen Qian decided to explore further, as she believed it was important to understand the terrain, vegetation, and wildlife around any area she intended to settle in, rather than limiting herself to just her small house and the t area surrounding it. The more familiar she was with her surroundings, the better.


    So Wen Qian continued heading south, intending to reach the mountain foothills, and if possible, she actually wanted to climb up the mountain.


    The highest peak was surrounded by a cluster of mountains, a ce Wen Qian had never considered going.


    At her current location, her phone signal was intermittent, and she thought that if she went higher, she might be able to find a signal.


    The further south she went, the more she realized how far she was from the actual foothills of Jade Mountain range.


    Wen Qian changed her n and hurried forward, hoping to reach the mountain base, but unlike near her residence, it was not easily essible from this direction, which was quite distant.


    This allowed her to roughly pinpoint her location on the map.


    Although there were no detailed maps avable, she had a sense of her approximate position.


    The ce where she had settled was a protrusion from the mountain range, while her current location was an inward curve.


    The further Wen Qian walked, the more she realized she might not be able to reach the foothills, so she turned back towards home.


    If she made it home, her route for the day would form a right-angled triangle.


    On her way back, Wen Qian noticed another area that seemed more suitable for settling down, but she only made a rough mark on the map and continued home.


    For the next couple of days, Wen Qian didn''t n to overexert herself, as she truly needed to rest.


    This so-called rest wasn''tplete inactivity, as she would feel uneasy if she did nothing at all.


    The light tasks Wen Qian assigned herself were washing clothes. She had already soaked them the previous day, as they were merely soiled with dirt and dust.


    Longer soaking would make washing easier, and indeed, the soaking water had turned gray. Wen Qian drained it disdainfully onto the ground and changed the water several times before starting to scrub the clothes.


    Afterwards, she hung the clothes on a rope strung between trees.


    Squinting in the bright sunlight, she watched the clothes drip water for a while before returning inside.


    Sitting by the heater, she researched information about the local area.


    Building a house required considering the direction, the path of the sun, and the seasonal winds. Even without researching, by looking at the map and settlement patterns, she could understand why her area wasrgely uninhabited.


    On the other side of the uninhabited zone, at the foothills, there were settlements because that side faced the sun and was a sheltered slope from the northerly winds.


    Wen Qian could envision her activity room rattling noisily in the biting winds.


    It seemed she needed to find a slope and build her house on the leeward side, otherwise she wouldn''t be able to sleep peacefully.


    The winds here were no joke, capable of whipping up sandstorms.


    The map clearly marked the contours of the mountain range and the major riverworks.


    Over the next few days, Wen Qian explored the surrounding areas and found a satisfactory location, though slightly more distant, which didn''t bother her now.


    Since her activity room was already built, all she needed to do was remove the nails securing it to the ground, and the entire house would be detached.


    She tested it and was delighted to find that she could store the whole house in her spatial dimension, regretting not discovering this sooner to save on amodation and transportation costs, instead of having to camp outdoors by the fire, constantly on edge.


    The day after realizing she was like a snail with a portable shell, Wen Qian moved westward.

 Chapter 76

    Chapter 76


    The ce where the little snail went with its house on its back was a small mountain peak on its backside.


    This mountain peak was very gentle from any slope, not very high, and there was still some distance between this mountain and the Jade Mountain Range, with a small river running through in between, and rtively lush vegetation.


    Wen Qian decided to build a house on the back of the mountain, find a t area to put out her mobile shed, fix it in ce, and then start selecting the site for digging up the sod.


    She found a good spot, dug one shovel, and confirmed the soil quality of this ce.


    She began to mark the area forying the foundation with lime lines, and then started digging up the sod.


    Some of the stones for the foundation were in her space, and some she saw on the opposite mountain through a telescope, with many rocks on that mountain that she nned to take from.


    There was also the forest behind her, and she nned to cut down some trees first, as having too many trees around her house would not be good.


    She nned to make a slightly raised stone foundation, and then build a small wooden house on top of it, to get through this winter first.


    Next year, she nned to either build a new house or a simple hut. Of course, all of this was just nning, and before actually executing it, she could only divide up the area in advance to avoid not having a suitable ce when it came time to actually build.


    After digging up the sod, she didn''t startying the stone foundation immediately, but went to cut trees first. Wen Qian cut down quite a few trees with a chainsaw.


    She kept a suitable distance between the trees, and for the trees that fell to the ground, Wen Qian only cleaned off the branches and left the main trunks where they were.


    After that, there was still the process of debarking, air-drying, and then preserving before they could be used.


    She also had a lot of wood in her space, but she felt that using local materials would be more suitable for the local environment.


    After spending a day or two tidying up the trees, she startedying the foundation on the area where she had dug up the sod.


    Because she had her space, she didn''t have to exert much effort every time she movedrge stones in and out.


    Or rather, when using her space to move heavy objects, she wouldn''t get particrly tired.


    Even so, it was still very hard work toy the stones in a reasonable way and build a square foundation.


    After she finished the foundation, August had already passed.


    Luckily, she didn''t need to leave more pipes and wires on it, only needing to set up a hole that could connect to the outside at the ce where she had nned to put a temporary toilet.


    Her schedule basically followed the rise and fall of the sun, and during this period, she didn''t care what was happening in the outside world.


    She knew that disasters were still ongoing in various ces, and people kept suspecting that this would have no end.


    Perhaps people had be too ustomed to theirfortable lives, so they found it very easy to despair over the events of the past few years.


    After Wen Qian finished her foundation, she started building the house, attempting to construct a wooden house for herself using traditional mortise and tenon joinery.


    This process required very high uniformity of the wood, so Wen Qian brought the main trunks near the foundation, while the branches she had cut off earlier were kept farther away, to be prepared as firewood after drying.


    Then she removed the bark from the suitable logs, which also took her quite some time. She did these things during the day and slept in the mobile shed at night.


    These tasks were tedious, but whenever she thought about it being a home built by her own hands, she felt a great sense of aplishment.


    Luckily, there were many trees where she was located, and they all grew very straight.


    She built the house ording to the steps in the books, and those woodworking tools she had prepared earlier came in handy now.


    Her current construction speed was not fast because she wanted to make each piece of wood as good as possible, including fire-proofing.


    She also took out the wooden rafters she had prepared earlier from her space.


    Although it was difficult, she still managed to construct the entire wooden frame of the house.


    Next, she gradually built up the four walls of the house with wood. At this point, she suddenly thought that she could also use stones or bricks while building.


    The lower one-meter height of the wall could be built with bricks, and the upper part could be stacked with wood.


    This would be better for her, incorporating stones or bricks to fulfill her childhood idea of building a house, while an all-wood structure also had the risk of being mmable.


    After that, she took out bricks, cement, and sand to build the walls. At first, she experimented with the cement herself, building a small wall first before daring to continue.


    After all, she was learning and using these materials as she went.


    The brick wall was built up to one meter high, and then wood was used above that. Wen Qian was very satisfied with these house-building materials, and it also reduced the need for her to constantly carve grooves for the mortise and tenon joinery.


    However, these steps also made Wen Qian realize that it was extremely difficult and a huge challenge to build a house relying on her own strength alone.


    But luckily, she managed toplete her home before October arrived.


    Wen Qian climbed down from the roof. She hadid the oilcloth she had previously purchased on the wooden boards of the roof, and thenid asbestos tiles on top.


    She also had some corrugated fiberss roofing, but if sheid that on the roof, it would be very noisy whether it was raining or windy, so she didn''t use it.


    At the end of September, Wen Qian finally finished building the house. That day, she took a tray and sprinkled some candies on it, as a celebration for basicallypleting the construction.


    Although the little house was built, Wen Qian hadn''t moved in yet. Her daily life was still in the mobile shed because she hadn''tid the floor in the house.


    Wen Qian used the old bricks she had previously removed to rey the floor, and then also installed a stove inside the house.


    The stove was constantly burning firewood, baking this house. All the materials used inside were very environmentally friendly. Wen Qian wasn''t worried about formaldehyde or benzene, but rather hadn''t decided on the best ces to put the other furnishings inside.


    Her house only had windows and doors on one wall, with the rest being solid walls.


    Wen Qian looked out at the distant mountains through the window. At this time, she had no one to talk to except herself, and as for signals, she had to climb onto the roof or go to the higher mountain behind to get any.


    It was as if she had also lost herst channel to receive information, but this should not matter much.


    Wen Qian thought that at most, she could ride her bike to the ranch nearby, where there would definitely be signal, or go to Mangge City.


    Winter was harsh and long, with many sandstorms, snowstorms, and high winds.


    Wen Qian was prepared to spend the winter here without going out, and before the end of September, she still went to the ranch area to check what news had happened over the past month or so.


    It was still the same as before, with many disasters, but nothing particrly special seemed to have happened.

 Chapter 77

    Chapter 77


    The weather was nice that day, aside from the lower temperatures in the morning and evening. The sunshine was still quite brilliant today.


    Wen Qian was surfing the inte near the pasture for a while, but she hadn''t received any messages from others. Perhaps it had been too long since she had contacted anyone, so no one would continue to actively reach out to her.


    She searched for keywords like disaster, climate, and weather forecasts to check rted information.


    What she could see without searching was a discussion about an explosion at the M Country''s presidential residence a week ago. However, the new president wasn''t there, so it turned out to be a false rm.


    At the same time, she also noticed rumors about Yellowstone National Park.


    The park itself is a massive volcanic crater, which she had known about for a long time. Every year, people worry that it might suddenly reawaken.


    The park has be increasingly active year after year. No one knows when it might destroy the entire M Country. This year''s data also shows greater activity than previous years, causing more concern.


    But some people say that increasing activity year-over-year doesn''t necessarily mean anything.


    In the modern era of rapid technological development, humanity is still powerless in the face of nature''s might.


    Even if we could predict it, we would be unable to stop it.


    People will migrate in search of suitable living environments, but what if nowhere is suitable?


    Wen Qian only checked the news in this area for two hours before turning off her phone and walking back.


    Winter ising, so there will be frost in the mornings.


    The wind here is stronger than in other ces, making it very ufortable when it blows on one''s face.


    Wen Qian didn''t go out but continued to add firewood to the small wooden house.


    Previously, she had smoothed out the wood inside, applied insect repellent, and put the bed frame outside to sun before bringing it back into the room.


    She had made the bed frame a bit smaller since the current house was not the same size as the original one. Here, she only had one small house filled with everything she needed for daily life, with even the movement paths pre-nned.


    At this time, Wen Qian was decorating every corner of the small wooden house. After taking care of the interior details, she worked on the outside.


    There was a porch at the entrance, with some bamboo poles stacked there. Wen Qian sawed the bamboo poles to a suitable height, then encircled her house with them, tying ropes in between to create a yard of sorts.


    This yard is not of much use at the moment, but in winter it might help indicate directions. For other purposes, she''ll have to wait until spring.


    Afterwards, Wen Qian set up adder and trimmed the branches and twigs of the nearby trees.


    The dried branches, along with the scraps from building the house that were still in her spatial storage, and the firewood currently scattered on the hillside, she began to gather around her house.


    Before winter arrives, she needs to build at least a small shed near her home and pile some firewood underneath.


    At the very least, the area around her home should look like a normal living space, not an odd ce devoid of any signs of life.


    Although she hasn''t encountered anyone yet, she doesn''t rule out the possibility of meeting someone in the future. After winter, if there''s not a single piece of firewood stored in her home, that would be even stranger.


    After trimming all the nearby trees, she went to the foot of the mountain opposite her house to chop down some more trees and bring them back.


    Some were stacked outside the house, while others were stored in her spatial storage.


    For the time being, all she had to do was chop firewood. If possible, she would have liked to store enough for the next ten years.


    After building the house, she picked out suitable scraps from the remaining materials to make two small stools and a high stool.


    Chairs were still too difficult for her, so she wouldn''t consider them for now.


    The windows were taken from the previous portable board house, with twoyers of burr-proof windows installed outside. Wen Qian made a curtain and a wooden board the same size as the window. When the timees, she can seal oneyer outside and oneyer inside to prevent intrusion.


    The small desk was something she had picked up before. Her desk from her previous home was not suitable for the small house, but the stainless steel table top above the firece worked well.


    While chopping firewood, she went to the nearby stream and collected a lot of water.


    She didn''t directly take water from the stream but dug a pool beside it, allowing the water to slowly seep in. Then she brought it home, added disinfectant tablets, and used it.


    For both water sources and wood, she had them nearby, but she deliberately went farther away to obtain them, hoping to spread her footprints wider instead of just staying around her small house.


    She has settled in this ce, starting to use the water, burn the firewood, and even attempting to cook local dishes here.


    Of course, cooking here requires something like a pressure cooker, otherwise the food won''t cook properly.


    At the same time, she also tried to see if there were any other creatures in the nearby stream but found no fish in the closest stream.


    Meanwhile, she also observed the surrounding wildlife, so far only spotting rats that had dug holes near her home and birds circling in the sky. She hasn''t seen anything else.


    However, this is fine. For her, too many small wild animals might attractrger predators at the top of the food chain, so it''s better to have none.


    It is quite deste, though.


    During this time, she walked eastward back to the old national highway, following it to the Jade Mountain Pass in the Jade Mountain Range, where there is a famous alpine spring.


    Local residents and passing drivers all frequentlye here to collect drinking water, as it is a very high-quality water source.


    This was a ce she had wanted to go for a long time, but she hadn''t gone because her house wasn''t built yet.


    Now that it''s almost done, she went and filled all her containers with the spring water before leaving.


    Watching the nearby vigers collect water from the main spring and wash vegetables from the side springs, Wen Qian felt very envious.


    This is a pass in the Jade Mountain Range. Walking along this route is quite barren, but this ce has be a scenic spot, the only uplifting ce on this entire road.


    Wen Qian thinks she cane here regrly to collect water, using the stream water she obtains from other ces for misceneous purposes, while getting her drinking water from this spring.


    Xia Province has many ces to explore, and there are many scenic spots that Wen Qian hasn''t seen before.


    Heading north through the uninhabited area, there is a very beautiful saltke and salt field marked on the map.


    There is also a hot spring with an extremely high sulfur content where not a single de of grass grows, although it is a scenic spot. Wen Qian wants to go there and stockpile some sulfur, as it mighte in handy in the future.


    In any case, she tries to understand all the different ces in the area, as familiarity is the key to utilizing them.


    Wen Qian is not very clear about what has happened to this world. Thest time she turned off her phone, she never checked for new information near the pasture again.


    Coincidentally, just as she turned off her phone and walked home, a huge boom erupted somewhere on Earth.


    Next, the entire globe shook, but Wen Qian was unaware of this.

 Chapter 78

    Chapter 78


    J Country sank, what was previously thought to be a major disaster from the earthquakes and volcanic eruptions turned out to be just a prelude to the disappearance of this country.


    People around the volcano fled to other inds, but they did not expect to still be unable to escape.


    Of course, wealthy people who felt this country was unsafe had already left during the earthquakes, leaving behind mostly ordinary people.


    What they did not expect was that they would then face such a catastrophic disaster.


    It was not just this country that sank - many small inds in the Pacific, especially those near tectonic te boundaries, also vanished, while new inds emerged.


    The dangers brought about by the movement of seafloor tes were not limited to this. Many beautiful scenic inds were destroyed by the earthquakes and tsunamis.


    Some inds formed by umted volcanic eruptions were covered over again by new volcanic ash andva during subsequent eruptions, including a famous scenic ind of the United States.


    For a time, various countries dispatched relief efforts, but with little effect.


    The intense geological activity sparked discussions around the world, after which earthquakes of varying magnitudes urred in different parts of the world.


    People fell into panic for a time.


    In ces without earthquakes, rumors spread that earthquakes were about to happen, causing many people to be too afraid to sleep at home and instead set up tents in nearby open spaces like parks or in the middle of sports fields.


    The sinking of J Country triggered tsunamis that hit coastal cities in our country to varying degrees.


    Densely popted cities ind also experienced earthquakes, though not of high magnitude.


    But the psychological impact on people was greater, with many unable to stay calmly at home.


    People discussed what they would do when winter arrived if this situation continued.


    Earthquakes cannot be predicted in advance, and although there are countdown alerts and warnings, running in a high-rise building is useless - there simply is not enough time.


    In Wen Qian''s hometown of An Province, Auntie Chen experienced the first tremor of her life, with the gardenia leaves in her front yard pot shaking noisily, and arge crack then appearing in the wall of the cattle pen.


    Rural self-built houses cannot withstand high earthquake intensities at all, with many developing cracks and even bing dangerous structures.


    Moreover, earthquakes are rare in this area, so there is no awareness about quake-resistant construction.


    Shaken, Auntie Chen thought of her son Chen Ming far away in An City, and for a time the calls and messages to check on each other''s safety causedmunication overloads.


    Chen Ming''s area experienced more obvious shaking, with everyone running down from buildings and standing on the street to look around.


    The higher the building, the more noticeable the swaying - the towering construction cranes on the buildings under construction caused particr rm.


    After finally getting through to her son, Auntie Chen wanted Chen Ming to return to their hometown, as she just wanted the family to be together at this time.


    In her view, what use was a good job if in the densely packed city housing a real disaster could lead to fatal stampedes?


    And Auntie Chen''s thinking was not an exaggeration. In many ces that experienced slight tremors, there were not many quake-rted injuries or deaths.


    But in factories, with too many people rushing out, some who fell could not get back up and were tragically trampled to death.


    Around the world, people were in a panic over the earthquakes and felt increasing despair about the future.


    Many survivors also felt such despair that theymitted suicide.


    In areas with severe quakes,munications and power were cut off, leaving many unable to contact their families for a time.


    With multiple earthquake zones, there were too many ces needing relief, so many epicenters did not receive outside support for a long time and had to engage in self-rescue efforts.


    Given the sessive global earthquakes, people began setting up tents in rtively open spaces as shelters.


    Even rudimentary tents were fine, as they did not want to stay under any roofs.


    In An Province as well, many people set up tents outdoors or made their own tents, unwilling to stay under eaves and even moving their household belongings outside.


    Auntie Chen''s family all nned to live outside, and Fang Ya went to check on Wen Qian''s home during this time.


    Some roof tiles had fallen off Wen Qian''s home, and there were cracks in the side wall, but overall it was still okay.


    Looking from the front windows and door gaps, Fang Ya noticed something strange - the inside basically lookedpletely empty.


    It was like the house had never contained anything, even for an abandoned home this was too bare, where had all the belongings gone? Perhaps they were in the back rooms?


    So Fang Ya went around to the back of the house up the hill, where there was a sunken alleyway between the rock face and rear wall, but instead of going down into the alley she crouched up on the rock face to look down.


    Looking in through the back windows, she also saw nothing inside, not even anything in the kitchen - it waspletely empty.


    Had Wen Qian moved everything out before leaving? But they had not noticed such a major operation, where could she have taken it all? Surely she could not have hauled everything away, some things were too bulky and worthless.


    Fang Ya told Auntie Chen''s family about this, but they could not figure it out either, only assuming Wen Qian must have moved it all out somehow, as it was possible for her to have taken another path from her home.


    After all, the lock on her door was still intact.


    They had previously tried contacting Wen Qian as well but received no response, so there was nothing more they could do.


    This all happened after Wen Qian turned off her phone and went home, so during her subsequent time gathering firewood she waspletely unaware of the major events unfolding outside.


    There had actually been some earthquakes in Xia Province as well, just none strong enough to be felt in Wen Qian''s area near the edge of the basin.


    Wen Qian''s area had no perceptible tremors, nor any sources of information about the situation.


    All she knew was that it was getting colder there.


    At this time, she had made ns for the area she had staked out, intending to construct a low courtyard wall.


    Originally she had thought to wait until next year, but after finishing her house construction she had a lot of free time with nothing to do.


    So she arranged this new activity for herself - building a stone courtyard wall, continuing to go to the mountain across the way in the mornings to gather firewood and in the afternoons to collect stones, bringing back stones of all sizes to her home, first.


    Now her routine alternated between gathering firewood or stones, or traveling the path between the two tasks, and she even found arge rock to ce in front of her door to dry things on.


    The nned stone courtyard wall was notrge in area, but considering she might continue adding heightter, the requirement was that even if it copsed in an earthquake it would not damage the other structures inside the courtyard.


    She set up two sheds next to her house, one for stacking firewood and one for stacking stones, and some stones were sorge she might need to process them further.


    For the time being she did not n to build the wall very high, just wanting to construct an initial one meter plus high courtyard wall, and since the early morning and evening temperatures were too low she left the work for periods with sunshine, staying inside at other times.


    She had already moved the prefab house into her space, having lived in her new home for some time now, with a stic nter box holding soil dug from outside ced on the windowsill.


    Wen Qian had scattered some flower seeds in it, wondering if they could grow.


    With the higher indoor temperatures from the stove, Wen Qian had also set up a pot next to the stove to sprout bean sprouts.


    Vitamin C should always be avable as a supplement, and if she could obtain it from vegetables then she would not need to take vitamin pills.


    She even tried taking some Chinese cabbage seeds out from her space, using a styrofoam box filled with soil from the riverside, setting it out on therge rock to sun when sunny and bringing it inside at night to avoid freezing damage.


    The ce where she lived was very peaceful.

 Chapter 79

    Chapter 79


    Inte October, Wen Qian went to the area near the ranch again. After receiving the signal, she learned about the earthquake from the news.


    Meanwhile, in the eastern and southeastern directions of Xia City in Xia Province, there were also earthquakes of magnitude 4 to 6, but she didn''t feel anything where she was.


    The urrence of the earthquake made discussions about the end of the world increasingly intense, or people thought that this was already the end of the world.


    Wen Qian checked Fang Ya''s message and responded that she was not in An City and was safe, telling her not to worry.


    She didn''t tell the other party where she was.


    At this time, the Chen Family had already had their son return from outside, and the five of them were camping outside their house in cotton tents. They could still live in the house, but they didn''t want to stay there anymore.


    Uncle Chen took his family to nt all the fields that could be nted at home, and there was a stove in the tent to keep them warm.


    At this time, they only hoped that the whole family would be safe and sound, and had no expectations for anything else.


    Cities began setting up shelters for residents, where they could build tents within designated areas, but they had to follow the rules and not build tents exceeding the designated area.


    More and more people started to gather at these shelters.


    People''s normal lives began to gradually disappear, although some people still believed it was just a false rm.


    After all, some ces only had one or two small perceptible earthquakes, and then remained very calm, so some people wanted to live their lives as before.


    As the weather gradually became colder and no more earthquakes urred, many people also followed suit and returned.


    There were still many people along the coast who suffered severely from the earthquakes, tsunamis, and the constant typhoons that came in October.


    Many people who were temporarily residing or working along the coast all nned to return home. Some roads were destroyed by the earthquake, so they had to leave on foot or by bicycle.


    In some particrly low-lying coastal areas, there was constant flooding, and people there had to move elsewhere.


    If she had received the information in a timely manner, Wen Qian might not have stayed at home from that night onwards.


    However, she didn''t receive the news until more than twenty dayster, by which time most ces had already calmed down.


    Perhaps it was because of the distance, or perhaps it was because she only received the news from her phone.


    After returning home, Wen Qian looked at her own roof, wondering if she should also camp outside, but she thought more about staying inside the house.


    Although Wen Qian had prepared a tent outside, she didn''t spend the night in it.


    At the same time, she nned to raise the height of the fence.


    When Wen Qian was checking the news near the ranch, she only had one hour to read through the content from the past few days. After that, she went back and started collecting stones from the mountain.


    Even if she had to live in a tent, she couldn''t do so without a fence, as tents were too fragile and she didn''t feel at ease.


    In the following days, she focused more on bringing stones back, but she also noticed that the area she had enclosed was quiterge, so she nned to make the rear fence higher and the front fence lower, supplementing it with wire mesh.


    Afterwards, she nned to go to the area near the ranch every seven days to receive news and see what the situation was like outside, but fortunately she didn''t see any bad news about the country after that.


    In the northern cities, where winter had arrived, severely damaged areas could only build temporary shelters, as tents alone would not be enough to get through the cold winter. At the very least, there had to be ces that could provide heating and instion, with prefabricated temporary housing being the fastest solution.


    Some southern cities also began constructing such shelters.


    Originally, Wen Qian had wanted to go to Mangge City again, but it was too far away, so she went to Jade Mountain Pass instead. There was a protected area on the southern side of the Jade Mountain Range, with abundant vegetation and water.


    There were also scenic spots nearby, with people scattered in the valleys and along the rivers. Most importantly, in the middle of the pass, there was a ce where the highway and railway intersected.


    There was also a train station, so Wen Qian nned to go there again, as it would take less time than going to Mangge City.


    The only concern was that since it was one of the few t areas among the mountains where roads could be built, she would have to pass through the mountain ranges to get there.


    Wen Qian was a bit worried that if an earthquake urred, even a single rockslide or falling boulder could be deadly.


    But in the end, she still decided to go, as it was likely that she wouldn''t go to such a faraway ce again in the near future.


    Previously in Xia City, Wen Qian had also bought some seeds, as they were local crops, so she bought some.


    Now, she wanted to supplement her stock, as well as purchase some gasoline, as she had used quite a bit before.


    She had learned earlier that there were also greenhouse cultivations in Xia Province. Many of the things Wen Qian could grow in her hometown grew better here due to the better sunlight, as long as proper instion was provided.


    Wen Qian''s dimensional space also had agricultural instion film, so she thought she could nt some crops in the spring of the following year as well.


    It was winter now, and it was very cold and dry here, with strong winds at times.


    The inexpensive skincare products and body oils Wen Qian had bought earlier came in handy.


    And after three months here, her skin color, especially on her face, had taken on a simr reddish hue to the locals.


    Whenever Wen Qian looked in the mirror, she felt that she could blend in well with the locals.


    One morning, she set off and reached the highway, then headed towards the train station in the middle of Jade Mountain Pass.


    Indeed, the journey was shorter, and although the scale was small, there were stillmercial activities and signal reception.


    There was also a small square with a memorial.


    Wen Qian didn''t buy any seeds, but she saw that the locally grown quinoa and wheat were being sold, so she bought some.


    Then she bought some fuel to replenish what she had used before.


    In the following time, she stayed in the area near the square, using her phone to check information and see if she had missed anything important.


    She felt that although she lived in a remote area, she still needed to understand more information, otherwise, not knowing anything would make her toocent, and over time, she would be ignorant and closed off.


    She didn''t want that, as having no understanding of the outside world was actually quite dangerous.


    Afterwards, she rode her bike back home. Due to the winter season, there were no tourists on the road, only freight trucks.


    In Wen Qian''s sight, there were only mountains, and after leaving the pass, she saw the vast nds with blue skies and white clouds.


    With the arrival of winter, the previously barrennd became even more deste, without a trace of greenery.


    Even now, whenever Wen Qian saw thesendscapes, she would be filled with awe, still unable to take them for granted.


    In October, the lowest temperature was around -7¡ãC (19.4¡ãF), and the highest temperature was around 11¡ãC (51.8¡ãF).


    Now, sunrise was around 8 AM, and sunset was after 7 PM, so the daylight hours were rtively long.


    Wen Qian was truly living ording to the approximate times of sunrise and sunset, rarely using electric lights or candles.


    She felt that most of her time was far removed from modern living, which was difficult to adapt to at first, but she had now be ustomed to it.

 Chapter 80

    Chapter 80


    Living alone on the edge of a basin in Xia Province, Wen Qian hardly saw anyone unless she went far to the road.


    Now she had bought all her supplies and was prepared for not going out.


    At the same time, she had constructed a decent wall around herpound. The back wall was higher, and she had spread cement along the top and inserted ss shards or nails¡ªa theft deterrent she had seen since childhood.


    After finishing the back wall, Wen Qian decided to build a front wall as well, but without forgetting to leave observation holes.


    Originally, Wen Qian had nned to install a gate, but then figured since she barely went out, she might as well wall it offpletely instead of having a gate.


    She left one section without nails or ss bottles, instead installing an overhanging wire mesh. Wen Qian figured that if she ever needed to go out, she could use adder.


    After all, she felt secure without a gate.


    Enclosing herself might sound funny, but for Wen Qian, it gave her a sense of safety.


    After all, in the winter here, water turns to ice, so she wouldn''t go far anyway.


    All she had to do was collect ice blocks or snow from nearby, with nothing else to do.


    She had plenty of food storage and an ample supply of firewood. When she had a chainsaw, Wen Qian had also cut down many trees from the mountain across.


    After enclosing herself, Wen Qian started making daily schedules for herself.


    Working out, reading, and keeping records took up a significant portion, along with learning various skills.


    For exercise, there was calisthenics as well as practicing self-defense.


    One was for activity, the other for protection. Wen Qian admitted her self-defense skills were virtually non-existent¡ªshe could only surrender in the face of sheer force.


    But with this space, she seemed to have some room to fight back, so she needed to make herself more agile.


    Spending a long time alone, just eating and drinking, could erode one''s willpower and make onecent. When real danger came, she might be a sitting duck.


    Wen Qian had also modified a bicycle to grind flour or beans every day.


    She only ground a small amount each day, calcted based on her exercise time. The ground food was not necessarily consumed the same day, so she could store the surplus in her dimensional space.


    Originally, she had wanted to pedal to generate electricity, but the results were poor so she abandoned that.


    Another major daily activity was reading books and keeping records. The books covered many subjects¡ªsome for practical knowledge, others just for passing time. She now rarely used her phone orputer, even though the sr panels still worked. She just didn''t need electronics much anymore.


    Sometimes she would read for most of the day, preventing boredom.


    Then there was record-keeping.


    Wen Qian had a notebook specifically for recording events after gaining ess to her dimensional space. Back when she was stocking up, she didn''t have time to write, but now she had plenty of time to recollect the past year''s life.


    Another notebook was dedicated to chronicling her current daily life, which was quite repetitive so it didn''t take many words. But there was one thing she recorded daily¡ªthe weather.


    She treated herself as an observation station. When stocking up earlier, she had bought many thermometers, both indoor and outdoor, with temperature ranges on the higher end.


    Wen Qian''s thinking was that there might be extreme weather in the future, so it was better to get thermometers with higher ranges so they wouldn''t break or give inurate readings.


    Every morning and evening, she recorded the outdoor temperature and humidity. Perhaps it wouldn''t be usefulter, but for her it was a task that prevented negative emotions from idleness.


    In November, the weather was very dry with no snow for a long stretch until mid-November, when it finally snowed.


    It snowed from the afternoon until the next noon before stopping.


    Although it snowed, the umtion wasn''t much, just freshening the air. Wen Qian didn''t bother collecting this snow since there was so little.


    But not long after this snow, it started snowing again, giving Wen Qian a chance to continue storing snow.


    She still had the snow and ice she had stored from when she was in An Province and hadn''t used much of it.


    Now that she was storing more, she figured she might as well stockpile as much as she could while her dimensional space still had room.


    After all, besides wood and snow, there was nothing else for her to hoard here. And while she had stockpiled a good amount of water, it all required containers.


    But ice and snow could be directly stacked in her space without containers. It was just storing water in a different form.


    Although she lived near the Jade Mountain Range with its snow-capped peaks and water sources, Wen Qian still preferred to store things in her dimensional space first.


    With food, water, and heating, Wen Qian felt secure living alone in Xia Province.


    Meanwhile in November, the winter had already arrived in An Province with early warnings of a triple La Ni?a phenomenon.


    Auntie Chen''s family, living in An Province, had made their preparations for winter early on.


    They had rebuilt a single-story temporary housing addition next to their house.


    During the day they stayed in the two-story house, but at night they slept in the temporary housing.


    This time, Auntie Chen''s husband and son were both home, so they dragged many trees from the mountains to burn for heat, while also stockpiling plenty of food.


    Many homeowners in their rural area had returned, believing that living in rural areas withnd would be better than cities if something happened.


    So the vige had be lively again.


    Auntie Chen hoped this winter would be better, but the early arrival suggested a harsh cold. Combined with news of this triple La Ni?a phenomenon, this winter would be tougher, so they could only make more preparations¡ªthere was no other way.


    Like Auntie Chen''s family, others in the area also worried about not having enough food.


    Her son reassured his mother that humans could now synthesize starch from carbon dioxide, but Auntie Chen didn''t believe it.


    Fang Ya had heard of this too, but it would likely take a long time before such technology transitioned frombs to daily life.


    Of course, her husband''s words were just tofort the elder, so she didn''t say anything, though she did hope this technology would make more progress in the context of global food shortages.


    If even the northwest wind could be drunk, then no one would have to worry about going hungry anymore.

 Chapter 81

    Chapter 81


    Before going online at the square, Wen Qian was aware of the prediction of a cold winter, but she didn''t know exactly how cold it would be. After all, where she currently resided, winters might be slightly better than in the northern and southern regions.


    However, in the countryside at the Chen family home, getting through winter shouldn''t be too difficult, right?


    Wen Qian could imagine how they would prepare for winter back home. As she pondered this, Wen Qian realized that she still had a lot of unused charcoal from before.


    Previously, she had been burning firewood in the stove, and up until now, that was still the case. The charcoal had just been left untouched, along with the coal she had purchased but never used.


    Thinking about this, she took advantage of her leisure time to start taking inventory of her spatial storage.


    Taking inventory was a tedious task, so she only did a little bit each day, mentally recounting how much she still had.


    This activity would make her brain slightly excited.


    At the same time, she gave herself some distracting toys and games, like sudokupetitions.


    She also tried to learn some localnguages, butter found it extremely frustrating, so she gave up. In the future, if she really needed tomunicate, she would just use Mandarin.


    Learning minoritynguages would be too much of a challenge and an overestimation of her abilities.


    However, Wen Qian was doing well with her sewing lessons. She made sun-protective clothing for herself, preparing for when winter was over and they woulde in handy.


    Sometimes she would also use wool to learn how to crochet dolls and flowers, hanging them around the house, which looked quite interesting.


    As for food, she still did the same as before, cooking arge portion at once, then portioning it out to reheat and eat each day, saving time.


    If she had to prepare meals every day just for herself, after a while she wouldn''t want to eat seriously anymore.


    But looking at her petite, skinny figure and the small dumbbell she asionally used to remind herself to exercise, she still insisted on eating three meals a day.


    Living alone made one prone toziness, and there had been times in the past when she only ate one or two meals a day.


    After eating, Wen Qian couldn''t immediately lie down and sleep. She would either read for a while or get up and walk around.


    Although the house was small, she couldn''t skip any of her exercises.


    It could be said that all of Wen Qian''s activities had nothing to do with electricity or the inte.


    But on a certain day in December, the inte was attacked.


    Various regions around the world were affected to different degrees by a sr storm, temporarily causing varying levels of impact to many countries'' satellites, wireless radio signals, and positioning systems.


    The hightitude countries in Europe and the Maple Leaf Country experienced a one- to two-day power outage. During the bitter cold winter, the lives of ordinary residents were thrown into chaos.


    The GPS positioning system in the northeastern part of M Country was damaged, causing incalcble losses, especially with the current application of autonomous driving technology. The roads in that area on that day were a parking lot of crashed cars.


    People who were used to autonomous driving now cursed it vehemently.


    Two satellites in China were dmissioned, and some areas also experienced power outages.


    This sr storm, ssified as of moderate intensity, caused severe damage. But this was only moderate intensity - who knew what a high-intensity storm would bring?


    Would all mobile phones andputers be rendered useless?


    Some experts pointed out that if a massive sr storm were to ur, the damage to regional inte facilities would not be severe. The real danger would be to the undersea cables connecting the continents.


    Fortunately, this storm passed quickly, and people resumed their normal way of life. However, at this time, information disseminating knowledge about sr storms began circting on the inte.


    Many people only now realized that sr storms posed a disaster for humanity. Just the thought of the inte being destroyed was like the end of the world.


    People felt both relieved and worried.


    For those ustomed to using mobile phones andputers, this sr storm made many people ponder their lifestyles and whether their dependence on phones and the inte was too strong.


    Some couldn''t even kick their phone addiction, yet believed they had the self-control to quit other addictive things, clearly overestimating themselves.


    Some began cultivating new hobbies, while others thought they should cherish what they had, because if the day came when they couldn''t use these things, there would be no other choice. While they had the opportunity and means, they had to make the most of it.


    So some people used them even more enthusiastically.


    Others started withdrawing cash to make physical payments, in case their phones or the inte went down and they couldn''t make payments.


    Wen Qian was oblivious to all this. She had spent all the money she could spend, and what she didn''t spend, she had converted into physical form and stored in her spatial storage.

 Chapter 82

    Chapter 82


    Just as the rulers of the entire world were demanding that people remain in ce, those afraid of the virus began fleeing in all directions.


    Those with cases fled to ces without cases, those in crowded areas headed to less popted ces, and those with close blood rtives secretly sheltered their iing rtives.


    There were always people who would cling to a glimmer of hope and flee.


    As long as they ran fast enough, the virus couldn''t catch up, and as long as they didn''t admit it, they would be fine.


    Some people fled while others tried to stop them, resulting in countless bloody incidents. If the management was toox, the virus would find loopholes, but if the prevention was too intense, innocents could also be harmed.


    But with the whole world in chaos, both sides were acting in their own interests, so no one could im the moral high ground in condemning others.


    You could say whatever you wanted online, with most people facing no consequences, though a few might break thew or be defendants.


    But in real life, you could get beaten up or suffer social death, so most people weighed their words carefully in the real world.


    The super virus swept across the globe, with the previously shunned M Country being thest ce to be invaded.


    People had umted a lot of resentment towards M Country.


    In the face of the virus''s scythe, medical workers were the first to fall, with many areas'' healthcare systems beginning to copse.


    Even if people followed the rules, they couldn''t get timely treatment, and the consequence of dyed treatment was death.


    People were overshadowed by the specter of death, and even more stringent blockade measures were being rolled out in various cities, with all traffic routes blocked andmunities spontaneously closing, not allowing free entry and exit.


    As for ces with cases, people were so afraid that they wanted to pack up all those associated with cases and send them to an ind to die off on their own.


    The situation in China was also very bad, with the death toll constantly rising.


    The vige near Wen Qian''s hometown had already blocked off the roads, digging trenches across dirt roads and piling up stones and dirt on paved roads, strictly prohibiting anyone from returning to the vige.


    Many people returning from outside didn''t dare take any public transportation, instead slowly making their way back by bicycle or motorcycle.


    Even after arriving at their hometowns, they couldn''t enter, as everyone was afraid of outsiders. Fortunately, in rural areas there was plenty of space, so these people could just pitch a tent in the mountains or fields.


    There was firewood nearby, and with warm clothes and cookware provided by rtives, even in the cold, they weren''t allowed back into the vige, but at least they could survive the winter.


    The vige rules were even stricter. If someone disobeyed, the consequence might be that the surrounding people would shun their entire family from then on, so many dared not take that risk.


    Wen Qian stayed at home, with trees dragged across the roads on both sides to block passage, not allowing anyone to pass by her door.


    Even her neighbors on both sides avoided contact, only calling out from a distance, but not daring to chat up close.


    If going out, everyone took detours, keeping a long distance from each other, not daring to meet face-to-face.


    And so it went, with the radio reporting no good news.


    People all hoped that someone could develop a relevant vine or experimental effective treatment.


    Researchers in variousbs began working overtime,municating with each other, as if in a race against the Grim Reaper.


    The Grim Reaper''s daily harvest was terrifying, and people couldn''t imagine that to this day, humanity would be devastated by a virus like this.


    In January, Wen Qian was sunbathing at her doorway while trying to start a fire by friction.


    Although she had a fire striker and lighters, she felt she should also develop some skills, rather than going for years without learning any.


    But rubbing sticks to make fire just caused blisters on her hands and squinting eyes, without any sparks.


    In the end, she decided it was better to just use the fire striker properly.


    There were actually cases in Xia Province, mainly concentrated in and around Xia City and other slightly more popted areas to the east of Xia City.


    But out in the western basin, where Wen Qian was, having traveled so far, she rarely saw a single person in her daily life.


    Looking at the map, there was no name for her area, and few local residents. Wen Qian nned to go out again in a couple of months, without even leaving a gate in herpound wall.


    For the winter, Wen Qian expected there might be snow disasters or cold waves, but she didn''t expect this deadly virus.


    With no one around, Wen Qian talked to herself every day.


    She had previously realized that if she didn''t speak for a long time, she would be very shy when talking to others and have trouble expressing herself.


    So every day when reading or doing things, she would asionally read aloud or exin the steps to herself.


    Wen Qian''s area couldn''t receive any signals, conveniently sparing her from hearing bad news every day.


    Everyone hoped to hear good news, but there was no progress at all in virus research.


    People were too anxious, with too little time, yet held too high expectations of science.


    Some people didn''t die from the virus, but from their own fear of the virus and death.


    Quite a few people became anxious and depressed over this winter, with some starting to re-examine the meaning of life.


    But what use was that? The Grim Reaper was still harvesting lives.


    Those not invaded by the virus, people with other symptoms also couldn''t seek medical treatment, with minor illnesses deteriorating into major ones, major ones leading to death.


    In recent years, people had be ustomed to stockpiling masks and alcohol, paying close attention to their health.


    There was also a portion of people who began taking precautions as soon as the news broke, and thus hoarded quite a bit of food and masks.


    In the chaos caused by the super virus, the brilliance of human nature emerged, while the ugliness of human nature was also exposed without restraint.


    Due to the virus, people''s lives stagnated, with cities suspending most activities, only maintaining essentials like water and electricity, halting all other non-essential operations.


    Inte January, when everyone was originally looking forward to the New Year, neither TV nor radio had any joyfulughter.


    Those encouraging words, repeated over and over, couldn''t dispel the despair in people''s hearts.


    At first it was just a news report, then came the death toll, andter they could clearly see the Grim Reaper harvesting the lives around them.


    Wen Qian remained oblivious to all this, making spring ns in January to grow crops near her home when spring arrived in March or April.


    To farm, she first needed to clear thend, finding suitable grasnds to remove the sod, though there wererge stretches where not even grass grew, let alone crops.


    Wen Qian also wanted to get some sheep, but her funds were too limited, meaning she couldn''t afford many.


    For a few sheep to multiply into arge herd would take a very long time, so Wen Qian felt it was better to start by growing crops first.


    On New Year''s Day, Wen Qian prepared four dishes and a soup for herself, braising plenty of meat. After setting a whole table, she ate a little and put the rest in her spatial storage.


    At that time, Wen Qian sat quietly at home lost in thought. She wasn''t one to seek crowds, but she didn''t mind eating alone while surrounded by groups of peopleughing and chatting.


    If not for her dreampelling her to avoid crowds, she could have lived in a big city, content to observe the bustle around her from a quiet vantage point amidst the masses.


    At midnight, before sleeping, she made a wish.


    Hoping that everyone could stay safe.


    Though she knew it would be very difficult.

 Chapter 83

    Chapter 83


    However, Wen Qian''s wishes were of little use, as it snowed again on New Year''s Day, and this time the snowsted for three days, a blizzard.


    Many viges had already lost power, but at that time, Wen Qian and her family were removing snow from the roof of their house. If the snow was too thick, it could copse the roof, and that was all they could do at the moment.


    Snowfall would impede traffic, although there were not many people on the roads now, but some relief efforts were also obstructed.


    At the same time, provinces and cities further south of An Province also began to experience a major drop in temperature.


    The power of the Triple La Ni?a was stronger than ever before, and many southern cities had no concept of winter at all, one could say they basically had no winter.


    Even with the asional cold snaps in recent years, they had only bought a few extra pieces of clothing, who knew that people could freeze to death at this point.


    Even the migratory birds that had flown south for the winter suffered heavy losses, a rare urrence.


    At this time, people faced a double blow from the virus and severe cold, and the entire Northern Hemisphere seemed to have fallen into silence.


    Of course, the summer Southern Hemisphere was not doing much better either, with many medically underdeveloped countries losing not just individual lives, but entire viges, towns, or small cities.


    Some people suspected that humans had angered the gods, while others said the Earth had begun a great purge.


    In early February, people were still studying cases of those who had survived the grasp of the Grim Reaper, hoping to gain some insight.


    The news brought a glimmer of hope, as people finally saw a glimmer of hope.


    But by this time, the death toll had already stopped being publicly reported, or rather, it was difficult to count.


    It was estimated that after this catastrophe was over, only a third of the people on Earth would still be alive, or perhaps even fewer.


    Suicide rates were unprecedentedly high, and social unrest had also emerged in many countries, with an increased number of gun-rted deaths.


    The snow near Wen Qian''s home was quite thick, so she didn''t go out, nning to wait until the snow had mostly melted before leaving.


    Wen Qian eventually nted a few strawberry seedlings in her flower pots, which she had sprouted from strawberry seeds. Although it was difficult, the thought of being able to bear fruit made her quite happy.


    As for the chickweed, she had eaten two batches, but afterwards, because it was too cold outside, she could only put it on the windowsill, sunbathing it when the sun was strongest.


    Wen Qian spent every day by the window, sometimes sunbathing, sometimes reading books, doing many things in natural light to minimize the use of electric lights and save electricity and fuel.


    ording to the climate records of Mangge City, Xia Province from previous years, Wen Qian also discovered that this winter had more rain and snow, and in the second year, when temperatures rose, the riverwork near her home might be denser.


    The time when water resources would be most abundant for the whole year might be then.


    Wen Qianforted herself at home, waiting for spring when she could not only nt seeds but also forage for wild vegetables near her home.


    Below the snow line of the Jade Mountain Range here, wild vegetables would grow, and edible nts could also be found on the prairies.


    Some of them were nts that she had never seen or eaten before, and she was very curious about them.


    This was the information she had found in theprehensive wild vegetable guide book she had purchased earlier.


    At first, she had only looked at the wild vegetable varieties within An Province, but when she reached Xia Province, she started to pay close attention to the wild vegetable varieties that could grow in Xia Province.


    For her, anything that could be put in her mouth without spending money had to be collected and stored.


    She even thought of heading towards the valley they had been in before, as she knew there were two rtively famous rivers there that might have fish.


    Just as Wen Qian was longing for spring, by the end of February, people had finally made more breakthroughs in understanding the virus.


    The spread of the virus had also been brought under control.


    The initial chaos had subsided, and from then on, fewer and fewer people held on to false hopes that could lead to even greater disasters.


    People had suffered major economic losses, coupled with the already poor economic situation, and the overall social atmosphere was quite gloomy.


    If people were still worried about the economic situation before, now those who managed to survive were just grateful to be alive, who needed a bicycle?


    But at the same time, there were no signs of springing. Theoretically, in many ces, the temperature should have started to rise gradually, but it was still a cold winter.


    nts showed no inclination to turn green.


    In early March, there was a bright sun, and Wen Qian thought the temperatures would slowly rise afterwards, only to have her idea dispelled by another heavy snowfall the next day.


    She had thought she could start nting right away.


    The ice and severe cold made it impossible for many farms to continue their operations. Food and vegetable prices typically rose a bit during this season, but now they had skyrocketed.


    Some people could not even buy things with money because transportation was also a problem.


    The convenient life that people had in their minds seemed to have regressed to the previous level of self-sufficiency, but what could be done?


    Many city dwellers could not even leave their homes and could only rely on rations.


    In mid-March, Wen Qian saw that she could finally go outside, so she climbed out with adder, put away thedder, and started heading towards the pasture.


    When she reached the old ce, she found that her phone still had no signal, so she turned on the radio.


    It was only from the snippets of news on the radio that Wen Qian learned of the terrible events that had urred in the short few months since she had lost inte ess.


    If it weren''t for the destion all around, Wen Qian would have wanted to wear a mask herself.


    Then she thought it would be better not to go to the pasture area or near the Jade Mountain Range for the time being.


    It was best if she didn''t encounter anyone.


    Byte March, temperatures started to warm up, but people still dared not leave their homes, fearing they would be the Grim Reaper''s next harvest.


    The treatment for this disease was still to try various known drugs, but developing a specialized treatment drug was an extremely difficult task.


    Unfortunately, the lives that people managed to save came with very severe aftereffects, to the point that for many people, it would have been better to die.


    The so-called improvement in the situation was merely that the existing cases had mostly passed away, and people had only managed to stop the further spread of the virus, not that they had conquered the virus, only that they had isted it.


    The impact of this virus on human society could be said to be unprecedented.


    But the situation had not ended there, people''s lives had be a mess, and society would not be able to return to normal functioning for a while.


    They were still a long way from truly eliminating the virus.

 Chapter 84

    Chapter 84


    Towards the end of March, Wen Qian began to select nting spots near her home.


    Behind the small hill where she lived was a forest, and in front was a gentle slope. She nned to grow crops on the gentle slope near her home.


    She couldn''t nt near the streams, as those streams might rise during the next wave of warming and flood the nearby grasnds.


    So Wen Qian nned her fields a bit higher up, while inside the fence she nned to cultivate seedlings and nt vegetables that needed daily attention.


    The seedlings would need stic covers for instion, as the temperature difference between day and night was still quiterge. As for the outdoor fields, Wen Qian had to start from scratch.


    This meant she had to clear thend, using an iron shovel to scrape away the turf from the gentle slopes, and then build ridges around the fields, mainly on the lower side.


    She was worried that if it rained, the soil might erode too quickly, so she wanted to create barriers to slow it down.


    After stripping away the turf and exposing the soil, which looked quite fertile, Wen Qian scattered a little fertilizer and left the seeds to dry for two days before starting to nt the crops first.


    In the teau region, nt growth was very slow, and the crops wouldn''t be ready for harvest until August or September. But the upside was that they would require less tending during that time.


    At this point, she nned to go out and dig for wild vegetables based on the descriptions she had.


    Originally she had nned to buy a sheep to raise, but then realized people might not want to encounter each other at this time.


    Just to be safe, Wen Qian decided not to buy a sheep after all. Since the n to raise sheep was cancelled, she figured she would spend the uing time foraging for wild vegetables.


    Not many wild vegetables had sprouted in March, but April would be just right. As temperatures rose, the waterwork around the basin became rtively dense.


    Water flowed down from the mountains, and Wen Qian''s nted seeds slowly began to sprout. She patrolled her small nting areas every day, as this hill wasn''t veryrge and she had only cleared two plots, with the remaining area being the small vegetable patch in her yard.


    There were quite a few varieties of wild vegetables. She would only harvest one type at a time, just as she had always been obsessed with doing. She gathered a lot of wild vegetables just from the grasnds.


    Later, looking at the distant mountains, she thought it should be fine to explore a little at the foothills.


    But she wouldn''t go any higher or deeper into the mountains for her own safety.


    She was quite afraid of encountering wild animals. There were many wild vegetables up in the mountains, as well as some medicinal herbs.


    Thinking about the local medicinal herbs unique to the area, Wen Qian decided to collect them too, thinking they could be useful for herself or sold for moneyter.


    She worked even harder than Wang Baochuan digging for wild vegetables every day, covered in dirt. The fresh vegetables went straight into her spatial storage. At one point she even made dumplings stuffed with wild vegetables, which turned out quite tasty.


    The rest of the time she spent foraging for wild vegetables, not even having time to cook, so she just took ready-made meals from her spatial storage.


    In April, the situation in the cities was still not very good.


    Fang Ya had started nting things at home, and her whole family was living a rural life. People in surrounding areas were also gradually starting to cultivate the fields in the viges again.


    Among those fields were the ones previously farmed by the Chen Family that they were still cultivating.


    The vigers were returning to their lively, nitpicky way of life, just like before.


    Previously it was arguments over water, now it was over whose pine needles were stolen from whose woods - in any case, with more people around, the old squabbles had resumed.


    The situation in the big cities was still not very good, but at least it was under control. The only change was that instead of single cremations, mass cremations were now taking ce due to necessity.


    Those who had previously lived quietly in the cities realized that even if life returned to normal, their mentalities would never recover to how they were before.


    Many people developed psychological disorders that might take a very long time to heal.


    Wen Qian spent the entire month of April foraging for wild vegetables. Her crops had grown quite a bit, but the speed was truly slow.


    Just thinking about how she wouldn''t be able to harvest until September gave her a headache. In some valley regions with higher temperatures, crops could evenst through winter, so they would harvest earlier in August.


    Wen Qian thought she might as well spend the remaining summer months wandering around the basin.


    From Mangge City heading west, there was a highway cutting across the basin in this Gobi desert toward the northwestern edge of another uninhabited area in Xin Province.


    Wen Qian figured she could get on the highway near Mangge City. Inter-regional transportation hadn''t really resumed yet, so she thought it should be safe to move around the basin as long as she didn''t encounter anyone.


    At this time, people were afraid of the virus, so they were also afraid of strangers.


    By May, temperatures outside the teau region would start rising rapidly, and perhaps with the rising heat, the virus might not survive as easily.


    Temperatures in the teau region were still fine, though the sunlight was indeed very intense. At this point, Wen Qian''s flushed cheeks were no different from the locals''.


    When the light was too strong, she would wear sunsses while checking on her crops near home.


    She nned to venture out further from home toward the west in June and July.


    At the end of April, Wen Qian got overly excited while foraging for wild vegetables and ventured up into the mountains. While using binocrs to scout routes along a river valley slope, she noticed some movement.


    There were bears, arge one and a small one, appearing to be a mother bear and her cub out foraging for food.


    Wen Qian gave a thumbs up after confirming they were at a safe distance, then she fled back home as fast as she could.


    Along the way, she kept surveying her surroundings, afraid that if she panicked and lost her way, she might stumble into the territory of another ferocious wild animal, which would be disastrous.


    This was her first time seeing wild animals that could threaten human life.


    Wen Qian had never been to a zoo, nor had she seen any in her hometown, so all her knowledge came from books or the inte.


    Although she had set up a fence around her home as a precaution, she knew that if wolves or bears dide, being inside wouldn''t make it any less terrifying.


    After returning home, she specifically searched for books about wild animals from her spatial storage, finding information on the type of bear she had just seen.


    It was a species unique to the teau region, with fur coloring different from bears elsewhere. She also recalled some news reports about border stations and herders'' homes being visited by bears.


    Generally they only came looking for food, but if there was a direct encounter in the wild, instead of foraging for vegetables, it would be serving vegetables to the bears.

 Chapter 85

    Chapter 85


    Wen Qian went out and encountered the legendary bear, which really frightened her.


    For a short period of time, Wen Qian didn''t dare go up the mountain again, only wandering around near her home. Later, she thought about it and decided to simply take advantage of the currently favorable climate and soil conditions to start her own cultivation.


    Since the environment was nice, Wen Qian had even harvested a batch of vegetables already, so she felt she could continue nting more of the fast-growing vegetables.


    Wen Qian started giving herself morend remation tasks at this time, opening up a number of vegetable patches in the areas with hills and nearby rivers, sowing seeds and watering them, hoping they would grow well.


    Wen Qian was thinking that maybe this year she could fully stock up on the vegetable intake for the next two to three years.


    As for the grass patches, Wen Qian had collected them in her space as well.


    She felt thatpletely clearing the surrounding grass patches would be detrimental to soil and water conservation, so she wanted to cover them back up after the vegetable nting was done, but she wasn''t sure when that would be.


    However, she thought that in the future she probably wouldn''t need to grow this many vegetables.


    Various small vegetables were growing in this ce, and while it was fine during the day, at night some couldn''t tolerate the big temperature difference, so Wen Qian had to cover them with thin films to keep them warm.


    She had almost taken out all the seeds to reference, nting more of the ones suitable for the temperature, and just a little of the ones unsuitable or requiring more care near her home, while nting the ones easier to grow a bit further away.


    She was also worried that if she nted too many delicious vegetables around her home, it might attract other wild animals, leading to a chain reaction that could draw evenrger predators.


    So she was extra careful when nting the vegetables. She remembered the rapeseed field scenery she had seen by Jade Lake, so she also wanted to find a ce to nt some.


    The areas near the river wouldn''t work, because the seasonal sudden snowmelt runoff could cause floods here. If she nted in low-lying areas, they might get submerged by the floods, which would be a waste. Spring and summer are the flood peak season.


    In addition to some areas around her home, Wen Qian simply went to the high-altitude areas at the foot of the nearby mountains to nt. Scattered here and there, she even suspected she might forget where she had nted some.


    While Wen Qian was running around looking for suitable ces to reim and cultivate, the situation in the city wasn''t as good. First of all, the poption was dense, and with the virus not fully eliminated, many people''s activity ranges were just their homes or small balconies.


    Maybe some people on the first floor of the residential area could grow a little bit of vegetables, but that would be just a little.


    For people, the city bing quiet had a big impact.


    But for nature, with people quieting down and human activity reduced, not only did the sky be bluer and the water cleaner, but the nts and animals were also growing better.


    The air pollution, light pollution, water pollution, and noise pollution had all been alleviated to a certain extent.


    There were already not many people in Xia Province where Wen Qian was located, and with the absence of tourists, there were even fewer.


    There used to be tourists, cyclists, and self-driving travelers here, but now everyone was staying at home, so no one came over anymore.


    It has to be said that the ce Wen Qian chose was originally hard toe across people, and now it was even more difficult to see anyone.


    However, for safety, Wen Qian still stayed away from the roads, and even reduced the number of times she checked messages near the pastures.


    She was thinking that even with the most severe and timely measures, this year would still not be good with such a serious infectious disease.


    Since she was not in the midst of the crowds, her mentality was slightly better. Some people had suffered blow after blow of losing family and friends, and their mentality had already copsed.


    This was not because their psychological quality was not strong enough. It was because the hardships came one after another, and even an optimistic person would have problems under such blows.


    Some people say that what doesn''t kill you makes you stronger, but the truth is that some people who look like they''re still alive have been worn down to ashes by the hardships.


    They may not have been killed, but they are already half-dead.


    In May, Wen Qian focused on reimingnd and nting vegetables everywhere. She already had a lot of grain, but she still needed to store more vegetables, so she did some physicalbor every day.


    However, her vegetable nting was a bit rough, first opening up thend, then immediately sowing the seeds, watering afterwards, and then going to open up another piece.


    During this time, whether going out anding back home, or sleeping at night, she was extra vignt, afraid that wild animals woulde knocking on her door.


    The main reason was the shock that the bear had given her previously. Although she had defensive tools, that was not an animal that could be killed with a single shot, and she didn''t have that capability yet.


    Fortunately, after that, she saw other wild animals, such as mice and red foxes, but no other threats to human life.


    At the foot of the Jade Mountain Range, on the edge of the basin, in the deste uninhabited areas, Wen Qian lived alone.


    So when she saw the foxes, she still found it amazing, and even seeing a mouse made her happy.


    Even Wen Qian was like this, let alone some people who need friends andpanionship, they would probably go crazy with boredom.


    Fortunately, Wen Qian had a lot of things to entertain herself, from toys and dolls to books and even colored paints, although she was not good at painting.


    The thing that humans can tolerate the least is boredom, no matter what the situation, they always find something to do.


    This applies not only to the solitary Wen Qian, but also to the city residents who don''t go out at all.


    Even just the packaging of an ordinary snack bag at home, they would read the ingredient list over and over again to pass the time.


    Wen Qian interacted with the soil and seeds every day, observing the nts that had already grown and the seeds germinating.


    The fast-growing ones changed appearance every few days, giving her a great sense of aplishment.


    Of course, even in the hignds, there would be pests, and Wen Qian had previously thought that there shouldn''t be so many insects in the hignds, but when she actually started nting, those insects appeared from nowhere.


    And in this environment without intense heat, aphids actually grew better.


    Wen Qian found in books that wood ash could be used for pest control, and she didn''t buy much pesticide, preferring not to use it if possible. But seeing how active the insects were, she eventually tried spraying some.


    She just had to make sure there was enough time between spraying and harvesting for the pesticide to dissipate.


    Wen Qian also had some medicinal herbs stored, some of which could also repel insects.


    She looked up in the books and found a couple of things that could kill insects when soaked in water, but were harmless to the crops.


    There were a lot of things to worry about when growing vegetables and grains alone.


    When Wen Qian used to follow Auntie Chen to nt vegetables, the other often reminded her when to nt what, when to thin the seedlings, and when to spray.


    Wen Qian had taken notes at the time, but didn''t worry about it much.


    Now in this new environment, starting to grow, the knowledge needs to be relearned, and for Wen Qian, just reading on paper is not enough, everything needs to be practiced hands-on.


    Fortunately, the books she bought were very reliable, otherwise, whether it was wild vegetables or medicinal herbs, Wen Qian would bepletely clueless.


    The ability to grow vegetables is also a very useful skill, so she doesn''t have to dig up wild vegetables and risk encountering bears.

 Chapter 86

    Chapter 86


    In June, Wen Qian finally decided to go out.


    She had harvested the vegetables, nted the new ones, and then stored all the items in her spatial storage, leaving only an empty house.


    She nned to wander around Xia Province, as the route she was familiar with was from her hometown to Xia Province, and then she had been searching for ces to build a house, without truly understanding the area.


    Throughout the winter, she had read up on information about this province, and due to the virus, she did not n to go to crowded ces, but rather continue to the sparsely popted or uninhabited areas.


    Previously, she had nned to take the expressway, but she found that even if she went from the national highway to Mangge City, she would still have to pass through the city to get on the expressway, so she decided to go directly northwest on the expressway.


    First, she would take the national highway, and before reaching the city, she would exit the highway, and see if there was an opportunity to get on the expressway in the middle, this troublesome route was just to avoid people.


    Wen Qian still rode her own motorcycle on the road, and at night she would set up her activity cabin and stay overnight, and then pack it up and continue the next day.


    In this way, two dayster, she arrived at a rtively remote scenic spot.


    That ce had a rtivelyrge river with a name, which came down from the Jade Mountain Range, and after gathering many rivers, it became arge river, and at the end, on the riverbank, there were beautifully grown Euphrates pors.


    Normally, such a harsh environment would make it difficult for any trees to grow, but here there were so many tenaciously growing trees.


    However, she did note at the best viewing season, and the Euphrates pors were not in the golden-yellow state as previously advertised.


    What she could see now was green, and they were the only ones thriving in such a harsh environment. It would not be until October that it would be the best time to appreciate them.


    At this time, there were not many people in the scenic area, but Wen Qian did not enter the scenic area, but continued forward in the same direction, and entered from another path.


    This was the first time she had seen such a famous tree, and the dry branches of the Euphrates pors on the sandy soil showed their difficult growth.


    They gave people hope in the destend, but due to human activities, the environment here continued to deteriorate, the rivers gradually dried up, and the originally poor living environment became even worse.


    After appreciating the beautiful scenery, Wen Qian continued on her way, and a few dayster, she arrived at a rtively important ce on her trip.


    She originally wanted to go to the hot springs further west to collect sulfur, butter found that there was a closer ce to collect it, so she did not continue forward.


    The ce she went to was a small hot spring, but it was not the most famous scenic spot, so it was only mentioned by locals or a few books.


    When people travel or sightsee, they tend to follow the crowd, and there are many simr scenic spots, it''s just a matter of which one gets noticed first.


    As long as she could get the sulfur, it didn''t matter whether it was famous or not, so Wen Qian reduced her travel time.


    The sooner she got it, the sooner she could go home. If she had stuck to the original n, she would have needed at least half a month, but now she could return earlier.


    When she received a signal by the expressway and went online, she also learned about thetest progress in virus research.


    The weather was gradually getting hotter, and under strict control, the new cases were gradually decreasing, but people still could not move freely.


    With greatly reduced human activity, many ces have be a paradise for wildlife, and residents often see wild animals wandering in the city from their high-rise buildings.


    Such scenes have urred both domestically and internationally.


    After storing the sulfur, Wen Qian gave up continuing forward and decided to go home, as she could not let go of the crops and vegetables at home, so she prepared to return.


    On her way back, Wen Qian saw a pack of wolves crossing the highway, which was the first time she had seen them.


    Luckily, the wolf pack was transporting arge prey and had no time to pay attention to Wen Qian, so she quickly turned around and left.


    For many herdsmen, their lives have not changed much, as long as they do not interact with people.


    Wen Qian looked at the white sheep herd through her binocrs with envy, these walking cute mutton skewers.


    If only she had such arge herd of sheep, but if she were to buy them, she still could not afford it.


    Wen Qian sighed at how many wealthy people there are here, and then left.


    During her journey, Wen Qian stood on the sand dunes for a while. When she was little, she had seen deserts on TV and thought the sand in the desert could be used to build houses, butter she learned that it was not possible.


    This kind of "get-rich-quick" idea, many children must have thought of it.


    Wen Qian took a few stic bottles of sand with her, not knowing what she would use it for, but just wanted to take a little bit back and store it in her spatial storage.


    After about eight or nine days, Wen Qian finally returned home leisurely.


    Even before entering her house, Wen Qian first went around to check on her crops and vegetables. The nted ones had sprouted new seedlings, and there were no signs of damage by wild animals.


    Wen Qian saw the wall from a distance, then walked around it, and found nothing unusual, only then did she climb up thedder to go in.


    It''s worth mentioning that there is no door in the wall, and every time she enters and exits, she uses adder like this, and she doesn''t find it troublesome at all, but does it this way every time.


    The vegetables used for seed-saving inside the wall were not taken out and put in the spatial storage, Wen Qian only took the seeds when they were old.


    For her, seeds are very important, if she doesn''t save the seeds, she won''t have anything to nt in the future.


    At the same time, she also found that some wild vegetables had also aged by this time and started to set seeds, and she tried to save the seeds of the wild vegetables as well.


    Although she also wanted to go to the mountains to collect seeds, she was afraid of encountering bears.


    If she went to the mountains without bears, it must be where people lived.


    As a result, Wen Qian just thought about it for a while and gave up. If she had a chance in the future, she would store them then.


    Nowadays, Wen Qian would put any beautiful stones or stones suitable for sharpening knives into her spatial storage.


    She''s like a little squirrel, constantly hoarding, and she won''t even miss the stic bottles by the roadside.


    It''s not for selling, but because stic bottles can be used to store water, and can also be used to store seeds, they are very good containers.


    Time came to July, and other provinces except the teau were gradually bing hot.


    At this time, she didn''t need a fan or air conditioner, nor did she need ice cubes.


    The temperature here was not high, even the record-breaking heatwaves in previous years did not make the teau region feel hot.


    However, this year, it is unlikely that many people will be able toe to this province to escape the heat, as the conditions do not allow it.


    The sun protection clothes Wen Qian had made for herself came in handy, including the sun-protective hat, she waspletely covered from head to toe.


    Even people who knew her might not necessarily recognize her.


    Wen Qian has now gotten used to recording the morning and evening temperatures every day, and the temperature variation in summer here is much smaller than in her hometown.


    At this time, people could flow within the province, but not across provinces. Even when leaving the city, they had to be tested three times a week for a week, and only after confirming no issues could they pass through.


    The requirements are very strict, and the time is also very long, but there are still people who choose to go to the city for the sake of making a living.


    Some small countries have also banned entry and exit with each other, and in today''s life, people have been confined to certain mobility ranges, and cannot travel freely as before.


    Casual travel is no longer possible, otherwise there should be many tourists in the summer resort areas now.


    Chen Ming, the son of the Chen family, was also considering whether to go to the city, but his family members did not want him to go. After all, they had already learned through the inte and hearsay how those who stayed in the city were living in fear and worry.


    His parents advised him to wait until this year was over before considering it again.

 Chapter 87

    Chapter 87


    It was July, and the situation in M Country was worse than the domestic situation, although the earliest outbreak originated from theirboratory, but they did not find the solution the fastest.


    Moreover, the policies implemented by this country were not strictly enforced by different states, and the death toll in M Country remained high, although their data was not publicly disclosed, but some people would still leak the real data.


    Of course, regardless of location, the mortality rate difference between the rich and the poor is significant, and this is particrly obvious in M Country.


    However, ordinary people also have guns, so there have been many protests and riots.


    Due to theck of trust, the public is skeptical of what the M Country government says, always feeling that the other party is lying.


    At this time, scientists monitoring the activities of Yellowstone National Park discovered the abnormalities, and the reporters were very sensitive, but most people considered the news as fake.


    It gives the impression that the government is trying to divert attention, so many people refuse to pay attention to this matter.


    The scientists'' reports did not attract much attention from the upper echelons either, but due to the various signs of Yellowstone National Park, the nearby residents have been quietly evacuated.


    Of course, there are also people who refuse to leave, but with the frequent urrence of minor earthquakes, even the non-believers finally became afraid and started to move away.


    This ce asionally has such active phenomena, but then it can gradually calm down, so the evacuation range is also very limited.


    When the earthquakes be frequent, this panic gradually spreads, and people begin to rush to the supermarkets to buy toilet paper and other food.


    Other countries are also monitoring the activity data of this volcano, and to be honest, no one hopes this supervolcano will erupt.


    So the news has further spread to the general public around the world, and people are discussing what the earth will be like if the volcano erupts.


    There have been many rted novels, movies, and video exnations before, although some people keep shouting that the world is going to end, but it''s justining.


    Wen Qian also saw this news when checking the information, the abnormal smoke and frequent minor earthquakes all look ominous.


    Especially with the nearby residents already evacuated, the signs indicate that this time it may really erupt.


    Wen Qian doesn''t have the ability to check the news every day, so she went back home with a lot of doubts. She remembered that she still had masks and gas masks stored in her space.


    If it really erupts, the volcanic ash should cover the globe, and the people nearby may suffocate in such a situation.


    Although separated by the Pacific Ocean, a major volcanic eruption would cause the volcanic ash to enter the stratosphere and lead to global cooling.


    This is not just a disaster for M Country, but a global disaster, so no one wants it to erupt.


    Wen Qian had previously learned about the consequences ofrge-scale volcanic eruptions at different times andtitudes.


    There was one eruption more than 200 years ago, which was very powerful but smaller than Yellowstone, resulting in no summer the next year, known as the Year Without a Summer.


    People in different ces have recorded in words or paintings the scenes at that time, the red sky, and the snow in June.


    The crop failures leading to a great famine and massive human casualties, along with the outbreak of gues, the climate waspletely messed up.


    After returning home, Wen Qian checked more relevant news and information, and if it''s just a year or two, that would still be manageable, humanity can definitely get through it.


    But if the whole world is covered by volcanic ash for a decade or more, and no sunlight can be seen, how long can they hold out?


    At that time, there will only be two problems: keeping warm and staying fed. Wen Qian doesn''t have any issues with this, as her space has stored plenty of food that canst a long time.


    But what about the others? Their reserves will eventually run out, and the new crops cannot be grown, and even the seeds cannot be preserved.


    At this time, Wen Qian is very curious about the progress of the original starch synthesis technology, whether it can bring hope to the people.


    Many people are considering these problems now, even though they know worrying is useless, but they can''t help but wonder if there is still a chance.


    Or maybe this is just another false rm, just like what happened before.


    When living their lives, people feel that every day is very slow, but in fact, human life is only a century,pared to the age of the earth or the volcanic activity cycle.


    Many people jokingly say they hope the volcano erupts after they die, but it''s less than a century.


    However, this time the volcano with a 670,000-year cycle may really erupt.


    The most panicked is M Country, at this time the people who have the best conditions to leave have already left, while those who need to give up a lot, like high-paying jobs, are still hesitant.


    As for the poor, even if they perceive the danger, they don''t have the ability to quickly leave the country.


    No one expected this volcano to really erupt this time.


    In August, just as people were hoping the virus would disappear in this season, Yellowstone National Park erupted with a thunderous roar.


    How loud can this sound be? The whole world can hear it, even Wen Qian on the Xia Province teau.


    The residents of the state where Yellowstone National Park is located were the first to directly experience the terrifying visual and sound, watching the ground bulge and the earth trembling.


    The volcano finally erupted, spewingva and smoke, and they felt as if they were in hell.


    Yellowstone erupted, the specific level is unclear, but at least level 5 or above, the entire world''s seismic monitoring can feel its vibration.


    Lava covers the former Yellowstone National Park, the diverse sceneries, and the various nts and animals that lived there, all now unable to escape death.


    The distant areas will not be covered byva, but the volcanic debris will attack fiercely, destroying the buildings, and people have nowhere to hide, suffocating in the fiery storm.


    The news of the volcanic eruption quickly spread around the world, and there is no longer any event that can overshadow this.


    Apanying the earthquakes, during the eruption, the height of the volcanic ash has exceeded the altitude of the snow-capped mountains that Wen Qian usually sees.


    Within a few hours, the northwestern part of M Country will bepletely covered by volcanic ash, with sulfurpounds and dust permeating the air.


    Darkness falls on M Country, and people are all heading south, not even caring about the super-virus anymore, everyone just wants to escape first.


    At this time, it is no longer possible to leave M Country by ne, only those who can travel far enough south to the neighboring Cactus Country may have a chance.


    The wall that was previously used to prevent entry into M Country has now been reversed in its purpose.


    The wind carries the volcanic ash to spread to other regions of the northern hemisphere, and other countries will also be affected one by one.

 Chapter 88

    Chapter 88


    A few hours after the eruption, Wen Qian, who was asleep, heard a sound for the first time, and at the time she was unable to immediately determine the source of the sound.


    But she felt uneasy, because she had no inte ess, so she had no idea what was happening outside.


    Due to her unease, her subsequent sleep was not very good, and early in the morning she rushed to the nearby ranch to check the news.


    Wen Qian stood in ce, looking at the reports and videos on her phone for a long time without moving.


    She had never been abroad, and all her understanding came from the inte.


    Of course, she had also seen rted doomsday movies, but the disaster that was happening was different from the movie scenes, making people feel terrified.


    This disaster was just beginning.


    Wen Qian looked up at the blue sky and white clouds in the sky, and wondered if the sky would still be like this in the future?


    The volcano was still erupting, and the highest level of volcanic eruption was level 8, which was a destructive blow.


    Previously, scientists thought that if the Yellowstone volcano erupted, it would be level 8.


    Now, everyone hopes the eruption level will be slightly lower.


    No matter what the Earth bes, the Earth is still the Earth, it is still like this.


    It''s just that the living beings on Earth will be reced, and a new beginning will start.


    Among them, humans are the ones who least want to suffer such a catastrophic disaster. After so many years of development and so many achievements, humans who have reached the top of the food chain are now plunged into endless despair.


    Will humans be extinct?


    This extinction is not something that happens overnight, but is a slow and painful process. With a global food shortage, even with the super-virus'' reaping, there are still so many people left, and now they have encountered this huge eruption.


    In the era of famine, people ate soil or strange foods, and this was not just a story, but a reality.


    Now it may happen again.


    Wen Qian took a deep breath, standing in the sunshine, not knowing what to think.


    Is the disaster caused by the volcanic eruption the final step of her dream?


    Does the heavy snow in her dream also refer to whates after this?


    People may be able to ovee the difficulties, but the prerequisite is to be able to see hope.


    With a level 8 volcanic eruption, if humans can achieve self-rescue with their current technology, it will be fine, otherwise they can only wait to die.


    The consequences of this eruption may be more terrible than the super-virus, or the still-existing super-virus can take more lives during this time.


    The areas of Maple Leaf Country near the volcano are evacuating northward, while the people of M Country are rushing southward.


    At this time, Cactus Country cannot stop the people of M Country froming their way.


    Domestically, the emergency evacuation of overseas personnel has begun, and various industries have started emergency meetings.


    If the previous goal was economic construction and improvement of living standards, then the future goal should be to survive.


    In order to survive, resource integration must be carried out at the national level, and to stabilize people''s hearts, the mainstream media has begun to release news about meetings and ns.


    The future direction and urgent problems to be solved, such as themercialization of carbon dioxide synthesis of starch technology and the research of controlled nuclear fusion technology.


    And before resource integration, the super-virus should be eliminated first, otherwiseter on, people may be killed by the virus before the famine.


    At a time ofck of clothing and food, people''s physical condition will be worse, which is undoubtedly good news for the virus.


    The more this happens, the more the national-level measures should tend to soothe the people''s hearts and formte methods to solve the problems.


    But not all countries have the strength to implement this, and many countries have been in a state of chaos since the outbreak of the virus.


    Even before Wen Qian resigned, she could see on the news that some ces had had coups or terrorist attacks.


    The world has never truly been peaceful, it''s just that where some are born, it''s stable, and where others are born, it''s in turmoil.


    The virus has only elerated this chaos, but now it is superimposed with the volcanic winter brought by the volcanic eruption.


    This volcano is the Yellowstone volcano, one of the doomsday volcanoes, and if the volcanic winter caused by itsts for ten years or even longer, what will happen?


    This is the real-life apocalypse, so in some ces, people have started to frantically seize survival supplies in order to survive, even before the cold winteres.


    Domestically, it has also caused extreme social panic, with people crowding into every supermarket and market, trying to buy things with money.


    Some merchants take the opportunity to hoard goods and raise prices, just like many years ago when people went crazy buying salt.


    However, in the domestic market, these merchants were quickly investigated and fined, and although prices fluctuated, they were still affordable.


    People want to spend money to buy things, but in fact they want to spend their money while they can, fearing that their money will be worthless paperter.


    Especially in many countries where the currency has be almost as worthless as waste paper.


    M Country, such a powerful economic system, was all covered by volcanic ash after the eruption.


    The volcanic ash entering the stratosphere and staying there will form a sunshade effect that will cool the Earth.


    At the time of the eruption, lightning apanied the volcanic ash, and the high-frequency lightning in the volcanic ash cloud added to the apocalyptic atmosphere.


    In areas close to the volcano, it rained stones from the sky, destroying everything.


    The volcanic ash that reached everywhere turned everything gray, and this range is constantly expanding.


    Polluting the environment, covering the surface of nts, copsing people''s roofs, contaminating clean water sources, and damaging the human respiratory system and eyes.


    Later, it will rain, but this rain is not the ordinary rain, but acid rain, which is also extremely destructive to the environment.


    The air is toxic, the water is polluted, and this is a great survival challenge for humans.


    The impact of the volcanic eruption in the short term is in M Country, but as time goes on, the impact will gradually cover the globe.


    The news exnations also try tofort the people, deepen their knowledge, and some may be more pessimistic, while others may be more optimistic.


    People''s ideas are originally very different.


    The volcanic ash impact first reached Europe, with sudden cooling and rain, and severe air pollution.


    The sky presented strange colors, just as when the volcanic eruption in d urred, the volcanic ash also went there first.


    Flights were canceled, the economy was damaged, and people rushed to buy anti-haze masks.


    The smaller the volcanic ash particles, the greater the damage to people.


    Gloomy days and violent storms, and the grain yield cannot be guaranteed.


    The rain used to be able to wash away all the dust, but now it is rain mixed with dust, making everything dirty.


    The initial cooling was not toorge, but seeing the situation other countries were facing, Wen Qian and many others were worried about the changes toe.

 Chapter 89

    Chapter 89


    It was already August, and what Wen Qian was most worried about was the hignd barley crop that would be harvested in a while.


    She had finally found a ce to live in Xia Province, and had finally cleared the fields for farming, but it was likely that there would be no more produce in the future.


    This made her feel a bit ufortable, but then she thought that being able to keep this season''s harvest was already very good.


    Half a monthter, the volcanic ash should have covered everything.


    So Wen Qian decided to harvest her crops early, including the vegetables she had nted.


    August was originally summer in the Northern Hemisphere, but now the volcanic eruption was gradually causing global cooling.


    It was not yet obvious in the teau, but in another month or two, everywhere would be about the same.


    The volcano had been erupting continuously since August and showed no signs of stopping.


    Rainfall was increasing globally, and open-field crops were being harvested as quickly as possible.


    Things that were never thought to be in short supply before, people were now realizing might be very precious in the future.


    Even though the country had stockpiled enough food for the next three years, if the volcanic wintersted ten years or even longer, what would people eat when crops could no longer grow and be harvested normally?


    Some people had also hoarded arge amount of canned food before the volcanic eruption, and many survivalists had stockpiled quite a bit. Wen Qian checked the forums from before, which were also full of knowledge about the volcanic winter, and she downloaded the knowledge she thought would be useful.


    People in the country seem to have an innate prejudice against canned food, thinking that it contains preservatives, when in fact it doesn''t. Its long shelf life is due to the manufacturing process.


    Another reason is that people prefer to eat freshly cooked food over canned food.


    In contrast, many people abroad eat canned food in their daily lives.


    Among things that canst a long time without spoiling, canned food should be at the top of the list, so canned food from everywhere was cleared out.


    Wen Qian''s space was like a can, filled with all sorts of things that could be kept in the state they were put in.


    She had only purchased a small amount of canned food to try it out, as canned food is quite expensive.


    After the volcanic eruption, although she was worried, she still had things to do every day.


    Since she didn''t grow many crops, besides harvesting grains and vegetables, she spent most of her time chopping down trees.


    There were quite a few forests at the foot of Mount Yu, and she knew that excessive logging was wrong. You can''t shave all the wool off just one sheep, so she didn''t stay in one patch of forest hacking away. Instead, she selectively logged along the foot of the mountain on both sides.


    She knew that there was an open-pit coal mine in Xia Province, but unfortunately, the government had already taken action, and all coal mines were elerating their mining operations.


    Wen Qian had never dared to buy anything for zero yuan before, at least not until now, but who knows about the future.


    All resources were being tightened, and the country''s intention was to spend all resources on essential areas, meaning shutting down unnecessary production and mainly focusing on scientific research, weapons research and manufacturing, and food production.


    With all countriescking resources, would anyone attack other countries?


    This was one of the first questions that urred to Wen Qian, that Cactus Country might not be safe.


    Sure enough,ter there was news that the M Country military had upied Cactus Country and was gradually pushing south.


    If they were just looking for refuge at first, now they seemed to want to build a new country somewhere else.


    Incidentally, M Country had already be history, because since the volcanic eruption, some states had dered independence.


    The states farthest from Yellowstone were the first to dere independence. While ordinary civilians were fleeing south, their troops had already gone to upy territories in Cactus Country.


    They say might makes right. Initially, Cactus Country only thought they would allow refugees in and negotiate some conditions, butter found that others wereing over with weapons to seize territory.


    Even if Cactus Country was unwilling, they had no choice. Although the states of M Country had each dered independence, their military power was still formidable.


    Cactus Country could only sigh, as no other country would intervene at this point despite condemning the action.


    When Wen Qian was watching international news, she also saw another piece of news that the country that had previously been divided into North and South, with the North having invaded and upied the South now that M Country was in disarray.


    A monthter, the volcano was still erupting intermittently, and the whole world was plunged into darkness.


    Many areas experienced heavy rainfall, and prolonged rainstorms caused even more disasters.


    Some ces even had summer snowfall and hail, with some hail severe enough to destroy buildings and kill people.


    Not to mention crops and livestock, some ces had total crop failure with no hope in sight.


    In areas with severe acid rain, nts died directly.


    In ces that should have been lush with life in summer, all nt life began to wither at this time.


    Extreme cold wasing.


    The situation in the maind of M Country was still gued by multiple severe disasters such as wildfires, volcanic ash, and acid rain.


    M Country had a lot of nuclear power nts, so many of them had to be shut down. However, two nuclear power nts exploded and leaked radiation due to the earthquakes, and no one was going to repair and maintain them at this point.


    Nuclear radiation had also be a deadly hazard.


    But nuclear radiation didn''t just appear in M Country. Long before the J Archipgo was destroyed, the sea water had already been contaminated. With the cirction of ocean currents, nuclear radiation had affected the entire global ocean.


    The technology developed by humans brought hope and convenience, but when that technology malfunctioned, the consequences were not something humans could resolve.


    Most of the territory of M Country was covered in volcanic ash, and cities close by had be ruins.


    Its historical name had ended here.


    Many people entered underground shelters, as being outside would mean risking death from volcanic ash and acid rain alone.


    Many civilians headed south, but many died from indiscriminate attacks along the way, as those who had mentally copsed would open fire on crowds.


    Some held guns to rob all kinds of supplies, while others armed themselves for self-defense. The volcanic eruption had caused them to lose their homes, but it was the killing by their own kind that caused the highest casualty rate among those fleeing.


    And let''s not forget the spread of the super virus among the migrating crowds, not to mention the medical environment.


    All countries began to tighten energy usage, with electricity rationing implemented domestically to ensure power for critical industries like scientific research.


    Non-essential uses of electricity were directly cut off, not to mention so-called entertainment - this was no longer a question of quality of life, but a matter of survival.


    The country gathered the top technical talents from all industries to work together on technological breakthroughs, and also did not forget to recruit scientific research talents from around the world.


    With the rtively stable social situation in the country, many talents from other countries were willing toe here.


    In order to maintain social stability, the country could not let people idle around, so people from all industries were reassigned jobs, as many professions were no longer needed.


    Many people being unemployed posed a significant security risk, so the unemployed were reassigned jobs by the country.


    As long as people had something to do, they could be at peace and have hope for the future.


    The virus had not beenpletely eliminated, so management had now been tightened at all levels, becauseter on centralized shelters might need to be built, and if just one person carrying the super virus entered, the consequences would be unimaginable.


    In addition, the struggle for resources between countries had also begun, with geothermal and coal resources bing the focus of contention.


    The structure of civilized society began to copse.


    Winter arrived early, and global cooling set in.


    The centralized heating system that had been envied for many years in the north would finally have to be implemented in the south as well.


    At this time, heavy snow was falling in many ces in the south, not to mention the north, where the temperature of around -10¡ãC (-14¡ãF) or lower continued to drop, causing conventional thermometers to malfunction in some areas.


    Wen Qian was staying at home, burning the heater, when she noticed it was snowing outside.

 Chapter 90

    Chapter 90


    In a season when it shouldn''t be snowing, Wen Qian saw snowkes, and nobody knew how long this situation wouldst.


    Scientists predicted it would be around ten to fifteen years, and just the thought of such a long time was enough to make one feel hopeless.


    Fang Ya held her child, her heart aching immensely, feeling more and more that it wasn''t the right time to have a child.


    But then she thought that who knows what the situation would be like in over ten years, and her feelings wereplex.


    Wen Qian had previously learned about the relevant information - an eruption of this magnitude would inevitably bring a volcanic wintersting ten years or even longer.


    Wen Qian had previously stored tons of grains, as well as various agricultural products purchased from her hometown.


    Her food supplies couldst that long, but in this situation, Wen Qian was worried about what she should do next.


    She had enough to eat, but her ns for animal husbandry or nting were obviously not permitted in her current surroundings.


    Even if the seeds sprouted, it would be difficult for them to grow and cultivate the next generation of seeds.


    So Wen Qian experimented with the wild vegetable seeds she had previously collected, letting them grow near the warm stove, and she could also try some low-light nts.


    For example, things like chives and garlic shoots that people used to eat could be delicious ingredients even with ack of sunlight.


    However, the downside was that under these circumstances, the seeds that sprouted and grew could not continue to flower and bear fruit, so there would be no seeds for the next generation. Once the previous seeds were used up, there would be none left, which was quite troublesome.


    Therefore, Wen Qian used the seeds very sparingly.


    At this time, not only humans were struggling, but all kinds of nts and wildlife were also in great difficulty.


    Many nts withered due to the severe cold, acid rain, orck of light, and herbivorous animals without food would find it hard to survive, let alone carnivorous animals.


    The entire ecosystem was facing a huge challenge.


    In areas close to the volcano, toxic gases caused the death of local nts and animals.


    In more distant areas, animals faced a bizarre summer.


    Summer was supposed to be a season of abundant food, but it had suddenly turned into winter, and many wild animals failed to react in time, losing their lives in the process.


    Due to the chaos in M Country, the global economy and information exchange were also affected, makingmunication with other continents difficult for many ces.


    Wen Qian had a premonition that it might be difficult for her to obtain information in the future, and she wasn''t even sure if her ranch could continue operating.


    The nearest cell phone signal reception point was gone, and in the future, due to the harsh environment, maintenance of many signal towers might also be a problem.


    Wen Qian tried to find a ce near her home where she could listen to the radio with her radio, but just like before, whether indoors or outdoors, she couldn''t hear any broadcasts.


    Finally, she thought about it and went to the back of the house. There was a forest behind this small hill, so Wen Qian climbed to the highest point of the hill, turned on the radio, and heard a muffled news broadcast.


    It was probably a local news broadcast from Xia Province. Wen Qian walked around the hilltop, trying to make the sound clearer, but it was still very muffled.


    So Wen Qian found a tree, set up adder, and climbed up to sit on a branch, finally able to receive a rtively clear sound.


    This way, even without a cell phone, it was okay - being able to hear thetest news was a reassuring thing for Wen Qian, at the very least she could know some of the domestic developments.


    Hightitude countries were originally ustomed to severe cold, with their houses and other facilities having instion effects, and they could adapt to rtively long winters.


    However, it was precisely because the winters were so long that many cescked sunlight, and the suicide rate among people also increased.


    Wen Qian had thought that after the volcanic winter, due to theck of sunny and warm days, perhaps many people would leave this world for the same reason.


    In areas with distinct seasons, the people here were not well-adapted to theing cold.


    As for tropical countries, although temperatures dropped, they were still higher than in other ces and had more sunlight.


    The equatorial region, due to its favorable geographic location, became the focus of everyone''s attention, with people pinning their hopes for food cultivation on the tropics.


    But those small countries originally did not haverge-scale cultivation, and they had never been responsible for the attention of the entire world before, which was different now.


    The tropical countries could not achieverge-scale scientific production on their own, so many countries would intervene.


    In fact, that''s what happened - many countries sent personnel under the guise of "agricultural development", but in reality, they were dividing up agricultural regions for themselves.


    All the tropical countries could do was ept the suggestions and allocations from other countries. Otherwise, they would face outright upation after being rejected.


    So it was better to sit down and talk from the beginning.


    Any arablend had to be utilized, so the tropical regions underwent unprecedented agricultural development and eleration.


    Many countries invested their human resources, finances, and materials into the cultivation areas they had allocated in the tropics.


    At this time, people had to solve the problem of staple foods first, while some cash crops, fruits, and the like had to make way for staple crops, only to be nted after staple food supply was secured.


    There was also the issue of alcohol, which required consuming grains during production - the price had skyrocketed.


    With the impending food shortage that most people would face, anyone who used grains to brew alcohol was practically asking for death.


    So any remaining alcohol became extremely precious, and at least until grain production returned to normal levels, it was unlikely that there would be any new brewing.


    The coastal areas in the south of the country were also expanding the cultivation of sea rice.


    Now, no one cared about pretty flowers or beautiful scenery and cuisine - just avoiding starvation was already a blessing.


    The predicted duration of the volcanic winter was roughly the same everywhere, around ten years or more.


    The volcanic ash and aerosols in the stratosphere were not something that current technology could remove, so people could only try their best to survive in the existing environment.


    Every day, Wen Qian still recorded the morning and evening temperatures, and listened to the radio every once in a while, usually starting around noon.


    She didn''t have much to do now, so she started hydroponic vegetable cultivation at home, like sweet potato vines and bok choy. She ced a rack on the windowsill with three tiers for more exposure to light.


    Afterwards, she also started milling grains at home using a bicycle mill. Recently, Wen Qian had been focused on preparing food.


    If the previous flour was considered refined, then what she would be millingter was a coarse variety without fine filtering, leaving a noticeable rough texture in the mouth.


    This could reduce waste, allowing the food tost longer.


    Although the taste wouldn''t be as good, Wen Qian thought that she shouldn''t expect the same living standards for the food she made herself.


    She should be prepared for different levels of food quality during different periods.


    Milling, kneading, resting the dough.


    She ced her previously purchasedrge stainless steel steamer on the warm stove, covered with a lid, and filled a pot with water for steaming.


    For half a month straight, she steamed mixed grain steamed buns at home, making different shapes and colors of mixed grain buns with varying proportions of grains.


    Now that she was alone, Wen Qian couldn''t afford to be careless.


    As the saying goes, "Others eat bran while you eat meat, and you deliberately smack your lips in front of them - isn''t that asking for trouble?"


    Wen Qian was indeed alone where she currently was, but she couldn''t be sure that no one would observe her elsewhere in the future.


    The possibility was small, but not zero, so she couldn''t let her environment appear too enviable or tempting.


    This was just a small thought of hers.

 Chapter 91

    Chapter 91


    As Wen Qian was diligently steaming mixed grain buns every day, the distant ranch received orders to withdraw.


    Thepany Wen Qian worked for began recalling its personnel, and the original ranch''s sheep were to be disposed of. Sheep need to graze on grass, and with theing snow, arge amount of hay and feed would be required, which the current situation did not allow. Thus, after the sheep were disposed of, they would all be eaten.


    Afterwards, many machines were moved away, and the ranch would be abandoned.


    At this time, Wen Qian was unaware of the ranch''s situation, but she should have been able to guess that the ranch would be deserted in the future.


    From then on, the people she knew would probably only be those in the valley of the Jade Mountain Range, as well as the station at Jade Mountain Pass.


    Wen Qian thought of the Jade Mountain springs at this moment, this ce should still be able to continue producing high-quality spring water.


    But she was not interested in exploring further, after all, the current radio broadcasts were still in the preparatory stage, and there was no situation of gathering people in shelters yet.


    Therefore, Wen Qian did not need to explore too many inhabited areas nearby.


    At this time, the meaning of scenic spots was also not significant. Who would have the time to travel so far to appreciate the scenery when they couldn''t even eat their fill?


    People were being assigned to do other things.


    Without sunlight, mushroom cultivation would be an important part, so some unemployed people would participate in mushroom cultivation training.


    Simrly, there was also training on geothermal cultivation, and some ces with thick underground environments would be given priority attention at this time.


    Although Wen Qian didn''t like eating mushrooms, she had mushroom bags in her possession.


    These were the ones she had previously purchased online that could be cultivated at home. You cut open the bag and spray water ording to the instructions, and different types of mushrooms could grow.


    She had seen these when she was taking stock of her space, because sometimes when shopping online, she might identally click on these mushroom bags while buying vegetables, so she received the goods as well.


    Before, when Wen Qian saw mushrooms on the mountain, she didn''t dare pick them, for fear of picking poisonous mushrooms and poisoning herself.


    But these mushroom bags sold in stores were guaranteed to be safe and edible, so Wen Qian cultivated them at home with a try-it-out attitude, carefully following the instructions step by step.


    She didn''t necessarily have to eat them right away, but they mighte in handy.


    Now she thought that if she managed to grow them, she would harvest the mushrooms and store them in her space, along with the mushroom bags.


    When she was hungryter on, she should be able to eat anything, but now that she still had a choice, she wouldn''t force herself to eat things she didn''t like.


    Isn''t that how adults are? When making choices, they simply don''t choose things they don''t like to eat.


    Although Wen Qian didn''t like eating carrots, she had also stored some in her space, mainly because carrots were very cheap and abundant at the wholesale market that year.


    And they were packed neatly, looking very appetizing.


    asionally, she would take out a carrot, break it into a few segments, and slowly nibble on one small piece.


    At the same time, Wen Qian would climb adder against the wall every day and use binocrs to observe the surrounding environment, just like Ding Manshu standing guard, she observed the surroundings every day.


    Time came to October, and ording to the original season change, it would gradually be cooler and winter would set in. The dry wind carried sand and dust as it blew past.


    Wen Qian forgot to apply moisturizer at night, and her face was very dry when she woke up in the morning.


    After the mixed grain buns came to an end, she spent her days patrolling the surrounding environment and tending to some nts at home.


    In her other time, she started her daily exercise routine again, turning her daily walking exercise into practice for self-defense moves.


    She had previously downloaded and printed an unrestricted martial arts manual, and every day she practiced with self-made props in her room as exercise.


    It was best if she didn''t have to use it, but if she did, being proficient at it wouldn''t be a bad thing.


    At the same time, Wen Qian was also preparing winter clothes for herself, and her learning method was to take out the thick clothes she had previously picked up, disassemble them, and then imitate them.


    Of course, this also inevitably required her to read relevant books, but for Wen Qian, this was just practice, so she was very patient.


    She didn''tck clothes to wear now, but she felt that she would have to wear thick clothes for arge amount of time in the future, so she still needed to prepare early.


    Wen Qian had developed the habit of talking to herself, exining how to do things and the reasons and benefits of doing them as she worked every day.


    Far away in An Province, the vige head went door-to-door in Xiaochenwa to record the current poption for future nning.


    When they asked about Wen Qian, Auntie Chen told them she couldn''t be reached, and was probably in the city.


    Since she hadn''t returned, she would probably be receiving arrangements in the cityter, so the vige head didn''t ask too many questions.


    He also felt that young people should be contributing in the city.


    Simrly, in the cities, people were also dividing into grids and registering the poption.


    Children were still going to school, but the relevant curriculum had changed, adding a lot of practical hands-on skills and content rted to the volcanic winter.


    Currently, students with self-care abilities were attending sses at schools with boarding conditions.


    Those who were unable to take care of themselves or board could take online sses.


    All changes needed to be gradual, not a one-size-fits-all approach that would be difficult for people to adapt to, so people had formted ten-year, five-year, and one-year ns.


    They would slowly move forward ording to these ns.


    When Wen Qian heard the news, she also felt that the domestic government was doing wise things, it just remained to be seen how the implementation would go in theter stages.


    But there was still one problem: the super virus had not disappeared at this time, and other countries were the same.


    The volcanic eruption had given the super virus a respite. Originally, in the summer heat, the virus would have a shorter survival time in the outside environment, but then the temperatures dropped.


    Many ns were premised on the elimination of the super virus, so the medical field was also making an all-out effort to tackle it.


    Before people were able topletely defeat the super virus, the death toll remained high.


    Many people worried about the problems brought by climate change after the volcanic eruption, while also worrying that they might be reaped by the super virus before the harsh situation of the volcanic winter, unable to survive until then.

 Chapter 92

    Chapter 92


    Most of the time, Wen Qian did not leave her ce of residence. Many people would think of going to warmer ces to take shelter, but warm ces were ultimately limited.


    With too many people around, it would not be very good for Wen Qian, so she decided to stay here, especially since the virus had not yet been cleared.


    She went to the spring water area in the meantime, but she did not see the spring water because there were already people guarding the checkpoint, so Wen Qian did not get close.


    Wen Qian had actually expected that many people would rely on this spring water, but the degree to which it was surrounded still made her feel it was very exaggerated.


    But when she thought about it, clean water sources were very important for both humans and wildlife.


    The snow that fell this winter might be different from the snow in previous years, so although Wen Qian stockpiled snow, she still used her previous drinking water.


    She would only use the snow from this year to wash clothes or water nts.


    The sky was never so clear, but Wen Qian knew that it was much better than other ces. For ces that were originally shrouded in mist and fog, they probably couldn''t even see a sunny day now, while this ce was slightly better.


    One night during this period, Wen Qian heard the howling of wolves. Thest time, before the volcano erupted, she encountered a wolf pack transporting prey.


    This time, she was worried that it was a wolf pack.


    The howling of wolves can travel very far. This time, Wen Qian was on guard for a while, but she did not see any wolves through her telescope.


    The animals now must be having a hard time. If the environment around the basin became more harsh, they would probably approach human settlements or migrate to protected areas with more abundant vegetation and greater biodiversity.


    It was just unknown whether they would encounter Wen Qian''s home on the way, which was Wen Qian''s biggest concern.


    Her home''s walls were very thick and tall, making it difficult for either humans or wildlife to enter.


    Even so, for her peace of mind, she still needed to prepare to make some traps. It was difficult to dig pits at this time because the ground was frozen solid.


    She could make wire snares, but she was hesitating about whether to use bait.


    If the other party was just passing by but was attracted by the bait and fell into the trap, it would not be very good.


    When Wen Qian had food to eat, she absolutely did not want to deal with dangerous animals again, not knowing who might be the prey of whom.


    If it was a single animal, it would still be fine, but if it was a pack, it would be very bad for Wen Qian.


    Therefore, Wen Qian did not use bait, and instead took out an outdoor warning device from her own space.


    Warning device - this was a suggestion that she had seen someone mention on a survival forum before.


    However, when Wen Qian just installed this warning device, she found that it did not work well in winter.


    Because if there was a strong wind or heavy snow, its receiver would set off an rm, and the first time it went off, it gave Wen Qian quite a fright.


    She had installed the device directly on the outer wall of the fence, wanting the warning range to be farther and the warning time to be earlier, so that she would have time to prepare.


    But after this false rm incident, she gave up on it.


    Later, she thought she might as well just put the device in the yard. Although having it in the yard would not be very useful for warning, it was still necessary for Wen Qian when she was sleeping at night, so she chose to ce the rm in the inner wall at night.


    The inner wall blocked the strong wind or rain and snow, so the rm was not so sensitive and functioned normally.


    In this way, even when resting, Wen Qian could feel a little more at ease. At this time, she felt that the possibility of wildlife appearing was greater than that of humans.


    At this time, humans should want to go to ces with more people and activity. Other remote areas would not have any desire to explore outwards.


    The original environment was already very harsh, and now the degree of harshness had intensified. Unless absolutely necessary, no one would do such aborious and unrewarding thing.


    What Wen Qian did not know was that although no wildlife hade to bother her, the vige with a river that she had seen through the valley frequently had wild animals appearing.


    Their purpose was for food, and another reason was that the temperature in the valley was rtively higher than other ces, and animals were good at choosing ces to survive.


    However, if there were not many locals, they could still make traps, so hunting also became a good source of food for them.


    As for the protected areas, they were already in a mess now. When people could not even take care of themselves, how could they have time to maintain the reproduction of other species?


    People would ughter both wild animals and domesticated animals to fill their stomachs. Some even exchanged and ate their beloved pets.


    When people ran out of food themselves, no one would specifically produce food for other animals to eat.


    Of course, unless the animal was of great use to humans, like hunting dogs whose owners would not give up on them at this time.


    Other animals that could not help and only wasted food would be eaten or abandoned.


    Perhaps humans'' aggression was also very strong now, and many wild animals seemed to realize that looking for food in human areas due to ack of food had be dangerous.


    Therefore, some wild animals, after being chased by humans and escaping death, would keep a great distance from humans and be very wary.


    Wen Qian''s thoughts were consistent with these wild animals.


    Due to the impact of volcanic ash, many international flights were canceled, slowing down people''s transportation speed and increasing transportation costs.


    Now, most people did not go out anymore.


    The first winter after the volcanic eruption was considered to be thest rtively normal winter.


    This was not people being pessimistic, but rather their conviction that the days toe would be harder than this winter, so some cherished it more, while others were more anxious.


    As the new year approached, the country gave a speech. Starting at noon at 12 o''clock on thest day of the year, the speech content would be repeated every two hours.


    Perhaps there were other ways, but Wen Qian could only receive it through the radio.


    The speech content first described the current difficulties and the series of disasters that would be faced in the future, and then outlined the n for the first year after the new year - to build concentrated shelters.


    From the new year onwards, no one could live as they wished anymore, but rather had to live for the purpose of survival, with everyone required to register, participate, and share the results.


    Each province began to build shelters of varying sizes, and since construction was difficult in the harsh cold, they would first requisition some underground facilities from before, which would be more scattered.


    Being scattered would also have its advantages. Although being too concentrated would be more convenient, it would also be easier for something to go wrong, especially being wiped out by a virus all at once.


    As for the viges, they would first concentrate on a vige basis, but there were problems with the most basic level of governance, as some people had already tasted the vor of power and begun to proim themselves kings, bully others, and exploit them.


    Even just a little bit of power would be maximized in its usage - a truly ridiculous reality.


    But fortunately, the people now were not like the people of the past. In the past, as long as people could still survive, they would not think of rebelling. But the people now were actively resisting, kicking out those who were selfishly exploiting others from the local concentrated areas.


    There would always be people who wanted to take advantage of the chaotic situation to act arrogantly and indulgently, but who around them was born to be oppressed?


    Those who wanted to trample on others were instead beaten bloody and trampled by even more people.


    At this time, unless someone was killed, not many people would care about minor disputes, because there were more important things to do.


    Those who briefly grasped power but were then pushed down could only slink back home and be ostracized from then on.

 Chapter 93

    Chapter 93


    Although the densely popted areas are experiencing rtively difficult living conditions, the management is rtively good.


    Even so, people are more critical of those who have already fallen ill, but they too are victims of the super-virus.


    They and even their families are being ostracized.


    Society is beginning to show its indifference and darkness, which has led many to have a desire for revenge, and so some have deliberately infected others or concealed the fact that they are ill.


    Because they do not receive help, or feel that they are not within the scope of assistance, some people have had outbreaks of deliberate infection, making this group even more avoided and hated by others.


    The contradictions are bing more and more intense, and there is no solution.


    At this time, life in the rural areas is rtively easier, but they are more likely to be in an area without supervision or management.


    In this case, a few households or people of the same surname and same vige can still unite and resist the outside world.


    The ostracism in the vige is more severe, they are more afraid of the virus, and they are also more cruel to the infected.


    Since they are all human, both the cities and the countryside are excluding and suppressing the ces where cases appear, even wanting them to perish on their own, so the patients will carry out self-destructive programs.


    Both in the cities and in the rural areas, there is unrest due to the super-virus.


    Social order has begun to deteriorate, and it is not just in this one ce, for example, there are thefts in supermarkets and shops, although they don''t dare to do evil deeds openly in public, but they will steal or rob in some ces where surveince cannot see or in the shadows.


    The social environment has be very bad, and things that are not allowed to be done openly, someone will do them secretly.


    Social order has regressed more than a decade, back to the security description of that era that the elders told them.


    Wen Qian heard this from the radio, and this is just the domestic situation, as for the foreign countries, they should have already taken up arms.


    This is actually the situation that Wen Qian was most worried about, because the reason she left the city and the vige was exactly this.


    She is not a person who likes to cooperate with others, and the people who have a blood rtionship with her abandoned her long before she was born.


    If it''s during a natural disaster, then they are most likely to cause her trouble.


    Other rtionships are not as solid, and it''s better to be alone than to be vignt all the time when gathered together.


    This is also one of the reasons she left.


    The new year has arrived, but now the people understand that the past days are gone, and the days they are about to experience may be more difficult than they imagine.


    Wen Qian still prepared the same dinner as in previous years, sitting by the warm stove and eating.


    Apart from asionally going to the mountains to listen to the radio and observe the surrounding environment, she spends the rest of the time at home, still reading, learning self-defense skills.


    She also has a book on handicrafts, and she takes out the stic packaging she collected before and weaves baskets for herself.


    Since she''s idle anyway, it''s a good choice to upy herself.


    This attempt seeded, and she also took out her carpentry tools to make and polish arrow shafts and spears.


    She had purchasedplete arrows and separate metal arrowheads, but the arrow shafts need to be made by herself, and of course the more the better.


    She had previously assembled a crossbow and bought a lot of arrowheads, so she also needs more arrow shafts to match the crossbow arrowheads.


    She has traditional weapons, and she should also have modern weapons, the homemade guns she originally bought and the essories sheter assembled are also there.


    It''s just that she always hides them in her space, and she rarely even thinks about them, because up to now she has been very guilty, except for the initial test use in the mountains, she has always pretended they don''t exist.


    She is a person who likes to have backup items and backup ns, so the quantity prepared is not just one, it may be two, three, or even more.


    She has tried her best not to attract anyone''s attention, so she has hidden them until now.


    Although she was anxious during the preparation process, in the end, she still got everything ready.


    By the time she arrived in Xia Province, among the things she had purchased online were body bags.


    Perhaps because of Wen Qian''s rich imagination, she even considered this.


    This is also one of the reasons she dares to live here alone.


    Of course, unless it is absolutely necessary, she will not take out any of these things.


    With the gradually turbulent situation, the punishment has also be more severe, and the so-called "use harshws in chaotic times" should be like this.


    Wen Qian keeps away from the crowd, if there are wild animals or people who want to attack her, even if she is harmed, it may not be discovered, let alone punishment.


    If problems arise, she has to find a way to solve them herself, and there are many ways to solve them, but she will not use the most extreme solution until the end.


    It will be very difficult for her to leave this ce and go to a ce with people, and others probably won''te here if they don''t have to.


    So far, the turbulence in society has not affected her, which is the best news for her.


    If it stays this way, perhaps she can live here alone until the end of the world.


    She may be able to peacefully get through the volcanic winter and wait until the earth is reborn.


    ording to the original seasonal pattern, winter should gradually pass, but when Wen Qian looked around the environment and the distant snow-capped mountains, there were no signs of spring.


    As time passed, it was still cold in May.


    The temperature has risen slightly, but the green in the distance is still not visible.


    Wen Qian sat in a tree listening to the radio, looking at the branches around her, and saw that there were signs of buds starting to sprout, so it seems that spring should being soon, just a littleter than usual.


    On the radio, other ces are the same, even if it''s not snowing, it''s raining or foggy, so you can''t see a sunny day.


    Only the tropical regions can still have enough sunlight to grow crops, and that''s good news, at least this information gives some hope to those who can hear it.


    Students'' ideal path has changed from going to university and then finding a good job after graduation, to now striving to be a contributor to the volcanic winter.


    After a long winter, many elderly people have passed away.


    Winter has always been a challenge for the elderly, let alone the winter after the volcanic eruption.


    However, looking at it from a different angle, they no longer have to suffer in the turbulent, gloomy, and hungry days toe, so it can also be seen as a good thing for them.


    This winter, the death toll overseas is also very high, due to the severe cold, unrest, the virus, and some people dying of starvation.


    In some parts of the world, there may have been crop failures for several years, and now they are also caught in the volcanic winter, so it''s even worse.


    As time goes on, the main causes of death are probably just the severe cold, the virus, and starvation.

 Chapter 94

    Chapter 94


    In June of Xia Province, Wen Qian was finally able to see a hint of green, so she dismantled the two sheds she had built earlier and nned to grow some vegetables in the yard.


    She divided the seeds she had previously purchased into many portions, as well as the seeds she had savedter, which may not be as stable in characteristics as the ones she had bought before, but were still better than having none, and she divided them into quite a few portions as well.


    Her idea was to nt them as soon as the temperature rose, so she could take advantage of the growing season.


    Regardless of how the harvest turns out, she would not use any of the seeds reserved for the following years.


    She was worried that if she nted all the seeds now, she would have nothing to sow in the future, like a clever woman with no rice to cook.


    She chose seeds for vegetables that could be harvested and grown quickly. If it was a crop that required a long growing time, like a grain crop, Wen Qian had no ns to nt it this year.


    When the greenery on the ground started sprouting, Wen Qian, as she had done in previous years, tried to dig up edible nts in the vicinity, even though the vegetation growth was not doing too well.


    The whole world had to go through a year without summer, but the teau region never really had a summer to begin with. It was just that the temperatures were even lower than usual.


    After a long winter, it was uncertain how many wild animals had managed to survive. But seeing the traces of small animals gnawing on the radishes and greens nted outside, at least the mice in the vicinity were still alive.


    She did not keep a dog or cat, even though they could have provided her somepany, as they would also require a share of the food supply.


    Wen Qian rationed her own food, and since there were fewer tasks to do, she did not eat to the point of fullness.


    Snacks were also very limited, just enough to fill her stomach and maintain her strength.


    However, the environment was gradually changing, perhaps due to the abnormal climate, causing the nts and animals to face unusual challenges.


    This led to some issues within the ecosystem, with insects, microorganisms, and bacteria.


    Although it was not to the extent described in "Silent Spring," the humans in the ecosystem were still aware of it.


    Wen Qian fetched water from the pits by the stream, disinfected it, and stored it. Currently, the only things she could store from here were water, wild greens, and the trees on the mountain.


    She could not even hunt here.


    But on the other hand, if there were everything avable here, there would probably be a lot of people as well.


    As Wen Qian gradually had nothing to do, she decided to go and check out the nearby pasture.


    The pasture had beenpletely cleared out, with even the gates taken down, leaving only the fences and barbed wire around the perimeter.


    Themon iron bars and wire fences were too extensive to be dismantled and taken away piece by piece.


    The fences around the pasture area and the seemingly good iron mesh, which might have been a basketball or tennis court, in the living area - Wen Qian''s first thought was to take whatever she could, so she started dismantling them.


    Thest remaining potentially useful items in the surrounding area, although not edible, brought her joy to have as a harvest, nheless.


    Wen Qian spent a day dismantling the fences and wire, circling the entire pasture. As it grewte, she moved the prefabricated house and nned to sleep there overnight.


    Her original intention was just toe and see what she could take.


    After finishing the dismantling the next day, she did not n to go back, but instead started digging for wild vegetables in this rtively lush vegetation area.


    She had noticed this while taking down the fences - after the long winter and without the trampling of animals, the soil was more fertile, and the wild vegetables were growing more vigorously.


    Wen Qian thought she could now forage for wild vegetables in the area between the pasture and her home.


    So that night, she spent another night there, and by the third day, she felt she had to return home in the afternoon, as she was worried about her own belongings.


    She had spent the entire morning digging for wild vegetables, her hands and nails caked with dirt.


    Wen Qian decided to go to the river to wash her hands.


    This river was not wide, but it meandered through the pasture, eventually joining arger river that flowed towards Mangge City.


    After washing her hands, Wen Qian stood on the riverbank, observing the small river within her view.


    She wondered if there might be small fish in this river. Wen Qian had previously set up fishings in the small streams and rivers near her home, but never found any small fish or shrimp.


    The rivers in the teau region were often seasonal, and the perennial rivers had even fewer fish.


    As for thekes, many were saltkes with basically no life, while the saline and freshwaterkes, although having some life, typically only had one or two fish species.


    For example, Jade Lake - if someone wanted to fish there now, there would probably be a lot of people doing the same.


    Wen Qian thought about it and took a drag, dragging it upstream for a distance, and to her surprise, she caught some fish.


    These fish were a bit smaller than the ones she had previously caught, but she was delighted, as it meant she had another food source to store.


    However, she was puzzled as to why there were fish here. Upon further inspection, she realized this river ran through the entire pasture, with water gates ands set up at the inlet and outlet.


    There was also an artificialke in the middle, so even if the river had seasonal floods, the fish could be retained.


    These fish were likely not wild, but rather fingerlings that had been stocked by the pasture owners in the past for cultivation.


    They might have even regrly harvested the fishst year before they left - Wen Qian did not know if they had done so.


    In any case, since there were still fish here, Wen Qian did not dwell on such thoughts.


    What she did not know was that the previous owners had indeed cleared out the fish from the artificialke the previous winter before leaving. However, the smaller fish had remained in the river section.


    So Wen Qian ended up catching quite a few small fish by dragging the through the artificialke.


    Thergest ones were about the size of her palm.


    Wen Qian dragged the through the artificialke several times, eventually catching all the remaining small fish.


    There were also some other fish species in theke that were not native to the teau, but could still survive there.


    So Wen Qian surmised that the previous owners had stocked theke with fingerlings of various species, as the native teau fish grew very slowly and would take a long time to mature.


    She then set up several gills at different points along the river in the pasture area, using drags in the river sections between the gills.

 Chapter 95

    Chapter 95


    Wen Qian dragged the through every segment of the river, catching many small fish, but there were no big fish in this river.


    The species were also very limited to the local fish varieties. It seemed that the fish in the artificialke and the river were separated.


    Wen Qian continued to drag the through the entire river segment of the pasture, and finally pulled up the set gils.


    She nned to leave in the afternoon and didn''t want to stay for a third night, so she hastily killed the fish, stored them in her dimensional space, and left.


    There were also some small fish fry. With a try-it-and-see attitude, Wen Qian put them in buckets, intending to raise the small fish in the nearby stream at home. If they couldn''t survive, they could be kept as pets.


    As for the fish she had stored in her dimensional space, she could clean and gut themter. Today, she just wanted to go home.


    She hadn''t been home for a few days and was concerned about the vegetables and things in the house.


    Fortunately, the sun exposure time was long enough in the teau region, and she returned near her home around dinner time.


    After taking a look around and seeing nothing unusual, she climbed up thedder and entered.


    Today''s harvest was quite abundant, and Wen Qian was feeling happy.


    The bucket with the small fish was ced by the door, and she nned to deal with it the next day.


    That night, due to excessive physical exertion, she ate an extra bowl of rice and then went to bed early.


    The next morning when Wen Qian woke up, she found some dead fish floating on the bucket.


    She removed the dead fish fry and dug arger shallow pool downstream from where she drew water from the stream. After lining it with stones, she released the small fish fry into it.


    She didn''t waste the dead small fish either. After squeezing out their guts and cleaning them, she left them outside to dry, then brushed them with oil and roasted them in the stove as snacks.


    Speaking of which, she had previously bought snacks like pumpkin seeds, but those were unroasted raw pumpkin seeds, the kind that could be nted to grow sunflowers.


    Originally, Wen Qian had nned to roast some raw peanuts and pumpkin seeds for snacks, but seeing the importance of the seeds, she has now narrowed down even the range of snacks.


    The unroasted peanuts and pumpkin seeds have all be seeds waiting to be nted in the future.


    After finishing these tasks, Wen Qian sat outside and cleaned the fishings she had used the previous day. She removed all the fish stuck to the gils, cleaned out the debris, and then soaked them in the stream, weighed down with stones, to slowly wash them clean before moving on to the next.


    It took her the whole afternoon to finish everything. The small fish in the two stic buckets in her dimensional space had already been killed the day before, so Wen Qian kept some of the remaining small fish from thes and put the rest into the buckets in her dimensional space.


    She cleaned and pan-fried some of the small fish by the stream for a vegetable dish, leaving the rest in the buckets to deal with whenever she had time.


    By now, her hands reeked of fish, so she washed them with some wood ash.


    After washing the fishings clean, she hung them on the wall to dry before storing them in her dimensional space.


    The fishing activity gave her an immense sense of satisfaction.


    Afterward, she surveyed the surroundings with a telescope, admired the beautiful snow-capped mountain scenery, and then set up the rm system in the yard before closing the door and going inside the house.


    To avoid insects and rodents, Wen Qian basically didn''t leave any food outside and stored everything in her dimensional space.


    It was still early, so after eating dinner, Wen Qian took off the outeryer of her clothes, which smelled of fish, soaked them in a basin with detergent, and nned to wash them the next day.


    When she woke up in the morning, Wen Qian felt something was off. She realized her abdomen was ufortable, and checking the time, her period seemed to have arrived two days early, likely due to her exposure to cold water in the past few days.


    She quickly grabbed a hot water bottle, filled it with hot water, and used it to warm her abdomen.


    Sure enough, her period arrived that day. After eating breakfast, Wen Qian made herself a cup of brown sugar water to drink.


    While feeling lethargic wasn''t the main issue, the difort of abdominal cramps and the chilling sensation in her hands made her feel that this period might not go smoothly.


    By the afternoon, Wen Qian was restless and had to lie down. Fortunately, she had the hot water bottle to provide some relief. If the pain worsened, she would have to take painkillers.


    Speaking of which, she had always paid attention to her health and didn''t usually experience such painful periods. It was just that this time, she had forgotten about the exposure to cold water. Different people have different reactions - for some, exposure to cold water may dy their period, while for others, it could worsen the pain.


    The first and second days were equally miserable. Wen Qian had no heart to do anything else, so she didn''t go out.


    It wasn''t until the afternoon of the second day when her condition improved that Wen Qian went out to check on the vegetable garden and then returned to lie down again, skipping a meal.


    After a few days, Wen Qian once again opened the radio atop the tree to receive messages.


    The cold weather in the north hadn''t subsided, and the south was shrouded in gloomy rain, with no ce seeming suitable for growing crops.


    In the remote Xiaochenwa area of An Province, people were trying to grow various crops on a small scale, as well as vegetables and melons.


    Fang Ya was also gathering mushrooms, wild vegetables, and greens at home. They had eaten the Chinese toon shoots he had collected earlier for a while.


    The weather was terrible, making it nearly impossible to grow crops and harvest grain. Furthermore, their hilly area wasn''t suitable forrge-scale farming. In other regions, people would use supplemental lighting during the growing season, but theycked the energy resources for such measures here.


    Without sunlight, even the weeds weren''t growing as lush as before under the constant gloomy weather, which could easily make people feel depressed. This was only the first year.


    Fang Ya even wondered if Wen Qian didn''t return because the conditions in the city were better than in rural areas.


    But ording to people he knew, the situation in the cities was even worse due to the rationing system, where people were allocated food based on their assigned work.


    After thest time Wen Qian spoke to Fang Ya, she never thought about her phone again.


    Even when she needed to look up knowledge, she consulted reference books instead.


    Currently, her phone didn''t serve much purpose. She wasn''t particrly interested in watching the shows and videos she had stored on it before.


    The electronic device Wen Qian used the most was the radio, but she only listened to limited content for a limited time, and it couldn''t be used tomunicate with the outside world or stay on 24/7.


    She seemed to have gradually gotten used to not using her phone or going online, rarely thinking about them now.


    Whenever she recalled her past life or saw shows from videos,paring them to her current situation wasn''t a good thing for Wen Qian.


    So she tried not to look back at the past.


    Just as she couldn''t immerse herself in the role of a wealthy heroine in novels, in real life, Wen Qian would actively avoid her ssmates who came from affluent families, had harmonious family rtionships, and were gifted with good looks, intelligence, and kind hearts.


    It wasn''t because of dislike or envy, but rather the stark contrast would evoke a feeling of sadness.

 Chapter 96

    Chapter 96


    It was clearly summer, yet many ces were experiencing frozen disasters and frosts, which was highly unfavorable for crop growth.


    Even though people in various ces began to research cold-resistant crop varieties, there was little progress in the first year, so the crops distributed to different regions were still the original cool-weather and cold-resistant varieties.


    For instance, wheat, potatoes, hignd barley, buckwheat, and beets - crops originally grown in northern and hignd areas - were now distributed to various regions for experimentation.


    In tropical regions, people were cultivating rice, where the temperature was still eptable.


    Of course, this was just information Wen Qian heard from the radio. Although she had books on seeds, shecked the environment and mindset for research, so she did not grow any grains in the first year.


    Though she didn''t grow grains, she did grow other crops like potatoes and beets.


    Potatoes were initially cultivated within the walls, butter, seeing their growth was decent, she moved them to the fields outside.


    Since potatoes were buried underground, external factors like strong winds, sand, stones, or frost and snow would not immediately affect the potatoes underground.


    ording to radio reports, the proportion of potato cultivation was still quite high worldwide.


    Indeed, being well-prepared meant unexpected yields. Even though Wen Qian didn''t grow grains in the first year, she would likely harvest enough potatoes for herself.


    Some of these potatoes were ones she had picked up for free from the wholesale market, while others were different varieties she had purchased.


    As for beets, she only grew a small amount, knowing they could be used to make sugar. However, she didn''t grow too many as she hadn''t really touched the white sugar she had previously stockpiled from wholesalers.


    From childhood memories, sweet potatoes and regr potatoes were never grown from seeds. Potatoes sprouted from tubers, which were then cut and buried for cultivation, while sweet potatoes were grown from nursery beds and transnted as vines.


    So when preparing seeds, Wen Qian not only had conventional seeds but also tubers of potatoes, sweet potatoes, and taro, and even sugarcane roots and grape vines.


    No one knew what the future held, so Wen Qian collected all the varieties she could grow.


    With a vague dream and a powerful storage space, Wen Qian wasn''t worried about food.


    Her current concerns were safety and warmth.


    Thus, afterpleting other tasks, she would either chop trees in the mountains to store firewood or learn to make clothes at home.


    For ease of disassembly and washing, she learned to separate the cotton or down lining from the outer fabric, as described in books, and also wore quilted jackets.


    This way, only the outer fabric needed washing, with the lining washed less frequently.


    Thick clothes were very troublesome andborious to wash.


    Simrly, her bedding had cotton and silk linings that she had previously picked up and had re-fluffed at a cotton-batting shop, made to her desired size and weight.


    Now, they came in handy. The fluffy bedding, whether used as mattresses or covers, was very soft andfortable, with plenty of recements.


    If she felt the bedding wasn''t fluffy enough after beingpressed, she would rece it, taking out the previously used ones to air and beat.


    Infrequent use would cause damage, but so would excessive use.


    Therefore, Wen Qian frequently rotated her clothes and shoes to reduce wear and tear.


    Far away in An Province, Auntie Chen took off her green sneakers, their soles now broken. She had just returned from the fields, her feet covered in mud.


    Their family had also grown some potatoes. With the current environment, the local authorities had distributed some cold-resistant seeds for them to nt.


    They heard that some seeds were from northern regions, and the locals were enthusiastic about nting them, aiming not for surplus, but at least to fill their own bellies. That would bring peace to the area.


    As for the reports of higher temperatures near the southern coasts, where rice could still be grown, they expressed envy. However, many people had already gone there, so no additional help was needed.


    Seed experts had been gathered at seed research institutes across the country to develop and cultivate crops.


    Seed banks worldwide were searching for and cultivating cold-resistant varieties.


    Before the volcanic eruption, people pursued money, using it to obtain desired things like houses, cars, education, and healthcare.


    Now, the goal was clearer and more singr. If stomachs couldn''t be filled, money was just scrap paper. Everyone''s focus was on seed cultivation and development.


    People also realized that, faced with the same plight, there was less helplessness or anger than before.


    Because everyone was in the same boat, people under the volcanic winter faced simr challenges.


    Previous helplessness stemmed from the inability to reach others'' starting lines despite great effort.


    Some struggled their whole lives to afford a down payment on a house, while others had several houses from birth.


    Now, they couldn''t see those disparities. Although some still had better conditions, inte and power restrictions prevented people from seeing such disys of wealth.


    Lifecked peer pressure, so the resulting anxiety was slightly alleviated.


    Now, hard work in cultivation yielded harvests, and filling stomachs was satisfying.


    Even in the event of crop failure or reduced yields, those under the same sky suffered simrly.


    With fewer distractions and differences in lifestyles, minds became clearer.


    There was no more food waste. After half a year of consumption, most households had nearly depleted their stored food.


    City dwellers now relied on rations, which were not enough for gluttonous eating.


    Every meal and every drop of oil was precious. Before the eruption, the "clean te" campaign was promoted, but afterward, no promotion was needed - people would pick up and eat every morsel that fell on the table.


    Of course, while picking it up, they wouldment their previous wastefulness, ordering too many dishes, and throwing away anything they didn''t like or couldn''t finish.


    Before, even vegetable stems and leaves would be discarded, keeping only the prime parts. Now, even a yellowed leaf, as long as it was from a vegetable, would be tossed into the pot.


    Previously, a thickyer of skin would be peeled off potatoes and sweet potatoes, but now they were just washed, any holes removed, and the skins eaten too.


    Against this backdrop of precious grains, even Wen Qian in far-off Xia Province was influenced by this mindset, handling scraps with utmost care.

 Chapter 97

    Chapter 97


    On a sunny day, Wen Qian was digging for wild vegetables between her home and the pasture. Upon returning, she discovered that the furthest vegetable patch from her home had been disturbed.


    This was the first time she had seen footprints of arge wild animal. Apart from yaks, Wen Qian couldn''t think of any other species that could leave such massive footprints.


    But this was peculiar. Wild yaks migrate following water and grass, and their natural habitat should be aroundkesides, vast grasnds, and expansive mountain valleys. It was unlikely that they wouldpete for grazingnds with other herbivores.


    Besides, who couldpete with yaks?


    The area where Wen Qian was located was not known for lush vegetation and water sources, even less so now than before. If the environment was truly favorable, people would have put their animals to graze here long ago.


    Wen Qian guessed it must have been a lone stray yak that happened to pass through the area.


    There were no signs of dung at the scene, only partially damaged green vegetables. She couldn''t spot anything in the distance either.


    Wen Qian was perplexed. Based on her usual vignce range, the yak did note in her direction while she was digging for vegetables.


    It was unlikely for the yak to have wandered into the barrennds in the middle. The only possibilities were that it went up the mountain or westward, with the former being more likely as thetter led to a desert.


    After carefully surveying her surroundings, Wen Qian dashed back home.


    From a distance, the vegetable patches around her home appeared undisturbed. Once inside the walled area, it was even more evident that nothing was amiss.


    It seemed as if a yak hade down from the mountain, encountered a patch ofnd, chewed on it briefly, and then returned.


    Wen Qian felt uneasy and revisited the site the next day, but found no further changes, indicating it was a one-time urrence.


    Due to this incident, she even halted her wild vegetable digging project.


    If it were truly a wild yak, its temperament would be extremely poor, potentially resulting in human casualties if provoked.


    Previously, when researching, Wen Qian had paid close attention to safety warnings regarding such animals. However, she had never encountered wild yaks before, only the semi-wild ones kept by herders.


    Wen Qian spected that due to global cooling and a descending snow line, many yaks might have stopped migrating upwards in search of grass and instead descended from the mountains.


    However, in that case, yaks should have headed to the sunny slopes, specifically the protected areas on the southern side of the Jade Mountain Range. Why would theye to this shaded slope?


    Could it be because of hunters in those areas?


    Wen Qian''s guess was not wrong. With global cooling affecting even agriculture, what could the livestock industry rely on for sustenance?


    After killing a wave of animals for meat, people quickly preserved or consumed what they could, realizing that meat production would be scarce in the future.


    Especially formonly consumed meats like beef, mutton, and pork ¨C the previously canned meats couldst a while, but they had to be consumed slowly.


    In this situation, the meat of wild animals became highly appealing. As a result, areas that were once wildlife sanctuaries became hunting grounds for people.


    It was possible for a few animals to stray to this side asionally.


    After seeing the footprints, Wen Qian felt conflicted.


    On one hand, she hoped to never encounter wild yaks again. On the other, she couldn''t help but imagine how wonderful it would be to acquire the meat of a whole yak!


    With the fantasy of harvesting yak meat in mind, Wen Qian considered digging a pitfall trap to try her luck. However, to trap a yak, the pit would have to be incredibly deep.


    Just digging such a pit would take her an eternity!


    But now, time was plentiful. Wen Qian thought to herself, besides digging for wild vegetables, what else could she do?


    There were no wild chickens to catch here, and the eagles soaring high above were certainly inedible. So she began digging a pit in the middle of the vegetable patch.


    Based on the size of a yak, she needed to dig an extremely deep and narrow pit.


    From the news she had seen before, pits or holes that trapped cattle or elephants were always narrow, preventing the animals from moving or exerting their strength.


    Wen Qian knew her idea was far-fetched, but she decided to use this small patch of green vegetables as bait and give it a try. Even if it was fruitlessbor, she could consider it as a way to pass her time. Besides, how would she know if she didn''t try?


    For her, this was apletely new endeavor.


    Wen Qian even considered nting more vegetables in this area. With more vegetables closer to the mountain range, if any wild animals were attracted by the crops, they mighte here first instead of near her home.


    This was the original reason behind her scattered nting of crops and vegetables.


    Wen Qian spent over two days digging the pit, or rather a well, as water even started seeping through at the bottom.


    She dug a narrow opening at the top that expanded into arger space below, with straight walls.


    After setting up adder to climb out, she erected an iron sign warning of danger near the vegetable patch.


    However, she did not ce any sharp bamboo stakes at the bottom of the trap. Wen Qian''s goal was to confine her catch, and she couldn''t guarantee she would check the situation every day, so it was better to keep the animal alive.


    She was also concerned that someone might ignore the warning and fall into the trap, which would be disastrous if it resulted in a casualty.


    After digging the pit, Wen Qianid thin bamboo strips across the top, camouging it as t ground. She then covered the bamboo with a thin stic sheet and nted a few shallow-rooted green vegetable seedlings on top, with soil and all.


    The bamboo could support a certain weight, making it appear as if the same vegetables were growing there as the surrounding area. However, arge wild animal stepping on it would fall through.


    Wen Qian was pleased with her work and returned home.


    For her, this was an experiment, and simply digging the trap was good enough. As for the oue, she didn''t have high expectations, though she harbored a slight sense of anticipation deep down.


    After that, she didn''t notice any other traces of wild animals like yaks in the vicinity of the vegetable patch.


    The distant patch with the trap didn''t show any further disturbances or footprints either.


    Nevertheless, Wen Qian didn''t give up. Even when it was time to harvest the vegetables in that patch, she would leave a ring around the trap undisturbed while collecting the rest.


    Until one day in August, originally she had no ns to check the trap, as she had just reced the fresh vegetables the day before.


    But for some reason, she woke up that morning with a feeling that there might be prey inside the trap from the previous night. So Wen Qian decided to take a look, and sure enough, she heard noisesing from within.


    Without even checking what was inside, she immediately summoned a massive and heavy concrete b from her spatial storage.


    She had always thought this b could be used to crush people, and in a critical moment, one swing could turn someone into a meat patty.


    Upon hearing the dangerous sounds, her first reaction was to take it out and cover the opening of the trap.


    The concrete b was quiterge, sealing the trap securely.


    Wen Qian didn''t know what was inside, but she was certain it wasn''t a person. Listening through the cracks, the sounds resembled pig squeals.


    Could it really be a yak? ording to the information, yak vocalizations were also simr to pig squeals.


    Wen Qian came to her senses and examined the surroundings. These footprints looked just like those of a pig. Her family used to raise pigs, and while the prints weren''t asrge, she was confident they belonged to a pig.


    There were also signs of rooting around the area.


    Were there wild boars on the teau? What should she do next?

 Chapter 98

    Chapter 98


    Wen Qian sat on the concrete b, listening to the sounds of the animals inside, not knowing at the moment how to kill the prey and take it out.


    If she lets the prey starve to death, how long will it take? What if the prey gets taken away during the long night? She can''t just stay here and watch it every day, and the most important thing is that it will make the animal lean from hunger, right?


    If she uses a crossbow or bow and arrow, the wild boar at the bottom of the pit seems to have a ce to hide due to the angle. Moreover, the stones above, even if she rearranges them to expose an edge, can only reveal a slit on one side.


    Wen Qian recalled the slope and angle of the pit she dug and felt that this method was not very suitable either.


    There is also the problem that arge amount of fresh blood may attract other wild animals, which would not be good.


    As for using a gun, Wen Qian knew that after the bullet goes in, it will be difficult to clean up and there will be a lot of fresh blood, so she decided to drown this pig.


    Finally, Wen Qian rearranged the stone bs and inserted a water pipe, gradually pouring water into it, worrying that the concrete bs might have problems, so she also pressed arge stone on top.


    After making sure the prey could not escape from anywhere, Wen Qian started pouring water again.


    After the water was full, Wen Qian waited for half an hour, and everything became quiet.


    In fact, there had been no sound for a long time, but Wen Qian waited a little longer just to be sure.


    When the half-hour timer ended, Wen Qian excitedly removed the stone bs and therge stone, then used a rope to pull the wild boar out of the pit to the edge.


    After confirming the prey''s death, she stored it in her space, then began to clean up the stones and vegetables around the trap.


    She was so happy today that she didn''t have time to clean up the standing water inside, so the trap became a water pit that couldn''t be seen from the outside.


    Wen Qian put up a warning sign, and since she had a harvest, she wanted to go home, so she didn''t want to do anything else and hurriedly went back.


    She was really excited now, her hands were shaking, and she couldn''t hold back the smile on her face, feeling like a blind cat that had stumbled upon a dead mouse, and there wouldn''t be such good luck in the future.


    But one good thing is enough, what else does she need?


    When she got home, Wen Qian did not immediately take out the prey, as it would be difficult to clean up the drowned wild boar.


    Wen Qian was thinking about a problem, which is whether killing the pig and cutting the meat here would attract carnivorous animals.


    After all, some animals have very sensitive noses. They can smell the scent of blood from miles away.


    So Wen Qian decided to store the thing in her space first, and take it out to dissect itter when the time is right. The meat has already been stored in the space, and everything in the space remains in the same state as when it was put in.


    Even if she takes the pig outter, she can drain the blood to maintain the quality.


    The calm Wen Qian gave herself some other food as a supplementary meal that day. She estimated in her mind that this wild boar should weigh more than 200 pounds.


    However, she had never eaten wild boar meat before. In the peaceful years before the natural disaster, the wild boar was still a protected animal.


    It seems that the regtions on animals are different in different countries.


    In her area, wild boars only started to be a nuisance and descend the mountains to damage crops a few years ago, when the ecological environment was well protected.


    Now it shouldn''t be the case, as daring to descend the mountains to destroy people''s food supply means going down the mountain to deliver food.


    The previous wild chickens and wild boars, which were protected animals, should now be quite dangerous, as they are the primary prey that people are looking for.


    The next day, Wen Qian went back to the trap and used a bucket to scoop out most of the water, leaving a shallow bottom, then set up the trap outside just as before.


    Since the trap took so long to dig, and she had already caught prey, she would be quite happy to check on it regrly from now on.


    Although there was no harvest in the following days, the joyful Wen Qian who had caught that wild boar would not be discouraged, and she also harvested some other vegetables.


    In September, it was time to dig potatoes, as the weather forecast indicated that winter woulde early, and the temperature would drop and it would snow soon, so the potatoes couldn''t grow much longer.


    Therefore, Wen Qian decided to dig them all up to prevent them from being buried in the snow and spoiling if left too long.


    In September, Wen Qiany in the field digging potatoes. The potatoes grown here were not veryrge, at least not as big as the ones she had originally bought in the vegetable market.


    Perhaps it was because the growing time was not long enough. Thergest ones were about the size of her fist, and the smaller ones were really like marbles.


    Even so, Wen Qian was extremely careful when digging, not missing a single small potato. After clearing a small plot, she would sift through it again, then bury the kitchen waste she had previously collected in her space into the soil.


    By the time she nted again after a long winter, it should have be fertilizer.


    Previously, Wen Qian was worried that she didn''t have enough fertilizer, so in addition to the limited farmyard manure from the toilet, she also dug up the sedimentary river mud from the small river.


    She usually doesn''t just casually throw away the kitchen waste she handles, including eggshells, but stores them in her space.


    Because she knows that some wild animals will also rummage through the trash cans, so she tries to avoid giving any attraction or curiosity to the animals around her living area.


    By the end of September, it was already winter. This was the third winter she had spent in Xia Province.


    The first winter, she had just arrived in Xia Province and was only looking for a ce to build a house and get through the winter.


    The second winter was the first winter after the volcanic eruption, when the whole world was in a panic and no one knew what the future would be like.


    Wen Qian felt that the sword that had been hanging over her head had finally fallen.


    Now in the third winter, the situation is clearly getting worse, but this year people have made great changes.


    When the environment undergoes major changes, some people choose to end their lives, and some who originally thought they couldn''t survive or couldn''t imagine how to get through it, still made it.


    Of course, this adaptation is definitely forced by circumstances.


    Wen Qian no longer worries so much, although she is still cautious, she is not as anxious as before.


    After Wen Qian set up the trap for thest time, she would note to check on it regrly, as it was too far away and too cold in the snowy weather, and she didn''t want to go out.


    Based on her understanding of this area, in winter there is nothing here except cold winds and blown sand, so Wen Qian felt that even if there was a trap, there would be no prey.


    Before the heavy snow arrived, Wen Qian had one more important task, which was to chop trees and stack firewood.


    Although she had umted a lot of firewood before, she didn''t want to use the ones already stored in her space.


    In the new winter, she must store a new batch, and then use from this batch, and make sure the amount put in is much more than the amount taken out.


    Therefore, the firewood she had umted from her hometown in An Province still had some left.


    For Wen Qian, when she was looking for a location, if there was not enough wood, there should at least be enough coal, so that she could have heat and cook.


    She chose the trees to be cut down andid them down in ce, waiting for them to dry a bit before collecting them. During this time, Wen Qian also tried to nt some seedlings, generally nting them on the edge of the forest.


    The small saplings she transntedst year had grown a bit, but the trees in the hignd area seem to grow very slowly, unlike the fast-growing trees she used to nt in her hometown.

 Chapter 99

    Chapter 99


    In the second winter after the volcanic eruption, Wen Qian was mending her roof.


    Before the winter, she had thoroughly checked her house and the surrounding walls, and fortunately there were no major issues. The time for her to spend the winter alone hade again.


    Every day, Wen Qian would either clean the vegetables or process firewood. Previously, she would dry an entire tree until it was almost done, then store it in her space.


    Now, instead of taking the firewood she had previously stored, she would periodically fell a few trees and leave them in the yard, processing them into a suitable size before stacking them.


    In the winter, she couldn''t go anywhere or grow anything, so she had to find things to keep herself upied.


    Aside from reading and studying, she would do physical activities, with martial arts training being a fixed routine, while chopping firewood became an irregr task.


    For Wen Qian, chopping firewood was an extremely stress-relieving activity. After processing a tree from branches to trunk, the sound of the axe splitting wood would make her feel like the anxiety umted within had been vented.


    Wen Qian felt that this life was neither good nor bad. Having less interaction with people was actually one of her wishes before quitting her job.


    However, asional worries about the future or thoughts about unexpected situations, or perhaps just mood swings caused by her uing period, were all things she needed to process and digest on her own.


    In this ce, the only human voices one could hear throughout the year were from the radio and her own self-talk.


    Although time flew by quickly, Wen Qian realized that she might have changed from her former self.


    For over half a year, Wen Qian had not visited the spring again. She knew that the people there were still around, but she still had no intention of talking to strangers.


    She didn''t know if the next time she talked to someone, she might forget how to speak or be socially awkward and shy when seeing people.


    After a year of adaptation, many people in the country had gradually be ustomed to life after the volcanic eruption, with many migrating from the north to the south.


    Some people moved from their own houses to underground shelters, as the difficulty of keeping warm at home was different from that in the shelters.


    In cold weather, it was hard for both adults and children to endure.


    In rural areas with denser vegetation, many people had stockpiled a lot of firewood, which would not be consumed so quickly.


    During this period, Wen Qian heard an interesting news report about White Bear Country and White Elephant Country making a deal. One would be responsible for farming, and the other for energy. One of the conditions was to arrange for a portion of White Bear Country''s people toe to White Elephant Country for farming.


    The farther north, the longer the winter, and without alcohol, the people of White Bear Country would suffer even more. However, in this era, it was not easy to produce alcohol, as even food was scarce, which led to this n of periodically sending people south to farm.


    It was unknown how the two sides reached an agreement, but reaching a written agreement was better than resorting to warfare. After all, in some ces, they didn''t reason at all and directly used force to upy territory, which couldn''t be helped.


    So far, the good news reported in the media was that the mushroom industry was developing quite smoothly, and the breeding of small white mice was also going well. Various regions had prepared some centralized heating and shelters.


    Therefore, the heating conditions this winter might be better than previous years.


    However, whether it was the northwest wind turning into starch or controlled nuclear fusion, there were still no signs of progress.


    As time passed, the variety and nutritional quality of people''s food became worse.


    Although the news also wanted to inform people of some optimistic things, the reality was not optimistic. Reasoning couldn''t lead to much, and early nning for the future could only be described as wishful thinking.


    Perhaps due to the cold weather, some ces were still experiencing sporadic outbreaks of the super virus.


    This was also a major obstacle preventing people from moving towards a normal life. However, at this time, its mortality rate had decreased, while its transmission rate had increased.


    Against the backdrop ofck of food and clothing, resistance was also declining. At this time, catching a cold was already annoying, not to mention that some symptoms were still very simr to the super virus.


    This winter, in addition to regrly chopping firewood and training, Wen Qian also scheduled tasks for weaving fishings and knitting sweaters.


    She nned to visit the ranch after the New Year, or go further to try the river. She also wanted to take a trip to Xia Province when the temperature roseter, not necessarily to harvest anything, but just to go farther away from home for a change of scenery.


    Living alone, aside from executing her own schedule on time, sometimes Wen Qian even forgot to look at the calendar.


    Living alone, one could easily slip into repeating the same day over and over. Therefore, Wen Qian scheduled various activities for herself, even arranging activities that might not be immediately useful.


    It was like making a ss schedule.


    If she did the same things every day, she wouldn''t be able to tell if she was repeating the same day or if time was moving forward, which would give her the illusion that time had stopped.


    During the winter, she was looking forward to her ns for going out after the winter ended.


    She grew a sweet potato in a ss bottle, and the sweet potato sprouted green leaves.


    Wen Qian treated it as an ornamental nt, asionally trimming the leaves to allow it to keep growing.


    She would also change the plush toys by her pillow, as well as the curtains and other decorations in her home, just to give her home a fresh feel.


    Of course, sometimes she would also schedule something like a weekend break, lying in bed all day, eating just two meals, and doing nothing but sleeping.


    When she was working, she could take a single day off, but there was no need for her to work 365 days a year without a break now that she had quit her job.


    Although she needed to find things to do, she wouldn''t fill her days too full, as winter was supposed to be a time for rest.


    One morning, Wen Qian woke up to see that it was still snowing heavily outside. She hadn''t drawn the curtains when she went to bed, so she woke up whenever it got bright, but she didn''t necessarily get up right away.


    Since the snow hadn''t stopped, Wen Qian didn''t n to go out. After leisurely finishing her breakfast, she put on a raincoat and went outside to clear the umted snow from the roof.


    Whenever there was a bit of snow on the roof, Wen Qian would want to clear it, because she didn''t know when it might snow heavily at night. If the snow on the roof became too thick, she was worried it might copse the roof, so she would climb adder to check every day.


    After clearing the roof, Wen Qian came down and stored the snow in her space, then went inside to drink something warm.

 Chapter 100

    Chapter 100


    In winter, the only thing Wen Qian could store was snow, and the area in her space where she piled the snow varied each year.


    This way, some snow could be melted and boiled for use, some needed to be disinfected before use, and some could only be used for watering crops.


    In this ce, during this kind of winter, the only thing that could be stored was this.


    When nning her tasks, Wen Qian realized that she still hadn''t processed some of the fruits stored in her space.


    Back when she was in her hometown, she had purchased fruits in bulk several times, with people drivingrge trucks and selling piles of apples, oranges, and the like.


    If Wen Qian bought inrge quantities, she could bargain for a better price, so she had bought quite a lot using her manual three-wheeler.


    Now, she ate just a little fruit each day, leaving the rest in her space. She thought of how these sour green oranges were fresh but extremely tart, and at this time of year, fruits were scarce and difficult to cultivate.


    It was challenging for people nowadays to obtain fresh fruits with good appearance for sale, so Wen Qian decided to make fruit preserves for herself.


    Eating canned fruit in public might make others envious, but eating fresh fruit would arouse even more suspicion.


    Now that it was winter, Wen Qian had oranges, white sugar, and some containers she had prepared for making preserves. So she decided to try making some orange preserves first.


    The orange preserves from childhood were delicious, but ording to the recipes, the preparation process wasplicated, especially the sterilization and disinfection step.


    Once she had decided what to do, Wen Qian started taking oranges out of her space. She nned to make a small batch first as a trial.


    First, she peeled the orange skins, which she also needed to keep. In the past, when people in her hometown ate oranges, they often kept the peels, even though they rarely had any use for them. But they would still dry and collect the peels, thinking they might find a use for them someday.


    The instructions said to remove the thin white membranes, which could make the oranges taste bitter.


    The canned oranges Wen Qian usually ate had even the transparent membranes removed, so she prepared them to that extent, which was time-consuming.


    But fortunately, there was no need to rush in her current life. Wen Qian took her time, as long as she could make decent fruit preserves.


    It was currently winter, with the wind blowing from the basin towards the Jade Mountain Range. Wen Qian didn''t dare butcher livestock or spend too much time cooking at home.


    She was worried that animals might be attracted by the smell. Bears might be hibernating, but wolves were different.


    So in winter, any dishes with meat had been prepared by Wen Qian in advance and stored in her space.


    Yes, Wen Qian was still eating pork and poultry that she had boiled in arge pot two or three years ago.


    It was fortunate she had her space; otherwise, how could she have kept the food for so long?


    Two things took up most of the space packed with various items: firewood and snow. The area for storing food was rtively smallpared to those.


    However, the meat she had bought from the wholesale market back then was still limited, even after she bought more when she returned to her hometown. The quantity was still lesspared to the rice, flour, and oil she had bought earlier.


    After all, the prices differed significantly.


    She had enough staple foods and didn''t need to worry about that.


    After processing the oranges and putting the peels and scraps into her space, she started adding water, sugar, and heating the mixture.


    The containers she had bought for making preserves were already washed and sun-dried before being stored in her space without collecting dust.


    She nned to put the cooked oranges into the jars and then heat them in a water bath. This way, even if the preserves weren''t kept in her space, their shelf life would be rtively long.


    After the first experimental batch was done, she left one jar outside and stored the rest. Two or three dayster, when she tried them, she found the taste was decent. Although not as good as store-bought, the sweet oranges left her quite satisfied.


    So she decided to make some every day as her daily task, but not for too long.


    She continued this routine for a week, using only a small portion of the oranges she had purchased in bulk, with plenty left over. However, her fingers had turned yellow from peeling so many oranges.


    After that, she didn''t want to smell the scent of sour oranges anymore. Plus, she didn''t have many more jars left, so she used the remaining jars to make preserves from other fruits.


    Speaking of fruit preserves, she had once bought two boxes of canned yellow peaches online, but she didn''t have any yellow peaches among the fruits she had purchased in bulk. She did, however, have grapes, apples, and watermelons.


    Most of them were bought when the fruits were in abundant supply and the prices were low.


    Wen Qian tried making grape and apple preserves, and the results were not bad.


    As her gaze lingered on the fruit pile, she became interested in the seeds.


    Whether they were sour orange seeds or watermelon seeds, she wasn''t sure if they were fully ripe, but she kept them all, thinking of trying to sprout themter.


    If her previous hoarding self had been meticulously calcting money, her current self wanted to make full use of everything she owned.


    Now, even when eating watermelon, she would slice the rind with a knife and keep it, because she knew watermelon rind could be stir-fried and eaten. She had even tried it herself.


    The taste was average, but edible, which made it worth continuing to do so.


    Living alone in Xia Province, Wen Qian had no idea what kind of life people were leading these days.


    Wen Qian was rtively well-off because the items stored in her space were quite diverse and varied.


    In other ces, even if people had supplies, they couldn''t keep them fresh for so long. The quality would deteriorate, especially for perishable fruits and vegetables.


    Although there were so-called grain reserves, careful rationing might not be enough tost through the volcanic winter, which was predicted tost at least ten years.


    Who knew what the situation would be like after ten years? So in the beginning one or two years, everyone was frugal, not because they had anything to waste, except for wasting time and their own lives.


    Petty theft incidents were verymon. At this point, no household had anything worth stealing, unless they had just received rations, which had also be a source of instability.


    Some were dissatisfied with the current living conditions, believing that the supplies had all been taken by those with connections, leaving themon people to suffer.


    In reality, it was to ensure a steady supply, with staple foods being the items stockpiled for distribution.


    Fruits, snacks, and the like were not stockpiled for distribution to everyone; instead, synthetic vitamin pills were provided topensate for theck of vitamins.


    In the volcanic winter environment, some people began to feel that humanity had no hope and wouldn''t survive, so they refused to work for rations ording to the assigned distribution.

 Chapter 101

    Chapter 101


    Just as Wen Qian finished canning for herself and took a day off, lying on the bed around eleven o''clock in the morning, she seemed to hear a gunshot.


    She immediately sat up, put on clothes and shoes, and took a telescope to listen for any movements at the window.


    In that momentary sound, Wen Qian then remained silent, but she didn''t hear any other noises.


    Wen Qian''s wall was built quite high, so she quietly stuck her head out from the front by putting up adder, using a white veil to cover the telescope as she looked towards the Jade Mountain Range.


    There was no way to see anything from the vast expanse of white.


    Since there were no other abnormalities, Wen Qian wondered if she was just hearing things?


    After all, it was possible to have auditory hallucinations when living alone for a long time.


    But what if it was real? Wen Qian thought it was better to be overcautious than careless.


    The gunshot made Wen Qian guess that someone might be hunting.


    What kind of game would it be at this time? A wild donkey or antelope? Or could it be a wild boar? Since the snow outside was heavy, Wen Qian had not checked the traps far away for many days.


    Since she couldn''t see anything, Wen Qian observed for a while longer but eventually gave up. However, she extended the time she spent observing with the telescope each day.


    The unchanging external environment was actually safe for her; any sudden change would make her feel very uneasy.


    She even wondered if one day someone would discover her, and how she would confront them.


    After a long time passed, Wen Qian didn''t hear any simr sounds again, so it turned out to be a false rm.


    In a ce unseen by Wen Qian, vultures were circling overhead at the location of the gunshot. It wasn''t someone hunting there, but rather someone being killed.


    Only separated by the mountains, although Wen Qian could hear the sound, she had no idea what had happened.


    On both satellite maps and paper maps, the ce where Wen Qian was located had no specific name, as it was unseen by people.


    To ease her unease, she increased the time for self-defense training every day.


    Living alone, whenever she felt any physical or mental difort or unease, she would take action immediately.


    She never ignored any changes in herself, as sometimes neglecting small things could lead to bigger issues, which would be more troublesome to resolveter.


    She took out the bows, arrows, and crossbows she had assembled before to practice aiming and shooting. In short, Wen Qian would do anything to put her mind at ease.


    Fortunately, so far everything was safe and sound. Come to think of it, whether collecting information or gathering intelligence, people would eventually go to ces with people or traces of human activity.


    While she could believe someone going to the ranch, the possibility of theming here was much lower.


    In fact, before Wen Qian went to the ranch, several groups of people had already been there.


    After it was abandoned, the condition of the buildings that Wen Qian saw was actually what was left after others had scavenged it clean.


    The small fry that Wen Qian fished out from there couldn''t survive the winter in her small pond at home.


    One morning, Wen Qian cooked a bowl of vegetable noodles. After eating, she washed the bowl outside with snow.


    Having just finished eating and with her body still warm, she went up the mountain. She hadn''t listened to the radio for several days, afraid of missing any news.


    She used to listen during the twelve o''clock or hourly time slots out of habit, but this time she didn''t, and then she heard the news about people attacking the granary.


    The guards were injured, and the ringleaders were shot dead on the spot.


    The news was brief, but the severity of the incident was likely understood by all listeners.


    When people''s petty theft was discovered, punishment would be severe, let alone attacking the granary.


    Moreover, the perpetrators weren''t acting alone, but inciting a crowd. If not dealt with harshly, others might follow suit, putting the granary at risk.


    Logically, protecting the food supply was of utmost importance, so the guards must have been strict. Wen Qian couldn''t figure out why those people had to do such a thing.


    For now, she could still get some news from the radio, proving that social order still maintained a certain level of stability. Otherwise, all she would hear would be static.


    Far away in An Province, Fang Ya also heard the vige chief''s notice, warning them to be cautious of ouws from elsewhere fleeing towards their area.


    This made the vigers very anxious. Although there were more people in the vige now, they were all honest folks. There might be arguments and fights, but ouws were truly frightening.


    Most people, even in this apocalyptic environment, couldn''t quickly transform into the kind of person capable of confronting ouws.


    Those ruthless and bloody-handed ones had already shown their viciousness and cruelty in a harmonious society.


    However, good news came soon after: some ouws who went to a neighboring vige were beaten to death by the vigers. It was a result of strength in numbers, and no one held the ordinary civilians responsible.


    At this time, there was no need to talk about excessive self-defense - those rioters would be executed even if caught.


    It seemed to have returned to a period of severe and swift punishment for crimes and offenses.


    This behavior was reasonable. There was no longer time and energy to slowly reform and rehabilitate those people. All efforts were focused on defending food security and allocating resources for heating and cultivation.


    With the situation already so difficult, those who still chose tomit crimes were simply asking for death.


    For some reason, after hearing this news, Wen Qian''s heart actually felt a little more at ease.


    It meant that if she encountered bad people in the future, the psychological burden of self-defense would be much reduced.


    In the cold winter, Wen Qian sat on a tree looking towards the distant desert.


    From being able to receive many channels on the radio at first, it had gradually dwindled to two channels, which didn''t even broadcast around the clock.


    Wen Qian wondered if there woulde a day when she couldn''t receive any channels on the radio, would that mean social order hadpletely copsed?


    That day would inevitablye if there was no progress in scientific research and development.


    There was new progress rted to seeds, not a new variety, but just the rediscovery of an old, forgotten variety.


    Winter was getting longer, and people had to endure more extreme cold while consuming more materials for heating.


    Many people suffered frostbite on their hands, feet, or faces. By the time the weather warmed up, those scars had not faded, and before long, winter came again, so many people''s faces still bore the marks of frostbite.


    Wen Qian rarely went outside in winter and protected her skin, so she didn''t have any frostbite.


    Aftering down from the tree, Wen Qian headed towards home. Every time she returned from listening to the radio, she would put up adder on the back wall of herpound to enter, instead of going around to the front.


    However, this habit saved her life.

 Chapter 102

    Chapter 102


    Wen Qian lived alone here, often leaving the curtains open, as the surrounding walls were quite tall.


    In the past, when Wen Qian was cutting trees and digging for wild vegetables at the foot of the opposite mountain, she observed her own home.


    Not to mention that it was difficult to see clearly with the naked eye, even with a telescope, the movements around the walls could not be fully discerned.


    Moreover, with the recent snowfall, the snow on top of the walls had not been cleared by Wen Qian.


    The snow covered the previous ss shards, making it too thick, so Wen Qian was worried that the ss shards would not serve their intended purpose of deterring burrs. As a result, she alsoid branches of the soapberry tree over the thick snow, effectively increasing the height of the wall.


    These soapberry tree branches were actually collected by her when she was back in An Province, as she found the thorns of this tree to be long and poisonous.


    When Wen Qian went out to listen to the radio, if it was snowing in winter, she would wear a white cloak as she left her home.


    Perhaps influenced by scenes of camouge in the snow she had seen on the news, she would sometimes put on this camouge-colored cloak out of boredom, climb adder from the back of the house, and slowly move up the mountain.


    She would climb a tree and listen to the radio while observing the surroundings.


    The radio had earphones, and in the silence around her, Wen Qian dared not make too much noise in the wilderness.


    After all, this was not An Province, her hometown. In the summer back home, she had to make noise wherever she went to scare away snakes, but in the winter in Xia Province, Wen Qian did everything quietly.


    It was on this particr day, when Wen Qian was observing, that she noticed something amiss.


    She couldn''t pinpoint the reason, but she had a very bad feeling, so she stayed in the tree longer than usual that day.


    Then she saw someoneing down from the opposite mountain.


    Wen Qian thought that apart from her location, the person seemed to have no other purpose, so she was on high alert, like a porcupine.


    Up in the mountain, there were two people who had been on the run after theirpanion was killed in a previous gunshot. They were fleeing through the mountains.


    However, even if they could escape for the time being in the cold winter, what could they do next? Without food or water, just eating snow would not be enough.


    Perhaps the pursuers had stopped chasing them to conserve ammunition and energy, or maybe they thought the fugitives couldn''t survive in the mountains, so they decided not to pursue them further.


    Xiao Cai and Da Gang were being chased because their traces were discovered after a series of robberies.


    The currentw enforcers patrolled with guns, and while Xiao Cai and Da Gang initially onlymitted robberies with knives, theyter escted to home invasions with casualties. They knew the consequences they would face if caught, so they were fleeing desperately.


    They had knives and makeshift guns, but their ammunition was running low during the escape.


    The two of them took shelter in a crevice in the mountain, building a snow cave. At first, they nned to hide and then return, but there was no food or water in the mountains, and the snowfall was heavy.


    Their dry rations were quickly depleting. Xiao Cai was tall but cautious, slightly thinner than the more rugged and fierce-looking Da Gang.


    It was precisely because of this that he left clues and was discovered.


    The two of them stayed together, with Xiao Cai wanting to endure in the mountains for a while before leaving, but Da Gang insisted on exploring the area.


    While Xiao Cai was digging for grass roots in the mountains, Da Gang excitedly returned from his wandering, telling him about a discovery.


    Da Gang''s discovery was that he had found smooth, cut tree stumps while venturing farther out into the mountains, indicating human activity. Where there were people, there would be food, or so he thought.


    Da Gang insisted on going to investigate, regardless of Xiao Cai''s objections about not wanting to encounter anyone.


    Xiao Cai certainly didn''t want to go, as Da Gang might get caught and implicate him too, after they had finally found a ce to take shelter.


    But he couldn''t stop Da Gang, who spent several consecutive days going out to search for signs of habitation.


    However, in the surrounding mountains and slopes, there were only scattered cut tree stumps, but no traces of human dwellings.


    Venturing farther out would lead to a basin and deserts, where no one would build a home. Although Da Gang didn''t believe it, he still tried walking in that direction.


    In the distance, he discovered a few low mountains with buildings, indicating that someone had settled there.


    It seemed to be just one household, but due to the distance andck of a telescope, he could only make out the structures and nothing else.


    However, the visible smoke signaled human habitation, which delighted him. He hurried back to find Xiao Cai, who remained unmoved.


    Da Gang then dered that he would go and check it out himself, and that Xiao Cai shouldn''t me him for not giving him the opportunity, as each would fend for themselves.


    In truth, Xiao Cai had secretly stashed away some food elsewhere, intending to ditch this burdensomepanion and flee on his own.


    This gave him a valid reason, so Xiao Cai asked when Da Gang nned to act.


    Da Gang stated that he would go for a closer look the next day.


    Xiao Cai didn''t stop him, only saying that he wouldn''t go, but in reality, he also nned to leave this ce when Da Gang started his operation.


    Xiao Cai felt that anyone living in such a deste ce must be no ordinary person.


    But Da Gang thought that with just a small house, there couldn''t be too many people living there, and there might be an opportunity to take advantage of the situation.


    Therefore, Xiao Cai didn''t share his thoughts with Da Gang, knowing that Da Gang was not one to listen to advice. They had cooperated previously for mutual benefit, but now they would go their separate ways.


    Perhaps Da Gang also realized this, that they would part ways. He now had a direction and a goal, and maybe he could settlefortably in a house this winter, warming himself by the fire and eating meat.


    Unlike Xiao Cai, who was timidly ying the monkey in the mountains, unable to even find fruit to eat.


    That day, Da Gang observed the house from the mountain for a long time, only seeing smokeing from the chimney, but nothing else.


    So he went straight down the mountain, unaware that his movements were being watched by Wen Qian in the tree, who immediately became highly alert.


    As Da Gang approached the foot of the mountain, with no cover, he worried about being spotted too early, so he took a detour to the side, intending to approach from the nk.


    But every move he made was under Wen Qian''s surveince, and she was pondering which weapon to use against this unwee visitor.


    She was also wondering if there was only this one person, or if this person was just a scout, with more people to follow.


    As Da Gang circled around and reached the side of the hill, he noticed that the surrounding wall was exceptionally tall.


    In Da Gang''s view, the wall seemed to have no entrance, so he quietly circled to the other side but didn''t find any doors or windows either.


    Did they not go out in winter? Da Gang thought this reasoning seemed usible.


    He then noticed footprints leading up the mountain, but these didn''t look like a man''s footprints. Judging by the shoe prints, Da Gang became even more excited.

 Chapter 103

    Chapter 103


    He saw the footprints, but his first reaction was not to follow them and find the person. Instead, he wanted to sneak in first and look for food and warmth while the person was away.


    However, the wall was too high, so he took out a dagger and tried to pry open a spot on the neatly stacked stone wall behind the house to climb over.


    Wen Qian had built the outer wall very neatly, but the inside was uneven, allowing for footholds to climb up. Usually, Wen Qian just used adder.


    Da Gang tried prying for a bit, but found it too troublesome. He looked around but couldn''t find any stones or wood to use as a step.


    Since he couldn''t get in, he decided to follow the footprints and find the person first.


    He thought subduing a woman would be easy. If hispanion were here, they would have stopped him.


    Even in peacetime, living here alone required courage. After the apocalypse, anyone still living here must have a weapon or two, right?


    If it were Xiao Cai, he''d be more cautious, but Da Gang clearly wasn''t that type.


    Wen Qian watched as a man tried poking the wall with a knife a few times before giving up. He then followed the footprints around the back wall, heading towards her location up the mountain.


    Wen Qian had already prepared as he came down from the mountain. She extended the footprints forward and even dropped a tent ahead.


    Now she was deciding whether to use a gun or a crossbow. The crossbow made less noise, so she aimed it at him.


    Her goal was to hit him with one shot and prevent his escape, but shecked confidence in her shooting skills.


    The target was also moving quickly. By the time Wen Qian hesitated, he had reached the forest.


    Being uphill, Da Gang felt tired upon climbing up, but he noticed only forward footprints, so he continued ahead.


    Soon, Da Gang was approaching the tree where Wen Qian was hiding.


    Wen Qian held her breath, wanting him toe a bit closer.


    Da Gang noticed the tree had been pruned clean of branches underneath.


    As he looked up, their eyes met. Da Gang''s heart sank - his target was a woman, but her gaze showed no panic.


    Before Da Gang could aim his gun, a massive object dropped from above onto his head.


    A huge concrete b fell from the sky, pinning Da Gang down and leaving him unable to make a sound.


    He fell to the ground, as if all his strength had vanished. Blood stained the snow a bright red color.


    He didn''t understand how such arge stone could drop from the sky.


    When their eyes met, Wen Qian had finally executed the killing scenario she had rehearsed countless times, instantly incapacitating him.


    She had noticed his gun, so she was extra careful.


    Aftering down from the tree, Wen Qian kept watching him as she approached from the side. She kicked his gun away, then pulled the object out from her Space.


    The man pinned by the b let out a groan. Wen Qian bound his hands, ensuring he couldn''t move, then removed the b and took away his dagger.


    In excruciating pain, Da Gang realized he was doomed. His injuries were likely severe, leaving him as good as dead in these conditions.


    Wen Qian didn''t say anything, simply stuffing him into a body bag. Only when he saw the zippers did Da Gang realize it was a body bag.


    His opponent must be an experienced hand - he was really done for.


    Wen Qian tightly bound the body bag with rope, then used a shovel to scoop up the bloodstained snow and shove it into the bag.


    Wen Qian asked him where hispanions were. Her question wasn''t asking if he hadpanions, but directly asking where they were.


    This line of questioning didn''t stop.


    Every time Da Gang shook his head and said he was alone, Wen Qian jabbed him with the shovel.


    His legs were numb, but his abdomen still felt pain, and any movement caused him agony.


    The cold crept inwards from outside. Wen Qian was asking if he hadpanions to prepare herself - if he did, she''d handle it one way, but if not, she''d kill him to silence him.


    His dagger and gun showed he had ill intent.


    Not knowing Wen Qian''s n, Da Gang finally imed he had severalpanions to scare her, implying they''de looking for him if he went missing.


    Wen Qian climbed a tree to observe. Even if hispanions came running from the mountain base, it would take them time to get here.


    But in reality, Xiao Cai had fled as soon as Da Gang said he was going.


    Wen Qian kept pressing Da Gang on hispanions'' hiding ce. Panicked, Da Gang tried to intimidate her by saying they''d definitelye for him if he was missing.


    But Wen Qian calmly stated she could just kill him before they arrived.


    Da Gang felt his wounds hurting more as his body temperature dropped. He started begging for his life, promising to leave and never return.


    He admitted he had only lied about having multiplepanions, only having one who wouldn''t evene looking for him.


    But Wen Qian no longer believed him, so she decided to proceed as if he did havepanions to ensure her future safety.


    Wen Qian had already donned a mask, hood, raincoat, rain boots, and bluetex gloves, looking like a surgeon or a deranged killer.


    The man panickedpletely at her appearance, almost wetting himself, then spilled everything - admitting he only had onepanion currently hiding in a certain location.


    He hoped telling the truth would make Wen Qian stop her killing preparations.


    Having gotten the information she wanted, Wen Qian started nning how to kill him.


    She didn''t think she''d sleep tonight, intending to immediately go to the mountain and kill the other one after this.


    Not wanting to see blood, Wen Qian started pouring water on his face and sticking paper over it, like a killing method from TV shows. After a few sheets, the man went still.


    Wen Qian zipped up the bag and tried dragging it down the mountain, but the body was too heavy.


    Originally not wanting to put the corpse in her Space as it would feel disturbing, Wen Qian had no choice but to store it there since she couldn''t drag or bury it.


    She then prepared all her belongings and weapons in the Space before heading into the mountains.


    Following his footprints, Wen Qian noticed another single set of footprints near their shelter, implying thepanion hadn''t returned.


    Wen Qian entered their windbreak - half rock, half snow forming a sheltered area. The fire had long died, leaving only ashes.


    And there was nothing inside except a message scratched in charcoal on the rock:


    "Split up. I''m gone, noting back."


    Puzzled, Wen Qian left, using a bamboo broom to erase her own footprints. Since thepanion didn''t n to return, she saw no need to keep looking for him.


    Instead, she continued in another direction to find a suitable ce to dump the body.


    She went to where she had previously encountered a bear, climbing up to a steep cliff, and pulled the body out of her Space.


    After removing the clean ropes, she dumped the body out of the bag and over the cliff.


    Wen Qian used the white snow to clean the bag of blood, then shook out the dirty snow.


    She carried out these actions as if on autopilot, as routine as cleaning.


    Once done, she simply returned home.


    The body may eventually be eaten by wolves or vultures, or left to slowly rot after winter passed.

 Chapter 104

    Chapter 104


    Wen Qian originally thought her mindset would undergo a huge change, but little did she know that after cleaning everything up and returning home, she only wanted to eat.


    She cooked herself a bowl of noodles, adding in some greens and eggs, and after finishing her meal, she washed up and went to bed.


    She should have had trouble sleeping, but she slept very well.


    The next day, she slept until she naturally woke up, then leaned against the bed frame, lost in thought.


    She began to recall the events that had happened the previous day, but the speed was so fast that she now felt a bit dazed when recalling it, but she was certain it was not an illusion, but something that had truly happened.


    On her hands was indeed the blood of a life taken, and Wen Qian took out the gun and dagger she had confiscated from the bad person.


    The dagger looked quite sharp, but the gun was a bit more rough-looking than the one in her hands, possibly because it was used often, so it looked a bit older. Wen Qian then put these two items back into her spatial storage.


    Compared to the psychological shadow that killing had cast on her, she was now more surprised at her own calmness.


    She even suspected that she might be a natural-born criminal, and if she could get her hands on an official criminal psychology assessment form, she would have herself tested, high or low.


    Otherwise, how could she exin her currentposure, as if she had no fear or respect for human life? Or was her reaction just too slow, and the aftereffects would only appearter?


    Right now, she was truly unruffled.


    Ordinary people would be fearful when they kill, and a few might even be particrly excited, but Wen Qian, apart from being alert and protecting her own safety at the time, had no other thoughts.


    Actually, she was notpletely untouched - after this, she became very disgusted with anything red, because of the visual stimtion caused by the sight of the fresh blood on the snow at the time.


    Originally, after dreaming of the dream world, she had been fantasizing about the human condition rted to the apocalypse.


    Of course, Wen Qian knew that after the apocalypse, the evil of human nature woulde out, and she had been mentally and weaponarily prepared.


    She had imagined countless times retaliating and killing the bad guys when they tried to harm her.


    But when she actually carried out the retaliatory killing, she doubted whether she was a natural-born criminal.


    When the other person came down from the mountain and circled around to approach the slope next to the wall, wasn''t the purpose quite obvious?


    And with the smile revealed afterparing the footprints, wasn''t the purpose also obvious?


    How to judge that the person was bad, and the decision was made in such a short time, the speed of the solution left Wen Qian even baffled.


    At this time, Wen Qian was thinking more about her own reaction after doing this deed, rather than the fact that she had killed someone.


    She was surprised by this, bute to think of it, she had pondered simr questions a long time ago.


    That was when the social situation was rtively good, and she had thoughts about killing.


    It wasn''t that people shouldn''t kill, but she felt that killing carried the death penalty, the cost was too great, and this act could not escape the punishment of thew, there were corresponding punishments, so she didn''t do such things.


    Perhaps she was not a kind-hearted person by nature before, and it was only now, for self-preservation, that she had done such a thing.


    Her first reaction to killing was not fear, but a sense of a harmonious society, if she did such a thing, she would definitely pay the price, but now she did not.


    Da Gang''s formerpanion Xiao Cai, after a period of time, came back to observe, and found no trace of Da Gang''s return, so he knew something had happened.


    Knowing that the other party had met with an ident, Xiao Cai''s first reaction was not to go look for him, but to go even further away.


    Xiao Cai had also heard Da Gang say that there were people''s homes in the mountains outside, but since the other party did not return, Xiao Cai had no curiosity to go find him.


    He just waited until the end of winter to go to another mountain, instead of staying in this area.


    Wen Qian was still worried that she might be discovered by others, butter she thought that if someone were toe, they should havee with the first person, not after many days, so Wen Qian didn''t dwell on the matter too much.


    Her life continued as usual.


    Her life getting through the winter was no different from before, the only difference being that Wen Qian ate more often.


    She felt she was too thin and weak, and wanted to gain some weight, so she ate more.


    Perhaps this was also a way to relieve stress, although Wen Qian felt she had no pressure.


    This winter was a bloody one, and Wen Qian would forever remember this incident, but she also knew clearly that she was able to escape this time because she had the spatial storage, and could use its power to kill.


    Otherwise, with the weapons she had prepared, she would not have been able to kill with one strike, and might have even been injured or killed herself.


    Wen Qian still went to the tree to listen to the news on the radio, but she changed to a different tree, just near the original location.


    She was avoiding the relevant area.


    After this, she started even more training, putting the archery targets further away, and practicing self-defense techniques for longer periods of time.


    Although the winter was long, it still passed.


    When the temperature started to warm up a bit, Wen Qian went back to the trap area to rearrange it, and sure enough, there was nothing but snow there. She still ced bait there and came back to check it periodically.


    In the new year, she began to try nting crops, sowing a variety of cold-resistant seeds to see which ones were more suitable for the local climate.


    In the new year, she expanded the nting scale, but the locations were all rtively far from her home.


    Because she needed to clear thend, she had a lot of physical work to do, and after finishing, she would nurture the seedlings and then nt them.


    The seedling cultivation was done at home, where the temperature was higher, so that the seedlings could grow a little bigger before being transnted outside, which would increase the survival rate and allow for earlier nting.


    Of course, this was only the case for some vegetables, the crops were still directly sown in the fields.


    At the same time, she also nned to nt more potatoes, which required digging thend into ridges, a veryborious task for Wen Qian.


    After nting all these, the areas near her home were nted with leafy greens.


    When the mountain opposite started to turn a little green, her crops were also growing well.


    Wen Qian was busy for a month or two, her hands calloused, and she slept particrly soundly at night after a day of hard work.


    The events of the winter were forgotten, and afterpleting all this, she rested for two days, then went to the pasture.


    Originally, she wanted to see if there were still fish in the river, but when she reached the gate of the pasture, she found a wanted poster on the wall, a veryrge poster that was fresh, dated just a few days ago.


    One of the three people on it was the one whose life she had taken.


    This brought her memories back, but she still did not have a particrly strong emotional reaction. To her, the descriptions of the crimes of the people on the poster actually made her feel more at ease.


    She had essentially eliminated a public nuisance, even though it was a personal execution of justice.

 Chapter 105

    Chapter 105


    As she cultivated more crops, Wen Qian had more work to do - weeding, watering, and fertilizing.


    Compared to the minor skirmishes of the past few years, this felt rtively rxing to her.


    After bing a true farmer this year, she found herself unable to straighten her back, exhausted every day.


    However, such a fulfilling life meant there would be a harvest, though the harvest time was still a ways off.


    She finally understood why farmers were always so anxious, because there was still a long way to go before the harvest.


    So they worried about floods, droughts, pests, diseases, and all sorts of disasters that could reduce or wipe out the crop yield in the meantime.


    Yet after the volcanic winter, water disasters and ice and snow cmities became more frequent, and crop failure or total loss due to abnormal climate wasmon in many ces.


    The ce where Wen Qian lived was no exception - there was a hailstorm at one point, luckily with small hailstones and brief duration, otherwise Wen Qian''s hard work would have been in vain.


    In July, Wen Qian noticed that there was only one radio frequency left, seemingly a nationwide unified one.


    Now Wen Qian could tell that the social situation had further deteriorated.


    Word was that new crop varieties had been developed in seed research,rge-scale mouse farming had been achieved in livestock breeding, and mushroom cultivation had also be a major industry.


    But there was still no news on other scientific research, so some people began questioning the researchers.


    Because the researchers'' living standards and project funding input were rtively high, some thought they were just freeloading with no discernible progress.


    Of course, others held opposing views, believing that scientific progress wasn''t so easily achieved, and especially qualitative leaps required quantitative umtion, so long-term efforts were needed to bear fruit.


    Therefore, although someined, no one obstructed the continued execution of the ns.


    Worried about her crops at home, Wen Qian didn''t venture far this time.


    At most she went to the ranch once, foraging for wild vegetables and catching small fry, but the fish were too small and hadn''t grown much.


    Wen Qian also didn''t dare deplete the fish here, as it was hard enough for them to survive, and she didn''t want them to go extinct.


    Another outing was to dig for cordyceps near the mountains.


    This was a local custom she had read about, where before the volcano erupted, locals would gather cordyceps from March to June at different altitudes in different periods.


    So Wen Qian tried to find them, and indeed managed to, though as a novice she didn''t find much, but it was enough to make her happy.


    She also tried harvesting mushrooms in the rainy season, but only picked mushrooms and didn''t eat them.


    Instead, she used them as a backup food source, storing them in her storage space, with only short trips and no long journeys.


    After that, Wen Qian''s other time was spent checking on her crops every day, and taking a look at the traps along the way.


    Ever since a wild boar fell into one, she hadn''t seen any other wild animals fall into this trap.


    Of course, some smaller animals did get in, but judging from the aftermath, they could also climb out, so Wen Qian could only keep setting traps.


    In August, her crops and vegetables were harvested one after another, making Wen Qian particrly happy. After harvesting the greens, she immediately rented new seedlings, hoping to get onest wave of vegetables before winter arrived.


    This year she learned to cultivate water spinach and amaranth in water, and the water-grown vegetables were indeed good - one crop could regrow after being cut.


    She also tried nting a few sunflowers on the hill slopes. The flowers bloomed nicely but the yields weren''t great.


    There were also a few experimental seeds whose growth wasn''t very good, allowing Wen Qian to judge what else she could try growing next year.


    As temperatures hadn''t risen and remained the same as before, with summer temperatures also not high,


    the radio forecast said the global temperature was still in a volcanic winter, with no signs of warming.


    This point was clear to Wen Qian from looking at the distant snow-capped mountains, the descending snowline being the best proof.


    During the period of global warming, people often saw news of melting ciers and thawing permafrost, so many ces should have been alleviated now.


    If human society hadn''t copsed, seeing such news might have been considered a good thing.


    But now that humans were preupied with their own survival, no one would be happy about this.


    One day in August, the basin had a sunny day that could be called bright and sunny.


    This made Wen Qian very happy. In the past she could at most take things out for some air, but this time she truly got to bask in the sun.


    So she hurriedly set up some poles and started sunning all sorts of things, savoring this long-missed feeling of sunshine.


    Having some sunshine was truly a joyous thing.


    However, there weren''t many ces with sunshine, and even in many parts of Summer Province, the sun couldn''t be seen.


    The sunshine was brief, quickly covered again, but seeing the sun once made Wen Qian happy.


    She felt that if there was more sunshine each year in the future, at the very least it would give people something to look forward to.


    The next day it rained, interrupting Wen Qian''s harvest, as harvesting greens or potatoes at this time would be very messy due to the mud.


    After the rain stopped, Wen Qian waited another day for the soil to dry out a bit before continuing to harvest.


    Some crops needed to be harvested inte August or even September, so she let them grow for as long as possible.


    However, as harvest time drew nearer, more and more birds appeared around the area.


    Wen Qian had never seen so many birds before, and suspected they might have nested in her crop fields.


    So she set up fishings on bamboo poles to protect her food.


    Then some of the stickys identally caught a few birds. Wen Qian suddenly remembered the stickys used for bird catching in the past - the fine threads would entangle struggling birds caught in them.


    So before harvesting her crops, she also harvested some bird meat.


    Of course, after catching them, she would release the unharmed rare and beautiful species based on their condition and type, keeping things like sparrows to eat.


    Looking at her maturing crops, Wen Qian wondered what to do with the excess straw after harvesting, since she didn''t have any sheep to feed it to at the moment.


    So she nned to store it in her space first, thinking maybe she''d have sheep someday.


    This year in September, she put her harvested crops straight into her space without any other processing, all fresh produce.


    She nned to slowly process them over the winter.


    Normally, these crops should be sun-dried to thresh out the grains, then further dried before being bagged for storage.


    But for Wen Qian, winter wasing soon, and leaving the grains outside would attract too many birds, so it was better to put them directly into her space.


    Compared to bird meat, she valued her own hard-grown crops more.

 Chapter 106

    Chapter 106


    In the fourth year in Xia Province, the third year after the volcanic eruption.


    Wen Qian was harvesting the things she had nted earlier, harvesting by herself.


    In early spring, she had cleared and sowed thend by herself. During the growing season, she also watered, fertilized, and weeded the crops alone.


    Now during the harvest season, she was slowly figuring out which crops to harvest first and which to leave forst.


    She used the sickle she had prepared earlier to reap the wheat, and the shovel to dig up the potatoes.


    At this time, all other ns had to give way to the harvest. Wen Qian was busy from morning to night,pleting the main harvest of the fields. After the initial harvest, Wen Qian would also go through the fields again to check for any missed crops.


    Even if she needed to rest, she would wait until the harvest waspleted before doing so. Everything had to be gathered in before winter arrived.


    That''s how it is with growing crops - the harvest is notplete until the crops are stored. Fortunately, Wen Qian had storage space, so she could pack all the harvested crops together on the agricultural tarpaulin and store them.


    This way, she reduced the steps of carrying and transporting, so she didn''t get too exhausted.


    If she had to carry and transport the crops over long distances, Wen Qian wouldn''t have cleared the fields so far from her home.


    During this period, Wen Qian was very happy, though tiring, to see the crops being stored away.


    There were still many things for her to do over theing winter.


    First, she had to process the vegetables she harvested, mixing the roots, stems, and rotten leaves with fertilizer to be spread back on the fields after winter.


    She would also add the ash from the firewood she had burned to increase the soil''s fertility.


    In the following time, Wen Qian would be threshing the grains, doing it partly mechanically and partly by hand.


    After threshing, Wen Qian cleaned the old-fashioned winnowing fan she had brought from her hometown, using it to remove the light impurities and small stones from the grains.


    Although it was aborious task, the winnowing fan reduced some of the burden, though not as simply and effortlessly as mechanized equipment.


    But even if she couldn''t finish it all, it didn''t matter, as she could store the unfinished work in her storage space.


    In the cold winter, Wen Qian hardly went out, and there wasn''t much to do. She often found ways to keep herself upied, with threshing and winnowing taking up most of her winter.


    The grains she had grown and tended to herself were truly handmade.


    In her previous fast-paced life, she wouldn''t have had the time to do these tasks, but now it was different - everything had to be done by herself.


    She sometimes thought about how her grandparents had managed without all the modern conveniences, and the crop yields must have been lower back then.


    Wen Qian''s first grain harvest was not bad, though the yield might not have met her expectations. But it was still quite good.


    In reality, if she had to support a whole family this way, the harvest would not be enough to feed them all. Wen Qian''s personal reserves and the small surpluses meant she could get by on her own without worrying too much.


    Just as Wen Qian was happily enjoying her own harvest, people growing crops in other ces, especially in the tropics, were also reaping their harvests.


    However, there were no longer any ces with three harvests per year, and even two harvests per year were rare, with most ces only having one harvest annually.


    Yields in the north were very low due to the extreme cold, while the south experienced more frequent disasters, leading to reduced harvests or crop failures. The food shortage pressures remained high.


    People''s living conditions had not improved.


    Because there were not many suitable tropical areas left, and many had already been upied, those who wanted to farm in the tropics had nowhere to go.


    This led to disputes and even violent conflicts over the ownership of farnd.


    Conflicts were most apparent during the harvest season, with some countries able to grow crops in certain areas, only to have the harvests intercepted or robbed during transport.


    Even heavily armed escorts could not guarantee the safe delivery of the crops to their destinations when people were driven by extreme hunger and panic.


    The domestic situation was rtively better, but some were still very dissatisfied, feeling that many researchers were just wasting resources while collecting their paychecks. As theseints grew, some researchers left due to the immense pressure.


    The first snow fell before October, but Wen Qian had already stored everything away, so she could spend the time indoors organizing her belongings.


    By the window, she still had garlic sprouts, sweet potato leaves, and a small bottle of mint growing.


    Wen Qian got tired of just drinking in water, but she didn''t want to waste too much of her precious tea, so she would brew a mix of ingredients like orange peel, lotus leaves, mint leaves, hawthorn, and red dates.


    From the first batch of rye harvest, Wen Qian ground some flour andbined it with wheat flour to bake bread, which tasted average but was very filling.


    She cooked a hearty porridge with the barley and other grains she had previously purchased.


    Wen Qian would cook arge pot at a time, so on days when she was toozy to make breakfast, she could just scoop out a bowl and have more time for other things, whether it was sleeping in, daydreaming, or getting work done.


    She would sample each new harvest to fully appreciate the joy of the harvest.


    For her, the priority was taking care of her health and safety.


    So while her meals were quite frugal, with two or three meals a day, she wouldn''t deprive herself.


    Therge fish she had bought back home were still fresh in her storage space. When the weather was cold, she would salt-cure some to make pickled fish, which would eventually be dried, salted fish. She just needed to steam it when she wanted to eat it.


    She also had the white radishes she had grown back home, which were still crisp in the storage space. She would slice them, dry them a bit, and toss them with chili sauce and oil and salt for a tasty side dish.


    Wen Qian would also asionally take out the fermented pickles she had prepared the previous year to have a taste.


    She would also heat up a bowl of the canned goods she had prepared the previous winter to eat.


    Overall, Wen Qian was living quitefortably, thanks to the storage and preservation capabilities of her space.


    As for the newly harvested potatoes, the smaller ones she would just wash, dry, and slowly roast in the oven next to the heater, eating them with thin slices of cured meat - a delicious meal.


    As for the wild boar she had caught the year before, she still hadn''t gotten around to butchering and draining the blood, as she disliked dealing with fresh blood. She nned to tackle it when she no longer felt squeamish about it.

 Chapter 107

    Chapter 107


    The harvested grains, during this winter, need to be not only threshed but also sorted.


    The high-quality plump grains should be stored separately, as they mayter be used as seeds. The medium-quality grains are nned to be gradually consumed, while the poorest quality grains, Wen Qian will take out and slowly use up now.


    The same allocation applies to potatoes and vegetables too - the worst ones are to be eaten first.


    Of course, this habit was formed after she had the Dimensional Space; if she didn''t have the Space, she would consume the medium-quality ones first.


    It''s also been the third year, and Wen Qian realized that she needs to start storing some things here, without using the Space for storage.


    Then the concept of best-before date woulde into y. Wen Qian worries that after a long time, she might forget about this, so she needs to remind herself.


    Some jars filled with grains were not put into the Space; instead, they were covered with lids and stored indoors. She wants to slowly turn this ce into a more normal home.


    Therefore, preventing theft, rot, mice, and insects also bes important. With the increasing harvest, mice and insects have appeared in her home.


    Thus, mouse traps and insecticidese into use. Before winter arrived, she inspected the condition of the house and re-patched any gaps or loose areas.


    After winter set in, she also added ayer of stic sheeting on the doors and windows to block wind and cold.


    The indoor temperature feels like spring, while outside the icy winds howl.


    One morning, Wen Qian ced a cake on the table.


    Since her grandmother passed away, she rarely celebrated her own birthday.


    This time, she almost forgot about it until she found the cake she had previously purchased while searching through the Space.


    For so many years, she had always missed her birthday. This year happens to be her 30th birthday.


    So Wen Qian started preparing for herself - the cake was ready, candles lit, dishes cooked.


    After finishing these, she took a photo with her phone.


    It felt like celebrating her birthday was something from a long time ago. The experiences from age 26 to 30 began to rey in her mind.


    For a moment, Wen Qian felt a mix of emotions - not particrly happy, nor sad, nor grateful either.


    It was as if she hade here just to avoid crowds and be alone.


    That day, unusually, she opened a can of beer for herself, drinking herplex feelings along with the warm beer.


    The weather was too cold, so she had to heat up even the beer before drinking, afraid of catching a cold.


    She only ate a quarter of the cake, then packaged it and put it back into the Space - for such finished products, one less means one less.


    Even if she had the chance to make them herself in the future, she wouldn''t reach the same standard as others.


    On her 30th birthday, Wen Qian blew out the candles and made a wish: hoping the volcanic winter would end soon.


    Before she obtained the Space, if she made a wish, it would be for good health and smooth work.


    Perhaps because she used to celebrate her birthday alone, having her birthday alone after so many years didn''t make her feel lonely.


    The reason she celebrates her birthday alone is that she doesn''t like overly crowded asions. Apart from family, if someone remembers her birthday and celebrates it with her, she would certainly be happy.


    But in return, on others'' birthdays, she would also have to remember in advance and arrange time to participate in their birthday celebrations.


    This is something that requires interaction from both parties to sustain, which isn''t easy for Wen Qian, so she often chooses to celebrate alone.


    Her birthday passed just like that.


    On a new day, Wen Qian took out a previously purchased frozen duck, thawed and cleaned it, then nched it before stir-frying it with aromatics and putting it in a y pot to slowly stew on the warm stove, finally adding radish.


    The soup would be ready by noon. In the morning, Wen Qian had a bowl of mixed grain porridge with pickled mustard greens and salted duck eggs.


    Such conditions used to be avable to everyone before, but after the disaster, there were very few who could still eat like this.


    Wen Qian is already very satisfied with her current life.


    Perhaps because she worked hard this year, Wen Qian clearly noticed that her appetite has increased. In the past, she had to force herself to eat more, but now her stomach capacity has unknowingly grown.


    At the same time, she also noticed that her daily routine is very regr - she goes to bed early and gets up early, basically never staying upte.


    One reason is that there''s nothing to do if she stays upte. In the past, she could switch between her phone,puter, and TV untilte at night.


    Now, if she wants to stay upte, she can only read books bymplight, which isn''t good for her eyes and wastes electricity or oil, so Wen Qian doesn''t do that.


    With a bnced and healthy diet, and a regr routine, her condition hasn''t weakened despite her increasing age.


    She now lives a healthy and regr life that was difficult to achieve before.


    At age 26, she often sat at herputer desk, feeling back pain and a stiff neck, with stiff shoulders too.


    Back then, her eyes were either glued to her phone orputer screen. Now, what she can see is the vast snow-capped mountains and the expansive Gobi Desert.


    These days, Wen Qian has finally gotten used to the surrounding scenery and open spaces, gradually adapting to the altitude, climate, snow, and wind here.


    She even listens to the radio less frequently now.


    This year''s temperature records,pared to the previous two years, still show no signs of recovery, meaning the volcanic winter is continuing.


    Wen Qian no longer sees it as a disaster, but rather treats the current climate as part of daily life, living ording to this climate.


    From the first two years of exploration until now, she can pinpoint the right times for sowing and harvesting. As for the rest, she leaves it to nature.


    Wen Qian also knows that farming depends on the mercy of nature - a good year from nature means enough food, but if nature is unkind, there will be no harvest. So Wen Qian doesn''t dare to hope for consecutive bountiful harvests.


    She just puts in her utmost effort to prepare everything, doing what she can.


    Under the current conditions, if the crops can grow, she should be grateful, and not wasting seeds is already a sess.


    Even with the abundance of wild vegetables she dug up previously, she didn''t waste any - some were cold-dressed, some stir-fried withrd, and others used to make egg dumplings, all tasting good.


    Speaking of which, she originally wanted to raise chickens, but then considered that even if she could incubate the chicks at a suitable temperature, the chicks would still need to eat grains. After pondering, she decided against it.


    Right now, she can''t afford to raise anything that needs to eat grains, be it chickens, ducks, cats, or dogs. But she can''t raise sheep or cattle either.


    She has nearly filled up the notebook she uses for recording over the years. Except for the murders, she has meticulously documented all other important events.


    Simrly, when learning to weave fishings, build houses, and make canned food, she would also record the content and instructional diagrams in the form of notes.


    Although the books she purchased have ready-made instructions and diagrams, she still feels the need to record them herself, inevitably writing them down by hand.


    If one day she doesn''t have those books with her, she can still rely on her memory to produce the same things as before.


    The knowledge inscribed in her own mind is truly her own.

 Chapter 108

    Chapter 108


    Since winter was too long, Wen Qian found herself preupied with housekeeping chores, the most tedious of which was cleaning.


    The stainless steel surface of the heater table was wiped spotlessly clean, free of any dust or grease, and the drawer underneath that held the ashes was regrly pulled out and emptied.


    As for the bedding, the nkets were neatly folded, the sheets unwrinkled, and even the dolls ced atop sat upright.


    Any home of a person fond of cleanliness should look the same, pleasing to the eye.


    The prerequisite, of course, was having the good habit of keeping things in their proper ce, and enough time for cleaning.


    The tidy state of the home was a winter-exclusive treat; when spring arrived and Wen Qian became busy with crop nting, a different scene would unfold.


    Fortunately, she usually put things back where they belonged, so at most the house would just gather some dust, not be a total mess.


    Back when she shared amodations, she had seen roommates who would leave items strewn about, until over time chairs, sofas, tables, and cabs were crammed full without an empty spot.


    This was one reason sheter wanted to buy a house and have her own home, where she could keep things as she pleased without having to tolerate others'' messes.


    Though she never did buy a house, living alone in Xia Province was in some ways not too different from the life she had envisioned after owning a home, save for being a farmer instead of an office worker.


    In the freezing winter, water forundry had to be preheated first, and after washing, each item had to be carefully wrung out and hung indoors to dry - going outside would just freeze the clothes solid, no telling when they might be wearable again.


    Indoor temperature and humidity also required careful control, as prolonged exposure to improper conditions could harm the skin and respiratory system.


    The indoor thermometer with hygrometer that Wen Qian had bought earlier came in very handy, as did the heaters she was d to have purchased several of.


    After sorting and ssifying the grains, Wen Qian made some candied fruits and hawthorn balls, preparing extra batches wrapped in stic wrap to enjoyter as desired.


    The candied fruits used water and rock sugar, while the hawthorn balls used water and white sugar - fortunately, she had stocked up on plenty of sugar, which she could still use despite current scarcity.


    Once done, she ced the finished products by the window and admired them with satisfaction over a cup of lotus leaf tea.


    Her former self would never have spent so much time and effort on suchborious treats.


    Now, she mused that her newfound handicraft skills could fetch a decent ie if she had set up a stall in the past - far more lucrative than office work.


    The pity was that despite having the skills, shecked the materials to put them to full use; money was useless now that those times of being able to purchase goods had be but a wistful memory.


    These days, people seemed to use something akin to the old ration coupons from the past.


    A kettle sat on the heater, keeping water warm for Wen Qian''s daily grooming, while drinking water was boiled separately and stored in a thermos.


    She had even stocked up on spare thermos inserts, ensuring a steady supply of hot water - a wee convenience.


    Wen Qian had previously stored ice and snow, intending to use it for cooling in summer, never imagining the years of unending winter thaty ahead.


    Well, it could serve as water storage too, so she just kept stockpiling it for whatever uses might arise.


    After her break, Wen Qian added water to the utensils from earlier sugar work.


    The pots and spoons still had sticky sugar residue, which dissolved to make sugar water; she poured this into bowls and covered them, to be used for making fruit teater - not a single drop would go to waste.


    Xia Province didn''t see snowfall every day, but winter winds were indeed fierce; standing outside thepound walls, Wen Qian sometimes felt the gusts pushing against her.


    With no real need to go out and risk catching a cold, she chose to just stay indoors.


    These were hard times, best to avoid sickness and new children, neither of which could be afforded.


    Even on snowless days, residual snow remained unmelted while winds continued to blow intermittently.


    At most, Wen Qian would take a turn around thepound walls or make a brief scan of the surroundings through her telescope, spending the rest of her time indoors.


    After birds came to eat the crops during thest harvest, this winter Wen Qian nned to weavergers from the twine she had previously bought, to better protect her fields from feathered thieves.


    Birdcatchings differed from fishings in material, shape, and mesh size, but the weaving principles were simr - she could follow the detailed instructions and examples in her books after some trial and error.


    Her previous purchases included all sorts of ropes and twines of varying thickness and material, so she had ample supplies.


    Whenever she sawting, Wen Qian wondered if coastal dwellers might be faring better due to the abundance of seafood.


    Yet even marine life was suffering; volcanic ash and aerosols blocked sunlight, causing the terrestrial ecosystem to basically copse, while acid rain eventually flowed into the oceans, imperiling sea creatures as well.


    The persistent cold andck of sunlight stunted algal growth, leading to oxygen depletion and malnutrition that killed off many fish inkes and aquaculture farms.


    No ce seemed to have been spared.


    Initially the coastal regions could still rely on seafood, but eventually energy constraints would prevent them from venturing out too far to fish.


    Over the radio, Wen Qian heard scarce reports about death tolls overseas - deaths from starvation, the super virus, or even heat weapons.


    Food scarcity fueled more and more conflicts, and the once carefully controlled weapons proliferated unchecked across regions.


    In shes overnd and rations, or even due to simple psychological breakdowns, anyone who knew how to operate a weapon could inflict casualties.


    Wen Qian used to hear people say living alone risked dying unnoticed, while living around others risked dying by others'' hands - that was exactly the current situation.


    Another news report she heard over the radio filled her with even greater trepidation.

 Chapter 109

    Chapter 109


    A new religion was born overseas, apparently originating from an extreme environmental group. They did not allow humans to create anything beyond the level of other animals.


    Airnes should not exist, they believed, since if humans were not born with wings, it meant they were not meant to fly.


    Drinking milk was prohibited because it was meant for a cow''s calf.


    They believed that everything in the present was the will of God, and God was punishing humans for destroying the environment - every person was guilty.


    Therefore, people should ept the current state of affairs and go with nature, without further developing technology.


    They even forbade the development of new seeds, considering it a vition of naturalws. People should use ancient seeds instead.


    If the crops from those seeds did not yield enough food for the current poption, it meant there were too many people, and bnce needed to be restored.


    Yes, this organization really believed that.


    Everyone was struggling to survive, so who would think they were the ones destined to die?


    This organization believed humans should not create anything, and everything should follow the natural course of development.


    This mindset, however, gained many followers, and overseas research institutes and scientists received threats to their lives.


    This organization appeared unintelligent, yet had immense destructive power.


    Hard-earned research efforts and equipment were destroyed by people.


    They smashed machines beyond repair, rejecting their use and believing humans should live more primitively - that the world should not have had an industrial revolution.


    In truth, those who spoke such words did not wear animal skins like primitives, but rather clothes made by the machines born of the industrial revolution.


    Wen Qian remembered the organizations that had previously prevented people from putting out forest fires, believing the fires were part of nature''sws that should not be excessively hindered.


    Even if the fires reached people''s homes or harmed wildlife, they could not artificially stop nature''s renewal.


    Of course, if their own homes caught fire, they would still call the fire department.


    Although this organization grewrger, their goal seemed to be for everyone else to die except themselves.


    Some joined out of belief, some out of herd mentality, and others realized joining would spare them from being the target of destruction.


    Wen Qian was a bit worried about the future.


    She was not concerned about anyone destroying the seed research institute - the people here saw food as paramount, and would be happy to cultivate better seeds.


    But many would dislike sciences that appeared "useless" before a volcanic eruption.


    For instance, some could not understand why so much money was spentunching rockets and satellites, or going into outer space and to others.


    Others did not grasp the significance of quantum, animal, and archaeological research, believing they had no meaning.


    They thought these people should spend their money, time, and effort on more meaningful areas with tangible benefits, like having enough to eat.


    After the volcanic eruption, although many rted studies had stopped, people did concentrate manpower and resources on the most urgent matters.


    Yet some research iprehensible to ordinary people was still ongoing, seemingly endless. Thus, many were unsatisfied, questioning what was necessary besides seeds at such a time.


    They did not believe the northwest wind could synthesize starch, even though experiments had already done so. They thoughtrge-scale production had zero possibility, just a nice-sounding but impractical n.


    There was also controlled nuclear fusion - many only associated nuclear with radiation and pollution, so they opposed rted research.


    Current news indicated no progress, but also no stoppage.


    Wen Qian also had many things she did not understand, but she would not arrogantly dismiss them as useless without understanding, because even with detailed exnations, she might notprehend.


    Some people were different - the entire world revolved around them. Characters they did not recognize were not real characters; camels they had never seen were just swollen horses.


    Such people existed at all times. All normal people could do was not argue with them and keep their distance.


    Wen Qian had a sense of foreboding, which waster confirmed.


    Originally, by May the temperature should have risen slightly, but May passed without leaving winter behind.


    Other ces experienced the same - as if spring would nevere.


    Since spring came sote, Wen Qian did not n to grow much grain, instead continuing to nt vegetables and potatoes. Leafy greens had a short harvest time, and potatoes were safer in the ground.


    Indeed, that year had no summer at all, and even spring and autumn were exceptionally short.


    The slightly warmer months were concentrated from June to September, totaling just over three months of slightly higher temperatures, while the rest was winter - the truly dreadful part.


    During this period, Wen Qian also encountered a massive hailstorm; had she not taken shelter promptly, her head would have been cracked open.


    House roofs were smashed, and some crops werepletely destroyed.


    Wearing a helmet, Wen Qian did not know whether to first collect her tattered vegetable leaves or repair her house''s roof.


    After covering the roof with arge tarpaulin or two, she went to the fields to gather her ruined greens.


    This did not only happen to her - many ces experienced prolonged winters, already long enough originally.


    Simr areas also faced hailstorms and frost disasters, with severe human and crop losses.


    Some wondered if the entire Earth might gradually turn into an ice ball, devoid of life.


    Since effort was futile, what was the point of trying? Thus, some felt they might as well not waste effort.


    Rather than toiling for years only to starve or freeze to death, they might as well die now. The panic was perhaps even more intense than during the volcanic eruption.


    Yet people could receive less information this time, unable to hear more positive news or be properly reassured.


    Those repeated words of encouragement had lost their effect.


    Previously, they could at least hope for a meager harvest, but now if spring and autumn gradually disappeared, what could they grow or eat?


    Was there nothing left to cultivate besides mushrooms?


    Wen Qian carefully collected her vegetable leaves amidst hailstones the size of eggs and fists, eventually gathering the hailstones too - might as well keep the ice forter.


    That year, Wen Qian had no crop yield. She had not nted much to begin with, and although the potato vines were damaged, potentially affecting the yield, she let them continue growing.


    The leafy greens were damaged but harvested promptly, so they could still be eaten.


    However, for the time being, Wen Qian did not n to grow anything besides greens.


    The world did not improve the following year, nor did Wen Qian''s wishe true.


    Winter also came earlier than usual, forcing her to stay home sooner.


    In the fourth year after the volcanic eruption, the situation further deteriorated.


    The news Wen Qian could receive also became shorter, broadcast three times a week instead of twice a day.


    Wen Qian wondered if not receiving any radio news would signal theplete copse of human society.

 Chapter 110

    Chapter 110


    After finishing the work in the fields, Wen Qian began to repair her own roof.


    She removed the tarpaulin and started thinking about what material to use. She had some thin corrugated iron roofing sheets she had bought before, but they were very thin and noisy in the rain and wind.


    However, using the old tiles from before would also make it difficult to clear the snow in winter, and they might identally shift and create gaps, ultimately causing leaks.


    In the end, Wen Qianid out the remaining asbestos tiles. If these were damaged again, she would have to consider making a thatched roof, using wooden boards, mud, and dry grass, a roof that would require annual maintenance.


    This winter had started earlier than usual, and Wen Qian felt a sense of unease in her heart. ording to her original thoughts, after the major volcanic eruption, there would be a volcanic winter, followed by a period of continued warming.


    A more severe volcanic eruption would result in a little ice age, leading to a major extinction of all life on Earth. All beings are equal, so there is nothing much to say about that.


    A slightly less severe scenario would be a Year Without Summer, where the Earth would temporarily cool down, and after the volcanic winter ended, it would be warmer again.


    The key was to get through the volcanic winter, in order to enjoy the warmth after.


    Wen Qian had pondered this issue. She had originally chosen to go to a sparsely popted area to avoid the chaos of arge poption.


    Under the current circumstances of rtively low temperatures, she could continue living here. But what if one day the volcanic winter ended and the temperature started to rise? Where would she go next?


    Once the temperature gradually increased, it would no longer be suitable for her to live here, because in the summers of that time, the ce where she was located would no longer be as easy for growing vegetables and crops.


    Although the global cooling caused by the volcanic eruption would eventually end, it would still be unable to suppress the trend of global warming.


    The volcanic eruption also brought a lot of greenhouse gases, and the volcanic ash would one day be unable to block the sun, but the greenhouse gases would not disappear.


    By that time, perhaps even the area of deserts would expand, and Wen Qian''s current location would be very difficult for cultivation or grazing, so she might choose to leave.


    When leaving the uninhabited area, the first ce Wen Qian thought of going was north, crossing the Gobi Desert to the other side, which is a windward and sunny slope.


    Previously, many people had lived, cultivated, and grazed there, and the satellite maps showed orderly farnds.


    After the long volcanic winter, there would not be as many people there, and Wen Qian felt it would be better to cultivate using the existing farnds.


    Or she could go to the second safe point in the mountains near Jade Lake.


    There, Wen Qian could also live independently, with more vegetation coverage, and even if the temperature roseter, she could live well.


    Wen Qian still remembered the photos she had taken before, showing the vegetation and abandoned foundations there.


    Although the end of the volcanic winter was not yet in sight, Wen Qian was already thinking about moving again.


    Regardless, after the volcanic winter ended, Wen Qian''s goal was to head north.


    After the volcanic eruption triggered global cooling, people in the Northern Hemisphere had migrated southward.


    So when it ended, there would be fewer people moving northward, and the Earth''s poption would have decreased sharply, not reaching the previous poption density.


    Perhaps having gotten used to living alone, Wen Qian wanted to continue this way of life.


    It started snowing again, and Wen Qian watched the falling snowkes outside.


    Every day, she would pile the snow she pushed off the roof against the walls. When it snowed heavily, she would also build a circle of snow walls around the house.


    At this time, it was like putting a warm coat on the house, better able to withstand the bitter cold.


    Except for the spot where she needed toe out and set up adder, the rest of the walls were lined with a snow wall on the inside.


    This way, her little house, along with the walls, seemed to be hidden in the snow, and it might not be noticeable from a distance.


    Every time she finished sweeping the snow outside or came back from listening to the radio, Wen Qian would drink the ginger water she had prepared in advance.


    Although she had been careful over the years, she still caught a cold once or twice, so she paid extra attention to staying warm and preventing colds, not giving viruses any chance.


    She didn''t like ginger, but when she was a child and got sick, her grandmother would make her ginger water.


    Although the taste was very spicy, drinking a bowl would make her sweat quickly and take effect.


    Now that she was grown up, except when she was sick, she wouldn''t make the ginger water too strong. Generally, she would just add a few slices to hot water, and having a ginger vor was good enough.


    The radio broadcast went from three times a week to twice a week, and finally, once a week.


    There was no news from abroad anymore, only news rted to the domestic situation.


    There was only one base left in the north, and the reason it was still there was because many research projects and experimental equipment were concentrated there, with few residents.


    Under the current conditions, it was not convenient to move all of this to the south.


    There were a few more bases in the south, but also more people, so the situation wasn''t much better.


    At the southernmost point, there was a Sunshine Base, which was currently described as the only ce where life could be normal.


    Originally a tropical region, it was now the only base that would not experience frost or snow disasters.


    After this year of freezing damage, more people from other areas began moving south.


    Especially people from rural areas, who had initially avoided the virus and stockpiled more food at home, were now feeling afraid.


    They realized that if next year was as cold as this year, they would really starve, so heading south might give them a glimmer of hope.


    The radio also mentioned this trend, especially in August and September, when many areas had no harvest during the usual season, so some people turned their sights southward.


    The radio exined different migration routes, which would be more time-efficient, and what to pay attention to in the early stages.


    Some elderly people probably never expected that after hearing about fleeing famine, they would actually experience something like this, where the yellow earth was buried up to their necks.


    Some people had already started heading south in the second year after the volcanic eruption, when the climate changed rapidly.


    At that time, the transportation situation was still rtively developed, but now, although more difficult than before, it was still possible to walk.


    Except for wintertime, which was not ideal for traveling, other times were possible. After all, the previous roads were not built for nothing, just that those who leftter would need to spend more time on the road.


    There were also some people who believed the situation would improve, so they didn''t follow, and some elderly people who were unwilling to leave their hometowns, determined to die where they lived, like falling leaves returning to their roots.


    At this point, Wen Qian was thinking that the poption in the hignds and the north would probably keep decreasing.


    So far, Wen Qian had not considered leaving, but she also knew that ordinary people without space could not store this much food, even if they had it, they couldn''t store it for so long.

 Chapter 111

    Chapter 111


    That year during the Spring Festival, Wen Qian also prepared a few dishes for herself.


    Wen Qian was originally not someone who cared much about festivals, but she lived here alone.


    At first, whenever she flipped through the calendar, she would carefully read the words on it, such as festivals, sr terms, or taboos and auspicious days.


    Now, not only would she carefully read the words on the calendar, but she would also carefully read the ingredient lists on the seasoning packets and bottles she used.


    It was simply because she had nothing else to do, that she would do such things.


    However, she actually knew about so many festivals, but there weren''t many that made her put in the effort to celebrate. One was the harvest season, and the other was the Spring Festival.


    Even her own birthday, Wen Qian often forgot about it, as it was amon urrence. Besides, age only gets higher, and Wen Qian felt there was no need to celebrate it every year.


    However, there were no signs of warming up in April, and when Wen Qian saw the temperature rise a few degrees in May, she hoped for spring to arrive, only to find that the radio had disappeared.


    At first, she thought her radio had broken down, so she took out a new one to use but found that she couldn''t receive any stations.


    Then Wen Qian wondered if she had missed the time when the stations adjusted their frequencies.


    So for a week straight, Wen Qian tried listening at different times, but found no signals.


    It was then that she believed the signals had truly disappeared.


    Although the signal had disappeared, Wen Qian still felt as if she had lost something, feeling depressed and lost.


    Although she had known that it was possible to not receive news from the outside world, when she was truly cut off from the world, the feeling was still different.


    In fact, that sole radio station was still operating, but Wen Qian''s area simply could not receive it.


    After years of damage from the ice and snow, and without anyone performing regr maintenance and repairs, manymunication facilities had lost their effectiveness.


    Wen Qianter also pondered this issue, and was more inclined to believe it was a problem with the equipment.


    Before, when everything was still normal, someone had raised such a question: what would one need to never leave the house?


    Many people answered that as long as they had food, water, inte, and electricity, they could stay at home forever.


    Wen Qian agreed with this statement; she could do it.


    But now that she couldn''t listen to the radio, Wen Qian was somewhat depressed for a while.


    She could only try using her radio every so often to see if she could receive any news.


    However, after that, she was never able to receive anything, and as time passed, the uneasiness in her heart gradually dissipated, perhaps because she had be used to it.


    It was like when smartphones first appeared, there were other forms of entertainment back then.


    Now that many people couldn''t use their phones, they were initially unustomed to it but had no choice, and eventually had to ept reality and find other forms of entertainment.


    Byte May, the temperature had finally risen, but Wen Qian felt something was amiss, so when nting, she only nted even less wheat than the previous time.


    The rest were turned into vegetables, beans, potatoes, and other crops.


    However, in early July of that year, it started snowing from the sky, and Wen Qian let out a long sigh as she looked at the falling snow outside.


    Based on the situation where she had suffered disasters here for two consecutive years, if not for the support of Space, she would have had to flee as well.


    Wen Qian had also watched movies about fleeing from disasters. Staying put meant waiting for death, while fleeing outwards could also lead to death on the road.


    The snow was light, and it had been snowing for an hour without stopping. So Wen Qian started picking the newly one-month-old baby greens in her vegetable field.


    These baby greens were not frost-resistant, and while the wheat seedlings could withstand some frost to prevent pests, the greens would rot if not harvested. Wen Qian also scooped up her hydroponic seedlings and brought them inside.


    The next day, it was still snowing, so Wen Qian stayed at home and sorted out the greens and tender seedlings she had harvested.


    This snowfall disappeared without a trace within a week, but it caused great harm to agricultural production.


    At this point, it was unknown what the situation was like in other ces. If other ces were in the same condition as Wen Qian''s area, then the number of people migrating this year would only be greater thanst year.


    In fact, this was indeed the case. Those who didn''t leavest year now regretted not leaving earlier, as they had suffered disasters for two consecutive years. No one had surplus grains at home.


    Therefore, those who had originally intended to stay put also began to waver, as they saw no hope on their ownnd, and so they thought of heading further south.


    They even wondered if the people who had already leftst year had started nting during this year''s nting season, or if they had already harvested.


    Among the people migrating, a new force emerged, attacking thest remaining grain reserves.


    Wherever there were transport vehicles along the routes, they would go into a frenzy attacking them, regardless of whether the vehicles were used for providing relief to travelers or supplying goods to cities and bases.


    In short, wherever they thought there was something to be gained, they would try, not following the most convenient route to the south.


    They also indiscriminately attacked ordinary people who were also migrating, causing great casualties. This wave of people was then suppressed by the military forces from several southern bases.


    After the armed forces left their bases, the base defenses were no longer as tight.


    Everyone thought it wouldn''t be a problem, as those living in the cities currently seemed to be going about their business as usual, with everything appearing the same as before.


    What they didn''t expect was that there was also a group of people in the cities who started causing destruction. Their goal was not to loot food or kill and set fires, but to target the original research facilities directly.


    That is, the ces where the people in whiteb coats were located.


    When the researchers discovered that people had started invading the research area, the rm was raised, but the number of defenders here was not greater than the number of invaders.


    Even if they didn''t harm people, they still rushed madly towards the researchbs and experiment rooms, smashing and destroying various research equipment.


    They just wanted that after these equipment and facilities were destroyed, those people wearing sses and white coats who "didn''t do anything" every day would also have to cultivate mushrooms and breedb mice like them.


    They knew that the most important seed research and development base and researchers had been dispatched to the southernmost Sunshine Base, so they felt that the people here were not the most important, and therefore weren''t afraid of being punished.


    Some researchers could not allow their achievements to be destroyed by others, and used their bodies to block the path of those people, resulting in being beaten.


    In such a situation, a group of people''s actions would exceed their original n.


    They were angry but also smug, because they were the stronger ones. When the other party started bleeding, it instead sparked their desire to kill.


    Therefore, the original n of only smashing things but not harming people eventually resulted in casualties.


    Organizations abroad had done the same, directly massacring researchers and scientists.

 Chapter 112

    Chapter 112


    Having enjoyed the conveniences brought about by technological advancements, even if the volcanic winter is long, as long as they can endure it, people can continue to utilize the existing technological capabilities.


    People who have used washing machines before, even if they can''t use electricity afterwards, will create and manufacture semi-automatic washing machines based on the same principles as washing machines.


    Those unable to use high-speed rail, because the rail lines still exist, canter rey the tracks and switch to the coal-burning steam trains of the past.


    But this strange organization regards knowledge and science as heresies, seeking to eliminate those who possess knowledge.


    They only want ordinary people to know nothing, understand nothing, and believe everything their organization says.


    Previously, the domestic bases maintained contacts with some overseas institutions, but after this incident, there are few ces left with the capability to conduct research and experiments.


    The domestic bases have lost contact with overseas.


    The indiscriminate massacres overseas have resulted in severe casualties among schrs and researchers, and the survivors simply dare not reveal any of their professional knowledge.


    This also means that the progress or breakthrough that people have hoped for to resolve the predicament will be a long timeing.


    Because of this incident, the Southern Bases have begun to purge extremists, another wave of cleansing.


    At the same time, they have increased security for research areas, and in some ces, researchers have even been directly sent to the Sunshine Base in the south.


    Many research projects have also been forced to stop, with some of the remaining projects going underground, meaning they have also stopped publicly.


    Since Wen Qian received no news, she didn''t hear about these things.


    But even if she knew, she wouldn''t find it strange.


    Because they are human, Wen Qian is not overly surprised by any actions humans take.


    In the past, some melodramatic scenes on TV would often shockizens, but in reality, events happening in real life are often more melodramatic than novels and TV shows.


    Wen Qian understood this early on, so she is not shocked by any actions humans take.


    Of course, there are also some clear-minded people among them, and in the midst of chaos, some secretly help researchers.


    They also know that what they don''t understand is someone else''s expertise, so although they have doubts, they don''t go so far as to destroy others.


    Aside from lending a hand to hide them until it''s safe, they can''t do much else.


    But it is precisely their respect for knowledge and their own kindness that has helped others ovee difficulties.


    Some scientists rted to agriculture, after learning about these incidents, also had a solemn atmosphere in theirboratories.


    They even suspected that one day they might also be harmed by the falling de.


    The Sunshine Base is located in an advantageous position, and before the volcanic eruption, many domestic seeds were used for experiments and cultivation in that area.


    Many ordinary people there knew that there were many experimental fields here that could not be easily destroyed, and that the people working in the fields and farms were doing important work.


    After the volcanic winter, the significance of this ce became even greater, and the people and scientists here greatly respected each other.


    Because they knew the importance of food to humans, especially in the global cooling environment.


    The locals did not need the organization to exin, but would spontaneously maintain the peace and tranquility of this area.


    If any strangers appeared here, they would definitely drive them away or report them to the organization.


    Some researchers escorted here from other bases, upon seeing the respect the people at the Sunshine Base had for intellectuals, felt the gloom in their hearts dissipate slightly.


    At least, not everywhere was inhospitable to them.


    Unfortunately, after this incident, it''s unknown how much the development process has been dyed, and some personnel and equipment losses are irreceable.


    After July ended, Wen Qian no longer expected to be able to grow crops, and could only hope to grow a few more vegetables in thest two months.


    So she scattered some seeds of various radishes and cabbages.


    In previous years, these were what she grew in autumn at her hometown, generally to eat during the winter.


    The growth cycle was about the same, and even if winter came early and they didn''t grow toorge, Wen Qian felt that being able to harvest some vegetable leaves would be fine.


    There was no more extreme weather after that, and Wen Qian''s vegetables grew smoothly. Afraid that the wind would damage the leafy greens too much, Wen Qian even set up soil slopes or barriers on the windward side of the vegetable plots.


    Wen Qian still grew vegetables in the previous traps, but asionally saw some small animal footprints, without any other traces.


    Wen Qian thought maybe it was just a one-time new person''s luck.


    By September, the cabbages had grown into good shapes, and Wen Qian''s careful watering and fertilizing had not been in vain.


    After a few more days, Wen Qian took a knife and started cutting the cabbages.


    After harvesting the cabbages and storing them in her space, she went to pull up the radishes.


    When she originally scattered the seeds, she didn''t use too many, being very economical.


    So there were few seedlings in between, not too crowded, and the radishes had grown quiterge by now, evenrger than what Wen Qian grew in her hometown''s fields, which she was quite satisfied with.


    In the past, when eating these round radishes, the green leaves would be used to feed the pigs, while the white radishes would be cooked with meat.


    Now, Wen Qian couldn''t bear to throw away a single leaf, leaving them to make pickled vegetables. It didn''t matter if they tasted good or not, as long as they were edible.


    She put most of her leafy greens directly into her space, and when taken out they were still fresh and crisp.


    But she would make pickled vegetables and dried vegetables from them periodically, as traditional methods of preserving vegetables were essential preparations.


    For example, the fresh fish and meat in her space, she would also take out a portion to make salted fish and cured meat.


    The purpose was so that on a certain day, if she encountered others, she would not arouse their suspicions.


    For a single person in these conditions to always eat fresh food would indeed be stranger.


    The potato harvest this year was also not very good. The stems and leaves previously exposed outside had been damaged, and it took some time for them to regrow. As a result, the potatoes all grew to small sizes, about the size of chicken eggs or quail eggs.


    But it didn''t matter, Wen Qian consoled herself, at least she had something to dig up.


    The wheat she grew had a severe reduction in yield, but fortunately she didn''t grow much, so it was something.


    Wen Qian wasn''t worried about not having enough to eat, she was worried about not having any ie.


    Whether it was vegetable leaves or wheat stalks, as long as there was something to eat and use, and she could store it in her space, she wouldn''t have to worry about running out of food.


    For her, climate change was not a nightmare, but rather the horrific event would be one day when her space waspletely empty.


    Two consecutive years of reduced or zero harvests, and the poption in the teau areas kept decreasing.


    What Wen Qian didn''t know was that the nearest Mangge City had already be a ghost town.

 Chapter 113

    Chapter 113


    South of Xia Province lies Qing Province, where many people raise yaks.


    During the initial climate change, they gradually ughtered the animals they had raised.


    Some nomadic herdsmen, whose entire wealth was their cattle and sheep, preserved salted meat for survival by boilingrge amounts of water from salt wells to make brine.


    For some cautious families who lived in seclusion, preserving meat meant more than just salting it.


    After some people ran out of food, they set their sights on these families. Protecting their possessions depended not on reason, but on arms.


    Not only were people eyeing them with malicious intent, but bears and wolves were also attracted by the scent.


    A few people built fortified houses like bastions in the deep mountains, where members of the same n guarded their settlements.


    Humans devised various means of survival after the great cmity, persisting as long as there was a slightest chance.


    Wen Qian had envisioned how to live in different regions time and again when browsing the Survivor Forum.


    People in different areas had distinct ways of subsisting, relying on mountains or seas ordingly, just as the disasters they faced varied.


    Sometimes, looking at the resources she had printed from the inte, she wondered about those who had long prepared for extreme survival environments.


    Were they living better than the unprepared? The answer was a mixed bag.


    The so-called precaution meant that some "prepared ns" were aware of their own stockpiles, known only to themselves and family.


    Yet other prepared ns were notorious, their hoarding behavior observed by others, like people watching hamsters stuffing their cheeks.


    This meant that in a crisis, when people sought resources, the prepared ns would be the first targets.


    Just like in times of famine, people would eventually raid thendlords'' granaries.


    Those who had made fortunes and built luxurious mansions in their hometowns were among the first to be plundered.


    The saying "a famous person dreads fame, a fattened pig dreads growing stout" likely refers to this.


    Whether wealthy in the past or holding food now, one should keep a low profile. Otherwise, in a crisis, others woulde knocking first.


    Wen Qian chose to live alone, fearing she might inadvertently reveal her space, and then it wouldn''t be as simple as just taking her food.


    The winter of that year arrived early. Before the first snowfall, Wen Qian had already prepared everything.


    As the snowkes fell, Wen Qian cooked a bowl of dumplings she had made earlier.


    Sometimes, when she didn''t feel like eating or cookingplex meals, she would make semi-finished products in advance.


    That way, she could quickly heat up or steam them, especially suitable for her since she often worked until exhaustion.


    So, after winter arrived, she started making dough and rolling out wrappers again.


    She had a small pasta machine that could roll out wrappers of different thicknesses by turning a handle.


    Then she would cut them into noodles of various widths and make different kinds of tbreads. Since she was quite bored, she sometimes experimented with different dough-making and rolling techniques to create diverse tbreads.


    She would then portion out the different noodles and tbreads, taking them out to eat when needed. She might make enough for three to five days at once.


    When tired of one task, she would switch to another, keeping herself busy throughout the lifeless winter.


    In the distant mountain range where Wen Qian had seen bears before, they had died.


    Hibernation is a lengthy process, but after waking up and starting to feed the following year, theycked sufficient energy reserves when winter arrived.


    The bears'' poor condition led to their demise during hibernation.


    Simrly, some animals could not endure the climate change brought by the volcanic winter.


    A decline in one species'' poption would lead to crises in the food chain above and below it.


    Wen Qian had only anticipated a drastic poption drop in Xia Province, without much awareness of the surrounding wildlife.


    In fact, she no longer needed to guard against bears, wolves, or wild yaks, at least not in her current dwelling.


    The ce where she lived was originally quite deste, and after all these years, even fewer creatures could be seen.


    Of course, she still spotted rats asionally, but the already scarce birdlife had dwindled further.


    The distant forest bird nests she had observed through binocrs were gradually abandoned over the years.


    Wen Qian wondered if the birds, with their wings, might have flown to warmer ces to nest, perhaps returning when the temperature recovered.


    The originally dreary and silent ce had be even more deste, with only the sound of wind and snow, punctuated by the asional "crackle" from the burning firewood in the stove.


    After cooking, Wen Qian would open the window to air out the room for a while, as the food did have a smell.


    Even if she grew ustomed to it after staying indoors for too long, Wen Qian still habitually ventted.


    When opening the window or door, the indoor warmth would quickly dissipate, so Wen Qian would dress warmly in advance to avoid falling ill from the temperature difference.


    In winter, bathing and washing hair was quite difficult, which is why Wen Qian kept her hair short.


    Long hair was troublesome to clean, and though she had a shower cap, she had a lot of hair, making braiding it heavy.


    Usually, she would just change her underwear frequently and wipe her body with warm water daily.


    Each bath was a major undertaking. She had to boil water to fill her hot water bottle and bring out her red bucket.


    After washing with soap, she would soak in the bucket.


    These red stic buckets were previously used as rice bins or water barrels in her hometown.


    Wen Qian''s small stature meant she couldfortably squat in the bucket for a bath, with a stic mat underneath to prevent her feet from touching the icy ground.


    After soaking, Wen Qian would scrub herself with a loofah.


    Originally living in An Province, she was unfamiliar with exfoliating until people rmended how refreshing it felt, prompting her to try it.


    She grew to love the stress-relieving sensation of exfoliating.


    However, Wen Qian had to gauge the scrubbing intensity herself, as overly vigorous rubbing could cause reddish abrasions that stung afterward.


    Back in An City during the summers, she sometimes couldn''t scrub off the grime, leaving small red spots or bumps from excessive scrubbing.


    Now without summers, Wen Qian didn''t bathe and exfoliate daily.


    During this time, she had to maintain the bathroom''s temperature, resulting in a steamy haze.


    Living alone, she had to be extra mindful of her bathing duration, lest she faint from staying too long.


    When living by oneself, many tasks required extra caution, whether bathing or walking, to avoid injury without anyone to lend a hand.

 Chapter 114

    Chapter 114


    The fifth winter after the volcanic eruption, one morning after eating breakfast, Wen Qian wondered what she would have for lunch. The fact that she was thinking about it meant that she nned to cook for herself at noon, rather than taking food directly from the Space.


    After some thought, she decided to use the small potatoes she had harvested previously.


    She washed the tiny potatoes, put them in the oven of the warm stove, and roasted them until the skins were crispy and fragrant. With some additional seasonings added, they would be delicious. However, Wen Qian wouldn''t eat just roasted potatoes, so she also nned to make something else.


    Potato shreds, potato pancakes, mashed potatoes, potato soup¡ªpotatoes were a food that she could eat in any way without getting tired of them.


    She had originally wanted to make potato flour, but found that it took thirty pounds of potatoes to yield just three pounds of potato starch, which was too much effort, so she abandoned that idea.


    Simrly, making taro flour and sweet potato flour was also a hassle.


    If she could cultivate crops on arge scale in the future, she might consider making flour.


    Having finished breakfast, she nned for lunch, mainly because the winter was too long and there was nothing else to do.


    Wen Qian put two logs of firewood into the stove, making the fire bigger.


    Every year, she had to prepare enough firewood tost at least six months through the winter. For the next few years, she wouldn''t cut trees from the foot of the mountain across from her home, but would go farther in the direction of the ranch to chop trees.


    After cutting the trees, she would put them directly into the Space, then take them out at home and leave them by the door to dry. Once dried, she would start sawing and chopping the firewood.


    The trees she cut were never particrly thick, soter on she stopped using a chainsaw and instead used a handsaw and axe.


    These tasks weren''tpleted all at once, but were done whenever she had free time. Now that winter hadsted over six months, Wen Qian had to make sure she had enough firewood prepared, neither too little nor too much.


    From her recollection, there was always surplus firewood left over each year, which she stored in the Space. She would never let herself run out and have to replenish it at thest minute.


    The firewood for the warm stove didn''t need to be chopped into very thin pieces, as long as the width and length could fit into the square stove opening. It didn''t matter if it wasn''t split, because it would slowly burn as long as there was fire inside, which saved Wen Qian a lot of work.


    She really liked this stove and felt that it was an extremely cost-effective purchase.


    Unfortunately, the shopping system from before had disappeared, and she would never have that kind of shopping experience again.


    Sometimes when the wind blew, there would be gusts of wind sounds from outside that Wen Qian could hear. Other than the sounds she made herself, the only other noise was the wind outside.


    So Wen Qian kept up the habit of talking to herself, worried that if she didn''t speak for too long, she might forget how to talk.


    During the day, Wen Qian tried not to turn on lights, so she kept the curtains by the window open to let in more brightness. On the other hand, this also allowed her winter vegetables and green onion sprouts to get sunlight on the windowsill.


    Even in winter, she had to grow something, so she sprouted things like green beans, soybeans, peas, and peanuts near the warm stove.


    She would often grow some of these, not necessarily to eat right away, but most of the time she would store them in the Space.


    She did this mainly to add some vitality or greenery to her environment, since growing inedible flowers or nts at this time would be a waste.


    After arranging the nts, Wen Qian would exercise indoors, which was a strict rule for herself.


    She wasn''t a strongwoman, but simply hoped to be healthy and agile.


    Living alone for so long, with the winters being so drawn out, it would be easy to be lethargic if she didn''t exercise.


    Close to noon, Wen Qian would go outside and walk around the house, then climb adder to use a telescope to observe the surrounding environment.


    Observing the environment and recording the temperature were both daily routines.


    After surveying the area and finding nothing out of the ordinary, Wen Qian would take a walk outside, then return home to start making potato pancakes.


    First, she steamed the potatoes until cooked, then peeled and mashed them. She added flour, eggs and seasonings, and mixed it into a batter.


    Next, she removed the kettle from the center of the warm stove, using a hook to open the iron lid.


    The center of the stove was round, designed with three parts: arge outer ring enclosing a smaller inner ring, and in the very middle was a small round lid with a slight indentation and a small crossbar on top.


    Using the hook, she lifted this lid and pulled out an iron te from under the table, allowing the mes to rise up for cooking.


    Depending on the size of the pot or kettle bottom, the two outer rings could be removed or left in ce.


    If not in use, she would put the three parts back in order, push in the iron te to lower the temperature, and ce a kettle on top to heat using the residual warmth.


    Wen Qian took out her t-bottomed pan, removed the round lid and one of the small rings and set them aside on the table. She put the pan on top, poured in some oil, and began spooning the potato batter onto it to fry into small pancakes one by one.


    Since the pancakes absorbed a lot of oil and were too greasy to eat alone, Wen Qian also stir-fried a te of amaranth greens to eat with them.


    After eating, she would read for a while. If she felt sleepy, she would take a short afternoon nap, but not for too long.


    Sometimes when Wen Qian woke up, it was already afternoon, which would make it hard for her to sleep at night, disrupting her routine.


    Wen Qian usually napped by resting her head on the table. This way, her nap wouldn''t be overly long. Under the table, her knees could feel the warmth from the stove, and the stainless steel tabletop was also warm, so she wouldn''t get chilled.


    The main reason was that if shey down in bed to sleep, she would have to take off her clothes, and the nap could easily be too long.


    Wen Qian had previously enclosed her sleeping area with transparent stic sheeting, mainly to prevent oil fumes.


    This was even more important in winter, as there was no exhaust fan here. With the cold weather, she couldn''t keep the doors and windows open for long periods either, so she could smell the oil fumes on her clothes and hat.


    However, she really disliked that smell on her pillows and bedding, so the stic sheeting helped a bit.


    Since there wasn''t much happening, Wen Qian wrote less in her journal.


    Apart from regr temperature records and a few notes about her physical condition, her days were repetitive without much new to record.


    Winter was also the time when she read the most books. Although she had browsed through the ''four must-haves for time travel'' book set she had prepared earlier, she hadn''t mastered many of the skills in it.


    So during winter, she would re-read them again, not necessarily to master anything, but simply to be more familiar with the books and gain more confidence in their content.


    For example, ''The Barefoot Doctor''s Manual'' was a book she read frequently, ncing through it whenever she had time.


    She also studied and identified the medicinal herbs she had dug up previously, referring to the herbology book. There were also books rted to cooking skills.


    Every time Wen Qian looked at these books, she felt that the wisdom of the ancients truly shone brilliantly!


    If she got bored with those, Wen Qian would take out the novels she had previously stored and read them. Although she had saved many on her phone,puter, and USB drives, she had also purchased many physical books.


    For her, electronic books were ultimately not as secure as physical ones.

 Chapter 115

    Chapter 115


    The volcanic eruption urred in August of that year, and now Wen Qian was going through her fifth winter, longing for the arrival of the fifth spring.


    At this time, she finally understood why people in highertitudes had a higher rate of depression and suicide ¨C the winter was simply too long.


    Wen Qian needed to adjust her mood, so she scheduled exercise time for herself every day, as exercise could regte her physical and mental health.


    Physical and psychological conditions influence each other ¨C poor mental state can trigger physical illnesses, not to mention the effects of physical pain. Those with chronic illnesses often have a worsened temperament.


    In addition to exercising, Wen Qian asionally baked sweet potatoes, chestnuts, and dried fish for herself, and read novels she had read many times before but still enjoyed immensely.


    After weaving fishings and bird-catchings, Wen Qian also made fish traps for herself, drew house design ns, and finally weed the fifth spring amidst these trivial matters.


    Wen Qian wondered if there would be another year of disaster after two consecutive years, then noticed the temperature was slightly better than the previous two years.


    However, she would not sow seeds immediately, as severe cold could return, and a single snowfall or frost could ruin the seeds.


    So Wen Qian observed while also starting to sprout various seeds. If the temperature continued to rise, she could nt more crops.


    After years of cultivation, Wen Qian had gradually changed to seeds that could adapt to the cool climate.


    The small fields she had opened were fertilized and plowed before winter, so once the snow melted and the temperature rose, she could directly nt vegetables and crops.


    Wen Qian took out potatoes for sprouting, and after obvious sprouts emerged, she cut the potatoes along the sprout points. The potato pieces were then left to dry before nting.


    They were still nted row by row, with proper spacing.


    For some leafy greens, she cultivated them individually in small nursery pots, and transnted them once they grew to a certain size.


    This way, she could save as many seeds as possible, as the longer the volcanic wintersted, the more precious the seeds became.


    Wen Qian would insert bamboo poles and cover them with insting film to form a warm shed, preventingte spring cold from freezing the young seedlings.


    Wen Qian had a lot of seeds, but she was still very frugal with them.


    When transnting, she arranged the nts neatly, both horizontally and vertically, which was very satisfying to look at.


    For nts that were scarce and required frequent maintenance, she nted them closer together.


    For crops, Wen Qian could not control the density, but she tried to sow them as evenly as possible.


    Interestingly, there were no more birds disturbing her crops now, but the insects that damaged the vegetables did not decrease.


    Even at lower temperatures, the insects grew and spread rapidly.


    With the arrival of spring, afterpleting these tasks, Wen Qian went out to dig for wild vegetables, which she found truly healing and addictive.


    Behind the house, a small path had been formed by her frequent trips beyond the surrounding wall and up the mountain.


    Wen Qian still carried a radio from time to time to test for any messages, but there were none.


    The snow on the higher elevations of the Jade Mountain Range remained, but the snow at the mountain''s base had nearly melted.


    Wen Qian dug up many wild vegetables with her bamboo basket, feeling like an expert on wild greens and discovering new ones every year.


    Some nts were both vegetables and herbal medicines, and Wen Qian never missed any usable item, storing them all in her space.


    Besides going out to dig wild vegetables and gather mushrooms, Wen Qian also spent much time watering her crops and weeding, as weeds always grew better than crops.


    Anyone who said farming was easy, just sow the seeds and have no worries, Wen Qian would surely be the first to knock some sense into their heads.


    From ancient times to the modern era, even with pre-eruption mechanized agriculture, there were many things to worry about, despite machines recing many tasks.


    But the points to note during crop growth never decreased due to mechanization, as crops are delicate and can die easily if not cared for properly.


    Now that seeds could not be bought freely and pesticides were almost nonexistent, Wen Qian had to put in extra effort under these circumstances.


    This year, Wen Qian also nted loofah, bitter melon, and cucumber outside the wall, erecting short bamboo frames for them in a rtively wind-sheltered area to prevent strong winds from blowing them over.


    She had not grown them before because of the low temperatures, but after reading the instructions, it seemed possible, although she didn''t know how the yield would be.


    So Wen Qian tried nting a few of each first. Before the volcanic winter, there were many heated greenhouses for cultivation in summer, but shecked the materials for that.


    She also nted pumpkins and winter melons on the hillside behind her house, using the old seeds she had kept from her hometown, only nting a few, but the vines seemed to be growing quickly.


    With all kinds of melons nted, Wen Qian also took out five watermelon seeds to nt in the courtyard, grateful if even one could ripen.


    So this year, she ate various seasonal melons, with the loofah yield not being very good, but the cucumbers were not bad.


    The pumpkins on the hillside clearly adapted well to this season and weather, and when they flowered, Wen Qian picked some flowers to fry and eat.


    After the flowers wilted, the small pumpkins emerged, but some rotted before fully growing, so Wen Qian paid extra attention.


    Back in her hometown, her grandparents would never eat anything when it was young and tender, whether vegetables, shoots, or small pumpkins, as they felt it was wasteful. They would wait until the pumpkins were fully mature before eating them, otherwise they felt it was a loss.


    Simrly, they would not eat young, tender soybeans or peas, but wait until they were mature.


    But Wen Qian was different - she preferred freshness, so she harvested the pumpkins at various stages, fortunately this batch grew very well, with the vines spreading over arge area and yielding many pumpkins.


    Wen Qian was especially delighted and even added fertilizer for the pumpkins, regretting that she had not nted them earlier.


    Of all the melons, she considered watermelons the most delicate, so she followed her watermelon cultivation handbook when nting them.


    As the small watermelons grew bigger, Wen Qian did not know how to tell when they were ripe, so she could only tap them and wait another two days.


    Eventually, she mustered the courage to pick one that looked pinkish, though not fully ripe, with a thick rind, but it tasted quite sweet.


    For the remaining melons, she estimated the time and picked them, then stored them in her space. Although she already had somerge watermelons she had bought before, they were not the same as the ones she had grown herself.


    This year had winds and rains in between, but no ice, snow, or frost damage, so Wen Qian estimated that she would have a good harvest.

 Chapter 116

    Chapter 116


    Since there had been no disasters in between, Wen Qian had nted two waves of vegetables, and the crops were still growing.


    During this time, she also went to cut down quite a few trees from far away, stockpiling firewood - not something that only began before winter, but an activity she carried out year-round.


    Even after winter passed, the night temperatures were not high, so Wen Qian still needed to burn the heating stove.


    The historical two-year-long "Year Without Summer" had already made human life difficult, not to mention the consecutive five years of global cooling.


    The human poption had dropped dramatically, and many towns disappeared, with the once prosperous cities never to return.


    Therefore, the growth of nts and animals in this environment was also very difficult, but Wen Qian knew that in ces with reduced human activity, the recovery of nts was very rapid.


    As long as the temperature rose a little, that ce would be a paradise for nts and animals.


    When would that daye? Wen Qian, now 33 years old, was pondering this question. ording to previous data predictions, the impact couldst for ten years.


    In ten years, Wen Qian would already be 38 years old.


    However, having endured only half of that period, Wen Qian had already outlived many others who died from viruses, severe cold, and violence among their own kind.


    After the copse of the social medical system, the production of drugs, vines, and the like ceased, and they could only consume the existing stockpiles.


    As a result, patients with basic illnesses deteriorated bit by bit without medication to control their conditions.


    Somemon newborn diseases were also difficult to prevent due to theck of vines.


    Humans are a remarkable species that developed rapidly in a short period of time, even extending their footsteps to the moon, and their living standards were refreshed every now and then.


    However, nature is also merciless, and people were fragile in the face of natural disasters, with all their possessions vanishing like clouds, and all kinds of diseases, severe cold, and hunger returning.


    It was as if the previous prosperity and stability were an illusion, and those who had enjoyed peace and stability before the natural disasters would reminisce about the past with such sentiments.


    Under such circumstances, few people would be willing to have children, and only in areas near bases with decent medical and health conditions would there still be newborns; elsewhere, it was basically not worth considering.


    In August, Wen Qian harvested quite a few pumpkins. She herself did not really like eating them, but she stored them in her space as reserve food.


    The wax gourds were coated with a thickyer of white frost, a variety from her hometown, truly huge wax gourds.


    Wen Qian felt that dividing one wax gourd into many portions and eating it every few days would take a long time.


    She kept three loofah gourds that had ripened early, allowing them to age naturally.


    If she kept the loofah gourds toote, she was worried that they might rot before aging due to the temperature drop, so these three had already be very typical old loofah gourds by now.


    Wen Qian picked them, the old loofah gourds were light and airy, with the pointed ends gone and the holes in the middle would have the seeds slowly knocked out.


    She wrapped them in paper to use as seeds for the following year. Back in her hometown, if there were too many seeds knocked out, aside from leaving some as seeds, the rest would be fried as gourd seeds.


    The pumpkin seeds were also treated this way back home, with the seeds scooped out, the pulp washed clean, and the seeds sun-dried. Both kinds of seeds were quite fragrant when eaten, but now Wen Qian could not bear to waste them.


    After putting these away, Wen Qian began harvesting her crops. The foxtail millet and wheat she had nted this year were the first time in two years she had grown them.


    Since in the previous two or three years, Wen Qian either did not nt or nted very little, this time could be considered a year with rtively abundant grain.


    However, she still put everything into her space after harvesting, without immediately processing all the grain.


    She only took out a small portion to taste the freshness when harvesting, as she was eager to savor the fruits of her hard work over several months.


    The days passed, year after year, like this.


    After another three years, when Wen Qian was 36, she recorded that the temperature began to rise, and the winter duration started to shorten a bit.


    This phenomenon could be seen from the condition of the surrounding vegetation and small animals.


    The gloom of the previous years gradually dissipated, and there were more sunny days, but the levels had not yet returned to before.


    However, during this period, people had dered the failure of synthetic starch production, and controble nuclear fusion technology had not been breakthroughed either.


    Or rather, since the onset of the Volcanic Winter, people had not been able to achieve any more breakthroughs.


    If it were based on the scientific research standards and supply capabilities before the Volcanic Winter, perhaps they could have seeded.


    However, after the turmoil caused by the Volcanic Winter, there was ack of experimental materials, equipment, and researchers in various aspects.


    Scientific progress had also stagnated, and many researchers realized that the peak might have been before the Volcanic Winter.


    If the world could not return to its previous level of prosperity, there would be no more scientific breakthroughs in the future.


    At the end of the eighth winter, Wen Qian began to consider whether she needed to move to a different ce to live.


    The next location where she settled might be the ce where she would remain for the rest of her life, so the environment needed to be rtively better.


    Although her current location was livable for one person, she knew it was not the best ce suitable for growing crops.


    Otherwise, when she first arrived here, there should have been human settlements here.


    Therefore, Wen Qian prepared for onest round of sowing in the spring, and then nned to head north in July when the weather was better.


    She might stay here for the ninth and tenth winters, but after that, she would leave.


    She dug out her old books and maps, including provincial maps and information rted to vegetation environments from back then.


    Although a long time had passed, some ces might have changed, but the general data could still be useful.


    Once the Volcanic Winter ended and the period of great biological prosperity arrived, it would not be suitable for Wen Qian to live here anymore.


    Her first choice was still the second safe point by Jade Lake, surrounded by mountains, with ake formed by melting snow.


    That ce would be more suitable for grazing, and if one wanted to grow crops, they could go down the mountain and nt in the nearby areas.


    Moreover, it was very likely that people would survive and gather around Jade Lake in the future, and where there were people, goods could be exchanged, and news could also be shared.


    Another possibility was to continue further north, from Xia Province to Ning Province or even farther ces, with the target always being northward.


    In those areas, the altitude would be slightly lower, with forests and rivers, and the grass and water would be more abundant than in Xia Province, making it more suitable for both grazing and farming.


    Not to mention, the variety of fish alone would be greater than in Xia Province.


    Regardless of whether human or animal, in order to survive in the future, the chosen ce would definitely need to have abundant food.


    This was also the reason why Wen Qian wanted to leave this ce. As she grew older, she wanted to nt as many crops as possible while she was still able to move around.


    Previously, her first choice of location was based on having fewer people around, avoiding humans.


    Now that the poption has drastically decreased, her next choice of location is primarily based on having an abundant food supply, with low poption being the secondary condition.

 Chapter 117

    Chapter 117


    Years ago in July, Wen Qian rode her bicycle, nning to go to Mangge City.


    The round trip would take over a week, just for the time spent on the road.


    This was the only rtivelyrge city nearby, with a poption of several tens of thousands back then, though it''s unknown how many people remain there now.


    In fact, this city had already been abandoned, but Wen Qian didn''t know since she had no sources of information.


    Now, radio reception was limited to the vicinity of a few bases, just like the campus broadcasts at the school in the past, with very limited coverage and little fresh news.


    Wen Qian gathered her belongings from home and took onest look around, at her own vegetable garden which she had fenced off with railings andting dismantled from the ranch many days ago.


    This was the best she could do for protection while she was away.


    Wen Qian began heading towards the ranch. Her motorcycle was still usable, but she wouldn''t use it for the entire journey to conserve fuel.


    So she would alternate between bicycle and motorcycle, fortunately having more than one bicycle and many spare tires.


    From her home to the ranch, there was no road, but starting from the ranch entrance, there was a concrete road leading to the wide highway.


    The concrete road was still passable, though after years of weathering, it had developed many cracks, likely due to freezing and thawing over the winters.


    After many years away, she set foot on the national highway again, which no longer showed any traces of vehicles and had weeds growing through the cracks. However, the lower temperatures here kept the grass from growing too tall, allowing Wen Qian to pass through.


    When night fell during her journey, she would set up her mobile home by the roadside, the same one from years ago with the bed and stove still inside.


    As always, she would secure the perimeter before spending the night, and the few nights passed rtively peacefully.


    However, she did not encounter any people along the way. At one hill, Wen Qian stood at the top and used her binocrs to survey the city.


    The basic structures were still standing, though they appeared quite dpidated on the outside.


    This was the city she hadst reached, and when she left by bicycle back then, she looked back for a long time.


    Because she knew there would be no more dense clusters of buildings along her journey ahead, and perhaps many years would pass before she returned to a city again.


    In the year before the volcanic eruption, after she left this ce and until today, a span of ten years had passed.


    The season when she first came to Mangge City was August, a full nine years from now.


    One yearter in August, the Yellowstone volcano erupted, and after that, development here must have ceased.


    Subsequently, with the advent of the super virus and volcanic winter, the poption here gradually dwindled, with thest wave of people leaving Mangge City likely being those who only left after two consecutive years of disasters.


    In fact, when the super virus struck, this city had already be isted from the world. The initial virus had already overwhelmed the local healthcare system, as Mangge City was simply too far from the major hospital in Xia City.


    After many years, Wen Qian figured there should no longer be anything virus-rted here, but she still took precautions, wearing a mask and gloves, and carrying an alcohol spray on her back.


    At the outskirts of the city along the road, Wen Qian saw various makeshift barriers of varying degrees, resembling long-abandoned checkpoints.


    Perhaps due to the passage of time, the stic ones had degraded into dust, while the iron barriers were rusted beyond recognition.


    Some barriers had been moved to the sides, widening the drivable space, possibly by people leaving the city by vehicle at someter point.


    The mobile homes used for guard duty had copsed, leaning to one side, with umted dust indicating no human presence for a long time.


    There were no human footprints on the ground, but traces of other animals, mostly birds.


    This abandoned city was quiet yet eerie, the only thing breaking the silence being the various bird species that had taken up residence within the human structures.


    They had built nests in various buildings, at least offering more shelter from the elements than their natural habitats.


    In some ces, there were signs of people having lit fires indoors, while the signs on former shops had fallen off, only faintly hinting at their past purposes.


    Essentially, all the ground-floor doors and windows had been opened. Wen Qian observed the scene, reconstructing the events that had unfolded.


    Gripping an iron rod, she walked the streets, having already surveyed that there were no signs of human activity orrge wild animals.


    This city was notrge, resembling the scale of her hometown in An Province despite being designated as a city.


    She even spotted a grave in a roadside flower bed, with a stone inscribed with words in front and faded stic flowers inserted.


    Wen Qian''s main objectives here were to check for any people, and since she found none, her second goal was to gather supplies before leaving.


    Wen Qian walked along the streets outside until she reached the town square, her sights set on the various paving materials on the ground.


    The typical square bricks used for city sidewalks, as well as the perforated bricks for grassy parking lots with spaces for growth.


    So Wen Qian began prying up the bricks and stone bs, collecting the elongated curb stones, her small hands gathering everything in her path.


    After that, she relied on her memory to locate the building materials street.


    There must not have been any business here since the onset of the disasters, and during the subsequent food shortages, the ground-floor doors had been broken into, leaving the materials exposed.


    Years of weathering had taken their toll.


    Wen Qian found a tile store with a stockyard in the back and used adder to climb over, collecting the tiles stored there.


    At the end of the street, the bricks and tiles that had been exposed long-term had turned ck from the elements.


    Wen Qian was delighted to find red roof tiles, their outeryers faded by wind and rain but still of good quality. The gaps between the tiles had umted dirt and sprouted various weeds from the rain.


    She knocked on the tiles to test them and began collecting them in sections.


    Wen Qian did not want to enter the residential buildings, having surveyed the chaotic interiors of various malls through her binocrs as well.


    The floors were covered in dark stains that Wen Qian suspected were bloodstains, and there were likely corpses inside, so she avoided going in.


    Apart from the intact structures, it seemed that everything else had already been ransacked, so there was no point looking for food.


    Therefore, Wen Qian''s sole target was building materials.

 Chapter 118

    Chapter 118


    Wen Qian nned to take various building materials to construct a street, no matter if it was furniture or bricks and stones.


    Initially, due to the volcanic winter, many people had run out of heating supplies and started cutting down the street trees after exhausting their stockpiled resources.


    Originally, these ces had very little greenery, and after the trees were taken for firewood, those areas could only grow weeds until now.


    Wen Qian intended to acquire more construction materials purely to build a few more houses, as her future residence was likely to be where she would live for the rest of her life.


    One house would notpletely satisfy Wen Qian''s expectations.


    She needed a separate kitchen and bedroom, a room for storing supplies, and a ce for storing firewood and hay.


    If there was a courtyard, the ground would also need to be paved. In short, there were many things to be done.


    In her ordinary winter days, she had drawn countless drafts of what she wanted her home to look like.


    She needed to prepare the materials, tools, choose the location, estimate the time required, and find a suitable spot along the route.


    During the long, boring winter days, what should spark her interest was nning for the future and looking forward to it.


    While collecting materials, Wen Qian asionally looked around.


    With so much time having passed, memories of the past became blurred. Originally, there were not many people in this small town, and she knew this beforeing.


    When she was strolling around the town, she observed that its surroundings on the map were so deste, and the nearest city was very far away, even taking a train would take several hours.


    And now, there were no scheduled trains passing through here anymore.


    Perhaps there were still some coal-fired steam trains, mostly for freight rather than passenger transport, but Wen Qian did not yet know which routes were still operating.


    Therefore, when Wen Qian nned to leave, she would prepare for a rtively long time on the road.


    After roughly nning the route, Wen Qian started searching for relevant information based on her previous research, to see if she could obtain some of the things she wanted on the way, whether seeds or nts.


    At this point, zero-element shopping was basically impossible, and anything useful in supermarkets and stores would have been taken away.


    After many years, some things that were not taken away should have spoiled as well.


    Wen Qian spent two days collecting bricks and stones outside, which was not very tiring. In the ces she walked, the bricks and stones on the sidewalks were all removed, leaving only the underlying concrete or bare soil exposed.


    She walked around the city, quickly covering the exteriors of all the buildings, but as for the interiors, Wen Qian did not want to get too close.


    She did not want to see any corpses inside.


    During this time, she set up a movable house in the middle of the square, with open space all around and a very t surface.


    After collecting everything, Wen Qian headed northeast, as she remembered there were many nting areas in that direction.


    There was a river surrounding the outskirts of the small town, and when Wen Qian saw this river, she wondered if there might be fish in it.


    If they were purely wild, then the variety of fish here would be very limited, but if there had been aquaculture, then the variety should be quite diverse.


    She was thinking about whether the local people had eaten everything edible before leaving this ce.


    Regardless, Wen Qian set up a sticky at one spot, intending to check if there were any fish when she returned.


    She also dropped a few fish traps, baited with some previous kitchen waste, such as chicken and duck offal.


    Soon after leaving the river, she entered the nting area, which should have had many plots for growing wolfberries.


    Wen Qian quickly found that patch, as it had grown many more weeds due tock of maintenance.


    Wen Qian considered that wolfberries could be propagated by cuttings, so she cut many wolfberry branches, preparing to nt them in a suitable locationter.


    She then walked further and came to the ck wolfberry nting area, doing the same.


    These wolfberries were basically all open-field cultivated, and since it was July, the wolfberries had not yet ripened, so Wen Qian did not pick any fruits.


    There were also some jujube trees, and although they had weathered the storms, many were still surviving.


    As for the varieties cultivated in the previous greenhouses, most had frozen to death due to the years of cold, with only a small portion stubbornly clinging to life.


    For example, strawberries, so Wen Qian searched for strawberries among the weeds and cut off the runners.


    While living things could not be put into the Space, parts of living things and seeds could.


    Therefore, every time Wen Qian was particrly attentive to any nt varieties that could be propagated by cuttings, as she had previously bought some and stored them in the Space, but did not have a particrlyrge quantity.


    Therefore, wherever she could find them, any varieties she could obtain, she would take cuttings and preserve them, hoping that one day she could grow them all.


    Wen Qian spent more time in this area because there were strawberry, blueberry, and grape nting bases here, with quite arge area.


    At this season, blueberries and strawberries were still bearing fruit, especially blueberries, which grew particrly well here, possibly because the cooler environment was more suitable for blueberry growth after the temperature drop.


    Wen Qian picked a few strawberries and many blueberries.


    Since they could all be propagated by cuttings, Wen Qian tried to take as many branches as possible.


    In some grain nting areas, she could see traces of quinoa and wheat, perhaps seeds left on the ground from the previous mechanical harvesting that were notpletely picked up.


    It seemed that people had cultivated them to some extent afterwards, as abandoned farnd would always have some previously cultivated nts appearing among the weeds.


    Therefore, those fields still had some crops here and there, but Wen Qian did not n to harvest them at this time because the season had not yet arrived.


    After leaving the nting area, Wen Qian finally remembered the fishings and fish traps she had set up earlier.


    After more than a day, if there were any fish, they should have entered by now.


    As expected, there were some small misceneous fish in the fish traps, notrge but quite numerous, and before Wen Qian picked them up, she saw white in the river water.


    A total of seven fish were caught in the three stickys, threerge and four small, some still struggling and some already dead.


    Happy to have this additional catch, Wen Qian collected everything into the Space.


    After gathering these items, Wen Qian stood on the hill observing this city.


    It was truly deserted.


    Afterpleting these tasks, Wen Qian began her return journey.


    She had stayed here for two more days but was still concerned about the crops at home.


    Although there had been no animal damage in recent years, she still felt uneasy after being away for several days without being able to patrol and inspect them.


    She finally understood why Wen Qian''s grandparents rarely went out back then.


    Back then, Wen Qian''s grandparents raised chickens, ducks, pigs, and cattle at home. If they went out for a day, these animals would starve, let alone if they were gone for an extended period. Someone had to stay home.


    That''s why they felt such a strong attachment to their hometown; it wasn''t that they didn''t want to go out and y, but they simply couldn''t find the time.


    Wen Qian thought that if she raised chickens, ducks, and grew crops in the future, she wouldn''t dare to stray too far from home either.


    On the way back, Wen Qian rode her bicycle the entire way, trying to conserve fuel whenever possible. Years had passed, and Wen Qian couldn''t find any resources rted to gasoline or diesel fuel.


    These things would be very hard toe by in the future, and Wen Qian needed to save the remaining oil for the migration journey ahead.


    After several days of travel, Wen Qian finally reached the ranch.

 Chapter 119

    Chapter 119


    This time, the main haul was building materials and some nt branches.


    It was a harvest that Wen Qian was quite satisfied with, and then she remembered that she had seen so many birds in Mangge City but had not set up a to catch them.


    In the environment of a natural disaster, animal protection no longer applied, and Wen Qian would seize every opportunity to collect edible things.


    But it wasn''t until she was almost home that she thought of doing this, so she added catching birds and fish to her to-do list.


    Although it was quite far away, she still had to go there again, after all, there were still things left to collect.


    Wen Qian didn''t go into the house first, but instead inspected all the crops around her before climbing over the wall.


    Come to think of it, she was just toozy. For so many years, she had been climbing up and down with adder, but never thought of making a door somewhere.


    Initially, she didn''t make a door for safety reasons, and to a certain extent, it did serve a purpose.


    If she were to leave in the future, apart from the foundation of her house which she couldn''t take with her, she would have to dismantle the surrounding wall and take the bricks and wood with her.


    During the time she was away, her crops had grown well and the vegetables were doing fine too, without any other issues.


    So Wen Qian felt quite at ease about going out again next time.


    After returning home, Wen Qian boiled a lot of hot water and soaked herself in a tub of mugwort water for a good long bath.


    Having traveled back and forth, Wen Qian felt very tired and wanted to rx her muscles and bones in the water.


    After eating a light meal to fill her stomach, Wen Qian went to sleep. She had returned in the afternoon and slept for two hours after lying on the bed.


    Upon waking up, Wen Qian ate some blueberries and strawberries. She had always been very appreciative of fruits and ate them sparingly.


    Even so, her stock of fruits was dwindling in variety, though she had bought the most watermelons which were the cheapest and still had quite a few left.


    The small orange jam bottles she had emptied before could now be used to store blueberry jam.


    So after returning home the second day, she began making blueberry jam for herself, as she still had plenty of white sugar left.


    For something like blueberries, in ces suitable for their growth, one could just pick them by hand.


    But in areas not suitable for their growth, Wen Qian had originally seen that blueberries were quite expensive, with a small box costing more than ten yuan for the expensive ones and six or seven yuan for the cheaper ones.


    It would indeed be very costly if calcted by the pound.


    As such, Wen Qian had a bit of an obsession with growing those rtively expensive fruits. If she could grow them herself, she wouldn''t have to buy them.


    Now that there was no buying or selling, Wen Qian also wanted to grow blueberries as a way to enrich her own cuisine.


    On this trip out, Wen Qian didn''t see any people.


    Wen Qian was actually quite conflicted. On one hand, she was afraid of seeing people, having lived alone for so many years, with no one to talk to except herself. If she really did encounter living people, she wouldn''t dare speak to them.


    On the other hand, if there really were no people, she would feel very deste. It would be better for some people to have survived after the disaster, as it would give her hope.


    She had also tested the radio in Mangge City, but it was clear that there was no signal here either, so Wen Qian still had no new information from the outside world.


    She saw the destion of Mangge City and felt that many small cities in Xia Province would likely be the same. Extrapting to other ces, it was probably the same situation.


    If people were still surviving here after the volcanic winter in the first few years, then the sessive two years of severe disasters would have made them lose hope of guarding their hometowns and they would have moved southward to warmer ces instead.


    However, Wen Qian''s future direction was northward. Her first choice was the mountain forests near Jade Lake, the ce she imagined from movies where a grandfather and little girl lived.


    Her second choice was to head further northeast, entering Liang Province. With its elongated terrain and diverse geography and climate types, even if the climate recovered in the future, there wouldn''t be too many people there.


    And on the way from Xia Province to Liang Province, Wen Qian could also collect plenty of resources. Just thinking about it made her wish she was already on the road.


    The only thing was, she hadn''t decided when to set off yet. If she were to depart, it would definitely be after winter was over.


    That meant during the journey of walking all the way, there would be a year when she couldn''t grow any crops.


    With the current long winters and non-existent summers, if she chose to leave in spring, she basically wouldn''t be able to nt any grains or vegetables.


    Of course, that wasn''t too big of an issue, as her food supply was still sustainable.


    Relying on the relevant materials she had left behind, Wen Qian carefully researched what she could harvest along the way, hoping to gain some additional yields.


    For example, which local specialty nts might appear along the route that she could use, which areas would be best to avoid, and which areas she could linger in for longer periods.


    In fact, when she was initially searching for backup locations, Liang Province had also been within her range of choices, so the materials on it were more abundant and detailed.


    It was just that her first choice back then was the teau region, so those materials had not been put to use.


    At the end of July when the sun was out, Wen Qian took out all her cotton quilts to sun them, and also washed many clothes.


    She set up quite a few racks outside the wall to hang the clothes for drying. After cleaning and drying, Wen Qian started kneading dough to steam mixed grain buns, bake tbreads, and stir-fry meat and pickled vegetables.


    Basically, all were quick and convenient foods. Although she hadn''t decided on a time to leave yet, she had already started making dry rations for the journey.


    In particr, many of the wild vegetables she had dug up here, after cleaning, were either sun-dried or soaked in water and then dressed with oil, salt, and chili sauce.


    There were also some dishes cooked withrd and shredded cured meat that were packaged up too.


    In short, she was slowly taking out things that she had previously just put in without carefully sorting through, and making them into finished or semi-finished products.


    By August, Wen Qian went to Mangge City again, and this time, in addition to catching fish and birds, she also wanted to collect the crops that had grown sporadically.


    It was unknown how much would be left after the birds and other small animals had been visiting.


    On this return trip, Wen Qian''s courage had grown a bit and she didn''t enter the urban area, but instead went around from the suburbs, following the river as she went ahead. Along the way, she used up almost all of her stickys.


    She also still used her kitchen waste for fish traps, but she didn''t use a throw much, as it was too strenuous, and the high river banks made using a drag quite difficult too.


    When she arrived at the nting area, it was indeed quite lively. Amid the weeds overgrown in the fields were stubbornly growing crops, so Wen Qian set up bird-catchings on bamboo poles in the open spaces and began collecting the wheat stalks.


    Although scarce, why not take something that''s free? The rustling of the underbrush might startle birds, which would then be posted online.


    Wen Qian stayed there for three days before returning home, bringing back plenty of fish, birds, and some homegrown crops.


    Afterward, he began to harvest what he had nted.


    After the harvest wasplete, the ninth winter would arrive.

 Chapter 120

    Chapter 120


    Wen Qian gathered the crops and vegetables she had grown into her Space, without taking time to process them. Instead, she turned her attention to stockpiling firewood for herself.


    Hoarding another round of firewood before winter would make Wen Qian feel more at ease.


    After preparing the firewood, Wen Qian took out the birds she had previously caught, boiling water to pluck their feathers.


    Later, she spread the wet feathers outside to dry, then collected them into her Space. As for the bird meat she was processing, the innards and inedible parts were also collected.


    Just like how she would collect chicken and duck intestines whenever she processed poultry before.


    Some of the frozen chickens and ducks she had previously purchased were already processed, while others were merely plucked whole with the innards intact.


    In the future, she could use these to make fish bait, so she wouldn''t have to dig for earthworms anymore, how convenient.


    After processing these birds, she salted and dried some for storage in her Space, while putting the rest directly into the Space.


    These birds were small, so it was best to eat them fresh. If they were hung up and wind-dried, they would be nothing but skin and bones.


    With these tasks done, Wen Qian took out some chickens and ducks to make cured meat, and also took out a few dozen pounds of pork to cure.


    The wild boar that had fallen into her trap long ago was dissected by Wen Qian after she overcame her psychological state.


    From the pig''s blood to its hair, nothing was wasted; everything was meticulously utilized, even the small intestines were cleaned to make sausages.


    Althoughborious, Wen Qian was delighted, as the pork she had initially purchased from the Bai Sha Wholesale Market was rtively lesspared to grains.


    Later, she bought some more pork from her hometown, which allowed her to sustain herself until now.


    However, wild boar meat and domesticated pork had their differences; wild boar meat wasn''t as tasty.


    When Wen Qian was little, she would apany her grandparents to visit rtives. Back then, some mountain rtives could catch wild rabbits and pheasants.


    She found the meat of those wild animals difficult to chew, particrly the stringy texture that got stuck in her teeth. At the time, she thought it was due to her crooked teeth.


    Now, she realized it was likely because they engaged in strenuous activity as wild creatures.


    The wild boar''s meat was also stringy, making it particrly hard to chew, and requiring a lot of spices to mask the vor.


    But no matter how unptable, it was still meat, so Wen Qian could only slowly consume it bit by bit.


    After finishing these tasks, Wen Qian mended her bird-catchings at home. Somes became tightly tangled from the birds'' violent struggles, sometimes even tearing holes.


    Sometimes, when shecked patience removing the birds, she would also tear thes. Now, she focused on meticulously mending them.


    Wen Qian thought to herself that since there wasn''t much to do in winter, she would head to the foothills of the Jade Mountain Range and set up pole-supporteds in the valleys to see if any birds would fly into them.


    The previous trap hadn''t caught anyrge prey for a long time after the wild boar, until a sheep fell into itst spring.


    After the wild boar, another long-haired sheep came along, but Wen Qian didn''t know its name, as it only had one horn, seemingly injured during the mating season while fighting with other sheep before descending from the mountain.


    Moreover, this sheep''s horns resembled those of a few other breeds, so Wen Qian couldn''t distinguish it.


    As long as it was edible, Wen Qian was content, for after catching the wild boar, this trap was basically useless.


    In the following two or three years of warming temperatures, Wen Qian often set up small traps at the foot of the Jade Mountain Range.


    Mainly targetingrge pheasants and birds, but nothingrger could be caught.


    Back in her hometown, she had seen traps simr to rat traps but slightlyrger. When triggered, the jaws would snap shut with great force, capable of breaking bones if a person''s hand got caught.


    They were generally used to catch pheasants, squirrels, or yellow mongooses.


    Initially, Wen Qian had also purchased many of these traps online. When temperatures rose, she would stake them into the mountain and regrly check them, asionally reaping rewards.


    Therefore, catching another long-haired sheep that had fallen into a deep pit was a significant gain for her.


    Wen Qian knew the sheep had descended from the mountain because of its particrly long wool, indicative of growth in frigid alpine regions, the only kind of thick fur that could withstand the severe winter chill on the mountains.


    Just like the wild boar, Wen Qian brought the sheep back and dealt with it. This sheep weighed over a hundred pounds.


    Wen Qian kept the sheep''s wool, despite its pungent odor, as she felt it mighte in handyter.


    With Wen Qian''s current level of preparation, she would have sufficient supplies to depart immediately once spring arrived.


    As Wen Qian busied herself, the first snowfall of winter arrived. After that, aside from setting small traps and birds at the mountain''s base, she stayed at home.


    At home, she still had to process the harvested crops, separating the plump seeds for nting from the average quality ones for eating.


    Wen Qian began grinding flour by pedaling her bicycle, which also served as physical exercise, as she could only stay indoors during winter without much movement.


    This winter, Wen Qian''s mind was more active than usual.


    She needed to determine when to depart, whether in the uing spring or the following one.


    To prepare for both scenarios, she needed to observe the temperature trends and patterns at the beginning and end of this winter,paring them to her data from previous years.


    If the temperatures continued to rise gradually, she could depart when winter ended.


    If the temperatures didn''t rise like before, she could wait another year, but her preparations couldn''t ck.


    This winter''s timing and snowfall were nearly identical tost year''s, so Wen Qian wanted to see the ending temperature and time.


    If they were simr tost year''s, she would gather her belongings and leave.


    Despite her eager anticipation, time didn''t pass quickly, nor did it feel like an eternity.


    Wen Qian closed her notebook recording the temperatures and reviewed the calendar again.


    Although she had a calendar, her sense of time might not have been precise, as she didn''t wake up at a fixed time every day during this period, including instances of sleeping an entire day due to fever. Therefore, there could be a day or two discrepancy in the dates, but that wasn''t a major concern.


    If she had the opportunity to meet others, she might need to recalibrate the date.


    Winter was nearing its end, no colder than usual. At this point, Wen Qian felt she should be able to leave.


    After waiting another week, the temperatures gradually rose, with the lowest temperatures slowly increasing.


    In the end, she decided to set off. After this winter ended, she would leave here on the spring breeze.


    (Two in One)


    Spring had just arrived, or rather it was still winter, and the temperature wasn''t high, but Wen Qian had already started dismantling the surrounding wall.


    She didn''t store the surrounding wall in the Space, but instead knocked it down piece by piece into scattered sizes that could be stored in the Space at any time.


    As a result, scattered piles of stones surrounded the house, and then Wen Qian stored all the unnecessary items in the Space.


    Soon, her small hut filled with bottles, jars, and scattered items was left with only a bed, a stove, and a toilet, with everything else taken away.


    Originally the hut wasn''t very big, and it suddenly felt empty, leaving Wen Qian with a sense of loss, after all, she had lived here for several years.


    She had be quite familiar with the vast mountains and sprawling Gobi Desert grasnds here.


    The previous year during the transition from spring to summer, Wen Qian had gone to the distant dunes and discovered they were densely covered in small flowers blooming.


    Wen Qian didn''t know when those flowers had grown there.


    It should have been a desert rising and falling, but somehow it was all covered in green vegetation.


    Perhaps it was due to abnormal climate conditions that caused this, but the sight of the nts here vigorously growing in the face of rainfall was still shocking to Wen Qian.


    She etched those beautiful scenes into her mind''s eye, but didn''t take out her phone camera to photograph them like she used to.


    Instead, after returning home, she recorded them in words in her notebook, perhaps one day she could paint that scene from her memory.


    Using a phone camera to take pictures was a thing of the past.


    Andter, if the temperature rose and one day returned to the original climate temperature, Wen Qian wondered if this beautiful scene would immediately disappear again, and this ce would be covered in yellow sand storms once more.


    Wen Qian flipped through the calendar and found a day in the next three days that was suitable for travel. After dismantling the surrounding wall of her own house and storing it in the Space, the next morning she woke up early, stored the prefab house in the Space, and set off nonchntly on her bicycle.


    Before leaving, she felt extremely reluctant and stood on the hill, surveying the familiar environment around her.


    In the end, she resolutely left, thinking that she would be on the road for a very long time from now on.


    Wen Qian spent the night on the road between the ranch and Mangge City. That evening, after taking out the prefab house and setting it up, she surrounded it with arge circle.


    It looked like a circle of construction debris surrounding a house in the middle.


    After creating sufficient obstacles, Wen Qian lit a fire in the stove inside the house, ate, and slept.


    Ensuring her physical health remained the top priority, because in all these years, although she was very careful, she had unfortunately fallen ill once or twice.


    After getting sick, one bes frail and lonely. Wen Qian didn''t want to experience such a situation on the road.


    However, that night the temperature started dropping. Wen Qian looked at the strong winds howling outside and the roof pping noisily in the cold wind.


    She had initially treated this house to prevent wind from blowing in, but after all, it wasn''t as solid as bricks and wood.


    She felt like she was sitting in a dpidated bus traveling down the road, still usable but rattling constantly, as if it could fall apart any second.


    When Wen Qian woke up the next day, she found it had snowed, so she didn''t n to continue on.


    Braving the cold wind while walking or pedaling a bicycle would make you sweat and get hot.


    And after that sweat cooled, she would surely catch a cold.


    So Wen Qian stoked the stove to burn stronger and began studying her detailed route and schedule ahead.


    The route she had nned before was just a general direction and path, but she didn''t know what the current natural environment was like.


    Even when transportation was once convenient, she still had to take detours to reach her destination, let alone in this abandoned environment now.


    So the detailed n she made was only for about 3 to 7 days ahead, nothing further than that.


    During this season, Wen Qian didn''t even want to enter the urban area of Mangge City, but instead nned to bypass it through the suburbs, where many ces were t with fewer obstacles.


    She preferred the open spaces over the oppressive feeling of the ruined buildings in the city.


    Therefore, she decided her next route would pass through the city outskirts.


    After the wind and snow stopped, Wen Qian prepared to leave, cycling for half the time and walking the other half.


    After reaching the suburbs of Mangge City, Wen Qian set up her house there, surrounded it with a circle, and then began exploring the surroundings.


    Wen Qian still took outrge fish traps and set bait as usual, and also set out stickys.


    There was still some ice in the river at this time, but it didn''t affect the fishing, especially since there were quite a few small fish inside the traps.


    The weather was cold, and these small fish died quickly after being taken out. If Wen Qian tried to process these tiny fish now, her hands would freeze.


    So she still just put them in the Space, nning to take them out and deal with them when the weather warmed up.


    After staying here for an extra day and catching many fish, Wen Qian began to fantasize that her future residence would be near a river so she could fish year-round.


    That would be ideal, since she had learned to weaves, so she could prepare mores in the future with the line she had bought previously.


    The small fish could be fried in oil or dried and preserved for a long time.


    Wen Qian even thought that if she had a cat now, she could actually afford to keep it.


    However, whether it was her previous two visits to Mangge City or now, she saw no trace of cats or dogs.


    Originally this ce had fewer people, so the number of pet cats and dogs as well as strays was not high. With the subsequent food scarcity, it''s very possible that the previous cats and dogs were simply eaten.


    More cautious and wary cats and dogs may have run off to nearby uninhabited areas to live, but the odds were not good for them either.


    Especially in Mangge City, which the map showed as isted and remote, these animals would have had a hard time traveling very far from their original environment, let alone surviving in the harsh conditions at that time.


    There may have been some survivors, but they would no longer appear in front of Wen Qian.


    Wen Qian set off again as the temperature rose from its low point.


    Her next direction was to follow the railroad and highway northward, and then when she reached the fork in the two roads, she would follow the highway heading north.


    Wen Qian nned to cycle along the highway, because this area was too deste and the routes were too sparse. Once she strayed from the path, it would be very difficult to find her way back.


    The next stop was Jade Lake, and further north was the former Xia City.


    Wen Qian thought that was probably the most likely ce she could encounter other people.


    However, she was still very afraid, so she wouldn''t pass through the city area, and most likely would skirt around the outskirts instead.


    She had no curiosity at all about what the city looked like.


    In between, Wen Qian may pass through one or two other small towns, but he is unlikely to go through the urban areas, and at this time, even if he passes through farnds, there will be no naturally growing vegetables or crops.


    Therefore, Wen Qian ns to look for rivers.

 Chapter 121

    Chapter 121


    Leaving Mangge City and heading north, the scenery along the way was somewhat monotonous, but fortunately it was spring, and Wen Qian could gradually see some greenery.


    However, the colors were still very pale, and there was a significant day-night temperature difference.


    During this period, she came across arge river near the highway, called the Mangyu River, whose traces were still quite visible on the map.


    With the word "fish" in its name, Wen Qian had high hopes of catching fish in this river.


    Although it was called a river, in fact, it was linked by manykes, some of which had particrly wide water surfaces.


    It didn''t look like a river, but rather a string of green beads threaded on a line.


    As Wen Qian had hoped, this river with "fish" in its name indeed had plenty of fish.


    Wen Qian stopped near a rtivelyrgeke, nning to stay there for a couple of days, with the purpose of catching fish.


    However, she couldn''t go too far by herself, so she only set up fish traps and used trawls at thekeside.


    Back in the old days at therge pond in her hometown, if arge-scale fishing activity was to take ce, even the fishings alone would require several people to carry, and the ropes being pulled also needed many people.


    Wen Qian didn''t have suchrge fishings, and even if she did, she didn''t have the strength to pull them, let alone with the help of cattle or machinery.


    Therefore, she could only use various small fishing tools suitable for herself.


    Although there were many fish in theke, Wen Qian couldn''t bring too many with her, so she could only do her best.


    Looking at the fish she had caught, jumping on the shore, she was still very happy.


    While searching for thekes in this area, Wen Qian found that if she went further, there was a wend area.


    That ce was likely to have more wildlife, so Wen Qian didn''t n to stay there for too long.


    She put the dead fish into her dimensional space, except for the ones she had processed for her own consumption. For the rest, she didn''t even remove a single fish scale.


    Thanks to the preservation ability of her dimensional space, Wen Qian wasn''t worried about the fish spoiling at all, and it also saved her a lot of time.


    You see, sometimes people don''tck food, but rather, some foods cannot be preserved for too long or too much food is inconvenient to carry.


    But for Wen Qian, she didn''t have such worries. She could put all her harvests into her dimensional space, without worrying about not being able to take them with her.


    At the same time, she could reduce the processing time. When she was busy, she could find as much food as possible, and process it when she had free time.


    If she didn''t have the dimensional space, she couldn''t do that.


    Wen Qian harvested a lot of fish, and it seemed this river not only had wild fish species.


    Many parts of this river had traces of aquaculture, although now abandoned, but the variety of fish within was still quite diverse.


    Otherwise, Wen Qian couldn''t have obtained so much fish meat.


    Another important point was that she discovered some boats on theke shores.


    Some were made of wood, and some were metal, but after being ravaged by time and wind and snow, not a single one was usable.


    Wen Qian felt it was a great pity, as she didn''t buy such boats herself, and making one was not an easy task either.


    But she had checked everything she could see around, and there were no intact small boats to take away.


    Although it was a pity, she still took a wooden boat and continued along the highway.


    After walking for a day andparing with the map, Wen Qian got off the highway and headed towards the nearby wend.


    This was also part of the Mangyu River area, and the rtively low and t terrain had formed a wend.


    The grass nearby was quite tall, and Wen Qian hid among it, watching the birds foraging in the middle of the wend.


    It was very likely that these were birds wintering there. Through her binocrs, Wen Qian watched these leisure birds and felt that it would be quite difficult for her to catch them.


    Moreover, going further, it would probably be impossible to proceed, as the swamps and mud pits here would be difficult to get out of once stuck.


    Wen Qian could only continue to move towards the grassy areas on the edges, and then saw a flock of sheep grazing on the grasnd not far away.


    Spring seemed to havee a little earlier here, with mist rising from the water surface, and new tender leaves sprouting from the withered grass on the banks.


    It was understandable for a flock of sheep to appear here.


    Wen Qian observed while looking for slightly deeper flowing water nearby, using a bamboo pole to lower her fish traps into the water to see if she could catch any small fish.


    Although it wasn''t ideal for castings here, Wen Qian absolutely wouldn''t miss any opportunity to catch fish.


    After cing the fish traps, with the white rings serving as markers lying quietly on the water surface, Wen Qianid out a yoga mat underneath to prevent her clothes from getting wet by the water and mud.


    A flock of sheep is a very vignt group, being a herd animal. While a group of sheep were grazing, the ones responsible for keeping watch stood with their heads raised, observing their surroundings.


    At that time, Wen Qian was rtively far away and lying prone, so the flock didn''t detect her.


    Now as Wen Qian gradually approached, she took out her crossbow for adjustment.


    Having practiced archery many times, this time her targets were not self-made stationary ones, but moving targets.


    She felt a bit nervous, even deliberately controlling her breathing rate.


    She had a gun but no silencer. If she fired a shot, basically all the wildlife in the area would flee.


    But a crossbow would be slightly better, without such a loud noise, and she could shoot from far enough away.


    After waiting for the target to be identified, Wen Qian shot an arrow and hit the target, but it didn''t seem to be a lethal hit as the prey struggled and fled.


    A part of the flock was startled and ran a few steps before resuming grazing.


    However, the prey jumped into the grass and disappeared from sight.


    Nevertheless, since the arrow drew blood, the prey''s movements would only aggravate its injury.


    Wen Qian circled around to the direction where the prey had disappeared, and following the blood trail, eventually found it lying on the ground.


    Wen Qian approached and held down the dying youngmb, using a dagger to slit its throat, hastening its death.


    Wen Qian carefully observed thismb. Back in Xia Province, if it was wildlife, it was basically a protected species in those days.


    So now that she had hunted prey, her first reaction was to contemte whether it was a key protected species.


    Of course, now people were no longer able to protect those animals, as they themselves were caught in a crisis of survival.


    Before the prey died and spilled blood, Wen Qian was on high alert, fearing that animals might be attracted by the scent.


    Therefore, after confirming the animal''s death, Wen Qian immediately put it into her dimensional space and quietly left.


    As she left, she set a few small hunting traps on the edge of the wend before going back for lunch.


    In the afternoon, Wen Qian shot and caught arge and a small youngmb with her arrows, and also sessfully caused the flock to be rmed.


    After examining the fish traps and removing the fish from them, Wen Qian added bait and returned them to the water.


    There were one or two creatures that had fallen into the snares as well, and after taking the prey, she reset the traps.


    The day was growingte, and Wen Qian needed to return and rest. Her harvest had exceeded her expectations, and she nned to set out the following day.


    Overnight, the traps and fish baskets would reveal their contentse morning.


    Once she had gathered everything the next day, she could continue her journey.


    Perhaps the plentiful gains along the way had alleviated her worries about failing to grow crops and vegetables this time.

 Chapter 122

    Chapter 122


    Next, she returned to the highway and continued forward. There was a section of the road that crossed through a mountain range.


    It was this very mountain range that allowed the Mang Fish River to flow from north to south towards Mangge City.


    And to the north of this mountain range, there was another river called the Mang Cha River that flowed northwards.


    The Mang Cha River flowed down from the mountains and eventually converged into the Mang Cha Salt Lake, where there were salt fields near theke.


    Wen Qian had seen many salt fields on satellite maps before, or rather, they could be seen in many ces in Xia Province.


    Wherever there were saltkes in Xia Province, people would develop salt fields, these salt-panning fields of varying sizes and depths.


    On the map, they looked like pieces of jade, very beautiful.


    And there were many such salt fields in Xia Province, so if you zoomed in a bit on the map, you could find all sorts of colorful saltkes.


    Wen Qian had never had the chance to visit these ces before, but now that she was passing through, she naturally wanted to take a good look.


    The human settlements that appeared relying on the saltkes and salt fields were very small, but they used to be quite famous tourist attractions in the past.


    Allowing many tourists to take photos and visit, because most travelers could not easily see such sights.


    Due to the high salt content, it was difficult for various nts to grow in this area, so presumably there were not many people who could live here initially.


    In such ces, the ground didn''t grow grass, there were no fish in the water, and no birds flew above.


    Initially, there were no people here either, butter, in order to develop the resources here, a poption of over 10,000 emerged.


    That was the number before the catastrophe;ter, if there was ack of supplies, this ce would essentially be uninhabitable for humans.


    Because there was simply too much salt here, to the point where a section of the road was even built with salt.


    Wen Qian would have to continue walking on that road, otherwise it would be very inconvenient to take a detour.


    At the same time, she was also thinking about whether she could take some salt with her.


    She had more than enough salt for her own consumption, but she didn''t mind having a little more.


    Although she knew that the salt here could not be consumed directly, there were methods to refine it into coarse salt or refined salt.


    Humans had been making salt since ancient times, and Wen Qian was very curious to try it herself.


    Wen Qian felt that she could obtain the materials first, and then make ns to try it out when she had time in the future.


    Since she hade all this way, she should take something with her, Wen Qian thought.


    Speaking of this saltke industrial area, aside from producing salt, it also produced more fertilizers.


    However, Wen Qian felt that she could not master that technology, otherwise with fertilizer, her crops should yield better harvests.


    Thinking this, Wen Qian was getting closer and closer to the saltke.


    Here, the ground was covered in a white expanse, while in the distance, the water looked like a mirror, with a jade green or light green surface that seemed very beautiful.


    But this ce was particrly deste, she could not see any people or wild animals.


    Wen Qian got off the highway and found a spot, entering one of the square salt fields.


    Since there was no one to maintain them, and no one would regrly let brine into the salt fields, the water in these ces had long since dried up, leaving only white salt behind.


    If she had time, she could actually use brine to directly salt-pan or boil brine to take away, but since she was in a hurry, she could only take what was readily avable there.


    As for how to further refine it, that would have to wait until she found a safe ce to settle down.


    So Wen Qian spent another day and night there. Apart from using a shovel to scoop up a good amount of salt into her spatial storage, she also walked along the original tourist route for a while, observing the beautiful scenery at different times of day.


    Once she had enough salt, Wen Qian left directly.


    Wen Qian rode her bicycle along the once famous salt road, riding at a very fast speed.


    Wen Qian rode for a long time before she could no longer see the salt fields around her.


    After passing through that section, Wen Qian immediately started cleaning and drying the tires of her bicycle, worried that the salt would corrode them and reduce their lifespan.


    Although she also knew that this journey would likely ruin them eventually, she wanted to use them for as long as possible.


    Including the boots she wore and the shovel she used while walking in the salt fields, she cleaned and dried them, putting them into her spatial storage.


    Passing through this area, aside from salt, there was nothing else, and Wen Qian had no interest in exploring the various industrial areas, big and small.


    She had only observed them through her telescope, but there were no signs of human activity.


    This once populous area due to industry and tourism had now fallenpletely silent.


    However, thinking about how this ce went from quiet to bustling and back to quiet again, it didn''t even take 100 years.


    Compared to the history of this ce turning from ocean tond, that period of time was just a blink of an eye.


    Who knows when its next period of prosperity and liveliness would be, but Wen Qian would not have a chance to witness it.


    After leaving that ce, Wen Qian set off for her next destination.


    Next, she continued heading north, where the highway and railway would gradually separate, and Wen Qian chose to continue along the highway, heading north first, then east.


    This route was rtively deste, with no rivers orkes, only a barren expanse of desert.


    Even with the arrival of spring, this ce had little greenery, mostly just yellow.


    However, there wererge mountains in the distance, which seemed to have more vegetation.


    The railway and highway branched out from that area, with the railway passing through the mountains, while the highway went around them to a tter area.


    However, after going around the mountains, they would eventually converge again at some point.


    Wen Qian chose the highway, even though the route was a bit longer, but the road was easier to travel on.


    However, it would still take Wen Qian a few days to reach the area near those mountains. When she got tired, she would take out her portable housing unit and find a spot near the highway to set it up and rest.


    She would light the heater, eat the dry rations she had prepared earlier, and after heating up some water, soak her feet in it to relieve her fatigue.


    After a few days of living like this, she finally arrived near the mountains.


    The name of this mountain range was quite long, and Wen Qian could not remember it, but she knew that after going around these mountains, there would be a veryrgeke near the highway.


    The vegetation there was more lush, and aside from fetching water, Wen Qian would also look around to see if there was anything else she could collect.


    Before the catastrophe, thatke was also a scenic area, an oasis amidst the vast desert.


    The southwest edge of theke happened to be where two expressways intersected. Those who had been driving for a long time on the expressway could take a break here to ease the visual fatigue brought on by the monotonous scenery of the Gobi desert.


    The reason for theke''s existence was that there were snow-capped mountains to the northwest and southeast, while on either side of theke stretched the vast Gobi desert.


    This contrast made this ce appear even more vibrant with life.


    When Wen Qian arrived here, he found that the area was indeed lush with greenery, and while theke water appeared green from afar, it was remarkably clear up close.


    Spring had already arrived prominently here.

 Chapter 123

    Chapter 123


    By the picturesquekeside, Wen Qian noticed not the wildlife or fish, but rather the towering reeds that stood taller than a person - these were the first things she wanted to collect.


    Thus, she spent her time gathering reeds along the shoreline, having never used them for anything before.


    Yet she knew these materials woulde in handyter, so she collected them first.


    The reed thickets stretched from the shore into the water, but Wen Qian did not venture into theke, opting instead to gather the rtively longer reeds from the shore.


    Sure enough, yearster, this scenic spot remained stunningly beautiful, but aside from the asional upward nce during her rest breaks, Wen Qian kept her head down and worked tirelessly.


    If this had been before the cmity, this highway would likely have seen plenty of traffic, with many people exiting to take photos or even camp here.


    The snowy mountains, sunrises, and sunsets, along with the jewel-likeke surface, were a sight to behold.


    Indeed, after the cmity, while human activity had ceased, nature remained unchanged.


    It quickly reverted to its original state, but for humans to regain their former scale and level after the volcanic eruption would be extremely difficult.


    Wen Qian had seen how people in other ces collected reeds - they usually waited until the entireke froze over in winter before venturing onto the ice to harvest the reeds protruding above.


    As for the reeds'' many uses, Wen Qian couldn''t recall them all, but she clearly remembered two: the roots could be used for medicine, and the reeds themselves could be made into paper.


    She couldn''t remember their other uses, but she knew these nts were valuable treasures.


    Unfortunately, although it was cold when she arrived, theke''s ice had already melted, so for safety''s sake, she kept her distance from the water.


    Despite it being spring, Wen Qian had the uncanny feeling of harvesting in autumn.


    Of course, while collecting reeds, she didn''t forget to set fish traps and bird snares.


    Especially with the fish traps and birds, once set up, she only needed to check on them periodically.


    With the spare time, she could focus on gathering supplies.


    Sometimes, when bored, Wen Qian would try digging for reed roots in the soil.


    At this time, the reeds were also starting to sprout, so she left some tender shoots as well.


    In the grasnds by the water where no reeds grew, Wen Qian identified a few edible nts and collected those too, without hesitation.


    For Wen Qian, many of the wild vegetables she had found in previous years were repeats.


    So as she ventured outward, much of what she saw was new and fresh, which of course had to be collected.


    After spending two days by theke, Wen Qian followed the highway onward, stopping for a while at another part of the shoreline.


    In total, she spent quite a long time by thiske, with a satisfactory haul.


    She knew her mapped journey so far was only about two finger-widths long, and reaching Jade Lake would require traveling twice that distance.


    However, Wen Qian was not in a hurry, as she did not n on nting any crops this entire year.


    This meant she could travel from spring to autumn, as long as she found a suitable ce to stay before winter arrived.


    With no societal rhythm to follow, the pace no longer mattered.


    These days, people''s greatest goal should simply be to stay alive and well, free from illness and harm.


    Having lived alone for so long, Wen Qian no longer worried about what would happen when she grew old, nor did she face concern or doubt from others about her way of life.


    She hadplete control over her time, though a bitx, she still maintained a general pace.


    After all, she alone had to bear the consequences of her actions, with no one to help her.


    In the past, in pursuit of a better social status, quality of life, education, and healthcare, many families carried a heavy burden across three generations.


    The first two generations strived for a better future for the next, an effort that was meant to elevate but often brought greater mental strain.


    Now, reduced to mere subsistence, nothing else mattered.


    If people didn''t work for sustenance, they could only await death, and no one could me society, parents, or their environment.


    To some degree, thisplete spiritual freedom also meant living day-to-day, though Wen Qian adapted well.


    Even when gathering supplies now, if she felt tired, she would simply rest, never pushing herself to exhaustion.


    In the past, people who worked overtime might end up in the hospital, with their earnings going towards medical bills.


    Now, if one fell ill from overexertion, there might not even be a hospital - so why bother? This mindset allowed Wen Qian to be more rxed than before.


    Leaving thekeside, Wen Qian began heading east along the highway.


    The highway wound through mountains and desert, neither environment particrly hospitable.


    The desert was barren, while the mountain valleys offered narrow passages hugging steep rock faces.


    On either side were sheer cliffs or dense forests - the people who constructed this road were truly remarkable.


    However, continuing onward yielded no rewards, so aside from stopping overnight, Wen Qian spent her time traveling, picking up her pace.


    As she passed over a viaduct, she didn''t know its purpose, only that it spanned the valley.


    Wen Qian''s highway ran along the ground, with ample space beside it, though mostly seasonal riverbeds devoid of grass.


    For a stretch, the viaduct''s direction converged with the ground highway, running alongside it.


    Wen Qian couldn''t see where the viaduct began, so she didn''t venture up.


    But as she continued forward, she understood why the viaduct was built here.


    The ground highway hugged cliffs that were too steep, risking rockfalls and copses.


    Wen Qian noticed the scattered boulders on the ground, realizing the danger.


    Moreover, Xia Province was prone to earthquakes, though her former home didn''t experience many perceptible ones, the frequency might increase in this area.


    The viaduct was likely built to prevent road closures from copses.


    Wen Qian cautiously skirted the copsed sections and pressed on.


    Further ahead, the terrain leveled out as she entered a deste desert in, where an unusual man-madendscape emerged.


    Xia Province has a rtively long daily sunshine duration, so some areas have sr photovoltaic power stations.


    These areas have thin, dry air with little rainfall, and abundant sr radiation resources, which is why sr power nts were set up there in earlier years.


    However, after the volcanic eruption, volcanic ash swept across the globe, and for many years, these so-called sr power nts would have struggled to continue operating.


    There are hardly any sunny days, and this ce is highly unsuitable for human habitation. Apart from the original staff, there should be no one else left.


    Therefore, after so many years, Wen Qian didn''t expect to encounter any humans here.

 Chapter 124

    Chapter 124


    That day, Wen Qian decided to stay at the sr power nt.


    Although it was a desert, the sr panels were arranged neatly in rows and columns, and weeds had started growing underneath.


    This was not surprising, for even in ces unsuitable for nt growth, if such arge expanse of sr equipment were installed, lush grass would eventually grow.


    Since the equipment here had not been maintained for years, it was not as bright as Wen Qian''s impression, but rather dull and grayish.


    Moreover, the grass had grown quite well, even covering some areas, making it seem like wild animals woulde here.


    Indeed, Wen Qian saw bird droppings on many of the panels, so she started setting ups to catch birds.


    Since the entire nt was vast in area, and many paths were overgrown with grass, Wen Qian did not venture too deep inside.


    She took a look at the nearby office area, which had been vacated long ago, apparently after the volcanic eruption caused this ce to gradually cease operations.


    Later, those people had also evacuated.


    Wen Qian searched around inside, but found nothing useful.


    Looking at the rows of panels in the distance, Wen Qian decided to dismantle some of them.


    After so many years, the panels had probably broken down and could no longer generate electricity, but she thought they would still make decent barriers or shelters, either as paneling or as frames.


    The racks underneath the panels also looked usable, even though some had rusted, but they could still be used.


    Wen Qian nned to stay here for another day, dismantling some panels and racks to take with her.


    She had to take something along, as this was the only thing Wen Qian could think of on her journey.


    She exerted all her effort to put everything she encountered into her spatial storage, as it seemed to have no limit so far, so Wen Qian didn''t mind putting more things in.


    Besides, she had a decent haul from bird catching here, though not arge number.


    After dismantling quite a few panels and racks, Wen Qian continued onward and saw the railway line starting to merge with the highway.


    The two paths ran parallel for a distance ahead.


    During this time, Wen Qian was still alone, having seen no fresh traces of human activity in the ces she had visited.


    But then again, if it were that easy to encounter people, she wouldn''t have traveled this far in the first ce.


    The temperature continued to rise, and Wen Qian still recorded the morning and evening temperatures in Xia Province.


    She thought that at this time of year, she would have already started seedling cultivation, but now on the road, she could only put more things into her spatial storage to make up for her regrets.


    The journey in between was rather dull, with no human settlements, no rivers orkes in sight, and not many animals in the surrounding environment.


    Moreover, Wen Qian could not find anything to collect into her spatial storage at the ces she stopped, and it was not very convenient to even find wild vegetables here.


    Therefore, when she came across a continuous stretch of forest during her journey, Wen Qian decided to cut down trees at the base of the mountain the next time she stopped overnight.


    The trees here were of suitable thickness and grew straight, so she began cutting them down methodically.


    Her n was that since she would eventually need to build log cabins wherever she settled, it would be good to start cutting these suitable trees for lumber now.


    Even if not used for construction, they would make excellent firewood.


    More importantly, Wen Qian felt that if she did not collect things along the way, it would be a waste.


    If she didn''t cut down trees, there was nothing else to collect, so cutting trees seemed more appropriate.


    She stayed for two days, cutting down some trees using a chainsaw.


    Because sawing trees by hand with a saw would be extremely tiring, and she was alone, she preferred to use the oil on the chainsaw instead.


    Therefore, in many t and open areas, she rode a bicycle instead of a motorcycle.


    When the path became narrow, she rode the motorcycle to pass through quickly, both for safety and to save fuel.


    After traveling two knuckle-lengths on the map, she finally reached another ce where she could collect things other than trees.


    Further ahead, the highway passed a reservoir, and below the reservoir, besides the passing road and railway, there was arge expanse of farnd shown on the map.


    This water conservancy project collected water sources from elsewhere into this reservoir, and then irrigation canals diverted the water to the fields for irrigation.


    The satellite map showed a green grid pattern here, and when Wen Qian initially checked this ce, she discovered there was a small town with a poption of two thousand.


    This area was primarily for agricultural production, followed by animal husbandry, with farms and cultivatednd established long ago, and the cultivated area expanded even more after the reservoir and canals were built.


    Wen Qian felt there was a high chance of encountering people here, as she both avoided and hoped to meet people to exchange news.


    Although conflicted, she still hoped there were people here.


    Therefore, she exited the highway and approached the reservoir from the side, as the view from above would be better and she could quickly determine if there were people in the town below.


    The people here lived along the edges of the farnd, so the buildings were scattered throughout the fields.


    The actual concentrated area might just be a short street.


    Wen Qian struggled to climb up and saw many traces of wild animals, it seemed this reservoir area supported many wild animals.


    Her first thought was that even if people ate fish from the reservoir, there would have to be someone down there after such a long time.


    With an anxious heart, Wen Qian finally reached the high ground of the reservoir.


    There were no signs of human activity on this side of the reservoir, so she looked down through her binocrs and saw green in the distance, but no traces of human activity.


    In fact, even before the volcanic eruption, the poption here had already fallen below two thousand.


    In the years after the eruption, although there were fields and water here, making cultivation possible, the yields were definitely not as good as before.


    And without fuel, the vast farnds could not be cultivated and harvested using machinery.


    Therefore,ter cultivation was essentially done by manpower, and what was grown might not even be enough to survive.


    When Wen Qian saw no one here, her first thought was that since there were few people originally, it was possible they had left after the natural disaster.


    There was actually another reason - after the volcanic eruption in August, there was still one mechanized harvest of grain here, and at least half of the livestock was not evacuated either.


    But the people living here had no ownership rights to this farnd and ranch.


    So most of the output from thisnd was transported to more populous areas for distribution.


    The people here were able to keep their own private produce, which was actually not meager. Growing some crops could sustain them in theter period.


    Unfortunately, the people in the vicinity of this small town also knew of their abundant grain and meat.


    Therefore, in theter period, the people of a nearby city with a poption of 100,000 set their sights on this small town.

 Chapter 125

    Chapter 125


    People from nearby cities began migrating to the surrounding farm areas, as in their view, the steel and concrete of the cities could not produce food.


    With water, electricity, and fuel no longer avable, the cities became unsuitable for living, coupled with sanitation issues in high-rise buildings.


    They believed that areas with better farnd and ranches should have more grains and meat.


    At first, people would still purchase supplies, butter they began bartering. When money became useless, they started trading goods for goods.


    Later on, even when the townspeople imed they had nothing left, the iing crowds didn''t believe this ce would have nothing.


    Simrly, bad people also came here.


    Since they couldn''t get what they wanted openly, they started searching secretly, causing the original residents to flee.


    Because as long as they were locals, they would be suspected of hiding things in unknown ces, and their words wouldn''t be trusted.


    This situation couldn''tst long, and the local living conditions could be even worse.


    Only a small number of people had already left when the people from the cities starteding this way, while the remaining ones gradually leftter due to the chaos here.


    After the locals left, this ce became chaotic for a while but then settled down again.


    Some people who came from the cities started farming here, utilizing the existing arablend. In their view, the soil and water here were excellent, and even though the residents had left, growing crops here was better than in the cities.


    However, even the desire to farm here waster shattered by consecutive years of disasters.


    Therefore, thest remaining people here also chose to leave, and once they left for somewhere else, it became very difficult toe back.


    In many parts of Xia Province, even those who stayed after the volcanic eruption eventually left yearster due to consecutive disasters that prevented them from producing food, resulting in the destion that Wen Qian now sees.


    Wen Qian spent her first night by the reservoir, where there were indeed fish, but her wasn''t working well.


    So Wen Qian decided to set up more hunting traps around the area and try fishing here.


    Perhaps because she didn''t fish very often, Wen Qian was always able to catch fish. She felt that if she fished every day, it wouldn''t be like this.


    On the second day, Wen Qian packed up and went down from the reservoir, nning to check out the farms and ranches.


    She had confirmed during both day and night that there were no signs of human activity over there.


    Although Wen Qian found it strange, she still nned to go and take a look.


    First, along the rtively wide concrete road on both sides, there were many severely damaged houses. Houses deteriorate quickly when left unupied.


    Thinking about this, she remembered her old house in An Province. Knowing she couldn''t return, she shouldn''t have been reluctant to leave it but should have demolished it and taken it with her.


    Although she could have done that, it would have scared her fellow vigers. So Wen Qian quickly came up with reasons for not demolishing her old home back then.


    The further she walked, the more Wen Qian realized that the low houses on both sides seemed to have been hastily builtter on, not as neat as the original ones here.


    After passing through the only street, Wen Qian could see some tombs on the side of the open space at the end.


    These tombs and gravestones were made of stones of various sizes, with the writing on them done in paint, ink, or carved.


    They must have been for people buried after the natural disasters, using the stone bs from the sides of the road as gravestones.


    This open space was originally a small square, but now with many tombs beside it, it felt very gloomy.


    Looking at the irregrly sized and arranged tombs, Wen Qian could only feel sadness in her heart.


    Before the disasters, people probably didn''t expect to face such situations. Most were unprepared andcked the ability to withstand risks.


    Those who ended their lives here were eventually buried together in this ce.


    Wen Qian turned and headed towards the distant farnd.


    After years of neglect, weeds had grown abundantly. Wen Qian thought that if she could buy somembs, she could let them graze here.


    But she couldn''t find any people now, let alone any sheep for grazing.


    The wild sheep were not something Wen Qian could control and domesticate. Perhaps in the future, she could try domesticating wild animal cubs, but that would be muchter. At most, she could raise some rabbits.


    As Wen Qian thought about it, her mind wandered to future ns. It was good to think about these things, as people should have a forward-looking mindset. She nned to write it down in her notebook to prevent herself from forgettingter.


    Wen Qian walked around the fields and only took some well-grown wild vegetables, as there wasn''t much else to dig up, and then she prepared to leave directly.


    After walking for two more days, Wen Qian arrived at the shore of South-North Lake, which consisted of two irregrly-shaped triangrkes.


    The northern shore of North Lake ran parallel to the highway.


    After getting off the highway, Wen Qian followed the original concrete road directly to theke shore. To the southeast of North Lake was arge nature reserve.


    South of this reserve was South Lake, while to the northeast was a prairie, and further away were deserts.


    Wen Qian had observed this beforehand but didn''t see any signs of human activity. As she continued walking, she found traces of human activity.


    They weren''t fresh traces from the past two days but must have been from after the spring. At this point, Wen Qian didn''t see any people around and thought she might have missed them.


    Wen Qian looked towards the area where more birds were gathering but there was no road into the reserve, and she would have to walk a very long way around to get there.


    In fact, there were people living inside the reserve, although the conditions weren''t great, they wouldn''t starve.


    There weren''t many people in the reserve, as most had left earlier.


    Those who remained rarely went up towards North Lake, as the resources there weren''t as abundant as between the twokes, so they had no need toe too often.


    In early spring, there would be many birds nesting in the middle of the reserve, so these people could gather a good number of bird eggs.


    The trace that Wen Qian saw was actually left by a kid over ten years old who had wandered around theke shore out of boredom.


    His family was at ease because there were no ferocious beasts roaming around here; the mostmon sights were birds.


    During this season, they also didn''t have to worry about the children starving, as bird eggs could be found everywhere, so they let him go.


    For children living here, being able to eat their fill and grow up healthy was already a good oue. Additionally learning some survival skills, the rest of their time was their own.


    As such, although Wen Qian saw traces of human activity, she couldn''t encounter them for the time being.


    Wen Qian had no intention of going deeper, only needing to take away some things she could use, rather than necessarily finding people.


    This side of thekeshores wasparatively sparsepared to the protected areas with nests strewn everywhere.


    For Wen Qian, this was her first time witnessing such a lively world of birds, so she donned a helmet and mask while carrying a foam box, starting to collect bird eggs along thekeshore.


    Taking advantage of the absence of adult birds in some nests, she took away half the eggs; sometimes when discovered, she would be attacked by the parent birds with force or bird droppings.


    Wen Qian was well-prepared, wearing windproof clothing that could be wiped clean.


    Being able to collect so many eggs already made her happy; what were a few bird droppings?

 Chapter 126

    Chapter 126


    This area used to be a scenic spot along the edge of the highway by North Lake. The area open for visitors was limited, while the protected area was not allowed for too many people to enter.


    There were many migratory birds that came from the colder northern regions to spend the winter. The surrounding area was a desert, so this ce became a paradise for birds without any otherrge predators.


    The scenery here was also quite nice, but Wen Qian was busy collecting bird eggs and had no time to admire the view.


    Besides collecting bird eggs, Wen Qian also set fish traps here, but she didn''t stay for long before moving on.


    It was a nice ce, but she wouldn''t linger here.


    She put various kinds of bird eggs into her spatial storage and also filled three small insted boxes that she previously used for storing goods.


    After many years, Wen Qian felt like she was restocking at a wholesale market.


    A few dayster, Wen Qian reached the highway fork, with two roads shown on the map. One went through the north, closely following a small city, while the other ran far south of the city area.


    This became a small city because it was located at the edge of a mountain range, surrounded by mountains on three sides and backed by arge mountain, with a river and ake at its foot.


    This poption settlement was established due to this water source, and with the intersection of railway and highway routes nearby, it had gradually be a small city with a poption of a hundred thousand.


    At this fork, Wen Qian began to ponder her route. The northern highway looked more direct on the map, which could save a lot of time and effort.


    She would travel from the mountain foot behind the small city towards the east, reaching the west side of Jade Lake.


    The downside was that the route would pass through valleys between the mountains for most of the way.


    The southern route, on the other hand, ran along the edge of the desert for about half the distance and also through the mountains, and was more winding, with the end point in the south of Jade Lake.


    Although it might take longer, the ces it passed through were t and uninhabited.


    After hesitating, Wen Qian eventually chose the southern route because even if she took the northern route to reach the side of Jade Lake, she would still have to make a big detour around theke to head towards Xia City next.


    Since that was the case, she might as well choose the route with a better view.


    Therefore, Wen Qian chose to travel the route that she instinctively preferred.


    What Wen Qian didn''t know was that her instinct was indeed correct.


    The northern route was very difficult to pass through due to frequent copses and rockfalls, and it had not been cleared for many years.


    Therefore, taking that route would pose a higher risk, which went against Wen Qian''s principles of travel.


    The reason Wen Qian instinctively chose the southern route was that she didn''t dare to get too close to the main urban area, even though a city with a poption of a hundred thousand was not much of a threat to her.


    Although she had decided to bypass Xia City through the suburbs instead of entering the urban area, abandoned cities still had an eerie atmosphere and were very dangerous.


    If there were still people living in such ces, one could only imagine the difficulties they had endured to survive.


    Wen Qian was aware of her own contradictions. She wanted to interact with harmless people like herself, but she also feared encountering groups because she would be unable to discern or retaliate in a short time.


    She didn''t want to linger or spend the night in this ce, so she rode most of the time. However, she couldn''tplete this stretch of the journey in a single day.


    Wen Qian stopped to spend the night in a nearby field, nning to get up early the next day and try to ride from morning till evening, reaching the foot of the mountains on the other side before resting again.


    That night, she slept with heightened alertness, resulting in poor sleep quality as she kept waking up.


    To be honest, the transition from living in one ce for a long time to constantly being on the road was something Wen Qian wasn''t fully ustomed to.


    While on the road, she found herself sleeping more soundly in ces that clearly showed no signs of human or animal activity.


    However, in areas with traces of human activity, she felt less at ease and seemed to be constantly tense.


    The next morning, she woke up very early and set off again.


    The highway passed through seasonal rivers, but now they were just dry riverbeds.


    The roads in the small city wereid out in a grid pattern, and as they extended outwards, they would intersect with the straight highways passing horizontally.


    Wen Qian felt uneasy as she passed through these areas, so she increased her speed.


    She only rxed once she could no longer see the urban area and only spotted a few industrial buildings, finally reaching the eastern mountain foot to rest.


    Due to exhaustion and lingering concerns, she couldn''t sleep very soundly during this day''s rest.


    As a result, her body became sore, and she even developed a headache. So Wen Qian decided to travel a bit further and find a ce to rest properly.


    Over the next few days, Wen Qian slowed down her pace and extended her rest periods.


    She even took a whole day to rest while passing through a desert area.


    Here, Wen Qian discovered some nice-looking stones, which were probably the local decorative stones.


    So, after getting enough rest, Wen Qian would look for these attractive stones near her temporary dwelling.


    In the past, collecting stones and herbs was a way to make a living.


    Although there was still some demand for ornaments nowadays, it was only from a small minority of people. Wen Qian collected these stones purely for her own enjoyment and to get some fresh air.


    Once her headache subsided, Wen Qian continued on her way. Sometimes she felt like a startled bird.


    But her decision to avoid the small city was indeed wise.


    Wen Qian herself didn''t realize it, but she was highly sensitive to dangerous environments. Perhaps she couldn''t rationally analyze the situation step by step, so she just felt it was her instinct.


    The past Wen Qian would never put herself in harm''s way, such as avoiding crowds watching fights or confessions.


    Knowing herck of self-control, she stayed away from addictive things like online games or novels during her schooling days.


    When she saw many people spending days and nights at inte cafes ying games, only to be dragged out by their parents, she realized that these games were so addictive that people would want to continue ying non-stop without eating, drinking, or sleeping.


    She acknowledged that shecked self-control in knowing when to stop, and thus, underter permissible circumstances, she refrained from engaging in such activities.


    Rather, this self-awareness allowed her to avoid many dangers, including the aftermath of the volcanic eruption.


    However, in Wen Qian''s case, she felt that this was often a shoring, as she would be unsettled very easily.


    There were indeed living people in the small town, but if Wen Qian were to encounter them, it would undoubtedly be a huge problem.


    Without realizing it, she evaded the danger.

 Chapter 127

    Chapter 127


    After that, she passed through mountains, salt fields, and farnds where aqueducts had been built.


    During this time, she finally saw the first harmless stranger in years.


    Wen Qian was originally just passing through arge salt marsh, and she wasn''t nning to stop there, but rather to continue on to the saltke and salt fields ahead.


    Just then, a mother and child took advantage of the good weather toe toward the salt marsh.


    There were mountains on both sides of the highway, and further ahead there was a small town, surrounded by mountains on all sides, with a saltke in the middle.


    The people here had been drying salt in the salt fields for a long time.


    Later, they also discovered many other resources here, so there was a lot of industrial development.


    This mother and child were originally from that small town, but after the world became chaotic, their family led them into the mountains.


    The map showed many ce names in these mountains, meaning those ces all had traces of human activity.


    However, as time went on, people started to congregate from the mountains into small towns or cities like this.


    No matter if it was transportation, medical care, or education, it would be a little more convenient.


    But after the disaster, ces with more people weren''t necessarily better, but they also didn''t want to go south like others, because the journey wouldn''t be easy either.


    After the disaster, the elders in the family gradually left, leaving only this family of three living in the deep mountains.


    This time, when the man went out to hunt, the woman decided to take the Little Child to collect salt near the salt marsh.


    After a long winter, the salt they had stockpiled was almost used up.


    The woman hadn''te out of the mountains for a long time, so she thought she''d go out once.


    She also wanted to get some extra salt to take back, because the round trip would take a lot of time.


    Worried about encountering strangers, they didn''t go to the saltke and salt fields near the town, but instead came to the remote salt marsh.


    Little did they know that they would still encounter a stranger there.


    The Little Child rarely saw people, and was just watching the person riding a bicycle from a distance with curiosity.


    His family also had one of those things, but it was very old.


    As he watched the other person getting closer and closer, Wen Qian also noticed the Little Boy.


    So she got off her bicycle and slowly walked it forward.


    For some reason, Wen Qian felt that the other person was harmless, possibly because the other person''s expression made Wen Qian lower her guard.


    Before Wen Qian approached him, she waved, and then the Little Child started running toward her.


    The Little Child''s mother had let him y around on his own, and didn''t say anything when she heard him running around.


    But asionally, she turned her head and saw that the Little Child was running toward someone.


    This immediately made her hair stand on end.


    After the volcanic eruption, the entire globe plunged into darkness, and this was only the beginning.


    After that, her husband took her into the mountains early on, so she hadn''t experienced too much of the darkness, but her husband had been going in and out.


    He told her about the things he had experienced himself or heard from others.


    The darkness, bloodshed and cruelty lost some of their effect after being passed down, but they still made her have nightmares.


    Now her child was running toward a stranger with unknown intentions.


    Wen Qian saw the Little Child running toward her, with nothing in his hands, and immediately felt that he was just an innocent Little Child, so she started searching her space for any candy she might still have stored.


    But giving candy to a strange Little Child, that ploy seemed like something a human trafficker would do, would the other person even eat her candy?


    So Wen Qian hesitated for a moment, and put the candy back in her pocket.


    There was a distance of about five meters between them.


    The mother behind the Little Child ran over and hugged her child.


    It was clear that she was very worried and on guard, but neither of them were female and neither intended to harm the other.


    After observing the environment, Wen Qian tried to greet the other in a friendly manner.


    She smiled and waved her hand, speaking to the other in Mandarin, "Hello."


    The Little Child waved and said, "Hello," just like her.


    This put Wen Qian at ease, because if the other was an ethnic minority who didn''t speak Mandarin, there could have been amunication problem.


    So Wen Qian kept this distance and spoke to the Little Child''s mother.


    "Hello, I''m just passing through here. I''m from a vige near Mangge City."


    Seeing the woman sizing her up, but no longer as guarded as before, Wen Qian asked, "Are you a resident of this town?"


    The woman shook her head.


    "Are there people in the town?"


    The woman then answered, "I don''t know if anyone hase back."


    "So you don''t know what the date is today? I live in the mountains, and I never came out after things happened outside, so can I talk to you a bit since I haven''t seen people in a while?"


    The woman nodded, then asked her, "Where are you going all by yourself on a bicycle?"


    Wen Qian said she wanted to leave Xia Province, so she was following the highway out.


    The woman saw that Wen Qian''s disheveled appearance didn''t seem like she was lying.


    Seeing that neither of them rejected her, Wen Qian started to feel at ease, "It''s been a long time since I''ve seen people, so I''m quite happy to see you now."


    Wen Qian had a lot to say, but didn''t know where to start.


    So she asked the other for the date, which was the first useful thing she thought of.


    Fortunately, the date the other gave was only one day off from Wen Qian''s, with Wen Qian''s being one day behind, which wasn''t too unreasonable.


    Realizing that Wen Qian didn''t even know the date, the other guessed this person probably really hadn''t seen anyone for a long time.


    Next, Wen Qian inquired about what had happened here after the volcanic eruption, mainly about what happened after the radio stopped broadcasting news.


    The woman could probably also tell that this person must have been living in istion like herself, otherwise she wouldn''t havee out not knowing anything.


    But the woman herself didn''t have much new to say either, her husband had seen more than her, but after the disaster years, the people she could see also became fewer.


    So the woman told her about what had happened in the town initially, that the area this town was in charge of had a total poption of less than 30,000.


    Since many peopleter went into the mountains due to the disaster, and their ancestors had originallye out of the mountains too, going back wasn''t a big deal.


    Because the townter became more and more chaotic, she heard that many people had died, and there were also people forming gangs to rob and loot.


    She didn''t know what happened to that gang afterward, but her husband told her not to go in that direction.


    Years had passed again, and her husband said that hardly anyone was left in the small town.


    Actually, it should have been fine to go and dig for salt, but she did not feel at ease doing so, which is why she came here to dig instead.


    So Wen Qian asked if the highway was still passable, and the other person replied that it was.


    This was because the highway passed through the farnds at the foot of the mountain, still some distance away from the town area.


    Thinking of this, Wen Qian felt a little more at ease.


    For if the situation was as bad as they said, Wen Qian might have had to take a detour.

 Chapter 128

    Chapter 128


    As she spoke, the woman began to walk back, unable to just chat without doing anything. She wanted to gather more salt to take back with her.


    So Wen Qian pretended to take out a small entrenching tool from the backpack on her bicycle and apanied the woman to collect salt.


    The woman was a minority, but her husband was not. Their child, named Kang Kang, was born the second year after the volcanic eruption.


    At that time, things had notpletely fallen apart, and she was still able to give birth to her child in a hospital.


    Wen Qian had not prepared any questions in advance, just asking whatever came to mind.


    The other party also treated her well, asking her how she had been living for all these years.


    Wen Qian said that she too had grown up in the mountains, so after the volcanic winter, she moved deeper into the mountains, growing crops, hunting, and digging up wild vegetables to avoid starvation.


    Wen Qian said she now longed to go to a warmer ce more suitable for growing crops.


    The other party asked if she nned to go to the warmer coastal areas in the south to farm, and Wen Qian nodded.


    On this matter, Wen Qian did not tell the truth.


    Wen Qian also inquired about how the woman processed the salt to make it usable.


    The other party also kindly exined it to her, but as she saw Wen Qian digging up more and more, she became doubtful, wondering if she would really take away that much?


    She still had a long way to walk.


    Then when Wen Qian was about to leave, the woman realized that Wen Qian had been digging for her, and she did not take any away but instead helped her.


    After Wen Qian left, the woman found a branch and carried the salt back home.


    The child also helped his mother carry a few things, walking by her side.


    When they got home, he told his grandmother that the passerby had given him some candy.


    The woman was surprised and told her husband about the incident when he returned home.


    The other party was somewhat surprised to hear that a woman had traveled alone by bicycle on the highway.


    However, if she hade from Mangge City, it made sense that she would not have encountered anyone along the way.


    But as she continued onward, she would definitely meet more people.


    As for the candy given to the child, the two men tasted it and found that it was indeed well-preserved and edible.


    Although the expiration date had long passed, the taste was still good, so they put it away to let the child eat slowly.


    The candy Wen Qian gave them was actually a stic jar filled with colorful gummy candies.


    And she did not give them a brand new jar of candy, but had opened a new one and put about two-thirds of it into an old jar.


    Originally it was sold very cheaply at the supermarket, but now it would not be easy to have such candy again.


    The two adults had a good impression of this passerby. Although she asked many questions, she also gave candy to the child.


    They could only hope that she would travel safely and reach her destination.


    After leaving the mother and child, Wen Qian started walking forward, observing that there did seem to be people in the small town area.


    However, the highway was unobstructed, so she continued on without stopping.


    After encountering two people and having a long conversation that they had not had in a while, Little Red was quite happy and satisfied her previous desire to meet people.


    After this, she would not need to look forward to encountering anyone else, and might even avoid ces with people, focusing solely on making progress.


    During the conversation with the woman, the other party did not forget to tell her what her husband had told her.


    It was said that in Xia City, there was a period when so many people died that some could not even be buried, and their bodies were simply piled up outside.


    This attracted flocks of scavenger birds that circled overhead in the city.


    Upon hearing this, Wen Qian''s first reaction was to modify her route before going to sleep at night.


    She would avoid that city, and if possible, even stay far away from the suburbs.


    She did not even want to go to the shores of Jade Lake anymore, as it was not far from Xia City.


    What about those who had been looting and plundering? If they were still alive, would they have settled near Jade Lake?


    However, she was not wrong in her thinking, as there were indeed people living around Jade Lake, but not many.


    There were indeed some bad people scattered in different ces, and Wen Qian noticed something was off even before she reached Jade Lake.


    The next ce she was headed had a fork in the road, with one path longer and one shorter.


    The shorter path went through a group of mountains, allowing for a quick arrival at the shores of Jade Lake.


    The longer path curved around those mountains and continued eastward.


    But as she followed the shorter path, she found many abandoned vehicles there.


    Apart from that, not a single shadow could be seen, but Wen Qian simply did not dare to pass through directly.


    She did not know why, but she had a feeling that something was off.


    So she put away her bicycle and decided to observe from a high vantage point, to see if anything was amiss.


    The main reason was that there were many mountains here, and she could not see the situation far away from ground level due to the angle, making her binocrs useless.


    Then she noticed the anomaly. The slope she was on was not the highest point, and further ahead on this narrow path, even more things were blocking the way.


    From her vantage point, she could see people moving in the valley up ahead, indicating that people were guarding this route.


    At this moment, only one thought crossed her mind: "This path was made by me, this tree was nted by me."


    This... was robbery, wasn''t it?


    Now that the world had fallen into chaos, it seemed reasonable for there to be bandits on the roads.


    She had heard stories of people going to work in the cities, having their phones stolen on buses, and getting mugged while walking on the streets.


    That was over twenty years ago. Now that the world had fallen into disarray, shouldn''t one be even more cautious?


    So Wen Qian quietly turned around and left.


    She considered whether to bypass the route by going around the nearby mountains, but then she thought, what would be the point of reaching thekeside?


    It was highly likely that she would still have to give up on that location near Jade Lake in the mountains.


    So she turned back, preparing to take the other highway instead.


    This highway route through the mountains was shorter, passing through a small reservoir.


    There were also people living in the mountains, but unlike the other isted individuals, this was an actual vige.


    Normally, they would hunt and farm just like anyone else, but they had a side business.


    This side business was robbery.


    Initially, when people were fleeing outward, most chose this route as it was closest to Jade Lake.


    So some people got the idea to loot and plunder along this path, and they did indeed seed in stealing things.


    Later, the entire vige collectively engaged in robbery.


    Although the poption here dwindled over time, the vige still habitually stationed guards to watch over the route.


    Some elderly people who were not capable of heavybor, or some younger children, would be assigned to nearby mountains, where they could pass the time by chatting or ying.


    Once there was any movement, they would use mirrors to reflect light signals to alert the able-bodied adults.


    And if people traveling outward were merely robbed of their belongings, those people would continue on their way to Jade Lake.


    Those who resisted with all their might would be killed at the hands of the robbers, and naturally, this incident would not be spread outside.


    The woman Wen Qian had conversed with was unaware of the robberies taking ce here, and her husband did not know that some of the robbers from the town were residing in this vige.


    After changing her route, Wen Qian wondered if she should continue to alter her nned path, aiming to travel through areas with fewer people or even no people at all.

 Chapter 129

    Chapter 129


    The next route Wen Qian nned to take would pass through the loess region, where the vegetation transitioned to grasnds and shrubs, no longer disying the forests she had seen before.


    The highway followed the contours of the mountain range, heading eastward, allowing her to continuously view the distant snow-capped peaks on the side.


    Wen Qian knew that crossing over the snowy mountains would lead her to Jade Lake.


    Following this route, she would reach the end of the mountain range on the map.


    Since that was the case, she had no need to turn back and decided to continue eastward.


    Continuing eastward, she would still be amidst the mountains, but the climate would change.


    The air would be more humid, and the vegetation more lush, with hardly any exposed soil or rocks.


    Simrly, there would be fewer snow-capped peaks as she approached the border of Xia Province.


    Following the new nned route, Wen Qian avoided the more populous areas and instead took a path along a secluded highway.


    Consequently, Wen Qian experienced different sceneries, and after a month, she reached the edge of Xia Province.


    There, exposed red rock mountains rose, with the highway built along rtively gentle slopes.


    Only grass and shrubs grew on both sides, with no tall trees, while higher up, the mountains were entirely red.


    Viewed from above, it must have been a breathtakingly beautiful and majestic sight.


    Wen Qian''s driving speed was indeed slow, not to mention her frequent stops, as she chose very secluded roads. Yet, she still encountered terraced fields and houses.


    Whenever she approached them, she would be more alert, using her binocrs from a distance to check for any people.


    If there were people, she would quickly pass through; if not, she would take her time.


    Fortunately, although the roadwork here was denser than before, and houses appeared more frequently, the limited resources meant that the residents were scattered, with only small patches of grasnd or a few terraced fields.


    There were also some scattered houses, some of which had copsed after being abandoned for a long time.


    After two more days, Wen Qian confirmed that she had left Xia Province and entered Liang Province.


    There were no more snow-capped mountains, but she still traveled amidst the rolling hills and winding mountain roads.


    However, the forest vegetation gradually increased, and Wen Qian would asionally stop to collect one or two fallen and dried trees.


    The terrain in Liang Province was diverse, and the area Wen Qian passed through seemed to have abundant vegetation and water resources.


    Therefore, she decided to stop and rest for two days.


    She had begun to feel fatigued and it was time to fulfill her previous n of taking a break from her hurried journey.


    Wen Qian, who had unknowingly evaded danger,y in her temporary mobile home for a day or two, observing the safety of her surroundings before eating and drinking to recover her strength.


    The altitude in Liang Province was simr to Xia Province, but as she continued further, the altitude would gradually decrease.


    Just as she had initially worried about experiencing altitude sickness upon entering Xia Province, she now worried that her body, ustomed to living at high altitudes, might react adversely to the lower elevations.


    Thus, she decided to slow her pace.


    Her decision ensured that she did not fall ill after reaching her destination after such a long journey but remained in good health, proving her approach was correct.


    Perhaps it was due to living alone for too long, or theck of anxiety peddled on the inte, or simply the absence ofparison, but despite being in her forties, Wen Qian felt not a hint of aging.


    Though she always took care of her health and body, her appearance and mindset were much younger than her actual age.


    While she knew her age, her mindset remained that of someone in their twenties. Although the fine lines on her skin showed signs of aging, she felt no anxiety.


    Perhaps it was due to her healthy lifestyle, but she had no back or joint pain that would make her feel old.


    Previously, when she was working, she had felt stiff shoulders and neck, even suspecting that she was getting old.


    After her recovery, Wen Qian felt much better and continued onward.


    However, she was more cautious than before, ensuring safety before proceeding. Although more time-consuming, it provided peace of mind, making it worthwhile.


    Wen Qian headed eastward, descending from higher to lower altitudes, from areas with less rainfall to those with more.


    Consequently, the vegetation improved as she progressed, and the temperatures were slightly higher.


    However, sunny days were still rare, so whenever Wen Qian reached a safe area after surveying the surroundings, she would set up her mobile home.


    After arranging the external security measures, she would rest inside.


    It rained that night, but Wen Qian had considered such sudden downpours when setting up her temporary residence, so she was not worried.


    The rain was light, allowing Wen Qian to sleep soundly, perhaps due to her innate sense of security.


    The sound of rain meant that wild animals were less likely to hunt, as many would fall ill from getting wet.


    Thus, Wen Qian slept through the night, lulled by the patter of rain.


    The next morning, she woke to find it was still drizzling, so she decided to wait for the rain to stop before setting off.


    Although she had rain gear, there was no need to rush and risk falling ill and regretting itter.


    Next, Wen Qian chose to head north again, as continuing eastward on any route would likely encounter more people.


    So she decided to start northward within Liang Province, leaving the green areas on the map and heading toward the yellowish-brown regions.


    Only there did the roads and poption density remain low, even in those times.


    She was not afraid of being alone but wanted to avoid unnecessary trouble by heading to less popted areas.


    Many ces might have been abandoned, but she did not want to seerge-scale abandoned human constructions.


    Although some structures upied by wild animals might be more spacious than natural caves, she felt that with spring''s arrival, hungry predators like bears would have awakened from hibernation.


    If the high teaus had saltkes and gobi deserts, then in the uing journey she would still encounter gobi deserts, where the wind force and aridity were no less intense than in Xia Province.


    The only advantage of heading north and then east would be a more direct routepared to her current one.


    If one keeps walking eastward in Liang Province, the route would be very winding, because there are mountains or valleys everywhere, and thus the construction of roads often has to be adapted to the local terrain.


    The roads built ording to the convenienty of thend tend to be quite winding and meandering, which is too tiring for Wen Qian who travels by bicycle.

 Chapter 130

    Chapter 130


    Once, while routinely inspecting the environment ahead with a telescope, Wen Qian spotted a wondrous creature, ck and white hanging from a tree.


    With the mist drifting around the mountain slope, Wen Qian initially thought she was seeing things.


    But upon closer inspection, she became increasingly convinced it was that adorable yet ferocious animal, as the ck and white panda moved to a higher and thinner branch.


    Wen Qian was even worried it might fall off at any moment.


    Were there pandas in Liang Province? Wen Qian only knew that these rare animals existed in a couple of provinces south of Liang Province, but she never expected to encounter them here.


    And it was a wild one too, surprisingly surviving the catastrophes. Apparently, this species was quite resilient.


    They had shifted from a carnivorous diet to mostly herbivorous, ording to the science documentary Wen Qian had watched, which said they were a species existing since ancient times.


    If human development hadn''t impacted their habitat, with excessive deforestation and exploitation fragmenting their once contiguous dwelling areas, disrupting their breeding, their numbers wouldn''t have dwindled.


    Of course, many were also hunted domestically and abroad during the unprotected era.


    Now it seemed that with human activities halted, various nts and animals had gained a respite.


    The pandas were at a rtively safe distance, posing no major threat, so after admiring them, Wen Qian continued on her way.


    The journey northward would be unsuitable for bamboo growth, and Wen Qian figured this might be her only chance to see pandas.


    Then, while crossing arge river heading north in the evening, Wen Qian encountered a ck bear.


    It seemed to have caught her scent but was still some distance away.


    Facing the iing, not-so-cuddly, and potentially dangerous bear, Wen Qian immediately abandoned her vehicle, grabbed materials to build a shelter, and retrieved her gun.


    Although tense, she didn''t panic but swiftly constructed the shelter and readied her firearm.


    She fired two loud, smoky shots, though uncertain where they hit, only seeing the ck bear flee.


    It ran even faster than its approach, quickly disappearing into the mountains.


    Its size was rtively small, at least smaller than the one Wen Qian had seen in the Jade Mountain Range.


    Spotting the blood trail left behind, Wen Qian realized she had injured it.


    She then switched to a motorcycle and sped off.


    Only after putting considerable distance between them did she dare stop, still muttering to herself in the residual tension.


    The bear was injured, severely wounded and no longer a threat, or lightly wounded and chose to flee rather than attack, also posing no significant threat.


    She was safe now.


    Only then did Wen Qian stop to rest, setting up her mobile shelter as night fell, before venturing out to fortify her defenses.


    She doubled her efforts, stackingyers of bricks and wood she had collected, even using materials from the town square and a street of buildings.


    You could say Wen Qian surrounded her dwelling with a "four-sided mountain" of construction debris, resembling a tenacious resident amid demolition.


    Only after such extensive fortification did Wen Qian feel secure enough to sleep.


    However, perhaps due to the day''s harrowing events, her dreams continued the saga, with the bear wing her, jolting her awake.


    Thankfully, dreams work in reverse, and she wasn''t the one injured.


    Still, realizing bears were present everywhere, Wen Qian decided that once she found a suitable location, she would need to clear the surrounding wildlife.


    Otherwise, she wouldn''t feel at ease living there.


    She also recognized herck of training or hunting experience.


    While maintaining a respectful attitude toward wild animals, never underestimating anything for fear of stumbling, if she wanted to settle somewhere long-term, she would need to neutralize any threats first.


    Fortunately, on her northward journey, she didn''t encounter any simr incidents.


    The vegetation grew sparser and shorter until she returned to the deste wastnds.


    Wen Qian passed through an area where the soil seemed familiar to her.


    It resembled the type suitable for pottery-making she had seen in documentaries.


    Uncertain, she dug some up and consulted her reference materials, thankful for having brought them, as she might discover more suitable soil along her journey to stockpile.


    This digging sparked a new interest in Wen Qian, realizing she might need to produce many items herself in the future.


    So at different locations, she began collecting not just soil but stones of various colors, shapes, and materials, big and small.


    Whereas before she only gathered potentially useful items, she now collected seemingly useless ones too.


    And whenever crossing riverbeds, she would collect pebbles and sand.


    She even gathered bs of shale that looked suitable for wall construction, finding joy in this collecting, constantly discovering new things.


    It lifted her spirits on the road, a form of zero-cost acquisition.


    She felt like ying a coin-collecting game, with all her gathered objects eventually bing part of her new home''s rebuilding.


    This gave her a sense of security.


    With this in mind, Wen Qian then considered whether she should scavenge around cities for bricks and paving stones from Mangge City, as they might be better suited for wall construction than soil or rocks.


    Her thoughts were soon realized, as she passed through many abandoned towns and viges.


    Wen Qian even traveled through an area of mountains entirely terraced into fields.


    Not just one, but multiple sites, meaning wherever she went bore traces of past human activity.


    Even using satellite imagery and zooming in, she could see the locals'' modifications and naming of the wilderness.


    The centuries ofbor from generation after generation, now mostly abandoned but perhaps one day revived.


    During her journey northward, she could not avoid towns, so she collected even more road stones than before in Mangge City.


    Along the way, she even found an abandoned quarry in a rather remote area, where there were many ready-cut stones, with quite a few just lying outside.


    Of course, she didn''t hesitate to take them away, even though some pieces were toorge for her to move, but her spatial ability could handle them.


    Gradually, the idea of "building a Great Wall" came to her mind, and she felt it might actually be possible.


    Wen Qian was startled by her own thoughts while cycling, but the more outrageous it seemed, the more interesting it became.


    Who knows, it might turn out to be quite interesting in the end.


    While a city wall might be too ambitious, building a sufficientlyrge enclosure for herself was a possibility. However, for now, it was more practical to n her next route.

 Chapter 131

    Chapter 131


    Wen Qian embarked on a long journey following the volcanic winter, even though it was spring, heading north was still rather chilly.


    Afterwards, Wen Qian began traveling along a river towards the northeast, passing through areas that were once the widespread human habitation range.


    Perhaps she had gathered bricks and stones from various abandoned human settlements, as Wen Qian no longer avoided human settlements like she used to.


    However, in reality, even if she wanted to avoid them, she couldn''t ¨C before the volcanic winter, apart from deserts and primeval forests, anywhere essible to humans would have human inhabitants.


    Now, although many ces had been abandoned, Wen Qian could imagine how the initial inhabitants had gradually transformed these ces into habitable areas as she passed through.


    As Wen Qian gradually headed northeast, she saw that the scenery on one side had transitioned from the towns and farnds originally inhabited by humans to the color of yellow sand.


    She had reached the edge of the desert ¨C even in such conditions, people were still able to survive in these ces.


    Unfortunately, after they left, the boundary here was not maintained.


    Wen Qian also saw that the shelter forests originally nted by humans were still there. As she continued along the desert''s edge eastward, she returned to sparsely popted areas for the next stretch of time.


    There were not many animals or nts, nor any human buildings.


    As for the people still living here, Wen Qian did not see any ¨C sometimes she traveled on highways, other times on national roads or ordinary rural roads.


    There was nothing to take, except for sand ¨C even so, she took quite a bit with her.


    She wondered if she ever needed to raise any animals in the future, whetherying ayer of sand would make cleaning rtively easier.


    So on the principle that she hade this far anyway, Wen Qian also took a good amount of sand with her.


    After spending a long time passing through the desert, Wen Qian reached the Northern Shady Mountain Range, where the terrain slopes down from the northwest to the southeast, mitigating some of the wind, sand, and cold from the north.


    On the southern side of the mountain range were alluvial ins, so there were still some inhabited areas.


    A national highway happened to pass through the foothills here, allowing the visually fatigued Wen Qian to finally see something other than yellow sand.


    Although this ce was cold and arid, the grasnds in some areas had a tinge of green, allowing her to see something fresh.


    Originally, this area was sparsely popted, and even before the volcanic eruption, there were not many people ¨C needless to say, after the eruption, there were even fewer.


    This time, it took Wen Qian over half a month to reach the prairie, which was transitioning from withered yellow to green, resulting in a mottled color from a distance.


    Afterwards, as the tender grass gradually grew, it would form a lush green prairie ¨C if the weather was favorable, this ce would actually be quite suitable for grazing sheep and horses.


    Unfortunately, in the years following the volcanic winter, it was mostly cold here, and cattle and sheep could hardly survive.


    The people here also began migrating southward.


    Over the past two years, as the climate gradually warmed, the prairie''s existence here became slightly longer, but it was still cold most of the time.


    Even when Wen Qian reached her desired dwelling ce, she had prepared a buffer period of two to three years, as the temperature recovery would take time.


    Continuing eastward, she saw the distant mountain ranges and forests.


    After the temperature returned to normal, summer would arrive ¨C at that time, except for the teau regions, all other parts of the country would experience sweltering summers.


    People might gradually migrate northward, but the human poption on Earth had already decreased significantly.


    Therefore, even if people returned to the ce Wen Qian chose, it would still be sparsely popted.


    The life she envisioned could only be provided by the distant forests.


    Even if there were other ces where she could live freely, she just wanted to do things ording to her own wishes.


    Nowadays, no matter what people do, their ultimate goal is to stay alive and healthy.


    Therefore, other unimportant things, such as the opinions of others, were no longer that important.


    Finally, in June, Wen Qian reached the forest in her view ¨C the Peaceful Forest.


    Wen Qian first searched for a suitable temporary dwelling outside the forest, then nned to slowly find a suitable location.


    Afterwards, she followed a rtively narrow concrete path into the Peaceful Forest.


    There were many logging camps on the outskirts of the forest, so transportation was still decent in many areas.


    However, the area was quite remote ¨C one could walk for a long time without seeing any houses or road signs.


    But by following the concrete path, she wouldn''t get lost. Wen Qian also dropped stones as markers for herself.


    She found an abandoned logging camp where all the houses had copsed.


    She originally thought this ce had been abandoned because of the volcanic eruption, but it had actually been shut down before the eruption.


    This logging camp had been abandoned a long time ago, and then someone had rebuilt it into a summer camp.


    They raised some small animals, nted flowers and some local fruits, and built wooden cabins and pavilions.


    It attracted some young people from the cities toe to this remote ce in small groups to experience forest life.


    But after the volcanic winter, no one came here anymore, and years of umted snow without any maintenance copsed all the buildings.


    That''s why it looked the way Wen Qian saw it now.


    She found an open area, took out her little house, and then usedrge square bricks to build a high, thick, and sturdy wall around it.


    Because in the following period, she had many things to do, and an important task was to explore the surrounding environment.


    Therefore, she needed to build a solid fortress for her dwelling.


    After arriving, Wen Qian took three days off for herself, just resting, cooking, and nning her uing tasks.


    This might also be the reason why it took her so long to get here ¨C she didn''t skimp on rest and stopping along the way.


    Wen Qian carried a bow and arrows on her back and a hunting rifle in her hand.


    The things she had secretly prepared and dared not take out in the mountains after trying them out.


    Now she could openly carry them.


    In fact, apart from the slightly more popted base areas that still had control, everywhere else had already be awlessnd.


    And after the disaster, the number of people killed by harming each other was also high ¨C sometimes not due to natural disasters, but at the hands of their own kind.


    The wild animals sensed the climate warming earlier than humans, so the animals that had survived the harsh northern cold also began gathering in warmer ces.


    Even before Wen Qian recorded the rising temperatures, some animals in the Northern Shady Mountain Range had already started to revive.


    Therefore, the Peaceful Forest is still active with quite a few animals.


    However, animals like tigers and ck bears are still absent from the area where Wen Qian is located, as she has not seen any traces of them.


    One possibility is that this is the outskirts of the forest, and many of the trees around the logging site are secondary forests rather than primary forests.


    This ce may not be suitable forrge wild animals to survive, as the harsh winters cause slow or stagnant growth and reproduction of nts and animals, leaving it unupied by many nts and animals even without human presence.


    However, the future warming remains uncertain.

 Chapter 132

    Chapter 132


    After confirming that the surrounding environment was rtively safe, Wen Qian began searching for a suitable site for building a house.


    The logging camp was located in a mountain basin surrounded by mountains on all four sides. Initially choosing this ce to build a residential area was actually a good choice.


    However, Wen Qian still wanted to find a more suitable ce for living alone.


    This ce had more t ground, and Wen Qian was more inclined to grow crops here in the future.


    But she would not build her home next to the crond.


    She had a detailed map of this ce, but no matter how detailed it was, it could not help her anymore.


    Following the trend of the mountain, Wen Qian found a nearby river.


    This small river was quite deep, although the surface was not wide.


    Nearby, there was a copsed pavilion and wooden bridge, as well as an overturned boat that had turned into scrap iron.


    It seemed to be one of the original entertainment facilities. Wen Qian also saw some previously nted flowers and blueberries in the vicinity.


    Speaking of which, the climate here was once quite suitable for blueberry growth, but it was unknown whether the current climate could still bear fruit.


    Following the river upstream, she found a rtively wider section of the river, and then saw a rtively gentle area around it.


    This ce was previously farnd, so there were still quite obvious ridges and differences in elevation, forming about two to three levels of terraced fields.


    Wen Qian walked along the river upstream, passing a long slope with a height difference of about three to four meters, and then reached a t area.


    It appeared to be a former farnd, surrounded by a ridge, and this t area was nted with straight rows of the same variety of trees, whose thickness was just right for building a house.


    Passing through this grove, she walked further up the slope with another three to five meters of elevation difference, where there was anotherrger t area, but only covered in weeds.


    Wen Qian stood behind the grove and looked at the river in front of her. Even if the water rose, such a distance and height difference would not affect the area behind the grove.


    Moreover, the open farnd area behind wasrge enough, so Wen Qian did not need to level thend again.


    The slope behind the farnd was also very gentle, and there was no need to worry about any geological disasters. At the same time, the trees above were not too dense.


    But thinking about it, in a ce where people lived, the trees could not be too dense. The paths she frequently walked around her old home needed to be cleared of weeds and bushes, and the mountains she often visited also needed tree felling.


    Maintaining a reasonable ecological environment was mainly for the benefit of human conditions, not for the benefit of nts and animals.


    With this farnd as the radius, Wen Qian continued to search outwards and eventually decided to build her house here.


    So she had to start by clearing the weeds, digging the foundation, andpacting the ground.


    Since it was June, her schedule should be quite ample.


    It took her two days to clear the weeds and one week to dig the foundation.


    After that, she used the power of space topact the ground, dropping huge rocks from above, quickly ttening the entire surface.


    Next, she would startying the stone foundation. However, at this point, when she was building the house, she already had enough building materials.


    Therefore, she nned to build a house with a heated brick bed and a fire wall for the winter.


    Even in normal climate and temperature, the winters here required a lot of warmth.


    She nned for the stone foundation to be about one meter above the ground. For convenience, she then built a very thick wall around this farnd and moved the small houses and walls from the logging camp over here.


    She took a two-day break in between, spending two days clearing and leveling thend in the vegetable garden area at the logging camp, and then sowing seeds.


    She felt that she could still harvest a batch of vegetables in the next two months, while she couldn''t do anything else while building the house. Basically, there wouldn''t be much of a harvest this year.


    So she might as well nt a little.


    After the house foundation was ready, she began building the house on top of it.


    The n was for three rooms: a kitchen, a bedroom, and a storage room.


    This time, she had to separate her sleeping area from the cooking area, with the kitchen and bedroom connected in the middle by a door that could be closed while cooking.


    And when Wen Qian heated the brick bed, she would do it in the kitchen to keep the bedroom clean.


    The storage room had a separate entrance and did not require particrly high-quality materials, as she did not have many things to store temporarily.


    The main priority was to finish the two living and sleeping rooms as soon as possible.


    On the side of her kitchen, she built a very small room as a toilet, and since it was so small, she ignored it. The door was opened from the kitchen wall.


    Upon entering, the kitchen was on the left, the toilet entrance was on the left, and the bedroom entrance was on the right.


    This tiny room was used to ce the simple toilet she had previously purchased, essentially adding anotheryer of walls around the fragile toilet.


    Over the next one and a half months, the house started to take shape, like a bare shell. Next, she needed to refine the details.


    Wen Qianid the red brick tiles on the roof and climbed down thedder.


    Then she looked at the house with satisfaction. Next, she would build the stove, heated brick bed, and fire wall inside, and once the house was dry, she could move in.


    With the remaining time, she could work on the storage room. Actually, in her n, the house was not limited to just these rooms.


    It was just that she felt building houses was too tiring, and if she built everything at once, she would almost copse. So she decided to slowly work on the less critical roomster.


    While she was building the house, the vegetables at the logging camp were growing very well.


    Afterwards, Wen Qian built a usable stove based on the information, along with therge iron pot she had purchased earlier.


    Then she also set up the heated brick bed and fire wall in the room. Although it was quite troublesome to follow the diagrams during construction.


    She even made a mistake in the middle, but afterpleting it and testing, it worked quite well.


    So Wen Qian happily moved in. Of course, she carefully put her portable activity room back into her space.


    This little house had been very useful during her migration process, so this precious item had to be kept safe.


    After settling her eating, drinking, and sleeping arrangements, Wen Qian began selectively logging the slopes nearby.


    Then she put all these trees inside the wall, leaving them for a month or two to dry, which would be just right for firewood in the winter.


    This way, she didn''t have to use the wood materials already in her space.


    After felling the trees, she began to build a storage house. This house, aside from the doors, windows, walls, and roof, waspletely bare on the inside with no preparations made.


    Wen Qian passed four fire-roasted wooden poles through the upper part of the wall, which couldter be used for hanging things, such as the salted fish and meat that she would prepare in the future.


    After everything was done, it was September, and the winter season in this ce was about to begin.

 Chapter 133

    Chapter 133


    In years past during this time period, the grasnds in the north would start to get cooler, and the herdsmen there would harvest hay as food for their livestock during the winter.


    In the Northern Forest, winter came slightlyter. At that time, people would start checking the kang stoves and doors and windows of their houses, and also prepare the firewood needed for winter.


    After the volcanic winter, the winters here became longer. Even though temperatures were gradually rising, it was Wen Qian''s first timeing here, so she would be more well-prepared.


    During this period, after building her house, Wen Qian began venturing further away to chop wood.


    She needed to cut down the rtively dense mountain forests to make them a bit more sparse.


    With her home at the center, she would expand outward, and the area her footsteps could cover would be her main activity zone in the future.


    So she had to ensure her own safety and not constantly encounterrge ferocious beasts in her territory. How could she live properly then?


    Reducing the density meant there would be fewer creatures hiding within. Large ferocious beasts needed enough wild animals in their territory as food.


    They wouldn''t stay in ces with little food.


    In August, she noticed that the blueberries here had ripened, so she picked quite a few.


    Afterwards, she also searched around and found wild blueberry bushes, picking many with her homemade tools.


    She didn''t dare venture deeper, so she only went nearby.


    Then she remembered she still had many blueberry branches left over, and nned to take them out and nt them all by cutting.


    At the same time, she didn''t forget to set up small hunting traps in various parts of the mountain forest and rivers.


    During August, which should have been the hottest time of the year, wild animals would go out to forage and asionally step into Wen Qian''s traps.


    Wen Qian even caught a wild rabbit, which was still alive but had an injured leg.


    She originally wanted to raise it, but at that time she was busy building her house and didn''t have much time to take care of it, so she thought she would reconsider next year.


    So this year, whether she caught wild chickens or rabbits, she killed them first and then put them into her spatial storage.


    Wen Qian''s main activity area at home was a kitchen and a bedroom.


    The front door opened to a window beside it, with arge wooden table in front of the window where she would chop vegetables and knead dough.


    Next to the wall was a door leading to the bedroom.


    Opposite the wooden table was a stove, with tworge iron pots. Further in was the area for the kang stove and fire wall.


    Along the corner of the wall, some firewood was piled up, quite far from the stove so the wood near the stove entrance wouldn''t fall out and cause a fire hazard.


    The house was made of brick and tile, the only way she could burn the kang stove without worry.


    A pure wooden house wouldn''t allow such freedom, so fire prevention was very important.


    The floor was paved with tiles pried from the za, so the entire home appeared very clean and tidy.


    In the bedroom, she divided it into two levels with wood, creating a semi-enclosed loft area.


    Wen Qianid wooden boards on top where she could put things or sleep, whichever she preferred.


    On the sunny side of the bedroom, she also opened a window with a windowsill housing potted mint and green onions.


    The nice ss bottles were ones she had picked up herself.


    Next to the window, she also ced arge wooden table where she read and wrote.


    The lighting in the house used oilmps like before, which she had purchased online initially.


    When there was no electricity before, people used thesemps that could adjust the brightness.


    Wen Qian thought it would be dim lighting at first, but when she took them out and used them, she found they were quite bright.


    She had sr power, but it disappeared after the volcanic winter, with few sunny days. So she didn''t use electric lights anymore.


    When she passed byrge sr photovoltaic power stations andter wind farms, they were basically useless after the disaster.


    One reason was theck of sunlight, and the other was that thoserge wind turbines stopped working due tock of maintenance.


    In the bedroom, she had a wardrobe, and even brought out her old sewing machine from her previous home, cing it next to the wardrobe against the wall. After changing the belt, it could continue being used.


    Hunting rifles and axes were also hung on the wall, and Wen Qian hung axes and iron rods by the door as well.


    In short, weapons could be reached anywhere in the house.


    This new home now looked a bit like her old home in An Province, except it had an extra surrounding wall and a small kang stove inside.


    As for the stove she used to cherish, it wasn''t put away, but ced next to the wooden reading table instead.


    It upied a corner of the bedroom, with the chimney extending through the wall outside.


    Therge round stainless steel table top was removed, so the stove itself didn''t take up much space.


    It could also emit heat, and putting a kettle on top would prevent the indoor air from bing too dry.


    If the kang stove could keep the indoor temperature warm enough, then this stove wouldn''t be used.


    But if it got too cold away from the kang stove, then burning this stove would solve the problem.


    After all, Wen Qian didn''t like lying or sitting on the kang all day.


    In winter, if she wanted to do something at the wooden table, burning this stove would keep her from getting cold.


    There was also another issue - in the north where she lived, houses were built differently from the south, with much thicker walls to prevent the harsh winter cold.


    Southern walls were thinner, emphasizing venttion more, because otherwise everything would get moldy from dampness.


    But the north was very dry, so instion was more important.


    When Wen Qian built her house, she made the brick walls quite thick too. However, she hadn''t spent a winter here or used the kang stove before, so she worried the indoor temperature wouldn''t be warm enough.


    In the past, northern rural folks could attach stic greenhouses to doors and windows for instion.


    Now stic was hard to find. Wen Qian had some but only covered the windows with it.


    Enclosing all the outer walls with a greenhouse frame would be too troublesome, and she wouldn''t have enough stic for even a few years. So she didn''t bother.


    No need to go down steps - going left along the entrance corridor led to the storage room.


    Besides the hung smoked chickens and rabbits, there were also smoked fish and pork. The other three walls were stacked high with neatly arranged firewood.


    This was prepared for the year, forming the main supply to be burned.


    The courtyard enclosed by the wall was veryrge. Wen Qian could grow things in it ory bricks to make a space specifically for sun-drying goodster on.


    There were quite a few trees outside the wall, which could block some of the wind while not having to worry about blocking the sunlight in the future.


    Wen Qian was very satisfied with where she was now, and she even thought about living here for the rest of her life.


    Of course, this was contingent on the climate returning to its previous conditions.


    In the Northern Forest, they mostly didn''t need to go out during the winter.


    As the temperature gradually dropped in September, once the first frost arrived, the leaves outside would start to turn yellow.


    With each sessive frost, the evergreen forest would begin to disy a kaleidoscope of colors.


    Shades of red, yellow, and green in varying depths would make everything in sight incredibly vibrant and colorful.

 Chapter 134

    Chapter 134


    Wen Qian leveled thend outside her tidy home, trying to slope the ground for better drainage in the future.


    She dug drainage ditches around the house, using bricks and stones to create channels sloping away from the house on both sides. When she built the wall earlier, she had left enough holes as well.


    Wen Qian mixed the rtively fertile soil from her Space with the sand she had stored before in proper proportions, spreading the mixture on the ground.


    Then sheid bricks and grass paving bricks on top, all collected from various ces as salvaged materials.


    Near the house, she used anti-slip square bricks for the main walking areas.


    As for the grass paving bricks, she didn''t expect them to grow into awn, but rather hoped to grow vegetables through the round holes.


    This way, she wouldn''t have to worry about being overrun by weeds, while still being able to care for the vegetables better.


    This was a method she had seen online before, and now that she thought about it, it seemed quite suitable for the courtyard.


    It wouldn''t make a mess of mud everywhere, and each plot was divided up, with small paths paved with bricks, looking very tidy.


    So she paved thend inside the wall with various bricks.


    She looked forward to spring, when she could nt neat rows of vegetables.


    It would be a pleasing sight then.


    With the house and its surroundings more or less ready, Wen Qian could finally lie down at ease. The heated brick bed was still warm, and when she felt the wall next to it, it was also hot.


    But away from the bed, closer to the doors and windows, the temperature dropped despite the stic covering the windows.


    So Wen Qian added fuel to the stove to raise the temperature, then sat at the table to n for theing year.


    In October, snow finally fell at Wen Qian''s ce.


    But she stayed inside, happily eating fish caught from some river that year, watching the snow outside.


    With the cold weather, yesterday''s fish became frozen fish today. For breakfast, she brought out the leftover dishes to eat.


    Since it was snowing, Wen Qian nned to have dumplings for lunch, intending to take out the ones she had made earlier.


    Besides that, she took down the hung cured chicken, chopped it into small pieces, and soaked them in warm water on the stove, nning to stew them for dinner.


    In the kitchen cab, she arranged her own bowls and tes, just the right amount for one person.


    She also ced more jars and bottles that she had taken out from her Space.


    For example, she would clean out empty fruit cans to refill with her homemade blueberry jam.


    Apart from blueberries, she had encountered some other small wild fruits which she had collected, unsure if they were edible.


    After consulting books, she found that most of them were actually edible, but she couldn''t fully remember their names, only recognizing blueberries and sandfruit.


    If she encountered them again, she would know they were edible.


    On her journey, she had alsoe across fruit orchards nted along the roads, with some trees surviving the harsh winter, sprouting leaves and blooming.


    Unfortunately, in many ces Wen Qian visited, the trees had only just blossomed and hadn''t borne fruit yet.


    Then, when she passed through the desert and grasnds, she could hardly find any fruit at all.


    Therefore, Wen Qian hadn''t collected much fruit that year, only hoping that as it warmed up, she might be able to grow some or collect enough wild fruit locally.


    Fortunately, her Space didn''tck fruit, and with just herself, her reserves wouldn''t be depleted too quickly.


    At the very least, she could still eat watermelon on the heated bed, as watermelons, apples, oranges, peaches, and pears had all been rtively inexpensive back then.


    That year, Wen Qian was still getting used to sleeping on the heated brick bed and learning how to heat it up.


    She kept the indoor temperature well controlled, and during that winter, she started to learn about local knowledge and make ns for the next year.


    The snow here just kepting down endlessly. She would clear the roof one day, and by the next morning, more snow had piled up again.


    But after so many years, Wen Qian was used to clearing snow in winter, so it wasn''t too troublesome.


    Only, she had reced her old stepdder with a scaffold now.


    This was safer for her, as a lone older woman needed to be extra careful to avoid idents.


    She was quite satisfied with her first winter here, and felt her face had grown rounder when she looked in the mirror, a sign of eating well.


    Looking at the distant mountain forests, some had already shed all their leaves in the autumn winds, leaving only bare branches.


    While others remained evergreen, their verdant hues undiminished by the wind and snow.


    After two straight days of snowfall, Wen Qian could hear the cracking sounds of branches breaking under the weight of the snow.


    Instead of sitting on the heated bed, Wen Qian stood at the kitchen stove, using some warm water to clean the small fish and shrimp she had caught earlier in her traps.


    Since she had been on the move all year, and had to repair her house after settling down, many of the fish and birds previously stored in her Space hadn''t been processed.


    So she had to do it slowly now, but processing food didn''t feel bad at all. In fact, it gave her a sense of security.


    In winter, with enough warmth and food, what could be more satisfying?


    Some of those small dried fish were too tiny to process efficiently, but she didn''t let any go to waste.


    After cleaning them, she salted them to cure, then ced them on the kitchen stove to dry using the residual heat. Later, she would coat them in batter and deep fry them for a tasty snack.


    She also needed to clean the wild onions and chives she had dug up on her journey.


    These had only had their roots roughly cut off before being stored in her Space, but they were still fresh when taken out now, perfect for stir-fries or as fillings for pancakes.


    The various birds she had trapped with small snares earlier were also being plucked and skinned with boiling water in the kitchen.


    Though birds didn''t have much meat, they still made a decent dish, sometimes just simmered in a small y pot for a stew.


    Before she knew it, the horizontal beams in her storage room were hung with all sorts of things.


    Whenever she came in to grab something and looked up at the disy of her harvests, she felt immensely satisfied.


    Worried about mice getting into the house, she was always especially vignt in inspecting her food supplies.


    So far, so good. If there were mice, she also had traps and cages ready.


    Wen Qian spread a thinyer of fine sand on the ground, so that any spilled blood or oil would be easier to clean upter.


    After preparing this, she started making pastries. With the cold weather outside, she ced a rack by the window.


    She put the pastries she had made on the rack, and they quickly froze solid.


    At mealtime, she could take them back into the Space and eat them whenever she wanted, saving her from having to cook three meals a day.


    In the winter, if she wanted to make steamed buns, she would let the dough rise on the heated brick bed.


    The steamed buns that came out were also very good, and she was getting more and more skilled at it.


    Although she had bought a lot of yeast, Wen Qian also tried preserving old dough herself, and seeded.


    Cooking just one meal a day gave her leisure time. If she had to cook three meals a day, just the cooking alone would make her depressed.

 Chapter 135

    Chapter 135


    In winter, besides processing food at home, Wen Qian would also make some snacks, mainly from recipes she enriched herself on the road.


    She would follow the cookbooks to prepare delicious dishes using the new ingredients she had acquired.


    For instance, with the lingonberries, a kind of small berry she had only had in the form of cookies before.


    These fresh berries were ones she had picked along with blueberries after arriving here.


    They were a bit sour, but after washing and boiling them with sugar, they could be made into delicious jam.


    Meanwhile, she had not forgotten to try making those small cookies herself, experimenting with different flour and sugar ratios a couple of times.


    After drying these berries into dried fruit, she could add them to make the kind of cookies she had eaten before.


    Wen Qian spent some time making dried fruit and small cookies, keeping part of them at home and storing most of them in her space.


    Since she did not have an oven or arge homemade kiln, Wen Qian could only bake in the small oven that came with the hearth.


    Thus, the process was rtively slow, but it did not matter.


    After all, she spent little time outdoors and mostly stayed at home, eventually baking quite a few cookies.


    She wrapped them neatly in wax paper and put them in the old cookie tins and stic food containers.


    For some other fruits, after checking, Wen Qian would try to eat them fresh if possible.


    If they were not suitable for eating fresh, then she would make them into jam or candied fruit.


    As the New Year approached, she also fried some small fish, sweet potato balls, fish balls, and meat balls for herself.


    In winter, without the space, these things could actually be kept for a long time.


    By making an ice box outside with a fewrge ice blocks, various foods could be stored inside.


    But Wen Qian did not bother with that, storing them in her space instead, hanging what she wanted to eat on the beams.


    She also stir-fried a small amount of peanuts and seeds, and fried potato chips from potatoes.


    Even when it snowed, Wen Qian did not stay confined at home entirely. She would go to the nearby mountains and set up small traps, to see if she could catch anything.


    In the traps she set, she did have some catches, frozen stiff, including some she did not recognize.


    But looking at their smooth fur, her first reaction was that they must be weasels.


    Although she had never worn a weasel fur coat, she knew there was such a creature.


    However, she did not know how to process the fur, nor whether the meat of this animal was edible, so sheter looked for answers in books.


    Skinning was a technical task, and preserving the fur was an even greater challenge. Wen Qian decided to store her prey in her space until she had time to study it further.


    At other times, she would regrly go out to check her traps for any prey.


    The wall around Wen Qian''s house had a very narrow door.


    She had embedded arge iron gate collected from outside into the wall and used the small door within it to go in and out.


    And as the snow umted deeper, the narrow path she had previously shoveled out became her only route in and out.


    She did not go to other areas due to unfamiliarity with the terrain, fearing getting stuck in snow drifts and being unable to move.


    In this wilderness, one needed to be cautious in all seasons. In winter, there might not be bears, but dangers still lurked everywhere.


    Starting over here, the winters were a bit longer than on the teau.


    But if it warmed up, the temperatures in other seasons would be higher than on the teau, and there would be summer.


    At this time, the mountains and valleys here were all covered in white snow, and the bare tree branches were alsoden with snow, forming a vast snowy forest as far as the eye could see.


    Under the assault of wind and snow, not a trace of green could be seen in the mountain forest.


    Wen Qian waited for the snow to stop before leaving home to fetch water from the river.


    In winter here, the river surface froze over, eventually forming a solid ice surface. If she knew how to ice skate, she would have liked to try gliding on the ice.


    One could walk on the river surface while the water beneath still flowed. Wen Qian found a spot to chop through the ice and draw water.


    As always, she took advantage of her space''s convenience, filling the small buckets and pouring them into herrge water tank.


    Water stored in her space would not spoil, and she kept a small water vat in the kitchen filled with water for daily use.


    However, she needed to clean it regrly, or it would be stale and grow mold.


    The drinking water was kept separate from the water for washing, and no matter when, Wen Qian''s standards for drinking water were slightly higher.


    Over the years, Wen Qian had grown ustomed to using the convenience of her space. The initial mentality of having to do everything independently had been put aside.


    Therefore, she now tried to remember the shelf life of relevant items, wanting to have a sense of expiration dates for the necessities of her daily life.


    Previously, she had always worried that her space might disappear, so she told herself not to be too reliant on it.


    Now that time had passed, she no longer admonished herself in that way, but still warned herself not to lose the ability to survive independently.


    She could continue using her space, but she needed to keep track of what was required for normal living.


    Without the space, she needed to know how much weight she could carry and how much food she would need to eat.


    And she needed to have a rough idea of the shelf life of those foods.


    Now she could make the most of her space, but if it ever disappeared, she would still be able to live well.


    Thus, in winter, aside from the temporary food stocks in the kitchen, everything in the storage shed was collected into her space.


    Because the insects and rats here were too ferocious, and there were not enough traps or cages.


    At first, they might fall into the traps, but eventually, no more rats could be caught.


    Wen Qian had those iron boxes, but she could not put everything in them.


    Apart from her space, Wen Qian could not think of a better solution for now.


    After fetching water and returning home, Wen Qian drank a cup of steaming fruit tea, with some small berries added to enhance the vor.


    No matter how warmly dressed when outside, her hands, feet, and face would still turn icy cold. Upon returning home, besides drinking hot water, Wen Qian also remembered to apply some fragrant balm and rub her hands and face to prevent frostbite.


    She was reluctant to drink tea leaves. Wen Qian had encountered tea gardens herself while on the move.


    Although she did not know how to process tea, she did know how to pick tea leaves, so she had stayed there for a day or two, very crudely picking arge amount of tea leaves before leaving.


    But as for how to process tea, she still needed to learn slowly. Winter did not seem like a good time to do it, so she would leave it for spring.


    Wen Qian nned to cultivate thend near the forest and her home the following year, preferably areas that had previously been farmed.


    When clearing thatnd, the first thing Wen Qian thought of was nting soybeans, growing those in the first year, then diversifying into other crops in the second year.


    At home, they would grow a few vegetables, and the rest of the time would be spent hunting in the wild or foraging.


    After all, everything was just starting, so all tasks had to be taken slowly.

 Chapter 136

    Chapter 136


    The wind and snow intensified behind, and Wen Qian could not see clearly outside from the window.


    Afraid of getting lost in the snowstorm, she decided not to go out.


    However, she also decided that after spring came, she must install railings along the path outside the walls and the path leading to the shore.


    She remembered that outside the house, there should also be positioning objects ced, whether railings or ropes, something that could guide the way.


    The northern blizzards could im lives; hypothermia could rob people of their lives, and getting lost could too.


    She had heard of people dying right at their own doorsteps because the snowstorm was too fierce for them to find the entrance.


    Fortunately, the snowstorms came in bursts, and during the intervals when it stopped, one could see a vast expanse of white outside.


    Although still difficult to walk through, it was not as obstructed and impeded as before.


    With everything outside covered in snow, Wen Qian could sit at the desk without needing to light amp, as the outdoor light allowed her to see clearly.


    She nned to dig a well by the river, so she was researching, feeling that if she could bury pipes leading to the house, life would be so much more convenient in the future.


    Moreover, her old home also had a water well, so she had a very good impression of this facility.


    She had also bought quite a few essories, especially many of those pistons.


    But digging a well required technical skills, and the only thing that gave her hope was that she didn''t need to dig too deep, as it would be easier to find water near the river.


    The problem was how toy bricks after excavating, as there had been an ancient saying that one should use sticky rice to build the walls.


    Of course, she had also found this method in books, and it proved that her decision to hoard books during the stockpiling period was the right choice.


    If she couldn''t do it herself, she could learn; once she knew the method, a few tries should suffice.


    However, digging the well would have to wait until after winter passed, as everything was frozen solid now.


    Also, if she wanted to hunt in the future, she would need to build her own safe cabin in the forest.


    After all, just wandering around near her home wouldn''t yield manyrge preys, so she would have to venture further out.


    And going too far meant that setting up a tent would not be enough to spend the night safely; a sturdy little house would be necessary.


    After a few more snowstorms, the time came for the Chinese New Year.


    Wen Qian cooked a few dishes for herself in the kitchen that evening, ate her dinner early, and theny down on the heated brick bed.


    After this year, she would be 38 years old, and it was unlikely that she would have another long-distance journey like this year''s.


    Under normal circumstances, she didn''t n to return to her hometown either.


    However, all of this was within her expectations, and she didn''t feel lonely or deste living alone, nor did she want to seek out strangers aspanions.


    The human heart isplex, and even before the cmity, she wasn''t sure she could open up to others, let alone those who survived afterwards.


    She was just an ordinary person, without foresight or the ability to bepetent in every aspect without ws.


    Therefore, she didn''t believe in herself being able to just open her eyes and find a "good man."


    For someone like her who enjoyed solitude, perhaps before the cmity, others would have criticized her as unsociable, pretentiously aloof, and a dull person.


    How things would be after the cmity was hard to say.


    The human heart isplex, often moreplicated than she had imagined.


    When she was young, she thought the world was simply ck or white, but as she grew older, she realized there were shades of gray in between.


    Behind every incident, it might not be anyone''s fault.


    However, once she went online, she realized that manyizens thought the same way as her childhood self, and even more extremely.


    They could not tolerate theplexity of humans, whether in real life or in fiction, even in novels.


    They would not allow the existence of people or things beyond their understanding, and they were unwilling to even have doubts, directly denying the existence of others.


    Simrly, they would not allow characters in a novel to beplex, insisting that they must be categorized as good or bad, righteous or viinous.


    It was as if in every novel, there would be one or two characters that readers could not determine as good or bad.


    Even if an author wrote about a viin doing a good deed, they would consider it absolutely impossible.


    In the days when the inte existed, they would appear online, and in the era without the inte, they would manifest as rumors and hearsay.


    Ever since her school days, Wen Qian had realized that this world truly had instances of inexplicable trampling and harm.


    Of course, she had also prepared for the cost of living alone.


    Fortunately, now no one could attack her in any way.


    Wen Qian was quite grateful that when making choices alone, she only had herself to me for the good or bad consequences.


    But if she had found someone to live with and things didn''t go well, they might have started ming each other.


    It would have been better if they had be parents, as then they could have med the children in the future, sparing themselves while having someone to rely on.


    It would be like writing a "solution" to the life lesson, allowing them to just get by.


    Lying on the warm bed in the darkness, reminiscing about the past, Wen Qian felt pensive but had no regrets.


    For her, holidays were truly just days for eating and drinking, and her only longing now was for spring.


    Spring signified warmth and vitality.


    When spring arrived, she would have so many things to do, feeling that time was never enough.


    She needed to farm, hunt, dig wells, and build cabins.


    Just farming alone would keep her busy, not to mention all the other tightly packed ns she had arranged.


    And so, spring arrived as Wen Qian awaited it eagerly.


    At first, the snowstorms diminished, then the distant snowy forests melted, revealing bare ck tree branches.


    Long icicles formed under the eaves, which Wen Qian had to knock down with a pole, as they could fall and hit someone.


    At the same time, some trees also had ice sickles hanging from them, asionally falling down with a pleasant tinkling sound.


    Afterwards, the nearby river started making crackling noises, the sound of ice breaking.


    In summary, when spring came, there were signs all around, much more obvious than the springtime she had experienced in Xia Province.


    In the far southern Sunshine Base, now no longer called a base but Sunshine City, the people here had been waiting for spring''s arrival.


    They also announced in the broadcasts of their city that the temperature would gradually rise and the volcanic winter would be over.


    Yet it was unknown how long it would take for this news to reach the north.


    As this news spread in the south, people there celebrated as if they saw hope.


    The survivors had lived a certain life before, but the days they longed for might never return.


    However, being able to experience the once normal climate again was enough to make them marvel.

 Chapter 137

    Chapter 137


    When it became known that the volcanic winter would eventually end, some people who missed their hometowns wanted to return to their original homes as soon as possible.


    Some people who had migrated to the south started anew there, with no intention of moving again.


    As time passed, a slow but steady stream of people migrated from south to north as well.


    Among them, some found suitable ces along the way and settled down there.


    People''s lifestyles changed dramatically after the volcanic eruption.


    The city with thergest poption was Sunshine City, along with some other smaller cities, mostly in the south.


    Before temperatures rose back to previous levels, some small cities with poptions in the tens of thousands also emerged in the north, but their scale was still far behind the south.


    Rail transport also continued to operate between certain coal mining areas and major urban centers.


    However, the world could no longer be as lively as before, and transportation would not be as busy and rapid.


    Moreover, as temperatures rose and nt conditions improved, many paths that once existed would gradually be blurred and eventually disappear.


    Far in the northern forests, Wen Qian started seedling cultivation as the snow gradually melted, and the brick paving in her courtyard had already been nned for nting.


    When the temperature rose a bit more, she could go to the forestry area and prepare the fields.


    This was no easy task, but fortunately, aside from some short weeds, nothing else had grown on thend previously.


    Wen Qian selected and cultivated seedlings at home, setting up a small heated shed within the courtyard walls, filled with seedling trays of various sizes.


    After the fields were prepared, she would begin nting soybeans, which would be her main crop for the year, with only a few other things nted in the corners.


    Near the forest edge, she nted some vining fruits and vegetables.


    In May, the bean seedlings from the heated shed would be transnted into the fields.


    Concerned that weeds might grow faster than the crops in spring, Wen Qian did not forget to spread a thinyer of fallen leaves on the soil.


    Only the seedlings were exposed, while the rest of the soil was covered, slowing the growth of wild grasses and retaining heat.


    This way, she wouldn''t have to search for seedlings among the weeds, and weeding would take less time.


    Another reason was that she didn''t have much stic mulch or straw mats as an alternative.


    However, in the future, she nned to cut grass and prepare straw mats.


    At the forestry area, basically all thend she could cultivate was nted with crops.


    At the same time, she also used fertilized soil on the higher ground along the banks and nted cuttings collected from various branches in her space.


    The most numerous among these were probably the blueberry and wolfberry cuttings she had pruned earlier.


    These were also the things she could obtain from the first small city.


    Later, although she acquired some others during her arduous journey, Wen Qian still prepared them in batches.


    She quite enjoyed the fruit of blueberries, and although there were wild ones to forage near her home, she still hoped for more.


    Whenever she had time, she would transnt the thriving fruit seedlings to various locations near her home.


    If she didn''t have time, she would let them grow in the fields and transnt themter.


    She also did not forget to nt two grapevines at her front door, although she had no idea what varieties they were since they were just cuttings.


    Regardless, she nted the surviving cuttings within the courtyard walls.


    They were basically just stick seedlings, and Wen Qian didn''t know when she could harvest the grapes.


    Worried that the few grape vines might die, she also nted a few vines on the high ground by the river, nning to build trellises for themter if they survived.


    She hoped to have enough fruit trees growing around her, as many people who worked in the cities wanted to return home and retire.


    They could raise chickens and ducks, grow some fruits, and Wen Qian hoped to do the same in her old age. So she had to start preparing now.


    After all, the variety of fruits in her space was truly limited.


    Throughout the entire spring, she was busy but joyful, and she also did not forget to check her traps regrly.


    She would even asionally cast a in the river.


    Mainly because in spring, when the snow melted and the river levels rose, it was not ideal to set fixed fish traps or stickys.


    There was no telling what mighte from upstream, and if the traps were washed away, she wouldn''t know where to retrieve them. So she could only asionally cast a.


    Fortunately, she had more than enough fish, besides those she had left in her space.


    During the winter, when she broke through the ice to collect water, she would leave holes where she could set fishing hooks.


    She never gave up her love for fishing, and asionally, when the ice was thick enough, she would even build a fire on the ice to go ice fishing.


    In the winter, she caught fish this way, including somerge ones.


    In spring, when she was busy with nting, activities like fishing and setting traps were temporarily set aside.


    She had to take advantage of this prime season to nt everything she needed.


    Since the forestry area had enoughnd, Wen Qian did not go elsewhere to clear new fields.


    With limited energy, she simply fenced the area she cultivated.


    This fence andting were dismantled from the ranch in Xia Province where she had been before.


    After setting up the fence, Wen Qian did not forget to repair the paths leading to her home and the riverside, especially the sloping areas, where she constructed steps for part of the way.


    To prevent slipping, she even paved anti-slip bricks like tactile paving stones, which she had pried up from some unknown city.


    Along the path, she hammered in wooden stakes and added horizontal bars, giving it a somewhat proper appearance.


    This way, even in winter with wind and snow, she could walk home leaning against the railing without worrying about getting lost.


    As for these wooden railings, with plenty of wood avable, she could simply rece them when they deteriorated.


    The days with sunshine grew more frequent, a very good omen indicating that the volcanic ash aerosols in the stratosphere could no longer block the sunlight.


    Looking at the thermometer, Wen Qian thought that summer might gradually emerge.


    Spring had arrived, the grass was growing, and wildflowers were blooming as some wild animals began to venture out in search of food.


    Near her home, Wen Qian asionally encountered hedgehogs.


    Oddly enough, hedgehogs made strange sounds.


    If Wen Qian hadn''t grown up in the countryside and seen them before, she would have been startled.


    As a child, when walking through deeper mountains, there were many hedgehogs.


    On the paths, you could spot moving round "stones" on either side, which were actually hedgehogs curling up and ying dead when they heard people approaching.


    She rarely heard the sound of hedgehogs, but in the ce where she was now, there would asionally be this eerie cry.


    Although it had been many years since she had heard it, hearing it again would still make her feel annoyed.


    Because the cry of hedgehogs sounded like the crying of a child.


    Sometimes when it became too annoying, Wen Qian would use a bag to capture it and send it farther away.


    Compared to small animals like hedgehogs, she preferred rabbits and wild chickens that she could eat.


    But she didn''t know how to raise wild chickens, so she pinned her hopes on catching rabbits to raise.


    However, adult wild rabbits were not easy to domesticate, so it was more practical to just eat them.


    Wen Qian thought about finding a rabbit''s nest to catch baby rabbits instead.


    If she could sessfully raise the rabbits, she imagined her courtyard would be full of rabbits running around, which made her happy just thinking about it.


    Rabbits are so cute, she would definitely have to eat them.

 Chapter 138

    Chapter 138


    As spring arrived, Wen Qian searched for nests of wild waterfowl like ducks by the riverside.


    However, it was far from the bird paradise she had seen before, with a much smaller number of birds in this areapared to the protected reserve.


    Thus, Wen Qian pinned more hopes on rabbits. If warming continued, she might have more birds here.


    Perhaps she could even catch some young ones to raise.


    Shepleted all the busy spring tasks one by one, without overworking herself even if she couldn''t finish everything.


    At this time of year, Wen Qian felt there was no need to work overtime.


    While busy, she ate exceptionally well, sampling all the steamed, stir-fried, deep-fried, boiled, and soup dishes from the Space.


    Whether in the past or present, one should eat more during the farming busy season.


    Simrly, this area had an abundance of wild vegetables in spring. Although Wen Qian only prepared some for immediate consumption, she didn''t spend too much time storing them.


    This was because she had stored enough before, with plenty left in the Space.


    Loofah grew well in this area, climbing on nearby trees.


    Wen Qian was very fond of loofah, as loofah cloths were eco-friendly for washing dishes and scrubbing, so she wanted to grow more for stockpiling.


    When loofah cloths got dirty, she could simply discard and rece them, making it effortless.


    This year, summer truly arrived, which Wen Qian defined as when she could wear short sleeves.


    Although she only wore short sleeves for a while during midday in the courtyard.


    After all, it was still quite cold in the forest at night, so she had to wear warmer clothes in the mornings and evenings.


    At least, Wen Qian knew that in the south, people could wear short sleeves for an extended period.


    As the temperature rose, crop cultivation there should also improve.


    This also proved that her prediction of a winter after the volcanic eruption ten years ago was indeed urate.


    Wen Qian wondered if the disaster had finally passed.


    However, even if everything was over, the past life could never return.


    Wen Qian recalled the cities she had passed through, many of which might never recover.


    Wen Qian finally found summer, but summer here was very brief.


    The lush grass along the riverbanks made excellent raw material for weaving grass curtains.


    So Wen Qian wore weaving gloves, brought a sharpened sickle, and went to cut the grass.


    She brought the grass back and spread it along the walls to dry. Once dried, she would collect it and weave grass curtains whenever she had time.


    While cutting grass, she was very cautious, creating loud noises and striking the ground with a pole to scare away snakes.


    After cutting the grass, she began hunting.


    Following the river downstream led to a wider expanse where more wild birds resided.


    Wen Qian alternated between using a crossbow and a hunting rifle, but mostly relied on the bow and arrow.


    Before making a new batch of bullets, she didn''t use the rifle as often, though she had the raw materials to make bullets, just needing time.


    She wondered how hunters operated before the invention of hunting rifles.


    Fortunately, she could find such information in books.


    Wen Qian ventured a bit further, setting uprge traps, as the chances of sess were lower near her home. She wouldn''t venture deep into the forest in summer.


    She could only set traps farther away, inserting sharpened bamboo stakes in the pit bottoms and cing bait on top.


    Wen Qian set up threerge traps in the distance, asionally catching edible prey when checking them.


    These were once protected animals, and Wen Qian would sometimes sigh when harvesting them.


    But since humans could no longer be protected, why bother protecting animals? Of course, she had to eat what was edible.


    Although Wen Qian asionally had hunting sess, she was not a skilled hunter.


    Perhaps because her domesticated rabbits had given birth to more young, she preferred breeding over outdoor hunting.


    After all, therge carnivores were foraging in the jungle at this time.


    However, Wen Qian was not in a hurry. Bing apetent hunter took time and experience. In the meantime, focusing on nting and breeding was alsomendable.


    Wen Qian grew cabbage in the courtyard, nting one in each round hole of the brick pavement.


    They grew neatly, like soldiers after drill training.


    She also grew chili peppers, eggnts, and tomatoes, with orderly trellises, just needing pruning to shape them.


    Unfortunately, Wen Qian didn''t have that much time, so she just removed unnecessary branches.


    Knowing that tomato axiry buds could be nted to grow new nts, she put the removed buds into the Space.


    Perhaps next year, she wouldn''t need to start seedlings, directly using these cuttings instead.


    Thinking about axiry buds reminded her of the runners she had cut from strawberries, so she also tried using runners to cultivate strawberry seedlings.


    Wen Qian realized that besides soybeans and potatoes, she didn''t grow many staple crops but a wide variety of vegetables and fruits.


    It seemed she really enjoyed fruits.


    Fortunately, once fruit nts were established, they could produce yields annually.


    Staple crops had to be rented every year, but based on her stockpile, she didn''t need to rush and would diligently nt various crops next year.


    Moreover, her courtyard looked exceptionally neat and tidy, making her happy.


    Wen Qian also moved richer soil from the mountain to her fields and courtyard, hoping her crops would grow better.


    As for her rabbit enclosure, it was located behind the house.


    Wen Qian built half-meter-high rabbit burrows along the walls, surrounded by bricks and stones, with suitable iron mesh on top.


    This ensured the rabbits couldn''t escape above or below ground and could only stay inside.


    The burrows were lined with dry grass, and the brick floors were covered with fine sand for easy cleaning.


    For rabbit food, she cut grass outside or gave them vegetable leaves she didn''t like to eat.


    At this point, she hadn''t yet experienced rabbits'' rapid breeding rate, so preparing their food wasn''t a significant burden.


    Since she raised rabbits, Wen Qian paid extra attention to pest control.


    She bought insect repellents and pesticides, but no internal dewormers specifically for rabbits.


    Only external dewormers, as she nned to move the rabbits indoors near the kitchen stove during winter.


    The best spot would be near her home''s kitchen stove, so she couldn''t let them bring in fleas or other pests.


    Fortunately, she had stocked up on insecticides and pesticides earlier, as well as insect-repelling materials like mugwort.


    With the arrival of spring, various insects were also plentiful, and even some bees attempted to build their nests under the eaves of her house, but she nipped them in the bud early on.


    She burned mugwort in her room every day to drive away insects and hung a mosquito, mainly to keep mosquitoes at bay.


    By July of that year, Wen Qian surveyed her surroundings and could say that everything had taken proper shape.

 Chapter 139

    Chapter 139


    July marks the start of the rainy season, though the temperatures remain warm despite the rainfall.


    The river water begins to rise, prompting Wen Qian to gather up thes and fish traps she had set up.


    The courtyard, which is sloped, is paved with bricks and stones, and has multiple drainage holes, preventing water from umting despite the rain.


    With the rain limiting her ability to venture out, Wen Qian takes out some long, dry grass she had previously cut, intending to weave simple grass curtains.


    These wille in handy for early spring seedling cultivation or as floor mats to prevent slipping.


    With no need to go out, she has ample firewood at home.


    Last year, when she first arrived, she had chopped down quite a few trees from the mountains, leaving the main trunks while using up the smaller branches and twigs.


    Wen Qian stores all these materials in a designated room.


    Due to prior rainfall, she had also constructed a partial rain shelter over the enclosure surrounding the rabbit hutches.


    She had previously cleared the drainage ditches in the fields, ensuring smooth water flow, so there is no need to check on them now.


    With the increased rainfall, Wen Qian gives up on venturing out for hunting or other tasks.


    The traps she dug are now filled with water, and she will have to wait for the rain to stop.


    Wen Qian ces a water barrel previously used for collecting rainwater at her old home near the steps.


    This way, she can use the collected rainwater to water her vegetables.


    For breakfast, Wen Qian fries a few bird eggs in a pot. Chicken eggs have a shelf life of about a month.


    She still has some chicken eggs from a decade ago stored in her Space, though not many.


    The eggs she fried today were gathered from the riverbank this spring, and while their normal storage life would have caused them to spoil or dry out, keeping them in the Space preserves their freshness.


    After frying the eggs, she adds adle of water to the pot. Once the water boils, she adds noodles, and when the noodles are nearly cooked, she throws in a handful of leafy greens, along with salt and seasonings,pleting her breakfast.


    In another pot, she pours in previously soaked chunks of rabbit meat, saut¨¦ing them in oil before adding water and braising spices.


    She transfers the mixture to a jar and lets it simmer slowly on the stove, a process that could take an hour or two, ensuring it will be ready for lunch.


    With no signs of the rain letting up anytime soon, she begins weaving grass curtains after finishing breakfast.


    This process doesn''t require much careful attention, merely repeating the same motions.


    When bored, she stands up to sweep the room or wash and eat some small fruits.


    In general, she switches tasks whenever she gets tired of one.


    The aroma of braised meat permeates the air as Wen Qian continues weaving the grass curtains.


    Due to the dim lighting, she leaves the kitchen door open.


    The sound of rain outside and the monotonous task at hand make her feel sleepy.


    Nevertheless, she persists untilpleting a section before standing up to close the door and take a nap.


    Unsure of how much time has passed when she wakes up, she can''t gauge the time due to the rain.


    She gets up and stir-fries some leafy greens, then transfers the braised rabbit meat, which has cooled down without the stove''s heat, into another pot.


    She lights a fire, adds diced potatoes, and lets everything simmer together.


    She also takes out two warm buns from her Space.


    Thispletes her lunch, with leftover rabbit meat.


    The remaining meat will serve as dinner.


    The fragrant braised rabbit and potatoes are a delightfulbination of color, aroma, and vor, making for a satisfying meal when paired with a bowl of greens, leaving her quite full after lunch.


    Initially, Wen Qian had purchased a considerable amount of braising spices to create her own blend. However, after researching, she realized that certain spices like star anise and cinnamon cannot grow in the cold northern climate, so she uses them sparingly.


    On the other hand, she can still grow Sichuan peppercorns and chili peppers, ensuring she has ess to seasonings.


    Of the three meals each day, Wen Qian typically prepares one or two with care, leaving the third as a reheated leftover meal.


    Expecting her to meticulously prepare all three meals with perfect color, aroma, and vor would be too demanding.


    At times, she feelszy and might go several days without cooking a proper meal.


    In those situations, she relies on the pre-portioned "boxed meals" she had stored in her Space, grateful for the ability to indulge in suchziness.


    In the afternoon, as the rain eases slightly, Wen Qian forgoes weaving grass curtains and instead lights amp in her bedroom to work.


    Having eaten and napped, she can''t sleep anymore but doesn''t feel like weaving curtains, so she finds another task for herself.


    This task involves installing window screens using the mesh fabric she has on hand.


    She measures the dimensions of the doors and windows, cuts the fabric to size, hems the edges, and secures it to the window frames using tacks.


    This allows her to open the windows for venttion while keeping mosquitoes out.


    For the doors, she installs maic mosquito curtains that part as she passes through and seal shut behind her, providing convenience.


    From construction to instation, Wen Qian spends the entire afternoon on this project, taking breaks to brew a cup of fruit tea when tired.


    With the sewing machine already set up, she decides to make herself a few pairs of insole pads using shoe patterns, before putting the machine away.


    The afternoon passes this way, and feeling hungry, Wen Qian brings amp to the kitchen to prepare dinner.


    For dinner, she has potatoes, rabbit meat, and rice, taking the dishes and rice out of her Space while still hot, as they were stored in a hot state, allowing her to eat immediately.


    Whenever this happens, Wen Qian appreciates how convenient the Space is, saving her the effort of cooking each meal from scratch and enhancing her dining experience.


    After eating, as night falls, Wen Qian washes up in the bathroom and secures all the doors and windows in the house.


    Back in her bedroom, she closes the door, draws the curtains, and hangs themp from a hook in the center of the room, providing even illumination.


    From her Space, she retrieves two books: one a storybook, the other a reference book rted to this area.


    If she doesn''t feel sleepy, she reads the storybook; if she does, she reads the reference book, hoping to uncover new insights through repeated readings.


    With themp''s oil supply limited, Wen Qian isn''t worried about falling asleep and leaving it burning.


    And so ends another ordinary day, seemingly mundane at first nce.


    However, in the age ofputers and smartphones, most people''s leisure time involved simr activities.


    Back then, people were guided by fleeting pleasures and interests, forgetting that their lives were inherently repetitive.


    Now, without the inte, people still find ways to entertain themselves, differing only in form.


    In the past, opera troupes made people addicted;ter, television made people addicted; and after that,puters and phones made people addicted.


    Xiao Hong believed that there must also be other forms of things that make people addicted now.


    Wen Qian would find interesting things to do when she was bored, and she would even talk to herself, telling herself stories.


    She was even interested in writing stories for herself sometimes.


    After reading many stories, she would also want to write the stories she wanted to read herself, or rewrite the plots of stories she didn''t like.

 Chapter 140

    Chapter 140


    On a day in August, the early birds were eating insects, and spiders were diligently weaving webs in the rising morning sun.


    A small stream was flowing quietly, when suddenly a group of wild animals stepped into the water, looked around, and began drinking.


    Bang!


    The nearby birds flew away.


    A gunshot rang out as Wen Qian hit a deer, having good luck today.


    She had seen footprints and droppings in this area a few days ago, so shey in wait here today.


    It didn''t take long before the animals appeared, and she managed to hit one of them.


    Looking around, Wen Qian quickly dragged the prey away. After confirming its death, she smeared mud on the wound and ced it into the Space, immediately leaving.


    If she didn''t have the Space, she would still need to smear mud on the prey''s wound following normal procedures.


    This reduces blood loss and avoids the scent of blood attracting other wild animals.


    In nature, bleeding is never a good thing at any time.


    Simrly, injured animals are more likely to die.


    Wen Qian had weighed the meat earlier, which couldst her many days. She nned to eat some fresh and cure the rest into dried meat once the weather turned cold, which should be quite good.


    Without the Space, the higher temperatures during this season would cause many things to spoil easily.


    Wen Qian could only brine it with salt and smoke it into jerky that day.


    However, Wen Qian didn''t really like smoked meat, although she would make it, but not unless absolutely necessary. She wouldn''t make too much smoked meat.


    Since the hunt was sessful, Wen Qian went to the riverside after returning home.


    She used bamboo to make a frame and wove a to create a fish trap.


    She ced chicken guts or other bait inside and staked the rope to the shore, leaving it unattended.


    In the past, these devices were prohibited because they posed a great threat to the extinction of fish resources.


    But here, with only Wen Qian, regrly taking what she needed, there was no significant threat to the environment or resources.


    The trap caught quite a few fish. Wen Qian set up a cage by the river, putting the excess catch inside after keeping what she needed to eat.


    Whenever she wanted fresh fish, she could scoop them out with a.


    She cleaned a te-sized fish by the riverside and returned to the kitchen.


    Then, with a basin and scissors, she went to a nearby field and cut some pea shoots to bring back.


    After washing off the fuzz in the river, she brought them home and boiled them in a pot.


    She picked three small chili peppers from the yard, chopped them up, and made a dipping sauce.


    After tasting that the pea shoots were cooked, she scooped out the peas, putting the dipping sauce directly into the pot and mixing it.


    Next, she poured out the water from the pot, waited for it to get hot, added oil, and ced the cleaned fish into the pot to pan-fry both sides until golden brown. Then she added a little water and seasoned it.


    With both dishes done, Wen Qian brought the tes to the window and took out a box of rice from the Space to start eating.


    Before this year, she hadn''t eaten boiled pea shoots for a long time. Since the pea pods became plump, Wen Qian had eaten them several times and didn''t find them greasy.


    She didn''t finish both dishes, so she put them in the Space, nning to eat themter.


    For one person, unless she only made one dish, there would always be leftovers.


    After eating, Wen Qian went to check on the rabbits she had brought back, which had given birth to a litter of baby rabbits.


    They looked quite cute, and would probably taste good when grown.


    Previously, Wen Qian had cut a lot of grass and stored it in the Space. Now, she regrly fed the rabbits every morning, so she didn''t need to cut grass every day.


    After checking on the rabbits, Wen Qian went to the riverside to clean her prey, spending a lot of time skinning, dissecting, and disposing of the innards.


    What could be used as fish bait was stored in the Space, and anything useless was thrown into the river.


    Previously, Wen Qian had dug a rtivelyrge trough by the shore andid arge stone b at the bottom.


    Then sheid two more stone bs on top, forming a very wide three-level step, like themonundry and vegetable washing steps by the water in the past.


    These stones were originally lying by the water''s edge, very smooth and even, which caught Wen Qian''s eye, so she took them.


    The water level submerged the second step.


    This way, Wen Qian could doundry, fetch water, and wash vegetables here.


    On one side of the second step, a rtively trge stone protruded above the water''s surface.


    Wen Qian usually processed her food ingredients on this stone, which she could easily rinse clean after use.


    On both sides of the steps, she had alsoid bricks to form a wall, preventing her from getting muddy while using them.


    The steps extended upwards to the small path she had paved, with bricksid all the way to the shore, so she wouldn''t step in mud even in the rain.


    If possible, she had actually wanted to build a bridge, but then realized its usefulness would be too infrequent.


    And not building a bridge had its advantages, so she abandoned the idea.


    More than a bridge, she hoped the well could bepleted soon.


    Since digging the steps by the water had taken a lot of effort, she nned to take a break before digging the well.


    After cleaning the prey and storing it in the Space, Wen Qian carried a bucket and tools to collect wild fruits from the surroundings.


    The ones she had propagated would take at least a year or two before bearing fruit, so she went to the spots where she had collected fruitsst year, which she remembered.


    Carrying her hunting rifle, she foraged among the bushes, asionally using binocrs to scan the environment, ensuring it was safe before continuing her foraging.


    In the wild, ears and eyes must be exceptionally sharp; being dull could lead to trouble.


    Wen Qian could discern subtle movements, often quite urately, like the sound of a snake slithering nearby while walking on the path.


    Snakes, insects, rats, and ants were unavoidable in the wild, especially during this season.


    She deliberately applied insect repellent and snake deterrent, which were on her original stockpile list.


    As the day grewte, Wen Qian would return home and gently pour out the fruits she had collected with her tools.


    She removed debris, washed a small portion, and stored the rest in the Space.


    The washed fruits were ced on a wooden table. Wen Qian hung her soiled outdoor clothes on the wall, then went to check on the rabbits and gave them some grass.


    Afterwards, she locked the doors and windows, not nning to go out again.


    She took out the leftovers from lunch and finished eating, ending her daytime activities for the day.


    In the evening, Wen Qian carried a bowl of fruits into her bedroom, lit amp, and read books.


    Recently, she had been reading about how to dig wells, build walls, and mix mortar.


    After reading these practical books, she would read something else and write a diary, recording her recent activities.


    After all these were done, she went to wash up.


    The hot water heated in the morning was stored in the thermos bottle. After soaking her feet in the bedroom, she was about to go to sleep.


    The day ended like this.


    Wen Qian did not know in her sleep that her future neighbor was on the way northward.


    They were called neighbors, but in fact they did not live close by, yet this piece ofnd weed a new migrant.

 Chapter 141

    Chapter 141


    Wen Qian had read a lot of materials rted to well digging. Although the river was not far from home, she had the resources, so why not do it?


    She had to get the well done before the soybean harvest, after which she would have no more time.


    If the temperature dropped further and the ground froze and hardened, there would be no chance, and she would have to wait until next year.


    Before that, she had chosen a few spots by the riverside, where the grass grew more lush and the locations were higher than the river surface during floods, so even if the river flooded in the future, the well opening would not be submerged.


    Another consideration was that during the well digging process, she needed to find a spot that was easy to dig.


    If she ended up like when she dug traps before, unable to dig deep due to roots or rocks, that would be a disaster.


    Wen Qian had three backup spots, and she started digging at the one directly opposite her home, which was the shortest straight-line distance.


    This way, when she buried the pipester, she could dig a shorter distance, and she would need to dig deeper here to bury the pipes.


    This would lower the chances of it freezing over in winter.


    However, during the digging process, she encountered rocks, and they were rtively intact stones, not fragments. Neither the iron shovel nor the pickaxe worked.


    So Wen Qian chose a spot a distance upstream to continue digging.


    She didn''t dig too deep before it became very moist, and there were not many obstructions.


    Since there was space, even for one person, it wasn''t inconvenient. She could load the dug-out mud and stones into buckets and put them into her spatial dimension, so she didn''t have to climb up and down to pass them out.


    As she dug deeper, it turned into muddy water, which also needed to be cleared out.


    After measuring with a ruler that she had dug about six meters deep, Wen Qian didn''t dig any further.


    Since it was close to the river, the well didn''t need to be too deep.


    For the next half month, Wen Qian woulde and scoop out the water in the water barrel whenever she had time.


    At the same time, she started digging a trench from the well to bury pipes.


    She also had to choose a location for the water pressure well. If it was close to the house, then the drainage trench she would dig next would need to be longer.


    If it was far from the house, she would need to bury fewer pipes, but it would be less convenient for daily chores like washing.


    In the end, she decided to ce it near the surrounding wall close to the house, and she would build a shed there when she had time.


    The drainage trench by the water pressure well wouldn''t need to be too long.


    After that, she prepared glutinous rice, yellow sand, lime, and soil to construct the well.


    They said that a well wall built this way would be more solid and durable.


    After draining all the water, she started building the well wall from the bottom up. Since she worked slowly on her own, it took her a day toplete.


    Then sheid pipes towards the house. After digging the trench, she first ced the pipes into the trench.


    Every segment was weighted down with stones, and she would bury it after everything was done, leaving markers for future maintenance.


    She built a well tform around the well opening, and for the next while, she woulde every day.


    She would drain the well water until it was clear, then cover it with a stone b, leaving an air vent.


    The pipe extended above ground at the house, and Wen Qian wrapped the exposed part with grass to prevent aging.


    A pool would be built next to the water pressure well, where Wen Qian could conveniently wash vegetables and clothes in the future.


    As for the riverside steps, those would be used for washingrger items or cleaning fish and game.


    Wen Qian let the water flow in, and after applying pressure, the water soon came up.


    Burying the pipes with soil after that was easy, and building the water pool was straightforward as well.


    Wen Qian was very happy and satisfied that she had aplished another task.


    After that was the soybean harvest season.


    When the stems started turning yellow, it meant they could be harvested. Wen Qian spent a few days harvesting them, then put them into her spatial dimension, and brought them back to spread on the paved ground around her home.


    The paved ground was t and had no holes, so she could sun-dry the soybeans here before shelling them.


    The soybean stalks were also good for heating the kang bed furnace and could be used in their entirety.


    For her first time shelling soybeans, after separating most of them from the stalks, Wen Qian sun-dried the beans a few more times before storing them in jars and urns she brought from her old home.


    Legumes are prone to insect infestation, so Wen Qian kept them in her spatial dimension for safety.


    There were also many impurities in the harvested beans, and whether for eating or saving seeds, they would need to be carefully sorted.


    Of course, this sorting task was best scheduled for winter when she couldn''t go out and had no other tasks.


    As for the freshly shelled beans, besides making fermented soy beans, Wen Qian could also make tofu or cook soy milk.


    Only God knows why she bought so many small stone mills back then.


    Later on her travels, she discovered that some viges had particrlyrge stone mills, so Wen Qian brought back one of thoserge stone mills.


    She soaked the beans, ground them with the small stone mill, filtered the liquid through a fine cotton cloth, and then boiled the soy milk.


    When boiling soy milk, she had to be especially careful, as the first boil might be a false boil, so it needed to be boiled repeatedly before it was safe to drink, or she could get food poisoning.


    When she was young, Wen Qian could drink pure, original-tasting soy milk, sweetened with sugar, and it tasted great and was nutritious.


    But as she grew up, although the price of soy milk increased, it was no longer guaranteed to contain actual soybeans.


    Later on, not wanting to drink the soy milk she didn''t like, but alsocking the energy to soak beans and make soy milk with a soymilk maker every day.


    But now, with plenty of time, as long as she was interested, she could make it slowly herself.


    She no longer had to worry about wasting time and effort on something.


    Making fermented soy beans took a slightly longer process, but the boiled beans smelled fragrant.


    Boiled beans with white sugar could only be consumed in small amounts, or it wouldn''t be good for the stomach. The remaining boiled beans would be used for fermentation.


    Different regions had different methods for making fermented soy beans, some adding red chili sauce, and some sun-drying again after fermentation.


    Wen Qian made both versions.


    What she looked forward to the most was making tofu and thin tofu sheets, which were time-consuming,borious, and required a lot of firewood and simmering.


    But luckily, she could makerger batches at once, enough tost until the next spring.


    The main reason was that she had her spatial dimension, so she could store hot items like soy milk and tofu pudding, and take them out whenever she wanted to drink or eat them.


    She didn''t have to worry about expiration dates or quantities, which made her more enthusiastic about making these foods.


    After digging the well andying the pipes, followed by the soybean harvest.


    Although her daily tasks were portioned into set times and quantities, doing them consecutively meant physicalbor, and she was a little tired.


    So Wen Qian took a day off to rest at home, then went out to dig potatoes.


    The soil here was rtively fertile, and the potatoes grewrge and didn''t form a hard crust when dug up.


    While Wen Qian was digging for potatoes, things went quite smoothly. This year, she only nted these, so the harvest could only be called a harvest, not an abundant one.


    During this time, she didn''t forget to go out and collect various fruits, although she couldn''t go too far.


    One day, Wen Qian was threshing soybeans with a il, and the beans on the edge kept bouncing all over the ce. She had to sweep them up with a broom, not wasting a single one.


    Wen Qian wore a hat and mask as she threshed the soybeans one swing after another.


    Most of the soybeans had been threshed, but she still had to thresh the leftover straw again, trying to make sure not to miss too many beans.


    This time, she nted a lot of soybeans, so she was finally relieved a bit. In the past, she often sprouted soybeans in winter.


    Although they tasted good, she was worried about running out of seeds.


    Now that she had threshed so many, she could eat them however she wanted in the future.


    Just as Wen Qian was busily threshing soybeans at home, a family arrived nearby in the forest area.


    Originally, three families had set out together, but two of the families stopped midway, nning to settle there.


    One of the families found a suitable ce to grow rice paddies and nned to grow rice there.


    The other family stopped in a vige with five or six households, a vige where people had settled when they migrated northward long ago.


    This family were originally Southern People, and their old hometown used to have terraced fields. Now they nned to head even farther north.


    They felt that since the temperature would gradually rise back to its original state, it wouldn''t be bad to farm the fertile ck soil in the north, so they headed northward.


    During part of their journey, they took a train, saving them some time.


    The currency used for purchasing now was something simr to ration coupons, with a small amount of new currency as well. Often, they also traded goods for goods.


    They soon reached the north-south border, where the rail line ended, and they began traveling northward again.


    The rest of the journey took a much longer time, but they reached the north in the autumn.


    There were five people in their family: three adults and two children.


    The ce they chose to settle was near Wen Qian, although "near" was still quite far away.


    They settled downstream across the river from Wen Qian, in an area that didn''t intersect with either her hunting grounds or cronds.


    Of course, before choosing a ce, they had scouted around everywhere, so they had seen the smoke from afar along the river.


    Before this, they had camped out on the road at night, cutting down a few trees for shelter.


    The farther north they went, the fewer people there were. Originally, they thought there wouldn''t be anyone here.


    Now that they saw people nearby, they were naturally happy, as it meant the ce they had chosen wasn''t bad.


    And living not too close meant less friction, yet it wasn''t apletely deste ce, either.


    So one day, they came to the riverside, following the upstream until they reached the area across from Wen Qian''s home.


    Wen Qian was threshing straw with a il inside her courtyard wall. This was the second round of threshing; after the first round, she would use a pitchfork to rake up the straw and shake it again.


    Among the chaff on the ground, there were still some soybeans. Although not many, it was still food.


    It was amidst this noise that she heard what sounded like people''s voices.


    This kind of voice often urred in her hometown, where vigers would shout greetings to each other from the hilltops, basically by yelling.


    She thought she was hearing things at first, so she put down her tools and listened quietly. Realizing there really were people''s voices, she immediately went back into the house to grab her hunting rifle.


    Then she returned to the edge of the wall and pulled out a small wooden stick to observe outside.


    Wen Qian also took a telescope, butter found it wasn''t needed, because the people were right across the river.


    A man and a woman were cupping their hands around their mouths like a megaphone, shouting, "Anyone there?"


    Upon closer inspection, they didn''t have any weapons, but rather carried cloth bags, looking like they weren''t looking for trouble.


    But why would there be people nearby? In the past few days, she had been around her home, so she hadn''t gone far away and didn''t know there were new people here.


    Wen Qian went out through the side door and walked down. When the others saw hering, they quickly waved and smiled.


    "Hello, we''re just arrived from the south and n to settle down here."


    Wen Qian greeted them across the small river, "Hello."


    Perhaps they were apprehensive and worried that showing up unannounced would frighten her, so they called out from this distance.


    Of course, they didn''t think about crossing the river either, and this distance felt quite appropriate to Wen Qian as well.


    They then introduced themselves, saying they were from the south. Because the Husband was a hunter, they decided to live in the northern forest area.


    But who knew what the real situation was, since they had traveled such a long way.


    They pointed out to Wen Qian the location of their home, the ce where they had initially decided to build a house.


    That ce was currently smoking, clearly visible.


    Wen Qian saw that the distance was quite far, so she didn''t need to worry about them encroaching on her territory. She weed their arrival.


    After they exined their purpose foring, both sides spoke amicably, and the conversation ended with them leaving separately.


    However, when Wen Qian returned, she began to consider whether she should delineate the area with the new neighbors.


    Because right now, all the mountains and wilderness were unupied, with nows to govern them.


    If they didn''t establish boundaries early on, there would be disputester.


    But the neers were likely busy building their house, so they probably didn''t have time for delineating areas yet.


    She thought she would delineate the areas once they had time.


    Two dayster, when Wen Qian was foraging downstream, she ran into two children.


    When they saw Wen Qian, they happily greeted her as "Auntie."


    Wen Qian recalled that when they spoke, they mentioned having two children, so these must be the new neighbors'' kids.


    The two children were also foraging on the other side of the river, so they asked Auntie if she had any children at home to y with them.


    Wen Qian shook her head and said she lived alone.


    She didn''t think there was any problem telling them she lived by herself.


    If they really did have ill intentions, she felt she could handle it easily, getting rid of them all at once.


    Their parents had greeted Wen Qian earlier and told her in detail how many people were in their family.


    But Wen Qian didn''t inform them about her own family situation.


    They assumed Wen Qian had a family because her house lookedrge, with such high walls.


    But their two children who went out to y told them that the Auntie lived alone, with no children at home for them to y with.


    The adults were all surprised that a single person could live so capably by herself here.


    The Female Host suddenly developed two additional levels of respect for Wen Qian, thinking that someone who dared to live alone in such an environment must be quite capable.


    This entire family had reached the idea of living in harmony with the others, as they were not originally the type to provoke or oppress others.


    Before the volcanic event, they were originally from a small town in the northern region.


    Later, the Husband had brought the whole family southward, eventually settling near a small base.


    There, they could grow some food, and the Husband somehow acquired a hunting rifle and began hunting.


    Unfortunately, their areater became more densely popted with Hunters than prey, as more and more Southern People moved south.


    Some people were even mistaken for prey and killed by other Hunters while hunting.


    Therefore, as the climate gradually normalized, the Male Host decided to bring the whole family northward to the northern forest he had always longed for.


    The children had grown up and could withstand the journey northward, so the entire family unanimously set out north.


    Along the way, they were attracted by many environments, but ultimately decided to reach their final destination.


    Since there was no bridge, the two families could only converse across a river that separated them.


    Wen Qian had so far met four out of the five members of their family, with the remaining person being the children''s Grandma whom she had not yet seen.


    The new neighbors were busy and had to quickly build a house and prepare for the winter.

 Chapter 142

    Chapter 142


    In Wen Qian''s perspective, her new neighbors had moved with their whole family, which was lively but also very difficult living conditions.


    Raising two children here, especially with wintering, Wen Qian felt it was a huge challenge.


    In Wen Qian''s observation, there had always been the sound of trees falling in that direction.


    It seemed that they were preparing to build a wooden house, since wood was the most convenient building material in the forest area.


    Later, Wen Qian would asionally encounter the two children of the neighbors, and when chatting with them, they would mention the progress of their house.


    Since they needed to build the house before winter, and with so many people, they hoped to build a bigger house.


    In this regard, Wen Qian did not offer any help, as these people were still not that familiar to her.


    Wen Qian had many materials, but she would not readily take them out.


    In the previous society, there had always been the saying "an ounce of kindness, a pound of grudge," so Wen Qian dared not casually be kind-hearted, not to mention that it might arouse suspicion.


    The neighbors'' two children, the elder took the father''s surname of Jin, while the younger took the mother''s surname of Ning.


    This was their agreement before marriage, but they never expected that their two children would be born into such a difficult environment after the natural disaster.


    The beautiful future they had envisioned for their children had be a pipe dream.


    However, it was fortunate that their family and children were all safe and sound, so they did not expect anything else.


    In this era, not many children could survive, and even more adults simply dared not have children.


    If the conditions were poor from the start, it didn''t matter, as people used to say "more children, more blessings."


    But this generation of parents had experienced the good times.


    Now, if they had to let their children endure a more bitter life than their own childhood, they were unwilling.


    Furthermore, under poor conditions, adults preferred not to have children in order to preserve themselves.


    But the existence of these two children still brought liveliness to this forest area, as children''s energy is boundless.


    While the adults were busy building the house, these two children would go out to gather fruits and catch wild chickens and rabbits.


    These two children would also help gather firewood and fish in the nearby river.


    In short, when the adults were busy, they could help with many things.


    asionally, the male head of the household would also go hunting, as Wen Qian could hear gunshots, though not often, and it was unknown whether he had any harvest.


    Until one day, the two children came from across the river, Wen Qian saw them carrying something like a pig''s leg.


    Wen Qian had just finished collecting loofah and pumpkins from the forest farm, which could be used as a cleaning cloth anddle or jar after being dried, respectively.


    She was carrying arge bundle back, which seemed heavy but wasn''t, when she encountered the childrening to deliver something.


    The two children said it was the game their father had hunted, and they were bringing it as a neighborly greeting gift.


    Wen Qian weighed the item they brought and found it to be at least ten pounds, probably a wild boar leg.


    It was salted and semi-dried, probably having been cured and hung for a few days after being hunted here.


    The older boy kindly reminded her to hang it for a while longer so that it couldst even longer.


    Just as the children were about to leave after delivering the gift, Wen Qian called out to ask them how they hade over.


    The two boys said their father had cut down a few trees downstream at a narrow spot and built a wooden raft to cross over.


    Although the location of this makeshift bridge was quite far away, it would still be convenient to have a bridge in the future.


    Based on the children''s description, Wen Qian roughly knew where the bridge was, and it was difficult for them to carry this thing such a long distance.


    So Wen Qian asked them to wait at the door, and she went inside to put the things she was carrying into the courtyard.


    She went in and took out a small bamboo basket, and a cloth bag, filling it with some soybeans.


    She went to the storage room next door, took down a wind-dried rabbit, and put it in the bamboo basket, making the weight about the same as what they had brought.


    Wen Qian brought it out and asked the children if they could carry it, and the two children said they could.


    Wen Qian told them to remember to return the bamboo basket the next time they came over, and then let them go back.


    Since others had sent her a gift, she should also give a return gift.


    The two children only knew that their parents had asked them to deliver something, but did not expect to receive something in return.


    When they hesitated, Wen Qian told them it was a matter of reciprocity, so they took the items and went back reassured.


    Their parents probably expected a return gift, but did not expect to receive so many soybeans.


    They had brought quite a few things from the south to the north, but not much grain.


    Some of it was meant to be seeds, and now that so many soybeans had been given, aside from nting some next year, the rest could be used to sprout bean sprouts.


    Bean sprouts are a good vegetable dish for winter, andpared to the wild boar leg they had sent over, the other party''s weight was no less than theirs, and they had even returned two items.


    They also realized that this neighbor was someone who valued propriety.


    A few dayster, when Wen Qian returned from work, she found a bamboo basket left at her front door.


    Inside, there was a small handful of blueberries lined with leaves, and a bunch of wildflowers.


    It seemed that when the children returned the basket, they felt they should put something inside, so they did it that way.


    The new neighbors appeared harmless, and since they had moved with their whole family, they were also signaling a desire for peaceful coexistence.


    But Wen Qian had never crossed the bridge to see how their house was being built.


    The older child had previously told her that their family was busy building the house, so the adults were not avable.


    So Wen Qian figured she would wait until next year when they were done with their work.


    After all, she didn''t know what to talk about if she went over, and since they had only recently met, she felt it was not good to talk too much.


    In general, whether in the past or present, Wen Qian was very passive in external interactions.


    However, she did not dislike talking to the two children, who seemed well-mannered.


    When they saw her, they were polite, and when they delivered things or passed on messages, they were always very organized.


    At first, Wen Qian did not let them enter the main gate, and they obediently stood outside, though curious, they followed the rules.


    Later, when Wen Qian was cutting grass by the riverside, she met the elderly person she had not seen before.


    The old man was also cutting grass. When he saw her, he nodded in a friendly greeting, though with a hint of surprise, and asked if she was cutting grass to repair the roof.


    The framework of their house was already up - one wooden house and one mud-brick house. But the roofs of both were made of wood covered with thatch.


    They needed to get through theing winter first, and worry about the other details next year.


    Wen Qian said she was cutting grass to weave mats, but seeing the abundant thatch grass on both banks, she didn''t think she would bepeting with them, so she didn''t wander far.

 Chapter 143

    Chapter 143


    After some time, it was likely that their houses were initially settled.


    A married couple from the neighborhood came over once, and discussed with Wen Qian about dividing the boundaries after spring.


    They inquired if Wen Qian went hunting as well, and then proposed dividing the hunting areas in spring.


    They were concerned that two neighboring hunters encountering each other in the mountains might cause idental injury, and they asked Wen Qian to choose the area first.


    If the river was used as the boundary, they wouldn''t need to make a trip, but the issue was that they discovered Wen Qian''s traps set while hunting.


    Thus, they realized Wen Qian''s range of activity extended to the other side of the river.


    Finally, they agreed to take the intersection of the line connecting their two houses and the river as the starting point, and draw a perpendicr line.


    This way, both parties would possess areas on both sides of the river.


    Wen Qian thought this approximated her usual range, so she agreed.


    They arranged to divide the boundaries in spring.


    Using stones and wooden railings as markers, they would maintain this division from then on.


    After both parties consented, the matter was settled, awaiting a time when both were avable to draw the line.


    Wen Qian thought that after dividing the boundary with them, she could also mark out the territory she had previously covered.


    That way, even if more neighbors moved inter, there would be no disputes, as it would be firste, first served.


    As for the river, they stated it was for shared use, so the river and its banks on both sides were free for passage and utilization.


    Including the simple bridge they had built earlier, they said Wen Qian could cross it freely.


    Wen Qian also said that one of her traps on their side would belong to them now.


    The Male Host thought that pit was quiterge, and it would take considerable time and effort for him to dig it.


    Setting it up himself would still be able to catch prey, so he thanked her and epted it.


    They discussed this at the riverbank in front of Wen Qian''s door.


    Seeing the steps Wen Qian had set up, they praised her for being so meticulous and said they would also make such steps for convenience in washing by the river.


    As for Wen Qian''s home, only the two Little Children had been inside, when Wen Qianter allowed them in.


    When the Little Children returned home, they told their parents that this Aunt kept rabbits at home.


    The two Little Children thought about catching rabbits to raise themselves, but not this year.


    Winter wasing soon, and it wouldn''t be easy to raise rabbits then, so they looked forward to catching rabbits in spring.


    The parents also thought this was a good idea and promised to make rabbit hutches for the children the following year.


    The Little Children knew more about Wen Qian''s home than they did.


    They had also instructed the children not to touch things randomly when visiting others and to be polite.


    The Little Children also said that the cabbages in Aunt''s yard grew very well and neatly, with bricksid on the ground and cabbages growing in the gaps.


    They hade in autumn, and although they had nted vegetables by the river bank soon after, ording to the children''s description, it was unlikely to be as good as the vegetables at this Aunt''s home.


    However, it seemed this neighbor had no intention of inviting the couple inside, so they just stood outside to discuss everything.


    Wen Qian didn''t mind the othersing to her home, but they happened toe when she was washing things by the river.


    Besides, she only had one chair at home, so even if she could magically produce extra chairs, she couldn''t have brought them back at that moment.


    When the couple was about to leave after settling everything, Wen Qian asked if their house was already built.


    They said yes, so Wen Qian asked them to wait.


    She then went back home and soon returned with a basket of things.


    Wen Qian''s intention was to celebrate the couple''s settlement here. Normally, when people build a new house, they need to host guests for celebration, but clearly, Wen Qian was the only neighbor here.


    So she took out arge rabbit from the rabbit hutch, and cut a rtivelyrge cabbage with a knife.


    Thinking potatoes would go well with rabbit, she took a fewrge potatoes from her space.


    Her consideration was quite thoughtful. As they came closer, the couple looked puzzled seeing what Wen Qian was holding.


    Initially, they had considered inviting Wen Qian over to see their new house, but then thought she lived alone and might not want toe for a meal, though she might send something.


    However, their guess about Wen Qian''s attitude was not wrong. Although Wen Qian gave them things, she also said she would not go over.


    They felt that although introverted, Wen Qian understood social norms, but perhaps she really did not want toe and eat with everyone alone.


    So the couple smiled and said it was fine, they would invite her after they became more familiar or when they had a greater variety of produce to offer the following year.


    Wen Qian thought this was quite good - an exchange, but without getting too close.


    On their way back, the couple remarked that Wen Qian was a warm-hearted person despite her cold exterior.


    With such a neighbor, they could feel at ease letting their children visit.


    They thought the bricks for Wen Qian''spound wall must have been brought from the forest ranger station.


    The Male Host had previously seen the forest ranger station near Wen Qian''s home, but after seeing her vegetable garden fence, he didn''t go there anymore.


    Later, when hunting, he went in another direction and found another ranger station, with not many usable materials, but enough to build another room after moving here at the start of the year.


    After they left, Wen Qian began searching the mountains for suitable trees to fell.


    Since she needed to make railings, she chose rtively thin trees, so it didn''t seem too strenuous for her.


    The boundary railings didn''t need to be continuous, just two horizontal segments spaced apart at the locations they had chosen, basically like drawing a dotted line.


    When the couple returned home, they took out the things, and the Old Lady said Wen Qian had even included vegetables to go with the rabbit.


    The two Little Children, hearing these were gifts from Aunt for their new house, jumped up excitedly.


    However, upon learning that Aunt would not being for the meal, they felt a bit dejected, as they wanted to show Aunt their new home.


    But the Old Lady said this Aunt was rather introverted and might not feelfortableing alone for a meal.


    However, she was friendly, so they should be polite to Aunt in the future.


    The two Little Children nodded in agreement. The ce they had previously lived was nowhere as quiet as this.


    Little children are sensitive, they can sense whether adults have ill intentions towards them or not.


    This Aunt didn''t say much, but she was always very patient with them every time.


    The only neighbor sent gifts, but didn''t want toe and have dinner together with them, so they could only celebrate as a family.


    However, for the celebratory dinner, two of the four dishes and one soup were given by the neighbor, and they were grateful for that.


    They made a stew of potatoes and rabbit meat, as well as stir-fried greens with oil residue, with the things Wen Qian sent.


    The family sat around the dinner table, happily celebrating this new beginning.


    From now on, this would be their new home.


    The two families would gradually be familiar with each other as they get to know one another over time.


    However, they ultimately lived far apart, and both families had things to keep them busy, so most of the time they still wouldn''t run into each other.

 Chapter 144

    Chapter 144


    When Wen Qian woke up in the morning, she looked outside and found it was foggy with very low visibility.


    Due to the cessation of industrialization worldwide, there was no more smog, so after the fog cleared, it should be a sunny day.


    Not only was there no smog, but there was also no light pollution here, so after the volcanic ash and aerosols in the stratosphere were cleared, Wen Qian could gradually see many stars.


    With the help of relevant star charts, she could recognize various constetions.


    This was something she couldn''t see in the city back then, and only in her hometown in An Province before the volcanic eruption, and the sparsely popted Xia Province could she see the twinkling stars.


    After finishing breakfast, she took out the soaked beans from the day before and ced them in the hallway, then took out the stone mill, preparing to grind the beans.


    This time, she was going to make thousandfold tofu, and since it was meant for winter storage, she needed arger quantity.


    After grinding all the beans at once, she tried experimenting with how to add gypsum water to coagte the sofu.


    This crucial step was something she had never done herself before, but once she got it right, whether she made tofu, thousandfold tofu, or other bean products next was up to her.


    Fortunately, after a few tries, she finally found the method.


    On the second day, she started boiling arge pot for mass production.


    She had ready-made molds and pre-processed thin cotton cloth.


    At noon, the coagted sofu was scooped up, and she began making the first batch of tofu, wrapping it in cloth with a cover on top, and pressing it with a smooth,rge stone.


    After the water had dripped off sufficiently, the tofu was pressed.


    No wonder thousandfold tofu was a bit more expensive than regr tofu, as its production process was slightly moreplex, especially due to the cost of cloth.


    And at first, she didn''t have a good grasp of the right amount for making one sheet of thousandfold tofu, so the initial sheets were thicker, but it didn''t matter whether they were thick or thin since she could eat them all without wasting.


    Later on, she got the hang of the proportions, so her temporary tofu workshop produced good results.


    After the products were made, she stored them in her spatial storage, able to take them out whenever she wanted to eat them.


    In the meantime, she didn''t forget to save some sofu dregs, which tasted especially good with added sugar.


    As for the sofu dregs styles from other ces, whether savory or spicy, she wanted to try them all, so she saved quite a lot.


    With the weather turning colder, it was now a good time to make fermented tofu.


    Wen Qian cut the tofu into small pieces and ced them on a steaming tray, covering them with a lid to allow fermentation.


    After a few days, a grayish-white fuzzy substance would grow on top, indicating it was ready, though if something else grew, Wen Qian wouldn''t dare eat it.


    Actually, it was best to eat things fresh, but Wen Qian felt she should master some skills she hadn''t learned before.


    So she wanted to try everything, since she had been alone for such a long time.


    She always wanted to add more variety, as each new dish brought her happiness.


    It took three or four days to finish making tofu, and to be honest, her arms were sore from constantly grinding.


    Next, she would go collect thest batch of firewood, hopefully enough to pile up as much as possible in her courtyard.


    Before the first frost hit, Wen Qian stored all the neatly arranged cabbages from her yard in her spatial storage.


    In the north, whether radishes or cabbages, they were usually stored in cers, but digging a cer was not on her agenda for this year, so she nned to do it slowly next year herself.


    She had also nned to build an oven outside her house door, but that didn''t happen either, so it was pushed to next year as well.


    With all the crops from the field stored away, Wen Qian cut down some trees and stored them in her spatial storage, then brought them back home and piled them in the yard, to be slowly sawed and choppedter.


    The fermented tofu she had made earlier was ready, with the grayish-white mold looking very good. She added a bit of rice wine, chili powder, and salt, then put it in a jar with some oil poured on top.


    Of course, she had other ways of eating it, such as pouring hot oil, chili, and salt over it, then steaming it in a pot.


    The pickled vegetables she had made initially turned out very well, and she still took some out from time to time to whet her appetite.


    Frost started to hit outside, and with each frost, the surrounding trees changed color a bit more.


    The colors of autumn were more vibrant than those of spring and summer.


    Before she knew it, the surrounding deciduous forests were all bare, and winter had arrived.


    The winters here were rather long, so Wen Qian only nned to keep three rabbits over the winter, killing the rest for meat.


    Since there were many rabbits, she saved the rabbit heads specifically to make braised rabbit heads.


    And this time, she also removed and saved the rabbit skins to try making leather.


    In the future, she nned to make leather from other game animals as well, so she wanted to practice with the rabbit skins first.


    As for the other three rabbits, she housed them in the kitchen, near the back wall close to the heated kang bed area, making a cage for them.


    If they could survive the winter, great, if not, then so be it. She could catch young rabbits again next year.


    After all, rabbits reproduced quickly, so she didn''t need to keep so many for the winter, which would require preparing arge amount of fodder as well.


    This year''s harvest was plentiful, with many smoked and cured meats hanging in the storage room.


    Since she had spatial storage, for meats she didn''t like smoked, she would just clean and store the game she caught in her spatial storage when the weather was hot.


    Then, when it got cold, she would take them out to make cured meats.


    She would weigh the meat, then measure out the corresponding amount of salt, rub the salt on, and ce it in arge barrel to cure.


    After that, she would turn it over a few times, and once it was adequately seasoned, take it out and string it up on bamboo poles.


    After sun-drying it in the courtyard for a few days, it would be ready.


    Winter came early here, so she had to sun-dry the meats early, otherwise, if winter arrived and they froze, they would be frozen meat instead of cured meat.


    While the meats were sun-drying, she would kill therge fish she had caught by the river and string them up with ropes.


    She would then bring them home, salt-cure them, andter hang them to make cured fish.


    When the fish had just been hung to dry, she could pan-fry them with sticky rice cakes, which had a different texture from the fully cured fish that had been hung for a long time and became clusters.


    If she wanted to eat them fresh, it was even easier - she just kept them in her spatial storage and took them out whenever she wanted to cook them, including any pre-cooked dishes.


    Once the meats had dried to a certain extent, she would hang them all in the storage room.


    Looking at therge and small chunks of meat hanging overhead, Wen Qian felt an immense sense of security.


    After Wen Qian had stored all the food and firewood in her home, she could still hear gunshots in the distance.


    It seemed her neighbors were still hunting, but that was understandable. Their arrival here meant they hadn''t been growing crops.


    With the additional time spent building houses, they would need to prepare more stored meat to get through the winter.


    Wen Qian looked towards her distant neighbors, rarely even seeing children, so they must have been busy preparing for winter too.


    Her neighbors were indeed busy preparing for winter, with adults and children alike foraging for food.


    They had dug a cer, so the cabbages, radishes, and other vegetables they had nted earlier were stored there. But the main crops that would help them survive the winter were cabbages and radishes, which were saved forst.


    The grandmother was pickling sour cabbage, while the husband and wife were out hunting.


    The olddy regrly took the two children to check the traps they had set in the vicinity.


    They had smoked the prey they had caught earlier into cured meat, and were now hanging salted meat.


    The two families were engaged in simr activities.


    Since there were many leftover materials from house construction that could be used as firewood, coupled with the two children gathering sticks here and there, they had already stacked two fairlyrge piles of firewood near their home. At the very least, they didn''t have to worry about running out of firewood for the winter.

 Chapter 145

    Chapter 145


    The husband taught his wife to hunt here, and their harvest was not bad.


    After a summer, the vegetation here grew well, so there were also many animals breeding more here.


    They hunted quite a few prey this fall, and this time they went out and shot two slightlyrger wild animals.


    This could basically cover the family''s food for this winter.


    The two of them were outside, dragging the prey and quickly rushing home.


    The bloody smell would also attract other animals, such as tigers, bears, and wolves.


    Before this, they had only encountered a bear once, and had seen traces of bears, but it was from a distance, and they had not reached a life-threatening level.


    Moreover, it was now entering the threshold of winter, and the bears had eaten a lot of things this fall to store fat in order to get through this winter.


    Fortunately, they did not encounter anything on their way back home. When they arrived home, the two children saw their parents bringing back prey and cheered, running up to help.


    They were now proficient at handling prey, knowing where to skin, where to gut. Their skill in separating meat and bones was even more skilled than Wen Qian''s.


    But the husband and wife only came back to add some food and water, and after resting for one night with the prey, they went out again on the second day.


    From south to north, what they carried the most was not food, but guns and bullets.


    So until now, they were not worried about not having enough ammunition.


    Of course, the more prey the better. Even in winter, they would still go out to set traps for hunting, as long as the weather was not too bad.


    Even if they could not run too far, they would also try around their home.


    Otherwise, it was impossible to just lie at home and do nothing all winter.


    Before this, they had also asked Wen Qian how long the winter was here, but Wen Qian only had one winter''s record.


    Therefore, they had to prepare more, in case spring camete, and they could not catch any prey, then they would have nothing to eat.


    This situation was possible, so no matter who it was, they or Wen Qian, they were all trying to store enough things.


    Wen Qian had the Space, and also had enough prey and food, but she heard the gunshots from her neighbors, so she went out hunting too instead of being idle.


    However, for two consecutive days, she only brought back small prey, and norge ones, but she was not discouraged.


    When the first light snow fell, she encountered a few hares. Although the name usually has the word "silly" in front, Wen Qian felt they were quite smart.


    In the end, she spent a long time catching one, and happily brought it home.


    When light snow fell, she could still go out, but when the snow got heavier, she only nned to stay at home.


    Even if the snow got deeperter, at most she would just walk around near her home, and spend the rest of the time indoors for the winter.


    The kang bed heater and fire wall had been lit early, and Wen Qian burned the stove especially vigorously that day, making the whole house exceptionally warm.


    Then in the kitchen, she boiled water and brought the bathtub to the bedroom, and after soaking, she came out to scrub mud, using the previously ttened loofah.


    The dried gourds she had picked earlier were also sawed in half, hollowed out inside, polished smooth, and some were ced in the water barrel for scooping water, while others were ced in the grain barrel.


    Wen Qian also made a rtively small gourd, half of which was made into a small water scoop to pour water on herself while bathing, which was quite useful.


    The soap, toothpaste, and toothbrushes she had stored earlier were sufficient, so she did not need to make her own.


    Moreover, her hygiene condition had also been quite good. It was just that in winter, she would not bathe every day, at most just wipe herself down.


    The weather was too cold, and the conditions were not good enough for bathing every day, but scrubbing mud here was quite suitable.


    After washing from head to toe, Wen Qian used a dry hair towel to wrap her hair, staying on the kang bed to warm up before dressing, as this was the only way for her to avoid catching a cold.


    Only when everything waspletely dry would she slowly tidy up her various belongings.


    After it snowed, she did not go out much, and basically did not encounter her neighbors.


    And her neighbors were fishing, whether the river was frozen or not.


    The adults did the fishing, while the children did the angling.


    As long as the wind and snow were not heavy, they would oftene to the riverside to fish.


    Their fishing frequency was much higher than Wen Qian''s. Although they had enough food, whether it was children or adults, they could not stand just staying at home doing nothing.


    Of course, this was also rted to the fact that they had nothing to do. The children had no homework, no toys.


    The adults did have things to do, but not much.


    Fetching water, chopping firewood, cooking, and making clothes - the three adults shared these tasks evenly.


    Plus, they could not go out hunting, so fishing was more of a way to rx and be active.


    The children would stay outside for a while, then return home to warm up by the fire, and then go out again.


    At first, they did not mind the children going out, but as the weather got colder and colder, they could not do it anymore, and the whole family was stuck at home.


    So they also started weaving grass curtains, and the olddy even taught the two children how to weave grass shoes.


    Unlike them, Wen Qian had books and paper, as well as a sewing machine to make clothes.


    She even had various food ingredients, and could make whatever dish she wanted.


    There were many ways to pass the time, so she did not feel lonely or bored.


    She took the rabbit skins she had stored in the Space andid them on stones, slowly scraping off the blood and flesh from the skins with a small scraper, needing to clean off all these fine things.


    Currently, what she needed to do was this, as forter soaking in alkali saline solution, the concentrations.


    Other processes of tanning rabbit skins required temperatures that were not suitable now, so she could only wait until after winter.


    However, just processing the rabbit skins took a long time. After that, she began weaving grass door curtains, specifically the curtain for the kitchen door.


    After finishing this, she also tried weaving grass shoes.


    Whether processing rabbit skins, weaving door curtains, or grass shoes, she followed the steps in the books, one by one.


    After finishing all these, she eagerly tried other crafts.


    For example, the vines and thorny branches she had happened to obtain, she had thought of weaving something with them when collecting them initially, but only started in this winter.


    Following detailed steps, she wove fruit baskets and wicker baskets, as these were essential tools in daily life. Wen Qian did not mind having to do it multiple times, for despite the errors and attempts, she eventually seeded in making them.


    This was also a craft, and perhaps in the future, these items could be used for barter.


    Over the course of this year, Wen Qian became more familiar with this ce, and she became more certain that she would settle down here.


    The woven fruit baskets hung from the beam, filled with the fruits they would eat over the next few days, their fragrance bringing her a sense of peace.

 Chapter 146

    Chapter 146


    The weather turned cold, with snow falling heavily outside.


    Wen Qian felt like having hotpot, so she started preparing the ingredients for lunch at the appropriate time.


    She took out a block of tofu that she had made previously, cut it into small pieces, and ced them outside the window to freeze into frozen tofu.


    Then, she cooked a small hotpot for herself in the kitchen using a hotpot seasoning packet, and froze the most tender meats from her previous hunts outside. When it was time to eat, she could slice them into thin pieces and add them to the hotpot.


    The meatballs and fishballs she had prepared earlier were also arranged.


    She also prepared other side dishes, such as spinach, bok choy hearts, potato slices, and bean sprouts.


    With abination of meat and vegetable dishes, having a hotpot in the winter was a cozy experience.


    However, Wen Qian couldn''t handle too much spice, so she added less of the hotpot seasoning packet.


    While others might use half a packet for one hotpot, she might only use a quarter, which also saved on the seasoning.


    Of course, hotpot cannot beplete without dipping sauces, which she also made herself from her collection of various condiments.


    These condiments were limited, so she nned to grow some spices that could be cultivated in this region in the future.


    In the past, to save money, she often made hotpot at home. After the volcanic winter ended, she continued doing so, even though she now lived alone.


    The only difference was that instead of using a small electric pot like before, she now used firewood and charcoal.


    Estimating that it was around noon, she started cooking and eating the hotpot.


    After the volcanic winter, opportunities to eat junk food became increasingly rare, even if it had been years since the food expired.


    If Wen Qian hadn''t bought some cheap junk food in the Space back then, her diet now would probably be very healthy.


    Even with the junk food, she cherished it and still had some left.


    Aside from this, her daily routine had been regr for many years, and her other food and drink were all green and healthy, much better than the various additives she used to consume.


    Sometimes, when she saw the two children, she actually wanted to give them a lollipop or two, but she was afraid that others would ask where they came from, so she had to stop.


    After all, no matter the color or aroma, they were the additives from the food of the past, which couldn''t be replicated now.


    Edible fragrances and edible colorants were almost extinct nowadays.


    She lived here to avoid such urrences, so she only gave them things that were avable in the vicinity.


    Moreover, the other party had sent gifts first, and Wen Qian''s gifts were in return ¨C she wasn''t just giving without receiving.


    The parents of the other party had taught their children well; they never took things for granted and always expressed gratitude and reciprocated, which Wen Qian appreciated in well-mannered children.


    Generally, people didn''t dislike children, but they disliked unruly children and their parents behind them.


    But things were different now. Aside from somerger settlements that prohibited fighting and killing within the city, it was hard to say what happened in other ces.


    Bullying the weak with strength and settling disputes with fists were not umon.


    Fighting and killing lurked in every corner. After transitioning from that stable society to the present, whose hands were not stained with blood?


    This was not something that could be avoided by loving peace and reasoning. Most people, without the constraints ofw, would choose to resolve conflicts through force.


    Fortunately, although Wen Qian had considered such situations, she had left the crowds early on, effectively avoiding such incidents.


    Of course, except for the asional bad person stumbling upon her guns.


    Since they were children, Wen Qian had also heard many stories from them about their experiencesing from the south.


    Good and bad, the stories seemed more realistic and chillinging from children''s mouths, as they couldn''t add much emotion or bias.


    In fact, the children had seen and heard much more than Wen Qian had experienced.


    After finishing the hotpot, Wen Qian opened the kitchen door, letting in a gust of cold air that quickly dispersed the warmth and aroma of the hotpot inside.


    Wen Qian then went into the bedroom, opened the door that had been kept closed, and then closed it again, trapping the warmth inside.


    Generally, after eating hotpot, it was a day for washing hair and bathing, otherwise the strong aroma of the hotpot would linger for a long time.


    On the table, her notebook listed the things she nned to do in the second year, such as going out to find fruit trees to transnt near her home and building an oven in the courtyard.


    Regarding what grains to nt when spring came, this time it wouldn''t just be soybeans, but other staple foods as well.


    In addition to the regr radishes and cabbages she needed to nt, she also needed to try growing some leafy greens she hadn''t grown before.


    And she had to n the quantities of seeds in advance, as well as the order of seedling cultivation, and so on.


    Wen Qian had even thought about building a few small houses and dividing their functions more specifically, as well as the remote hunting cabin she had put off for a year.


    If she didn''t write it down in her notebook, she wouldn''t be able to think of it at a nce or prioritize the tasks. But once written down, everything became clear, and she realized she still had so many things left to do.


    Although she asionally allowed herself a day or two of leisure, most of the time, aside from her daily chores, she waspleting some key projects, so she wasn''t actually that idle.


    For non-urgent tasks, she would do them whenever she had spare time, but for the important ones, she had to set a definite time and start immediately, such as nting seasons.


    The oven could be built in seasons other than winter, but nting crops could only be done in spring.


    The winter here was not suitable for crops to grow, based on the current temperatures.


    Previously, on her way here, she had seen apple trees and persimmon trees that were cultivated in this area. Now, she thought that if she had the time in the future, it would be good to dig them up and transnt them around her own home.


    However, if she dug them up with the roots, she wouldn''t be able to fit them in the Space, so she would have to see if she could transport some smaller trees back on her tricycle.


    She really wanted to nt all kinds of edible things around her home.


    In the past, she had only nted two grapevines at her front door and a few more along the riverbank, and they had all survived.


    Now, thinking about it, since she had extra cuttings for propagation, why didn''t she nt some in the nearby and distant mountains?


    She just wouldn''t apply too much fertilizer manually; if they could grow freely, she would just go and harvest the fruitster.


    With this idea in mind, she eventually expanded her intended nting range to the entire hunting area.


    She nned to bring one or two nts with her whenever she went out, and whenever she traveled farther, she would find a suitable spot to nt them, leaving the rest to nature''s will.


    Would there be a possibility that after several years, she could find food all over her hunting grounds?


    This thought also seemed appealing, so she added her little idea to her notebook.


    Of course, apart from these practical things, there were also some ornamental things.


    For instance, when she initially purchased vegetable seeds, she also randomly bought a batch of flower and grass seeds.


    There were too many things to do during the previous spring, so those unnecessary things were not done.


    After this winter passes, she ns to scatter a circle of flower seeds outside the wall. If the seeds she bought were not fake,


    Besides being self-sufficient in material terms, she felt that cultivating flowers and singing songs were behaviors that could maintain her mental well-being.


    In Wen Qian''s Space, there were also many empty pots that she had collected from various ces. The pots were quiterge.


    When she initially took them away, she had also thought about growing flowers, grass, and fruits in the future.


    Now she felt that perennials would be better nted in the ground, while annuals would be more suitable for pots.


    It''s still winter now, but she has already begun to imagine what her home would look like with flowers in bloom.

 Chapter 147

    Chapter 147


    On a winter morning, Wen Qian''s neighbor was pulling out a handful of bean sprouts from a jar.


    The jar was ced near the fire, slightly warm, and the bean sprouts inside, deprived of light, had grown plump and white.


    Mixed with some dried chili peppers and stir-fried, they tasted incredibly delicious. These beans were the ones Wen Qian had given them, and they had saved them until now.


    After finishing their meal, they went to the small river, where the thick ice had formed and they could walk on it.


    While the adults were drilling holes and pullings, the children crossed the river and went to the shore.


    These days, they didn''t have many opportunities to go out, and they had no homework or distractions, so they told the adults they wanted to go and chat with Aunt for a bit.


    The river surface had frozen, there was no snow, and it was a sunny day.


    The children walked along the shore and discovered Wen Qian fishing in the middle of the river by the door.


    Wen Qian had drilled a hole in the ice andid a small wooden stick horizontally across the hole, with a fishing line attached in the middle. She was afraid her hands would get cold, so sheid the stick across the hole.


    asionally, she would pull the wooden stick to see if there were any fish. She seemed quite pleased when she saw theming.


    The children ran over to Wen Qian and saw that she had already caught two fish, lying on the snow and not yet frozen solid, so they must have been caught not long ago.


    The older child told Aunt that the bean sprouts they had for breakfast that morning were grown from the beans she had given them, and thanked her again.


    The younger children also had fishing lines, which they kept in a rusty little iron box in their pockets.


    So Wen Qian invited the children to fish at that spot.


    Since they had nothing else to do, they agreed. There was only one hole, so they set up several lines and fished while chatting.


    Perhaps it was because Wen Qian used better bait, but soon every one of them caught fish. However, the children felt a bit awkward about it.


    They felt that if they didn''t catch any fish, Aunt would be able to get more for herself.


    Wen Qian told them to take the fish home and bring their own bait next time they came to fish, and then they could give her some in return.


    In her opinion, fishing here was just a leisurely pastime, and it didn''t matter whether she caught fish or not.


    But for them, fishing was really a means to survive the winter, as there were so many mouths to feed in their family, and it was better to have more food.


    She took out the rope she had made from dry grass and helped them string the fish so they could easily carry them home.


    The two children thanked her and happily headed home. Wen Qian reminded them not to walk on the ice but to return along the shore as they hade.


    The obedient children went to the shore, being extra careful not to slip and get hurt, as there was no medicine avable.


    The adults on the other side had finished pulling in theirs and went home. They knew the children had gone to visit their neighbor and had warned them not to take anything from others without permission.


    But the two little children came running back excitedly, carrying several big fish in their hands.


    Their Dad''s face darkened: "Are you going door-to-door begging already? Didn''t I tell you not to take other people''s things!"


    In these times, everyone had to fend for themselves. If they got used to asking for things, they would grow up to be good-for-nothing ruffians.


    Fortunately, the children ryed Wen Qian''s words and mentioned that Aunt had also caught fish, so their parents'' expressions eased a bit.


    When Old Granny heard about it, she didn''t scold them either. Instead, she praised them for being good at fishing and told her grandchildren to let her know next time they were going to fish with Aunt, so she could prepare better bait for them.


    The two children finally nodded in agreement.


    Afterward, they took one of the fish they had caught and made it for lunch, while the rest were buried in a snow pile beside the house to freeze.


    But after that, the wind and snow grew much heavier, and the family stayed indoors except for going out regrly to collect theirs.


    Wen Qian''s family was probably doing the same, so the children''s n to go fishing again was put on hold, and they decided to wait until after the new year when the weather improved.


    Meanwhile, Wen Qian was roasting fish at home. She cleaned the frozen fish with snow and removed the innards with a knife.


    She brought them inside and roasted them over the kang, also slow-roasting an egg beside it.


    She turned the fish over from time to time, and when they looked ready, she took them out and pulled off the scales from the tail upwards.


    She then ced the fish on a te and sprinkled them with a seasoned sauce, ready to eat.


    The time from catching the fish to eating them was short, so they were incredibly fresh and tender.


    After lunch, she drank milk tea through a reed straw.


    Yes, the cheap nt-based milk tea powder she had bought a while ago still had quite a bit left, so she would make a cup asionally to enjoy.


    Reed stalks made very convenient straws. She had never thought of making paper from reeds, but reed flowers could be used to make pillows, which she was currently trying to do.


    Apart from herself, there were only a few rabbits in her home, all still alive and well. Wen Qian fed them every day.


    It wasn''t that she had a good memory, but rather that the rabbits were kept right by the kang hole, so whenever she lit the kang, she would see them and remember to feed them.


    Otherwise, knowing her usual forgetfulness, the rabbits would probably have starved to death long ago.


    The rabbits were mainly fed dry grass and the fresh grass she had stored in her space.


    Previously, her impression of rabbits was that they ate carrots, but sheter learned that wasn''t their main food - they preferred all sorts of grasses.


    The new year came quickly, and Wen Qian put up spring couplets on the kitchen door.


    Since there was a grass curtain outside, she wasn''t worried about them being blown away by the wind. She also put a "fu" character on the bedroom door.


    Even now, she hadn''t forgotten some new year traditions. On new year''s eve, Wen Qian burned paper offerings in the courtyard, facing the direction of her old home, for her Grandpa and Grandma.


    It was just to let them know she was doing well and not to worry about her.


    Many elderly people had died in the catastrophe back then. Her Grandpa and Grandma had passed away before that, which was a blessing in a way.


    When they died, many peoplemented that the elderly couple had suffered their whole lives but didn''t get to enjoy the good times for very long before passing away.


    On this cold winter day, Wen Qian watched the paper offerings gradually turn to ashes in front of her, recalling those who had spoken at her Grandparents'' funerals.


    They probably never imagined that the so-called good times would end so quickly and never return.

 Chapter 148

    Chapter 148


    After the new year, they experienced a few snows, but then there was no heavy snow, and she could move around.


    Therefore, the neighbor on the other side of the river started to discuss the boundaries with Wen Qian.


    ording to their previous agreement, the two families would walk around the area together, make markings, and then install fences together.


    However, it was inconvenient for Wen Qian to join them, as they would need to chop down trees and install fences on-site, which would not allow her to use the materials she had prepared.


    So they agreed to each take care of half the area, and afterpleting their parts, they would check together and make adjustments if needed.


    The neighbor thought for a moment and agreed since their family wasrger and believed they could work faster than Wen Qian alone.


    They said if Wen Qian couldn''tplete her part, they would help.


    With stones marking the boundaries, Wen Qian decided to prepare the fence materials for her area at home first.


    That way, she could just install the fences directly on the ground, which would be much faster than gathering materials on-site.


    However, she didn''t quickly install the fences along the boundary with her neighbor. Instead, she did a bit each day, spending the rest of her time on the boundaries not adjacent to her neighbor.


    It was still quite cold, so the bears should still be hibernating. She needed to install her fences before the weather warmed up.


    After spring arrived, she wouldn''t have time for such tasks, as cultivating and tending to the crops would require a lot of effort.


    No one knew if there would be more neighbors in the future, so she secured the boundaries without neighbors first.


    When the neighbors finished their part and saw Wen Qian''s progress, they remarked on how quickly she worked.


    They didn''t know that in the same time, Wen Qian had also marked the other areas.


    Wen Qian mentioned to her neighbors that it was best to fence off their own areas first, in case more people arrived.


    The neighbors agreed to leave markings on the stones as well.


    As the weather warmed, she felt there would only be more peopleing, not fewer.


    Although not all mighte to hunt, some could being to cultivate rice.


    After getting to know each other better, Wen Qian asked if they wanted to go dig up fruit trees together.


    Spring and autumn were the best times for transnting trees, but Wen Qian didn''t want to wait until autumn, so she nned to do it in early spring.


    Since there were many trees, Wen Qian didn''t mind sharing the location with them, as both families could benefit, especially since the neighbors had children.


    The neighbors happily agreed, as having fruit trees around their home would be better, especially with children.


    So the couple went with Wen Qian, mainly to familiarize themselves with the area so they could go alone in the future if needed.


    These fruit trees were ones Wen Qian had discovered along the road, likely from abandoned orchards nted by previous inhabitants.


    The couple''s northern route differed from Wen Qian''s eastern route, but they had also noted a few locations and shared them with her.


    The two families exchanged information, and Wen Qian thought she could also visit the locations mentioned by her neighbors.


    To transnt the fruit trees, they needed to dig up some soil and roots to increase the survival rate.


    Wen Qian loaded two trees onto her three-wheeled vehicle: an apple tree and a persimmon tree.


    Since they were from an orchard, the trees weren''t tall.


    After years of neglect and surviving the harsh winters, the main trunks had thickened considerably.


    Their shorter height would make it easier for her to harvest and cultivate them.


    The couple brought a cart and dug up four trees, including one persimmon tree.


    The persimmons in this area were generally crisp persimmons, yellow and hard but delicious, and could be dried into persimmon cakes.


    The persimmon trees Wen Qian had seen in her hometown of An Province werepletely different from these, as they were the red persimmon variety.


    The red persimmons had to be left to soften and turn red before they could be eaten, otherwise the yellow ones would be astringent and numb the mouth. And they couldn''t make persimmon cakes from those.


    Initially, Wen Qian didn''t know about the different varieties and believed the saying "pick persimmons when soft" applied to all persimmons until she learned about crisp persimmons in university.


    After returning home, the two families nted the trees they had brought back near their homes.


    Wen Qian chose two sunny spots behind her house to nt her trees, looking forward to them sprouting leaves in the spring.


    She went back a few more times, bringing less soil each time, and transnted around 15 trees on the back mountain.


    Most of the fruit trees took root and sprouted leaves as the temperature rose.


    The neighbors had more people, soter they brought their grandma and children along.


    They nted ten trees around their home, expecting to have plenty of fruit in the future.


    Wen Qian nted more trees since she didn''t need to worry about storage issues, while the neighbors couldn''t store too much without having means to trade or exchange the excess.


    Afterpleting this task, they began working in the fields.


    As Wen Qian tilled the soil, she realized without machinery or cattle, the time required would be longer.


    While sowing wheat, looking at the individual grains, she suddenly wondered if she could make wheat-rted foods besides flour, like sugar.


    After sprouting, the wheat could be used to make malt sugar, a vor Wen Qian enjoyed and had purchased jarred or solid forms of online before.


    In her hometown, malt sugar was called "ding ding" sugar, named after the sound made by sellers striking iron blocks to attract customers. The adults would bring the sugar home, coat it with flour, and when children wanted some, they would knock off a piece. As long as the weather wasn''t hot, the sugar remained hard.


    So Wen Qian soaked some wheat at home, nning to make malt sugar after it sprouted.


    She could find the process in books and remembered it, so she could only make it herself now.


    While Wen Qian was sowing seeds in her fields, the neighbor''s child came over to ask a question.


    The adults had sent the child to ask if they could trade game for some wheat or other grains.


    Because after the spring sowing, the harvest was an autumn affair, and during this time period, they didn''t have too much grain food to eat.


    During this time, they could eat the vegetables they nted, and they could also go hunting, so they had enough meat.


    The only thing they didn''t have enough of was staple foods like rice and flour, so they let the childrene and inquire about Wen Qian''s intentions.


    Wen Qian asked the children, if she gave them wheat in exchange, how would they grind it into flour?


    The children said they had simple iron grinding devices, and they could grind as much as they needed to eat, but they couldn''t grind a lot at once.


    Knowing that they could grind the flour themselves, she agreed to give them wheat in exchange for fresh game.


    It just so happened that in the spring, she had too many things to nt, and often didn''t have time to hunt.


    So the children happily went home and told the adults about this.

 Chapter 149

    Chapter 149


    Wen Qian exchanged her wheat that she had originally nted in Xia Province with her neighbors.


    In those days, the volcanic winters often prevented her from growing crops, and the wheat yield back then was not high either, so she didn''t have much left and decided to trade with her neighbors.


    She still had wheat that she had collected from her hometown in An Province in her space, so she didn''t mind exchanging game for grains with them.


    As for the flour she had bought initially, she would absolutely not trade it now, because the current processing methods could not achieve the same fine and white quality as before, and trading it would make others find it strange.


    Exchanging ordinary wheat so that her neighbors could settle down would also benefit herself.


    Her conditions were good, and she even prepared to make sugar from wheat, so it was no problem to trade with them.


    When the child returned home and told his parents that Auntie Wen Qian was willing to trade, the child''s mother was delighted and prepared to exchange the freshly hunted game.


    Additionally, they had a bottle of wild honey they cherished, which they wanted to give to Wen Qian as a gift.


    The husband''s name was Jin Yongjie, and the wife''s name was Ning Wan, so their child Wen Qian called them Little Jin and Little Ning.


    This couple was slightly younger than Wen Qian, so Wen Qian called the two adults Big Jin and Big Ning.


    Perhaps because Wen Qian could also hunt, this couple felt that her willingness to trade was out of kindness rather than necessity.


    So the amount and weight of the game they provided was far more than what Wen Qian had imagined, and there was even a bottle of honey.


    Since there was no currency, and only weights were used for measurement, Wen Qian could see that what they gave far exceeded the value of her wheat, and there was also a bottle of honey.


    So Wen Qian asked Big Ning what they nned to nt this year, and how many types of seeds they had, saying that the two sides might be able to exchange.


    Although she clearly knew that the variety and quality of the seeds in their hands would not be better or more than hers, she didn''t want to owe them either.


    They nned to nt more wheat this year, as well as corn and beans. They also had rice seeds but didn''t n to nt them this year, as managing paddy fields was much harder than other crops.


    Wen Qian asked if they had potatoes and sweet potatoes, as she also had seedlings to nt some.


    Especially for sweet potatoes, which could propagate many slips, she could give them some as well.


    Big Ning happily agreed to the exchange, as the potatoes and sweet potatoes she had broughtst year couldn''t be stored for that long, let alone used for nting.


    Originally, she had also wanted to exchange with Wen Qian, but unexpectedly, Wen Qian brought it up first.


    Then she thought that her game was obviously not enough, so she agreed on the quantity and said she would exchange it in several batchester.


    So the two also exchanged potatoes, sweet potatoes, and corn, among which the corn was not traded as a seed but as food.


    Wen Qian had a lot of corn that she had collected initially, and she had shelled the kernels into bags, but the consumption rate was slow.


    Mainly because she had hoarded various things, and she was the only one eating, and every year she would try her best to grow things or find food, so she always had ie and didn''t just sit and eat for free.


    So bags of corn kernels were left like that.


    Big Ning and her family had corn seeds, but they didn''t have muchnd to open up, so they could only nt a little of each, just enough to save some seeds, but now they didn''t have much corn to eat.


    Unlike Wen Qian, the seeds that others kept had an expiration date, and the longer the time, the lower the possibility of the seeds germinating.


    Wen Qian didn''t have this problem. The seeds she stored were the same as when she first put them in, even after so many years.


    It''s just that when she needed to use them, she had to change the packaging and put them in ss jars or pots.


    Among the many seeds she had bought, she also noticed that some seeds could only be nted once, and what grew from them couldn''t be saved as seeds, because their traits were unstable and their yields were also unstable.


    So she had initially stored a batch of old seeds, which could be kept for nting the following year after harvesting, but the yield would definitely not be as high as the former.


    After exchanging these, the neighbors'' family had wheat and corn, and with the other grains they originally had,bined with vegetables and the game they hunted, they could eat until the new season''s grains were out, because they couldn''t just eat meat.


    Wen Qian prepared the goods, and when they had fresh game, they would send it over directly, and then take the corresponding grains.


    Wen Qian didn''t give them everything in advance out of trust, and they could understand her approach. If they owed her, they would always have it on their minds, which wasn''t good either.


    After deciding on the exchange, it was just about time for the wheat to sprout, so Wen Qian started making malt sugar.


    First, she washed the sprouted wheat clean, removing the unsprouted grains and debris, then chopped it and mixed it with cooked glutinous rice.


    Afterwards, it was ced on the heated brick bed to ferment for eight hours. After fermentation, a lot of water woulde out, and then it was filtered twice with a gauze cloth.


    The water was put in a pot and boiled over high heat, and when it changed color, it was turned to a low heat and slowly simmered until it turned an amber color with big bubbles forming.


    At this point, it was scooped into containers, andter, a wooden stick could be used to pull out long threads.


    If a thicker consistency was desired, it could be further heated over low heat, but then it might not be easy to eat after cooling, and an iron spoon would need to be used to scoop it out.


    So it was better to remove it from heat a little earlier, just using the residual heat.


    At this time, one part could be cooled and sealed in jars directly, while for another part, Wen Qian left it and tried to make white hard sugar cubes.


    After further heating and constant stirring to make the sugar thicker, it would gradually turn white. Finally, it was poured onto a floured surface in onerge piece, and Wen Qian pulled it into long strips, a process that required a lot of pulling.


    Finally, after setting it became hard, and she used the back of a knife to break it into small pieces, then coated them with toasted flour and packaged them separately. And so the malt sugar was done.


    This way, in addition to rock sugar, white granted sugar, and honey, she now also had malt sugar.


    This spring, Wen Qian didn''t spend too much time hunting, so she could focus on nting all the fields in the forestry area.


    She took out the hand-held seed drill she had bought previously, which made it convenient to nt corn, peanuts, and soybeans.


    Human energy is limited, so she still tended towards farming, putting hunting aside.


    But fortunately, she had exchanged quite a lot with her neighbors, so she didn''t have to worry about not having fresh meat to eat.


    Usually, it was the elderly grandmother or Big Ning from their family who woulde to exchange grains with Wen Qian, and asionally children would alsoe along.


    This time, it was the old grandmother bringing the hunted game, and since it was not aplete catch, they had already skinned and cleaned it before cing it in a basket to bring over.


    The older children helped carry it, while the younger ones walked in front, with bags containing dried salted meat prepared by the adults.


    When they saw Wen Qian, one of the little ones reached into the bag and gave her a long strip of dried meat.


    Wen Qian had made dried meat herself before, but it was quite difficult to chew, requiring constant chewing while holding it in the hand, sometimes causing the cheeks to ache.


    Seeing the child''s generous sharing, Wen Qian asked them to wait a moment, and brought out a small box of malt sugar cubes that she had made herself.


    Each cube was about the size of a thumb, and she handed them to the old grandmother to distribute among the children.

 Chapter 150

    Chapter 150


    The children were delighted to see the candy given by their aunt. The olddy asked Wen Qian if it was malt sugar.


    She had seen and eaten it before, but unfortunately after the natural disaster, it became rare to find, so her children had never tasted it.


    She then asked Wen Qian how to make malt sugar, and the two children listened attentively.


    Even if they didn''t have a chance to make it now, they would know how to try making sugar after the grain harvest.


    When the children left, they gave their jerky from their pockets to the aunt, as they felt it was a fair exchange.


    Wen Qian was a little surprised but epted it gratefully.


    She held the jerky and wondered if there was a way to make it less chewy, as the simple jerky-making method she used initially, although tasty, was really tough to chew.


    Then she thought of making smoked meat, which required mincing the meat into a paste beforehand and smoking it.


    At this point, she realized she could make a smoker to smoke bread, meat, and naturally the smoked meat as well.


    Moreover, she could make various kinds of bread for breakfast, introducing new recipes beyond steamed buns.


    Wen Qian put down the smoked meat recipe and started searching for methods to make a homemade smoker.


    Without microwaves, ovens, or stores, making a homemade smoker was the best choice.


    She began considering a location, her yard had tiled areas near the house and the rest was paved with grass bricks where she had nted various things.


    She had even nted a ring of flowers and nts outside the walls.


    She didn''t just scatter flower seeds randomly. When raising seedlings of vegetables and melons, she also prepared seedling trays for some flower seeds and kept them in the greenhouse.


    When transnting themter, the survival rate would be higher, and most importantly, it would save a lot of seeds.


    Although they were flower seeds, she saw no reason to waste them and kept them all well.


    Finally, Wen Qian chose a spot next to the well. The smoker wouldn''t be built directly on the ground but elevated, with space underneath for firewood, and protected from rain.


    Between the well and the smoker, a counter would be made with a trough in the middle to hold the hot coals taken out from the smoker.


    A grill rack would be ced on top for barbecuing, and after cooking, the rack could be easily carried to the side counter for cleaning.


    With the location and design nned, Wen Qian next had to choose the construction materials.


    ording to the pictures and different construction methods in the reference materials, different material configurations were required.


    Some needed red bricks, cement, sand, and rebar, while others needed yellow y, stone bricks, mud bricks, straw, and beer bottles.


    Wen Qian wanted a durable one, so all these materials were used.


    Unsurprisingly, these materials all came from her own space, from the scraps she had collected from various ces.


    First, she used old red bricks to build the counter and covered it with two stone bs, forming a square surface.


    A shallow pool was made on top, lined with a thickyer of crushed stones, then various ss bottles, more crushed stones and sand, and finally smooth perforated red bricks.


    Next, she had to make a semi-circr dome with at least threeyers. The innermostyer was a smooth mixture of mud and straw, the middleyer was perforated red bricks, and the outermostyer was a thick coating of mud and straw.


    The first and secondyers were built simultaneously, as she wasn''t skilled at building semi-circr shapes. So she first made a semi-circr frame with wire and bamboo strips to support the bricks as she built upwards.


    After the brick dome and chimney wereplete, she removed the frame and smoothed the interior mud.


    The exterior was easier to handle.


    The oven door was also made of red bricks in an arched shape, and the door itself was a wooden board with iron ting cut by Wen Qian.


    After coating the exterior with yellow y, Wen Qian started burning firewood inside.


    Meanwhile, the adjacent barbecue counter made of stacked stones was already finished.


    As the temperature rose, the interior and exterior were dried, signaling the smoker was ready for use.


    The first thing she tried was baking bread. The bread dough was made ording to the recipe, and the pictures of the finished product were very appealing.


    Wen Qian didn''t expect hers to look exactly like the pictures, but as long as it was edible and didn''t waste grain, it was fine.


    Wen Qian kneaded the dough using the flour she had previously purchased in bulk, an all-purpose flour. While waiting for the dough to rise, she went out to tend the firewood.


    After scoring the dough, Wen Qian ced the loaves on an iron tray dusted with flour.


    Using tongs, she pulled out the remaining unburned firewood, revealing many crumbling hot coals inside.


    She raked the hot coals to the side, shoveling out the excess into the adjacent barbecue trough, leaving a t space in the middle to ce the baking tray before closing the oven door.


    While waiting, Wen Qian used the hot coals to grill meat on the side.


    Instead of skewering the meat, she was toozy for that and simply mped the meat in a fine mesh grill rack to cook both sides.


    She didn''t know if the bread had turned out well yet, but she had already tasted the grilled meat.


    Brushed with a mixture of cumin, sauce, and a little honey water, the vor was excellent.


    After the wait, the first batch of bread came out, baked a little too long so the outside was too hard, but the inside was still soft.


    Wen Qian only ate half and went to restart the fire in the smoker, preparing for a second attempt.


    This time, the bread had a nice golden-brown color, much closer to the pictures in the recipe.


    Confident the smoker was functioning properly, the next day she began preparing to make smoked meat.


    To make smoked meat, she first had to mince a lot of lean meat. She took out the hand-cranked meat grinder she had purchased.


    After installing the small grind te and cleaning and oiling the machine, she fed in long strips of meat, resulting in finely minced meat.


    She then transferred the minced meat to a cutting board and chopped it even finer with a knife.


    The meat was ced in a bowl, and seasonings and sauces were added ording to the weight of the meat.


    After brushing oil onto the baking trays, she took small portions of the meat paste and ttened them into thinyers with a small rolling pin, covering all the avable trays in this manner.


    Then she fired up the smoker and ced one tray inside to test the cooking time.


    The first batch of smoked meat turned out quite sessful.


    Wen Qian used wire to make a three-tier rack with an appropriate height for roasting without wasting space.


    The jerky was thin, so it didn''t take long to roast.


    She sessfully made quite a lot on the first try, and the taste was decent.


    After eating a bit, she put the rest of the jerky into jars and stored them in her spatial dimension. This was a rather sessful homemade snack.


    If she had to buy it before, it wouldn''t have been cheap.


    She didn''t have so much time and meat for this kind of preparation before.


    There were many ways to eat meat, and Wen Qian didn''t mind learning a few more.


    After seeding with jerky, she began experimenting with roasting everything, like roast chicken, roast rabbit, and roast fish.


    It then depended on how many roasting recipes she could find in books.


    When the neighbors'' kids saw Wen Qian building a roasting oven at home while delivering things, they were very curious.


    When Wen Qian took out her roasted bread, they ran back and asked their parents to make one too.


    Curiosity won over everything, and the parents agreed to help them make one.


    (Two in one)


    Wen Qian only had time to build the roasting oven after the spring farming was over.


    After that, she became interested in the oven for a while, and the stove in the kitchen was used less frequently.


    She couldn''t keep taking materials to roast from her spatial dimension, so Wen Qian started going out to hunt.


    The rabbits from the kitchen were released to the rabbit hutch in the backyard.


    Since there were no suitable rabbits for roasting at the moment, she needed to set a few more rabbit traps in the wild.


    The wild chickens appearing in the mountains and the wild ducks and geese in the river area were also her targets.


    During that period, everything she saw looked like it could be roasted, and she wanted to put everything into the roasting oven.


    She would wash and clean the fresh hunted game by the riverside, then store them together in her spatial dimension.


    Before going out, she would heat up the roasting oven to the right temperature and put a rabbit or other prey inside.


    When she returned at noon after doing her chores, the roast would be ready.


    It would still be warm, so she could eat it right away or package it and store it in her spatial dimension.


    As the work in the fields slowed down a bit, her enthusiasm for the roasting oven also started to decline, and she had some spare time to hunt farther away.


    The forest was gradually bing lively, so Wen Qian went into the mountains before it became too dense.


    After walking for two hours, she was quite far from home, so Wen Qian chose a t area to clear some trees.


    This was the spot she selected for her first hunter''s cabin, but for now, she might just mark the area as she didn''t have time to build a cabin immediately.


    As the temperature warmed up, she might need toe and build the house in autumn or winter when the temperature was above freezing.


    Wen Qian didn''t n to venture too deep into the summer forest. She used an oil saw to cut down a few trees, collected the logs, and started walking back.


    On her way home from this spot, Wen Qian followed the route along the fence she had set up earlier, so she had a ready-made path and wouldn''t get lost.


    The return journey took longer because she tried to open up a wider path.


    Previously, she only needed to clear some grass and thorns for a single person to pass through, but this time she widened the path enough to pull a cart.


    Some obstructing trees were also cut down because nts would grow quickly in summer.


    By widening the path, she wouldn''t have trouble finding the way when she came back in autumn or winter.


    So it took her four or five hours to return home that day, but she made it back before dinner.


    After clearing the path, Wen Qian didn''t go back there again.


    After resting for a day at home, she went hunting and fishing in areas closer to home.


    The neighbors had finished making their oven using mud bricks stacked together.


    Their oven was rounder than Wen Qian''s because Da Jin''s craftsmanship was better than hers.


    As for materials, although both were made from mud and sand, the neighbors'' oven functioned simrly to Wen Qian''s, but it might need asional repairs.


    So the neighbors'' kids also entered a roasting craze.


    The two kids took on the tasks of grinding flour and chopping meat fillings, and even provided firewood.


    At first, the adults experimented with roasting times, butter the kids could do it all by themselves.


    They even brought some of their roasted jerky and bread to Wen Qian for evaluation, hoping to get her feedback.


    After all, many of the methods and seasoning were taught by Wen Qian, but since the neighbors didn''t have as many spices as her, their food didn''t have as much variety in vor.


    The food they brought received good reviews from Wen Qian, and these two kids might be more talented in cooking than her.


    Their parents initially couldn''t refuse the kids'' requests, butter found the oven quite useful, so they became even more grateful to Wen Qian.


    As summer arrived and the trade with neighbors ended, Wen Qian needed to hunt for fresh meat herself.


    Whether meat or grains, she had surplus, but she still set traps everywhere, lying in the grass to shoot game with her gun every day.


    Or she would catch fish by setting traps in the river - at this season, ording to normal schedules, people were still stockpiling food.


    Now in most areas, there was no longer such thing as work, and all preparations were for survival.


    The pressure to survive was a bit higher, but the mental pressure was lower.


    Except for asional breaks, Wen Qian worked like her neighbors for the rest of the time.


    Who wouldin about having too much food? Especially someone like Wen Qian with a spatial dimension.


    In June of summer, Wen Qian originally thought she wouldn''t encounter ferocious beasts, but unexpectedly met a wild boar in a not-so-dense forest.


    Upon seeing the boar, her first reaction was to run away since there was still some distance between them.


    After running a bit farther, she stopped to consider if she could kill the boar.


    If it wasn''t too big and didn''t have tusks.


    Then the next day, she returned and shot a boar from a distance.


    Only then did she realize that the boar had piglets, so she stored the mother in her spatial dimension and carried the piglets away in a basket.


    With so many piglets, she wondered if she should raise pigs, but they ate a lot too.


    Even if they just ate grass, she would have to cut many pounds of grass for them every day.


    If she raised pigs like they did in her hometown, she would also have to cook pig feed.


    Wen Qian found it a bit troublesome to deal with everything by herself.


    So she temporarily set up a small pig pen outside her home''s wall, cing the bricks from her spatial realm outside and stacking them in a circle. She threw some grass to the frightened little pigs.


    She wasn''t sure if pigs could eat grass, nor did she know if these pigs were over a month old, as they looked quite small. The younger the piglets, the cuter they seemed.


    After settling the piglets, Wen Qian caught two more and nned to ask her neighbors if they raised pigs. If they did, she would give them the pigs, and if not, she would still give them the pigs.


    The elderly neighbordy actually wanted to raise them. She told Wen Qian that these pigs should be over a month old, and that little pigs could eat grass after fifteen days.


    However, how big could these pigs grow? The other two adults felt that raising wild pigs would be too much trouble, and didn''t want the olddy to raise them.


    After much thought, the olddy eventually decided not to raise them.


    So Wen Qian decided to go back and roast the suckling pigs. She would give these two away.

 Chapter 151

    Chapter 151


    Although the neighbor epted Wen Qian''s two piglets, they didn''t let her return empty-handed.


    They gave her some freshly obtained venison and arge fish.


    So Wen Qian took them back, pondering the ingredients for roasted suckling pigs on the way.


    They gave her two piglets, but she still had seven left and didn''t n to raise them, ready to kill and eat them all.


    When she reached the riverside, Wen Qian went to the steps to ughter the pigs first, spending quite some time processing the sow and putting her in her space.


    Then she went to the temporary pigpen to get the piglets out and processed them the same way.


    That day, she spent her time washing and cleaning by the river. After everything was prepared, she left one piglet salted for curing, and put the rest in her space.


    Wen Qian even used a broom made of sorghum stalks to sweep the steps clean, sshing water to make them spotless, wanting to wash away all traces of blood.


    On her way back, she dismantled the temporary pigpen outside her home and stored it in her space. Without the squealing of pigs, it became much quieter.


    That night, she ate the roasted suckling pig she made herself, crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, apanied by a te of stir-fried vegetables, and Wen Qian was very satisfied.


    Since the hunting yield was quite substantial this time, Wen Qian didn''t go far for hunting the next day, but set traps nearby instead.


    After setting them up, she went to the fields beside the nursery with a basket, where she had nted a plot of chili peppers, with a total of three varieties.


    Thergest ones were the bell peppers,monly used green peppers, now bearing quite a number of green peppers with some turning red.


    Back home in the past, when these chili peppers turned red, they would be taken to the street for processing, ground with salt to make a very fine freshly ground chili sauce.


    It would be used for pickling vegetables or cooking fish.


    The chili peppers as thick as a little finger, called Chao Tian peppers, also started to turn red, and the third variety was the long and slender chilies, about as thick as an index finger.


    These were the varieties she had originally purchased from different ces, all hybrid varieties, so the packaging warned that they couldn''t be used for seed saving, as the yield was not guaranteed.


    Wen Qian picked some of the healthy green bell peppers and long chilies into a basket, nning to store them in her space forter consumption.


    The red chilies were also picked and stored separately by variety, so she could use fresh chilies for cooking even in winter, with both red and green colors to enhance the visual appeal and appetite.


    In the meantime, Wen Qian didn''t forget to select good enough chilies, tying them with cloth strips to let them mature naturally, which would then be sun-dried for saving seeds.


    For the chilies thatter turned red, she generally picked all three varieties together, mixed them, and whenever she had enough, she would grind them into chili sauce at home.


    She either didn''t make chili sauce or made it in batches of at least ten pounds.


    Without a machine for rapid grinding, even the hand-crank grinder would take her quite some time.


    These chilies could be harvested from June until the frost inte autumn.


    The chilies were washed clean with well water by the pool, then drained of water, and ground with a water-drained grinder, adding salt during the grinding process.


    Then, after cleaning an empty oil barrel, she ced a funnel on top and poured the ground chili sauce into it.


    The chili sauce might separate intoyers after settling, and gradually ferment with time, causing the barrel to expand.


    Fearing an explosion, she would asionally grab the handle and gently shake it up and down, so that the chili sauce inside wouldn''t all float up and get stuck in the narrow bottle neck, preventing an explosive mess.


    All this was done outside on the corridor, with Wen Qian wearing goggles just in case the chili got in her eyes.


    After making the freshly ground chili sauce, Wen Qian didn''t forget to make some chopped chili as well.


    The chilies were washed clean and drained, with the cutting board and knife also drained of water, and clean, water- and oil-free ss jars prepared.


    With salt and peeled garlic ready, the chopped chilies were mixed with salt and garlic, then packed into the jars.


    After making both varieties, Wen Qian left a small portion outside and kept the rest in her space.


    This way, she could eat them for a long time without spoge. When she wanted to eat them, she could just take them out without the extra work.


    For the chili sauce umtedter, Wen Qian started using various sizes of jars instead of stic bottles.


    After all this was done, Wen Qian would sun-dry the remaining harvested chilies by setting up an iron mesh rack in front of her hut.


    She would wipe the mesh clean, let it bask in the sun, wash the harvested red chilies clean and spread them out on the mesh to sun-dry into dried chilies, which she would then store away.


    Wen Qian also ground some of the dried chilies, mixed them with hot oil to make chili oil, and stored it in small jars.


    Using dried chilies, lean meat, and other seasonings simmered slowly in oil, she made chili meat sauce, which tasted great when added to noodles.


    She tried out all the chili processing methods she knew, though trying her best to avoid getting chili in her eyes, but still couldn''t escape getting a taste of the heat.


    Before the cmity, she had stored some chilies, but not too many, and her living environmentter wasn''t suitable for growing chilies, so she had never grown such arge batch until this year.


    The harvest was quite decent, and before her chili sauce ran out, she wouldn''t grow so many again, at most nting a few nts each year for cooking.


    For the chilies meant for seeds, she didn''t wash them, but left them to sun-dry separately. After drying, she would tear open the skins and collect the seeds inside.


    Although the yield might not be stableter, she still kept the seeds from the better-looking chilies.


    The chopped chilies could be cooked with fish, tasting great, and the pickling process made the chilies less spicy. Wen Qian wasn''t a big fan of very spicy food, so this wouldst her a long time.


    Besides harvesting chilies from the fields, she would also pick sweet potato tips from the sweet potato patch.


    Stir-fried sweet potato tips made a nice vegetable dish. Besides cooking them fresh, she would bundle the leftovers with straw ropes and store them in her space to eat in winter.


    Green vegetables were the scarcest in winter.


    During this period, the corn she nted was also ready for tasting, so she peeled and stored many juicy fresh corns.


    She also collected some corn silk to brew tea with.


    She always reminded herself to drink more water, but in water could get dull after a while, so she would brew something for extra vor.


    She grew corn purely for eating fresh corn, as once the corn was mature, it wouldn''t taste as good when boiled.


    In her space, there were also corn kernels, corn grits, and corn flour.


    She collected some tender corns, so that she could eat fresh corn even in winter. The remaining ones would wait for her to pick them when they matured.


    Tender corn tastes good whether steamed, stir-fried, or fried into corn fritters.


    Apart from wheat, which was the main crop that required close management, Wen Qian grew various other crops based on her preferences.


    Most of the corn was picked by her when it was tender, and not many were left to mature.


    As summer temperature gradually rose, there were more sunny dayspared to the same periodst year, and the summer days also became longer, but it had not fully recovered to the previous level.


    ording to the data records, everything was developing in a positive direction.

 Chapter 152

    Chapter 152


    Due to the rise in temperature, the crops Wen Qian nted yielded fairly well.


    Of course, the yield was still lower than what was stated on the seed packets when she initially bought them.


    However, the grain she cultivated could cover her consumption until the next season''s crops came in, so her field was still reasonably productive.


    At the very least, after the harvest, she had a fixed guarantee, unlike the instability of hunting.


    The so-called harvest refers to the grains being safely stored before one can feel at ease. Wen Qian directly harvested and stored them in her spatial pouch, which was secure.


    Her neighbors were different; they tended to their crops much more diligently. With more people in their households, they naturally hoped for higher yields.


    Especially the Old Granny, who had been farming for years, would not be at ease until the very end.


    When the wheat seedlings sprouted, they hoped there would be no natural disasters. As they grew taller, they worried about pests. When the wheat kernels were filling, they fretted about abnormal weather leading to a fruitless harvest.


    The saying "farming depends on the mercy of the heavens" is not an exaggeration.


    Past famines urred when, just as the wheat was about to ripen, a hailstorm struck, ruining nearly everything.


    If the harvested grains could notst until the next harvest season, problems would inevitably arise.


    Fortunately, they now lived in the forest region, where wild animals outnumbered humans, so they could still go hunting.


    The weather remained favorable until they harvested, threshed the wheat, bagged it, and carried it home.


    When their neighbors stored their grains, Wen Qian simply cut the wheat and put it into her spatial pouch, without any other processes.


    Afterward, she also cut the sweet potato vines and put them into the pouch, but did not dig up the sweet potatoes or potatoes. She chopped the soybeans and spread them out at the doorstep to dry, though the yield was not much this time.


    As for the peanuts she nted, she had previously dug up half of the fresh peanuts and stored them in the pouch. She could dig up the remaining small portion before the first frost.


    Everything was done hastily, without much care.


    Because she needed to free up time to go into the mountains and build a house while she could.


    At this time, the mountain forests were no longer lush and green, and many grasses on the ground had begun to wither and go to seed.


    She carried a sickle and trimmed the path on both sides, then began excavating the foundation at the previously nned location.


    Earlier, she had cut down a ring of trees, clearing the space.


    First, there was a tree root that had decayed over spring and summer. Wen Qian spent two days just digging out the roots within the foundation area. Fortunately, these trees were not particrly thick, so she did not need to dig too deep.


    Afterward, she usedrge stones from her spatial pouch to tamp the ground surface, thenid a low foundationyer.


    This took her several days, during which she basically left early and returnedte, interspersed with hunting trips.


    She brought out the timber and old bricks she had previously prepared for constructing the house.


    Since it was a small house, the materials needed were not many, and the structure, built from top to bottom, was rtively simple, with the topyer consisting of wooden boards, yellow mud, and thatched grass.


    The windows were quite small, with only frames. Wen Qian did not install ss or aluminum windows, but rather nailed wooden boards together, making outward-opening window shutters.


    This small hut was meant for overnight stays, so basically just a fewyers of wooden boards were enough to block the windows, except for asionally opening them for venttion after a long period. Otherwise, they remained closed.


    Inside, she built a kang bed stove. When she came, it was mostly cold, so she only needed to heat up the food she brought. However, at night while sleeping, she needed the room to retain warmth.


    Since the requirements were not high, the quality was also average, with the lower half made of brick walls and the upper half a wooden structure.


    Because of the kang stove, Wen Qian was a bit worried about a fire hazard with an all-wood structure, so she ultimately made it half brick.


    In Wen Qian''s view, this house was quite crude, so shepleted it quickly.


    She made a door frame but did not use the kind of secure door she had collected earlier. Instead, she installed a rather old wooden door and hung a lock on it before hurriedly returning home.


    If not for her spatial pouch, she would have had to make many trips just to transport the materials by herself, as she had no livestock to help her haul them, let alone any other transportation means.


    After finishing this, Wen Qian rushed back home, as the sweet potatoes, potatoes, and peanuts in the fields needed to be harvested.


    Digging up potatoes and sweet potatoes was very tiring, so she did not nt too many.


    Peanuts were even more troublesome, having to pull out each one individually, and the bundle left holes in the soil that needed to be dug out, so she would not nt too many peanuts either.


    She chose the nting area and varieties all within her own capabilities.


    First, she pulled out the peanuts, cut off the roots and put them in a bamboo basket to take home for drying, and bundled the other parts.


    In the past, when they had cattle at home, these green peanut stems and leaves could be fed to the cows. Now, Wen Qian chose to store them in her spatial pouch.


    After pulling out the peanuts, she tilled thend again, picking up any peanuts left in the field.


    Next, she dug up the sweet potatoes and potatoes. The local soil was rtively loose, so digging them was not as tiring.


    She put them into baskets and into the spatial pouch, and would sort them out when she had time.


    In the past, doing all this at her old home was exhausting. Now thinking about it, the main reason was that digging sweet potatoes at the old home was particrly strenuous.


    They also had to put them into baskets and carry them back home, one basketload at a time, and then dig a sweet potato cer and store them individually in an orderly fashion, which was why it was so tiring.


    Now, the only strenuous part left was the digging. The transportation was handled by her spatial pouch.


    The sweet potatoes and potatoes were dug out, with the roots and soil clinging to them left unprocessed. Everything was dealt with after being obtained first.


    Because in the north, many crops matured in September and October, Wen Qian was extremely busy during this period.


    She only roughly stored most of the produce in her spatial pouch, then squeezed out time to build the house.


    With the grains in hand, she was not worried. After resting for a day, Wen Qian began picking apples and persimmons in the mountains behind her home.


    The fruits had also ripened in this season. Previously, when the fruits were setting, Wen Qian had erecteds around the trees to prevent birds from stealing them.


    If they just ate one or one tree, it would be fine, but they had to peck at every single delicious fruit, so without thes, she would not be able to collect many good fruits.


    In addition to the wild berries she gathered in July and August, Wen Qian now had apples and persimmons as two more fruits to eat.


    Since they were crisp persimmons, Wen Qian stored half in her spatial pouch, and the other half she peeled and hung in the corridor to make persimmon cakes.


    Wen Qian went to her neighbor''s house to seek Old Granny, to see how they made persimmon cakes. She found that they had started earlier than her, and the earliest batch was already edible.


    Previously, their two little children had picked wild berries like blueberries and lingonberries near their home. After making jam with honey and malt sugar, they even gifted a small jar to Wen Qian.


    Since they didn''t have white sugar, they could only use honey or malt sugar as much as possible, making the jam more precious.


    Although Wen Qian had white granted sugar and rock sugar, they didn''t appear to be the coarsely made sugar after the natural disaster, so she wouldn''t easily give them away, only for her own use.


    So this time when she came to inquire about making persimmon cakes, she gave them a jar of chili sauce and twenty pounds of peanuts.

 Chapter 153

    Chapter 153


    After eating the persimmon cakes given by her neighbor, she thought they were not bad. However, they declined the things brought by Wen Qian.


    Then Wen Qian exined that they had previously sent some jam, and they epted these as a return gift, but they only wanted to make more to send to her if she liked them in the future.


    As they spent more time with Wen Qian, they also realized that she was a person who didn''t like to take advantage of others. Although she appeared a little cold on the surface, she was actually a good person.


    As for these peanuts, they kept a little for themselves to eat, and could save the rest as seeds to grow some more.


    After seeing the persimmon cakes that they had sun-dried at their home and inquiring about the production details, Wen Qian went back home and prepared batches by peeling the skins.


    She also tried making apple chips, and the taste was not bad.


    She didn''t continue to go out hunting or process the simple crops she had harvested earlier, as she hadn''t even threshed the soybeans and straw she had dried before.


    Next, she had more important things to do, digging a cer. Many ces dug cers in the winter.


    In the northern regions, many households even had particrlyrge cers specifically for storing their winter food.


    Wen Qian didn''t need one that big, but she felt she should still have one, so she prepared to dig a small one for herself.


    To avoid the risk of the cer copsing when spring came, she also nned to add pirs for reinforcement inside.


    There were naturally methods for digging cers in the books, but she was a bit worried that she might hit rocks, as she couldn''t really judge whether the spot she chose could be dug up or not.


    Not digging also made her uneasy, so she started digging down on the emptynd beside the storage room, just like digging a well at first.


    Afterward, she dug toward the left and right sides, where she could set up pirs or build walls. The cer wasn''trge; it would be enough to store the sweet potatoes and cabbages she had harvested.


    So she spent half a day digging the cer every day, and after a week, she finally finished digging and supported it with pirs.


    After digging it, she didn''t n to start using it right away, but still put some straw inside to stuff it.


    Wen Qian found a square stone b to ce over the cer opening, and as for building walls, that could wait untilter.


    For now, she didn''t need to use it, she had just dug it as a backup.


    The persimmons gradually shrank and dried, and she needed to squeeze them from time to time.


    By the time frost set in and the leaves outside turned yellow, the persimmon cakes were almost done too.


    When the weather turned cold, Wen Qian used the dried persimmon skins to line the bottom of the jar, ced the persimmon cakes she had sun-dried and squeezed into shape inside in ayer, and spread anotheryer of persimmon skins.


    Since she had space, Wen Qian always made and stored food on a ratherrge scale.


    Just these persimmon cakes alone, she didn''t know how many years and months it would take her to eat them all.


    Winter came around the same time asst year, but the temperature seemed to drop faster than the previous year.


    It didn''t feel like autumn and winter were gradually transitioning, but rather winter had just directly arrived.


    While chopping trees near the forestry station, Wen Qian happened toe across two children from her neighbor''s family setting up small hunting traps nearby.


    The sunlight was still decent at the time, and the ground had thawed, but because of the extreme cold, the soil outside would freeze hard every morning when they woke up.


    The neighbor''s family didn''t allow the Old Lady to go far, and only let the four young people go out hunting or gathering firewood when the temperatures were a bit higher each day.


    When Wen Qian saw them, she chatted with them and asked if they had enough food stockpiled for this winter.


    The children were unguarded and immediately said their family had stored a lot of food.


    Their brother didn''t stop them either, because he knew this auntie''s family definitely had more food than theirs.


    Wen Qian was a bit worried that this winter would be too cold, so she told them about her concerns, but it seemed they were also prepared.


    Thinking about it, it made sense - they were all people who had survived through abnormal weather conditions, so she figured their elders would have made preparations.


    When they heard Auntie Wen Qian was worried that spring might be dyed and their rabbits would starve, the two children took this question home to ask the adults.


    They did raise rabbits, which the two brothers had been raising, but when the temperatures dropped, they killed all the rabbits.


    Because in winter, many animals couldn''t fatten up even if fed, so it was better to kill them early to eat the meat, and then catch more rabbits to raise in spring.


    The children were worried that if spring really was dyed by one or two months, would their family not have enough to eat?


    They asked the adults, and the answer they got was that before it becamepletely impossible to go out, they should hunt more. So the children suspected that if spring really didete, they would go hungry.


    In reality, their family wouldn''t reach that point. If this had happened before, they might have had a very hard time getting through the long winter.


    But this year when the new year started, they had exchanged potatoes and sweet potatoes with Wen Qian to grow, and these were rtively high-yielding crops. They had also grown the beans Wen Qian had given them before.


    So they had enough food, but only if the amount they stored far exceeded their own family''s consumption could they feel at ease.


    After all, during the volcanic winter period, they had experienced crop failures and shortages caused by abnormal weather conditions.


    Therefore, out of the five people in their family, except for the Old Lady who stayed home to process the hunted game, the other four were all out hunting or chopping firewood.


    If it really turned out as Wen Qian had worried, then besides stockpiling more hunted game, they had no other choice.


    Although their cer was filled with radishes and cabbages, they would also spoil if time dragged on for too long. If they didn''t have any meat to eat on top of that, it would be even more troublesome.


    They had stacked up several rows of firewood, and had also hammered wooden railings between the woodpile and their home, worried that they might get lost in the wind and snow when going out to fetch firewood.


    This was also something they had learned from their exchanges with Wen Qian, after all, Wen Qian had railings or ropes from her house all the way to the front gate and to the riverside.


    At night when the temperatures dropped even lower, Wen Qian had set out some sliced tofu outside on the walkway to freeze overnight.


    Before sensing the weather was changing to bring snow, Wen Qian had also sent them a few pounds of tofu and dried tofu sheets that she had made, as a dish for them to add for the new year''s celebration.


    After all, by the time new year''s came around, it would be difficult for the two families to even visit each other to give new year''s greetings, so they might as well just send early greetings.


    After sending over the food, the Old Lady gave her a rabbit fur hat in return, which looked quite cute with the ear-shaped ps on the sides to cover the ears.


    Come to think of it, Wen Qian also had rabbit fur and pelts from other wild animals, but she had always stored them in her spatial bag, intending to make things out of them when she had time.


    However, an entire year had passed and every time she thought about it, it seemed too troublesome, so she never did make anything out of them.


    Perhaps it was also because Wen Qian herself did notck warm clothes, so she spent her time doing other things.


    Wen Qian was wearing a hat, thinking that she would try making one herself next year. If there were any problems, she could ask her Neighbor.


    If Wen Qian had not delivered tofu to them, they would have let their children help deliver the hats.


    The Old Lady always said that Wen Qian had helped them a lot, and they wanted to give her something, but they realized that most of the time, they had fewer things in their home than Wen Qian''s, both in variety and quantity.


    After all, they had more people in their family, so they consumed more. Thus, they thought of making a hat for her.


    If they could catch animals with better fur this winter, they could make something else for her too.


    The Old Lady felt that they could not just keep epting things; there should be a give and take, as that would be the way to maintain asting rtionship.


    As for the thousand sheets of tofu made by Wen Qian, they boiled the tofu with fish, and the thousand sheets with meat, both of which made excellent dishes.


    Coincidentally, they also had soybeans, so they nned to grind the soybeans at home and make some tofu themselves.

 Chapter 154

    Chapter 154


    The first snowfall in the Northern Forest was particrly heavy. Wen Qian stood in the yard, watching the flurries descend from the sky, making it appear crowded above.


    Wen Qian had erected a few straw awnings she made herself over the well and stove, which she could lift when needed.


    The ground quickly turned white, and the distant mountains gradually took on a coat of white as well.


    Wen Qian turned and lifted the awning to go back inside, closing the door behind her. The room was filled with the aroma of sweet potatoes.


    She made sweet potato strips by cutting steamed sweet potatoes into strips and baking them in a small oven on the warm stove, resulting in sweet and soft sweet potato strips.


    While the sweet potatoes were steaming and baking, she began slowly processing the grains she had harvested in the kitchen.


    Such as peanuts that had been sun-dried but not yet removed from their stems, and sweet potatoes and potatoes that had been dug up from the ground but not sorted by size.


    As for the wheat she had harvested as a whole, she removed the wheat ears and separated them from the stalks, nning to sun-dry the wheat earster before removing the wheat grains.


    If she wanted to eat from this year''s harvest, she would prepare a little bit to eat fresh, while storing the rest in her space.


    After all, the kitchen wasn''trge, and processing many things wasn''t as convenient as doing it outdoors.


    Such as the soybean stalks from which she hadn''t yet removed the soybeans.


    However, with everything stored in her space, along with previous stockpiles, she wasn''t in a rush to eat much of this year''s produce except for tasting it fresh.


    She made herself a cup of water with jam, made by a neighbor from honey and berries, which was also nice to drink.


    With fires burning in both rooms indoors, Wen Qian felt a bitzy, and the repetitive work made her feel bored.


    On one side of the kitchen, a wall was neatly stacked with firewood. She didn''t feel like making clothes or weaving straw awnings at the moment.


    So she nned to take out many foods from her space and try various preparations.


    She didn''t have time to gather too many wild vegetables now, at most just casually collecting some local specialty wild vegetables.


    The wild vegetables she had collected in Xia Province were the most plentiful, because the grain yield there was so low, and there wasn''t much game, so she didn''t miss any opportunity to dig for wild vegetables.


    Now those vegetables were still piled up in her space, so Wen Qian carefully processed the wild vegetables she had previously gathered in Xia Province with a cutting board and knife.


    Wild vegetables taste too in, so if she wanted to stir-fry them, she would userd.


    Now that she had more game, she would also collect fat from various other wild animals to render into oil for stir-frying vegetables.


    But the best way to use wild vegetables was to add oil, salt, and lean meat, and chop them into fillings to make dumplings.


    Therefore, she also nned to make more dumplings during the winter.


    It was only in winter that she realized she had forgotten something very important - making cured sausages.


    Aftering to the Northern Forest, she didn''t make them the first winter, and although she made a lot of cured meat the second year, she didn''t get around to making cured sausages.


    She had originally nned to make them again in the third year, but this autumn she didn''t have time to make cured meat, so she also forgot about cured sausages.


    Most of the meat she had this year was fresh and stored in her space. When she took it out to make dumpling fillings, she remembered.


    Since she couldn''t make the cured, fragrant sausages, she decided to make baked fragrant sausages instead, which could be baked dry in the oven and would also be good.


    Fortunately, she had all the ingredients, and using a meat grinder to grind the fillings was much more convenient than chopping by hand.


    She also had a simple pasta machine. After kneading the dough, she rolled it into thin, long strips and passed them through the pasta machine to tten them into thin, long sheets.


    She then used a round object to press out dumpling wrappers from the sheets, and could then wrap the dumplings.


    All the dumplings were packed into stic containers or ziplock bags and stored in her space. Whenever she wanted to eat them, she could conveniently take them out to pan-fry or boil them.


    She made these in batches, cleaning the wild vegetables one day, grinding the lean meat the next day, pressing the dumpling wrappers the third day, taking one task per day, spending a total of eight or nine days on the entire dumpling-making process.


    Afterwards, she continued grinding meat to stuff into sausages. The casings for these sausages were purchased in bulk online earlier.


    Although she would also collect small intestines from other wild animals when hunting, they ultimately couldn''tpare to the ready-made casings she had previously ordered online.


    So she was still able to eat sausages this winter, which were particrly thick since she made them herself.


    They were quite good when lightly dried and steamed, and became harder like cured sausages when baked longer.


    She also stored some in jars in her space, which could be taken out next autumn to be sun-dried, turning them into cured sausages.


    If food kept in a fridge would spoil after too long, storing it in her space was like stopping time.


    Any half-processed food could be put in there, then taken out at an appropriate time to continue processing.


    An ordinary dumpling, for example, could have the filling made in the first year, the wrapper rolled out in the second year, and the dumpling wrapped in the third year.


    All of this was made possible by her space, so none of Wen Qian''s umted food would go to waste.


    She even saved her kitchen waste, storing it to makepost the next year instead of throwing it away carelessly.


    Even though she had many things in her space, she would never waste them recklessly, as they were bought with the hard-earned money of her grandparents.


    Even the soil she had dug up from various ces, she would find a way to put it to use.


    She had been frugal even before the cmity, and having the space made her even more so.


    This year, she kept two rabbits in her kitchen, nning to let them survive the winter since she would have enough food.


    Initially, when she worried that spring mightete next year, she wasn''t concerned about not having enough to eat herself, but first about her nting ns for next year.


    Secondly, it was the neighboring family who had many mouths to feed. If spring was severely dyed, their food supply would also be a major problem.


    However, she noticed they had been hunting extensively before the snow, so she thought they must have prepared sufficiently.


    This winter, Wen Qian''s way of passing time was threshing the wheat.


    She felt she might have worked too hurriedly this past year, as her back and waist were starting to ache.


    So this winter, she nned to exercise properly and rest well.


    The first snowfallsted for three consecutive days, and subsequent snowfalls were also quite heavy.


    Wen Qian barely left her yard, except to go to the outer corridor for a while to record the outdoor temperature.

 Chapter 155

    Chapter 155


    The snow was still falling outside. A few days ago, Wen Qian had built a snowman in the courtyard, and now the snowman had been covered with a white coat.


    She sat on the kang (a heated brick bed), leaning against the heated wall, with a quilt covering her lower body. On the quilty a book, and she was reading a book about human anatomy.


    When dealing with wild animals, she basically understood their structures.


    However, she was not very familiar with the structure of the human body, so she needed to learn and understand it.


    Sometimes, she would feel her own bones and joints, familiarizing herself with their locations and names.


    Here, the chances of seeing people were much higher than in Xia Province, so she needed to prepare early.


    If she encountered people who were difficult to get along with or even harbored ill intentions, she would still strike first for self-defense, just like before.


    So it was necessary for her to learn how to use weapons and understand human anatomy.


    Over the years, she had very littlebat experience. Before the disaster struck, she had prepared by making crude firearms and ammunition.


    During her time in Xia Province, she rarely used guns because she rarely encountered people, but she had enough materials to make ammunition.


    From Xia Province to the Northern Forest, aside from searching for building materials in various cities, she also found abandoned firearms and ammunition along the way.


    Some guns were abandoned because they had no bullets. These weapons could be found in the wild, in cities, and underneath some ruins.


    Some guns werepletely unusable, while some parts were still good. By assembling the good parts of the same type, Wen Qian had amassed quite a few usable guns.


    As for ammunition, some were hidden in boxes in certain ces, and the people who had hidden them never came back to retrieve them, until Wen Qian found them during her searches.


    Now, Wen Qian had a wide variety of weapons in her possession. When hunting in the forest, she used well-made hunting rifles.


    Compared to her previous unstable and unsafe firearms, these were much more reliable, and at least she didn''t have to worry about them exploding in her hands.


    She never revealed these unexpected acquisitions in front of others, and most of the time, she carried an old hunting rifle on her back.


    Since she didn''tck ammunition, she didn''t try to make it herself.


    As for the book on human anatomy, she would flip through it every year to refresh her knowledge.


    She often used guns, but if she didn''t review the human anatomy for a long time, she would forget it again. And since she had no ce to practice, winter was the time when she read the most books.


    Wen Qian didn''t really love studying. If she had a smartphone,puter, and the inte, she would never bother to look at books.


    Unless she had a sudden pang of conscience, felt uneasy, or had a brief burst of motivation to improve herself, she would asionally bring some books back to read, but she didn''t necessarily finish the ones she brought back.


    Now, things were different. In the current environment, reading had be an interesting activity to pass the long winter.


    Fortunately, she didn''t get tired of reading the book on human anatomy every year. Since shecked practical experience, she had to be familiar with the theoretical knowledge.


    While reading, she had ced a small table by the kang, on which was a te of jerky. When she had nothing to do, she would take a piece and chew on it.


    In the winter, although she still wanted to maintain the habit of eating three meals a day, she was indeed less active, and her stomach wasn''t as hungry, so sometimes she would only eat two meals a day.


    Of course, that was just her intention, but in reality, she ate quite a lot of snacks every day.


    Her standard of living was still quite high, unlike her neighbors, who didn''t have it as good.


    Her neighbors had built a stove in the middle of their house and kept a fire going to prevent the indoor temperature from dropping.


    And at night, they had to add firewood, otherwise, the breath they exhaled would be white when lying inside.


    During the day, they would gather in one room to keep warm and do their chores.


    They had to process fur and skin, make clothes, weave grass shoes, and there were many tasks to divide among themselves.


    They would have two meals a day to save food.


    At night, the grandmother and two grandsons would sleep together, while the couple slept in another room, so they had to burn more firewood than Wen Qian.


    Because the weather had been consistently cold, they cut the fresh meat from their recent hunting into pieces and stored it in snow piles outside their home.


    Their home was warm and lively, but not asfortable as Wen Qian''s.


    They were constantly discussing what they would do when spring arrived.


    Wen Qian was also a topic of their conversation, but mostly about the methods she used for preparing food.


    They were quite envious of Wen Qian''s standard of living, even though she had never intentionally unted it in front of them.


    Wen Qian''s home was always clean and tidy, and she herself always looked refreshing. When they first talked, Wen Qian mentioned that she was older than them.


    However, she didn''t tell them exactly how much older she was, and they didn''t know Wen Qian''s age, only that she looked much younger than them.


    They had also spected about where Wen Qian was from, and they thought she might havee from the teau region.


    After all, when they first met Wen Qian, they noticed that the two red patches on her face were very obvious features.


    As she spent more and more time in the Northern Forest, Wen Qian''s face didn''t look as red anymore.


    Additionally, because she had been applying the cheap, domestic moisturizer she had purchased years ago every day, her skin was indeed better than other people her age.


    Another reason for her youthful appearance was that Wen Qian had never been married or had children.


    Giving birth does not necessarily make a person look older; it depends on the person''s family environment.


    One of Wen Qian''s former colleagues came from a very wealthy family, and her skin looked good both before and after marriage.


    What kept her looking young was that after she gave birth, she didn''t have to take care of her child 24 hours a day.


    Her child had a dedicated nanny, and she was cared for and treated at a postpartum care center.


    After the postpartum period, others took over the care of her child.


    As a mother, most of the time she saw her child, the child was either sleeping soundly or awake and well-behaved and clean. Even feeding was not something she had to do herself.


    Her mood remained stable, without any negative emotions like depression, anger, frustration, fatigue, or resentment.


    That colleague looked almost the same before and after giving birth, and some people couldn''t even tell that she had been married and had a child.


    No matter who it is, spending most of the day taking care of a crying infant and having one''s sleep schedule disrupted will inevitably lead to a haggard appearance.


    And once that haggard look sets in, it bes very difficult to recover fromter on.


    Big Ning touched her own face as she listened to her family members discussing Wen Qian.


    Back when conditions were difficult, her two young children were still very small, and she worried and regretted every day.


    She felt she shouldn''t have brought these little lives into this world.


    But in the blink of an eye, ten years had passed, and she was grateful that her two children had grown up safely.

 Chapter 156

    Chapter 156


    Wen Qian was unaware of her neighbors'' curiosity about her age.


    She herself had no interest in celebrating her own birthday this year, after all, there was nothing special about turning thirty-nine.


    Every year, when she got a new calendar, she would straightforwardly know her age.


    She had no ageparison or inte ess to sources of anxiety, nor would anyone rudely say in front of her that an older woman was worthless.


    So Wen Qian had no anxiety about her age, figure, or appearance.


    In fact, there was another possibility ¨C it was already awless world now, and if someone spoke rudely, the next second, their mouth might literally be sewn shut.


    Compared to the keyboard warriors who used to freely spew venom online, people in the real world did not dare to be so bold.


    Moreover, this was ten years after the natural disaster. If anyone still used the tone of the inte to attack or mock someone, in Wen Qian''s eyes, that person might just be shot down without warning.


    In Wen Qian''s eyes, her age was not as important as her nting ns for theing year or her ns to fire pottery kilns.


    As for what to do when she grew old with no one to care for her, Wen Qian did not consider that problem.


    Whether she died unnoticed, rotted for a long time before being discovered, died with no one to burn paper offerings for her, or died without anyone to carry on her lineage ¨C none of these were issues to her.


    After the volcanic eruption, how many people died unnatural deaths? How many were abandoned in the wilderness? How many had their flesh consumed by their own kind?


    In the face of disaster, the elderly were abandoned first, followed by children, with most of those left being adults.


    These survivors could hardly protect themselves, let alone consider having children.


    Most of this generation had received an education, so they understood what proper medical care was and how it had deteriorated after the disaster.


    They had no pressing desire to continue their lineage or propagate the human race, naturally unwilling to risk their own lives.


    Although some children were born after the disaster, their numbers and survival rates need not be mentioned.


    To Wen Qian, every extra day or year she lived was a bonus.


    If she died, so be it ¨C whether someone collected her remains or not didn''t matter.


    Once one came to terms with these realities, life became quite easy.


    In the blink of an eye, the new year arrived, and Wen Qian got a new calendar.


    For her, the footsteps of spring were drawing nearer.


    As for holidays, she did not make any special preparations for food, as the existence of the Space meant she did not need to prepare corresponding ingredients for holidays.


    She could take out seasonal delicacies from the Space to eat at any time, so she did not pay much attention to holiday foods.


    Originally, she did not care much about holidays ormemorative days. In the past, holidays were just times for businesses to offer discounts and promotions, or for friends and rtives to gather.


    In the years following the disaster, although people wanted to celebrate holidays, they abandoned the idea due to the bleakness of their lives.


    Now that conditions had improved, people began celebrating holidays again, with great enthusiasm for preparing holiday foods.


    The only thing left to celebrate now was food, so each holiday would see the preparation of corresponding dishes.


    This was very evident in her neighbors'' household ¨C they would always send her some food for each holiday.


    Wen Qian only became aware of the holidays'' existence because of her neighbors'' reminders.


    If it weren''t for the snow making it inconvenient to travel, they would probably have sent their children to deliver things to her again.


    It was precisely because her neighbors always interacted with her so warmly that Wen Qian would reciprocate, whether with seeds or food.


    After the new year, Wen Qian added two more ns for herself: one was to digrge traps around the woond to protect her crops from being destroyed by wild boars and other animals, and the other was to fire kilns to make jars and pots.


    The main purpose of digging traps was to protect her crops from being ruined by animals.


    As for making jars and pots, it was because she had stored too many things in the Space and needed these containers.


    Especially when it came to storing food, she had utilized all of her avable containers.


    These included various jars and pots she had collected from rural areas along her way.


    Now she needed more containers to store things, and since she had also dug up y that could be used to make ceramics on her travels, she wanted to try making them.


    This might not be easy, but she still wanted to try. After several attempts, she might be able to seed.


    Nothing could satisfy Wen Qian more than being able to neatly arrange her food supplies.


    ns were ns, but spring did not arrive in April likest year.


    The bitter cold persisted, showing no signs of abating even in March.


    This meant April would be colder than the previous year, so her seedling and spring nting times would all be dyed.


    Everything had a chain reaction ¨C if wintersted an extra month, then the other seasons would have one less month.


    Whether it was growing crops or hunting for food reserves, everything would be affected.


    She had anticipated this situation. Although she didn''t have to worry about food and firewood, she still disliked having her ns disrupted.


    So in April, she began working at home, where she could still process food.


    At home, she made dumplings, jerky, ground beans, and soaked beans,pleting time-consuming tasks in April to save time during the next three seasons.


    If she had enough space, she would have even started making y models at home.


    After finishing the meat grinding and bean milling, she started cooking meals.


    She nned to prepare every day''s meals for the next three months, saving time for her future work.


    Her neighbors were also worried about the prolonged winter, fearing that even with sufficient food and drink, the abnormal weather might prevent them from sessfully nting and hunting.


    If it were just a one-month dy in winter, that would be fine, but they were concerned that the following spring, summer, and autumn might also experience irregrities.


    Even one instance of hail during that period could lead to crop failure, they worried.


    So they nned to nt less wheat this year, and instead grow more sweet potatoes, potatoes, and peanuts, as well as go out hunting to store more meat.


    Wen Qian also changed her nting ns. Unlike her neighbors, in terms of crops, Wen Qian nned to grow millet and oats, with the rest being root vegetables like her neighbors.


    In addition, she nned to set up a water tub to grow lotus roots and some other aquatic nts when the temperature rose, which she could now find a ce to grow.


    The river was public property, so if she could grow some edible nts along the riverbank, the neighbors would have an additional food source when the time came.


    Since these were nts growing in the water, they would not be curious about her.


    In May, spring finally arrived. Wen Qian went to the distant cottage when it was convenient to go out.


    She wanted to check if the house had any issues after the long winter and if any areas needed repairs.

 Chapter 157

    Chapter 157


    Before reaching the cabin, she inspected the surroundings with binocrs first, ensuring no issues before approaching.


    The house was fine; opening the door revealed only a damp, chilly wooden scent.


    Wen Qian had previously sealed two additionalyers of boards on the windows, totaling threeyers, but she didn''t bother opening them today since she didn''t n to stay.


    She opened the door for venttion and took a cursory look around.


    Not lingering long, she closed the door and returned home. If conditions permitted this year, she would build a second cabin in another direction.


    This would expand her activity range, allowing her to hunt and forage in different areas, potentially increasing her yields.


    After returning home, Wen Qian began preparing for spring plowing, turning the soil and fertilizing, cultivating various seeds.


    With spring''s arrival, wild animals also needed substantial nourishment to replenish their nutritional reserves.


    During this period, Wen Qian rarely hunted, unlike her neighbors who, except for the Old Lady, ventured out whenever possible to procure food.


    Due to the extended winter, they believed stockpiling food was prudent.


    Spring was an ideal nting season, and Wen Qian not only cultivated various seedlings in her greenhouse but also expanded her nting outwards.


    For instance, she propagated raspberries and blueberries in distant forests and buried pumpkin seeds on sloping grassy areas without trees.


    It was quite random, casually nting things within her designated range.


    Without meticulous cultivation or care, she didn''t expect abundant yields.


    If wild animals consumed these crops, it didn''t matter; if any remained ripe, Wen Qian could harvest the fruits.


    She also nned to nt lotus roots in the shallow downstream waters with gentle currents, sprouting lotus roots at home using water cultivation and growing lotus seeds.


    Additionally, she buried lotus roots and seeds along the riverbank, employing a two-pronged approach to increase the chances of sessful germination.


    Once sessfully grown, she would have an additional food source. Fearing others might harvest everything, Wen Qian dispersed her ntings across several locations.


    Currently, people neither hunted nor foraged with the intention ofplete eradication as in the past, but she still chose to distribute the risk.


    Humans truly relied on nature for sustenance, with most unwilling to "kill the goose thatys the golden eggs." However, a few shortsighted individuals might uproot everything, unconcerned about the following year''s growth.


    When collecting bird eggs in spring, Wen Qian only took half, leaving the rest for reproduction.


    Initially, she had dug up lotus roots and gathered lotus seeds from her hometown, but most of the lotus leaves she took were immature, with few viable as seeds.


    The lotus seeds she had as seeds were purchased when buying other seeds like cherry, peach, apricot, and elm.


    As her space couldn''t amodate trees with roots, she bought seeds capable of sprouting seedlings.


    This meant the varieties and yields were unclear, but Wen Qian had no lofty expectations, content as long as they could grow and bear fruit.


    Especially for seeds that could grow into trees, she didn''t expect immediate flowering and fruiting, willing to wait several years.


    ording to the information, many edible aquatic nts thrived primarily in the southern regions of the past, with the northern regions being less suitable for their growth.


    If the lotus roots germinated, Wen Qian would be very satisfied.


    Other nts like arrowhead, taro, or water caltrops might not be suited to grow here due to the temperature.


    Particrly in the northern forests, many of the seeds she nted were not originally from the northern regions and might not thrive initially. She only nted them experimentally.


    As long as she could see abundant edible things in her surroundings, it was reassuring.


    After the spring agricultural work ended, Wen Qian went to the ce her distant neighbor mentioned to dig up fruit trees.


    Reportedly, it was a jujube orchard. Although Wen Qian had jujube seeds, she hoped to findrger, established seedlings to transnt.


    This trip was farther, heading southward.


    Before finding the jujube orchard, she encountered hawthorn trees.


    Orchard trees were generally not very tall, and after years of neglect, the surviving ones were not particrly robust, allowing Wen Qian to transport several at once.


    Continuing forward, she came across jujube trees, not in an orchard but two trees nted near the road by a former resident. The house was now abandoned, but the fruit trees continued growing.


    These two jujube trees were leaning crookedly, with new tender leaves sprouting and rotting ckened jujubes on the ground.


    Around them grew several young jujube trees about two fingers thick and some seedlings under a meter tall.


    Wen Qian dug up the small jujube trees and seedlings, then returned to the hawthorn trees and dug up two smaller ones, ending her first trip.


    She nted the hawthorn trees near her home and the jujube trees at the tree farm.


    On her second trip, she dug up many hawthorn seedlings that had sprouted in the orchard.


    After transnting the jujube seedlings, she suddenly remembered she had sea buckthorn and wolfberry cuttings.


    With their thorns, could she nt a ring or two around the tree farm to prevent wild animal intrusions?


    The more she considered it, the more usible it seemed, so she nned to clear a ring of trees around the farm. Before the thorny hedge grew tall, she would dig traps to deter prey.


    Once the sea buckthorn and wolfberry matured, she could feel secure.


    After digging up these trees, Wen Qian hurried back to propagate the thorny cuttings she had retained in her space.


    As she was busy propagating the thorny cuttings, the grapevines in her yard began flowering, and those nted outside also survived.


    It seemed she might be able to eat self-grown grapes this year. Observing the fruit trees and berry bushes around her home, she nned to nt them around her hunter''s cabin too.


    So she found time to dig up over a dozen small potted seedlings to carry in a basket to nt near the cabin.


    It was now June, and as Wen Qian carried the basket toward the cabin, the brief month since thete spring had infused the woonds with vibrant life.


    However, Wen Qian noticed that some trees had been crushed by the snow, and some branches were broken. Among the new green leaves on the branches, they were still bare.


    Some were broken at the waist, with one side of the bark still attached, and the upper half lying on the ground was still stubbornly alive.


    While others had fallen to the ground, no longer able to revive, but it didn''t matter, as their seeds around them would surely sprout into new seedlings.


    Likewise, she stopped in the distance and used a telescope to examine the situation near the cottage. Then she discovered something that shouldn''t have been there.


    A trail of smoke rose in the distance, and Wen Qian didn''t know if it wasing from inside the house or just near the house.


    Since the cottage waspletely hidden in the woods from her angle, she had to go further to see.

 Chapter 158

    Chapter 158


    Wen Qian changed directions and headed upwards, trying to get a clearer view.


    Then she noticed the cooking smoke slowly fading, and there were no other figures or footprints in the woods.


    Wen Qian moved closer and closer, and when she looked through the binocrs, she found that there was no one near the hut.


    She found a pile of firewood that had been extinguished with water, probably from someone who had just cooked meat and the smoke Wen Qian saw was from the water being poured on the fire.


    The other person had lit a fire on the open ground beside the hut, and the footprints around it showed that they hade from the railing not too far away, but had now gone far away.


    On her wooden door, they had written a few words in charcoal: "Hello, neighbor."


    The words wererge, with a smiley face underneath the four words.


    Wen Qian saw footprints circling the wooden hut, and some of the moss and small grass on the side had been trampled.


    But it seemed that the other person was probably friendly, as they had not broken the simple lock on the door.


    The words they wrote indicated that they just wanted to say hello and let the owner of the hut know that a new neighbor had arrived.


    After ruling out any danger in the surroundings, Wen Qian nted the fruit seedlings she had brought in a sunny spot.


    She wondered whether she should write something on the wooden door as well, but after some hesitation, she left without leaving any message.


    If the other person wanted to meet the neighbor, it wouldn''t be too difficult, so Wen Qian didn''t feel the need to respond.


    After quickly nting the fruit seedlings, Wen Qian hurried back, but before she could get home, she encountered Big Jin carrying a gun by the river.


    As soon as Big Jin saw Wen Qian, he waved eagerly, as he had an urgent matter to find her about.


    When they reached Wen Qian''s home, they found her door was closed, and no one responded to their calls.


    They had thought they would have to make the trip in vain, but unexpectedly, Wen Qian had just returned at that moment.


    Big Jin asked Wen Qian with a grave expression, "Today, I found unfamiliar footprints in my area."


    These footprints were slightlyrger than his own, so he naturally wouldn''t think they were Wen Qian''s, and Wen Qian basically never went into his area since they had divided the boundaries.


    However, in the area not adjacent to Wen Qian, although he had nned to put up fences, he hadn''t had enough time initially, so arge part was left nk.


    Now, unfamiliar footprints had appeared, and he didn''t know if the other person was good or bad. If they had no ill intentions, that would be fine.


    But if the other person was not a good person, then he would need to warn his family and neighbors to be cautious.


    Wen Qian was stunned for a moment, then replied, "Today, I found cooking smoke, someone had lit a fire in my area, but I didn''t interact with them."


    When Big Jin returned from hunting, he had told his family about this incident and asked them not to go too far away, especially the two children.


    Now, hearing from Wen Qian that there were also traces in her area, he asked if she wanted to go hunting together for a while so they could look out for each other.


    Wen Qian told him that the other person had written on her hut''s wooden door.


    Big Jin only then realized that Wen Qian had already set up a hunter''s hut on her own, and he couldn''t help but admire her efficiency.


    However, he was still cautious about the message left on the door. He said that if the other person truly wanted to be friendly with the neighbors, they would probablye and greet them in person along the riverter.


    This matched Wen Qian''s thoughts ¨C since the person was new, there was no reason for them to go find others. If the other person was truly harmless, they mighte by themselves when they had time.


    As for hunting together, Wen Qian thought it would be better to hunt around their homes for now.


    There was no need for the two of them to team up near their homes, as they were both familiar with the area and the woods were not that dense.


    However, if the two of them went farther away as a pair, Big Jin''s family still had elders and children, so he wouldn''t feel toofortable leaving them.


    So Big Jin said he would discuss it with his wife, and also reminded Wen Qian to be more cautious recently.


    He was worried that if there were bad people around, Wen Qian would be in more danger living alone, especially since she had built such a nice home.


    After their conversation, they each returned home. When Wen Qian got back, she quickly ate dinner and then went up the mountain behind her home.


    At the highest point, she trimmed some trees, found a suitable branch, took out a cushion, sat on it, and began using her binocrs to patrol the surroundings.


    For the time being, she wouldn''t go far away but would just tend to her crops and fruit trees near her home, and could spend some time checking the area through her binocrs every noon.


    However, she was alone and had no one to take shifts with her, so she thought about Big Jin''s children ¨C perhaps they could help with this task.


    But then she dismissed the idea, as the two families lived quite far apart, and it might be difficult for someone else''s children toe over and help while also taking care of their own home.


    Wen Qian had no family, so she had no one to take shifts with.


    Big Jin had a family who could help him keep watch and take shifts, but that also became his weakness, preventing him from going too far alone.


    These two survival modes both had their pros and cons. Wen Qian thought about the words and smiley face written on her door, and hoped that the other person was truly harmless.


    She was willing to believe the other person was harmless, based on the fact that they hadn''t forcibly opened her lock.


    But she didn''t know if, when this person saw that she lived alone, they would still remain friendly.


    Sure enough, after another month passed and everyone thought the other person wouldn''te, someone came down along the river.


    A rather tall hunter carrying a rifle, with a basket on his back.


    He first saw Wen Qian''s home, so he stood on the opposite bank and called out to this side. Finally, he put down his rifle, took off the basket, and pulled something out to wave in the air.


    Wen Qian saw that he was waving a wild chicken, with beautiful feathers.


    So she also carried her gun down from the mountain and spoke to him from across the river.


    Wen Qian remembered that Big Jin''s family had greeted her in a simr way, so she guessed that the other person might just be introducing himself to them.


    The other person asked if the small hut was hers, and after Wen Qian nodded, he said he lived by a mountain stream upstream.


    Wen Qian didn''t know where that mountain stream was, as the distance between them was simply too far.


    This hunter had walked nearly two hours just toe here, following the river.


    If he had gone by the mountain paths, it would have been even farther. The main reason he came to greet Wen Qian was that he might settle in this area, adjacent to Wen Qian''s territory.


    Since he could not throw the object in his hand across the river, he could only leave it on the shore for Wen Qian to collect herself when she had the chance. Afterwards, he went to Big Jin''s ce.


    Big Jin, who was active near the house, had already noticed themotion over there.

 Chapter 159

    Chapter 159


    On the way to Big Jin''s house, the Hunter encountered him and took out a hunted animal as a greeting gift.


    Big Jin noticed the other''s blue eyes and asked if he was a foreigner. The Hunter exined that he was just a minority, not a foreigner.


    Jin nodded, observing the other''s yellow skin and ck hair. Although he knew there were no more national borders now, he still subconsciously distinguished nationalities.


    Originally, the Hunter and his wife lived further north, hunting and fishing. Later, they wanted to find a rtively warmer ce to grow some crops, which brought them here.


    To show a harmonious coexistence, and since they were quite far from the locals, the Hunter asked if they needed to draw boundary lines or set up fences.


    Fortunately, the only part that Big Jin and the Hunter shared but hadn''t settled on had stones marking the boundary, so they quickly reached an agreement.


    The Hunter told Big Jin that he hade mainly to exchange seeds and other things with them.


    Since the other''s intention was harmless, Big Jin breathed a sigh of relief and agreed to exchange seeds with the new neighbor.


    The new neighbor had no intention of conflicting with others but hade here for a better life. It took him a month to build a decent house.


    With the crisis resolved between the two families, they both went back to their usual hunting and living routines.


    The Hunter and Big Jin scheduled a time, and in seven days, he woulde back here to exchange goods with them.


    After relieving their guard, Wen Qian and Big Jin grew curious about what the other party would use for exchange.


    However, both families felt that as long as the other needed something they had, they should exchange some amount.


    Having just moved in, everything at home was likely unsettled, so if the Hunter hade before building the house, perhaps he could have exchanged seeds and nted them earlier.


    But then they thought that being in the forest, there didn''t seem to be any ready arablend over there either, and they might need to clear thend first.


    Sopared to farming, it was indeed more important to build the house first.


    The Hunter and his wife nned to hunt and fish this year, and at most grow some vegetables to eat.


    As for growing crops, they would need to clear thend this year and start farming next year.


    For now, they needed to exchange food for this year and seeds for next year.


    During this time, Wen Qian made soy sauce at home. She had soy sauce starter, so she tried making two pounds of soybeans.


    If she followed the steps well and it turned out good, she would then make arge barrel of it.


    She wanted to try making many condiments herself if possible.


    After all, this was no longer a world where she could go downstairs to a convenience store and buy ready-made seasonings.


    Moreover, she felt that if none of the neighboring families knew how to make these condiments, she could exchange her homemade goods for their hunted animals in the future.


    Wen Qian believed that only by mastering more cooking skills could she avoid going hungry due to sudden cmities.


    And these cmities included not just natural disasters but also the disappearance of their space. Once learned, these skills would belong to her, ensuring she never went hungry as long as she had the skills.


    On the exchange day, the other party, husband and wife, came downstream on a wooden raft.


    One person stood at the front, the other at the back, with goods tied in the middle.


    Using a raft and going with the flow of the water, their speed was much faster than walking while carrying things.


    Little Hu heard the shouting from outside and saw the other party''s raft approaching their stairs.


    When the Hunter came near the stairs, he jumped onto the shore and tied the rope to a tree. Then he helped his wife onto the shore and began unloading the items from the raft.


    Wen Qian was very curious about what the other party would use for exchange, as she thought the Hunter probably only had furs, skins, and meat.


    But to her surprise, the first things unloaded were not what she had imagined.


    Instead, they were several small jars of various sizes, visibly homemade and irregr.


    At this point, the Hunter''s wife began speaking to Wen Qian, and she realized the other woman had a foreign appearance.


    This beautiful woman with blue eyes and blonde hair, perhaps noticing Wen Qian''s surprise, said her first words: "I''m not a foreigner."


    "A minority?"


    "Yes, yes!" The woman was pleased that Wen Qian put it that way, as minorities living near other countries often had such appearances.


    Wen Qian was curious about the jars and bottles, so she asked what was inside.


    The woman replied that there were many things, including honey, salt, and fish roe sauce.


    While Wen Qian had honey and salt, she had never tried fish roe sauce before, piquing her interest.


    "Where are you from? You can even make fish roe sauce?"


    Seeing Wen Qian''s interest in the fish roe sauce, the woman was delighted, hoping to exchange it for more grains.


    At this time, Big Jin also came over with their children, and the two kids were curious about the couple''s eye and hair colors.


    However, despite their curiosity, the children were a bit shy but polite.


    Apart from the jars'' contents, the other party brought dried seafood and recently hunted animals.


    Given the hot weather, they had visibly salted and sun-dried them.


    Their biggest hope was to exchange the seafood and jarred items.


    Wen Qian was interested in the fish roe sauce, while Big Jin needed salt. When they first came to this forest, his family had brought a lot of salt, but not enough tost a lifetime.


    So of all the items, his family was most interested in exchanging for salt, as they used a lot of it for curing meats like smoked and salted pork.


    If they ran out of salt and had to go out to exchange for more, it would be a long journey, and they might not get much.


    Wen Qian suggested that Big Jin exchange first. Understanding her meaning, he wanted their salt.


    Sure enough, the Hunter asked if he had any grains or seeds.


    Big Jin admitted a bit embarrassedly that he had a few kinds - he could exchange arge bag of wheat and some corn.


    As for other seeds like peanuts and soybeans, these were what Wen Qian had given or exchanged with his family before, so Big Jin felt awkward using them to trade with the Hunter.


    Wen Qian had all those, and seeing Big Jin''s expression, she didn''t think there was anything wrong, as she had originally given them the seeds for practical use.


    Whenever a new neighbor arrives in this area, as long as they have no ill intentions, those who came before need to help them settle in.


    If they have no food or drink, and not enough seeds and grains, they might do anything to survive.


    Only when they themselves are settled can this ce truly be stable.


    After all, if there are unstable people around you, trouble is bound to arise.

 Chapter 160

    Chapter 160


    The hunter began discussing the exchange weights with Big Jin, as the two children from Big Jin''s family had already run back home to prepare containers for collecting items.


    After Big Jin''s family finished exchanging their items, Wen Qian then inquired if they needed anything else.


    Through their conversation, she learned that the beautiful woman''s name was Zhu Jin, and she also had another name, Ni Sha. Her husband''s name was Li Anming.


    Ni Sha directly said that she wanted grains and seeds, anything that could be grown here.


    So Wen Qian asked if they wanted potatoes and sweet potatoes, and they nodded in agreement. However, since the weather was hot now, they couldn''t preserve them for too long, so they only took a basket to eat.


    They also felt that Wen Qian wouldn''t have too much, since her household consisted of only one person.


    Then Wen Qian asked if they wanted wheat and corn, and after thinking that these two could be preserved for a long time, they also agreed.


    Wen Qian requested fish roe sauce, honey, and all the seafood she had brought.


    As expected, the meat items ced at the bottom just for padding were not of much interest to these two families.


    Wen Qian then turned back home saying she would fetch the items, and since there were many items to exchange, she started preparing the items she had prepared for exchanging inside her space.


    The wheat and corn were stored in jars, while the potatoes and sweet potatoes were ced in baskets she had woven.


    All the items were ced outside the front door, and Wen Qian called them over to carry the items.


    Wen Qian had an old-fashioned steelyard scale and asked if they needed to weigh the items again.


    Li Anming directly tested the weight with his hands, feeling somewhat troubled. They had indeede with the intention of exchanging for more grains.


    But he also knew that during the long winter, people here must have consumed more grains, so he felt that the two of them should be able to carry everything away.


    However, with the jars and baskets, it would take a long time to carry them back. And if they used a wooden sled to pull them back, they were worried about the items falling into the water.


    So they negotiated with Wen Qian, deciding to take half of the items today and leave the other half at her ce, thene back the next day to retrieve the rest.


    They used their own animal skin bags to swap out Wen Qian''s containers.


    Just the wheat and corn alone were more than they had expected. Later, Lisa also asked Wen Qian if she could exchange a woven basket for some cured meat, and Wen Qian agreed.


    In the end, Ni Sha simply gave all her cured meat to Wen Qian, and Wen Qian gave her a small vegetable basket in return.


    This exchange was very sessful. Wen Qian even tasted the fish roe sauce, and they gave her a few small spoons made of seashells, telling her to use these small spoons to scoop it out when she wanted to eat it.


    As for these seafood items, Wen Qian didn''t have enough money to stockpile them back then, at most buying some seaweed and the like. The rest of the seafood was just a taste.


    But after all these years, she was actually able to exchange for them, and Wen Qian was curious why they hade here. Was it really because of the cold making it impossible to grow crops?


    Wen Qian thought about it and felt that it wasn''t entirely the case, but she didn''t need to pry too much, as that was their privacy.


    After packing the grains into their animal skin bags, the two carried away the items they were taking today, leaving the rest for Wen Qian to move into her room for them to pick up the next day.


    Wen Qian didn''t need to worry about any disputes between them, as the items packed in the animal skin bags were weighed by them, and even the knots on the ropes were tied by them.


    Lisa was very delighted with these grains, and what made her even happier was when they asked Wen Qian if she could leave them some sweet potato sprouts and sprouting potatoes the following spring, Wen Qian readily agreed.


    Wen Qian didn''t even discuss with her what to exchange for them, as she loved these two foods very much. So they made an arrangement that the next spring, she woulde and exchange for them with game.


    The current season was not suitable for growing potatoes and sweet potatoes, so they would first nt the vegetable seeds they had exchanged.


    The sweet potatoes and potatoes they had brought back home, other than eating them, couldn''t be preserved until the following spring.


    If they could sessfully obtain the sprouts from Wen Qian and grow them at home, then they wouldn''t need to exchange with others in the future.


    Every year, they could grow their own sweet potatoes and potatoes, only needing to preserve enough tost through the winter, and then nt again the following spring.


    After dividing the items, they helped Wen Qian carry everything from the shore to her front door.


    Then they waved goodbye, and Lisa said she woulde back again the next day.


    Wen Qian hung the cured meat they gave her in the yard to continue drying, while the jars for honey and fish roe sauce were from Ni Sha''s family, so Wen Qian didn''t need to provide her own containers.


    Theoretically, these jars should have been counted as part of the exchange, but since Wen Qian had exchanged a lot of items, Ni Sha simply gave them to her.


    Wen Qian took out the somewhat dried seafood items, which still had salt grains stuck to them, and examined them carefully one by one.


    She thought that the salt they had used to pack the seafood was probably sea salt, and Wen Qian remembered the things she had dug out from the salt pans in Xia Province long ago.


    Even though she had used a lot of salt for curing meat, she had already considered her usage when she initially purchased it, so she wasn''tcking any.


    Since these were seafood items, Wen Qian nned to go back and look through cookbooks to see how to make them taste good.


    Wen Qian had grown up in a small mountain vige and had a longing for the sea. Later, after watching videos online of people going to the sea, she became even more envious, as just being by the seaside meant being able to gather many edible things, which must be amazing.


    But what she didn''t know was that Ni Sha''s family didn''t actually live by the sea either. They could only reach the sea mouth by taking a few days to travel by boat along the river.


    This new neighbor family still had something they hadn''t shown the two neighbors - their tamed reindeer.


    Otherwise, carrying seafood and a lot of salt would have taken them much longer to reach this ce.


    After Ni Sha and her husband returned home, the first thing they did was quickly fire the dried y bodies they had prepared.


    Jars were still the best for storing grains, as wooden boxes or animal skin bags were more susceptible to damage from rats and insects.


    Firing the kiln required building the kiln first and preparing a lot of firewood.


    This was no problem, as they had exchanged a lot of grains from their two neighbors, allowing them to reduce their hunting time and focus on this task.


    Additionally, they could fire more, andter see if their neighbors wanted any. If they didn''t know how to do it, they could teach them.


    Because ording to the information they had read, autumn was the best season for firing the kiln, so Wen Qian nned to fire it in the autumn.


    Even if Ni Sha''s family wanted to exchange things that had been cooked, Wen Qian would likely agree to the exchange, because she could use them for qualityparison.


    That evening, Wen Qian cooked a porridge with dried scallops and shrimp. As for the other ingredients, she stored them in her spatial pocket to eat slowly.


    The other half of the things that the new neighbors didn''t take, she also put into her spatial pocket, because she was worried that at night they might get bitten by insects or rats, which would only cause more trouble.


    Ni Sha''s family''s skills didn''t stop there, andter they exchanged with the neighbors many more times.

 Chapter 161

    Chapter 161


    A new household had emerged in the forest, but Wen Qian''s life remainedrgely the same as before.


    Previously, the soy sauce she attempted to make herself turned out quite well, so she prepared to make arge batch.


    She used soybeans stored in her space, which she had previously purchased in bulk, as her self-grown soybeans contained a lot of bad beans, dirt clumps, and impurities.


    If she were to use her own beans, it would take a very long time just to pick them over, so Wen Qian decided to use the beans she had from before.


    As for the soybeans she harvestedst year, she now had time to spread them out at her doorstep to sun-dry and thresh.


    She followed the ancient soy sauce brewing method from the books, as the experimental batch she made previously was passable, but she had to be more diligent when making arge batch.


    Although she didn''tck grains, she would still feel reluctant to waste them.


    The beans were first soaked and then steamed. During this period, Wen Qian was also threshing the beans she harvestedst year in the courtyard, storing the straw in her space to burn in the kang stove in winter.


    The baking oven in the courtyard was smoking, baking fish. Wen Qian would never neglect her stomach while diligently working.


    A few days ago, the children from the Big Jin family spotted some lotus leaves growing downstream while fishing.


    The children picked a few leaves and even gave two to Wen Qian.


    They said wrapping brined chicken with the leaves and then with mud could make a dish called "Huahua Chicken".


    Wen Qian told them the leaves could also be dried and used to make tea, so they went home to try it.


    Lotus roots could grow sessfully downstream, so if there were enough in the future, she might be able to make lotus powder.


    When it came to food, Wen Qian had always had a strong desire to explore, willing to try growing and making anything.


    This year, Wen Qian nted some ck sesame seeds at the forestry station. Sesame typically has a low yield, but she didn''t intend to extract oil from them, but rather to make ck sesame pasteter on.


    A ring of small sea buckthorn and wolfberry seedlings was nted around the forestry station, and she set up traps nearby to prevent wild boars from damaging the crops. So far, there had been no major disturbances, with only some small prey caught.


    After the beans were steamed and cooled naturally, they were evenly mixed with qu fermentation starter and flour for the first fermentation.


    During the long process of making soy sauce, Wen Qian did not forget to go hunting.


    She set out from the first cabin, intending to find a suitable location for her second cabin.


    She walked along the fence adjacent to Lisa''s area, which was currently the only ce with a semnce of a path to prevent her from getting lost.


    On the other side of the fence, there were traces of logging, likely a path opened by hunters on patrol.


    She nned to build three hunter''s cabins within her domain, totaling four outposts including her home.


    In the future, she could go hunting in faraway ces without worrying about returning toote, as she could rest in the cabins.


    The second location she chose was on a sunny slope with only some stunted trees.


    Wen Qian spent some time clearing the area, but it was impossible to finish in one day, so she returned to the first cabin to stay the night and resumed the next day.


    She couldn''t stay away for too long, as there were still things to take care of at home, like the rabbits she had been raising in the backyard.


    After being away for three days, she returned home to find the rabbits'' food and water nearly depleted. She immediately replenished their supplies.


    Next, she went to the forestry station to check on the crops and traps. Perhaps due to summer, the vegetation and water conditions were excellent, with no signs of wild boars near her home yet.


    After returning home, the fermented beans needed to be rinsed with water, then ced in a zed jar with salt added and sealed for the second fermentation.


    After that, they had to be sun-dried daily, with a cover ced over them at night.


    In theter stages, the jars were inverted to drizzle the beans with oil to facilitate more thorough fermentation.


    Wen Qian finally understood why some traditionally made soy sauces could be so expensive - it was pure manualbor, time-consuming andborious. How could they not charge a high price?


    The soy sauce she had previously bought only cost a few dors per bottle, or even cheaper inrge stic barrels when purchased in bulk.


    As time progressed into July, Wen Qian no longer ventured deep into the forest, instead roaming around her home or near the river.


    The lotus flowers were quite beautiful when in bloom, but Wen Qian preferred eating the lotus seeds and left the flowers alone.


    The lotus roots and seeds she had previously waited to sprout at home wereter nted downstream.


    Growing them at home would requirerge barrels, which might crack in the courtyard during cold weather, so she didn''t cultivate them there.


    A gunshot rang out, and a wild chicken fell into the grass. At that moment, Wen Qian wished she had a hunting dog.


    That way, she wouldn''t have to search through the grass, especially during a season when snakes liked toe out.


    In the hot weather, meat spoiled quickly. Without the space, she would need to return home early to clean and gut the game, then quickly smoke and salt it to preserve it.


    Now, she only needed to confirm the kill before stuffing it into her space. As for the game she hunted in summer, she stored the fresh meat in her space after processing it.


    Too much smoked and cured meat wasn''t good, so Wen Qian had stored plenty of fresh meat in her space.


    In summer, Wen Qian switched from rice to handmade noodles or porridge, paired with appetizing dishes.


    She preferred drinking soups and liquids in the hot weather, not wanting to eat dry rice.


    The y basin for kneading dough was obtained from Ni Sha''s family, who had made many bowls, pots, and jars.


    Both Big Jin and Wen Qian had exchanged for some, as these containers were great for storing various things and were very durable, with a simple ze applied to them.


    On slightly warmer days, Wen Qian rarely ced a small basin in her room filled with snow or ice blocks to cool the temperature.


    It was quite amusing, as she stockpiled ice and snow blocks every year but had never used them for cooling until now.


    At least they had finally served a purpose, as she hadn''t needed them in previous years.


    This summer''s highest temperature was slightly higher thanst year''s, with more warm days, so perhaps in a few years, the climate would return to its pre-volcanic eruption levels.


    In the south, food crops could now be grown twice a year, and the previously cold-resistant varieties could now be introduced northward.


    The south was now using varieties from before the volcanic winter, indicating their climate had recovered.


    Currently, the poption density in the southern regions is higherpared to other areas, with cities and nearby towns experiencing rtively good public security.


    In the central regions, the poption is sparser, mostly consisting of small viges and some small towns, but with fewer people.


    The areas with the lowest poption are the teaus and the northern regions, which the people from the south refer to as the wlessnds."


    Some individuals who are wanted with bounties in the south would flee to these two areas.


    However, the people living in thewlessnds are not entirely defenseless against mistreatment, as most households possess firearms.


    Those who thought they could evade pursuit and punishment by leaving the south have sometimes ended up being killed by the guns of northern hunters and farmers.


    To a certain extent, it could be considered another form of judgment.

 Chapter 162

    Chapter 162


    Wen Qian had finished making soy sauce. She would soonplete the final step of high-temperature heating and sterilization, and then everything would be aplished.


    After that, she could bottle up all the soy sauce and store it in her space.


    In the Northern Forest, it started raining. When the rain stopped, Wen Qian would either patrol her crops at the logging camp or catch fish by the river.


    The other two neighboring families also couldn''t hunt much, so they ended up fishing by the river without any prior agreement. Although the river water had risen somewhat, it couldn''t be called a flood.


    In the Northern Forest, it was only a continuous light rain for now, while in the south, there was a heavy downpour.


    Heavy rains in the south easily lead to floods, and after floods, gues tend to ur. Fortunately, after so many years, people knew how to disinfect.


    Wen Qian covered the y oven in her courtyard with a stic tarp, otherwise the mud on top would be washed away by the rainwater.


    On the corridor of the house, there were strawberry pots with four-season strawberries. Wen Qian treated them as snacks, picking the ripe ones, leaving only green strawberries on the pots.


    In the storage room, some cured and smoked meat was hung up, while the rest was stacked with firewood.


    She originally nned to build a thatched shed for the firewood, butter, seeing that the storage room didn''t store much food or tools, she just put the firewood in there.


    In the courtyard, the grape trellis had already grown small bunches of grapes this year.


    Each bunch had many tightly packed small fruits. Wen Qian consulted her gardening books and started thinning out the grapes, including those by the river.


    She estimated that in another two or three months, she would be able to eat fresh grapes from her home.


    Previously, when she picked other berries in the mountains, she also saw wild grapes growing naturally here, but they didn''t taste very good.


    Although she had harvested them, she didn''t process them into other foods, but just kept them in her space.


    Although she could now make her own soy sauce, she was still a bit afraid of making grape wine.


    After all, she had read many news reports about experienced home winemakers having idents one day, resulting in entire tables of people being poisoned and sent to the hospital.


    In this era, if there was food poisoning, she wouldn''t have anywhere to find medicine or a hospital, so she thought it would be better to use the grapes to make something else to eat.


    While Wen Qian was listening to the rain at home, the two adults from the Big Jin Family were still inspecting their crops.


    The elderly and children stayed home, as it was windy and rainy outside. Even wearing waterproof cloaks and conical hats, their clothes still got wet.


    Fortunately, the duration of the rain was the same as usual, and it didn''t cause much damage to the crops.


    It should be known that in the south, many crops had already been affected, and without weather forecasts, people couldn''t prepare in advance.


    Modern agriculture truly depended on the weather. No matter how carefully the crops were tended, a strong wind, flood, or hailstorm could result in a total or partial loss of the season''s harvest.


    Due to the rain, the number of animals that could be hunted outside would also decrease.


    At this time, people had to rely on the food they had stored in advance to get through, so no matter where they lived, people would have a mindset of storing food in preparation for adversity.


    Fortunately, the three families in Wen Qian''s area now all had enough food at home.


    After the rain passed, the three families all chose to go out hunting. Wen Qian did it so she wouldn''t get out of practice, while the other two families were truly storing food for the winter.


    Yes, from winter to spring, people would start storing firewood and food continuously. After the food stored in summer and autumn allowed people to get through the winter smoothly, the cycle would repeat.


    In Wen Qian''s view, this was simr to her previous life of studying, working, and earning money to spend on living expenses.


    Since there weren''t many ces where money circted now, most people still considered food, clothing, and shelter.


    Moreover, due to natural factors, most people didn''t rely on a single survival skill.


    For example, among these few families in the Northern Forest, no one was solely a farmer, hunter, or fisherman - theybined multiple skills.


    They were afraid that if one day, one skill failed, they would still have another to help them get by.


    The grapes in the courtyard received the most care and were the first to ripen.


    After the first frost, Wen Qian picked one to taste. It was soursweet, so she would pick a few every day to taste.


    When the sweetness became increasingly intense, Wen Qian took a basket, lined it with soft hay, and usedrge shears to harvest the grapes one bunch at a time.


    She would also go harvest the grapes by the river regrly, as she was worried about birds stealing them, so she had covered them with a.


    Since it was the first harvest, the quantity wasn''t veryrge, and interestingly, when she had originally grafted them, she didn''t separate many varieties, so her grapes were of all kinds.


    Yes, to Wen Qian, both grapes and raisins were simply called "grapes."


    After harvesting, she sent two bunches to the Big Jin Family. Their child often went near the river, so when Wen Qian called out, they could hear her.


    The Big Jin Family had previously noticed the grapes Wen Qian had nted by the riverbank, so in spring, they had exchanged three small grape seedlings with her using game.


    However, the small seedlings hadn''t grown yet and might need another two years before they could bear fruit.


    The Nisha Family lived too far away, so Wen Qian could only give them some to taste when they came to trade.


    If they also wanted to exchange game for fruit seedlings, Wen Qian wouldn''t refuse.


    She didn''t need to monopolize anything, so as long as others traded things, she would mostly agree.


    For her, besides her own space being exclusive, she didn''t need to monopolize crops, seeds, or seedlings.


    In Wen Qian''s space, she still had some inexpensive grapes and raisins that she had bought in bulk directly from growers at wholesale prices long ago, so the starting wholesale price was very low.


    After so many years, she had consumed most of them, and she was increasingly reluctant to finish them off.


    Now that she could eat truly fresh grapes, varieties different from those in her space, Wen Qian was very satisfied.


    When she had originally looked at the prices, she didn''t dare look too much at those expensive grapes costing dozens of yuan per catty.


    Yet among the varieties she was now growing, there were some of those previously high-priced grapes. She couldn''t help but marvel that what she couldn''t afford to buy due to poverty before, she had now obtained through another means.


    In this season, besides grapes, she had another important thing to do - shaping y embryos.


    The y soil that was initially dug from other ces and suitable for firing, now had to go through a process to be highly malleable y.


    Just this one Wen Qian step alone took a very long time. Once she tamed the y, that was just the beginning.


    Next, she had to make the y body. She had a simple potter''s wheel, but initially only had the idea of firing pottery without any actual pottery-making experience, so now she could only slowly explore on her own.


    Fortunately, failure is the mother of sess, and she was able to make tes and bowls.

 Chapter 163

    Chapter 163


    Wen Qian spent a lot of time ying with y, yes, she had to gradually master and familiarize herself with various shaping methods.


    She was not particrly dexterous, so she could only make decent creations through long practice.


    She also tried making zes, as some utensils needed to be zed for better use. There were many ways to make zes, and Wen Qian chose methods that suited her conditions and sessfully made them.


    She set up a shed in front of her house to store the y and make y bodies.


    The small y bodies had dried, but she hadn''t fired them in the kiln yet, as she was still making jars.


    If she didn''t do a good job, she would knead the y back into a lump. She didn''tck bowls and tes, but she was in dire need of jars and crocks. After several attempts, she could make jars.


    However, it was difficult for her to makerger crocks. Compared to the bottom-small, round-bellied water crock style and the stic bucket style with the same size top and bottom, Wen Qian felt that thetter was easier to make.


    But she had no choice. When she made a rtively eptable y body, she always felt that the fired product wouldn''t be able to hold anything.


    She wondered if she couldn''t master this technique alone because to makerge crocks, she had to knead the y into long strips of the same length and thickness, and then stack them in circles on the base te.


    The problem here was that during the finishing process, the y often deformed, with some parts suddenly copsing or caving in.


    Then she began to think that maybe she didn''t need to make crocks after all, and it would be better to settle for something simpler.


    Being able to make jars should be good enough, so she focused on making jars and pots, starting with small ones and gradually working her way up.


    Apart from the crocks she couldn''t make, she could make everything else very well.


    After the y bodies dried, she zed some of them for testing, and then she began firing in the kiln. Of course, she also knew that she wouldn''t seed on the first try, so she prepared far more than she needed.


    She nned to win by quantity. If some were spoiled, she could just keep firing the next batch until she got usable ones.


    During this time, she only collected or set traps nearby, and didn''t go hunting or build houses far away.


    However, to her surprise, the first firing actually produced some usable pieces, so Wen Qian happily started the second firing, but the second one was a total failure.


    Wen Qian fired a total of five times, with thest two firings yielding about half of the products usable.


    After that, she didn''t have time for more firings, so she put all the unfired y bodies, zes, and y under her shed into her spatial storage, waiting for the next opportunity to work on them.


    Because next, she had to start gathering food. Wen Qian went hunting, and if she didn''t encounter any prey, she would forage for wild fruits.


    In any case, she never came back empty-handed, and very often she went out specifically to gather wild fruits, a habit she couldn''t break.


    She always tried her best to gather the wild fruits that weren''t affected by human intervention.


    The more she gathered, the more she felt she was getting a good deal, as if the time and effort she spent didn''t cost anything, without realizing whose good deal she was taking advantage of.


    As for the crops she grew near her home, she was not as enthusiastic about them.


    Of course, once she spotted prey, she would switch from foraging mode to hunting mode.


    She also harvested two wild boars, big and small, near the logging camp.


    She shot therge one with a hunting rifle, while the small one was caught in a trap, proving that her precautions were not excessive.


    The wild boars were drawn by the smell and came, but the thorny seedlings hadn''t grownrge enough yet to be much of an obstacle.


    Although the wild boars rampaged through the fields, the damage wasn''t too severe, as Wen Qian took them down before they could cause much destruction.


    Wen Qian put the two wild boars into her spatial storage for now, as she didn''t have time to skin and dress them yet.


    This year, she had only chosen a location and hadn''t nned to build a house, so she had plenty of time.


    Next, she began harvesting the berries and fruits from the trees around her home. There were a few apples left fromst year, but there were still many persimmon cakes left uneaten.


    This year, she picked both fruits and put them in her spatial storage without making persimmon cakes.


    She thought she would just leave them there, but unexpectedly, Ni Sha wanted to trade for her fruits, as she couldn''t get much from Big Jin''s family.


    Big Jin''s family wasrge, and these fruits were barely enough for their own consumption, so they didn''t have much to trade.


    So Wen Qian traded game meat for persimmons and apples from Ni Sha''s family, with more persimmons than apples.


    It was perfect timing, as Ni Sha and Big Jin''s grandmother-inw were learning to make persimmon cakes.


    By this time, Wen Qian had to start harvesting her own grains, as she had enough time to process all her grains during this season.


    The harvest time was alwaysborious, but it was also a time of aplishment. Wen Qian would go to the logging camp like going to work every day, clocking in.


    The first crop to be harvested was sesame. When the sesame stalks were still greenish and the leaves at the bottom started turning yellow, she would harvest them,y out an oilcloth on the ground, and bundle the sesame stalks in grass ropes.


    All the bundles would be ced on the oilcloth and taken home in her spatial storage. Then she would take them out and stack three or four bundles into a tower on the t bricks behind her house, letting them slowly dry in the sun.


    At this point, the sesame pods would gradually burst open, and some sesame seeds would fall onto the bricks. Wen Qian wouldn''t waste these either but would sweep them up and collect them.


    She would flip the bundles over from time to time to expose different sides to the sun.


    After everything had dried, on a sunny day, Wen Qian wouldy out an oilcloth on the ground, hold a bundle of sesame stalks with the roots up, and strike them with a stick. The sesame seeds inside the pods would fall onto the oilcloth.


    After striking all the bundles, she would pile the seeds into three or four heaps and sun them again to prevent any pods from remaining unopened, then strike them a second time.


    After collecting all the sesame seeds, the sesame stalks could be used as firewood.


    The collected sesame seeds contained many small insects and leaf debris, so they couldn''t be consumed immediately.


    She would use arger sieve to remove therger debris, then spread the seeds on a bamboo tray and cover them with a cloth to continue drying.


    After that, she would slowly shake the tray, allowing the smaller debris to gradually collect at the edges to be removed.


    She could do this process in the winter when she had nothing else to do, then move on to harvest her other crops.


    There was no abnormal weather this year, so the potatoes, sweet potatoes in the fields, and the wheat in the paddies were all growing quite well.


    With not much fertilizer avable now, it was fortunate that the soil quality here was still decent.


    All she could do was makepost herself. She dug a pit in the woods and piled various kitchen waste and rice field waste that she had collected into the pit forposting.


    At the same time, she also tried making a wormposting bin, putting in leaves and fruit peels, which would gradually produce worm castings at the bottom.


    These fertilizers were not much, after all she was just one person and couldn''t provide a lot of things to makepost with, but she didn''t stop just because it was little.

 Chapter 164

    Chapter 164


    When Wen Qian''s ce gained a new household, a few other households also settled in the area where they had previously nted fruit trees.


    They were dedicated to cultivating rice and wheat in the nearby fields. It started with one or two families, and gradually more families followed.


    Once, Big Jin went out and discovered the vige there, so he exchanged some rice for game animals with them. The residents there fished and farmed, with few hunters.


    When he returned, he had his child deliver two pounds of rice grains to Wen Qian, to be used as seeds if she wanted to grow them, or to be cooked as rice if not.


    Of course, they did not know that Wen Qian''s Space still had a lot of unfinished rice. But whenever they had something new, they would send a bit to Wen Qian for her to try it.


    To be frank, when they first settled here, many of their seeds and other supplies came from trading with Wen Qian.


    Although Wen Qian was also a hunter, she still traded with them using game animals, and Big Jin''s family was always grateful for this.


    It was precisely because of this mutual goodwill that they got along well with each other.


    After receiving the rice, Wen Qian sent back two pots of strawberry nts with fruits, asking the child to take them home.


    She also reminded them to keep the nts indoors during winter, and in spring, if the vines sprouted, they could be transnted into the ground to take root.


    So Big Jin''s family gained another fruit variety.


    Although Big Jin''s family was curious about what Wen Qian had, they were just curious and did not pry excessively.


    One day when Wen Qian was digging sweet potatoes in the field, Ni Sha''s family wanted to exchange grains with her again. Anything could be exchanged, but it seemed they only had game animals to offer.


    So Wen Qian discussed with Ni Sha about making pottery kilns. Wen Qian said she didn''t have a water jar to use and asked if Ni Sha''s family could make one. If so, she could trade grains for it.


    Ni Sha had never made such arge water jar before, but she thought she could try if she had time.


    Previously, they had only fired pottery for their own use, but if she became skilled at it, perhaps she could trade pottery with other families in the future.


    This year, Wen Qian had a good harvest of sweet potatoes, so she traded some with Ni Sha''s family for meat. It didn''t really matter whether she traded or not.


    Her Space had plenty of meat and other supplies, but it was different for Ni Sha''s family. If they couldn''t exchange grains with the other two families, the most they would eat was meat.


    After all, they didn''t have time to cultivate too many crops this year. Although they had exchanged some with their two neighbors before and rationed their supplies, they still wanted to exchange for more to get through the winter.


    Fortunately, Wen Qian was just one person, and she had an abundant harvest. After trading her sweet potatoes, Ni Sha''s family woulde and deliver game animals to her from time to time.


    Since Wen Qian wanted fresh game, they would bring what they had hunted that day, until the quantity and weight were sufficient.


    Thest time, a hunter came and delivered a small water jar that seemed to have been fired before it was fully grown.


    He said it was one of two experimental pieces made by Ni Sha, and he didn''t know if it could survive the winter.


    He also made it clear that it was a gift from Ni Sha to Wen Qian, and no exchange was required.


    Wen Qian didn''t decline and told him that after winter, during the seedling season, she could leave some other vegetable seeds for his family, such as pumpkin or chili peppers.


    The shed at the entrance was dismantled, and Wen Qian swept the surrounding tiles clean. Then she started chopping down the neatly grown Chinese cabbages in the yard with a kitchen knife.


    She propped them upside down on the tiles to let the moisture dry a little before storing them in her Space.


    As the weather turned cold, Wen Qian started cooking in a pot, otherwise the food would get cold while she was eating.


    She usually cooked bellied pork with radish and cabbage, or soft tofu with meat, letting the other vegetables absorb the vors.


    Taking a sip of chrysanthemum tea, Wen Qian frowned. She didn''t like the taste, but these were chrysanthemums she had propagated outside the wall, so she didn''t want to waste them.


    Although she disliked drinking it, that didn''t stop her from picking the flowers, air-drying them, and then storing them in her Space after steaming and sun-drying.


    Ever since she had the Space, Wen Qian felt like she had a hoarding problem, but most of what she hoarded was useful, even if she didn''t need much of it herself.


    Wen Qian went on onest hunting trip, after which she didn''t n to venture far from home.


    From then on, she spent her time either by the river or in the nearby mountains.


    The lotus roots she had nted in a few spots by the river had grown, so she chose a more secluded spot, put on a full-body waterproof suit, and dug up a long section of lotus roots.


    Speaking of which, the waterproof suit she had bought so many years ago had been stored in her Space, with very few opportunities to use it.


    She only dug up one section of lotus roots and stopped, not knowing how much had grown that year. If she wasn''t careful, she might dig up everything in one pot, essentially harvesting the entire crop.


    She hoped that in a few years, this ce would be a lotus pond, and then she could dig as much as she wanted, even if the other two families joined in digging.


    This year, Wen Qian remembered to make cured sausages. She took out the sausages she had stuffed and ced in jarsst year from her Space.


    After poking holes in them with a needle, sheid them out in the yard to sun-dry. While drying them, she had to stand guard, because birds would swoop in to steal the meat if she wasn''t careful.


    So she just sat at a nearby table and ground meat filling, adding a few packs of spicy sausage seasonings, preparing to make another batch of cured sausages for the season.


    By changing the attachment on the meat grinder, she could switch to stuffing the casings with the filling. Even as one person, Wen Qian could make a lot.


    You could never have too many cured sausages ¨C no matter how many she made, they were always delicious. And with the temperature getting colder, it was the perfect time to make them.


    The second batch was sun-dried together with the first, saving her the trouble of guarding them. More vors meant more joy.


    During this time, she also didn''t forget to make other cured meats, as they could all be dried together. At this point, her yard was quite a spectacr sight with all the drying meat.


    After letting the moisture evaporate a bit, she could hang them in the storage room to continue slowly drying and developing their cured vor.


    While staying in the yard, she also didn''t forget to test the small jar gifted by Ni Sha by filling it with water to check for any cracks. After confirming it was intact, she ced it in the kitchen, ready to make pickled cabbage.


    Wen Qian cherished this little jar, and whenever the pickled cabbage turned sour, she would scoop up the sour cabbage, wring it dry, and store it, allowing the jar to remain dry and get through its first winter.


    Before the snow fell, Wen Qian would process some of the game from her Space.


    For instance, some birds needed to be dipped in hot water to remove their feathers, while some animals needed to be skinned, and then their bellies had to be gutted and cleaned by the riverside.


    After cleaning, she would return home and cut some meat into pieces, chop some bones, and store everything in suitable sizes in her Space.


    Otherwise, when winter came, if she suddenly felt like making a certain dish, she would have to spend half a day preparing and washing the ingredients with her bare hands, which dampened her enthusiasm.


    It was like in the past when cooking was not difficult, but preparing the ingredients before cooking and washing the dishes after eating added up to make many people just want to order takeout instead.

 Chapter 165

    Chapter 165


    Winter''s vegetables were prepared as winter wasing. This year, she turned forty.


    Although she looked quite young, her age had reached that point, and she paid special attention to her diet and keeping warm.


    Precisely because she lived alone, she needed to ensure her physical health even more. Once the harm and wear and tear on her body umted to a certain extent, it would be impossible to recover.


    She recalled what her grandmother had once told her. Her grandmother said that in her youth, she wasn''t afraid of the cold in winter or the heat in summer.


    But when she grew older, her bones would ache on rainy days or during winter, though it was toote for regrets. Therefore, she had repeatedly told the young Wen Qian many times.


    Even when young, one needs to protect one''s health and not squander it simply because of youth.


    So from childhood, Wen Qian knew not to indulge in the cold, but at that time, she wasn''t aware of how difficult her grandmother''s era had been.


    The work they did was all physicalbor, whether it was transnting rice seedlings, carrying grass on their heads, turning over soil, repairing roads, or tending fields and ditches. Despite their efforts to stay warm and avoid the cold, their generation''s physical condition would inevitably deteriorate with age due to the demanding manualbor.


    Although Wen Qian now arranged reasonable work hours for herself, she could still sense the overall decline in her physical fitness.


    Therefore, she started sleeping on a heated brick bed quite early and made sure to exercise indoors during the winter.


    Working and exercising are often two different things, but many people conte them.


    In her current living conditions, even though she had ample supplies, Wen Qian had to do everything herself by hand.


    Bending over to harvest or gather crops would make her back and waist ache, so during winter, she would apply moxibustion from time to time.


    Although she had stockpiled medicinal ointments in the past, she didn''t use them often, only applying them during the busy farming seasons.


    In fact, her living conditions were already quite goodpared to others. If even she felt this way, then her peers were probably more aged and had a wider range of physical ailments.


    However, the neck and shoulder issues she had developed from sitting at aputer for long periods while working were no longer as severe.


    When the weather outside was freezing cold, Wen Qian would take out the ck sesame seeds she had finally cleaned in the kitchen and prepare to make sesame paste.


    The process was rtively simple: roast the sesame seeds, roast the glutinous rice, then add white sugar. Afterward, grind it into a powder using a small stone mill.


    She could also add other nuts to grind together. The powder could be mixed with hot water for a decent-tasting drink, and small fruits could be added too.


    Sometimes, when she didn''t feel like eating, she would have a cup of this drink, which provided a good sense of fullness.


    On her birthday this year, she had treated herself to a cake, lighting candles and singing the birthday song.


    At the rate she celebrated her birthday, she felt she might not even finish the cake she bought, so whenever she felt bored, she would cut a slice and eat it.


    If she finished it earlier, it didn''t matter; she could use her old rice cooker pot as a mold and make a cake batter in the oven.


    She would then whip up some cream with a hand-mixer and decorate it with some fruits, making her own birthday cake by hand.


    But now that it was winter, she only cooked in a pot indoors, let alone using an oven.


    This year, she made clothes for herself at home. Only then did she realize that the cheap fabrics she had bought years ago, though inexpensive, were clearly machine-made.


    These ordinary fabrics, after being stored for over a decade, would normally have deteriorated.


    But the ones she took out now still looked new, so she used the new fabrics for the inneryers, while the outeryers were still made of in, coarse, wed old materials, not looking as new.


    As it was snowing outside now, she wouldn''t be going out much, so she could wear her new clothes at home. But to keep them from getting dirty, she would wear an outeryer on top.


    She could wash the outeryer more frequently, while the thick inneryers didn''t need as much washing.


    So the "new clothes" didn''t really look new, just with better instion.


    In other seasons, her dressing would basically match her current neighbors, or else her brand-new clothes would stand out too much in this environment.


    Her physique hadn''t really changed much over the years, and she didn''t make new clothes every year. Instead, she would make enough clothes on a sewing machine in one year tost her for the next few years.


    Other than that, she rarely used the sewing machine, except for patching up worn or identally torn clothes.


    After taking two days to cut fabrics of various sizes, she started operating the sewing machine.


    She hadn''t even taken out her new sewing machine; she was still using the old one from her hometown.


    If someone were near her house at the time, they could hear the rhythmic cking sounding from inside.


    Over the course of a week, she made new clothes for herself and also new cotton quilts and quilt covers.


    The new quilt covers were ones she had previously ordered online, mostly discounted stock or products with minor ws. She had bought quite a few.


    And back when she was in An Province at her old home, she had washed all these purchases in the washing machine.


    Looking back, she realized she was quitezy at the time, using electric machines to do any work that could be done that way in advance.


    Now, as she took out the fragrant new quilt covers, she felt her past self was a clever little thing.


    Although she had her own sr panels, their power output clearly couldn''t support using a washing machine; at most, they could be used for lighting or charging her phone andptop.


    Moreover, after the volcanic winter, sr power basically couldn''t function properly. Without being used for a long time, she couldn''t really make use of it now, her lifepletely separated from such high-tech devices.


    The sr panels she hadter obtained in the desert and Gobi were intended for use as boards, so they didn''t serve any practical purpose either.


    When the external conditions simply didn''t allow for it, she seemed to gradually forget about phones andputers.


    Initially, she had downloaded quite a lot of materials and videos, but now she couldn''t even recall them.


    Even when she had questions, she mostly consulted the books she had stockpiled instead of searching for electronic books on electronic devices.


    After putting on new clothes and new bedsheets, sheter reced all the pots, bowls, and utensils in her home with new ones, storing the old ones in her space.


    How should I put it? This seemed to have be a chain reaction, as she even took out new knitted dolls from the space to rece the ones hanging on her wall.


    It was a bit like when she was a child, and every New Year''s Eve, she would fold her new clothes and pants neatly and ce them at the corner of her bed, looking forward to wearing them the next day.


    At the age of forty, she experienced the joy of having everything new.


    It was winter, and staying in this new environment with new objects would reduce some visual fatigue.


    There were few people in this ce, and even though they were neighbors, she didn''t invite anyone toe and see her new ce, as it wasn''t that big of a deal to have new things.


    The new year arrived quietly like this.

 Chapter 166

    Chapter 166


    Winter passed as usual, and the children of the Big Jin Family couldn''t wait to visit Wen Qian''s family to y.


    Since they hadn''t spoken to anyone outside their family all winter, their nearest neighbor Wen Qian became their first choice for conversation.


    The passing of winter didn''t mean that all the snow had melted, but rather that it had stopped snowing. The weather was still cold, but they could walk to each other''s homes.


    Only when it was safe would their parents let them go out, and Wen Qian was happy to chat with them.


    They talked about topics like what to nt in the spring, and as the two children grew older each year, Wen Qian sometimes wondered how they would find romance in the future.


    With age came a gossipy heart, but this was indeed a dilemma in their situation.


    Not everyone could live alone their entire life like Wen Qian chose to, and she wasn''t sure how people found romance after the disaster.


    She had never seen it, nor did she know how these children would manage in the future.


    The children here would hardly meet anyone to date, and it was unknown if there were others with the same concerns.


    This was certainly an issue, but like other animals, wouldn''t those with the ability to travel far go elsewhere when they came of age and wanted a mate? Wen Qian felt she was worrying unnecessarily.


    Their parents Big Jin and Big Ning could also foresee this, so Big Ning often urged her husband to venture out.


    To see if there were any new families around the former vige and surrounding areas.


    There were more people there with more arablend, and Big Ning felt her children would have the greatest chance of finding a partner from that direction if needed.


    In truth, she wasn''t too concerned about carrying on their lineage, but simply wanted her children to findpanionship.


    If they preferred to live alone like Wen Qian, that was fine, but she feared they would be forced into solitude with no choice.


    So she could only keep an eye out early with her husband, as getting acquainted sooner might increase their chances.


    As temperatures rose, the snow melted rapidly, leaving the ground muddy, though it would freeze over night and morning.


    During this damp warming period, many things were prone to mold, so Wen Qian basically didn''t leave food outside.


    She set up a heated tent in her yard, as spring had arrived and she needed to start cultivating seeds.


    The tent used stic sheets fromst year, with a reed mat covering it at night, as the sheets could still be reused this year.


    Including the seedling trays from before, she cherished all her materials and tools until they werepletely unusable before recing them.


    The earlier she started seedlings, the sooner she could harvest, and she wouldn''t feel at ease until the food was in her stomach.


    Of course, Wen Qian also fearedte spring cold snaps, as tree leaves began sprouting and some nts started flowering.


    If temperatures plummeted at this stage, everything would have to start over, resulting in lower yields.


    To address this, Wen Qian could only practice low-temperature seedling cultivation, gradually increasing venttion once the seedlings emerged.


    With no way to forecast weather now, Wen Qian could only rely on her experiencebined with the sayings of their forebears.


    Apparently, experienced farmers used to predict the weather themselves, but most people followed weather forecasts when they became avable.


    Another issue was thatter societal development greatly damaged the environment.


    So some of the traditional sayings may no longer match the climate changes.


    And now, emerging from the aftermath of the volcanic winter, the climate was even harder to predict, so Wen Qian could only take it one step at a time.


    Fortunately, there was note spring cold that year, and Lisa came to Wen Qian''s family as expected to get seedlings of various kinds, as she had nted a little of everything.


    Lisa was surprised that Wen Qian even had three varieties of tomatoes, none of which were themon ones Lisa had, so she traded some fresh game for them.


    Since the pots turned out well, Lisa nned to make morerge ones whenever she had time.


    Because she realized Wen Qian''s seed reserve was quite diverse, which could allow her to trade for game from others.


    Lisa also thought about using ceramics to trade with people in the future. This year they nned to grow wheat, so barring any mishaps, they wouldn''t need to trade grains with neighbors anymore.


    The strawberry runners of the Big Jin Family started spreading, with the Old Lady cing pots of soil nearby to allow the runners to take root, after which they could be separated into individual strawberry nt pots.


    Everyone was busy that spring, rarely meeting after the initial seedling exchanges, especially the more distant Lisa''s family.


    However, when Big Jin ventured out following his wife''s instructions, he heard some news that a group of bandits had arrived from the south the previous year.


    Some vigers had returned from the small town, bringing news that this group of bandits was still fleeing northward.


    The vigers'' intent was to warn their own vige, though the whole winter had passed without any strange people being seen.


    So when Big Jin came to trade game and inquire about people, they were especially cautious, but someone recognized Big Jin and vouched for him.


    Although the news was a winterte, they figured the cold had driven the bandits to hole up somewhere for the season.


    Now that spring had arrived, the bandits might start causing trouble again, andbining this with the news from town, it meant either murder or arson.


    Big Jin hurried home with this news, figuring a concentrated settlement might not have an issue with bandits.


    But their remote mountain families might, so he rushed back to first ry the news to the other two households.


    After dropping off his traded goods at home and informing his family, he went to Wen Qian''s home next.


    As Big Jin was about to head to Lisa''s family after rying the news, Wen Qian stopped him, knowing he had rushed back from afar, and said she would go notify them instead.


    Although Ni Sha''s home was far away, Wen Qian had never been there, but it was easy to find by following the river upstream, so she had no problem going.


    After Big Jin left, Wen Qian returned home and packed her belongings, putting all the new items into her spatial storage, and changed into the most tattered clothes.


    She even reced her pot with a more broken one; if she had another broken pot, she would have reced both.

 Chapter 167

    Chapter 167


    If we talk about danger, the most dangerous situation Wen Qian had encountered over the years was the fugitives she met in Xia Province before.


    As she walked, she wondered how she and her neighbors would respond if this time it was a gang of fugitives.


    Especially the Big Jin Family, which had members of all ages.


    People with families have ties that make them think twice before acting, but fugitives would not.


    From the south to the north, no one knew how many bad things these people had done along the way for the news to reach such a remote ce.


    Wen Qian sighed and stopped to observe the environment in the distance through a telescope.


    The more dangerous the situation, the more cautious she had to be. Even when traveling, she had to pay close attention to her surroundings, lest she carelessly run into bad people face-to-face.


    Of course, she didn''t think that would happen. After observing carefully, she continued on her way.


    Nearly two hourster, Wen Qian finally arrived at Ni Sha''s ce. They also lived near the river, but there was a mountain stream beside their house, which made it convenient to fetch water.


    It was already afternoon by then, and the two of them happened to be home. They were surprised to see Wen Qiane over.


    Wen Qian had nevere to visit them before, and her sudden urgent visit seemed to indicate that something was up.


    Wen Qian briefly informed them of what Big Jin had told her, warning them to be on guard.


    Upon hearing that it was a gang of viins, Ni Sha''s face showed great concern. She felt that even though they lived in a remote ce, they still had to worry about such things.


    Li Anming, on the other hand, didn''t seem surprised. He thought that the gang wouldn''t dare go to crowded ces, so robbing isted households was most likely.


    In these times, everyone had guns. Although they were fugitives, they wouldn''t just walk into people''s homes and let themselves be captured.


    Rather than sharing his wife''s concern, hemented that no matter where you went, as long as people could reach it, there would be conflict.


    Since they were fugitives, would they really settle down and hunt or farm properly? He estimated that robbing and killing were the only ways they could live up to their name.


    After Wen Qian finished speaking, she prepared to head home, but Ni Sha asked her to stay the night and leave the next day.


    Ni Sha was worried that it would be too far for Wen Qian to return home before sunset, and the surroundings would be difficult to see, making it dangerous.


    Wen Qian wasn''t keen on staying overnight since she wasn''t used to it, and she also had amp and night vision equipment, so she wasn''t afraid of going back alone.


    The main issue was that she had walked for two hours to get there, so going back would be very tiring and her feet would be sore.


    If she took a wooden raft or the rubber boat she had bought, she might be able to travel faster by water. But then she realized that even with night vision equipment, traveling by water at night would be inconvenient.


    In the end, she agreed to stay. Ni Sha then asked her husband to prepare dinner while she happily prepared the bedding for their guest''s overnight stay.


    Their house mainly had two rooms, with other sheds and small huts around. They lived in one of the main rooms, which had a stove, and their bed was not on the ground but in the loft above.


    Ni Sha arranged for Wen Qian to stay in the other room, where they stored things. It had hanging meat, some jars, and some wood, which looked like it was being saved to build a house.


    Ni Sha made a temporary bed for her using two racks with nks on top, then covered it with animal skins. After that, she went back to their room and took out her own bedding from a chest to put on top.


    Wen Qian took over the bedding work, and as she and Ni Sha made the bed, they chatted.


    It was then that Ni Sha told Wen Qian the reason why they had initiallye here. Originally, there were more than just the two of them living in the ce where they used to live.


    There was one particrly bad household that wanted Ni Sha to marry their son. That entire family, young and old, had bad tempers and poor character. Moreover, Ni Sha already had someone she loved.


    They had thought that after Ni Sha and Li Anming got married, everyone would give up on the idea. Little did they know, those people still saw the couple as weak andcking supportpared to their ownrger n.


    So they demanded to "share" Ni Sha, thinking it was only natural to bully the couple since they had no family.


    They nned to take advantage of the situation when the hunters were out hunting. Ni Sha sensed the danger and fled.


    She and Li Anming met in the mountains, and he found a ce for her to hide.


    Eventually, when Li Anming returned and confronted the others, he angrily left the ce where he had grown up.


    The people there thought the girl had perished in the mountains and that Li Anming had stormed off in a fit of anger. But in reality, the couple felt that staying there would only lead to more trouble, so they decided to pack up and leave.


    The husband and wife migrated south, eventually ending up here.


    Wen Qian listened to their story with mixed feelings. When thew lost its power and morality became ineffective, everything could only be resolved through force.


    But for those who were outnumbered and weak, there was no better solution than to stay away from those unpleasant people.


    No matter how good a hunter''s marksmanship was, there was no way to eliminate all those disliked people at once, so they had to leave.


    However, the couple had not been settled here for long before news of bandits surfaced again, this time as a group.


    In fact, by the time the fugitive criminals from the north reached the northern region, their numbers had already dwindled.


    Some had been shot dead while robbing others, while others had tried to live peacefully but were killed by their own gang members for being seen as traitors.


    Internal conflicts within the gang were alsomon, so the initial group of bandits was reduced to only six or seven people by the time they reached this area.


    The news that reached Big Jin''s vige initially mentioned more than a dozen people, but without any updates, they still believed there was arge group.


    However, even if there were only three people left, they would still be very dangerous! The mountain folk were skilled at hunting, farming, and fishing, but killing was rare.


    That night, Li Anming cooked the meal. After Wen Qian and Ni Sha came out of the storage room, they entered the couple''s room to eat.


    Wen Qian asked them why they didn''t have a bed on the ground but slept in the loft instead. They exined that in the past, during heavy snowfalls, the snow would seal the doors and windows, trapping people inside the house with no way out.


    Therefore, they slept in the loft so they could escape upwards if needed.


    Even though the snowfall wasn''t as heavy in the northern forests after they moved here, they still continued this practice out of habit, just to be prepared.


    The hunter stewed a pot of food, scooping some into his own te with a longdle, along with bread from the side of the pot to eat together.


    Inside the stew were wild chicken and potatoes and radishes, with a side of washed tender greens that could be added and nched to eat directly.


    These greens had just sprouted in the spring, growing as they ate, saving the need to thin them out.


    The food tasted pretty good, and this was the first time Wen Qian had eaten at someone else''s home in many years. Ni Sha noticed her seeming a bit uneasy, so she often scooped food into Wen Qian''s bowl with her spoon.


    Night had already fallen, and after the meal, the three chatted inside the house. Li Anming was processing furs and pelts, while Ni Sha sewed clothes and conversed with Wen Qian at the same time.


    Wen Qian was interested in the fur clothes they made, inquiring if they could exchange one for something.


    Ni Sha agreed; they trapped and hunted in the autumn and winter, especially for weasels, so they currently had extra pelts beyond what they needed for their own family, allowing them to exchange one with Wen Qian.


    As for what to exchange, they thought grain would be best, so both parties reached an agreement.


    Behind the door of the house hung guns and axes, including Wen Qian''s own gun.


    Later when she returned to her room to rest, she would take it down and hang it in her sleeping quarters.


    At any time, their guns had to remain within their line of sight.

 Chapter 168

    Chapter 168


    Although it was meant as a warning, Wen Qian felt it wouldn''t be of much use, because if they truly encountered those viins, the warning came from a ce too far away to provide any support.


    However, being forewarned was still better than having no clue at all, so she could be more cautious.


    Early in the morning, Wen Qian got up, folded and rolled up her bedding, took the gun off the door panel and slung it over her back, intending to head home early.


    When Ni Sha and her husband saw hering out, they invited her to have breakfast, figuring she would need sustenance for the long journey ahead. Wen Qian figured she could repay their kindness the next time she brought them supplies, so she didn''t decline, especially since they didn''t know she could eat while traveling.


    After breakfast, she bid them farewell, and Ni Sha waved goodbye as Wen Qian''s figure receded into the distance. Ni Sha was very worried ¨C if bad people really came as Wen Qian described, what would they do? Should they hide in the mountains? But they were already in the mountains. If the intruders just wanted to loot food supplies, it wouldn''t matter much, but she feared it could be worse than that.


    Once Wen Qian was far enough from Ni Sha''s home, she took out the small wooden board from her spatial storage and floated downstream with it, saving her the trouble of walking. As she neared her own home, she docked the board and walked the rest of the way to Big Jin''s ce to give him the update.


    She soon arrived near her home, went ashore, and headed to Big Jin''s home. Big Jin stayed close, only setting animal traps nearby, not daring to venture too far out.


    Wen Qian told Big Jin that she had spent the previous night at Ni Sha''s before returning, and had passed along the message.


    That was all they could do ¨C they had no great countermeasures for such a situation.


    Wen Qian asked Big Jin what they should do if the bad people really came. Big Jin couldn''t think of a good solution either, only suggesting he would set traps outside before going to bed at night.


    If they discovered the intruders early enough, they could hide in the woods. In any case, they wouldn''t just sit and wait to be ughtered. ording to the vigers, if the number of viins was truly as great as rumored, they would bepletely powerless to resist.


    Wen Qian realized that too ¨C for such a vague warning, there wasn''t much they could prepare.


    So she decided she would also set traps around her home at night before sleeping, but what kind of traps should she set?


    She considered it in her mind, realizing that traps capable of injuring people while remaining concealed would be difficult to set up.


    If the aim was just to alert herself, then she could use rm traps, since her home had walls around it.


    She had used rm traps for a time back in Xia Province, cing them inside the walls, before abandoning themter.


    Now with this new sense of crisis, she took them out again.


    Arranging them in a quadrteral formation around her home, any intruder approaching from outside would trigger an rm.


    Wen Qian nned to mainly use them at night when she slept ¨C during the day she figured she would be more alert outdoors.


    Although all three households were aware of the situation, after ten days or so the initial sense of tension had dissipated, as if it were just a passing news story.


    They figured those bad people had likely died in the winter, or been killed by someone else.


    After finishing her work at the forestry station, Wen Qian returned home to find the stove had long gone cold, but the food inside was still warm enough to have for lunch.


    Along with the bread she had baked the previous day, that would be her midday meal.


    As she ate, the wind outside began to pick up. Wen Qian looked at the sky ¨C this seemed to herald an iing rainstorm.


    She closed all the windows and doors, her prediction proving urate as the wind grew stronger and stronger, the treetops outside swaying as if about to snap at any moment.


    The sky darkened as thunderclouds rolled in, soon apanied by shes of lightning and peals of thunder.


    But it was just wind and thunder ¨C by the time Wen Qian finished eating and went out to feed the rabbits, not a drop of rain had fallen yet.


    Just as she was wondering if it wouldn''t rain after all, the racket outside grew louder as fat raindrops began pounding down, leaving splotchy shadows on the paved ground.


    Watching from the window as the ground quickly became drenched, Wen Qian worried the weeds she had pulled at the forestry station the previous day might revive in this downpour.


    "I should have tossed them farther away," she muttered to herself.


    Normally when she hoed weeds in the fields, she would fling therger ones out of the fields, leaving the smaller ones in the sun to wither and die.


    But now with the rain, those small weeds mighte back to life.


    She sighed ¨C farming was so difficult. With nothing else to do, she figured she might as well take an afternoon nap.


    Wen Qian watched the heavy rainfall outside, the air so thick with mist that visibility was low and nothing could be seen clearly.


    She suddenly wondered ¨C if there was both a downpour and thunderstorm like this, would gunshots even be audible?


    If she were a bad person, in addition to nighttime, a stormy day like this would be the ideal time tomit crimes.


    She drew the curtains, darkening the room, then lit amp and secured anothertch on the door.


    Then she went to the bedroom, hung up amp, and climbed thedder to the loft where she had been sleeping recently.


    The bedding wasid out downstairs on the kang bed tform, and she had even stuffed things inside to make it look like someone was sleeping there.


    Though she could have slept downstairs today with the rain, she still climbed up to the loft anyway. Hanging themp from a beam, shey down.


    Unable to sleep due to the rain, she took out a book to read instead ¨C after some thought she chose "The Companion of Talents."


    The two-volume work could answer most of her questions, so she opened the table of contents to find the chapter she wanted to read.


    The rain hadn''t let up, though the intensity had decreased slightlypared to the earlier downpour, if only a bit.


    Eventually too tired to keep reading, Wen Qian closed her eyes andy there.


    Bang!


    Wen Qian''s eyes flew open.


    That was the sound of the small door on the iron gate being blown open and mming against the main gate, even though she had definitelytched it shut.


    Wen Qian immediately sat up, retrieved thedder, and went down, her first thought being to quickly pile objects behind the doors and windows to create cover as fast as possible.

 Chapter 169

    Chapter 169


    Just as Wen Qian was building a shelter on the spot at the fastest speed, no one immediately broke in from the entrance or windows.


    This was quite fortuitous, as after enduring the winter from south to north, the fugitives were left with only six people.


    When they arrived here in the rain, they split into two groups - two went to scout near the Big Jin Family, while the other four headed towards Wen Qian''s home.


    They thought Wen Qian''s home looked quite wealthy, with such a high and sturdy perimeter wall, so the living conditions inside must be decent.


    That''s why the group going to Wen Qian''s home had more people; they walked around the wall once before deciding to enter through the iron gate.


    The bolt on the small iron gate wasn''t locked, or even if it was, they could easily break it open.


    But as they were slowly pushing the bolt open with a knife, they identally made a mistake and let the wind blow the gate wide open, making a huge noise.


    Their first reaction was that they had already startled the prey, so they didn''t immediately enter the courtyard, but waited outside the iron gate instead.


    If the upants didn''t hear the noise, they would sneak in quietly; if they did hear it and came to check, that would be even better.


    In that brief moment, Wen Qian had already ced tworge rocks behind the door and stacked sandbags behind the ss window next to it.


    She stored the table in her spatial storage, stacking the sandbags from the ground up, higher than she could reach, essentially blocking the entire window.


    Only a narrow gap was left at the top - she figured the intruders wouldn''t be able to enter from there.


    She then went back to the bedroom and simrly sealed the window with sandbags. The door between the kitchen and bedroom was closed, so Wen Qian could only stack sandbags behind that door too.


    When the gang noticed no oneing out of the house, they assumed the wind and rain had drowned out all noise, and the upants hadn''t heard them.


    The first person approached the house cautiously, with thest person standing guard at the gate.


    They quickly reached the stove but found the door closed - and it was one of those extra thick, burr-proof doors too.


    The window curtains were drawn, so they couldn''t see any movement inside and could only sneak down the hallway.


    Since it was a burr-proof door, their first choice was to break in through the windows.


    But the curtains on both windows were tightly drawn, the deep, thick curtain fabric blocking any light from entering.


    Wen Qian couldn''t tell where the intruders were from inside, just as they couldn''t see what was going on inside either.


    This situation made the thugs anxious too; they looked at each other, seemingly discussing something.


    Were the upants just in the habit of drawing the curtains, or had they done so after detecting the intruders'' arrival?


    But even if they had noticed, what could they do except lock themselves in? They couldn''t escape anyway.


    With that thought, their mood lightened - if the doors and windows were locked, it meant the upants were afraid.


    So the thugs let down their guard, thinking their prey was already in the bag.


    Thunder roared as the rain poured heavily. The thugs approached the window next to the burr-proof door and began to break it.


    There was a security grill outside the ss window which they tried to remove, easily bending the stainless steel grill.


    They then smashed through the old wooden window behind it, firing a volley of shots into the house as they broke in.


    Wen Qian was crouched in the corner of the bedroom window, hearing the gunshots and the sandbags being hit with a ''puff'' sound.


    While bullets could prate steel tes, they may not get through sandbags - she had constructed a simr shelter before when encountering a bear on the road.


    This time, she had prepared more sandbags, stacking them twoyers high at the window - meaning normal bullets wouldn''t be able to get through.


    Only close-range,rge-caliber sniper rounds or small artillery shells could prate directly.


    Both the kitchen and bedroom windows were fired upon, but the thugs outside realized there was no movement inside at all.


    Logically, the bullets entering should have hit something, and even if not a person, there should have been sounds of objects shattering.


    But why was there only a ''swishing'' sound?


    One person used his gun to pull back the tattered curtain and discovered sandbags lining the window, stacked up to block it.


    No wonder there was no sound - they had been prepared here, and this infuriated the thugs.


    This wasn''t an ordinary residence anymore; they wondered if it was some kind of fortress.


    Carefully, one climbed onto the windowsill and saw there was still a gap above the kitchen window, as the sandbags didn''t reach the ceiling. So he decided to toss in one of his prized tear gas canisters.


    He figured tear gas could force the upants out.


    When the canister hit the floor, Wen Qian thought they had thrown a bomb at first, before realizing it was just the consecutive ''bangs'' of tear gas.


    She heard the intruders say it could smoke people out, so she put on her gas mask.


    Yes, she had one - when buying face masks earlier, she didn''t fully trust them and bought a gas mask too.


    Who knew it woulde in handy now?


    The bedroom window was sealed to the top, so she didn''t have to worry about anything being thrown in.


    The thugs waited for the upants to painfully cry, cough, even suffocate - but there was silence, still no movement.


    They quickly realized this too and became puzzled. If even tear gas could be endured, there must be no one inside, right?


    That would also exin the sandbags lining the windows - what normal person stacks sandbags to block their own windows? It was clearly not a spur-of-the-moment act.


    "Boss, what if there''s no one?" someone thought. Maybe the sandbags were to prevent bears from entering, and the residents had gone hunting but got stuck out by the heavy rain.


    The more the thugs thought about it, the more sense it made. Smoke from the tear gas was seeping out the window gaps as they coughed.


    One aplice scolded the person who threw the tear gas canister, saying he had wasted such a valuable weapon.


    The people in this courtyard might have gone bear hunting in the mountains and wouldn''t return for a few days, essentially wasting thatst canister.


    Wen Qian''s heart was still racing, with smoke filling the adjacent rooms, but she didn''t move carelessly either.


    She worried the slightest sound would alert the people just on the other side of the wall.


    "So what do we do now? The windows are all sealed, and the door is a burr-proof one - what a hassle!"


    So they fired at the door lock in an attempt to break in, damaging the lock, but they still couldn''t open the doors.


    The few of them then started ramming the door, feeling as if even the house was shaking, but therge door showed no signs of retreating or loosening.


    That was because Wen Qian had cedndscaping stones behind the door, the kind typically seen in parks or at the entrances ofpanies, or inrge public squares.


    Massive solid stones, Wen Qian had collected quite a few, storing them in her spatial pocket.


    Her original intention was to use them as cover or to throw stones at people in the future.


    As a result, when ced behind the door, the floor tiles were crushed under their weight.


    One can only imagine howrge and heavy these stones were.


    She had picked out two squarish ones that could be stacked and ced them behind the door.


    Listening to the synchronized ramming sounds from outside, she felt they wouldn''t be able to break through even if they rammed until their bones broke.


    This was probably a case of using an egg to strike a rock.


    Although the stones and sandbags prevented others from invading, they also limited Wen Qian''s counterattack.


    She wondered if they would leave if they couldn''t get in, or if they would go to the Big Jin Family instead.


    Or perhaps they hade from the Big Jin Family?

 Chapter 170

    Chapter 170


    Originally they thought a few bumps would break it open, but who knew the door was dented and there was no movement.


    At this time, they realized there was a gap by the window, but the location was quite high.


    So one of the men climbed onto the windowsill and looked inside. The gap was dark, but he could see clearly that there was something behind the door.


    It looked... stones?!


    He couldn''t believe there were such huge stones behind the door, as if they had grown there from the beginning. Could this door be a fake?


    He reported what he saw to the Leader, and then another man who had opened the storeroom door went in and looked around, finding no hidden entrance.


    Another man went around from the back of the house to the front, and only reported the cer entrance beside the storeroom.


    So they guessed that there might be a tunnel in the cer leading to the inside of this house, otherwise it was impossible to exin how someone could live in this house.


    The door to Wen Qian''s bedroom was closed, so they couldn''t see the cover behind it either. The situation was developing in a strange direction.


    At first, they thought they had caught a hedgehog and didn''t know how to deal with it, butter they felt like they had bitten into a cactus.


    Because the stone behind the door was too huge, even the Leader had to stand on someone''s shoulders and climb up to the window gap to look in.


    No one thought it was something a person could move.


    Moving such a stone would require a crane, which made the strangeness of this house even more apparent.


    So the Leader took two men to the cer entrance they had just found, wanting to explore the truth.


    Even in the rain, they couldn''t care less anymore. They lifted the cer cover and one went down.


    The first one walked down slowly and found it was just a narrow cer with some dry grass and wheat stalks on the ground.


    That was all, there wasn''t even any grain or vegetables stored, perhaps it wasn''t needed now.


    "Leader, should we join up with The Fifth and The Sixth? This house seems like a fake house, not like a ce for people to live."


    The Fourth felt more and more uneasy the more he looked. What kind of house would use sandbags to block the windows and stones to block the door?


    Could it be possible that this house itself was not meant for people to live in?


    "Then what do you think it looks like?"


    "Hmm." The Third hesitated for a moment before speaking. He rubbed his sore shoulder and asked, "Have you ever seen someone buy a house and then block the windows with bricks, and put small boxes inside?"


    It really does seem eerie.


    "F**k! Is someone really doing this kind of thing here? What era is this, why bury it here?"


    That''s right, they even built a wall around it, built a house inside, blocked things inside the house, and put boxes in there.


    The Leader looked at the surrounding environment: "Then why are there vegetables nted here, a pool, and a furnace for cooking?"


    "How do you exin it?"


    "Could it be a ce built for people to live after a disaster, and now they''re putting boxes in?"


    "No, there are people here. The vegetables here are so big, they must have been nted no more than a month ago!"


    At this point, their curiosity overcame them. Since they couldn''t figure out what was going on and couldn''t get through the door, the only ce they could enter was the window next to it.


    So they shattered the stainless steel security window and removed the wooden window frame. Then they stood on the windowsill and pushed the sandbags in, one by one.


    But the sandbags were doubleyered, and they couldn''t push them at all, so they had to cut open one bag and let the sand leak out.


    Finally, they cleared a small gap at the top that the skinny man could crawl through. The Leader let The Third go in first because he was the slimmest.


    Now none of them were speaking in hushed tones, their volume waspletely normal because they had confirmed there was no one here.


    They didn''t believe in ghosts or evil spirits. If there really was retribution, they wouldn''t have lived until now. So they decided to explore the truth.


    The Leader said The Third should go in first. If there was no danger, then another would follow, while the other would guard outside to prevent ambushes.


    Through a door, Wen Qian listened to the noises by the window, thinking how much she resembled a turtle.


    She just didn''t know what these people could do in the kitchen.


    The skinny man crawled through the gap above the window, but only his upper body went in while his legs were still outside. So hey horizontally on the sandbags inside, opening his eyes wide to carefully examine the interior.


    Not even a ghost''s shadow!


    But those two stones were really huge, almost reaching the ceiling. No wonder they couldn''t break through the door.


    Inside there were firewood, a stove, and cabs. Then he saw something shaped like ham hanging on the wall.


    Leader, there''s nothing inside except a kitchen and meat!


    "Is there food? How much?"


    "Not much, let me go down and take a look." Saying that, he pulled his legs in andy horizontally on the sandbags to slide down.


    His first thought was to touch the huge stone. It was cold and hard - it felt real, not like a fake stic stone.


    That made it even more strange. So he shouted out: "The stones are real!"


    "Anything else?"


    "Wait, let me see. There''s no one here anyway." The skinny man had already walked to the stove and looked around with his gun to confirm it was safe.


    The second man started crawling through the hole. The shattered ss from the windowsill fell onto the hallway floor, breaking into even smaller pieces.


    The skinny man pushed the bedroom door but then forcefully rammed it, finding itpletely unmovable. This door was just like the exterior security door, probably with stones behind it too.


    He quickly lost interest. The second man was still trying to make the hole bigger, letting more sand pour down.


    With no lighting through, the skinny man took out a lighter from his pocket, sat on a small stool by the stove and tried to light the firewood to see the details of the house.


    The second man crawled in and asked the skinny man what he was doing.


    "Lighting it up first, it''s too dark to see anything. Hurry up ande in, you''re blocking the light from outside."


    The outside light was quite dim, but better than nothing. Otherwise, the skinny man would feel a bit uneasy in his heart, but thinking there was no one, he wasn''t afraid.


    Finally, the second man came in, and The Fourth finally lit the firewood.


    "How is it inside?" the Leader asked from outside.


    "It''s fine, just a kitchen with a bit of food. But it looks like only enough for one meal for us."


    The Leader rolled his eyes and said, "Then let''s tear out the little greens in the yard and eat them too."


    Making sure there was no danger inside, he instructed his men to continue inward.


    "Since the door can''t be opened, let''s push the sandbags down to make it easier for us to enter and exit."


    Three of them started preparing the meat to cut into chunks, while the other two started moving the sandbags. The Leader was unwilling to crawl through a hole.


    They nned to discard some of the twoyers of thick sandbags, inside and out, to create steps so they could stoop and enter and exit through the window.


    But the Leader thought they were too slow, so he took his gun and said he would go out for a walk ande back.


    He walked very quickly, mainly because there were only their footprints in the area and no one else''s.


    When he returned, a third of the window above had already been cleared.


    All four of them hade inside, and it was still raining outside.


    Wen Qian heard the noise and came out from the bedroom window.

 Chapter 171

    Chapter 171


    Wen Qian quietly collected the sandbags by the window into her Space, thenid the quilt on the ground and stepped on it silently.


    Hugging the wall, she extended her hands to ce a stone pedestal from the Space, blocking the view from inside so the people couldn''t see the movements below the windowsill.


    Wen Qian then ced the second block, trapping those inside the house.


    Originally, the Leader was roasting by the stove, one was cutting vegetables, and the other two were discussing who should call the remaining two for dinner.


    When the men have eaten, they can go raid again.


    Neither of the two wanted to brave the rain to fetch theirrades, so they huddled around the stove, their only heat source.


    Without a fire, it would be too damp and cold, so they didn''t want to go out immediately.


    Thus, when a third of the window suddenly darkened, they grabbed their guns and opened fire at the window, finding cover.


    But there was no movement outside, it had just gone dark. The Leader had checked outside and saw no one, so he allowed all four men to stay indoors.


    But now there was a change outside, had the house owner returned?


    It remained silent outside. Wen Qian was certain the tworgendscape rocks blocked the windows so no one could push them open.


    She breathed a sigh of relief, leaning against the wall, pondering her next move.


    Trapping them inside to starve seemed imusible, as they would break through the roof.


    But how could one win against four? She wished she had poisoned the pot earlier, sighing inwardly.


    Then she heard them shouting from inside.


    "Who is it! Have the courage to show yourself, stop with the spooky tricks! What skill is sneaking around?"


    Wen Qian rolled her eyes, what was the point of those words?


    The firewood in the stove continued crackling, but no one noticed the fatty meat burning in the pot.


    When everything fell silent, they held up the firewood to see the window blocked by stones again.


    This was freaking unbelievable.


    The stones looked even bigger than the door, covering the window.


    Was this a magic trick? How could they appear so suddenly? An illusion?


    They couldn''t be pushed aside, and shooting had no effect, meaning they were trapped to die here.


    They continued yelling, trying to plead for their lives from the person outside.


    Then one got frantic, mentioning two morerades on their way. The Leader scolded him and threw a firewood log to silence him.


    If he hadn''t spoken, those two might have been caught unawares. Now he had revealed the two others, what if the enemy went to eliminate them first?


    The Leader regretted being their leader, it was so foolish!


    Oh, there were still two more people.


    Wen Qian was grateful to the one who had threatened them.


    The men inside were nning an escape through the roof, while Wen Qian prepared her countermeasures.


    As they started moving sandbags behind the stove, Wen Qian acted swiftly.


    With one hand she retrieved thendscape rocks, while the other threw a package inside, immediately recing the rocks.


    She then ran to the side, getting drenched by the rain but not caring.


    A loud bang came from the house, followed by agonizing screams.


    The package contained two hand grenades wrapped in ball bearings.


    She felt regr grenadescked sufficient killing power, hence the addition of steel balls.


    This was no mistake, as while not all four men died instantly in the small house, they were as good as dead.


    Not daring to confront them directly, Wen Qian listened for the source of the screams and threw another grenade inside, silencing the housepletely.


    She didn''t know if they were truly dead or just pretending.


    Roof tiles had slid off, allowing the rain to pour directly into the kitchen.


    The rain had subsided, and the two men Big Jin had killed earliery in the muddy water, quickly growing cold.


    Big Jin returned home to his wife and children, their hanging hearts finally at ease.


    But soon they realized Wen Qian''s family may also have encountered trouble.


    It was raining outside, they had killed two, but didn''t know how many were on the other side, perhaps two or more, or none at all.


    Big Jin held his gun, wondering what would happen to his family if he went over.


    Then The Old Lady said much time had passed since the discovery.


    Big Jin understood his mother''s meaning - if Wen Qian''s side had intruders, the oue would likely be decided by now.


    He felt helpless, thinking if anyone had gone to Wen Qian''s, it was probably toote for him to help.


    And if they outnumbered him, he would just be throwing his life away, though he still wanted to check.


    "You should go take a look," said Big Ning, suggesting he observe from a distance and return immediately if it seemed unsafe.


    If it was just collecting bodies, he might not even be able to do that.


    Wen Qian was a woman, likely tortured before death.


    But then again, there was a chance she was still alive.


    So Big Jin looked at his wife, then said, "I''ll observe from afar, if they outnumber me I''ll run, if not I''ll eliminate them."


    From a distance Big Jin couldn''t see anything, so he crept up to Wen Qian''s courtyard gate.


    The gate was open, and he saw Wen Qian wrapped in a quilt, sitting on the storage room threshold.


    Wen Qian raised her gun toward the gate, saw Big Jin, and gestured for silence.


    She then motioned for him toe over, so he snuck around from the back, gun ready.


    Over here, he saw Wen Qian had stood up, the quilt on the ground, looking unharmed.


    He then noticed one window was shattered, the other blocked by sandbags stacked all the way up.


    Big Jin looked at Wen Qian, puzzled.


    Wen Qian didn''t know how to exin, merely whispering, "I heard them say two people went toward your ce, did you take care of them?"


    Big Jin nodded, his eyes inquiring about the situation.


    Wen Qian said there were four here, she threw hand grenades in and sted them all to death.


    But she wasn''t sure if they werepletely dead.


    Hand grenades...


    Big Jin was astonished again, this woman knew how to use them.


    Wen Qian had made her own, packing them with steel balls too.


    The first time was two grenades, the second was one, leaving the roof in tatters.


    Wen Qian immediately thought about having to repair the house again, what a nuisance, but she couldn''t think of a better way to kill them.


    In Big Jin''s mind, Wen Qian might have cooked for them, then drugged them unconscious, shut the door and sealed the windows, and finally thrown a grenade inside.


    If one had to make it logically coherent, that''s probably what Wen Qian did.


    But Wen Qian didn''t mention the details, and it felt like there were four Schr?dinger''s cats in the kitchen at that moment.


    Big Jin asked in a low voice, "Um, they''re probably all dead, right?"

 Chapter 172

    Chapter 172


    Wen Qian nodded and shook her head slightly, which should be the case, but without confirmation she couldn''t say for certain.


    She thought it was better to be careful. Normally, marbles had great killing power. Staying here until midnight, even if they weren''t dead now, they would likely die eventually.


    The rain had stopped at this point.


    Wen Qian told Big Jin to go home. Since the people inside weren''t dead or injured, they probably couldn''t crawl out, so she told Big Jin to return home.


    Wen Qian then thought of a way to make sure the people inside would certainly die.


    She would pour sand and stones inside. When bored in the past, she had collected many items that were temporarily useless, but now they woulde in handy.


    After Big Jin left, she climbed onto the bedroom roof.


    Due to the explosion, many tiles on the kitchen roof had already been shattered, and the entire roof was in shambles.


    Wen Qian sat on the roof ridge. She could only see the kitchen roof but not the inside situation. She began throwing things into it.


    Since the roof was already in tatters, she initially nned to pour sand, butter decided that throwing objects would be more effective, so she started throwing all kinds of stones.


    As the stones rained down from the sky, three of the four people inside were already dead, with only the leader left, who had initially hidden behind the stove.


    He was also seriously injured by the second grenade thrown in.


    Although he was going to die, he hadn''t seen anyone or heard any sounds until the end, when stones started falling from the sky.


    He wailed and cursed, but the other party did nothing but throw stones.


    So this leader was beaten to death.


    After filling half the room with stones, Wen Qian finally felt at ease.


    If they still didn''t die after this, she would have no other choice. She pped her hands, slowly moved along the roof ridge to the edge of the storage room, and climbed down using the iron frame.


    Previously, her nerves had been tense, and she dared not rx for a moment. Now that she had suddenly rxed, she felt very tired.


    At this time, she had no energy to clean up. Instead, she wanted to find a ce to rest. The rain had stopped now, and four people had died here.


    She was worried that the strong smell of blood might attract wild animals, so she ate something to regain her energy and started cleaning up the room.


    She removed the sandbags, then Wen Qian squatted on the windowsill and entered the kitchen.


    She lit an oilmp and hung it on the wall. The first corpse was behind the door, leaning against andscape stone, andter buried under stones.


    Wen Qian removed two stones, causing the corpse and stones to fall to the ground, while the main door, along with the doorframe, crashed down.


    It seemed that if not for the stones blocking it, the door would have been knocked open by them long ago.


    After removing the door as well, Wen Qian began clearing away the stones, which simply meant putting back the items she had thrown out earlier.


    It wasn''t strenuousbor, and Wen Qian didn''t find it tiring, just annoying.


    The first corpse was revealed, and she dragged it to the hallway, followed by the second and third corpses being cleared out.


    She didn''t want to put these dead bodies into her storage space for transportation, as these bandits were filthy and tattered.


    The stove had copsed, the chimney had fallen, and the entire kitchen needed to be rebuilt, though the partition wall with the bedroom still looked intact.


    The floor tiles were also beyond repair, mostly shattered, and the blood had stained the floor red.


    Wen Qian thought she would have to pry up all the floor tiles and ry them.


    She straightened her back and looked at the sky. Only a few horizontal beams remained overhead, as the rest had been knocked down by Wen Qian''s stone throwing, so she didn''t have to worry about falling objects from above.


    The four corpses were piled together, still bleeding.


    Wen Qian used fire tongs to collect their guns and bullets to one side.


    Their clothes were also tattered, and Wen Qian wondered how she should dispose of the bodies.


    She didn''t want to dig a pit, as burying four people would require an enormous pit, which would be time-consuming andborious.


    But then she thought that if she just threw them into the water, it might not be very friendly to Big Jin downstream, as they seemed to be fetching water from the river.


    At this point, Big Jin had already stripped two corpses clean and disposed of them in the river.


    The bodies should have been disposed of earlier. Big Jin was about toe and help Wen Qian after finishing his own chores.


    He shouted from outside Wen Qian''s courtyard wall, then came in and saw her loading the bodies onto her wheelbarrow.


    "Are you nning to just throw them into the water?"


    "I was going to take them downstream from your ce and throw them in."


    Big Jin immediately understood her intention and offered to help her.


    The two of them pulled the wheelbarrow to the riverside, and after reaching the spot, Big Jin told Wen Qian to go back first.


    In his view, Wen Qian would probably just throw the bodies straight into the water.


    That way, if theyter floated up and caused disgust or scared people, it wouldn''t be good.


    Actually, Wen Qian and he had the same idea ¨C they didn''t want the bodies to be floating corpses. However, Wen Qian''s method of disposing of the bodies was to tie them torge stones and sink them.


    After Big Jin finished the task, he returned home. On the first trip back, he had only told his family that Wen Qian had dealt with four bandits.


    Now, on the second trip back, he gave his family a detailed ount of the situation at Wen Qian''s house.


    Upon hearing that she had even used explosives, they marveled at Wen Qian''s extensive supplies, initially thinking she only had arge seed collection.


    They felt Wen Qian must have been lucky, as the four bandits had likely underestimated her because she was a woman.


    This gang had a total of six members, and now all were eliminated, as they had no way to interrogate any survivors and ask if there were more aplices.


    Although they were worried that more people mighteter, they thought there probably wouldn''t be more than six people.


    If six people didn''t return, their aplices, if any, would likely know they had run into trouble and wouldn''t dare toe back easily.


    Hearing that Wen Qian''s kitchen was ruined, Big Jin''s family was relieved that she wasn''t injured, as a ruined kitchen was no big deal.


    They would see how she rebuilt it and offer helpter.


    Wen Qian used the dead men''s clothes to absorb the blood and water on the floor, then took a bucket of water and added some effervescent cleaning tablets.


    Afterwards, she sprinkled water to start cleaning the floor, and once the water was swept out, Wen Qian spread a thinyer of sand.


    It was already veryte, so Wen Qian used sandbags to block the windows in the bedroom and rested in the storage room.


    She was too tired. She took out a warm table stove, extended the chimney from the wall hole in the storage room, and lit a fire in the stove.


    The indoor temperature rose slightly. Wen Qian set up a bed, changed her shoes and clothes, and went to sleep.


    After a night''s rest, Wen Qian opened her eyes in the morning and was startled by the unfamiliar surroundings before recalling where she was sleeping.


    After finishing breakfast, Wen Qian took away the sandbags, then began to clean up the battlefield again.


    This time, she swept away all the sand and started to pry up the floor tiles. The four walls were basically fine, just with some additional scars that would need to be patched upter.


    The two children of the Big Jin family came with their mother, originally intending to help, but they found that she had already cleaned everything up.


    The two children were very curious about what the kitchen in Auntie''s house looked like after the explosion, but the inside was empty, with only four walls remaining.


    However, from the pockmarked iron door of the bedroom, they could still see traces of the previous explosion.

 Chapter 173

    Chapter 173


    Wen Qian didn''t n to repair the kitchen right away, as there were other things to do next.


    She only cleaned up the blood-stained areas and left it open for venttion.


    She now had a ce to live, and since it wasn''t winter, she nned to repair it slowly before winter came.


    Afterward, she would take the bloodstained clothes and broken bloody tiles downstream and dump them in the water.


    The kitchen was now just four bare walls, the original stove had been torn down, and both pots were damaged. Wen Qian took the broken iron pot.


    She continued to tend the crops and hunt, asionally cutting trees.


    She declined Big Jin''s offer of help, saying she would take it slow, as their family also had their own things to do during this period.


    Thisrge family had to store food every day starting from spring, and Wen Qian didn''t want to owe them too many favors.


    Ni Sha''s family visited once, having heard about the ordeal of Big Jin and Wen Qian''s family. Ni Sha prepared to provide her with a water barrel, without needing any exchange.


    The water barrel in the kitchen was likely damaged in the explosion, including other old pots and pans. The water barrel was one Wen Qian had brought back from her old home.


    Originally without much emotion, thinking of this old water barrel made her start ming those bad people.


    Although the hunters had heard they had eliminated the bad people, they still worried that simr things might happen in the future.


    Worry or not, life had to go on, but they were also considering whether they needed to build a wall around their home.


    The wall quality at Wen Qian''s home was quite good, built very high, and had indeed stopped the bad people from climbing over and forcing them to go through the door.


    Then there was the hedge fence at Big Jin''s home, which had also yed a certain obstructive role, otherwise they wouldn''t have been able to kill those two bad people so quickly.


    So Ni Sha''s family nned to go home and repair their wall to increase their safety.


    Fortunately, after this incident, it was very peaceful here for a long time, with no major events urring, but that''s another story.


    Telling Big Jin about the vige where the bandits were roaming, he probably didn''t expect those terrifying bandits to end up like that.


    But those whomit evils and still hope for a good ending are merely deluding themselves.


    During this summer, everyone was busy stockpiling food and inspecting their homes.


    The temperature of this summer finally caught up to over a decade ago, but it didn''tst long.


    However, the grain yield was slightly higher than usual, and Wen Qian didn''t know if it was due to the climate.


    Wen Qian slowly nailed wooden boards onto the roof herself, then took out red tiles from her space toy on the house.


    The people at Big Jin''s home envied herrge red tiles, as they couldn''t fire their own like that now, due to their remote location andck of ces to exchange or purchase.


    They thought these were tiles Wen Qian had stored before, so besides envy, they didn''t have too many questions.


    After repairing the roof, Wen Qian built a stove in the kitchen, this time installing only one pot.


    If she needed to simmer other things and it wasn''t enough, she could use a brazier or other stoves and sand pots.


    This way, it took up less space. Originally, she was a bit disgusted that someone had died in this room, but then she thought that her bedroom''s kang and the firewall kang hole were on this side of the kitchen wall.


    If she didn''t want to repair this room, the direction for heating her bedroom kang would need major changes, which would be more troublesome than a bit of bad luck.


    Anyway, the floor tiles were all rotten and had been thrown out, with new tiles of a different colorid down.


    The entire kitchen was basically rebuilt, showing no traces of the past, and Wen Qian wasn''t afraid.


    She didn''t fear any supernatural things either. Having been killed once before, if they really became ghosts, she would just kill them again.


    Before she knew it, Wen Qian had be someone her past self would admire.


    This year, Wen Qian built a second hunter''s cabin and cleared the path between the two cabins.


    Only one outpost remained, and if it was built, with four outposts, Wen Qian could freely travel between them to hunt more game.


    Big Jin''s family sometimes wouldn''t see Wen Qian for a long stretch and would ask where she had been. When told she was building a hunter''s cabin, he marveled at how hardworking she was.


    The areas they divided were quiterge, and ording to their teachings, it was impossible to patrol the entire area.


    But after building the hunter''s cabins, it became possible to patrol the whole area.


    Big Jin and his wife had a n but hadn''t been able to execute it.


    Later, he went home and discussed with Big Ning, deciding they must do it this year.


    And they wouldter be extremely grateful that they made this decision.


    Ni Sha''s hunter also set up a n to build hunter''s cabins at the ce he used to live, where people would jointly build and maintain the hunter''s cabins to take shelter in bad weather.


    From construction to daily maintenance, everyone worked together, and the cabins would also store water boiling tools and fire strikers.


    Since the hunting area was public, the cabins were also public, but now their areas were divided, so they each built their own.


    Time moved forward, and three years passed. Wen Qian was now forty-four years old.


    The vige Big Jin had visited had now be the nearby market town.


    This vige had more than twenty households with over a hundred people living there, and the surrounding fields were farmed by them.


    At the same time, the vige also served as a ce for nearby mountain residents to trade goods, gradually bing the location for holding markets.


    From spring to autumn, there would be markets on the 1st and 15th of each month.


    Any hunters or farmers who could make a round trip within a day coulde here.


    There were a few merchants in this vige: one textile shop, a general store, and a carpenter.


    Therefore, many people living in remote areas would take advantage of the markets toe here to purchase or trade goods.


    There were also merchantsing from other cities, who would purchase ginseng, deer antlers, bear skins, and sable furs in the north.


    They usually came once in spring and once in autumn.


    And the best time to catch sables was in winter, when their fur was at its finest.


    This brings us to the story of Big Jin''s decision to build the hunter''s cabins.


    Near his home, he could also find minks, but that was not asting solution, while the small hut had solved this problem.


    During winter, he cycled between his home and the hut, setting traps, collecting prey, and selling the mink pelts he skinned for money or goods.


    His eldest son had also learned to make traps and could help him.


    Big Jin''s family had built only two huts but had a substantial harvest in winter.


    As for Wen Qian, if new neighbors had not appeared in another directionter, she might have even considered building a fourth hut further away.


    However, now with neighbors surrounding her, the areas had been divided, so she only circted within her own territory to collect.


    Yearster, Wen Qian received the nowmonly used currency with a hole in the center, resembling copper coins that could be conveniently strung together, by selling mink pelts.


    With this currency, one could trade from south to north, so Wen Qian saved some money.

 Chapter 174

    Chapter 174


    At forty-four years old, Wen Qian felt like she had entered a retired lifestyle prematurely. She wandered between four rooms, with things to do all year round.


    At this time, the farthest ce she would go was the vige in the distance. If no one was there to collect goods, she probably wouldn''t even go.


    The brick oven outside the courtyard had been refurbished by Wen Qian, and she still grew vegetables among the paved bricks in the yard.


    On the side of the forest, a ring of thorny seedlings had been nted, forming a dense, imprable living wall.


    Outside, traps were still set up. The wall protected the crops inside from being raided by wild boars and other animals, while the hawthorn berries and wolfberries growing on the thorns were starting to be harvested.


    The wolfberries were made into dried fruits, which could be used for brewing tea or stewing soup. More importantly, some merchants would buy them, so they could be exchanged for money.


    Hawthorn berries were not as popr yet, so Wen Qian made juice out of them to drink.


    Wen Qian had developed all the original farnd in the forest area, but she couldn''t nt everything, so some parts were left fallow, and others were used as experimental fields.


    For example, she tried growing sugarcane here, which she had the impression should be grown in the deep south.


    Back in her hometown in An Province, she had seen people growing sugarcane at their doorsteps, with green skins.


    Fruit stores also used to sell sugarcane with dark purple skins, but she didn''t like eating sugarcane because she thought it was too chewy, and there were many other tasty things to choose from.


    She had seen videos about growing sugarcane before. The sugarcane from her space was cut into sections andid horizontally on the soil, and the buds on the nodes would sprout.


    Along with sugarcane, she also grew some sweet stems, which she treated like snacks.


    Last year, she had grown a small amount, and they had survived. Besides eating them herself, she had also given some to her neighbors.


    Her neighbors often risked stealing honey, which they couldter exchange for sugar and honey at the vige grocery store.


    But at this time, sugar and honey were not so easy to obtain. Wen Qian could trade honey with them since honey was not somon.


    So her neighbors quite liked the sugarcane and sweet stems she gave them.


    Now, whenever she had free time, she liked to experiment with growing strange things. If they survived, she gained new experience. If they didn''t, it didn''t matter.


    At this time, she thought of a nt with economic value simr to sugarcane - sugar beets.


    Among the seeds she had bought initially, there were also sugar beet seeds. So, in addition to growing crops, she tried growing some sugar beets as well.


    With the raw materials avable, Wen Qian also had to start learning the process of making sugar from sugar beets.


    The lotus roots she had nted downstream were still alive and expanding in area.


    Wen Qian and her neighbors had all dug them up to eat, and Wen Qian had even made lotus root powder herself. Big Jin had also exchanged lotus roots with others at the market.


    Over the years, she had gradually transnted the fruit seedlings around her home to the open spaces within her own area.


    The grapevines in her courtyard were growing well, and every year, she could exchange grapes with others at the market.


    Big Jin''s two children really enjoyed the environment at Wen Qian''s house. They also tried growing flowers around their own home, learning from Wen Qian''s style of decorating and cleaning. They had even set up trellises for grapes.


    Wen Qian would take her extra grapes or smoked meat to exchange for other people''s chickens, ducks, geese, and their eggs.


    However, Wen Qian didn''t want to raise these small animals herself. Back in her hometown in An Province, when people in rural areas raised them, they were basically fed with grains.


    For raising chickens, if the family grew rice, people would eat rice, and the chickens would get a scoop of rice grains morning and evening.


    If the family grew corn, people would eat fresh corn or corn porridge, and the chickens would get a scoop of corn kernels morning and evening.


    Moreover, these chickens were raised from a young age, and except for returning to roost at night before dark, they would spend the rest of their time scratching for insects in the fields in front of the house.


    Although rural free-range chickens tasted quite fragrant, they consumed a lot of grain. Selling them was almost like losing money, so most people kept them for themselves and their families to eat.


    For Wen Qian, living in the mountains, if she let them roam freely within the walls, she wouldn''t be able to grow vegetables, as the ground would be covered in chicken droppings. It would also attract outside predators like yellow mongoose.


    After considering it, she decided it would be too much trouble, so in the end, she could only exchange with others to eat them.


    Actually, she could have raised chickens in an iron cage or a wooden coop, but she found it too troublesome and only raised rabbits instead.


    Whenever she went to the market, she could exchange for quite a lot of things because she didn''t have to worry about them spoiling due to the heat when stored in her space.


    Big Jin''s family had originally nned to raise chickens, butter, Big Ning discovered that the eggs they got from the market were not fertilized, so there was no way to hatch them into chicks.


    So in the spring, Big Ning stole some newly hatched ducklings from the grass by the river and raised them at home. They would go out to the river in the morning and return home in the evening, and he sessfully raised them.


    Big Jin''s family could raise many things because they had enough people, so the workload was manageable when divided among them.


    Wen Qian couldn''t possibly take on everything by herself, so she had to make choices among these options.


    Little Jin was already a half-grown boy and quite tall and sturdy, able to go hunting with his father.


    The old grandmother was still in good health and took care of household chores, while Little Ning was mainly responsible for raising the ducks.


    Perhaps advised by their family, or perhaps because the two children really liked Aunt Wen Qian, they would asionally chat with her and bring her things.


    In the distance, Ni Sha had already learned to make various pottery and crude zed products.


    She and her husband would take these items to the market to exchange with others. While others might make small pieces themselves, she was quite skilled at makingrger items.


    Sand pots, jars, crocks, and water jars were Ni Sha''s most frequently exchanged items.


    Because every household needed a lot of jars and crocks to store things, which were more durable than containers made of wood or leather.


    They had also made tight-fitting lids, so they didn''t have to worry about rats and insects ruining their stored goods.


    Although there weren''t many people in this area, quite a few of them made repeat purchases from Ni Sha, and she acquired a lot of goods and money through exchanges.


    This year''s sugar beet harvest was quite good. Wen Qian stored them in her space and only brought out a basket to keep outside.


    She nned to make a small batch first to see how it went, as although the process was clear, Wen Qian felt she couldn''t possibly seed the first time on the most crucial part.


    So she needed to experiment to ensure she could sessfully producerger batchester.

 Chapter 175

    Chapter 175


    To make sugar from beets, the most important step is to add milk of lime, and the proportions need to be carefully controlled, simr to making tofu which requires experimenting with the amounts.


    First, wash the beets clean, then remove the outer rough skin and roots.


    After bringing the cleaned beet roots home, grate them into shreds and soak them in warm water. After that, filter the juice and start adding the milk of lime.


    Once this process is done, filter again, and the juice can then be ced on the heat to be boiled down. The liquid will be thicker and the color will darken.


    The sugar water will turn into a paste, and eventually into sugar crystals. During the frying process, keep adding a little sugar water to the pan and continue frying.


    When all the liquid has turned into brown sand-like grains, it means sess has been achieved.


    The first two times were thin sugar syrup, while the third time is brown sugar crystals. Wen Qian thought this should be considered brown sugar.


    Wen Qian packed the sugar into jars, and did not waste the sugar syrup either, collecting it as well.


    The homemade sugar was not as fine as the white granted sugar she had stockpiled, but it could still be traded. The first person she traded with was her neighbor.


    To make white sugar, the process would be even moreplicated, though it was possible but unnecessary, as industrial sugar production before the cmity had achieved that level of quality and yield.


    But in all honesty, for her alone to produce sugar inrge batches would be extremelyborious.


    So she didn''t n to build a sugar refinery afterward, and just intended to finish processing the beets in her space.


    After all, the demand here was limited, and it was time-consuming andborious. Compared to making sugar from beets, she preferred the taste of malt sugar.


    However, now that she had mastered this skill, it wouldn''t be too difficult for her to do it again in the future.


    Often, she was training her hands-on abilities. The methods and techniques she knew were only on paper, and if not put into practice, would forever remain mere theory.


    When truly needed, there were few chances of sess on the first try, so she practiced in advance so that whenever it was needed, she could execute immediately.


    As the saying goes, you''re never too old to learn. Since she had ready methods and books avable, she tried everything the conditions permitted.


    Beets, sugarcane, and malt - apart from honey, she had tried all the other sugar sources.


    Of the brown sugar she made, she kept only a portion for herself and traded the rest at the market. The surplus was bought by the grocery store owner.


    The grocery store owner suggested that if Wen Qian had more of this kind of sugar in the future, she could consign it with him, so he wouldn''t need to bring as much sugar back when restocking goods.


    The grocery store owner was probably the one in this area who went into town most often. Whenever the topic of the town came up, he became more talkative.


    Wen Qian had never been to town before, so she was a bit curious and talked to the owner for a while.


    The owner told her that if she ever went to town to buy goods, she could go with them.


    Traveling alone on the road these days meant there was a chance of running into bandits and ruffians, just like depicted in old TV shows.


    Those who managed to escape recounted their experiences, while many more likely died silently on the road, their bodies never found.


    Spring and autumn were generally peak seasons. In spring, many people would take the furs and animal skins collected over winter to trade for money, while in autumn, many stocked up on supplies for the winter.


    In spring, they would be robbed of their furs on the way out, and of their money on the way back.


    In autumn, they would be robbed of their money on the way out, and of their winter supplies on the way back.


    Those traders going around buying things usually had bodyguards, otherwise it would be impossible to take a single step.


    After staying at the grocery store for a while, Wen Qian left empty-handed.


    Sometimes she would make ns with her neighbors to go out together. Ni Sha would set out early and call out when she reached near Wen Qian''s house, while the Big Jin Family woulde a day in advance to make arrangements.


    Most of the time they went together, but Wen Qian was different. Sometimes there was no market day but she needed to go to the grocery store to trade things, so she would go alone.


    More importantly, at times the things she carried exceeded her capacity. If she went with others, it would be inconvenient for her to transfer items into her space.


    So the more she carried, the more likely she was to go alone. When going with her neighbors, she would carry less.


    Since she had the opportunity to trade, Wen Qian no longer put all her belongings into her space like before, instead taking them to exchange for money or other goods.


    However, with so many items for trading, she inevitably drew unwanted attention.


    Some people had no real business and spent their days scheming to steal and rob. On this day, they had set their sights on Wen Qian.


    A not tall nor sturdy woman, alone leaving this vige. Although she had a gun, if ambushed, they would surely seed.


    They thought since she didn''t carry anything out of the store, she must have exchanged her previous goods for money.


    Wen Qian took the main road, while they took the small path, following her from a distance.


    Initially they didn''t act when near the vige, as the terrain was too t and open.


    One should know that at this time, whether stealing or robbing, if caught, everyone would cry for their beating.


    They could only wait until she went further before acting. But unexpectedly, after passing through a small path, they lost sight of the woman''s trail.


    Their heart sank, wondering if they had been discovered. But she couldn''t fly, so how could she have shaken them off so quickly?


    They calmed down, thinking she must be hiding. After all, she was the one afraid, so she hid.


    Their mood lightened, imagining her hiding in a panic, not daring to move or breathe. If they found her now, she would be startled.


    For some reason, they felt like a cat ying with a mouse. Cats don''t usually catch mice to eat, but to y. Now they could rte to the cat''s curiosity.


    The next second, they pushed through the bushes with their gun, spotting a faint hat tip in the distance, and quickened their pace.


    Pushing through thest bush, they saw a hat - the woman''s hat, now stuck on a wooden pole embedded in the ground.


    Wen Qian was indeed ying cat and mouse, but she was the cat.


    As they angrily reached out, grabbed the hat and threw it to the ground, a hand grenade fell out from inside.


    This type of stick grenade was once verymon in TV shows. The person felt their heart skip a beat in shock.


    His instinctive reaction was to take three steps back and jump into the nearby bushes. As he fell to the ground, Wen Qian shot him.


    The man who was shot immediately lost all his strength, and at that moment, he deeply regretted not realizing that the woman had such a bomb.


    Powerless, he tried to roll over, but his back was excruciatingly painful. Lying on the ground, he gripped a gun in his hand but couldn''t find a target to shoot at.


    Unable to raise his head, his vision was limited to the nearby grass. If someone were to approach from behind...


    He kept trembling, but to no avail. He seemed to hear rustling sounds from the bushes.


    He felt blood on his body, but it appeared to be only one wound. It was then that he realized he was not injured by a bomb but rather by a gunshot.

 Chapter 176

    Chapter 176


    The grenade hadn''t exploded, possibly because the pin wasn''t pulled, or maybe it couldn''t detonate at all.


    Cold sweat began to form on his forehead, unsure if it was from pain or fear, perhaps both.


    He started to regret why he had impulsively followed this person, even though he himself had retired from his old ways long ago.


    He used to be a habitual thief, but when society became chaotic, he fished in troubled waters for a while, transitioning from petty theft to robbery.


    In the past two years, he had moved to a new ce and finally settled down for a while, but ultimately couldn''t resist his inner addiction.


    He suddenly recalled a victim he had once robbed, who sat at the doorstep cursing, vehemently shouting that thieves woulde to no good end.


    At the time, he felt disdainful. The curses didn''t anger him; instead, he thought the victim was helpless, only able to vent through words.


    From this point, his life began to sh before his eyes.


    Wen Qian moved a bit closer and fired another shot at the person lying in the grass.


    His life had ended. Sometimes, thieves be addicted to stealing because they''re used to the ie far exceeding their effort.


    There are many ways to make quick money, and when ites so easily, they scorn the idea of earning an honest living.


    Even if someone wants to return to the right path, they might give up due to the hardships of an ordinary person''s livelihood and revert to their old trade.


    So they repeatedly fall into the same trap in one ce until they can''t escape anymore.


    After ensuring the other party wasn''t moving, Wen Qian used a long pole to retrieve his gun before daring to approach the corpse.


    She approached to take his belongings, finding bullets and a little money in his bag.


    Wen Qian took his things, picked up her hat and grenade model, then swiftly left after observing her surroundings.


    Adhering to the principle of being ruthless without many words, she generally doesn''t waste breath on the dying, nor approach before they''ve drawn theirst breath¡ªthis time was no exception.


    She still remembers the excited expression on his face when he discovered her hat.


    Wen Qian sighed. She''s always nervous when killing someone, and this time was even more tense than her first kill because this environment wasn''t familiar to her.


    She had randomly chosen this location because the grass here was particrly lush.


    Originally, she nned to use her hat as cover, then create a diversion to sneak away.


    Later, she thought unless she never returned to the market, he might have a next time.


    So in that brief moment, she changed her mind and decided to kill him to silence him.


    Although the n was executed sessfully, Wen Qian''s mood was far from good. She felt it would be better to always go out with neighbors in the future.


    A corpsey in the overgrown grass, like many other dead people. In many cases, they''re never discovered, or only found by ident muchter.


    Wen Qian was nearly home. She crossed the river on the makeshift bridge by Big Jin, reached the shallow waters where lotus roots were grown, and picked a few lotus leaves, nning to make beggar''s chicken.


    For some reason, when she felt pressure, she transformed it into appetite, eating several meals if one didn''t suffice.


    Back home, she started making beggar''s chicken. A whole chicken needs to be well-marinated, so she directly took out one she''d prepared earlier from her Space.


    She stuffed it with green onions, ginger, garlic, and other seasonings, tying it with cotton thread.


    Then she wrapped and secured it with cleaned lotus leaves, followed by ayer of yellow y.


    She lit a fire with firewood in the oven, and when it was almost burned down, she put the chicken in.


    She''d done this many times, so she was skilled and had a good sense of timing.


    Now she just waited until it was time to eat.


    Meanwhile, she brought out a chair and sat in the corridor, lost in thought.


    She took a piece of malt sugar from a jar to suck on, then thought about taking out the gun and ammunition she''d confiscated.


    The gun was quite old, clearly used for a long time. The wooden stock was smooth, with patterns and marks carved by its owner.


    Wen Qian thought for a moment and began disassembling the gun. He had quite a few parts; she threw the wooden pieces directly into the firewood under the oven and kept the rest.


    After this, she washed her hands, changed her clothes and shoes. The discarded ones she washed, dried, and put away.


    She didn''t n to wear this outfit to that vige again anytime soon, fearing unnecessary trouble.


    Wen Qian ate one chicken in two meals, and her stress dissipated like smoke.


    After this incident, she didn''t go to the market for a whole month. Sometimes she''d ask neighbors to take her goods for exchange, then reward them for their help.


    Both neighbors refused, thinking it wasn''t a big deal, but Wen Qian felt she mustpensate them. Not going to the market herself, she could use the saved time for hunting and still have gains.


    So she insisted they ept, saying if they didn''t, she''d feel too embarrassed to ask for help again. Under these circumstances, neighbors would usually ept.


    Although they felt their help was just "incidental" and didn''t warrant payment.


    However, having known Wen Qian for years, they understood her character: introverted, hardworking, cold-faced but kind-hearted, and certainly a formidable person.


    Returning from the market, the neighbors told her some news: from southern cities to the north, they''ve started providing vines and free medicine for newborns.


    As for people in remote areas, traveling doctors would visit twice a year¡ªvines in spring and autumn, not in summer, but medicine always avable.


    Children under twelve get a fixed amount of free medicine, and pregnant women who go to the city get free check-ups, but adults have to pay for medicine.


    These doctors would stay in differentrge viges for one to two days, coinciding with local market times.


    This didn''t concern Wen Qian, but the Ni Sha couple was very curious.


    Among those who survived the natural disasters, just keeping oneself alive was good enough; not many had children.


    The number of newborns was extremely low, and without vines and other medicines, it wasn''t easy for them to grow up well.


    So cities with resources started providing newborn vines and children''s medicine to surrounding areas. Although very limited, it was better than nothing.


    Ni Sha and her husband desperately longed for a child of their own. Although Ni Sha believed herself to be healthy and strong enough to bear a child, her husband was deeply concerned. He felt that if she were to be pregnant, they would need to go to the city, but they had no idea what the medical facilities were like in the nearest urban center.


    When Ni Sha discussed the idea of traveling to the city with Wen Qian, thetter expressed her own desire to visit the urban area as well. She suggested that if she and the owner of the general store went first, they could scout out the city''s conditions on behalf of Ni Sha and her husband.

 Chapter 177

    Chapter 177


    In the season between summer and autumn, Wen Qian finally had a chance to go to the town. The Grocery Store Owner happened to need to go procure goods during this time period.


    Once the weather got a little colder, he would not travel far anymore. When snow fell, the market would end, and the nearby vigers would note to the vige either.


    Wen Qian did not have anything important to do, she was just curious about what the small town looked like.


    After all, it had been a long time since she had seen a town that survived after the catastrophe, a ce that was a small town before the catastrophe and remained a small town afterwards.


    The ces she had passed through before could be described as ghost towns, abandoned cities, or deserted cities. ording to the Grocery Store Owner''s description of the small town, there was a resolute and decisive person there who ultimately preserved the town.


    After the catastrophe, the security situation was rtively good here, and the living conditions were not bad either.


    Wen Qian had a limited imagination. She still envisioned cities as crowded and bustling before the catastrophe, and deste and dpidated after the catastrophe.


    She could not imagine what a city would be like after the catastrophe.


    Wen Qian first went to the store to meet the Grocery Store Owner, then the Owner''s family members would send them to a distant ferry crossing.


    There were boats on the nearby river, and they could take a boat to near the small town, disembark, and then walk into the town.


    Wen Qian felt a bit dizzy and unsteady on the boat, and she suspected she might be seasick, as she had never experienced it before. Although she felt a bit ufortable, she could ovee it.


    The Grocery Store Owner also brought along a Young Man from the same vige, whose main role was to help the Owner carry goods.


    Wen Qian enjoyed the scenery and wind along the way. Finally, the boat docked, and she thought that if the return trip were at the same speed, then going into the town would not be too difficult.


    This boat was quiterge, and other people would also board it along the way. The boat had a rough schedule.


    It came every few days, with set times in the morning and afternoon.


    The boat seemed to be burning a boiler, as she only saw ck smokeing out of the chimney, but only the crew members could enter the operation area, so she could not see anything.


    When the Grocery Store Owner saw her curiosity, he told her that there were still coal-burning trains on the railroads, andrger coal-burning boats on the major rivers.


    But exactly howrge and fast they were, they could only imagine, as the shopkeeper did not know and could not describe it to her.


    In the past, there were airnes, high-speed trains, and cars as means of transportation, but now there was only coal-burning, a return to the steam age.


    Being able to burn coal was already good. Bicycles existed but were not affordable. In this small town, they were also rare and could only be found more frequently in cities further south.


    Some people had begun to use animals like oxen, horses, and mules as transportation again.


    Wen Qian disembarked outside the town walls, where there were still many people and animals. She even saw an animal parking lot she had never seen before.


    Apparently, some animals were not allowed into the town, so their owners would entrust them to the parking lot when entering the town.


    The livestock sheds were partitioned into separate stalls to prevent the animals from fighting or mating. If the owners brought their own feed, it could be ced in the feeding troughs, or they could buy feed from a nearby stall for a fee.


    The owners would register and pay a deposit, charged by the half-day. At the same time, if the animal''s owner came out of the town with receipts proving they had made purchases and consumed goods inside, they could get a discount.


    While queuing to enter or exit, Wen Qian observed the surroundings and noticed that everyone seemed very rxed, indicating this ce was quite safe.


    No wonder the Grocery Store Owner was not worried about personal safety, only bringing along one Young Man to help carry goods. It seemed the security situation around the small town was epassed within the town''s security measures.


    To enter the town, one needed to register and pay a fee. If an adult brought along a child under 1.2 meters tall, the adult would be exempt from the fee.


    Pregnant women after June were also exempt.


    Wen Qian queued with the Grocery Store Owner, and all three of them had to pay. When asked about Wen Qian''s purpose for visiting, she hesitated for a moment.


    The purpose was simply to have a look around, right? Then the Grocery Store Owner said she was there to help him procure goods, and they were allowed to enter.


    Besides the registration and payment, there was also a security check where outsiders were not allowed to bring guns into the town.


    The town residents also had guns, but they could not take them outside their homes. People could shoot intruders breaking into their homes, but they could not carry guns outside.


    If a permanent resident of the small town vited this rule too many times, they would be expelled from the town. If theymitted a serious crime within the town, they would face the death penalty.


    This form of execution, like the ancient practice of beheading criminals at the vegetable market to serve as a warning to others, was meant to kill one to deter a hundred. Apparently, this practice had been in use for a long time.


    There were two Inspectors responsible for body searches. Female inspectors would search female visitors. They would first ask if the visitor had any guns.


    If the visitor admitted to having one, they would be given two tokens to attach to the gun, which would be stored in a holding room. Upon leaving the town, they could use their tokens to retrieve their gun.


    However, if they imed to have no gun but the Inspector found one during the search, the gun would be confiscated, and that person would not be allowed to enter the town.


    Behind the Inspectors was a squad of armed Guards. The checkpoint was narrow, only allowing one person to pass through at a time.


    There was arge sign in front: "Violent attempts to force through will be met with lethal force on the spot."


    While Wen Qian was queuing here, she noticed that everyone followed the rules obediently. The entry fee was not high, and the town walls were not tall either, apparently hastily built after the catastrophe.


    As soon as she entered the town, there was an especiallyrge square, very spacious, with many advertisement walls on both sides. Information was exchanged by writing with chalk on ckboards.


    Some were painted with oil paints, which were official announcements that could not be casually covered over.


    One of the advertisement sections promoted having children, while others were about disease prevention, such as deworming medication.


    As she went further in, she gradually realized that this so-called small town was actually quite simr to the towns near where she used to live.


    There were single-story houses as well as two- or three-story buildings, which were the typical residences for most inhabitants.


    In the distance, those buildings over ten stories high were clearly residential buildings from before the catastrophe. After being abandoned for so many years, grass and trees had grown on them.


    From Wen Qian''s vantage point far away, the dark openings seemed to have birds flying in and out.


    The town residents dressed simrly to the vigers, but any clothes made after the catastrophe were produced by rtively primitive looms, so the colors and quality were roughly the same.


    Wen Qian first followed the Grocery Store Owner to purchase supplies. The ce they went to was a specialized street, where wholesalers would register their catalogs and record their minimum order quantities.


    The Grocery Store Owner, being familiar with the process, went to one store and procured a batch of needles, threads, and fabrics¡ªitems that almost every household required.


    There was a significant price difference between ready-made garments and raw fabrics. Thus, many households with individuals skilled in needlework would purchase fabrics and sew their own clothes.


    In the past, it was not guaranteed that cotton garments were made of pure cotton, or they would be very expensive. Nowadays, however, the avable fabrics were mostly made from natural materials like cotton, linen, wool, and silk, while synthetic fibers were hard to find.


    After many years, Wen Qian pondered that the vast amounts of stic waste left behind by humans could still be seen, and wondered if future generations would have stic particles in their bloodstreams.


    Next, the Shopkeeper procured some seasoning ingredients, such as oil, salt, and sugar. The grocery store sold all kinds of goods.


    Wen Qian followed the Grocery Store Owner from store to store, observing the lively atmosphere and broadening his horizons.

 Chapter 178

    Chapter 178


    Since the boat would not arrive until the afternoon, Wen Qian told the Boss that she would meet him at the entrance and exit gate then. She wandered around the za, examining all the information on the propaganda wall.


    There were also distribution maps showing which areas were shops, residential areas, hospitals, and orphanages.


    Wen Qian took a stroll around and noticed many people cooking in the alleys, some burning charcoal while others burned coal.


    The aroma of food wafted through the air, and Wen Qian felt a bit hungry, so she took out a rolled pancake from her Space.


    She walked and ate, eventually reaching the hospital, a three-story white building with the original logo.


    The nurses wore gray coarse cloth gowns, and when Wen Qian inquired about childbirth, they kindly pointed her in the direction of a nearby counseling area.


    The female doctor, assuming Wen Qian wanted to get pregnant, handed her a bottle of tablets.


    In this era, those having children were considered brave, so they would provide all the supplements they could, such as folic acid.


    Wen Qian then rified that she was asking on someone else''s behalf, and the doctor asked for the age.


    She also gave Wen Qian a small booklet containing information rted to pregnancy. At this time, the hospital could not offer many prenatal checkups, so more emphasis was ced on the mother''s physical condition.


    However, they also said that for those without prior experience in natural childbirth, it was better to give birth at the hospital, where they could at least perform a cesarean section in emergencies.


    Yes, at that time, there were still conditions for cesarean sections. For natural births at the hospital, the mother''s fees could be reduced, and the newborn would receive a free gift package, though they did not care about apanying persons.


    When Wen Qian tried to ask more about the fees and discounts, the other party gave her another booklet.


    So Wen Qian left with two booklets and then took a stroll through themercial district, which also had ces for amodation and dining.


    Even now, there were rich and poor in the city; otherwise, how could one exin the expensive silk still being sold in shops?


    The grocer had ordered goods but did not take them away, instead gathering them in a free storage area in themercial district.


    If they wanted to continue wandering around the city or the boat from outside had not arrived yet, it was more convenient to leave their belongings there rather than carry them around, lest someone target them.


    After obtaining the information she wanted and buying a few items from various ces, which she secretly stored in her Space, Wen Qian only carried the booklets as shepleted her tour.


    The grocer and vigers, having finished their meals, sat on the za sunbathing. Seeing Wen Qian with the booklets, they grew curious and flipped through them.


    "Looks like there really is no one left, with so many childbirth discounts."


    A fellow viger sighed, "Yes, they''re all gone."


    Upon hearing this, everyone fell silent. After all, they had all experienced life before the cmity, which now seemed luxurious in retrospect.


    They had all gone through death, each experiencing a major life change. Those with unstable mentalities might have chosen to end their lives long ago.


    Even the strongest survivors could only remain silent when reminiscing about the past.


    Yes, in the past, they all lived ordinary lives, never imagining that one day it woulde to this.


    Fortunately, the sun''s warmth shone upon them, and they soon changed the subject.


    They spoke of the former ruler of the small city, a group of three individuals. Wen Qian knew nothing about them, and the Boss and vigers only knew a little, as they were neers as well.


    However, among those sunbathing on the za was The Elder, a long-time resident who appeared quite old, with only a few teeth remaining.


    After the cmity, since there were still many people here, that prominent figure directly designated this area, far from the previously densely built city center, and instead rebuilt the city in this suburban area.


    Men, women, the elderly, and children all had to follow the arrangements. All medicine, food, and vegetables in the market were controlled and collected collectively.


    The sudden emergence of a nned economy and city-building n left many people perplexed, wondering how it had suddenly be like this.


    But some people felt relieved because before, everyone lived and worked ording to routine, so when chaos erupted, coupled with the cmity, it felt like the end of the world.


    At that time, he gave the people a goal, ignoring everything else and focusing solely on preserving those within his domain.


    They built collective heating areas, huddling together like penguins to keep warm and survive.


    Afterward, they exhausted every means to produce food, expending great effort to transport fuel, and severely punishing anyone who impeded collective action.


    A group that had gathered from elsewhere, intending to cause disruption, faced city walls and weapons, resulting in rivers of blood.


    Although the process was bloody, the personmanding from within the city did indeed allow this small city to survive. It was not even the originally designated base, yet it had endured for so long.


    Many listened to The Elder''s story, with some adding details he had not mentioned, including ounts that sounded quite brutal.


    That person had died, officially dered as sumbing to heart disease, but some said he had faked his death to escape.


    In any case, after the small city stabilized, it continued to operate ording to the rules and ns set by that person initially. Wen Qian felt that his actions had gained the approval of everyone.


    When the story ended, it was almost time, and someone called out from the entrance, so everyone went to retrieve their belongings and prepare to leave.


    Wen Qian helped them carry their things, and the merchants also helped with the delivery.


    After boarding the ship at the dock, they departed. Wen Qian tucked the booklets into her pocket, intending to give them to Ni Sha upon their return.


    On the way back, they discussed the prominent figure of the small city, seeming particrly interested in the idea of him faking his death, as the neers had suggested.


    Wen Qian thought that his iron-fisted approach had preserved the small city, and once the situation had calmed, he left, perhaps truly faking his death.


    But this might not have been an unwise choice. In the current rxed environment, some might consider him cruel, so it could be better that he left.

 Chapter 179

    Chapter 179


    After returning home, Wen Qian carefully read through the two manuals given to her by others. A few dayster, Ni Sha came, and Wen Qian gave her the booklets.


    Women intending to be pregnant can register with the vige doctor when theye, and they will be given some free nutritional supplements.


    These things were simr to what the hospital said. Wen Qian told her that pregnant women must go for a checkup at the hospital once, and it''s best to give birth at the hospital as well.


    Ni Sha was quite enthusiastic, but her husband was not very willing.


    Ni Sha''s husband was worried about her physical health and safety, and he also knew that in the past, before medical standards improved, the mortality rates for both mothers and infants were very high.


    He did not want to lose his wife.


    There was no doubt that they had returned to the backward era of the past, and the level of medical examination could not bepared to that before the cmity.


    Wen Qian was not particrly fond of pregnancy and childbirth. Even before the cmity, it was like that, let alone after the cmity.


    During her working period, she had seen colleagues with good family environments who showed no difference before and after childbirth, as well as ssmates who became unrecognizably overweight and aged ten years after giving birth.


    To put it bluntly, it was a matter of whether one had money or not, or simply whether one had someone to help or not.


    Wen Qian felt that giving birth was something that required a lot of courage. Of course, some people also thought that giving birth was as simple as eating, but don''t forget that even eating can lead to choking.


    Everyone''s perception of pain is different. Some people develop arge bump after being bitten by a mosquito, and it disappears in a while, while others still have scars a month after being bitten.


    Of course, there are also those who have a constitution where mosquitoes simply don''t bite them, while on the other hand, there are those whose constitution makes them the first choice for mosquitoes to bite.


    When it came to the pain of childbirth, there was a lot of discussion on the inte before it existed. Many people felt that they should give birth, with the reasoning that if no one gave birth, the human race would go extinct.


    However, after the cmity, with the sharp decline in poption, everyone was more concerned with surviving themselves, and it was not easy to raise a child during this critical period.


    No one had the time to bring up topics like human reproduction.


    It was only after the cmity passed and the climate improved that protective measures for pregnant women and newborns gradually emerged.


    Ni Sha and her husband eventually decided to have a child, perhaps because they were both lonely and destitute.


    So Ni Sha definitely wanted to have a child with a blood rtion to her, and this was what touched her husband.


    Upon returning from the city, Wen Qian was asked about the city''s situation by two neighbors. Ni Sha inquired about the manuals and the medical conditions in the city.


    The Big Jin Family was purely out of curiosity. They had no intention of going to the city at the moment, but they wanted to hear Wen Qian''s ount of the news from the city.


    So Wen Qian told them everything she had seen and heard. When they learned that people in the city were also burning coal or wood, they wondered if there were people who specifically chopped wood to sell to city dwellers.


    Indeed, that was the case. If one had a job in the city, they would have to spend money to buy firewood. However, some households with older children or elderly members would go out and chop wood themselves.


    Moreover, the small city had regtions that vegetation within a certain radius around the city was not allowed to be destroyed, and certain designated types of wood were not permitted to be chopped for burning.


    They could only chop the less valuable ones to bring back, so selling firewood was indeed a business.


    Whether it was firewood or charcoal, the prices were fixed within a certain range, meaning the price increase could not be toorge.


    Some people, even if they chopped wood to sell in the city, could not intentionally raise or lower the prices too much.


    Including edible salt and grains, if they were purchased with money, the prices were set.


    Necessities were not allowed to be priced arbitrarily, while non-essential items were more flexible.


    There was little news in the mountains, so these matters were enough for her to talk about for quite a while.


    Little Jin, the son of the Jin Family, particrly yearned for the small city, saying that he would also chop wood to sell in the city when he grew up, which made his mother tease him.


    She said that when he got married in the future, she would let the newlywed couple go to the city for a trip, which made Little Jin blush with embarrassment.


    Afterwards, Wen Qian had to be busy with the autumn harvest, storing all the grains in her Space before winter arrived.


    In the past, when this ce did not collect weasel pelts, Wen Qian would spend the winters at home doing various odd jobs to pass the time.


    But now, weasel pelts could fetch a good price, so during the winter, Wen Qian needed to move between the four huts, setting traps and hunting.


    Others could understand collecting ginseng and bear pelts, but weasel pelts ¨C who would wear them?


    She still couldn''t figure out why there was such a demand in the few cities in their northern region.


    The merchants who collected these items said they were selling to higher-level merchants, but they didn''t know who ultimately took these weasel pelts or what they were used for.


    The grocery store owner said that wealthy people in this era would make clothes from silk and weasel pelts, which is why these items were valuable.


    Wen Qian had never been a wealthy person, so poverty had always limited her imagination of the wealthy.


    She wondered if perhaps the wealthy without a Space would still find unimaginable ways to survive the cmity.


    Unlike herself, who only knew how to scavenge.


    Indeed, the wealthy would have unimaginable ways to survive the cmity. During the onset of the virus, they could swiftly distance themselves from crowds.


    And when the cmity struck, they would immediately find the warmest ces to survive, such as inds.


    Unless they were truly unlucky and happened to be in a volcanic eruption area.


    Moreover, in this era, gold was still a valuablemodity. Wen Qian also had some gold, but she didn''t buy it herself ¨C she had unintentionally found it during her scavenging.


    As Wen Qian busied herself with farm work, she thought about the uing winter and wondered which wealthy person would wear the weasel pelts she had sold.


    Suddenly, she saw herself as part of the hardworking masses described in ancient poetry.


    As long as there were people, there would be a gap between the rich and the poor. Living standards would be better in the southern cities, and the levels of education and medical care in those areas would definitely be higher as well.


    If nothing unexpected happened, Wen Qian would never go there in her lifetime.


    After harvesting the crops from the fields and vegetables from the garden, Wen Qian stored them in her Space. She then took the time to inspect her hunting huts.


    Since she would be staying in them during the winter, she had to check them periodically to see if any wild animals had caused damage, or if there were any leaks or mold inside the huts.


    Starting from the first cabin, if there''s no issue, she''ll reach the second cabin by noon, then stay overnight at the third cabin in the afternoon, and return home the next day.


    If it snows, her travel time will increase, and she might have to spend the night at each cabin, returning home several dayster.


    Since she has the Space, she carries everything, so she doesn''t have to worry about being robbed.


    If it''s the Big Jin Family, they would need to prepare firewood, nkets, and dry rations at each lodging.


    If not prepared beforehand in the cabins, they would have to carry everything themselves, either way being inconvenient.


    Preserving supplies in the mountains is difficult, as rodents and insects can ruin them, so the Big Jin Family would choose to bring food from home and ce nkets inside the cabins before it snows.


    Wen Qian has it much easier, carrying everything except her gun in the Space.


    This time, after airing out the first cabin, she gathered thest batch of berries in the surroundings.


    After sealing the door, she headed towards the second hunter''s cabin, the path a bit far but not difficult to walk.


    However, before arriving, she spotted people outside the cabin through her telescope.


    The cabin''s chimney was still smoking.

 Chapter 180

    Chapter 180


    As she moved closer, she observed that the people were a father and son duo, the neighbors who had arrivedter. Since the fence had already been set earlier, they followed the lines drawn by Wen Qian before.


    Wen Qian put down her telescope, but it seemed that the others were not following the rules.


    Her house was located far from the fence, and even farther from the new neighbors'' home, indicating that their actions were intentional.


    The others were trying to upy her territory.


    Wen Qian let out a light sigh.


    The new neighbors wereter arrivals, seemingly a family of four - an old man, a couple, and a young man who had juste of age.


    Wen Qian had only briefly met the couple once before, and hadn''t seen them again after that.


    The remaining information was from Ni Sha and Big Jin; Ni Sha also shared a border with them.


    Big Jin, on the other hand, had met them when they visited traveling upstream along the river.


    ording to them, it seemed the new neighbors got along well with everyone except Wen Qian.


    But Wen Qian didn''t care much, as their home was too far from hers, so they wouldn''t encounter each other even if they tried.


    As long as they didn''t cross the boundary, everything would be fine.


    So previously, there had been no intersection or conflict between them, and they didn''t have much presence in Wen Qian''s life.


    However, this year, they suddenly crossed the boundary, because they thought Wen Qian''s territory was better.


    Better than their own, and the fact that such a good territory was upied by a single woman made them want to test the boundaries.


    First, they set traps across the fence, and when Wen Qian didn''t notice, they starteding more frequently.


    This year, when they saw Wen Qian''s house, and after observing for a while without seeing any signs of her, they decided to upy it.


    They thought that even if she built a small hut, the materials she used would be better than their own home, because they didn''t have bricks.


    This made them want to upy this ce even more, because they felt that for a single person, it was a waste for her to upy such arge area without using it.


    And even if she came, they thought they could overpower her, two against one.


    They had been staying there for three days and felt like it was already their home, conveniently saving them from having to build a new hut.


    Wen Qian climbed up a tree and sat on a branch, pondering her options.


    Should she confront them now, or pretend not to see and simply return home?


    Confronting them could escte the situation into an armed conflict, and she couldn''t win a physical fight against either of the father and son duo alone.


    But if she killed them, the situation hadn''t reached the point of needing to kill, and killing one would only enrage the other, making it impossible for her to escape unharmed.


    So how could she make them leave?


    Give a prior warning? After considering, Wen Qian could only issue a long-range warning, avoiding a direct confrontation and potential violence.


    So Wen Qian moved further away, took out a gun from her spatial storage, and found a suitable position to open fire.


    She observed the person cooking soup outside going back inside, then fired a shot at the pot, the shattering sound drawing their attention.


    The person came out from the house, initially thinking there was an issue with the pot, but then noticed the ground beside them being struck.


    After observing, he realized it was a bullet, meaning someone was aiming at that spot.


    The one sleeping inside was Old Liu, the father, while Young Liu was outside, who then rushed to wake his father in panic.


    "Dad, there''s trouble! Someone''se to cause problems!" Young Liu had always felt that their upation of others'' territory would lead to conflict eventually.


    Little did he know that the other party wouldn''t even show their face, and instead fired warning shots from such a distance.


    That meant the other party had something that could observe from that far away, as well as a tool to take their lives from that distance.


    Old Liu finally understood what his son was saying, and upon going outside and seeing the shattered pot and the spot his son pointed at, he realized the issue.


    He looked towards Wen Qian''s direction, and then a third shot hit a nearby tree trunk, the sound clearly audible to both of them.


    Realizing it was a warning, Old Liu could only raise his hands in a circle, signaling his son to go inside and pack their belongings to leave immediately.


    Wen Qian observed them through her telescope as they left, even closing the door behind them, until they were out of her line of sight.


    She didn''t approach after driving them away, as there was nothing of interest inside, and she didn''t want to check the situation.


    Instead, she went to the third hut, nning to spend the night there.


    Since they left quickly and without any aggressive behavior, Wen Qian didn''t feel the need to take drastic measures.


    Of course, if this happened a third time, Wen Qian would need toe up with a more secure solution.


    She was unwilling to kill casually, especially since the other party was just an ordinary mountain dweller like herself.


    The father and son duo packed their belongings and returned home, where the woman was curious to see them back so soon, as they had said they would stay there for a few more days.


    When her son recounted the neighbor''s warning actions, the woman looked at her child with concern, as he was her only child, and she didn''t want him to be in danger.


    But the head of the household insisted on trying, without considering that for someone to upy such arge territory and build such arge courtyard, they must have exceptional abilities.


    Why should their family have to confront them directly? Besides, everyone had guns, so why escte the situation to that point?


    But she had no say in the matter, just as she had none in the modern society before the cmity, let alone now.


    Wen Qian arrived at the third hut and swept the earthen bed with a feather duster, then fumigated it with a small bundle of mugwort before heating it up and making the bed.


    She was constantly pondering what to do if the neighbors tried something again, as she felt she might have be too ustomed to killing, always thinking the most straightforward solution was that.


    Perhaps she had been away from awful society for too long, so her methods of resolving issues were also quitewless.


    She didn''t want to waste time and effort on verbal reprimands or warnings, as she felt they would be useless.


    But if she truly engaged in armed conflict with them, it would inevitably lead to enmity.


    And if she didn''t resolve that enmity, it would be like burying a time bomb near herself.


    Wen Qian absolutely wouldn''t allow such an unsafe factor to exist near her.


    It seemed she could only observe the neighbors'' behavior, and she sincerely hoped that the family would cherish their lives and stay away from her.

 Chapter 181

    Chapter 181


    After spending a night in the third cabin, Wen Qian returned to the second cabin on the following day. It was just as they had left it yesterday, meaning they hadn''te back since their departure.


    Wen Qian cautiously opened the door, only entering with ease after confirming there were no traps.


    Although the intruders hadn''t damaged anything, the thought of not knowing how long they had stayed here unsettled her.


    She couldn''t understand why, in a ce as vast as the Northern Forest, someone would trespass. Was it true that things belonging to others always seemed more desirable?


    Some people apparently dislike peaceful coexistence and equal treatment, preferring either to trample on others or be trampled upon themselves.


    She wondered how long this warning would hold. If they decided to cause trouble this winter, how would she handle it?


    She didn''t want to kill unless absolutely necessary. Besides, they were a whole family; killing them all wouldn''t be right, but leaving some alive would be even worse.


    So, when she next saw her two neighbors, she told them about the intruders upying her hunting cabin.


    Wen Qian only wanted to inform them, not seeking their judgment or stance. If any conflict were to erupt in the future, she would have valid reasons.


    Fortunately, throughout the winter, the intruders didn''t trespass again. Wen Qian moved between her cabins, harvesting a substantial amount of mink fur.


    The three families decided to find a time to sell the mink fur together when the spring market began.


    Going together always felt safer.


    There was also good news: Ni Sha was pregnant. Her n had been executed very quickly; by calction, she should be over three months along.


    With spring''s arrival, doctors would visit the vige, advising her on precautions.


    Everyone was very curious about their decision to have a child, but as Ni Sha wasn''t showing yet, they couldn''t see much difference.


    However, Wen Qian felt she already had a maternal glow.


    In the past, she had been quite oblivious. Even when someone was seven or eight months pregnant with a big belly, she wouldn''t realize they were expecting.


    Until once, when a good friend was pregnant and she visited, she suddenly noticed there were many pregnant women around¡ªon the streets, buses, and subways.


    Even those not showing, she could quickly identify as soon-to-be mothers, as they became cautious, unconsciously shielding their abdomens with their hands.


    Just like her good friend.


    This phenomenon is called the "pregnancy effect" or "retinal effect."


    Whether in Xia Province or here in the forest, Wen Qian hadn''t seen a newborn in a long time. Children always represent new life and hope, especially one born after the end of a natural disaster.


    Due to his wife''s pregnancy, the husband had to alter his spring ns.


    The child would be born in autumn, so they might be in the city by then.


    He couldn''t manage his crops, so he didn''t n to nt much. However, he agreed with his two neighbors to exchange game or money for their grown grains.


    Everyone also considered that with only the couple in their home now, after the child''s birth, Ni Sha wouldn''t be able to do much for several years.


    Only one person would be working, unable to venture far for hunting.


    While pregnant women need to be careful, it doesn''t mean they can''t do anything. It just means they can''t work as they normally would.


    Simple tasks like sewing clothes or picking vegetables should still be done. Constantly eating and lying around is actually detrimental to childbirth.


    At this stage, a natural birth is best, so she focused on diet and exercise.


    However, they lived too far from the small town, so the hunter agreed to rent a small house with vigers.


    He''d take his wife to stay in the vige for a month or two, mainly during thest two months when her belly is big, making it convenient for them to take a boat to the city when the timees.


    Wen Qian had fine cotton cloth, so she made baby clothes as described in books.


    She thought that as a neighbor, she should give something to the newborn.


    Should the newborn call her "grandma"? Is that the right term?


    Wen Qian and Big Ning took over the hunter''s small crop, helping them harvest grain, carrots, and cabbage, all tended well.


    Childbirth is a big event, and the healthy elderlydy from the Jin Family also eagerly awaited this newborn''s arrival.


    When Ni Sha reached her due date, she had a natural birth in the hospital, delivering a daughter.


    The hunter bnced caring for the new mother with finding temporary work in the city. Behind the hospital, there was a ce specifically arranged for postpartum care.


    After a week in the hospital, they moved there. The rent was very cheap, with subsidies for newborns. They nned to stay a full month before heading home.


    This was already the greatest help for the newborn and mother. Newborns are too precious now.


    Mainly, they weren''t at ease with the baby under a month old. If they were unsure about anything, they could ask directly.


    If the baby caught a chill on the road, it would be noughing matter.


    Worried about insufficient nutrition, the hunter had pre-ordered a ewe in the vige, waiting to bring it back home.


    The neighbors only knew they were in the city for childbirth and postpartum care, unaware of the specifics as no one had brought news.


    Their reindeer were temporarily housed by Wen Qian and the Big Jin family, mostly by Wen Qian as she had a courtyard suitable for overnight stays.


    So Big Jin helped her build a temporary shelter in the corner of the courtyard by the wall. Being in the corner, it already had two walls, needing only two more made from wooden boards and grass mats.


    Often, it was the two children from Big Jin''s family who helped take the reindeer out to graze. Wen Qian was only responsible for nighttime safety, which wasn''t particrly demanding.


    There were four reindeer in total,rge and small. Once familiar with Wen Qian, they didn''t reject her approach.


    She was very curious about these creatures. With rabbits and now reindeer in her courtyard, it felt much livelier.


    Considering theirte return, she didn''t forget to store winter hay for the reindeer on both sides of the riverbank.


    Basically, wherever the reindeer ate, she would herd them aside, harvest the grass they liked, then dry it at home and store it in the house.


    It wasn''t until October that they returned. The baby was a month old, and their return was just in time to spend winter at home.


    The hunter trudged along, pulling a cart behind him. Seated upon it was Ni Sha, cradling their infant in her arms. As they passed by the river, neighbors from two households rushed over to witness the spectacle.


    It had been a long time since they had seen such a delicate newborn life. The baby slumbered peacefully in its mother''s embrace, exuding a sweet, milky scent, with only its tiny face visible.


    The vigers knew they would have to wait until after spring of the following year to pay a visit.


    Besides the adults and the infant, there was also a sheep on the cart. Having walked for far too long, it had finally been ced at the rear of the cart, where it quietly chewed on its fodder.

 Chapter 182

    Chapter 182


    After sending his wife home, the hunter saw the harvested grains at home.


    Even the grains they had agreed to exchange with their neighbors were delivered to his home first.


    The hunter was touched by the neighbors'' thoughtful help.


    When he saw the well-cared-for tamed deer grazing by the river, Wen Qian had said that if he didn''t have time to care for them, she could help raise them until the end of winter.


    The people around them provided the new parents with great help and eptance, something they had not expected when they left their hometown toe here.


    Not only did the two families deliver the grains early to his home, but they also left some of the fruits they had gathered for themter.


    As winter was approaching, they gave as many supplies as possible for the two to get through the winter, thinking that the adults raising a child should have a more varied diet.


    Due to Ni Sha''s pregnancy and childbirth, they hadn''t been able to do much work that year, but they had mentally prepared for it beforehand.


    After sending his wife home, the hunter immediately started heating the kang bed, as they had previously built another room next to the two rooms, separating the bedroom and kitchen.


    Now with the kang and firewall, the indoor temperature could rise quickly. They had stocked up on a lot of firewood before leaving home, so they didn''t have to worry about running out.


    The sheep were ced beside the kang hole in the kitchen, where there was a heat source, so they wouldn''t suffer from the cold during winter.


    There wasn''t too much dust in the house, probably because a neighbor hade to tend the crops or deliver something and helped clean up.


    The year passed quickly, and the hunter, looking at the mother and daughter in the room, felt this must be his greatest achievement in life.


    With the addition of a newborn, Ni Sha would mostly stay at home to care for the child, while the hunter, aside from going out to hunt, spent the rest of his time caring for the new mother and child.


    Thinking that Wen Qian would be catching weasels in the winter, he went to her house and took the tamed deer away.


    If the deer stayed with Wen Qian during the winter, she wouldn''t be able to stay in the hunter''s cabin for long periods. Later, he nned to exchange things for the hay she had stored.


    Although Wen Qian didn''t ask for extrapensation, he knew that cutting the hay was also very tiring, so he couldn''t take advantage of her for free.


    Seeing that he insisted, Wen Qian had no choice but to go with him.


    When he left, Wen Qian gave him the little clothes she had made, saying they were already washed and dried.


    Winter came soon, and Wen Qian spent her forty-fifth birthday in the hunter''s cabin.


    Come to think of it, she had already reached this age, but she felt forty-five was a very new number, and the people around her didn''t know her exact age.


    The Big Jin Family''s couple was around her age, but they said that Wen Qian seemed younger than them.


    Wen Qian wondered if perhaps the aging rate of people who don''t have children is the original aging rate, while having children elerates it.


    Of course, if one receives good care after pregnancy and childbirth, and has someone to share the burden, then one wouldn''t age particrly quickly.


    Only nowadays, it was estimated that only some major cities in the south would have postpartum caregivers or maternity centers.


    On her forty-fifth birthday, Wen Qian was knitting a sweater for herself. She had seen a few sweater knitting patterns in the knitting books.


    So, during her hunting breaks in winter, she tried to knit herself some nice-looking sweaters, as she still had a lot of yarn left from her initial purchase.


    The sweaters had high-difficulty patterns like flowers or cartoon characters, but Wen Qian found it easy to knit herself a small nket.


    She also knitted a small sweater for Ni Sha''s child, but it seemed the child would only be able to wear it after learning to walk, so she nned to keep it in her space until the child grew a bit older before gifting it.


    Wen Qian''s daily routine at forty-five was clearing paths in the snow and traveling between a few houses along fixed routes.


    Essentially, each trap she had set would yield a catch, and sometimes, she had barely set the bait when prey came knocking.


    During this period, she also encountered a neighbor, Old Liu, the one who had initially upied her house, for some unknown reason near the boundary line.


    At that time, Wen Qian was on her way from the second cabin to the third when she pointed her gun at him.


    However, he was surprisingly there to apologize, which made Wen Qian wonder why the apology came so early.


    It had been over a year.


    While apologizing, he asked Wen Qian if hunting alone was difficult, seeing her walking empty-handed on the fixed snow path, and invited her to his house for a meal.


    The more he spoke, the stranger it sounded. It had been a long time since she had heard such an insincere show of concern, thest being over a decade ago when someone said no one would care for her if she didn''t marry.


    As if getting married guaranteed someone would care for you, who knew if you would truly be cared for or if it would just drive you crazy.


    This man didn''t stop even when Wen Qian ignored him and kept walking, rambling on about how a lonely person should find apanion to get through life.


    Wen Qian thought this person must have a matchmaking addiction and was trying to set her up.


    But if she knew what was really on his mind, she would probably sift through his ancestral grave three times.


    Originally, Old Liu''s family of four hade here to make a living, but his elderly father had passed away, leaving three people in the family.


    Earlier, he had intended to upy Wen Qian''s territory, not realizing she was formidable. He hade back a few times and found that Wen Qian rarely came to the cabin except during winter.


    So he thought he could move in when she wasn''t around, but Wen Qian was no pushover, locking the door with a thick iron chain.


    Then he came up with another idea, thinking his son was already an adult but couldn''t find a wife, while Wen Qian, who appeared to be in her thirties, was still single.


    If she married into his family, her hunting grounds and courtyard house would all be theirs.


    But when he brought up the subject, his wife started scolding him because she knew Wen Qian was around Big Ning''s age, making them from the same generation.


    No one would send their son to marry someone just to obtain their property, it was simply too absurd.


    If he wanted to find someone, there were single youths and middle-aged people in the vige he could pursue instead of resorting to this.


    Old Liu was not disheartened and thought that although the other party was too old to be her son''s match, wouldn''t it be good for him to pursue her himself?


    The more he thought about it, the more usible this idea seemed, so he mulled over it countless times in his mind.


    Thus, he nned to make his presence felt when winter came, when the other party was most likely to appear.


    Perhaps the impression he had left on her before was too poor, so the other party didn''t even look at him properly. Old Liu thought that whenever he caught a big game, he would give it to her as a gift.


    A woman struggling to survive, wouldn''t she be touched if a man gave her game he had hunted?


    Fortunately, Wen Qian couldn''t read minds, otherwise he would really be sliced into fish sashimi on the spot and offered as a sacrifice to the heavens on the snowy ground.

 Chapter 183

    Chapter 183


    Young Liu felt that his father had been acting strangetely, just sitting there staring into the fire and then suddenly chuckling to himself in a rather creepy manner.


    That snickering grin was extremely lewd.


    From his memory, when he was in elementary school, his parents had gotten into a fight, with his mother crying her eyes out, her face pale, eventually even being hospitalized.


    Later on, he realized that the argument was because his father had been unfaithful.


    When his mother begged his father not to see other women, his father said,


    "I''m already a man with a child, so I won''t get divorced, but I''ll still have to visit her ce a few times a month."


    He didn''t fully understand what his father meant at the time, but he remembered those words.


    When he grew older and realized what his father was talking about, he felt sorry for his mother.


    He truly didn''t know why his mother insisted on continuing to live with such a man, iming it was for his own good.


    His mother always said that there had to be a man in the house, but now that he was grown up, why did she need to keep his father around?


    He observed his father and noticed that he seemed to be trying to woo the single neighbor woman.


    He didn''t think she would pay any attention to his father, but he still found it disgusting.


    His father had recently be particrly concerned with cleanliness, even taking it upon himself to tidy up his own clothes and shave.


    Heined that his mother''s clothes didn''t look good and weren''t clean enough, and he picked at everything during meals.


    This man who didn''t even bathe or shave in the winter, and was generally sloppy in any season, had suddenly started caring about his appearance - wasn''t that strange?


    One time, Young Liu secretly followed him to see what this man was up to.


    He discovered that his father went to the trap he had set and took out the small prey, then continued walking.


    Following him, Young Liu realized they had arrived at Wen Qian''s hunter''s cabin, the same ce where he and his father had stopped for a rest earlier and were warned at gunpoint.


    After being warned, they should have avoided trespassing again, but this man brought the prey he had taken from Young Liu''s trap.


    Old Liu took a wild chicken and hung it on the iron chain by the door, as if delivering a love letter.


    On his way back, he kept imagining the scene of the recipient receiving his gift, not even considering that the prey was from the trap set by his own son.


    From afar, Young Liu saw that after taking the prey into the cabin, Wen Qian came back out empty-handed, and he was furious.


    There was no smokeing from the cabin''s chimney, meaning no one was staying there today.


    He truly wanted to see what would happen if Wen Qian was there when Old Liu did that - would he get shot?


    Countless times throughout his life, he had hoped that this man who had brought so much hardship to him and his mother would die.


    Whether by lightning strike, alcohol poisoning, sudden death at the gambling table, drowning, or being hit by a car ¨C anything would do.


    But the man stubbornly clung to life.


    When Old Liu came home, Young Liu deliberately said that the prey from his trap had escaped, and Old Liu feigned ignorance.


    On the third day, Wen Qian saw the dead, frozen wild chicken hanging on her door and couldn''t fathom why someone had put it there.


    If it was meant as an apology, it was toote for that. So she hung the chicken on a nearby tree trunk, worried that the meat might be poisoned or that eating it woulde at a great cost.


    After sending two wild chickens with no response, Old Liu felt that his offerings weren''t substantial enough.


    So when his family wasn''t paying attention, he took a particrlyrge deer leg from home.


    This time, Young Liu couldn''t hold back anymore. After his father left, he asked his mother if, now that he was an adult, she wanted to separate from his father.


    His mother was stunned, as natural disasters had prevented her husband from phndering, and now that they were in this remote ce, it should be even less likely for him to misbehave.


    For her son to suggest divorcing his father at this point seemed strange.


    Was there even a ce to get a divorce now?


    Young Liu said there was someone whose heart was not in this family or with his mother, so it would be better to let him go.


    His mother found it odd ¨C although her husband waszy and didn''t work much, what trouble could he really cause in this ce?


    But as she thought about it, she considered the neighbor woman, and her face suddenly turned pale.


    She then asked her son if the neighbor woman had seduced her husband.


    Young Liu closed his eyes and sighed heavily.


    When he was young, he always felt guilty because his mother said she didn''t divorce for his sake.


    Now he felt that his mother had clearly treasured his father, and even though the man was like this, she still believed others were seducing him instead of looking at herself!


    Young Liu had only seen Wen Qian a few times, but she had always been cold and aloof, never even giving his father a second nce!


    His own family situation was a mess, yet his mother thought others were trying to take it away from her ¨C not everyone loves to eat shit, you know?


    Seeing her son speak so bluntly with such scathing remarks, the mother lowered her head and covered her face as she began to cry.


    It was unclear whether from sadness, anger, or sheer embarrassment.


    All Young Liu could tell her was that he nned to go live in the vige or the city. If she left his father and came with him, he would take care of her in her old age and bring her wherever he went.


    But if she insisted on staying with his father until death, then he would venture out on his own and nevere back.


    His mother had been good to him, taking care of him since he was little. Although he both loved and resented her, he still wanted to bring her with him.


    But he also felt that his mother couldn''t bear to let go of this waste of a man. And he himself had not an ounce of affection left for his father.


    This selfish,zy, and stupid man ¨C his mother was a thousand times more hard-working and kind, toiling to raise him, yet she still felt she needed a man to depend on.


    The key was that this man was utterly undependable ¨C he couldn''t shelter his wife and child from the storms of life. Instead, he was the one who brought the storms into their home!


    Now, being forced to choose between her son and husband, all she could do was cry.


    His mother was clearly stronger than that man, whether through her past work earning money or her current farming and foraging efforts.


    So why did she act as if she would die without a man around?!


    The more Young Liu thought about it, the angrier and more resentful he became, his teeth aching with rage. He decided to take matters into his own hands.


    He always had an ominous premonition that his stupid, arrogant father would eventually bring trouble upon their family.


    It wouldn''t matter if his father found his own death, but if he implicated himself and his mother...


    Young Liu angrily grabbed his hunting rifle and went out the door.


    His mother was worried and wanted to persuade her son to take her and her husband with him, but her son only gave her a choice, and she could only choose one of the two.


    Her son made a stern deration and swore a vow of vengeance.


    Before the cmity, his father was always out drinking, gambling, and womanizing, never returning home, and it was his mother who worked everywhere to support him.


    After the cmity, they lived near their original base, and it was a rationing system at that time.


    His mother had one ration, so the two of them shared one portion of food, and then his father showed up.


    He yed the "model" father and husband for half a month, then settled into this family, and his true nature was revealed.


    Towards the end of the cmity, they were living quite well in Young Liu''s grandfather''s vige, but this man had offended someone somewhere, forcing their family to flee northward.


    Now he was going toe up with another harebrained scheme, and Young Liu was determined to rid himself of this scumbag father.


    Unlike his mother who gave birth to and raised him, this father who just pulled up his pants and walked away after getting his pleasure had no value in his eyes.

 Chapter 184

    Chapter 184


    Just as the mother and son were arguing at home, Old Liu left the house carrying arge piece of meat.


    This time, his timing was impable. From afar, he could see smoke billowing from the chimney of the small cabin.


    As he approached, he noticed several game animals hanging from the trees, all covered in snow.


    This meant that the upant had seen his offerings each time but had never epted them.


    Old Liu tried to peek through the door crack to see what the person inside was doing, but suddenly felt a gun pressed against his lower back.


    Old Liu froze, his wordsing out in a stutter: "I-I mean no harm. I''vee to bring you food. Look at you, you''re so thin. We''re all neighbors..."


    The leg of meaty by the door as Old Liu felt sweat forming on his back.


    In the next moment, the gun he carried was confiscated, and he felt a chill on his neck as a long de rested against it.


    The other person had both knife and gun on him but didn''t utter a single word.


    Old Liu quickly dropped to his knees, immediately changing his tune. He said these game animals were to apologize, and he would nevere back again, never.


    Wen Qian frowned, contemting whether her n to kill him and then his family would go smoothly.


    She could follow his footprints back, but would she return the same day?


    If she killed him and then went over but failed to clean up thoroughly.


    If someone avenged himter, could she sleep peacefully?


    After some thought, she put away her knife but kept the gun pressed against his back. She told him to take everything he had brought and leave immediately.


    Old Liu turned and ran with unprecedented speed, not even bothering with the chickens or meat, just continuing to run forward.


    Wen Qian fired a shot into the air, telling him to stop. In his haste, he fell face-first into the snow.


    Wen Qian pointed the gun at him, telling him to take his things away now. So, Old Liu crawled back.


    Once she was sure he had taken all his offerings, Wen Qian told him to turn around and get lost.


    Young Liu left the house, fuming and carrying a gun. Halfway, he saw his own father huffing and puffing back, carrying his belongings.


    Stumbling and covered in snow, he was walking straight ahead without even noticing his son approaching.


    "What are you doing?" Young Liu''s voice nearly scared Old Liu to death.


    Seeing his father''s eyes bulging, Young Liu''s mood improved considerably.


    Seeing him carrying everything back, he knew Old Liu''s n had failed.


    He wanted to leave, but it would have to wait until spring. In the meantime, it was best if this man didn''t offend the neighbors.


    If he truly angered the neighbors and implicated him, he might even have to deal with it personally.


    Both being men, he could almost guess Old Liu''s intentions. But except for his own mother, who felt this was an inescapable fate after so many years, anyone else could solve his problem with a single bullet.


    Not knowing if this man would give up, Young Liu saw the pheasant his father had dropped on the road, picked it up, and followed him home.


    Old Liu returned, both shocked and angry, not even noticing his wife''s red eyes.


    Having suffered outside, he didn''t eat or wash, just stripped off his clothes and went to bed.


    His wife was cooking, but annoyed by the noise, he threw a shoe that hit the wall and fell to the floor.


    His wife startled, thinking her son had just offended his father and he was now venting his anger.


    Young Liu couldn''t stand such bullying at home, so he yanked off the nket and dragged his father onto the floor.


    Old Liu never expected his usually silent son to treat him like this. He sat on the floor, stunned for a while.


    When he came to his senses, he shook with anger. Just as his wife came to pull their son away, he pped her across the face.


    In the past, when he was drunk or his wife talked back, he would hit her like this too.


    But his blows were always light, only ps, never fists.


    However, he soon found his left cheek suffering a violent blow as Young Liu punched him square in the face.


    In the past, Young Liu only fought back with words, but now he was using force too.


    The two ended up grappling on the kang bed, neither willing to let go.


    The wife, her face marked by the p, tried to pull them apart but was kicked to the ground by Old Liu.


    Young Liu grew even angrier. He straddled his father, pulled out the belt from his pants, wrapped it twice around his father''s neck, and started to strangle him.


    His lifelong wish was about toe true. He gritted his teeth, using all his strength.


    Old Liu''s eyes rolled back, and the grating sounds from his throat were chilling.


    He had faced death twice in one day. He couldn''t believe his own son would dare do such a thing to him.


    He had forgotten that his son was already in his twenties. Before the cmity, he was still a child.


    He didn''t remember his son''s birthday, only knowing that he came of age a few years back. His son had always been taciturn.


    Now, he was unleashing tremendous strength to end his life. Old Liu felt he was about to die.


    The next second, his wife threw herself over, wailing: "You can''t do this! Killing your own father will bring divine retribution!"


    "Then let''s all die!" The darkness in his heart expanded infinitely until it consumed him entirely. After all, this wasn''t the first time he had killed.


    If killing one''s father would bring divine retribution, shouldn''t this father have been reduced to ashes long ago?


    The next moment, the belt snapped. Old Liu copsed unconscious and then lost control of his dder.


    The woman wailed, thinking her husband was dead.


    Young Liu stared at the broken belt in his hands, dazed for a moment, thinking he had truly lost control without even checking what he was holding.


    The cloth belt wasn''t that sturdy, and Young Liu had no intention of a second attempt.


    Hearing his mother''s cries, he felt perhaps he shouldn''t have stopped her from continuing her happy life.


    The one who should leave was him, he was the extra.


    Ignoring his heartbrokenly sobbing mother, Young Liu left for the adjacent room.


    He decided that when spring came, he would leave this ce forever.


    The wife, crying, finally realized her husband was still breathing. With great effort, she lifted him onto the kang bed and wrapped him in nkets.


    Old Liu, having been strangled and then lying cold on the ground, was both shocked and frightened. He developed a fever that very night.


    Young Liu slept on an empty stomach, hearing his mother patting his door, saying Old Liu was burning up like coal.


    He ignored her, turning over to continue sleeping.

 Chapter 185

    Chapter 185


    Wen Qian was merely nning that if this man harassed her a third time, she would shoot him down, but she didn''t expect his son to take action before her.


    After experiencing his first major conflict with his father, Young Liu finally realized that he had no way of taking his mother away.


    It wasn''t because he couldn''t defeat his father, nor because he couldn''t support his mother and himself. It was because his mother was unwilling to leave this man.


    Winter hadn''t ended yet, but he longed for the arrival of spring every day. He felt that the earlier it came, the sooner he could leave and not have to face these two people anymore.


    His mother was very uneasy. She didn''t want her son to leave her, but she also didn''t want to leave her husband who was constantly displeased with her.


    She felt that she only wanted a happy,plete family of three, not knowing why her son was unwilling to make this happen for her.


    But her son was determined to leave, even refusing to eat with his father.


    After waking up, Old Liu dared not say another word to his son.


    After this violent conflict, the hierarchy within this family had been established.


    Originally, Old Liu didn''t have to do anything, he was the head of the household and could trample on his wife and son.


    Now their grown son who had almost strangled the old man to death wouldn''t even utter a word.


    Although he had cursed at his wife before, he wouldn''t dare fart in front of his son, fearing another beating the next second.


    He was the most lowly in this family of three, still able to boss around his wife without considering her importance.


    It was unclear why this wife could still be so obedient and get along with her husband.


    It was as if this man had some kind of magic, or as if her mother had some hold over this man.


    Young Liu couldn''t understand, nor did he want to persuade anymore. He just wanted to avert his gaze and never see them again.


    As spring was about to arrive, Wen Qian stopped hunting and returned home to rest.


    After that, the lecherous neighbor dared note to their area again, settling the matter for now, though it was unknown how long it wouldst.


    Wen Qian was unaware that it was Young Liu''s doing that taught his own father a lesson about the preciousness of life.


    Unlike Wen Qian who was resting at home waiting for spring nting, Young Liu was packing his bags to leave.


    His mother desperately tried to stop him. At first, she thought her son was just going to the vige or a nearby small town to live.


    But seeing how much he packed, she realized her son intended to go somewhere farther south.


    Whether she would ever see him again in this life was unknown.


    This mother felt like she had cried her eyes out, but still couldn''t stop her son, because whenever she tried to persuade him, he would make her choose.


    Then she would fall silent, silence meaning she was unwilling to go with her son, or to take her husband along.


    When her son asked her why she had to be with her husband, she couldn''t exin.


    She felt her husband was her everything, even though he initially didn''t earn money to support the family and only fed himself.


    Even though he didn''t love her either, and they barely had a sex life.


    But when her son asked, she still felt she had to take her husband, but her son then asked if bringing his ashes would do.


    In her son''s view, a dead father was more beneficial to his life than a living, breathing one.


    And a dead person wouldn''t talk nonsense, beat people, cause trouble, or incur debts.


    But the living one was uncontroble and could cause uncontroble incidents, leaving others to clean up the mess.


    So whenever his mother mentioned this man, Young Liu just wanted to ughter him and pack him up to go.


    Finally, spring arrived, and as the neighbors started nting and growing seedlings, Young Liu turned the house upside down.


    Just as his mother thought he had softened, one early morning, Young Liu left home without saying goodbye to his family.


    After he left, his mother stopped crying and began to pull herself together, farming and cooking every day.


    Silently enduring her husband''s taunts, insults, and sometimes beatings.


    Now there was no one to stop her husband anymore, but after being beaten and scolded, she would still do her own thing, because these were the only things she could do, having done them with her son before.


    Old Liu ate and slept every day, unwilling to even go hunting.


    His wife had to learn on her own, but she couldn''t make ammunition, so she mostly set traps.


    When Young Liu left, he left his gun to his mother. Wen Qian had confiscated Old Liu''s gun, but there was still one left at home.


    When spring came, Wen Qian visited Ni Sha''s home. The newborn was growing fast, much bigger after just one winter.


    At this age, babies are soft and cute, melting people''s hearts.


    Moreover, they hadn''t seen a newborn in so long that they would admire even the sight of the child sleeping.


    Although the couple was toiling, there was now hope in their eyes. It was evident that they weed the arrival of this little girl, their only blood rtive in this world.


    In the new year, Wen Qian and Big Ning went to the market together. After the long winter, the first market of the year was lively.


    There would be merchants buying goods, hunters selling goods, and some traveling vendors from different viges gathering for trade.


    At the market, Wen Qian saw Old Liu, who avoided eye contact with her, as if looking at her would get him knifed.


    Wen Qian didn''t care, as long as she knew he no longer had any ill intentions, lest she take action.


    Big Ning also noticed something was off and asked her about it. Wen Qian told him about the man''s transgression, and Big Ning found it puzzling.


    Big Ning initially thought Old Liu''s family had bullied Wen Qian because they outnumbered her, but seeing how fearful he looked, he clearly hadn''t gained any advantage.


    Big Ning couldn''t help but admire Wen Qian even more.


    Big Ning and Wen Qian only saw Old Liu and thought the other two in his family didn''te.


    Young Liu left as soon as spring arrived, heading straight to the city, but since no one met or spoke with his family members, no one knew about it.


    Young Liu hade clean with his mother long ago that he wanted to go far away, never to return, and that even if that were the case, he couldn''t take her with him.


    "Let it be this way," he thought.

 Chapter 186

    Chapter 186


    No one knew where Young Liu went in the end, but he never came back.


    Life went on as usual for the others, except that Ni Sha''s family had a new little girl, who would asionally be carried by her mother to the vige for doctor''s injections.


    Although she would cry when getting the shots, her mother would give her candy, so the child would quickly be soothed.


    The little girl''s nickname was Xiao Guo (Little Fruit), as she was born in autumn, and everyone called her Guo Guo.


    The youngest neighbor here used to be the Jin family''s youngest son, Little Ning, but he was already a grown-up now.


    Whenever Ni Sha passed by their ce carrying her child, the neighbors woulde over to see this adorable little one.


    At this time, the child couldn''t eat much, otherwise, Wen Qian and the Jin family would have sent her some delicious treats.


    Wen Qian had prepared things long ago, but since the child was still drinking milk, she gave the food to Ni Sha instead.


    Ni Sha was visibly exhausted from taking care of the child, but her husband was the same. It was clear that both were trying their best.


    It was said that things would gradually get better; the most difficult initial period was over.


    Wen Qian had heard the old saying, "Raising a child for a hundred years, worrying for ny-nine."


    Raising a child has always been a major project, no matter how well-behaved and obedient the child is, parents will always have plenty to worry about.


    Others helped as much as they could. The child''s father spent every day either farming or hunting because they had spent a lot on exchanging grain and childbirth.


    Now with an heir, he needed game more than ever, either as winter reserves or to exchange for money.


    Whenever Ni Sha saw Wen Qian holding the child, she felt that Wen Qian was gentler than she had ever seen her before.


    She thought someone like this would also make a great mother. Ni Sha didn''t know if Wen Qian''s single status was due to the cmity.


    She felt that Wen Qian didn''t dislike children, was very good at taking care of them, and had a lot of patience.


    But she wouldn''t say a word more. She was just curious, but for Wen Qian, it might be painful, so she never asked.


    Wen Qian, already past forty-five, did indeed like children, but she had no unspeakable wounds. She simply chose not to marry or have children.


    She felt she had a fleeting interest because babies are only brought out by their mothers when they''re well-behaved. She only needed to experience the cute, angelic side of children.


    Even when the child cried, it was the family who soothed her. For an outsider like Wen Qian, there was no need to expend patience; she only needed to appreciate.


    As for the brain-wracking matters, those were naturally borne by the parents.


    She hadn''t thought about marriage for a long time, so naturally, she wouldn''t have the chance to have children. She had, of course, considered the consequences of this choice.


    She didn''t want to marry or have children even before the cmity, and after it, this thought became even more firm.


    In her view, even if she regretted it when she got old, it would be useless, just as some people regret having children but can''t stuff them back in.


    People might regret either choice, and there''s no cure for regret.


    Some single people who regret it pretend to be tough and say they don''t.


    Some married with children who regret it say defiantly that they''ve ruined their lives for their kids.


    Children never have the right to choose whether to be born; they are passively born. They didn''te into this world to burden anyone.


    Childrene because their parents want them, or because of failed or mistaken contraception when parents don''t want them.


    Yet some parents make their children live with guilt, or even abandon them outright.


    Every gain has its loss. Whatever the case, she would bear the consequences with equanimity.


    At this moment, looking into little Guo Guo''s big eyes, she hadn''t yet realized that ns never keep up with changes.


    As spring gradually turned to summer, the temperature kept rising. At this rate, it wouldn''t be long before it returned to that summer.


    Wen Qian wove a straw hat for herself and covered her skin, not to avoid tanning, but because too much midday sun would burn her.


    Once the skin turns red from sunburn, it bes fiery hot, then peels off. Wen Qian had experienced this while working in the summer before.


    Later, working in the city, shecked sunlight, and then came the cmity, making sunlight even rarer.


    Even now, with the sun so good and her loving it, she didn''t dare stay out too long.


    The summer sun made everything grow better: weeds and flowers, fruits and crops, all grew lush.


    Therefore, Wen Qian had to be very careful when going out, worried about encountering venomous insects or snakes.


    She prepared a lot of insect repellents, some from her space, some exchanged at the market''s general store.


    When the house got hot at noon, Wen Qian would take snow and put it in a small vat to cool the whole house. It was an excellent method, and only she could use it like this.


    With the weather warming up, things spoiled easily. Without refrigerators now, people had many ways to preserve food: salting, smoking, cooling in well or stream water.


    There were also homemade refrigerators: a big vat containing a smaller one, the gap filled with damp sand.


    Fruits and vegetables were ced in the small vat, lid closed tight, and the sand kept moist.


    Wen Qian had tried it and found it did preserve things, but she just tried it out; in the end, everything still went into her space.


    If she lost her space in the future, she could scale up and make a bigger refrigerator, which would work great with a cer.


    The temperature changes sparked discussions. Some said if it kept rising, people from the south mighte north to escape the heat.


    Others said going to the hignds was most reliable for avoiding heat.


    Although everyone lived a rather primitive life of hunting and farming, many survivors of this generation were educated and could teach their children to read and write.


    Likewise, they told their children about the pre-cmity climate, culture, and more in various ces.


    People living in the information explosion era probably received more information in a day than these children did in a year.


    Besides teaching basic characters, adults taught children more about survival skills.


    At a young age, they followed their parents to learn about crops and various animals.


    They knew how to set traps for hunting, how to cook food with fire.


    Most people in the formerly convenient era didn''t know these things. Adults were forced to shift from convenient living to survival mode.


    The children, however, had grown ustomed to this way of life from a young age. Without a point ofparison, they had no way to feel wistful. They could only glean their elders'' longing for the past from the sighs that apanied their reminiscences.


    Even so, they could never return to those days.


    Even if the temperature were to recover and the poption gradually increase, it would take a long time to return to previous levels. The generation that lived through this cataclysmic change might not live to see that day.


    However, one thing was certain: with a past rich in scientific prosperity, rebuilding would be a little easier than starting from scratch.

 Chapter 187

    Chapter 187


    In early autumn, Wen Qian was fortunate enough to go to the city with Big Ning and Ni Sha.


    Ni Sha needed to take her child, who was almost a year old, for a checkup.


    Originally, the child''s father was supposed to apany them as well, but when he realized the neighbors were all going out too, he felt reassured about them traveling together.


    Big Ning needed to procure some things in the city, and since Ni Sha had to take her child as well, she took the opportunity to ask Wen Qian if she wanted to join them.


    Wen Qian thought to herself that although she didn''t have any particr business, it was a rare opportunity for them to go together, so she tagged along.


    She wondered if there might be some new and interesting things to see in the small town, which she didn''t visit often.


    The three of them went to the vige together, where they waited at the pier with other people who were also waiting for the boat.


    The one-year-old child was attempting to speak and walk, so she wouldn''t keep still for a moment.


    Held in her mother''s arms, she twisted and turned, sometimes wanting Big Ning to hold her, and then reaching towards Wen Qian''s embrace.


    The child was teething and constantly drooling, with the bib unable to contain all the saliva.


    She pointed at the water birds by the river, babbling unintelligibly.


    The boat docked at the pier, and as soon as the gangnk wasid, people started boarding one by one.


    There were quite a few people on the boat, so there was always someone talking, and asionally someone would burst outughing, startling the child.


    While Wen Qian was gazing absentmindedly at the riverbank, she heard the murmurs on the boat grow louder, so she looked up to see the source of the noise.


    She noticed that many people were pointing and gesturing towards the opposite shore, where there was a very small pier.


    If there was no one waiting on that pier, the boat could skip docking there.


    However, on that dpidated pier, there was a basket.


    It appeared to be a woven bamboo basket, and there was no one around it.


    It seemed like someone had brought the basket there to wait for the boat but hadn''t returned when it arrived.


    Someone joked, "Maybe they went into the bushes to take a dump."


    When the boat docked, the crew realized that there was a baby inside the basket.


    They became more convinced that someone must have left the basket there while going to the bathroom.


    However, no matter how much they shouted towards the shore, no one came.


    Some people, annoyed at the perceived dy, shouted towards the shore, "If you don''te soon, the boat will leave!"


    This elicited a burst ofughter from those around.


    The baby in the basket must have been awakened by the surrounding noise and started crying.


    From the hoarse cries, the crew members could tell the baby had been crying for a while. When they tried to pick up the child, they noticed that the nket covering the baby had the child''s date of birth written on it.


    This made the situation more serious. One of the older crew members was immediately reminded of his own childhood.


    When he was in elementary school, he would asionally see abandoned, dead infants by the roadside.


    It was unclear whether they were abandoned because they had died, or if they died because they were abandoned.


    The memory from his childhood left a deep impression on him. Back then, abandoning children was quitemon, and the methods used to prevent girls from being reborn into their families were cruel.


    Upon seeing the date of birth, everyone understood that this was an abandoned child. Otherwise, who would leave a baby there for so long without attending to it?


    Some people criticized the parents for being heartless, carrying the child for so long, only to abandon it after birth. They could have taken the child to an orphanage in the city instead.


    But they didn''t even want to take the child to an orphanage, choosing to simply leave it on the pier, clearly unwilling to spend the money for the boat ride or the journey to the city.


    The people unanimously condemned the child''s parents and instructed the crew to bring the baby on board, so that someone could take it to an orphanageter.


    The living conditions at the orphanage in the small town were decent, as newborns were considered precious. Based on the various benefits and privileges offered to children and pregnant women in different cities, the best ce for an abandoned child was the orphanage.


    After unwrapping the baby''s swaddling clothes, the crowd discovered that it was a girl born with six fingers.


    Apart from the extra finger, she seemed to be a healthy baby girl.


    The sixth finger was likely the reason she was abandoned, but it didn''t seem to be causing any issues with her growth.


    The crew ced the baby on the deck, where she continued to cry. Someone tried to give her some warm water to drink.


    Ni Sha, who had her own child, was furious to see such a tiny infant being abandoned.


    She handed her sleeping child to Wen Qian to hold, then picked up the baby girl and let Big Ning shield her.


    Ni Sha tried to breastfeed the infant, who seemed to be starving andcked the strength to suckle at first.


    After the baby girl had eaten her fill, she quickly fell asleep. Ni Sha felt that was all she could do, so she rewrapped the baby and ced her back in the basket.


    Watching this scene, Wen Qian was reminded of her own past - how she too had been found and taken in by her grandparents when she was an infant.


    This little one''s umbilical cord hadn''t even fallen off, so her situation must have been simr - abandoned by her parents immediately after birth, just like Wen Qian herself.


    Back in those days in the viges, there was no form milk, so how had her own life been sustained?


    Big Ning noticed Wen Qian''s pensive expression and asked her, "Do you want to raise her?"


    Big Ning didn''t think having an extra finger was a big deal, and if she were younger, she might have considered adopting the child.


    Now that her own children were grown up, it would be a bit awkward to adopt this baby.


    But she saw the look on Wen Qian''s face and thought her neighbor might be considering adoption.


    Wen Qian shared her own background, exining that she too had been abandoned by the roadside and taken in by her grandparents.


    This was the first time Big Ning and Ni Sha had heard about Wen Qian''s past, and they were surprised. They looked at the sleeping infant, then back at their neighbor.


    Years apart, their fates at birth had been the same, but fortunately, Wen Qian had been raised by her grandparents.


    Should this little one be sent to the orphanage as well?


    Wen Qian had seen the children in the orphanage before, all wearing the same clothes.


    She, an abandoned child, and this currently abandoned baby had crossed paths here.


    Wen Qian had no experience raising children, let alone a newborn. Although her two neighbors looked at her with eyes that seemed to suggest she was destined to be a nurturing figure for the child.


    The two of them gazed at her with sparkling eyes, conveying more than words could.


    Of course, the neighbors saw Wen Qian as a good person, but the only thingcking was that she didn''t have any descendants of her own.


    Now a person with a simr background to her had arrived, and they felt that if Wen Qian raised this child, she would have someone to depend on and apany her when she grew old.


    Wen Qian''s mind was indeed in a mess, this was not part of her n, but changes often outpace ns.


    She had never imagined herself picking up a child on the road.


    After so many years, the poption had plummeted, and those willing to have children were very few. It was already difficult to give birth and raise them, yet someone had abandoned this child.


    And she happened toe across it. On this boat, although everyone felt sorry for the poor child, no one wanted to take it in.


    The greatest act of kindness was to give it some water or milk, or perhaps help send it to an orphanage.


    Wen Qian was hesitating, wondering if she would be a qualified caregiver if she really adopted the child.


    At this moment, Big Ning tightly grasped her hand: "You''re such a good person, how could you not raise a child well? If you''re worried aboutcking experience, both Ni Sha and I will help you!"


    She even felt that this child was a gift from heaven for Wen Qian.

 Chapter 188

    Chapter 188


    Wen Qian hesitated for some time before reaching the pier outside the city. People had already gotten off, but no one came to pick up this basket.


    Just as the crew member was wondering whether to send it directly to the orphanage, thest three women to leave the ship, one of them picked up the basket.


    When she picked up this basket, the scene that shed in her mind was her grandmother and grandfather wrapping her in their embrace.


    This scene was not something she had witnessed with her own eyes, but rather something her grandparents had told her about during her upbringing.


    Her grandparents had meticulously described to her their first impression of her as a baby¡ªwhat she looked like, how long and how heavy she was.


    They recounted how they had wrapped the infant in their thick clothes and hurried home at that time.


    They talked about how they raised the child, feeding her with the rice oil they had boiled andter on, rice porridge as she grew a little older.


    Back then in the countryside, there were no cans of infant form milk.


    In any case, the childhood fragments described by her grandparents about her growing up process now swept through her mind like a hurricane.


    She was already forty-six years old, and time had passed for too long.


    So long that her memories of the past had started to fade, but she still remembered the words her grandmother had told her.


    Her heart began to swell.


    Just as her grandparents had raised her, Wen Qian felt that she should also be able to raise this child.


    Like herself, this was also an abandoned child, but Wen Qian seemed to have put herself in the perspective of her grandparents.


    The difference was, her grandparents had formed a family at that time and had hoped for a child, while her situation was different.


    At this moment, she decided to adopt the child.


    Although she had no experience, she could learn.


    When her grandparents had found her, they were already in theirte fifties, almost sixty, but she was now in her forties and would definitely have time to raise the child to adulthood.


    When Wen Qian realized that she was actually calcting the time it would take to raise the child, she knew that she had decided to keep and raise this child.


    Originally, Ni Sha was supposed to go to the hospital, while Big Ning and Wen Qian were going to go shopping, and the two groups would meet at the hospital.


    Now with a child added, Wen Qian went to the hospital with Ni Sha instead.


    At the hospital, when the doctor saw them carrying a child in a basket, he frowned and asked, "How many days?"


    If the child wasn''t born in the hospital, then it must have been a home birth, but generally, people wouldn''t bring a newborn to the hospital unless there was a problem.


    Wen Qian had to say that she had found the child on the way, which made the doctor''s expression even more serious.


    An abandoned child meant there might be an issue, but after examination, the doctor found that other than having six fingers, the child was healthy.


    Since Wen Qian had brought the child for a check-up and intended to raise it, the doctor instructed a nurse to administer vinations.


    As for the child''s vination handbook, bottles, and form milk, Wen Qian had to pay for them herself.


    Wen Qian paid for a bunch of items, and the infant slept obediently in the basket.


    After Ni Sha had the child examined, she came to find Wen Qian and asked if she had thought of a name.


    Wen Qian paused, wondering what name she should give the child if she were to raise it. She couldn''t think of one right away and felt that she needed to go home and look through a dictionary first.


    Seeing her deep in thought, Ni Sha teased, "What''s the matter? Do you need to go home and think about it carefully?"


    In the past, names were given casually, but for Wen Qian''s generation, naming a child carried the expectations and hopes of adults¡ªthey wanted the name to be unique, meaningful, and promising.


    With the advent of the cmity, names had now reverted to simplicity. People no longer had desires or a need forparison; they only hoped to survive.


    "I want to give her the little name An An," Wen Qian said.


    "Peace and safety? That''s a good wish for the child," Ni Sha felt there was no better hope for a child than that.


    After Big Ning finished shopping, she came to the hospital to wait for them. She said that since Wen Qian had gained a child today, she even wanted to give her a gift as a celebration.


    Although she had decided to raise the child, Wen Qian was still quite nervous.


    She knew that despite not having experience raising children, newborn infants, especially those who had just been born, were not easy to take care of.


    They needed frequent diaper changes and had to be fed many times.


    And once the form milk ran out, she would need to go to the vige and buy a sheep to feed the child until at least one year old.


    So Wen Qian calcted the expenses of raising the child. She remembered that her space seemed to have books on childcare, though she didn''t know why she had bought such books in the first ce.


    She gently touched An An''s little face, thinking she would treat this day as the child''s birthday.


    Come to think of it, wasn''t her own birthday also the day she met her grandparents? Wen Qian suddenly smiled.


    The three women left the city, and Big Ning found it amusing to see the basket and bags in Wen Qian''s hands.


    After just one trip out, they had suddenly gained a child.


    Wen Qian had originally thought of letting the child call her "grandma" when she grew up, but the other two said that at over forty years old, she should just be called "olddy" instead.


    Wen Qian thought it was still too early for that, so she decided she would figure it outter when the time came for the child to address her.


    Now that she had a child, Wen Qian felt that she would need to re-n her time for the next few years.


    It would be difficult for one person to take care of a child and get enough rest, but with the help of her space, at least Wen Qian wouldn''t have to worry about the water getting cold or the milk spoiling when feeding the child.


    She just needed to prepare everything and put it in her space, and it would be like having an unlimited supply for the child.


    But there were still many issues, such as changing diapers and burping the baby, which would take time.


    What if the child had a fever or headache? Wen Qian shook her head, her thoughts were a tangled mess.


    Ni Sha seemed to have noticed Wen Qian''s worries and tried to reassure her, telling her that she would have her husband send over some of their child''s old clothes when the time came.


    So Wen Qian started consulting Ni Sha about what to pay attention to with a newborn baby.


    At least her travelingpanions were experienced in giving birth and raising children, which allowed Wen Qian to put her mind at ease a little.


    When they arrived at the vige, Wen Qian asked the grocery store owner to inquire if there were anyctating sheep for sale in the vige.


    She discussed the time and price range with the owner, who would bring one back when a neighbor went to the market next time.


    She didn''t bring the child to the vige but instead had Big Ning and Ni Sha wait outside with the child.


    Since the child belonged to her now, the fewer people who knew about it, the better. That way, no one woulde looking to im the child when she grew up.


    Moreover, this child had six fingers, which would make her even more recognizable than ordinary people.


    Because she had been disgusted by such situations before, Wen Qian didn''t want An An to experience the same thingter on, which was why she was being so cautious.

 Chapter 189

    Wen Qian was not someone who was constantly lost in reminiscence, but while caring for this little infant, she frequently recalled her own grandparents.


    When she prepared and fed milk to the baby, she would imagine how she was nurtured as a child.


    It seemed that adopting and raising this child at Wen Qian''s ce was a re-enactment of the past ¨C previously she was the child, and now she was the one adopting the child.


    This was something she had never imagined before.


    Perhaps as she grew older, approaching the age of her grandparents, she missed them more and more.


    The infant was also very well-behaved, eating and sleeping soundly every day, in a good state.


    As autumn approached and everything was about to be harvested, An An was still too young for Wen Qian to take her outside or travel far.


    So Wen Qian inquired with Big Jin''s elderly grandmother if she could help look after the child, offeringpensation.


    The elderly grandmother was growing older, and her family no longer allowed her to do many tasks, but she was never idle and would find things to keep herself upied.


    Wen Qian promised her a certain remuneration to help take care of the child.


    Big Jin''s family and the grandmother all agreed, as the little one was rtively easy to care for ¨C newborns sleep for extended periods, so having someone watching over them is better.


    Wen Qian had no ns to go hunting, but instead gathered all her crops and stored them in her space.


    Since Wen Qian worked diligently, within a month, she had collected everything, including the fruits from the trees.


    The elderly grandmother marveled at how nimble Wen Qian was, moving in and out so many times, though in reality, she relied heavily on the power of her space to transport things.


    At this stage, the little one could not be left unattended, so Wen Qian realized she likely wouldn''t be able to visit the hunter''s cabin over the winter.


    After harvesting the crops, she went to repair a few huts, nning to spend this winter at home.


    If possible, she would set traps nearby.


    The sheep she had previously ordered from the vige was brought back by her neighbors, just in time for winter. Wen Qian''s space also had hay and fresh grass.


    So this winter, apart from the rabbits wintering in her kitchen, there would also be sheep.


    Suddenly, things became lively.


    Wen Qian thought that by the following winter, when the child turned one year old, she should be able to apany her outdoors.


    With everything prepared, they just had to get through the winter, so Wen Qian set traps for weasels near her home.


    Her own grandparents had also brought cradles to the fields while working, securing them with ropes. While weeding nearby, they would tug on the ropes, rocking the cradles.


    As the children grew older, they would be ced in circr wooden baby seats, allowing them to see and y while the adults worked.


    In those days, the elderly didn''t have much time to devote to childcare as they still had to tend to their farm work.


    Ni Sha brought over supplies and also carried her own child along.


    Ni Sha praised Wen Qian for doing well, but Wen Qian felt it was because this child was well-behaved.


    Additionally, her space was a great help ¨C she didn''t need to prepare milk powder in the middle of the night; whenever the child was hungry, she could simply retrieve food from the space.


    When changing diapers, she could stock up in bulk, and they wouldn''t dry out, making cleaning easier.


    The waterproof pads she had previously bought could now be used, so she didn''t have to change bedding every day.


    This winter, Wen Qian felt she should prepare clothes for the child''s growth, as infants grow rapidly.


    When Ni Sha visited, she gave Wen Qian the small sweater she had knitted for her daughter, which could now fit An An.


    With a younger child around, Ni Sha''s child was very curious about An An, constantly watching her.


    After Ni Sha left, Wen Qian continued preparing her daily meals, keeping the kitchen and stove fires going.


    She had to prepare various foods in advance, and the storage capacity of her space was incredibly useful.


    For now, the little one knew nothing, but as she grew older, Wen Qian would need to conceal her use of the space, unable to utilize it so openly.


    Originally, Wen Qian''s courtyard was very quiet in winter, but now there would asionally be a child''s cries. If she didn''t cry or sleep, she would open her eyes and look around.


    The infant seemed to be babbling, making incessant cooing sounds, though her baby talk could likely only be understood by infants her age.


    Initially, Wen Qian would tiptoe around when the child slept, afraid of waking her up, butter realized she shouldn''t do that.


    Normal daily sounds were eptable, and the child would grow ustomed to this white noise and not easily wake up.


    If she cultivated an excessively quiet environment from the start, even slight noises could startle and wake the child, which wouldn''t be good.


    So when the child napped during the day, Wen Qian would cook in the kitchen, draw water from the well outside, or operate her sewing machine in the bedroom.


    Sure enough, the infant wasn''t rmed by these everyday sounds but grew ustomed to them, even following the direction of the noises while awake.


    Wen Qian discovered the child could now distinguish her voice ¨C when she started cooing and was about to cry, Wen Qian''s voice could calm her down.


    Caring for an infant wasn''t easy, and Wen Qian felt she was observing a specimen by living with the baby.


    Sometimes, when bored, she would stare at the sleeping child and wonder if her grandparents had watched her sleep like this before.


    Every beloved child must have been watched over while sleeping by their family, out of affection and curiosity.


    When snow fell, Wen Qian boiled a pot of water outside and brought it in to ce on the heated table.


    There had to be warm water at home, as she would need it to clean the child if she had a bowel movement.


    An infant''s feces smelled just as foul as an adult''s, which is why some people would say children are raised on a series of messes.


    Newborn infants have no abilities, unlike other animals ¨Cmbs can stand shortly after birth, and chicks can peck at grain soon after hatching.


    Human babies cannot, requiring at least another year before they can stand.


    In order to properly raise the child, she had specially prepared a thick notebook to record the child''s daily activities.


    The other''s obedient appearance, weight, and height would be regrly recorded.


    In the future, when the child grew up and could recognize words, she would show this observation diary rted to the child.

 Chapter 190

    Because the traps were set near home, she could reach them quickly, but the capture rate wasn''t higher than at the hunter''s cabin, so she wouldn''t be empty-handed all winter.


    Since the child was lying alone on the heated brick bed, Wen Qian would set up a barrier when she went out to prevent the child from falling.


    Wen Qian always tried to go out ande back quickly, afraid of dying too long in case something happened to the child.


    Fortunately, the child had a regr schedule for sleeping and eating, saving her a lot of trouble.


    This winter, Wen Qian trimmed the child''s nails for the first time.


    The child was asleep, but when Wen Qian turned on the light to trim her nails, she suspected her eyesight might be failing due to old age.


    She was constantly worried about cutting the child''s flesh, though she never actually did, but by the time she finished trimming with bated breath, her own hands were sweating from the heat.


    At the root, the child was just too small, with tiny hands, feet, and a seemingly frail little body.


    During this time, she didn''t forget to milk the sheep every day, pouring it into jars and storing it in the Space, steaming a batch when she had umted a certain amount.


    Then she would alternate between feeding the child sheep''s milk and form, as the form from the city hospital was also limited and not something she could buy with just money.


    So if not breastfeeding, sheep''s milk was also a good choice.


    Although the infant noticed the difference, she didn''t refuse to eat, and really seemed to be trying hard to eat, sleep, and grow.


    Wen Qian didn''t ask for anything else, only hoping the child would grow up safe and healthy, just as her Grandma and Grandpa must have wished for her when she was little.


    She thought that when the child grew up, she would probably tell her many stories about her Grandma and Grandpa.


    The house gradually filled with more and more things for the child, and Wen Qian would always feel for the child''s presence when she slept.


    When she first came back, the infant slept for long periods, and she would often check if the child was still breathing, though it seemed silly to keep doing it.


    She realized she couldn''t sleep as deeply anymore, waking up at the slightest sound.


    Raising a child changed many things for Wen Qian, but she also realized she needed to stay healthy as she aged, so she could raise the child to adulthood.


    She still had to teach the child how to live in this forest, leaving her with enough life experience.


    She would eventually go before the child, so she had to teach her well to leave with peace of mind.


    Although she had books on raising children, the environment was no longer what it used to be, when adults worried about children bing addicted to TV. Now there was nothing left.


    What she had to teach was the content of the survival skills books.


    Only by learning various survival methods could the child continue to live through the seasons here, though it would also be easier to survive if they left for somewhere else.


    At this point, Wen Qian even considered what would happen to the child after her death, just as her Grandma must have worried about her before passing away.


    In the past, she missed her own family. Now, she understood the mindset her Grandparents had at the time.


    It was like looking in a mirror - caring for the child made her re-experience her Grandparents'' love for her, so she felt emotional and nostalgic.


    She rushed and took her time, referring to books and her own understanding, making clothes for the child ording to the season and different sizes, while also considering the child''s rapid growth and potentially needing arger size.


    She also tried making shoes for when the child started walking, but didn''t feel they were very good, so she nned to ask her Neighbor for advice in the spring.


    If she couldn''t learn to make children''s shoes herself, she could ask her Neighbor at that time, exchanging goods for them.


    Even in winter, Wen Qian had many ns. As the child grew older, Wen Qian wouldn''t use the Space as casually as before, since this Space could not be inherited, so her own life would also have to gradually be more grounded.


    To be "grounded" meant living like her Neighbors, only able to store what she could obtain through hunting and nting based on reality, whereas before Wen Qian had relied on the Space for many conveniences.


    But she had originally nned to live alone, and now that she had a child, the child would have no way to enjoy the conveniences she had from the Space when she was not around.


    The most direct example was food storage.


    When she stored food in the Space, it would not decrease or spoil.


    But using conventional storage methods required preventing rats from stealing food, preventing moisture and spoge, and preventing insects from growing in the food.


    If she wasn''t careful with preservation, she could face a food crisis.


    Living in the forest was like this - constantly storing food and firewood, but never having a permanent solution.


    So in the future, she had to consider how the child would survive independently without the Space, and an adult''s words and actions were the best teacher for a child.


    What could be more memorable for a child than firsthand experiences? Thinking of this, Wen Qian started writing a teaching n for herself.


    Not that she would lecture the grown child, but rather tell the child about the things and rted knowledge she could observe from a young age, on an ongoing basis.


    For these things, she would have to learn and teach simultaneously, as many things had been skipped over before due to the Space, but now she would have to pick them up again.


    This winter, she hunted weasels near her home, with a better harvest than she had expected, though less than at the hunter''s cabin.


    Each time, she would only go in one direction along a fixed path, going out anding back quickly, warming herself by the stove before approaching the child upon returning home.


    asionally, she would hear the child crying while outside and return midway to check the situation.


    Because she wasn''t shuttling between cabins, she felt her walking distance was greatly reduced this winter.


    Although she spent less time hunting in winter, she didn''t have free time, using much of it on child-rted matters.


    This winter season wasn''t more rxed than before, but she did have a clearer n for her future.


    Originally in a retired state, she now suddenly felt like a re-hired retiree, previously able to leave unfinished ns without consequence.


    Now, she would strive for the better, to give the child a good foundation.


    Although there is no pressure of education, medical care, and housing prices now, she still hopes that her child can have some savings as a buffer for her survivalter on.


    It''s possible that when the child grows up, the general environment may change. If she leaves the forest and walks southward, at least she can still have travel expenses for herself.


    Wen Qian cannot predict future events, but she is clear about her own destiny, yet unable to imagine her child''s future.


    All she can do is to move forward based on the current environment and teach her everything she knows.


    Perhaps one day, when watching her child''s back as they grow up and leave, she will be able to experience the same feeling as her Grandma and Grandpa had when watching her own back.

 Chapter 191

    Spring had arrived, and the little infant who had been confined to the bedroom finally had a chance to see the outside world.


    Whenever Wen Qian carried the baby to the window, she would get excited and wave her arms and legs.


    However, the early spring weather was still very cold, so Wen Qian didn''t take her out of the house.


    She was afraid that if the baby got used to the outdoors, it would be difficult to soothe herter.


    Children really do grow and change every day. Now, Little An''an had grown plump and rosy.


    Sometimes when Wen Qian woke up, she found that the baby had already opened her eyes and was quietly waiting for the adult to wake up.


    Until Wen Qian looked at her, she would happily kick her legs.


    Wen Qian thought that when Little An''an turned six months old, she could take her out. If she needed to work in the woods, she could put the baby in a cradle in the same field as herself.


    It turned out that the baby could y by herself very well, as long as she could see Wen Qian. Otherwise, she would feel insecure and be very anxious.


    So Wen Qian piled up many quilts in the cradle and ced the baby in it at an angle, so that her line of sight was high enough to see Wen Qian.


    At that time, there were no bugs yet, so she didn''t need to cover the cradle with a mosquito. If it were summer, she would need to cover the cradle with a mosquito and apply insect repellent.


    In winter, there was no choice but to stay indoors, so Wen Qian didn''t go to the hunting cabin to hunt for ermines. But in spring, they had to nt crops for food.


    The sheep were taken out of the house and tied to wooden stakes in the ground, allowing them to eat the grass within the range of their ropes.


    Little An''an already considered the rabbits and sheep as part of the family, so in her free time, Wen Qian would carry her to watch the rabbits and sheep graze for a long time.


    Spring had arrived, and Ni Sha brought her a pair of shoes, slightlyrger than Little An''an''s current foot size, saying they were for when she started learning to walk.


    Before Wen Qian had a chance to tell her neighbor about the shoes, Ni Sha had already given them to her, so she asked Ni Sha for advice.


    It would be great if she could make shoes for the child herself in the future. Ni Sha had never hesitated to share her experience.


    After all, when Big Jin and Wen Qian had first moved here, the Ni Sha family had been very supportive of them, and Wen Qian had also helped them a lot when they first moved in, ording to what Big Jin had heard.


    They were willing to exchange seeds and various other things with Wen Qian, which undoubtedly helped them a lot in their early days of settling down.


    Moving into the forest, they would have taken several years to achieve a decent life if they had relied solely on themselves. But with the neighbors'' support and exchanging various seeds, they were able to adapt quickly.


    Not only did Ni Sha bring her shoes, but she also reminded Wen Qian that the baby could gradually start eating solid foods. The things the baby could eat here were simr to what adults ate, except for the seasonings.


    Another thing was that the food for the baby had to be mashed very finely, and Ni Sha was already experienced in this, so she told Wen Qian about the precautions for various solid foods.


    There was an old saying that close neighbors are better than distant rtives. Although they didn''t live particrly close to each other, it was better to maintain good rtions with neighbors and live in harmony. If she had enemies around her, it would be difficult to live a peaceful life.


    Fortunately, except for the Liu Family, the other two neighbors were people of good character.


    Since Wen Qian didn''t go to the hunting cabin in winter, and she didn''t see any signs of them in her area during the autumn repair period, she thought her previous warning must have had a significant effect.


    It was also possible that their child had left this ce, and now only a couple lived there.


    Big Jin''s family knew that the Liu Family''s child had left, but no one knew where he had gone.


    They had never seen this person in the vige or small town before, so he had probably gone farther away.


    Last year, they heard that the Liu Family had started raising pigs. Old Liu had caught some piglets and brought them back, exchanging goods with people from the vige, nning to farm and raise pigs from then on.


    These things were told by Old Liu''s wife to Big Jin''s family, and most of thebor actually fell on this wife.


    Old Liu felt that hunting was too troublesome, so he came up with this idea and gave up hunting. After that, he didn''t want to do anything else.


    He would work for two days and then rest for three days, spending each day eating and sleeping, and at most going to the market.


    He ced all his livelihood on raising pigs and didn''t even bother with farming,pletelycking a sense of crisis.


    Relying solely on one way of obtaining food could easily lead to trouble in this forest, but he couldn''t be bothered to care.


    The reason he lived like this was because his wife took on most of the responsibilities. When their son nearly killed him, he med it all on her.


    He rarely disciplined the child, so the child''s disobedience and disrespect were definitely because she didn''t teach him properly. Simrly, when the child grew up and abandoned his parents to roam far away, he didn''t hesitate to vent his anger on his wife.


    In short, all the mistakes were someone else''s fault, and he could never do anything wrong. Old Liu livedfortably with this mindset.


    His wife, although she felt wronged, still epted her husband''s constant me, believing it was just her own bad luck.


    Wen Qian thought that since Old Liu had stopped hunting, he probably wouldn''te to her area and cause trouble anymore, so she didn''t investigate further.


    Her current goal was to save money and food as usual, and then raise her child.


    Being so young, Little An''an was curious about everything she saw ¨C the birds in the trees, the flowers by the road, and Wen Qian working in the fields.


    As long as Little An''an saw Wen Qian, she would stay quiet and not fuss or cry. She would watch Wen Qian washing clothes by the well, nting vegetables in the courtyard, and babble incoherently, who knows what she was saying.


    Wen Qian had also tried talking to her, thinking that after the child learned to speak, the first word she would say might be "grandma" since Wen Qian had said it countless times.


    Ni Sha''s child could already walk and talk, making her even more exhausted.


    She couldn''t take her eyes off the child for a moment, and the saying "a quiet child is up to no good" was so urate.


    If the child made noise, she could figure out what she was doing. But when she was quiet and not sleeping, that''s when Wen Qian would find her causing trouble.


    At this stage, educating the child mainly involved water and fire ¨C don''t y with water or touch fire, including freshly boiled water.


    Getting young children to stay away from these things is quite easy. Pour in hot water, remove the bottle cap and let the child touch it - they''ll know it''s hot and will walk around any hot water bottles they see in the future.


    The same principle applies to fire. Let their hand get close to a burning me, and they''ll feel the heat. Get closer and it bes ufortable. Knowing it will cause difort, they''ll naturally stay away from fire.


    Learning about pain, heat, cold, and spiciness prevents young children from encountering too many dangers, as they learn to avoid them on their own.

 Chapter 192

    After the spring nting and seedling season ended, summer soon arrived with the noisy chirping of cicadas and frogs. Various insects were also abundant, and children could easily get bitten, leaving bumps on their skin.


    During the summer when they wore less clothing, An An might scratch herself, causing the bumps to be increasingly red and inmed. Although Wen Qian did her best to apply ointment, marks were still inevitable.


    After fumigating the room with mugwort, Wen Qian opened the windows to allow airflow. Mosquitoting was nailed to the windows, and a mosquito was hung over the bed. As soon as An An finished bathing, she was ced inside the mosquito.


    It took Wen Qian some effort to prevent An An from tugging at the mosquito, but giving her a toy or doll was usually enough to divert her attention. Since they lived in the forest, although the sun was intense during the day in summer, the nights were still quite cool. Wen Qian dressed An An in long sleeves and pants.


    At night, if An An kicked off her nket because she felt hot, Wen Qian would unconsciously cover her again in her sleep, as if it had be a conditioned reflex.


    Whenever Wen Qian went out to do chores during the day, she would definitely bring An An along, either carrying her on her back or strapped to her chest, ensuring that the child remained within her line of sight.


    If they were in the fields, it was more manageable. Wen Qian could sprinkle insect repellent powder,y down a mat, and set up a small enclosure with fencing, allowing her to work with rtive ease.


    However, if they were in other ces, Wen Qian could not simply leave An An unattended.


    By noon, Wen Qian would return home. At this time, the sleepy An An, wearing a hat, would typically nap along with Wen Qian.


    An An drank milk and ate supplementary food, while Wen Qian ate her meals. asionally, when their eyes met, Wen Qian could see An An''s intense curiosity about her food. However, since An An was too young to eat solid foods, Wen Qian would at most offer her a couple of grains of rice to taste.


    Sometimes, Ni Sha would bring her child to visit and chat with Wen Qian. An An was fond of Ni Sha''s older child, perhaps due to theck of ymates. Ni Sha''s child also didn''t mind spending time with An An.


    The fewer people children interacted with, the more likely they were to be shy around strangers. By allowing the children from both families to interact frequently, they became ustomed to seeing other people and felt less apprehensive.


    The two children from the Big Jin family also visited often. An An didn''t protest when they held her, although she cried initially but grew ustomed to themter.


    Children typically learn to speak before walking. An An could call for her "grandmother" but needed support when walking, though she wasn''t eager to walk since she hadn''t turned one year old yet, so Wen Qian wasn''t too concerned.


    In the wilderness, insects were abundant, and at night, even more insects were drawn to the lights. As a result, Wen Qian would extinguish the lights early, allowing them to sleep in the darkness.


    Sometimes, when An An woke up, she would sit nearby ying with her fingers and toes, without disturbing Wen Qian''s sleep. If Wen Qian woke up and looked at her, An An would sh an adorable smile.


    Children''s eyes always seemed bright, but as they grew older, their eyes lost that brilliance. Wen Qian didn''t know why, perhaps because of prolonged use.


    When it was time for vinations, Wen Qian would take An An to the vige, where a doctor would visit.


    After being carried for a long journey by the adults, Wen Qian needed to take a break since An An couldn''t be left unattended, so she had to carry or hold her the entire time.


    At her young age, An An couldn''t sit obediently on a bicycle or tricycle.


    An An was curious about everything, even showing no fear when approached by the doctor in a white coat, allowing herself to be given two injections without any precautions.


    After the shots, Wen Qian helped apply pressure while An An furrowed her brow, pouted, and started crying, causing the surrounding adults tough.


    After a few cries, Wen Qian diverted An An''s attention by pointing out various things in the market, and the child soon stopped crying.


    Bringing a child out was indeed physically demanding. However, it seemed Wen Qian hadn''t initially nned to have a baby stroller in her space.


    Once An An fell asleep, Wen Qian wouldy a mat in the tricycle and ce her on it, then ride the tricycle, which alleviated her fatigue.


    The small path leading home didn''t allow for cycling, so Wen Qian had to carry or hold An An again, but the proximity to home made it less tiring.


    In the market, Wen Qian also purchased somemon children''s medications, storing them in her space without worrying about expiration dates.


    Since this ce was far from the vige, and even in the vige, doctors weren''t avable every day, considering that An An might fall ill, Wen Qian prepared medications.


    It was only at this point that she realized, when she initially adopted An An for single parenting, that if An An had grown up in an orphanage, she would have had ess to a nearby hospital.


    Wen Qian couldn''t help but admit that An An could have received better medical care.


    Because she couldn''t provide better conditions, Wen Qian felt guilty.


    This thought crossed her mind when she was buying the medications.


    Unable to find a reason to console herself, she could only set it aside and move on to other tasks.


    Whenever Wen Qian couldn''t figure something out or resolve an issue, she would set it aside and do something else.


    If dwelling on one matter caused her to neglect other tasks, with no progress made during that time, it wouldn''t be beneficial.


    The answer wouldn''t present itself just because she lingered or overthought the problem. She could only go and do other things, or rather, continue living her life and stockpiling resources, as she couldn''t afford to waste time.


    After returning home, Wen Qian would take out the items from her space and put them away, then eat and take an afternoon nap with An An.


    The midday heat was intense, so even after waking up, Wen Qian wouldn''t go out until the sunlight became weaker. During this time, she would apany An An, teaching her to walk or talk.


    In the afternoon, Wen Qian would attend to her scheduled tasks as usual. There was a pile of unprocessed vegetables in her space, so she would ce An An''s seat in the courtyard and work on processing the vegetables nearby.


    During this time, she would burn mugwort, leaving no written records.


    An An would y with her rattle, asionally calling out "grandma." Sometimes Wen Qian would respond, and other times she was too preupied to do so.


    An An rarely cried, as most of the time they both did their own things without disturbing each other, yet remained within each other''s line of sight.


    An An seldom cried, but the first time she experienced a summer thunderstorm, she was startled by a loud p of thunder and began trembling, crying even while in Wen Qian''s arms.


    Eventually, Wen Qian''s luby and gentle patting soothed her.


    As An An grew older day by day, Wen Qian still hadn''t found the answer, so she continued with her routines.


    Sometimes she wondered, since she couldn''t provide better conditions, which was a fact, perhaps An An''s perspective was also needed, not just her own assessment.


    It''s just that the child is too young now, and she can''t talk to herself yet, so it might be too early to know the answer at this moment.


    These thoughts were only pondered silently by herself, and she hadn''t shared them with anyone else. Knowing the answer wasn''t urgent, so Wen Qianpletely set it aside for the time being.

 Chapter 193

    This year, Wen Qian was forty-seven years old, marking exactly ten years since she had arrived in the Northern Forest from Xia Province.


    She had truly settled down here, with the fields and orchards around her home looking well-established.


    Including the thorn hedge she had wanted to nt, which had now grown tall, encircling the farnds and protecting them from other wild animals.


    Ten years had passed, and her home was secure. The hunter''s cabin had been built, and everything had been adapted. All the crops she wanted to grow had been nted.


    As long as Wen Qian did her seasonal tasks each year, she would notck for food and drink.


    However,st autumn, she had found an infant girl, just as her own grandparents had found her.


    The story had begun a new cycle, with Wen Qian caring for another young life, just as her own family had done for her.


    Wen Qian felt that her life had entered a new stage, where she needed to be responsible for another little life, and not just live for herself.


    Little Ning from the Big Jin Family had alsoe of age, only a little younger than their eldest son. Although his parents were anxious about the children''s futures and partners, it was of no use.


    Aside from the vige, there were no other girls here, so they would have to go to the city to find matches.


    Their parents had suggested mingling with the vigers to get acquainted, but although they had be familiar faces, there were not many peers, making it difficult to form partnerships.


    At this time, all it took for a wedding was for two people to be mutually attracted. The couple would build their own house, farm their ownnd, and young couples would move out to live independently after starting their families.


    Wen Qian had once witnessed a vige wedding ceremony, without any guests or rituals. The families simply sent the couple into the new house, and the surrounding onlookers apuded.


    Perhaps the two families would provide some grain, seeds, and household items, but the young couple had to fend for themselves.


    As for the young couple, whether they had children, how many, or none at all, no one pressured them.


    In this era, giving birth was like passing through the gates of the underworld, and child survival rates were low. Coupled with the harsh living conditions, people did not have the habit of pressuring others to have children.


    Or perhaps some of the older generation, although holding traditional views that continuation was important, had witnessed too much death after the virus and volcanic eruptions.


    This was undoubtedly a shock for them, and many felt that living in the present was most important.


    No one knew which woulde first, tomorrow or misfortune, and this awareness emerged in many people. Thus, they refrained from imposting their will on others'' lives when possible.


    Everyone''s survival was difficult enough.


    Some stayed together, while others parted ways. When a couple felt they were not suited for each other, they would quickly go their separate ways. In such cases, people did not have children too early.


    So when separating without disputes over children, they would mostly split their household, dividing their food and money ordingly.


    Or one party might drive the other away, because some people, once together, wanted to bezy and have their partner support them unconditionally without doing anything themselves.


    Without marriage or divorce certificates, people stayed together or parted based on their feelings.


    And so, there was a scandal surrounding Old Liu, which had reached the Big Jin Family and Ni Sha.


    Apparently, Old Liu was fooling around elsewhere and only returned home when he had no food or money. But his wife seemed to put up with it all, with no intention of leaving.


    Moreover, Ni Sha gossiped and scoffed that when she encountered Old Liu''s wife, thetter seemed ill but still said she had to go home and cook.


    Ni Sha advised her to rest and not cook, but she insisted that if she didn''t, her husband would truly go hungry.


    Ridiculous! It seemed Old Liu had grown up drinking dewdrops before marrying her, or he wouldn''t have survived.


    But since it was a case of one willing party and another, Wen Qian did notment. Instead, Ni Sha said she didn''t want to talk to this "saint" anymore, as it affected her mood.


    She could not turn a blind eye, nor did she understand why this person behaved that way, only finding her pitiable and dispirited.


    Advising was useless, as the person would not change, and confiding in Ni Sha was akin to dumping negative garbage on her.


    Ni Sha chose to distance herself, protecting her own mood, which was a better approach.


    Wen Qian thought that if Old Liu''s family didn''t live in such a remote location, this person might even have brought his mistress home.


    His wife could not have been unaware of his outside affairs, but she felt the family should not break up, so she single-handedly maintained it.


    She still hoped her son would return and her husband would reform, but in the end, she would realize neither would happen.


    The little girl started walking in autumn, and Wen Qian made her a simple walking aid using small wheels from her space.


    She fixed an area for the girl to move around in front of the house, separate from the vegetable garden, so the crops would not be damaged.


    This year, Wen Qian spent little time hunting and mostly relied on traps. She would trade with the general store owner, using her earned money to exchange for game with others.


    Since a small river was nearby, she also spent a lot of time fishing.


    She still needed to stockpile food, increasing her efforts in one area when another decreased, not relying solely on foraging.


    When Wen Qian was working, the little girl was mostly within her sight, either in a fixed seat or on a padded mat.


    The boundary Wen Qian set was like the circle drawn by Sun Wukong, and after a few lessons, the child obediently stayed within it.


    Of course, this obedience was also due to the small toys and snacks Wen Qian made for her. As long as she was good, she would get delicious treats, so the child was eager to cooperate.


    There were a few times when she didn''t listen, like when Wen Qian clearly told her to y on the mat while she was gathering lotus roots in the shallows, but the girl not only crawled out but also got herself covered in mud.


    In the end, Wen Qian had to take the child back, bathe her, and change her clothes, wasting a lot of time.


    The little girl was mostly adorable, with just a few headache-inducing moments, but overall, Wen Qian felt their life together was quite pleasant.


    With only Wen Qian by her side, the child was very dependent on her. Sometimes when Wen Qian was in the yard, the girl would wake up in bed and keep calling for her.


    No matter how Wen Qian kept responding, the other party would only feel secure once they saw her appear, as if that were the only way to feel safe.


    So afterwards, Wen Qian kept Little Ning in a ce where she could always be seen, whether she was awake or asleep.


    Having someone dependent on her, Wen Qian also felt a sense of attachment. Many things were no longer just about considering herself, but also about considering the child.


    One decade passed this way, and Wen Qian moved on to the next decade.

 Chapter 194

    Autumn, the season of harvest. Wen Qian had to gather all the fruits from around her home.


    Every year there were many, so she nned to take some out to exchange. People in the Persimmon Cake Town were willing to buy them, so the grocery store owner would also take some to sell in the city.


    Most of the time, Wen Qian wouldn''t go that far, so she would let the owner make a profit. If Wen Qian needed to take the children to the city for a checkup, she would sell or trade them herself.


    For important crops, if there wasn''t enough time to process them into pure grains during the autumn harvest, Wen Qian would first store them in the Space, and process them the following summer when the sun was good.


    The temperature difference between morning and evening gradually increased. Wen Qian paid extra attention to how the children were dressed, as they were prone to getting sick around this time.


    She would take them out when the sun was good, and while she was harvesting, the children would be in a cradle or chair nearby.


    Fortunately, during the autumn season, Wen Qian harvested everything she could. What needed to be processed, she did so in the yard.


    The children were kept indoors, while she threshed the wheat outside, then continued to grind it into flour.


    However, she usually scheduled the grinding during the winter before, when she didn''t have the task of hunting for marten, so she would pedal a bike while grinding flour during the low-activity winter.


    After taking on winter tasks, she would schedule the grinding for rainy days when she couldn''t go out.


    Now she scheduled it for times when she needed to interact with the children, so they wouldn''t cry from not seeing her, and she could also get things done.


    This autumn ended rather abruptly. The day before, the weather was still nice, and the noon sun was warm. But the next day, the temperature dropped significantly.


    She hadn''t nailed stic sheets to her windows and doors yet. The strong wind outside caused the indoor temperature to drop a lot, so Wen Qian started burning the heater.


    The heater warmed up the house, so Wen Qian began covering the windows with stic sheets. The frames she had nailed before had grooves, so she only needed to insert the rubber strips to hold the thin film in ce each year.


    This way, the film could be reused without damage.


    With the heater and stic sheets, the indoors became warm again, and the children could move around safely inside.


    In the oven of the stove, Wen Qian would still put in small sweet potatoes and small potatoes. The children smelled the aroma and drooled a lot.


    However, the children couldn''t eat too much, so Wen Qian ate more, and stored the leftovers in the Space.


    The cold persisted for two days, then remained low temperature, so Wen Qian mostly stayed indoors, as she had enough firewood.


    But one day, a child from the Big Jin Family came knocking on her door.


    His eyes were red, as if he had been crying. He came to report a death.


    During those few cold days, although his family had also started burning firewood, his grandmother had passed away in her sleep.


    The one who usually got up early, when family members found her not getting up and not responding to knocking, they thought she was sick, but discovered she had passed away.


    After hearing this, Wen Qian then recalled that the grandmother was quite old, and the elderly really did have a hard time during winter.


    Passing away in her sleep, she probably didn''t suffer.


    The child came to inform them that today they would bathe and dress the body, dig a grave site the next day, and bury her the day after that.


    So he was notifying Wen Qian toe on the third day for the burial.


    This was Wen Qian''s first time attending a funeral since the natural disaster, and the process was simr to her hometown, except the time was much shorter.


    By now, there was no way to follow such lengthy procedures, let alone have many people attend the funeral, not to mention having the main family host a feast.


    They notified the neighbors, hoping they woulde to see the elderly off on her final journey.


    The child still needed to notify other families, and after waiting at Wen Qian''s door for a while, his face was already reddened from the cold.


    The child was still calling for her inside, so she closed the door and turned to go back in.


    After warming herself by the heater, she went to hug the child.


    The little child didn''t know what death was and understood nothing, only wanting to see her.


    The two children from the Big Jin Family had a deep bond with their grandmother, so it was understandable they were saddened by this sudden event.


    And having lost family members before, Wen Qian knew that this wasn''t the most difficult time yet.


    After the funeral, perhaps on an ordinary day, the child mighte across an object rted to their grandmother, suddenly recalling memories, and then realizing she was gone, that would be the most sorrowful moment.


    Although the weather was cold, there was no ice yet, so the next day they dug a grave site behind the mountain.


    On the third day, people from the three nearby families all came.


    Since it was a ground burial, the family had prepared the wood materials for the elderly earlier, but out of concern for upsetting the family, they didn''t make the coffin in advance, only cutting the boards to the appropriate size.


    The second day, they assembled the wood, ced the body inside, and on the third day when the neighbors came to pay respects, they carried the person up the mountain.


    At this time, they didn''t haverge white cloth, only tying white cloth strips around the head.


    Wen Qian put the child in a backpack carrier, with a hot water bottle inside, and a nket draped over the top to prevent wind from blowing in.


    She carried the child this way and slowly walked to the Big Jin Family''s home.


    Old Liu''s two family members also came, apparently because of the cold weather, Old Liu had returned from outside.


    Ni Sha''s whole family of three came. Her child came over to y peek-a-boo with the child in the backpack carrier on the ground.


    The childrenughed and giggled, unaware of the asion.


    But the adults'' sorrows were dispelled a little by the children''s voices. Yes, as some grow old, others are born anew. Death and new life ur at every moment.


    Thinking this way, one doesn''t feel as deste.


    After bowing, the few men helped carry the four-sided coffin up the mountain.


    Wen Qian and Ni Sha each carried their children, following behind with everyone up the mountain.


    As the first shovel of dirt was thrown onto the coffin, the two young men from the family started crying.


    Although they were adults, everyone still treated them as children, so crying wasn''t an issue.


    The dirt gradually piled up until the coffin waspletely covered. The burial site could see their homes down the mountain.


    Wen Qian thought, if there were souls, the elderlydy could still watch over her home.


    Afterward, the group returned to the Big Jin Family''s home.


    Originally thinking they would leave after the burial, unexpectedly the Big Jin Family had them stay for lunch.


    So they all remained, with Big Ning cooking, and the children helping. The group gathered around the heater in the house and conversed.


    The children yed on the heated bed, so Wen Qian and Ni Sha watched nearby to prevent any falls.


    Cooking a meal was very quick, Wen Qian had probably prepared the dishes in advance at her home.


    They were all from their own hunting and farming, the quantity and variety had been arranged to the best of their ability.


    Those present did not stand on ceremony, they all ate together. Big Ning came in and asked herself and her son to watch the children, allowing the two guests to eat.


    Wen Qian declined politely but went to eat first.


    At the table, Big Jin said some words of gratitude. Since there was no alcohol, they drank homemade fruit tea. He used the tea to express gratitude to the neighbors for attending the funeral.


    The cold wind howled outside, theing and going was very arduous, but everyone hade, and Big Jin could only feel grateful.

 Chapter 195

    After the funeral, people returned to their homes, while Ni Sha went to Wen Qian''s house for a visit and talked about the past experiences with the Old Lady.


    Not just her, but everyone else was also reminiscing about their memories associated with the Old Lady.


    The Old Lady was kind and capable, leaving a positive impression on everyone.


    Although it''s challenging for the elderly to make it through the winter, her passing still came as a surprise.


    Winter was approaching, and the bereaved neighbors had no time to mourn as life had to go on. They needed to either hunt for minks or work at home during the winter.


    Living in the forest meant being constantly busy, like ants and bees.


    As the harsh winter officially arrived, Wen Qian decided to take her child out for trips.


    Due to the snow, Wen Qian would bundle up her child and ce them in a round barrel, pulling it along on the snow.


    This way, she didn''t have to carry the extra weight on her back.


    Of course, the frequency and duration of these outings were not as frequent as before since the child was still very young.


    She would only go to two nearby cabins, abandoning the third.


    Little An''an was adorable, obediently staying in the barrel and asionally peering out with her eyes to watch Wen Qian.


    Upon reaching the cabins, Wen Qian would first check if anyone had used them, then enter and start heating the kang bed stove.


    Young children couldn''t sleep directly on the kang, so previously, they slept in a suspended area. Now that the child was a little older, Wen Qian still brought the suspended small frame.


    After heating the kang, Wen Qian would take out the child bundled like a penguin and let her y on the kang.


    The wooden boards covering the windows were left closed, and Wen Qian also added a thick cotton curtain on top. The door was also kept shut.


    She would collect the prey from the small traps she had set nearby, reset new ones, and by the next morning, there would be a fresh batch of prey.


    Afterwards, she would continue setting traps, then take the child back home, waiting for the next visit.


    The child was now old enough to y and wait for her in the cabin, as she could hear Wen Qian''s movements outside.


    As long as the child was well-fed, hydrated, and the environment wasfortable, she could stay alone for a long time without Wen Qian worrying about her crying excessively.


    Each time Wen Qian pushed open the door upon returning home, she could hear the child''s cheers, warming her heart despite her hands and face being frozen from the cold outside.


    Indeed, the child would enthusiastically wee the adults upon their return, standing on the kang and waving her hands since it was winter.


    In summer, the child might run over and hug her legs.


    This was likely one of the most rewarding aspects of raising a child.


    Little An''an would call out "grandma" and reach out for Wen Qian to hold her, but since Wen Qian was still chilled, she would first remove her outer clothing, wrap herself in a nket to warm up, and then hold the child.


    The child was not impatient at all because Wen Qian had warned her earlier that she was freezing cold, so she would wait.


    The small house was warm, with Wen Qian cing firewood both inside and outside the wooden cabin.


    She could actually rely on her spatial abilities, but she still ced some firewood outside, albeit using less herself.


    cing firewood outside was to maintain a reasonable appearance, and also to provide immediate ess for anyone who might need refuge, although the possibility was slim. But she didn''t rule out the chance of someone arriving there due to being lost or other reasons.


    The cabin was different from home, so initially, the child felt a bit ufortable, but after two visits, she adapted.


    Regardless of the changing environment, the most important thing was having her grandmother nearby, giving the child a sense of security. The size of the cabin became less important.


    In the middle of the night, Wen Qian would get up to add more firewood to maintain the indoor temperature. Otherwise, by the next morning, their exhaled breath would be visible as white vapor.


    Wen Qian didn''t need to conserve firewood, so she kept the cabin warm.


    When it was time to leave, she would remove the embers, taking them outside and burying them in the snow.


    After a long walk in the bitter cold, Wen Qian finally brought the child back home. The first thing she did upon entering was to feed the child ginger sugar water.


    She would remove twoyers of the child''s outer clothing, tuck her into the bedding, then start heating the kang bed stove, the fire wall, and turn on the stove.


    As the temperature rose, it would be dry, so Wen Qian usually ced a pot of water on the stove and applied moisturizer and lip balm to the child.


    The child had taken a nap on the way and was now energetic, lying in the bedding and calling for her grandmother to join her.


    Wen Qian still had to process the fur of the prey, which would be frozen solid when brought back home but would soften slightly as the temperature warmed. This was the best time to skin them.


    As the temperature rose, the child would stretch out her arm from the bedding, calling for her grandmother whenever she wanted to drink water or eat something, or she would lull herself to sleep.


    The sounds Wen Qian made while working served as excellent white noise, allowing the child to fall asleep peacefully in this environment.


    Once the prey was processed, Wen Qian would store everything in her spatial abilities, then draw some hot water and wash her hands with soap. After that, she would lie down with the child.


    If Wen Qian slept with the child, the child would definitely snuggle up against her, whether asleep or not.


    Sure enough, soon after lying down, the child''s head came over, and Wen Qian tucked the nket around her before drifting off to sleep as well.


    When they woke up an hourter, the child had been awake for some time, quietly ying with her fingers.


    Unless she was hungry or needed to use the bathroom, the child could entertain herself quietly without disturbing Wen Qian.


    Wen Qian got up, ced a small table in the middle of the kang, had the child get dressed, and they prepared to eat.


    In the kitchen, she didn''t cook but instead brought food from her spatial abilities and served it in the room.


    At this young age, the child wouldn''t have any memory, so Wen Qian could still do this, but not when the child grew older.


    The child ate supplementary food, but now she also wanted to eat from Wen Qian''s bowl. asionally, Wen Qian would give her some lighter seasonings.


    At this stage, the child could eat a wider variety of foods, but Wen Qian hadn''t started giving her various candies yet, opting for different fruits instead.


    If it was jam made from various berries and white sugar, Wen Qian wouldn''t give the child too much when she ate it.


    At the same time as when Ni Sha began growing teeth, Wen Qian would brush her teeth. In the past, people who ate too much sugar would develop cavities at a very young age, but that doesn''t happen anymore.


    Children don''t like the taste of toothpaste, yet when Wen Qian hoarded toothpaste, she didn''t consider children''s toothpaste at all, so each time she would only squeeze out a tiny bit for Ni Sha, and the child was still unwilling.


    In the end, Wen Qian had Ni Sha rinse with saltwater, thinking that when she gets a little older, she''ll have her use toothpaste.


    In the cold winter, before going to bed at night, the child had to go to the kitchen to look at the rabbits. Only after seeing the rabbits safe and sound in their cage would the child feel at ease to go to sleep.


    As for why the number of rabbits would decrease in the winter, the child hadn''t thought about that question yet.

 Chapter 196

    In the process of raising a child, Wen Qian would also have questions, like why a child wants to urinate as soon as they soak their feet in water.


    Why a child would burst into tears if the order of putting on shoes is different.


    Why she cannot understand the mumbled words from the child''s mouth.


    Some answers can be found in parenting books, but sometimes it requires an unspoken understanding between herself and the child that cannot be conveyed through words alone.


    In any case, she was living her life stumbling along with the child.


    When Wen Qian was forty-nine years old, the child was three.


    As An An would say: "I''m not a child anymore, I''ve grown up, I''m three."


    Hearing this made Wen Qianugh for a while. Children feel they''ve grown up with each year older.


    Little did they know, as children desperately want to grow up to be adults, only when they grow up do they realize that only children can be carefree.


    Now at three years old, the child could do many things. Apart from Wen Qian''s share of household items, there appeared smaller versions for the child.


    Small towels, small shoes, a small stool and small nket specifically for the child.


    Small bowls and chopsticks just for the child, all in miniature sizes.


    The child would mimic Wen Qian, putting things in order after she tidied up.


    Wen Qian grew vegetables in the courtyard, and An An wanted to as well, so after Wen Qian finished her own work, she sectioned off a small area for the child to nt whatever she wanted.


    The child randomly pointed here and there, nting one of each kind, then watering and weeding every day, almost killing all the vegetables.


    Even the strawberries Wen Qian often grew - when the vines started spreading, Wen Qian prepared a small pot, and the child wanted to grow her own pot too.


    But she watered too much, and they withered. After the seedlings died, Wen Qian told the child not to overwater, and transnted a new one for her.


    Wen Qian had told her beforehand, but the impatient child thought the more water she gave, the faster the strawberries would grow.


    Before, when Wen Qian was alone, she grew a row of strawberries, picking the ripe ones and leaving the rest in the space.


    Now with a child, the two of them would have none left in storage.


    The child liked strawberries, but every time she picked them, she would feed them to Wen Qian instead of eating them all herself.


    Wen Qian hadn''t taught her this - it was just that when Wen Qian ate something, she would share with the child, so the child shared with her too.


    Some things don''t need to be taught, reasoning is useless - it''s better to set an example first.


    Of course, when the child made a mistake, Wen Qian wouldn''t let it slide, but would definitely point it out and ask for correction.


    At this age, the child had many questions, endless "whys". Wen Qian would answer what she could, and look up what she couldn''t in books.


    Because Wen Qian read books, it piqued the child''s curiosity too. When Wen Qian wasn''t reading, the child would flip through the books.


    Though she couldn''t recognize the words, she would look at the pictures, so Wen Qian showed her picture books of wild nts and animals to help her learn to identify them first.


    At this stage, the child could only speak, not read or write, and Wen Qian didn''t teach her those skills so early.


    The child would look at the picture books over and over, then point out nts she recognized in the wild and ask the adults for a trowel to dig them up.


    Wen Qian would emphasize which wild nts were edible, which were inedible, and which indicated danger to stay away from.


    Children''s learning ability was astonishing, but she didn''t know if the child would still remember as she grew older.


    Once when going to the market with some neighbors, Wen Qian brought the child to get deworming medication from the doctor.


    After returning, the child stayed very quiet. Wen Qian thought she was just tired from the trip and didn''t pay much attention.


    But when it was time for bed, the child was pouting, and Wen Qian finally realized something was off.


    At first she felt the child''s forehead to check for fever, but there was no issue.


    Only after Wen Qian asked repeatedly did the child tell the truth.


    "Why do others have mothers but I don''t?"


    Wen Qian instantly recalled the few mothers with children she saw at the doctor''s earlier.


    "Do you want a mother?" Wen Qian wiped the child''s tears.


    The child asked in a small voice, "Can I call you mom instead of grandma?"


    "Sure, if that makes you happy."


    An An''s face brightened with a smile as she hugged Wen Qian and began softly calling her mom.


    Wen Qian answered, and the child called out "mom" again immediately.


    It became uncontroble, with the child continuing to call out "mom" until she fell asleep.


    Wen Qian thought the child would ask where her mom was, not that she wanted to call Wen Qian mom. She had the child call her grandma due to her age.


    Actually, when Wen Qian was young, she wanted to call her grandparents mom and dad too, but hesitated for a long time and only called them that in a very small voice.


    Thinking back now, perhaps her grandparents, whom she thought were asleep, had actually heard her after all.


    After changing to calling her mom, the child became very happy, as if her previous low spirits had dissipated.


    When An An was still young, Wen Qian had told her the story of Nuwa creating humans from mud. So with many people created, it''s inevitable that there would be abnormalities, like Wen Qian having five fingers while the child has six.


    She had prepared the exnation before the child even asked, so the child didn''t be afraid or insecure about being different from others.


    As for the mother issue, since the child resolved it herself, Wen Qian didn''t give further exnation.


    If she wants to call her mom, then so be it.


    Not only at home, but the child would also loudly call Wen Qian "mom" in front of neighbors.


    Because the neighbors had heard the child call Wen Qian "grandma" when she first learned to speak, they thought Wen Qian had changed her mind when the child started using the new name.


    When they asked Wen Qian, she could only smile and point at the child, saying, "She asked if she could change it, so I changed it."


    The neighbors realized it was the child who wanted to call her mom, thinking to themselves, who says children aren''t sensible? Even young children understand certain things.


    Indeed, a three-year-old child knows quite a lot, already aware that rabbits aren''t family, and how rabbits should be prepared to taste good.


    She would also help start the fire when her mom cooked, and remind her mom to add salt.


    When Wen Qian had a backache, An An would help massage her back and waist, and would also fetch things and pour water for her mother. Even when going out to work in the fields, she would imitate her mother and lend a hand nearby.


    Her adorable behavior was beyond description.


    The little child was always busy, having many things to take care of every day ¨C making sure the doors were closed, feeding the rabbits, and worrying about many other matters.


    Wen Qian watched as the other grew from a tiny infant to a three-year-old child running and jumping in the courtyard, marveling at how fast time had flown.

 Chapter 197

    When Wen Qian was fifty years old, her child was four. Now whenever Wen Qian went out and couldn''t conveniently take her along, the child could stay at home obediently and wait for the adults to return.


    This age happened to be a whole number, meaning Wen Qian had possessed this "space" for half of her life, which also meant she had a secret that she couldn''t share with anyone.


    For instance, with the current child who was four years old, she already knew a lot of things and would remember what was happening now even after growing up, so Wen Qian had to be more reserved around her.


    Like when she caughtrger prey, she would drag it back home on a rack from a ce close by, as she tried to avoid carrying heavy objects at her age.


    The habit of making things appear out of thin air was also corrected during the process of the child''s growing age. Now Wen Qian would take things out from behind the child''s back.


    Wen Qian built a few small sheds behind the house, all used for storage, filled with jars and pots that she had fired herself.


    There was one shed specifically for curing and hanging meat, where Wen Qian had cleaned out all the animals she had hunted over the past two to three years, as well as fish she had caught.


    In cold weather, she would salt-cure them into cured meat and cured fish. If the temperature wasn''t that low, she would add salt and hang them in this shed, using pine branches to smoke them from below.


    This shed was pitch-ck because it was frequently used for smoke-curing various meats. The meat was hung from the ceiling, so one had to wear a hat when entering to avoid oil dripping onto their head.


    There was another small shed specifically for storing other grains, which were kept in jars and pressed down with stone bs and ceramic tiles to prevent rodents from eating them. Insect repellents were also ced inside to extend the shelf life of the grains.


    This way, the child would know where the sausages, smoked meats, and grains that the family ate came from.


    Of course, there were also many things from Wen Qian''s "space" that she would silently add to the child''s diet without her knowing.


    For the winter cabbages and such, Wen Qian also stored a portion in the cer, which was finally put to proper use.


    She also kept some other things at home to avoid having to produce them out of nowhere, which might seem strange to the child.


    This way, there were more things that required attention to expiration dates and storage methods, which Wen Qian found time-consuming and effortful, but there was no other way - this was simply how it should be under normal circumstances.


    Food had different shelf lives in winter and summer, and without refrigeration, spoiled food could not be consumed, as eating contaminated food would be unwise in a time of scarce medical resources.


    Books would be eaten by worms and rodents if not sundried, and the contents of wooden boxes also needed regr inspection, lest they be gnawed on by rodents at any moment.


    This was especially true for items in the small sheds, which Wen Qian didn''t visit often, so they required extra care in preservation.


    In the open space near the house, she would drive two wooden stakes into the ground, ce a box on top, and cover it with a waterproof material.


    The part of the wooden stakes more than a meter above the ground was coated with grease, preventing rodents and insects from climbing up. In winter, pouring water over it would create an ice barrier.


    Rodents'' teeth were formidable, and they would attempt to gnaw on anything, so Wen Qian wanted to catch a cat to keep and hunt rodents, but unfortunately, there were no households with cats at the moment, and she couldn''t catch any kittens.


    Although Wen Qian had rodent poison, homemade glue traps, and cages for catching rodents, those only worked on naive rodents that had never seen the world before.


    Later, the rodents became cunning and would walk around the traps, rarely falling for them, except for the asional inexperienced one.


    However, this was not a problem unique to Wen Qian, but rather amon issue for all the residents here. Even in the south, there would be rodents, except they had cats there.


    Living in the mountains, the child had be familiar with the various prey that adults hunted, most of which meant food, and a few that could be traded for money.


    For the rabbits raised at home, Wen Qian would bring back grass, and the child would be responsible for feeding them.


    When dealing with wild prey, the child would watch as the adults skinned and butchered them. Any leftovers could be made into jerky and hung in the smoke shed.


    Whenever Wen Qian did tasks, she would have the child watch by her side, hoping the child could form an initial impression of living here.


    Her way of life had also gradually be more grounded due to the need to demonstrate experiences to the child, just like Big Jin and the others. In the past, when she had her "space," she didn''t need to consider these things, but now she had to collect and store food like her other neighbors.


    Sun-drying, roasting, air-drying, smoke-curing, salt-curing, and sugar-curing - there were many methods, which Wen Qian had discussed with the people around her and also sought out in books.


    She had learned a lot and tried making things herself, such as homemade fruit leathers and jerky.


    During this process, it was inevitable that some food would spoil due to improper storage, forcing her to painfully discard it.


    The amount of food stored outside was lesspared to what was in Wen Qian''s "space," but it still pained her.


    It was all obtained through her hard work, yet it ended up like this because she didn''t preserve it properly, which naturally made her feel regretful.


    However, the spoge of food could also serve as an experience to teach the child. Thinking this way, Wen Qian didn''t feel as upset.


    After sighing, Wen Qian would tell the child about it with a displeased tone, causing the child to also furrow her brow and be distressed, which amused Wen Qian instead.


    Then Wen Qian would exin the reasons for food spoge and give her precautions, which would leave a more profound impression on the child as an actual experience and memory.


    She hoped that when the child grew up, she would have the experience to live well here.


    The child was still young, so Wen Qian wouldn''t just teach her one thing, or teach it only once. She would continue to reinforce these lessons in the future.


    The child was also attentive, reminding Wen Qian when water was boiling, rice was steaming, or grapes needed to be picked.


    Now Wen Qian had an additional helpful and thoughtful assistant who would remind her of things she might forget.


    Ni Sha''s child, who was a year older, would sometimese over with her mother to y with An An.


    Living in such a remote area, it was rare to have a ymate, so the two children were always delighted to see each other, though they couldn''t go and y with each other independently yet.


    There was still some distance between the two families, and no adult would feel at ease letting them set off alone. At the very least, they would need to be twelve years old or older and able to use a gun before being allowed to go to a neighbor''s house alone.


    Most of the time, the two children would follow their respective mothers wherever they went, whether to the market or to visit each other''s homes.


    Wen Qian would take out fruits and some snacks for the two children to share, while the two adults would chat nearby, talking about family matters.


    Wen Qian was Ni Sha''s best customer, mainly buying jars from her. At first, Ni Sha thought Wen Qian would use them to store water and that they would freeze and break during the winter.


    Later, she learned that Wen Qian would put nkets inside the jars, cover them with stone bs to prevent mice from gnawing on them.


    Using jars to store everything was indeed a good method, as long as the jar''s mouth was properly sealed, items could be preserved.


    Even the children at home had their own small jars to store their snacks.

 Chapter 198

    As the child grew up, Wen Qian would take her to patrol the area they resided in.


    For a young child who couldn''t travel far, Wen Qian brought a trailer. On t ground, she would let the child sit in it, with a cushion made of corn husks on the bottom to absorb shocks.


    She would tell the child that she and the neighboring families had divided thend, with stakes and boundary stones marking the borders that were originally demarcated.


    This area was theirs, and the child would have to continue living here in the future, so they needed to patrol it regrly to prevent others from encroaching on theirnd.


    The child nodded understandingly, not yet realizing that agreed arrangements could change, and that people were fickle or malicious by nature.


    Of course, with Wen Qian still around, the child wouldn''t face such a situation for a long time. But if she were alone in the future, it would be a different story.


    When patrolling the area bordering the Liu Family, Wen Qian was always extra cautious. Over the years, they had maintained an uneasy truce, like two neighboring towns separated by a river.


    But as long as they were still around, she had to leave obvious signs to show she was tending to this area, deterring others from entertaining any ideas.


    In fact, Old Liu had lost interest in this mountain area. He wandered from vige to vige, asionally visiting the nearest small town.


    When weary, he would return to rest, knowing his wife would always be home with food and drink prepared.


    This virtuous wife seemed to have lost both her husband and child, supporting the household alone by setting traps, farming, and foraging.


    Felling trees, chopping firewood, and fetching water - she did everything herself, even trying to save money for her child.


    Sadly, her motherly devotion went unnoticed by her son away from home, buried deep in her heart. Though worried, she could do nothing about it.


    She didn''t regret refusing her son''s request to leave with him back then, keeping herself busy each day.


    If it were just for her own survival, what she did would have been enough. But she had a husband who came and went like a ghost.


    Not only would he consume the food she stored, but he would also take a lot with him when leaving, returning empty-handed.


    He would also swindle money from her by saying something half-true, like iming to have heard news of Young Liu''s whereabouts.


    With that excuse of searching for their son''s trail, Old Liu would take the meager savings his wife had kept.


    But he wouldn''t actually look for anyone, just spend it all. In his view, there was no problem in spending it since he could always im he didn''t find any leads.


    Old Liu no longer wanted to work. Labor was no longer a necessity for him, as long as someone else was supporting the household.


    One should enjoy life while they can - that was his philosophy.


    Indulging in pleasure may be a philosophy embraced in every era, but it certainly doesn''t mean leaving the mess for others while enjoying oneself.


    Old Liu built everything on the suffering of others, caring only for himself, and not his son or wife.


    It was fortunate that at least one of them was willing to serve him, though the child had rebelled and left home.


    Old Liu was quite proud of having one person to attend to him, even if he looked down on his wife.


    What was he proud of? He knew it well in his heart.


    Winter came early that year. Wen Qian and the child stayed home, only venturing out when the snowfall was light to clear the roof.


    Seeing the unfavorable weather, Old Liu returned early. He disliked winter not because of the cold, but because it restricted his range of activities.


    During this time, he could only hole up at home, the only ce where he could stay for so long with food and firewood.


    Simrly, his wife was also happy, as winter was the only time this breadwinner would stay home instead of wandering.


    She believed home was a man''s final haven, so he must still care about her to some extent.


    She didn''t consider the possibility that this man wouldn''t bother building a home elsewhere, nor would anyone else be willing to let him eat and drink for free throughout winter without doing any work.


    She simply thought that no matter how he behaved outside, he would eventually return here, his final destination.


    The two sat facing each other in silence until she spoke first: "I wonder where our son is spending the winter?"


    "He''s not a fool. He''ll find a warm ce, won''t he?" Old Liu believed their son was better off away from home. If he hadn''t offended someone and couldn''t go south, he too would have gone to y around.


    The conversation ended quickly, leaving her gazing worriedly at the snow outside, concerned her son might be freezing and starving.


    But for Young Liu, anywhere was better than home.


    Since leaving, he had indeed suffered greatly. But being away from his family also opened his eyes to many things.


    He had always thought his father was beyond redemption, but now realized his father was quite clever in doing what was best for himself, unconcerned about others as long as he was enjoying himself.


    He also thought his mother was foolishly stubborn, clinging to a man and treating him like a god, believing a man could shelter her from wind and rain when it was his own father who brought those troubles.


    He had long thought his mother stupid for waiting in vain for a prodigal son who would never return.


    Later, he realized he was just as delusional as his mother - she thought his father would reform, just as he thought his mother would listen to his advice.


    His father wouldn''t change, and his mother wouldn''t heed any of his counsel.


    He only understood these things after leaving his family, realizing how futile his previous frustrations and efforts had been in trying to change them.


    Young Liu felt as foolish as his mother, thinking he could change others through his own efforts.


    In fact, apart from himself, he couldn''t change anyone else.


    With this realization, he knew that if he could go back in time, he definitely wouldn''t have interfered in his mother''s life, just as he wouldn''t have cared about his father''s well-being.


    Back then, he could do neither. Now that he could, he was already far away.


    Although unaware of what his mother was doing, he knew she must be struggling. But so what?


    If he gave her a cake, she would probably share half with his father. Thinking of this, Young Liu dismissed any longing for his mother.


    As the bitter winter came to an end, Wen Qian and Ni Sha went to the market together, where they first learned from Big Jin''s ount of an incident: Old Liu''s wife had died during the winter.


    Everyone was shocked and inquired about what had happened.


    Old Liu only vaguely said that his wife had frozen to death.


    The actual cause of death was indeed freezing. She had gone out to fetch firewood but got lost in the blinding snowstorm, unable to find her way back home. Tragically, she froze to death right next to the wall of the Liu Family''s house, just a wall away from shelter.

 Chapter 199

    The neighbor''s death was quite mysterious, but the person was indeed gone just like that. In winter, there would usually be ropes or poles outside to distinguish directions.


    Old Liu''s family also had them, but they might not have been secured properly and got blown away by the wind. When she went out, she was unaware of this.


    There was also someone in the house - her husband was heating the ce, and he knew she had gone out to fetch firewood.


    She felt that when she left, the other person knew about it, so she never felt any danger in leaving the house.


    Ironically, Old Liu did know when she went out, but he didn''t care when she came back.


    After all, many times when he was asleep, she was busy at work. Who knew what she was doing?


    When Old Liu woke up, it was already the next day. He found no one in the house, then went to the pot to look for food, but it was cold and empty.


    That''s when he thought to go look for someone, yes, to ask this woman why she didn''t leave him any food.


    In the end, he found the deceased person by the wall.


    Her hands had already rotted, possibly from freezing or from banging on the wall.


    The wind and snow were so heavy that inside the house, he could only hear the wind outside, not any calls for help.


    However, it was so cold that not only was there thick snow on the ground, but the soil was also frozen. Old Liu tried to dig but couldn''t break through.


    So he first buried his wife in the snow, nning to bury her properly when spring arrived.


    As soon as spring came, Old Liu spent great effort digging a pit and buried the curled-up body directly, leaving a small mound as a grave.


    He didn''t notify the neighboring vigers, and there was no coffin, clothing, or gravestone.


    When his own father died, it was his wife who had arranged everything. Who would have thought that when she died, this would be her treatment?


    This was her entire life.


    He knew there was no way to exin in detail, so he just said she froze to death.


    In reality, upon hearing this news, who wouldn''t find it strange?


    She wasn''t a child or elderly person, nor was she ill - a grown, living adult had just vanished like that. Some people thought the husband and wife must have quarreled, and the man killed his wife.


    Regardless of others'' spections, they were just that - spections. At the time, only the couple was present, and no one else knew exactly what had happened.


    It was just that everyone knew this was a person they couldn''t associate closely with, so the neighboring vigers were also unwilling to interact with him further.


    After all, the previous dealings were out of respect for the deceased. Now that she was gone, the connection was severed.


    Old Liu was now left alone, with no one to care for him. However, with one fewer person, there were still many belongings left in the household.


    After burying his wife, Old Liu didn''t stay once the weather warmed up. He gathered his belongings and left to wander.


    Of course, he would return from time to time. When his wife was alive, they used to grow crops and raise pigs, but after winter passed, Old Liu didn''t bother with any of that.


    He felt that spring had just arrived, and winter was still far away. It would be soon enough to store up supplies again in the fall since there were still plenty of things at home.


    Currently, there was no one at his house. The state he left it in was the same state he returned to find it, just with an addedyer of dust andck of human presence.


    Back then, he had a wife and children, yet he didn''t pay much attention to them. But when he was truly alone in this ce, he would sometimes feel afraid and lonely.


    The more he felt this way, the less he wanted toe back. But if he couldn''t make it on his own, he had no choice but to return to this roof, and his days became increasingly difficult.


    In the past, he only cared about himself and didn''t bother with others, even though he worked. But money and time were spent solely on himself.


    Later, when he had someone to fall back on, he gradually lost even the "work" habit. Before, he at least went hunting, which didn''t yield much but was still something.


    Now he felt increasingly weary and didn''t want to do anything, but a person needs to eat and sleep to live.


    After returning, Old Liu cleared some of his old traps, hoping to catch some fresh food for himself.


    He knew fishing for three days and mendings for two wasn''t ideal - a slight change in weather, a few extra days of rain or snow, and he''d be in trouble.


    So he set his sights on Wen Qian''s household since she had fewer people.


    He figured he couldn''t take onrger households, but if there was only one person, an ambush should be possible.


    But then he thought about her pointing a gun at him and the high walls around her house, and Old Liu abandoned that n.


    The one person in the Wen household might actually be harder to deal with than others.


    Fortunately, he didn''t go, because after his wife''s death, Wen Qian had raised her guard again against this man.


    She thought that if she wanted to get something for nothing, her household seemed the easiest target nearby.


    So she inserted more ss shards along the top of the walls, made from ss bottles she had collected from her own space before.


    She set up outdoor rms in the courtyard and ced traps and snares behind the small iron gate.


    She also moved her sleeping area to the small upstairs room.


    These were all measures to ensure her safety while sleeping at night, though she was mostly fine during other times when awake.


    Wen Qian also instructed the children not to talk too much to strangers, not to eat anything given by strangers, and not to disclose information about their household to strangers.


    Upon hearing that bad people might want to steal their food and money, the children immediately promised not to tell others anything.


    They knew where these things were kept since their mother never hid her storage from them. If others found out, their belongings would be taken away, and they would go hungry.


    The children only considered the issue of going hungry, while Wen Qian''s concerns went beyond that.


    She wondered if she should eliminate the threat if this person saw her as an easy target.


    After all, this person had a prior record, and now he was alone, which would make striking much simpler.


    Wen Qian continued implementing precautions, while Old Liu''s intentions were fleeting. He chose to check out the vige to see if there were any opportunities to take advantage.


    As for ces, the only area with slightly more people was the vige market.


    At that time, doctors, merchants, hunters from various ces, and vigers would alle.


    So Old Liu set his sights on careless-looking men or seemingly frail women - those two types seemed easy targets.


    After his first sessful theft, Old Liu felt so clever. He used the stolen money to buy plenty of goods, including grains.


    However, he wasn''t so lucky the second time. While trying to steal a woman''s purse, he was caught at the marketce. Someone grabbed him and took him to a secluded area, giving him a severe beating.


    It wasn''t that the assant had a deep-rooted hatred for thieves; it was because this burly man had lost some of his belongings at the market earlier and wanted to vent his frustration on Old Liu, the petty thief.


    In fact, the money Old Liu tried to steal had originally been stolen from the assant by Old Liu himself some time ago. So in a way, the beating wasn''t entirely unjustified.


    Old Liu failed to get any money and ended up getting beaten instead. Fortunately, the assant didn''t break any of his limbs, so he could consider himself lucky.


    Thus, Old Liu slunk back home, thoroughly humiliated.

 Chapter 200

    Wen Qian''s vignce onlysted for a year. During this time, Old Liu barely managed to save enough supplies to get through the winter. After surviving the following winter, he left.


    No one knew where he went. Some said he went south to find his son, though it was uncertain if he would seed.


    Old Liu''s departure had always been Wen Qian''s hope.


    Old Liu was a man who couldn''t settle downfortably here, mainly because everything required doing things by oneself.


    Self-reliance leads to a life of plenty.


    But Old Liu despised doing things himself. Previously, when he didn''t do something, others would always help him. Now, if he didn''t do it himself, he would starve.


    Quick money schemes, if discovered, would get him killed. So, all things considered, Old Liu decided to leave.


    He thought about taking a roundabout route to other southern cities. This way, no one would recognize him, and in more popted areas, he might find suitable "work."


    Just like before the cmity, when he had a steady job with a fixed, albeit low, sry, set working hours, and simple tasks.


    He believed that if he went to arger city, he could find the easiest job possible, rather than having to do everything himself in these mountains.


    But he forgot one thing: his age now was different from before. Why would someone choose him over younger candidates for the same position?


    Another goal of his journey was to find his son. If his son was sessful, the old man could simply enjoy the good life.


    However, Old Liu wasn''t really that optimistic; he just hoped for the best.


    Once this man disappeared, it meant one less person for the other neighbors to be wary of.


    Especially for Wen Qian.


    Not having to take matters into her own hands or constantly be on guard was indeed good news.


    One day, Wen Qian removed the traps behind the iron gate. When her child asked why, she simply said the crisis was over.


    Knowing that no one woulde to steal their food, the child was also very happy.


    For many years after, Wen Qian never saw the Liu family again.


    The roof of their uninhabited house had copsed, and Young Liu never returned.


    Of Da Jin''s two children, the elder one got married and built a small house near Da Jin''s area.


    The bride was the daughter of a mountain family from the other side of the vige. They met at the market and ended up together.


    Both families helped the newlymitted couple build their house, each providing some grain and daily necessities.


    From then on, they lived independently. Whether they would have children or when they would have them didn''t matter; no one would pressure them.


    They just felt that in such circumstances, finding apanion was good enough.


    It was true mutual support, not one taking advantage of the other.


    Even with incentives for childbearing, the poption didn''t grow significantly. It could be said that no ce achieved the goal of poption increase.


    Time flew by like a shuttle.


    When Wen Qian was sixty, An An was already fourteen.


    An An had grown very tall. Wen Qian thought that at this rate, the child could grow to over 170 centimeters.


    Wen Qian was gratified. Her years of providing a bnced diet had paid off, and An An wasn''t a picky eater.


    An An rarely ate at other people''s homes, so she didn''t really know how her family''s mealspared to others.


    Now that she had grown up, she could carry a gun on her back to visit her sister at Ni Sha''s house.


    She had learned everything her mother taught her, as if attending sses, and had to pass every subject.


    Wen Qian, fearing she might have missed something, constantly reminded her child of various precautions.


    At this time, An An hadn''t yet reached her rebellious phase, perhaps because Wen Qian hadn''t pushed too hard.


    For Wen Qian, when An An imed to have learned a skill, she only needed to demonstrate it correctly a few times in front of her. The rest of the time, An An was free.


    She knew that experience and teaching were important, but she also knew she couldn''t be too strict just to make her learn more, as it would only cause the child to rebel.


    Having no experience in raising children, she often followed books and recalled how her grandparents had raised her.


    But the biggest difference between people is personality. Wen Qian felt she was more sensitive as a child, able to observe details.


    An An had a more cheerful personality than her, more outgoing, very intelligent, and also knew how to care for others.


    She was also very observant of herself, always offering to help when she saw adults working rather than just watching.


    She was a hardworking, kind, and lively young girl.


    When Wen Qian taught her to shoot and make ammunition, she was calm andposed, never impatient when learning anything.


    Wen Qian was even more pleased with this aspect, believing it would serve An An well in her future life.


    If she were merely lively and kind, Wen Qian would have been worried.


    In fact, An An could sense Wen Qian''s unease, so she tried her best to learn. As Wen Qian grew older, she wanted her to learn more, preferably everything.


    This sense of urgency was always present, but her mother managed to control it well, not letting the pressure spill over onto her.


    At Wen Qian''s age, although she looked younger than her peers, she was already elderly.


    She was at the age where people called her grandmother, but only An An still called her mother. From a very young age, she had switched from calling her grandmother to mother and never changed.


    Now An An felt she had grown up and was responsible for her mother''s future life. Previously, her mother had protected her, but now the roles were to be reversed.


    However, at just fourteen, as she watched her mother''s hair gradually turning white, she couldn''t quite hide the worry and sadness in her eyes.


    One day at the market, An An saw a funeral being held nearby.


    This small vige had grownrger over the past decade, bing a big vige with a busier market.


    As she watched the distant sounds of crying and the floating yellow paper, she felt that death was still unfamiliar to her.


    But Wen Qian took her closer to watch. As the deceased was an elderly person, only the family members were crying while others seemed to be merely spectating.


    An An also asked the question Wen Qian had once asked: why funerals were called "white happiness events."


    Wen Qian fell into reminiscence, then told her the answer she had heard back then.


    There was one thing Wen Qian didn''t specifically say: that she too would die someday. She felt that if the young girl heard her say such things, she might burst into tears immediately.


    No matter how strong she appeared, death was still a distant and unfamiliar concept to her.


    The feeling that death was drawing near, the fear it could instill¡ªthese were sensations one only truly experienced when someone close to them passed away.


    This was something Wen Qian would have to teach as well.

 Chapter 201

    One spring evening, after the busy season of spring plowing, Wen Qian fell ill.


    She suddenly felt cold and covered herself with an extra nket.


    In the middle of the night, she vaguely felt feverish and had a headache, but being too tired, she simply turned over and went back to sleep.


    An An noticed something was wrong in the early hours of the morning when she touched her mother and felt her skin was very hot.


    An An immediately got up to light amp, then searched for the spare medicine in the house and prepared some lukewarm water.


    An An woke Wen Qian and asked how she felt. Wen Qian thought she probably had a cold.


    An An gave her some fever-reducing medicine, and the fever quickly subsided. The mercury thermometer was wrapped in severalyers of cloth; Wen Qian said she had bought it online before the catastrophe.


    An An didn''t know what online shopping was and couldn''t imagine life before the catastrophe. Although she had read about it in books, it didn''t feel real to her.


    Using this tool to measure Wen Qian''s temperature, the previous high fever had already gone down, but An An was still very worried because Wen Qian kept dozing off.


    An An kept waking up, unable to sleep soundly, checking the temperature with her hand, worried that her mother''s condition might worsen.


    When daylight came and Wen Qian woke up, she heard noises from the kitchen.


    An An was in the kitchen making porridge and small dishes. This was what her mother used to do when she was sick, and she would also give her something sweet to eat after taking medicine.


    Now An An was doing the same, copying her mother''s methods.


    Wen Qian''s fever had broken, but she felt weak all over, so she sat up in bed to eat breakfast from a small table ced on the bed.


    Although she had no appetite, she knew she had to eat. This was what Wen Qian used to tell An An.


    In the process of raising a child, she had encountered situations where the child was sick, but fortunately, they were never serious problems. The medicine from the doctor and what she had bought beforehand were still sufficient to handle these situations.


    Now that she herself was sick, An An was taking very good care of her, even remembering the words she used to persuade An An to take medicine.


    After finishing her meal, Wen Qian sat leaning against the wall, gazing out the window.


    Because she was sick, she didn''t go out, so An An went out for a while to check the nearby traps.


    After dealing with the catch, An An hurried back home, though she didn''t know if her mother would be scared being alone at home.


    But she knew that when her mother was sick, she herself was scared. The older she got, the more scared she became.


    Even though she was no longer a little child and could do many things, in front of her mother, she was still a child.


    Wen Qian didn''t feel lonely or scared at home, but she thought of her grandmother. It seemed that every time she got sick, she would think of her, especially after the catastrophe.


    As time passed, the images in her mind gradually became blurred. This seemed to be a rule, even though she had things and photos of her grandmother, she still couldn''t avoid forgetting.


    An An had heard many stories about her great-grandmother from her mother. Often, her mother would repeat these stories, not for An An to hear, but to prevent herself from forgetting.


    Wen Qian saw An An return, then go in and out preparing lunch. She felt that the child had really grown up.


    It took Wen Qian a week to fully recover from this illness, with An An taking care of her the whole time.


    This wasn''t the first time Wen Qian had been sick, but before, when An An was still little, she could only help by fetching water.


    Going even further back, when Wen Qian was alone, she would ce medicine, food, and water by her bedside, convenient for taking care of herself when she couldn''t get up.


    Every choice had its pros and cons. When she was alone, there was no one to take care of her. When she had someone by her side, she was responsible for the child''s safe growth.


    Now the child had grown up and could take care of her too.


    At noon, when taking medicine, An An gave Wen Qian a piece of candy, just like she used to receive as a child.


    As An An gradually grew older, although no one around her deliberately told her she was adopted, she gradually became aware of this situation.


    Wen Qian had health records about her, starting with her name, noting she was less than a month old, along with other health conditions.


    This meant that when she met her mother, she was less than a month old, and her birthday was the day they met.


    This fact corresponded with her childhood memory of calling Wen Qian "grandma," and when she asked Wen Qian about it, Wen Qian told her the truth.


    An An was old enough to ept these things, and Wen Qian believed that even if she told the child the truth, the child would process it well on her own.


    That was indeed the case. Wen Qian saw An An feeling down for a few days, but then she returned to normal.


    Later, she found out that during this time, An An had gone to two neighbors'' houses to inquire about the details of that year. Although surprised, the neighbors eventually told her the truth.


    The stories from all three people were simr, which meant that was indeed the truth. An An was very sad because she had hoped she was really her mother''s biological child.


    But soon after, she came to understand. If blood ties were really that important, her mother wouldn''t have picked her up and raised her so well.


    If being biological was really that important, her birth parents wouldn''t have abandoned her at the dock, not even bothering to send her to an orphanage.


    What did it matter if she wasn''t biological? She still grew up happily with all her needs met. She and her mother lived well together.


    It should be the same in the future, so this storm quickly calmed, as if it had never happened.


    But Aunt Da Ning raised a question to her: if one day someone came to im her, what would she do?


    An An gave a coldugh, without answering.


    Seeing her eyes, Da Ning felt that An An was exactly like Wen Qian. When angry, their eyes were equally sharp, as if they could see right through people.


    Seeing that An An didn''t show a hint of hesitation or reluctance, Da Ning felt relieved. If this child was soft-hearted, she would have felt that Wen Qian had raised her in vain.


    Clearly, An An wasn''t easy to fool either. If such a thing really happened, the other party would certainly not be able to take advantage of the Wen family.


    Both aunts had described An An''s growing up experience, and they also emphasized Wen Qian''s hard work. They truly felt that Wen Qian had raised the child very well and that she had done it wholeheartedly.


    Da Ning gestured to show the scene of their first meeting, describing how small An An was then, and now she had to look up to talk to her.


    An An certainly understood their meaning. As onlookers, they saw clearly how her mother had devoted herself, so they hoped this neighbor would have a happyte life.


    Wen Qian had told An An about her past, including the fact that she was adopted. The people who found her were her grandparents.


    An An wondered if it might have been her great-grandparents, whom she had never met, who had influenced her mother to take her in when they first encountered each other.


    After these events, An An became even more dedicated to hunting and farming, and grew even more attached to her mother.


    This child had always been good at being affectionate, which Wen Qian didn''t find strange at all.

 Chapter 202

    For An An, Wen Qian was her only family. No matter what she did or where she went, she would always bring her mother along.


    As An An grew up, she visited cities and vige markets, but she still felt her home was the best, despite its remote location.


    When she came of age, people started inquiring about matching her with their children of simr age.


    Regarding matters of the heart, Wen Qian herself was inexperienced in rtionships, so she couldn''t offer much advice. Instead, she encouraged An An to seek answers in books or by observing how people around them lived their lives.


    To the neighbors, An An seemed to be a carbon copy of Wen Qian''s personality, showing little curiosity about romance and instead preferring hunting and storing food.


    Aftering of age, An An rejected all suitors, believing she didn''t need anyone else. She felt that living with her mother was enough and didn''t require any additional people in her life.


    Wen Qian thought that An An might change her mind someday, so she didn''t pressure her.


    In her view, people who enjoyed solitude like herself were rare, and An An might have been mimicking her behavior. She thought that once she was gone, An An might change her perspective.


    This led to a new worry for Wen Qian: An An hadn''t been exposed to many of life''s intricacies. What if she were deceived by an irresponsible personter on, unknowingly walking into a trap?


    To address this concern, Wen Qian gave her examples to help her discern people''s true nature, encouraging her to look beyond surface appearances.


    She advised that if An An were to be with someone, she shouldn''t focus solely on how well they treated her initially or how sweet their words were, but rather on their character.


    People of good character have a moral baseline, meaning that even if a rtionship doesn''t work out, they won''t cause excessive harm.


    However, those of poor character could lead to endless troubles.


    Wen Qian warned against being seduced by momentary sweetness, lest An An end up with lifelong regrets, like prey caught in a trap.


    Hoping to help An An filter out such individuals from the start, Wen Qian shared news stories from her era and examples of people she knew.


    She presented both good and bad examples. At first, An An saw these as mere stories, but as she began gossiping with neighbors about local people, she realized the diversity of human nature.


    Wen Qian taught her a simple method: to seek role models within her limited social circle.


    An An chose Ni Sha''s family as her example. She felt that if she were to have a family and partner, she''d want a rtionship like that of Ni Sha''s parents, who always seemed harmonious and happy.


    What An An observed wasn''t just surface-level happiness, but the natural chemistry between the couple. She vividly remembered seeing Ni Sha''s father instinctively offer his hand to support his wife when walking on difficult terrain.


    For some reason, this image left a profound impression on An An, so much so that when her mother mentioned role models, she immediately thought of them.


    While An An had heard many examples about rtionships from her mother, Wen Qian''s own romantic history remained a nk page.


    Wen Qian''s exnation was simply that she was born preferring solitude and enjoyed living alone.


    She then added, "Except for children, of course."


    An Anughed and began pestering her mother to tell stories from her youth.


    Since Wen Qian didn''t have personal anecdotes, she shared others'' stories instead.


    She spoke about the phenomenon of "graduation season equals breakup season" from her time, when young people were still studying in schools.


    An An longed for the universities her mother described, viewing them as havens of knowledge. However, apart from the south, such institutions no longer existed elsewhere.


    Regarding the breakup season, An An''s perspective was simple: neither person had included the other in their future ns.


    People only considered themselves, or merely enjoyed the present love and excitement, without any thought for tomorrow.


    "How can one expect to harvest wheat in autumn if they don''t nt seeds in spring?" An An expressed her thoughts in simple terms.


    An An was also a nner. As a child, she would nt alongside her mother, but sometimes her timing was off, resulting in no harvest.


    Each failed nting attempt left her sad or disappointed, but Wen Qian never consoled her by recing the bad nts with good ones.


    Instead, she exined the reasons for the failure and encouraged An An to keep trying. Learning to ept failure was a necessary lesson; Wen Qian wasn''t about to raise her child in a greenhouse.


    Sometimes, even with proper watering and fertilizing, and nting ording to the seasons and temperatures, unexpected natural disasters could ur.


    But barring such uncontroble forces, everything else depended on human effort. At the very least, if one tried their best, they wouldn''t have regrets even without a harvest.


    However, expecting to find food in a field where nothing was nted was clearly impossible.


    An An enjoyed making ns, finding great satisfaction in checking off items on her list. Making lists and keeping a diary were also habits her mother had taught her.


    While An An wouldn''t be upset if her ns were disrupted, she indeed hadn''t included anyone other than her mother in her future ns.


    She hadn''t even imagined a hypothetical person, seemingly content with the idea of living independently, just like Wen Qian. She saw nothing wrong with this lifestyle.


    As Wen Qian aged, she didn''t stop working, but more responsibilities fell on An An''s shoulders.


    At first, An An needed Wen Qian''s reminders and guidance, butter she became capable of managing things on her own.


    Raising a child to be independent was already a great achievement. As for matters of the heart, Wen Qian couldn''t really help, so it was up to fate whether An An would find someone.


    Indeed, on her way to the small town, An An encountered a young man on arge boat who immediately and openly expressed his interest in her. She calmly rejected him.


    The young man, though disappointed, epted the rejection. Despite some onlookers mocking him, he didn''t be angry or embarrassed.


    He optimistically said that if it didn''t work out this time, there would always be another chance to meet again.


    Ni Sha returned home and told Wen Qian about the incident, describing An An''s calm rejection.


    An An hadn''t felt happy or proud, nor angry. She had simply rejected him seriously, with an expressionless face.


    In this era, forming partnerships was quite casual. If two people liked each other, they could be a couple on the spot.


    However, An An couldn''t do it. She felt the risk was too high, and she still had no idea about the other person''s character. To make someone her bedmate without knowing them¡ªwhat if they turned out to be a demon?


    One should always be cautious, and An An felt this method of finding a partner wasn''t suitable for her.


    On this point, her view aligned with her mother''s, even though Wen Qian had always said her own perspective might be too narrow and encouraged An An to consider other people''s opinions.


    In reality, Wen Qian was also afraid that her words and actions might have had an excessively negative impact on her child.

 Chapter 203

    While An An was working outside, Wen Qian was busy filling their home with various items.


    This behavior had started since she had taken in An An. She could take small objects out of her space without the child noticing, butrger items were different. Bringing them out suddenly would be too conspicuous.


    So, for many years, she had been gradually disposing of the things in her space.


    Sometimes, she would store items in ces where she and An An rarely went.


    In the area Wen Qian had divided with the neighbors, she mostly moved around her own home and the hunter''s cabin at the edge of their territory.


    As for the central area, Wen Qian rarely went there. After An An came into her life, she started moving her collected building materials in that direction.


    When the child grew up, she could go and retrieve them if needed, and it would also provide a good exnation to the child.


    She ced the y suitable for pottery-making in a hollow behind the house, and some bricks and stones on the mountain not far behind the house.


    The forest was dense, and due to the terrain, these items couldn''t be discovered unless one looked closely.


    As for some of the finer grains, Wen Qian still nned to keep them in her space, gradually adding them to their food over time.


    For books, Wen Qian would bring them out gradually as she taught the child to read, andter even set up a special bookshelf.


    The books the child had previously studied filled half the room, and once taken out of the space, they wouldn''t be put back in, otherwise An An would notice something was amiss.


    Another issue was that even if fruit could be preserved for a long time, its freshness shouldn''t be the same as freshly picked. So when An An was still too young to understand, Wen Qian experimented with other preservation methods.


    One method involved using y to make protruding lids, cing grapes in the middle, and sealing them together, which could preserve the fruit for half a year.


    Wen Qian experimented with different methods based on this idea and finally found suitable preservation techniques for grapes and some berries.


    When An An was younger, she would directly take fresh fruit from her space. As An An grew older, Wen Qian used this method to preserve fruit in autumn for winter consumption.


    However, the winters here were very cold, and although the items stored in y didn''t spoil, they became rock-hard.


    This meant they had to be consumed during winter, otherwise they would thaw and spoil when the weather warmed up.


    In winter, indoors where temperatures were higher, they would open the y shells, wash the rock-hard fruit, and enjoy a texture simr to sorbet.


    For other fruits, like strawberries, they grew them continuously. In cold weather, they kept them in the warm kitchen and bedroom, and in good weather, they left them outside.


    Persimmons, apples, and pears were partially dried into fruit leather, with the rest stored in the cer.


    By the time An An was old enough to understand, Wen Qian had already dealt with most of the items in her possession.


    Or perhaps Wen Qian felt that she had long been seen through, but An An simply didn''t mention it.


    Now, Wen Qian''s space contained some ice and snow, firewood, a portion of weapons and food, and various misceneous items.


    The space also held many discarded packages, all sharing amon feature: they were from the same time period.


    They all dated from when Wen Qian dreamed of the natural disaster beginning, up until its arrival.


    So she kept all these packages with their telling information in her space.


    Because there were so many things to store at home, Wen Qian had been building more and more rooms.


    Previously, there were three rooms at the front, andter Wen Qian built a total of six rooms at the back of the house against the wall.


    These rooms were all used for storage. Some were just filled with jars covering the floor.


    Others needed wooden shelves to hold various pots and containers, categorized neatly.


    Even with careful management, damage was inevitable as rats and insects woulde out at night and nibble on the stored items.


    At times like these, Wen Qian would think how nice it would be to have a cat in the house. Back in her old home, cats were the best defense against rats.


    As it turned out, rather than a cat, Wen Qian''s household first acquired a dog.


    It all started when Big Jin went to the market and found out-of-towners selling dogs. They were all month-old puppies of the southern hunting breed.


    Big Jin bought one and informed the neighbors, asking if they wanted any, knowing that hunting without a dog was very inconvenient.


    They had previously owned a hunting dog, but it had died of illness, so they were now buying a new one.


    The other two neighbors had never owned one.


    So An An and Ni Sha''s child went together to the market.


    The market had already dispersed, but the dog sellers hadn''t left immediately, nning to stay for a few more days, lodging with vigers.


    When the two arrived, there were still four puppies left. One had been chosen but not paid for yet, so the seller wasn''t disying it.


    An An had no experience in choosing dogs, so she went purely by instinct, selecting the first one that came up to lick her hand.


    All the puppies were earthy yellow, chubby, and sturdy-looking. The one An An chose was particrly lively and friendly.


    The two bought their dogs, and the seller also gave them vines and deworming medicine before they headed home.


    Neither Wen Qian nor An An had experience in dog training, but they had books on the subject, so they followed the instructions.


    The puppy, new to the yard, soon demonstrated its ability to catch rats.


    Thus, this little dog named Sunshine took on the roles of both hunting dog and cat, and ordingly, received double the rewards.


    Wen Qian hadn''t kept a dog before, but now having one to keep An Anpany wasn''t bad, and the house indeed needed a good helper to catch rats.


    When An An went out hunting, she would take the puppy along, letting it run while training it.


    Wen Qian would tend to household matters in the courtyard.


    As she grew older, many tasks became more challenging, so she rarely went out now.


    An An was now the head of the household, which made it even more convenient for Wen Qian to hide things around the house.


    Although she was old, her memory hadn''t deteriorated, and her eyesight was still good, so she often put things in various jars and pots.


    Needles and thread, medicines, and seasonings.


    Including the little cooking oil she had left, which she poured from stic bottles into the oil jars they usually used for storage.


    There were also other materials that she gradually moved in as they decreased, at least to an extent that Wen Qian believed was unnoticeable to the naked eye.


    With every additiones a subtraction. She took out her previous food supplies and wouldter store some of the grains she grew here into her space.


    This way, when she took them out againter, there wouldn''t be too many noticeable differences¡ªat least not to An An once she grew up.


    Otherwise, the fine flour she had bought before would look starkly different from the flour she ground now.


    So, Wen Qian gradually brought out all the original items from her space, taking advantage of An An''s ignorance to consume them together first.


    Before taking in the child, Wen Qian maintained a bnce of inflow and outflow. She still had leftovers from what she had purchased with money before the cmity, as she felt she couldn''t just sit idle and deplete her resources.


    After taking in the child, she brought out all those items. Subsequently, what she stored away were the foods she could obtain in the northern forest, still adhering to the principle of bncing input and output.


    In the end, all that remained in her space of her previous life were just the packaging materials.

 Chapter 204

    In earlier years, Wen Qian would asionally see new gadgets at the market.


    For instance, there were wooden washing machines with separate inner and outer rings. Families with donkeys or horses could tie them to a crossbar, making them circle the washing machine. While it took longer, it was easier than washing by hand, especially forrge, heavy garments.


    Wen Qian''s family didn''t have animals to do the work, but there was a small river nearby, so she could use the power of the water flow to rotate the washing machine.


    Eventually, Wen Qian brought the machine home on a small tricycle and set up a shelter by the river. When she needed to use it, she would fetch water from the river and soak the clothes in the barrel.


    For a while, she became obsessed with grinding tofu. She eventually turned her attention to the river water, remembering reading about water wheels used for grinding tofu. She began searching through books for diagrams to attempt making one.


    The water wheel she built was quiterge, so it took her a considerable amount of time. Once it was installed by the river, grinding soybeans, milling flour, and washing clothes all became much easier.


    When the neighbors saw this contraption, they quickly began to imitate it.


    The drive belt was made from car tires that Wen Qian had modified earlier. She still had quite a few of these tires in her space, and now she secretly cut them into strips.


    Not only did she create a cer in her yard, but she also dug out a storage area in the back of the mountain to keep these tools.


    When the water wheel was in use, she would attach the conveyor belt and grinding tools. It worked well for grinding both soybeans and wheat, and in autumn, it was also great for grinding meat for sausages.


    When not in use, she would remove the tools to prevent sun damage. If summer floods were expected, she would drag the water wheel ashore in advance to prevent it from being washed away by water and debris.


    Besides this, there was another item Wen Qian found novel: sanitary napkins.


    Initially, Wen Qian had stockpiled sanitary napkins tost until she reached menopause, around 55 years old.


    However, she hadn''t anticipated raising a daughter, so as the child grew, she realized that by the time An An started menstruating, she might not have many left in her space.


    If she used these stic products for her daughter, once they ran out, there would be no more. It would be difficult to exin if the child asked about them.


    After all, such things no longer existed now; only cloth menstrual pads with receable cores were avable.


    In the end, Wen Qian realized she had worried unnecessarily. Her own menopause came two yearster than expected, so by the time she reached it, her stockpile had long been used up. She even had to switch to using these cloth pads herself.


    At that time, An An was still young, not yet of age.


    So Wen Qian could only do as her neighbors did, buying products from the general store to try for herself and prepare for her child.


    At this time, the sanitary napkin cores were disposable, but the outer cloth band was not. The outer material was waterproof, and this band was the most valuable part.


    Over the years, these products continued to improve, and Wen Qian would buy some annually to see what new improvements had been made.


    She didn''t know how people without sanitary napkins had managed their menstrual cycles after the natural disaster, and she had never discussed this with her neighbors.


    As people''s lives gradually stabilized, these improved sanitary napkins began to appear in general stores. Previously, even the waterproof cloth bands hadn''t been avable.


    By the time An An needed them, sanitary napkins had evolved to a level that satisfied Wen Qian.


    ----


    An An was sharpening a knife at home when she noticed the whetstone had cracked halfway through. She had nned to go to the market to buy a new one when she had time.


    Just then, she saw her mother take a stone from the wall of the rabbit hutch. An An realized it was also a whetstone.


    She hadn''t paid much attention before, but almost every brick and tile in their house had a purpose. She wondered how her mother had collected all these things.


    Wen Qian exined that she had picked up a lot of scrap after the natural disaster, as it took many years for the temperature to recover.


    Wen Qian discovered these stones were suitable for knife sharpening while collecting rocks, so she gathered quite a few.


    She still had some in her space, and she had thrown some on the mountain. They would probablyst until An An grew old.


    Now, the vige also had people selling ceramics and ssware, all sourced from the small town. These were things the vige didn''t have before.


    Wen Qian was still using ss she had salvaged from other ces earlier. She had carefully wrapped the remaining pieces and stored them in her space, unlike the building materials she had stored elsewhere.


    Those materials could still be used even if damaged by frost, but ss was different, so she stored it carefully.


    The general store also stocked cotton fabric and cotton-linen blend fabrics, colored materials sourced from the small town.


    Previously, there were people in the vige who could weave, but there weren''t many color and thickness options. People would buy colored fabric for special asions, while for everyday wear, they would buy fabric from the weavers.


    After returning from trips to town, Wen Qian would say she had bought fabric, so An An assumed the clothes she wore were made from fabric her mother had purchased. In reality, they were all made from fabrics Wen Qian had bought before the disaster.


    This included the coarse bed sheets; she had bought them online in the past.


    She had bought them cheap and not too fine, which coincidentally fit well with their current standard of living.


    As for those delicate snacks and cakes, Wen Qian could only share them with her child when she was young.


    If they wanted themter, they would have to recreate them using the oven, though the results would certainly be different.


    Both Wen Qian and An An enjoyed snacks, so the oven was frequently used. This oven had been renovated several times.


    They would bake bread, egg cakes, date cakes, small cookies, or meat jerky in it, which served as their snacks after three meals a day.


    At this time, rock candy also made aeback. Wen Qian never bought it; instead, she made it at home, then coated it with cooked flour and stored it in jars to share with An An.


    They had to control the quantity, so both of them were diligent about brushing their teeth and maintaining oral hygiene.


    At this time, most toothbrushes were homemade. Toothpaste came in both tube form and boxed powder form. She told An An that their stic toothbrushes were from her previous stock.


    As for toothpaste, the ones in the general store weren''t much different from what she had, except that hers were in stic packaging while the store-bought ones came in metal containers. Wen Qian only needed to rece the packaging.


    Wen Qian and An An both ced great importance on collecting and storing food. Only when there was visibly enough food could they feel at ease.


    Wen Qiany in a rocking chair, sunbathing in the courtyard. The chair was custom-made by the vige carpenter after An An had started earning her own money.


    Whenever the weather was neither too hot nor too cold, Wen Qian would bring the chair outside. Over time, its surface had be smooth from use.


    Something was roasting in the stove, and Wen Qian waited in the rocking chair. Meanwhile, An An was by the river, collecting the fishings and cleaning the portion they would eat for lunch.


    They had now bought enamel basins, no longer needing to use the heavier earthenware ones like before.


    As time passed, Wen Qian could increasingly sense the subtle changes in their lifestyle. However, it was still a far cry from the way she had lived before.

 Chapter 205

    When Wen Qian turned seventy, she lost a lot of weight and truly became an olddy, finding even walking exhausting.


    She couldn''t walk far and experienced various aches in her body. Despite taking care of herself and resting well in her younger years, she still needed a cane at this age.


    When building her house, she had anticipated bing an elderly woman, so she had prepared handrails. At sixty, she installed additional handrails and railings in her home.


    When her child was learning to walk, she had added a long, gentle slope at the doorstep, which now proved useful for herself.


    When going out, Wen Qian needed to use a cane and had to rest frequently during her walks.


    In the mirror, she saw aging skin, increasingly white hair, and a gradually hunching back.


    Wen Qian clearly felt the effects of aging and the loss of strength. Many tasks became challenging despite her willingness.


    But isn''t this the power of time? Everyone faces this someday.


    Knowing this was one thing, but actually experiencing it still felt disheartening to Wen Qian.


    This mindset didn''t apany her constantly, but asionally surfaced, like when she couldn''t lift a basket she used to carry easily, or when she realized how sensitive she had be to cold.


    At this time, An An was twenty-four years old. Every time she saw her mother struggling, she felt particrly distressed. She feared the day when her mother would no longer be around and wished she could stay by her side forever.


    But she knew that was impossible, so she could only treat her mother well while she was still present.


    Although her body was aging, An An felt that her mother maintained a good mentality, and most of the time, there was no generation gap when theymunicated.


    An An thought her mother could understand her confusion and perplexities well. Even when she didn''t understand, she respected An An''s feelings, a quality many elderscked.


    Moreover, Wen Qian always maintained curiosity about the outside world. She paid attention to all the information An An brought back and approached the outside world with genuine interest rather than presumption.


    At twenty-four, An An could go hunting alone, while Wen Qian set small traps near the house and fishings by the stream.


    Without An An, Wen Qian would probably only be able to manage catching fish from the stream, checking nearby small traps, and tending to crops in the adjacent fields. Long-distance hunting would be practically impossible.


    The skills An An had mastered reassured Wen Qian. Even if she were to leave one day, her child would be able to live well.


    The most important point was that she taught An An to put herself first, always, and not topromise herself too much for others.


    When giving, one must ensure it''s mutual. If it''s one-sided giving without any return, it''s best not to continue.


    An An understood what she meant. Her mother worried that if An An had a partner in the future and lived unhappily, she should be responsible for herself and choose to leave.


    She hoped this child would live for herself and not ce her hopes on others.


    She could choose to live alone or be with someone, but the prerequisite was that she herself was willing.


    If she changed her mindter, she could do what she wanted, rather thanining about her fate while taking no action to change it.


    People should be responsible for their choices, Wen Qian had taught An An, but being responsible didn''t mean persisting in mistakes or enduring hardships indefinitely.


    Instead, she hoped An An could bear the consequences whether she chose to persist or give up, as giving up was also a choice.


    Often, people find themselves in predicaments, unaware that they have more than one path, always thinking they can only continue on the current road.


    In fact, when people realize they''ve taken a wrong turn, they can step off the current path at any time and take another route.


    She just wanted An An to live well, happily and healthily, rather than suffering pain and torment.


    An An had indeed learned this lesson well. Once, when someone tried to pursue her, he said that An An was too tall and most men wouldn''t like it, but he didn''t mind.


    An An promptly told him to get lost.


    If he didn''t like women taller than him, he should find someone shorter. That would be the normal choice. Why say such things to a girl he had to look up to when talking?


    Everyone has their own purpose when speaking or acting, and wasn''t his purpose obvious?


    When An An could handle these situations independently, Wen Qian was very appreciative. If the child had been insecure and returned home feeling disgusted with her height, that would have shown ack of understanding.


    Most of the time, An An encountered these suitors at vige markets or when going to town.


    This included the man on the boat who, after being rejected, said he would continue pursuing her if they met again.


    Later, An An did see him on the boat, but each time she saw him, things were different.


    The next encounter was seeing him with his wife. He remembered An An, so his expression was awkward, especially since he had found his love at first sight not long after the incident with An An.


    Later, she saw him at the hospital while getting some ointment. He and his wife had had two children in three years and were expecting a third.


    The man wasining that his wife got pregnant too easily, even with the old "safe period" method passed down from before.


    Then he was scorned by a nurse, who said this method had always been a rumor and shouldn''t be believed. She was surprised people still trusted it nowadays.


    An An thought it might be due to theck of suitable contraceptives in this era. There wouldn''t be birth control pills either, as the authorities were worried about insufficient poption.


    She knew all this thanks to Wen Qian''s education, which gave her rich theoretical experience so she wouldn''t be fooled by bad men.


    Wen Qian had learned about the ways bad men deceive girls during her university days, in a physiological health ss where the female teacher listed many examples.


    Deception techniques, disease urrence, abortion methods and procedures, psychological tactics, and more were covered.


    Even in love, one needs to answer multiple choice, single choice, true or false, and essay questions, rather than blindly pursuing sweetness and the sanctity of love, forgetting even their parents'' names.


    Regarding sex, Wen Qian had educated An An, telling her the relevant knowledge when she started menstruating. Of course, for Wen Qian, it was all theory without practice, so she could only teach theoretical knowledge.


    However, she still cautioned An An not to get pregnant carelessly. For one, giving birth is always potentially life-threatening at any time.


    If one''s own delivery goes smoothly, it should be considered fortunate due to good luck or a healthy body, rather than boasting smugly about it and assuming others should find it just as easy.


    For instance, cases where the babyes quickly, is born on a field ridge, then sent home while the mother continues working.


    Another reason is that she didn''t want An An to make an irreversible decision rashly when she wasn''t mature enough. At that point, a person would be physically and mentally exhausted, after all, once a child is born it can''t be put back.


    An An took note of this, although at the time she felt she was still young and far from the age of having children.

 Chapter 206

    The children of the neighboring families had all started forming their own families. Even Guo Guo, the daughter of Ni Sha who was a year older than An An, had found her ideal partner.


    At that time, the neighbors wondered if An An was nning to live alone like Wen Qian, as she rejected anyone who showed interest in her.


    An An''s exnation was that she didn''t feel a connection. Heaven knows what kind of feeling she was referring to, so An An changed her exnation to say there was no "eye affinity."


    In any case, these weren''t concrete reasons, and the neighbors didn''t pry. After all, their generation was even less inclined to marry than today''s young people.


    Nowadays, young people were getting married much earlier than they did back then, and they were also much more direct in their rtionships.


    Sometimes, if they liked each other, they could be husband and wife on the same day ¨C a speed that would have made headlines in the past.


    The neighbors didn''t say much because they were all from good families. Although they might wonder, they weren''t unkind.


    The vigers were different. Some tried to introduce potential suitors to An An when she came by, including a pitiful man whose wife had recently died in childbirth along with their baby.


    The man indeed looked pitiful, but when An An asked when his wife had passed away, he hemmed and hawed.


    The matchmaker didn''t say anything either, only insisting it was for An An''s own good.


    Some onlookers mentioned that the man''s wife had died less than a month ago, and the grass hadn''t even grown on her grave yet.


    An An immediately smashed the matchmaker''s stall to pieces.


    The man ran away in fright, iming he knew nothing about this. The matchmaker was furious and demanded An An pay for the damages.


    What happened next sent everyone fleeing: An An pulled out a wooden bomb from her person.


    From then on, An An was called the mad woman, though only behind her back. Most people didn''t dare say a word to her face, as she wasn''t someone who went mad without reason.


    Although it was despicable to look for a new wife less than a month after one''s wife had died, An An''s reaction seemed life-threatening.


    Even though there was now here, this was still toowless for the marketce.


    Heaven knows An An just wanted to end the conversation and entanglement, to make them shut up.


    After all, if one has the guts to y matchmaker recklessly, one should have the courage to face the consequences. An An felt that destroying the stall was already a light punishment.


    How did An An''s reputation spread in the marketce? Because she was tall, which made her stand out.


    Tall people were rare, so whenever An An came by, people would always take a second look.


    There was now enforcement in this marketce. Everyone carried guns, and An An even brought explosives ¨C real ones at first, until Wen Qian said she was being rash and made her carry fake ones instead.


    Here, if someone stole, they would be shot dead, and no one thought there was anything wrong with that.


    Simrly, many people heading to the market lost their lives on the way, robbed of their money or goods, their bodies often not discovered immediately.


    Wen Qian knew the extent of what could be done in thiswlessnd, so she taught An An everything without reservation.


    As long as one didn''t act within the city, anything goes elsewhere. Likewise, there was no absolutely safe ce, so people had to remain vignt.


    An An also carried binocrs. Although she had never killed a person, she had shot many animals, so her aim and speed were quite good.


    If An An had pointed a gun at them at that time, the onlookers might have stepped aside but continued to watch the show.


    When someone pulls out a weapon meant for mutual destruction rather than targeting an individual, even olddies move faster than usual.


    Fortunately, the other party immediately begged for mercy and, as a gesture of sincerity, handed over their pistol.


    The Boss of the general store, standing not far behind Wen Qian, also held a gun and reminded An An, "Silly girl! Don''t you want to go home?"


    The original owner of the general store had long since passed away, and his son was now in charge. He was quite familiar with Wen Qian, so he spoke up when An An encountered conflict.


    He was worried An An might be careless and get ambushed while picking up the gun.


    But An An had no intention of picking up the gun. Her back was against an earthen wall, so she wasn''t afraid of being attacked from behind. She wanted the matchmaker to destroy the weapon himself.


    The Boss invited An An into his store and told her she shouldn''t have confronted them on the spot.


    If she really hated them, she should have nipped it in the bud, catching them off guard on their way home and quietly taking care of them.


    Now that she had made enemies, they might hold a grudge or ambush her in the future.


    An An calmed down and thought the Boss''s uncle had a point. She wanted to go out and look again.


    But how could she find any trace of people who had already run away?


    The Boss teased her that it was toote to think of that now, then told her where these two people lived ¨C the matchmaker was from the vige.


    An An finally calmed down and realized that the Boss had been hinting at something earlier.


    Vige people can''t run away from their homes, and they have families. Of course, they wouldn''t do anything too extreme.


    As for the man who ran away, the Boss said he was so cowardly that histe wife''s family had already taken back their previously born child to raise. Before leaving, they had also beaten the man up.


    If anyone were to hold a grudge, this man had more enemies than just An An.


    An An was surprised that the Boss knew so much detailed information about these two people, but then she realized it was normal since his store had a high flow of people and information.


    However, the Boss also said that while this incident might not be good for her reputation, at least others wouldn''t dare to bully her easily. If anyone tried to do the same thing again, they might think twice.


    An An ate lunch at his ce before leaving. The Boss even wanted to send someone to escort her part of the way, but An An refused.


    When she got home and told her mother what had happened, she was scolded with the same words.


    If it hadn''t been too far, her parents might have gone to cause trouble, using the same method as the general store Boss.


    After this incident, the matchmaker became much more cautious when making introductions. The story had spread, and he had indeed been mocked and teased.


    His family didn''t want him to continue this dangerous work, but he was unwilling to give it up. He believed it was his sacred, innate duty, and that he would go to heaven for doing "good deeds."


    Whether he''d make it to heaven or not was another matter, but An An had certainly brought him close to death, and he waster warned by the general store Boss.


    Only then did he realize that this solitary woman had connections. He apologized again, hoping An An wouldn''t pursue the matter further.


    Under the Boss''s watchful eye, An An reluctantly epted thepensation offered by the other party. Initially, she hadn''t wanted to take it, but the person insisted, fearing that if An An refused, they might have to abandon their profession.


    An An extracted a paper-wrapped pastry from the package, returning the rest to the Boss. With this gesture, the matter was finally resolved.

 Chapter 207

    When An An was twenty-seven years old, she encountered a new resident who hade to live nearby, on her usual route home from the market.


    In the distance, there was the sound of a tree falling. At first, she thought it was one of her neighbors cutting down trees. Little Jin''s ce was the closest to where the river met the main road.


    Later, she heard that there was a new young man there, who looked to be in his twenties and was exceptionally tall.


    When An An saw him, she realized that Uncle Little Jin hadn''t been exaggerating. His height made him stand out even in the crowd at the market.


    She thought he must be at least 6''3" (190 cm).


    Although people had been migrating northward for a while, that was mostly in earlier years. It seemed strange to her that such a young person would suddenly move north.


    The young people in the local viges and small towns were more interested in going south to see the prosperous areas. The winters in the north were too long.


    Later, the young man came to visit. He wanted to build a house and, as it was the transition between spring and summer, he hoped toplete the work quickly. So he was looking to pay the neighbors for help.


    They could build brick houses now, or wooden ones - it mainly depended on what the young man wanted.


    Building materials could be shipped and collected at the dock, or even delivered to the doorstep if one had enough money.


    The young man had gone to Little Jin''s house and asked him to pass the message to the other neighboring families.


    Guoguo from Ni Sha''s family''s husband went, and An An thought the young man wouldn''t ask for her help. Butter, Little Jin said the young man was looking for workers regardless of gender, so An An went to check out the situation too.


    At first, someone suggested that the young man ask An An to help with cooking, but An An immediately refused.


    She had juste to see what was going on and meet the new neighbor, not necessarily to work there.


    The young man''s name was Yin Chuan, and he seemed to have quite a bit of money. From the moment he chose the location, he had been paying people for everything.


    It was as if he was neither a hunter nor a farmer, but a city dweller out for a countryside excursion.


    An An asked him why he hade here, and his answer was that his ancestors were originally from this area.


    She nodded, finding this answer rtively reasonable.


    Later, when the first house waspleted, Yin Chuan came by again, coincidentally arriving at Wenqian''s family''s doorstep.


    He hade to buy food, and following the principle of convenience, he decided to ask the neighbors first.


    After all, if the neighbors had food they were nning to take to the market, it would be easier to sell it to him than to make the long journey. So Yin Chuan''s approach allowed him to buy quite a lot.


    When he first saw Wenqian''s house, his eyes showed surprise. The height of the surrounding wall indicated that this family was not to be trifled with.


    When he found the main gate, the small door above it was open. By this time, the iron gate hadpletely rusted away, so Wen Qian and An An had reced it with a heavy wooden door.


    When opened or closed, the door would emit a long, creaking sound, almost like a doorbell.


    When Yin Chuan arrived, An An was out, and only Wen Qian was at home.


    Wen Qian was on a lounge chair. Hearing the noise, she got up to take a look and asked, "Are you the new young man?"


    An An had mentioned him to Wen Qian, and his features were quite distinctive, so she could tell at a nce.


    "Hello, grandmother. I was wondering if I could trade for some food? I''ve been busy building the house and haven''t had time to go hunting myself."


    "You''ll have to ask my daughter about that. She knows what we have in the house better than I do."


    Just as Yin Chuan was about to ask where he could find her, Wen Qian said, "Wait a moment. She''ll be back soon. How about chatting with me in the meantime?"


    Yin Chuan paused for a moment, then said, "Alright."


    "You''re from the south? Which part of the south, if you don''t mind me asking?"


    Yin Chuan: "The Second Base City."


    "That''s a very old name. Hasn''t it been renamed?"


    Yin Chuan''s expression darkened: "Yes, it has been renamed. The numbers were all removed."


    "Are there many people like you moving from south to north these days?"


    Yin Chuan looked up at her, somewhat confused: "Why do you ask that?"


    "Hehe, no reason. I''m just curious. There are so many bases in the south, and quite a few cities left afterwards. It''s quite remarkable that there hasn''t been any fighting."


    This was something Wen Qian had always been curious about. She believed that wherever there were people, there would be war, so she found it surprising that the south had managed to maintain peace for so long.


    At first, Yin Chuan hadn''t expected the conversation to go in this direction. He had thought the olddy would at most ask typical getting-to-know-you questions.


    For example, how old he was, whether he was single, how many people were in his family.


    He hadn''t anticipated her asking about whether there was war in the south.


    So Yin Chuan smiled and said, "Who knows? Maybe soon."


    The olddy poured him a cup of tea and offered him some fruit that had been sitting on the side table.


    At this moment, An An returned from outside. Seeing the two chatting happily, she wondered if her mother was just curious about the neer.


    An An exchanged some food with Yin Chuan, mainly smoked meat from the back room.


    She figured that neither she nor her mother particrly liked it, so if he wanted it, she could sell quite a bit.


    Yin Chuan didn''t seem to care what kind of food it was. As long as it was good, he was willing to trade.


    As Yin Chuan was leaving, Wen Qian told him toe sit again when he had time, which surprised An An.


    Her mother wasn''t a particrly warm person. While she wouldn''t chase people away, she also wouldn''t so readily invite them toe sit again.


    Yin Chuan also said that once the house was built, he''d invite everyone over for a meal and they could chat more then.


    After he left, An An asked her mother why she seemed to like this person so much.


    Wen Qian smiled: "It''s not that. It''s just so intriguing to have someone from the far south here."


    An An took a piece of fruit to eat: "I thought maybe you found him handsome, and that''s why you enjoyed talking to him."


    "He is handsome, don''t you think?" Wen Qian asked in return.


    "Mm, he is. Guo Guo said so too."


    "Regardless of the era, beauty is universally recognized, no matter where you''re from," Wen Qian believed that people always enjoyed looking at beautiful people or things, and there was nothing to be ashamed of in that.


    Even at her advanced age, seeing beauty improved her mood.


    An An said: "If good looks could be eaten, that would be great. Otherwise, it''s just a waste, useless."


    "Have I ever told you? When I was young, attractive men and women could actually make a living off their looks."


    The older one gets, the more one likes to reminisce about the past and talk about one''s own experiences. Wen Qian suddenly realized that she might not have told An An about the various professions from back then.


    An An had heard Wen Qian mention that in the past, the inte was highly developed, and it could be called an era of information explosion.


    However, when she was told that handsome guys and beautiful girls could earn a lot of money just by livestreaming from home, she still couldn''t quite imagine it.


    Moreover, it was amazing that people with pleasant voices or attractive hands could even have rted professions to make money.


    An An enjoyed listening, so Wen Qian became even more enthusiastic in her storytelling.


    Although she wasn''t from that era, she felt that life back then must have been truly colorful.

 Chapter 208

    Yin Chuan had onlye for an initial inquiry and hadn''t taken away the numerous items, presumably waiting until his own house was fully built before collecting them.


    However, he found the Old Lady quite interesting. Rather than calling it war, it was more about human nature, he thought, sighing as he gazed at the azure sky.


    Wen Qian told An An about some professions she knew or had heard of, and An An expressed that she could handle being an ind keeper or a forest ranger.


    Wen Qian said that if An An had been born in that era, she would have had countless possibilities, though at the time, everyone''s favorite was still being a civil servant.


    Now there were no civil servants, but simr professions existed, though they weren''t obtained through exams.


    An An thought this thing called an exam was quite fair, otherwise many professions now were simply passed down from father to son, or mother to daughter, with no opportunity to obtain them through testing.


    During the period when Yin Chuan was building his house, Wen Qian and An An continued to discuss this topic, and she also asked An An to keep an eye on the neer''s activities.


    An An thought her mother wanted her to observe if this person had any ill intentions, to make sure there was nothing unusual about him.


    As a result, An An appeared quite frequently, which made Guo Guo start to mutter, mostly during her alone time with her husband.


    She wondered if An An was interested in this neer, otherwise why would shee to check on the progress so often?


    An An hadn''t thought this behavior could lead to such a misunderstanding, but even if there was a misunderstanding, it didn''t matter much; her mother''s task was more important.


    But it seemed Yin Chuan hadn''t done anything wrong. He appeared to be constantly buying things, so much so that the general store owner was willing to lend him his handcart, suggesting he had bought quite a lot.


    The Uncle at the general store was smiling so hard his eyes were barely visible. It wasn''t just that Yin Chuan had bought a lot; he had nearly bought out the entire store. The owner wouldn''t mind personally delivering goods to him.


    After getting this information from the store owner, An An went home to tell her mother. Upon hearing this, Wen Qian told An An to also prepare to stock up on more daily necessities.


    They had enough food, but they needed to see if they should stock up on scattered items like daily necessities.


    So An An also became a big shopper. Wen Qian told her to exin to others that she herself had limited mobility, so An An had to take care of her constantly and wouldn''t being often in the future.


    This reason was quite suitable, but when familiar people heard it, their first reaction was that Wen Qian was in poor health, which led to a misunderstanding.


    When Wen Qian heard about this, she didn''t know whether tough or cry. To the younger generations who came to visit and inquire, she said she was fine, but she had a bad feeling, so she was buying more daily necessities.


    Yin Chuan also heard about this. He told the people building his house that the south was indeed unstable, with apparent friction between cities.


    So nearby neighbors, including the general store owner, all went back to stock up, thinking that regardless of what the Old Lady said, they should at least respect the news from someone who came from the south.


    It was better to buy more; it wouldn''t spoil even if stored for an extra year.


    By the second autumn of the year, something indeed happened in the south. Several cities started fighting, though it was unclear what they were fighting over, but itsted quite a while.


    As for why they fought in autumn, perhaps it was because autumn is the harvest season, so everyone was well-fed and had the energy to fight.


    An An first learned about this news from Yin Chuan, who paid her to help him mark the boundaries of his area.


    Perhaps because Wen Qian had initially drawn boundaries with the surrounding people, everyone in this area would demarcate their own territory.


    This way, people wouldn''t conflict over boundaries. Setting them clearly at the beginning would save a lot of troubleter.


    Another reason was that this ce was sparsely popted with vast forests, so there was no need to fight over anything.


    The war didn''t have much impact on the north. The nearest small town was still under martialw, and for a long time, except for pregnant women giving birth, not many people were allowed to enter.


    Even if the general store owner needed supplies, goods coulde out, but people couldn''t go in.


    Even the viges were more deste than usual.


    It happened to be wintering up, so there was even less of an impact on the north.


    News was blocked, and people here didn''t know how the fighting in the south was progressing.


    In any case, as Wen Qian said, it was always themon people who suffered.


    Yin Chuan was impressed by this Old Lady because of her prediction about the war. He had originally walked this far to stay away from troubled areas.


    Later, he just kept walking north, stopping when he became tired and wanted to settle down.


    This walk had brought him here.


    He spent money buying many things for the winter, nning to make a living by hunting starting the next year. As for farming, he thought he might not be very suitable for it.


    He didn''t know what the Old Lady''s basis was, so heter went to ask Wen Qian specifically.


    Wen Qian still said the same thing: humans just like to meddle, turning bad things into good, and good things into bad.


    As long as there''s life, there''s meddling.


    Yin Chuan didn''t get any definite reason, but he agreed with what the Old Lady said.


    Those cities had indeed been stable for too long.


    Later, when news came through, everyone learned that some decision-makers in the cities were about to retire, but how many people could let go of such significant power?


    So selection became hereditary, and heredity turned into mutualpetition, making war unsurprising.


    On the contrary, ces like the small town, which had always followed the ideals of the previous decision-makers, were still doing well.


    It was only then that An An learned that in the southern cities, there were huge wealth gaps and ss distinctions. Not only were there rich people, but there was also talk of nobility, which had never been mentioned in her mother''s teachings.


    When she asked Wen Qian about it, Wen Qian said she was just an ordinary person back then and might not have understood the world of the wealthy. At that time, forget about nobility, there was even a Royal Family.


    An An wasn''t interested in the Royal Family because when Wen Qian told stories in her childhood, she told many simr plots about princes and princesses.


    In the end, An An got bored and asked why there were so many princes and princesses, feeling like there were more of them than the persimmons on their persimmon tree.


    Finally, she learned that a country was about the size of a vige, and then she became immune to it.


    When Yin Chuan heard herment, heughed out loud, finding both people in this family quite interesting.


    "Are you a noble then? The kind that wears silk and adorns themselves with gold and silver?" An An suddenly asked, because she thought this person might havee here early to avoid the war, possibly because he wasn''t an outsider.


    Yin Chuan stopped nailing the railing and looked at her. "My family has never been nobility. I''m a descendant of scientists."


    An An''s eyes widened.


    She had heard stories about scientists before. Her mother had told her that scientists had gone through a great massacre after the natural disaster, so there were no scientists left anymore.

 Chapter 209

    Upon hearing Yin Chuan''s words, An An felt somewhat apologetic, realizing she might have touched on a sensitive topic.


    She thought that if he was a descendant of scientists, his family members probably didn''t have an easy life when scientists were persecuted.


    Yin Chuan didn''t seem to mind discussing these matters and shared his family''s story with An An. His ancestors, who were scientists, were killed. While his parents'' generation survived, they endured great hardships.


    His parentster became elementary school teachers, and life became a bit more peaceful.


    However, Yin Chuan''s parents passed away early, leaving him with no attachments. This led him to move far away and live on his own.


    The warsted for half a year, finally ending at the beginning of spring.


    For Wen Qian, this was just another piece of news. She felt that her life had truly been colorful, especially if she were to be considered a witness to history.


    An An usually shared her experiences with her mother when she returned home, so she also told Wen Qian about Yin Chuan''s past.


    After hearing this, Wen Qian believed that what he said was probably true, though she suspected there were some parts about himself that he hadn''t disclosed.


    His words were likely all true, but iplete. Thus, it wasn''t lying, but it wasn''t the whole truth either.


    Wen Qian thought that since they weren''t particrly close, if he and An An maintained contact, she might learn moreter. If not, there was no need to pry further at this point.


    It must be said that Wen Qian''s intuition was remarkably urate, despite having only met Yin Chuan a few times.


    She sensed that these two young people were interested in each other. It wasn''t just because a new young face had appeared, prompting her to pair them up.


    Rather, the reasons for their meetings seemed very reasonable on the surface, but upon closer inspection, they appeared quite deliberate.


    Later, the two indeed confirmed their rtionship. An An went home to tell her mother, who didn''t seem surprised, which made An An feel a bit embarrassed.


    As the two grew closer in their rtionship, they could be seen together in the bustling marketce that hade back to life.


    People who knew themmented that they were well-matched in both height and appearance.


    The couple dated for nearly a year before deciding to get married, with Yin Chuan bringing his belongings to live at Wen Qian''s house.


    An An, considering that she didn''t want to leave her mother, had discussed with Yin Chuan about taking care of Wen Qian together after their marriage.


    Yin Chuan didn''t mind where they lived. To him, both ces were fine, and since his wife wanted to care for her mother, he naturally followed her lead.


    Conveniently, Wen Qian''s property was quiterge, and they built a new house next to the storage room.


    An An moved out to live with Yin Chuan in the new room, separated from Wen Qian''s original bedroom by the storage room.


    Wen Qian, being an elderlydy, didn''t want to hear the young couple''s noises, so she didn''t let them live right next to her bedroom.


    An An gained a new appreciation for her mother''s stockpile of building materials. Yin Chuan was also surprised by this, realizing that such arge amount of materials must have been umted over time.


    In the second autumn after Yin Chuan''s arrival, they held their wedding, inviting nearby neighbors to join the feast.


    The young couple prepared plenty of ingredients, and the younger neighbors who came helped with the cooking.


    Wen Qian sat with a few elderly neighbors, watching the others work while chatting.


    For them, as they grew older and less mobile, they attended fewer and fewer of these lively gatherings.


    They all congratted the newlyweds on starting their family and brought gifts ¨C not expensive, but full of good wishes.


    They also thought that Wen Qian could now be at ease, believing that An An''s unmarried status had been her greatest concern.


    However, Wen Qian''s main worry had always been An An, regardless of her marital status.


    When An An was single, she worried about her being lonely and having no one to support her through difficult times.


    Now that she was married, Wen Qian worried about her potentially marrying a bad person, which would not only fail to provide support but could bring storms into her life.


    If someone''s concern for their child ends when the child gets married, either they''re too naive, believing marriage guarantees happiness, or they simply don''t care about their children, thinking their duty is done once the child is married, regardless of how well they fare.


    But most people probably rte to the saying: "Parents worry about their children for 99 years out of 100."


    Wen Qian was no exception.


    As winter approached, it was no longer just An An going to the cabin for the hunting cycle; Yin Chuan would apany her.


    Wen Qian thought this was good, as it allowed the young couple to have some time alone, away from her, though it would be somewhat tiring.


    After all, walking in the snow during winter was no easy task.


    In autumn, they had already ced sun-dried quilts in the cabin, along with chopped and stacked firewood, and some simple, powdered dry rations.


    Now, as winter passed, they only needed to bring some meat and sweets, ensuring both nutrition and warmth.


    This was Yin Chuan''s second winter here, but his first time doing these tasks.


    When he first arrived, he had built a house and hunted in his own area. During winter, he mostly stayed indoors, at most setting small traps near his home.


    The art of trapping sables was something An An would have to teach him slowly. In fact, Yin Chuan needed An An to teach him hunting as well, as he couldn''t yet be considered a qualified hunter.


    Yin Chuan felt that An An knew everything, probably taught by her mother. When he first chatted with An An, he discovered that he could talk about most things with this girl.


    Later, when he formally met her family before the wedding, he found that they had many books at home.


    He believed that even if Wen Qian wasn''t a scientist, she must have been someone who loved reading and learning.


    He was interested and curious about many of these books, so An An specifically rmended a few to him, all about how to survive well in this ce.


    Yin Chuan felt that his wife was reminding him that living here required more survival skills than he currently possessed.


    Going out together was a nice feeling, having someone forpany. Although An An and he had been dating, being married still felt fresh.


    Wen Qian stayed at home by the fire, waiting for the children to return from the mountain. An An had originally wanted to leave someone at home to take care of her, but Wen Qian thought the young couple should keep each otherpany.


    At her advanced age, she hardly left the house during winter. She spent her days at home eating, drinking, and knitting sweaters.


    This winter, she nned to knit sweaters for two young people. Initially, she had thought about knitting children''s clothes, butter realized this might seem like she was pressuring them to have kids. So, she decided to knit adult sweaters instead.


    Wen Qian felt that as long as An An was safe and well, it didn''t matter whether they had children or not. An An was already married, so it was up to the couple to decide. This wasn''t something she needed to worry about.

 Chapter 210

    In the second year of autumn, An An gave birth to a little girl, named Qiu Qiu, or Wen Qiu in full.


    During his wife''s pregnancy, Yin Chuan confessed his identity to Wen Qian. He was the strategist of the ruler who incited the war.


    Previously, he had always wanted to improve his and his family''s living conditions, so he used his intelligence to gain recognition.


    His status improved significantly, but inevitably, some people always wanted to climb higher and gain more.


    Yin Chuan didn''t want to assist the warmongers, so he faked his own death to escape. He couldn''t stop them, nor did he want to offend the powerful, so he chose this method to leave the ce of strife.


    The war was something he had anticipated, and he didn''t want to get involved.


    The name Yin Chuan was not hismon name, but the one prepared for him by his parents before they changed their surnames.


    Coincidentally, this new name was used in thend where he started his new life.


    Wen Qian had long noticed that he was not a man who had done much manualbor, but his background still made her feel wary.


    After all, escaping from a ce of conflict usually involves shedding ayer of skin, and she didn''t know if Yin Chuan would face any future troubles.


    Yin Chuan had told An An about his situation before their wedding, but An An didn''t tell her mother to save her from worrying.


    Now that they had a child, Yin Chuan confessed it himself.


    Although Wen Qian would worry, she wouldn''t be overly concerned. After all, he had alreadye to such a remote ce, which could be considered a sessful escape.


    As long as he didn''t take An An south, everything would be fine, so the matter was dropped.


    The birth of a new life made An An feel happy, not because it was her own child, but because she saw her mother aging and felt that she was getting closer to death.


    Parents are a wall separating us from death.


    When her mother grew old, An An felt very uneasy, even anxious.


    This was something that others couldn''t persuade orfort her about. Even Wen Qian couldn''t console her, she could only let her graduallye to terms with it.


    Although everyone knows that people will die, true understanding of death oftenes from the death of someone close, which makes it real.


    When a new life was born and she saw the child in Wen Qian''s arms, she suddenly understood why some people want to have children.


    Why some adults would persuade young people to have children.


    Because most older people have already lost their parents, they are facing death directly, even when their peers are dying one after another, they are afraid of death.


    The only thing that could alleviate their sadness, perhaps, was the newborn child.


    Whether it''s the cry of a baby or theughter of a mischievous child, it all sounds like hope to them.


    Only this kind of new life canfort them and make them feel less afraid and less deste.


    Her own mother, who was already old, had never told her to get married or have children, but left it to her and her husband to decide.


    She wondered if her mother was very open-minded and therefore not afraid of death.


    In fact, Wen Qian was not unafraid, nor was she insensitive to the sadness, but she would never interfere in young people''s affairs because of her own fears.


    She never married or had children of her own, so she certainly wouldn''t force her grown child to do these things.


    When An An was raising her own child, she would remember how difficult it was for her mother to raise her and would ask Wen Qian if she had been a handful as a child.


    Wen Qian would tell her that she was a well-behaved child, so she wasn''t too hard to raise, which made An An feel a bit better.


    Qiu Qiu wasn''t too difficult to care for either, but she would be very irritable when she was hungry, and this little girl wasn''t so adorable when she was hungry.


    As long as she was well-fed, she would be quiet most of the time, not crying or making a fuss.


    Wen Qian would look at this chubby little girl and feel happy, remembering how thin An An was as a child.


    Being older now, she could only watch the child every day, unable to help much.


    So the responsibility of raising the child still primarily fell on the couple.


    Yin Chuan''s first impression of this newborn, the only person in the world with whom he shared a bloodline, was quite strange.


    He also raised the child ording to books, books provided by Wen Qian. It was said that An An was raised in the same way.


    When Qiu Qiu could walk, one could see an old and a young person strolling in the yard.


    The child''s steps were quite steady. Normally, children at this age would be eager to run, but Qiu Qiu was different.


    She walked slowly, mimicking her grandmother''s pace, knowing that if she ran too fast, her grandmother wouldn''t be able to keep up.


    At this time, An An was exactly thirty years old, and Wen Qian was seventy-six, her back even more bent.


    When the couple went out, Qiu Qiu and her grandmother would take care of each other.


    Such a young child already knew how to take care of the elderly, it was hard to tell if she was naturally intelligent or if it was due to good upbringing.


    Regardless, Wen Qian was always delighted to see this chubby child, finding it incredibly adorable that such a small child could earnestly deliver things to her.


    When it came to eating, although Wen Qian''s movements were slow when warming up the milk, Qiu Qiu never got angry with her.


    If her parents were this slow, she would have started crying.


    On a sunny autumn day, Qiu Qiu went with her parents to the forest farm to harvest grain.


    Yin Chuan set up a small tent for the child and put her inside, then he and his wife started working.


    By noon, An An was ready to go home and cook, but when they got home, they found that Wen Qian had already warmed up the meal, waiting for them toe back and eat.


    Wen Qian was sitting on a lounge chair, smiling and telling them that she had already eaten and was waiting for them.


    Yin Chuan came backter with the child. The family of three set the dining table in the yard, with Wen Qian still on the lounge chair in the hallway.


    The child was talkative, but she took eating very seriously. In her eyes, eating was a big deal, so she ate well without her parents having to discipline her.


    She wasn¡¯t the kind of child who would give her parents a headache at mealtime, but rather, the kind from other families who knew how to eat.


    As the child ate, she found her favorite dish, skillfully picked it up with her chopsticks, then ran over to her grandmother and fed her.


    She thought it was delicious, so she gave some to Wen Qian, who thanked her after eating.


    Afterwards, Qiu Qiu returned to her chair to continue her meal.


    Suddenly, An An felt something strange. She turned her head to look at her mother and froze, sensing something was off.


    She stood up, walked towards Wen Qian, and bent down to check her breathing, just as she used to do when Wen Qian was a baby.


    Wen Qian had stopped breathing.


    Just like that, without any illness, she had drifted off to sleep on the recliner and never woke up again.

 Chapter 211

    People in love tend to be foolish.


    In reality, this isn''t entirely true. They simply focus too much on their partner, causing them to overlook potential issues.


    It''s simr to how some fans perceive their idols as being filled with starlight. If you remind them that their idols also fart and defecate, they might consider it sphemous.


    Likewise, those in love only see the good in their partner, ignoring the bad¡ªeven if it''s a fatal w.


    After An An came of age, Wen Qian constantly emphasized that it was okay to fall in love, but one should never lose their head over it.


    Who would have thought that An An would remain clear-headed until this age? Sometimes Wen Qian wondered if her overly pessimistic education had caused her child to have no expectations at all.


    An An didn''t have any intention of spending her life alone, but she also didn''t have any particr desire to stay single or get married.


    If it happened, it happened. If not, so be it. It wasn''t a big deal to her.


    When An An interacted with people, especially those who had shown interest in her before, there were reasons why things didn''t work out. First, there was no spark. Second, she could already predict what they would say or do next.


    This made An An feel incredibly bored. In matters of love, figuring out the other personpletely took away all the fun.


    An An''s ability to predict and judge situations might not have been as refined as Wen Qian''s, but when it came to matters of the heart, she was possibly even more direct than Wen Qian, without any hesitation.


    So before anything could even begin, the story had already ended for An An. To outsiders, it seemed as if An An never took rtionships seriously, but in reality, she had already decided there was no future.


    When Yin Chuan arrived, An An only followed her mother''s request to learn about the new resident''s background, also to ensure safety.


    As they gradually spent more time together, An An found him quite interesting.


    Yin Chuan felt the same way, so they often arranged to go hunting together.


    Yin Chuan wanted to use these opportunities to spend time with An An, using excuses like setting up fence posts to mark territories or teaching hunting techniques.


    Although they were doing things together, they often focused on their prey and couldn''t talk much, but finding food in the forest was the top priority.


    This way of interacting was actually the most realistic for the two of them. Neither was the type to fall head over heels in love instantly, nor would they neglect basic needs for the sake of romance.


    Their rtionship developed in this most mundane of ways.


    Until Yin Chuan took the initiative to define their rtionship¡ªthat is, to be a couple.


    Once this rtionship was confirmed, they wouldn''t be the same as before. They would appear together in front of others.


    At this point, when neighbors saw them walking together, they knew what was going on.


    Wen Qian also found out. An An had informed her when they defined the rtionship, receiving wishes for a good rtionship in return.


    The two continued their leisurely romance, with An An going to Yin Chuan''s area to hunt together one day, or Yin Chuaning to find An An another day.


    During the second autumn, Yin Chuan proposed. He thought about the long winter ahead when they wouldn''t be able to see each other much, so he wanted to get married quickly.


    An An figured the timing was about right, so she agreed. You could say Yin Chuan''s n of action was within her expectations, but she didn''t dislike it.


    Marriage meant they could live together, so they wouldn''t have to worry about not seeing each other in winter. They were both quite happy about it.


    Seeing the young couple''s romance, Wen Qian couldn''t help but think of how people from her era used to fall in love. Back then, people had mobile phones. When they couldn''t meet in person, they could call, text, or video chat.


    Unlike now, when you had to walk so far just to talk to someone face-to-face.


    And there was no chance to manage a group of backups through phone fishing, let alone two-timing.


    Wen Qian didn''t know the situation in the south, but here in the Northern Forest, if someone dared to two-time and deceive others, and was discovered¡ªas long as the victim wasn''t blinded by love¡ªthe scoundrel would have only one fate: to be beaten half to death.


    After An An and Yin Chuan got married, they still lived with Wen Qian. When Wen Qian talked about the past, Yin Chuan also spoke about southern customs.


    It turned out that in the south, they could have multiple wives or husbands. However, those who could have multiple partners were mostly wealthy and powerful.


    Most ordinary people still practiced monogamy. Yin Chuan was originally just introducing the situation in the south, but when he finished, he found An An staring at him.


    An An felt she had been too trusting. If Yin Chuan had another wife in the south, what did that make her?


    She had never even considered this possibility before and wondered if falling in love had lowered her IQ.


    Before bed that night, the two sat in candlelight. Yin Chuan found An An''s question amusing and said, "You really are slow on the uptake. We''re already married, so it''s toote for regrets now."


    An An narrowed her eyes. "What''s there to regret? If there''s a mistake, we can fix it right away. It''s not a big deal."


    Seeing that he couldn''t tease her anymore, Yin Chuan exined, "Your mother already checked my background. You don''t need to worry, I''m as clean as a whistle. Haha!"


    An An''s eyes widened. "Checked your background?"


    "How else could I have entered your family? Your mother asked about everything before we decided to get married."


    After some thought, An An felt her mother was really impressive, thinking of everything for her.


    Yin Chuan, on the other hand, was recalling the scene at the time.


    Originally, Yin Chuan and Wen Qian often met because of An An, but they never really got to know each other deeply.


    It wasn''t until they were about to get married that Wen Qian asked to see Yin Chuan alone. They talked for a long time, something An An didn''t know about.


    Yin Chuan still remembered how Wen Qian had just smiled and asked him to recount his life experiences from childhood to adulthood.


    After Yin Chuan finished, Wen Qian asked him to tell the story again in reverse order.


    This method seemed like she was looking for inconsistencies. Yin Chuan was taken aback but began to recount his story backward.


    Not only could he tell it in reverse, but he could also provide detailed answers to Wen Qian''s questions.


    Yin Chuan increasingly felt that this elder was no ordinary person. He wondered what would happen if any of his lies were exposed.


    The Wen Qian he observed was very rxed, with no weapons around her, but her aura was strong, despite her advanced age.


    After passing the test, Yin Chuan let out a long sigh. He felt like he had been interrogated, but understood that it was all for her daughter''s safety.


    Wen Qian naturally wanted to consider her daughter''s future. If the man in question turned out to be full of ws, she wouldn''t hesitate to eliminate him.


    In the Northern Forest, one or two deaths were hardly unusual urrences.


    Fortunately, Yin Chuan harbored no ill intentions, and he spoke honestly when addressing his lover''s elder.


    Although Wen Qian was advanced in years, killing someone wouldn''t be difficult for her. After all, she could still skillfully utilize her spatial abilities.


    She appeared to have nothing in her hands, posing no apparent danger, but her spatial pocket contained no shortage of lethal implements.

 Chapter 212

    Wen Qian passed away peacefully, but even so, An An was deeply saddened. When she cried, the child cried along with her.


    After someone passes, a funeral must be held. Yin Chuan could onlyfort his wife before going to call the neighbors for help.


    Regarding the funeral arrangements, Wen Qian had expressed her wishes long ago. She hoped to be cremated, not wanting her body to slowly decay in the ground.


    Before the natural disaster struck, she had wanted her ashes to be scattered in a great river or the sea after cremation.


    Aftering to this ce, her wish changed to having her ashes buried in the forest after cremation.


    An An gathered her strength and worked with her husband to arrange the funeral.


    Wen Qian had previously shared knowledge about cremation with An An, including details like how much firewood was needed and how long the burning would take.


    An An helped clean Wen Qian''s body and dress her, then ced her in a thin coffin.


    Afterwards, everyone together carried her to a prepared t area by the river. To prevent forest fires, they had set up temporary mud brick walls around the area.


    The firewood was already arranged, and the fire burned for a long time. Only after everything had turned to ashes did An Ane to collect the remains.


    Wen Qian had once asked An An if she would be afraid to collect her ashes.


    At the time, An An had been angry, as she hated the topic and despised her mother''s calm discussion of anything rted to her passing, which scared her.


    But now, she calmly collected her mother''s ashes.


    How could she be afraid of the remains of someone she had always loved?


    Wen Qian had wanted An An to collect her ashes with the hope that if the pearl that had originally entered her hand were to be burned out, would An An see it?


    But there was no pearl in Wen Qian''s ashes. The Space had disappeared with her death, with no one inheriting it.


    Perhaps at some time and ce, under some coincidental circumstances, someone else mighte to possess a Space again.


    An An wrapped the ashes in white cloth, then ced them in an urn, which she buried on the hill behind their home.


    She felt that this way, her mother could still watch over her after death.


    At the funeral, the elderly neighbors, due to their age, didn''t participate in the entire process. They only appeared for certain parts, spending the rest of the time chatting in Wen Qian''s courtyard.


    They spoke of the past, about Wen Qian.


    Their first impression of Wen Qian was that she was not to be trifled with, but they also knew that this neighbor was in a very good situation, cold on the outside but warm-hearted.


    She seemed difficult to get along with, yet would offer a great deal of help and exchange to new neighbors.


    Simrly, they also mentioned the incident when Wen Qian had killed someone, a story from the past that even An An didn''t know.


    When An An heard them telling stories about her mother, including parts she didn''t know, she would stop to listen. She thought about asking the neighbors more about her mother in the future.


    Hearing about his mother-inw''s act of killing, Yin Chuan finally understood where her imposing presence came from. Though, thinking about it, it wasn''t strange for someone who had survived a natural disaster to have blood on their hands.


    Those old neighbors were also advanced in age, and Wen Qian''s passing made them joke that their time wasing soon too. They all remarked that Wen Qian had died without pain or disaster, a sign of good fortune.


    On this point, everyone agreed, all with a sense of envy.


    After burying the ashes, An An and her husband hosted a meal for the neighbors.


    Qiu Qiu was young and didn''t understand what death meant. She didn''t know to be afraid or sad.


    But when it came time to eat, she held her chopsticks and her eyes searched for her grandmother.


    An An remembered that her mother had eaten food fed to her by Qiu Qiu just before she passed, and tears welled up in her eyes again.


    Yes, the child didn''t understand death, but she remembered to look for her grandmother.


    An An could only choke back tears as sheforted the child, telling her to eat first, saying that grandmother had already eaten.


    Looking at the child eating seriously, she wondered if memories from before the age of three would be nk when children grow up.


    When Qiu Qiu grows up, would she still have memories of her grandmother? Or would there not even be a blurry shadow left?


    After the funeral, An An tidied up Wen Qian''s room. She wasn''t clearing it out, but wanted to carefully preserve everything that belonged to her mother.


    The person was gone, but she desperately wanted to hold onto something, like the white hairs on her mother''s pillow, which An An collected and put in a small cloth bag.


    The saddest moments weren''t when her mother left, but every instant afterward when she thought of her mother.


    It was like she was just giving her child a piece of malt candy, but then remembered that her mother used to make this for her, and the next second realized she would never be able to eat anything made by her mother again.


    At those times, An An could only weep, and this wouldn''t happen just once. She would be sad in every moment she remembered her mother in the future.


    Fortunately, when Qiu Qiu, who had received the candy, saw her mother crying, she immediately stuffed the candy into her mother''s mouth,forting her not to cry.


    An An hugged her child''s small body, feeling consoled.


    She found many notebooks in Wen Qian''s room, the ones she had seen her mother writing in before.


    Opening them now, she realized that her mother had been recording her life all along.


    The earliest entries dated back to before the natural disaster, but there was something strange. All these notebooks looked new, despite being folded and used, the paper all seemed fresh.


    Over so many years, the books An An read as a child had all yellowed now, but her mother''s notebooks hadn''t yellowed at all.


    This was because before, Wen Qian would always put the notebooks into her Space after writing, so they hadn''t experienced the passage of time outside.


    An An found the parenting diary her mother had kept, starting from when she had found An An, which spanned many volumes.


    It recorded An An''s appetite, little habits, and many amusing incidents and childish words.


    Yin Chuan, holding these parenting diaries, marveled at how meticulous his mother-inw had been in raising a child. He had never thought raising a child could involve so many notes and considerations.


    There were also summaries of An An''s temper and personality. Yin Chuan found it amusing, as the descriptions were veryprehensive and urate.


    After the autumn harvest came winter. When they weren''t out hunting sables, the family would sit in Wen Qian''s bedroom, reading her records.


    An An learned for the first time where her mother had lived before the natural disaster, and how she had somehow made her way from the hignds. This route puzzled her.


    She felt that although her mother''s life experiences had been lonely, they were truly colorful. There were also some letters and symbols that An An couldn''t understand, so she had to let them be.


    When Wen Qian was about to pass, she had taken out thest few items from her Space.


    As if she had a premonition, she ced the notebook, money, and some medicine in the bedroom.


    She put thest of the fabric in her own chest of drawers, and stuffed all the food into the pantry.


    There wasn''t much else left, so Wen Qian kept the remaining items in the Space, such as some snow,rge stones, and a small amount of firewood.


    As for the old packaging with production dates, over the years Wen Qian had thrown it all into the woodpile and burned it clean, at least making the Space less cluttered.

 Chapter 213

    An An''s childhood could be described as very healthy.


    In this era, there were no televisions, mobile phones, orputers, so parents couldn''t me TV shows, games, or short videos for ruining their children''s lives.


    Most children of this time didn''t have academic pressure; they only needed to know basic arithmetic and how to read. More importantly, they had to master survival skills, with parents teaching different things depending on their environment.


    City children had it slightly better, as most of them had ess to formal education, though only for a few years.


    By the age of ten, a child was considered aborer. While they couldn''t engage in all adult upations, they could handle tasks like household chores.


    In this era, even very young children were expected to help out. For instance, they could be assigned simple tasks like feeding rabbits.


    An An''s growing environment was in Wen Qian''s courtyard.


    Wen Qian always told her that children shouldn''t walk alone outside because the forest was too dangerous. Even an adult couldn''t guarantee their safety, let alone a child.


    When Wen Qian was in elementary school, she could go to and from school alone and wander in the mountains and fields by herself. This was because her environment was very safe back then, with even wild boars staying deeper in the mountains.


    As long as she stayed away from the water, she generally wouldn''t encounter any danger.


    Now, in An An''s environment, the water in the small river could sweep her away. Just outside the courtyard, a short walk would lead to the woods where a child could easily get lost.


    If one ventured into the denser, deeper parts, who knows what they might encounter.


    Even Wen Qian, armed with a gun and walking on familiar paths, had to deal with dangerous wild animals.


    Humans living in the northern forests shared the environment with other animals and nts, so people always had to stay alert in the wild. Otherwise, they might end up as forest fertilizer.


    As An An grew older, Wen Qian needed to assign her tasks to expend her energy.


    For example, feeding the rabbits. At first, the child was very interested, but once it became her daily chore, she wasn''t as enthusiastic. If not for fear of the rabbits starving or bing too thin, An An wouldn''t have been so willing to do this task.


    There was also watering the vegetables. When she was younger, she liked to water everything with herdle, almost drowning the vegetables. As she grew older, she could do it properly, but found it boring.


    To teach her to read and write, Wen Qian first pointed at everything around them and taught An An how to say the words, then wrotebels for everything on paper slips.


    For the writing part, Wen Qian had An An start by drawingrge characters in a sandbox. Wen Qian had various types of pens she had bought online back in the day: ballpoint pens, gel pens, pencils, fountain pens, and even brushes.


    She had stockpiled these based on her usage at the time, but clearly, herter pen usage didn''t match up to those days, so she had plenty left over for An An.


    After the natural disaster, people could still make pencils and brushes, and many still used fountain pens, but ballpoint and gel pens were no longer asmon as before.


    When Wen Qian felt An An''s sandbox practice was sufficient, she taught her to use a pencil. Thinking the paper quality she had was too good to waste on An An, she bought rougher,rger paper from the general store for practice.


    When An An could write sentences, Wen Qian gave her notebooks to write in.


    After that, An An began writing her own diary, jotting down things like what she had for breakfast and where she went with her mom - simple daily ounts.


    Regarding child education, although Wen Qian hadn''t prepared for raising a child before, she had a habit of keeping mementos, so she had aplete set of textbooks from her own schooling.


    Wen Qian even had university textbooks. Back then, she thought the world might fall into chaos and universities might disappear, so she had collected some textbooks.


    Collecting university textbooks was quite simple. During graduation season, she went to the school to collect discarded items and bought textbooks.


    At that time, when university students graduated, whether they were starting jobs or going home, they usually couldn''t take all their four years'' worth of books with them.


    The recyclers were buying paper for just a few cents per pound, so Wen Qian would stand along a busy path and ask a couple of passing students selling books. This way, she could easily collect entire sets.


    So Wen Qian collected books from several different majors. After all, she had the space to store them and wasn''t worried about not being able to move them.


    When it came to teaching her own child, Wen Qian could generally follow the curriculum from elementary to middle school. Children have a strong learning ability, and with one-on-one instruction, it naturally didn''t take the nine years that schools would use.


    But when it came to high school, Wen Qian struggled. Back then, students were divided into arts and science tracks, and after her first year of high school, there were three subjects she hardly studied.


    Now that she had to teach them, she was at a loss. In the end, she could only let An An choose a few subjects to study on her own and taught An An how to teach herself.


    This period took quite a long time, but neither An An nor Wen Qian felt much pressure. After all, their home education environment was already better than most people''s, so it wasn''t a big deal if they couldn''t learn everything.


    The small town only offered high school level exams, and there weren''t many high school students. However, having a high school education basically made one a talented individual, and some positions in the small town would prioritize hiring such people.


    If someone wanted an even higher education, they would have to travel further south, but not many people could afford to go so far for this, nor did they have the financial means. Higher education was an opportunity for only a very small minority.


    An An spent less time on elementary and middle school studies, so even though high school took longer, it was still faster than if she had been in school.


    Later, An An also registered for the small town''s high school level exams. She asked Wen Qian to buy reference books and test papers from previous years, bringing them home for targeted practice.


    She found that her learning range covered all the exam topics. The current high school exams focused more on practical subjects and content that could solve specific real-world problems.


    This was not only a requirement of the exams but also something Wen Qian had considered when teaching An An - solving the most practical problems, such as the mathematical applications needed to build a bridge over a small river, dealing with encounters with prey, and issues rted to making ammunition.


    With her self-study foundation and the purchased materials, An An sessfully passed the high school level exams, thus obtaining her high school diploma.


    At that time, she wasn''t even fifteen years old.


    Although she still wanted to continue studying, because Wen Qian had mentioned to her that in the past, one could progress through undergraduate, master''s, and doctoral stages, she also wanted to keep advancing through these levels.


    Another reason was that she wanted to be like her mother. Wen Qian had been an undergraduate student, so An An thought that at the very least, she should obtain a bachelor''s degree like Wen Qian.


    However, Wen Qian shook her head apologetically. The major she had studied back then, if applied to the present day, had absolutely no practical use. Even high school and middle school students could do that work now.


    So even if An An studied it, it would be rather pointless, with no real-world applications. There would basically be no opportunity for An An to use what she learned after studying it.


    For the remaining time, all Wen Qian could do was sort out the books she had collected from various majors and the basic first-year textbooks, cing them on the shelf for An An to browse as she pleased.


    If she wanted to continue learning, she could just read these books. After all, at this point, being able to study at all was already not easy, and whether or not she had an official degree was no longer important.


    What truly mattered was what she could learn and hold in her own hands. An An didn''t care about having certification either.

 Chapter 214

    After that, most of An An''s time was spent on self-directed learning. During her free time, she was almost always reading books.


    Her living environment was quite simple, but the worlds within books were colorful and diverse.


    From studying history in the past to living in the post-disaster world now, An An felt that life had truly turned upside down, especially for her mother''s generation.


    If the disaster hadn''t happened, they could have continued their previous lives, which must have been quite happy.


    Although An An wasn''t dissatisfied with her current life, she only marveled at the wonders described in books.


    Among the many books, she preferred those rted to history, international politics, and philosophy.


    Even though none of these subjects were directly applicable to her current life, she found them all interesting. These books contained the wisdom of past generations, and she needed to think deeply to continue reading them.


    She knew these books had no practical use in her current life, but she felt as if her perspective had risen from a firefly in the forest to a star in the sky.


    It was as if she could look down upon the whole world, and her mindset became as vast as a prairie.


    Reading made An An feel joyful, simr to the happiness she felt when her mother built her a swing in the yard when she was little.


    An An''s living environment was pure, but she wasn''t naive about the world. Many experiences and knowledge she possessed weren''t from personal experience, but learned from books.


    She learned a lot of practical knowledge fromw books. Thew textbooks Wen Qian bought contained many case studies.


    These alone opened An An''s eyes to a world of bizarre and dramatic situations.


    Seeing the books An An liked, Wen Qian thought that if An An had lived in her time, she would have been a liberal arts student.


    An An did read science books as well, but she only picked them up when necessary because they were more challenging to understand.


    As Wen Qian grew older and An An had more responsibilities, An An eventually focused most of her reading on the "survival quartet" of books.


    This quartet was always emphasized by Wen Qian, who said that with the knowledge from these books, one could live well in any era.


    An An also found it amazing howprehensive these books were.


    An An had always known there were many books at home, so she didn''t think it was a big deal. It wasn''t until she got married and brought Yin Chuan home that she realized how extraordinary the number of books really was.


    Yin Chuan knew his family elders had suffered misfortune, and if not for that, his family might have been simr.


    He developed an even greater respect for Wen Qian, even believing she might have been one of the persecuted scientists from that time.


    When Wen Qian learned of his thoughts, she straightforwardly said she wasn''t, that she was just someone who liked collecting cheap books, and her education was only at the undergraduate level, not a scientist.


    However, she expressed her respect and regret for the scientists, saying that if there hadn''t been malicious killings back then, perhaps the emergence of some technologies could havepletely changed the world.


    But there was no going back. Whether it was the controlled nuclear fusion research or synthetic starch technology, if just one had been realized, everything would be different now.


    Yin Chuan''s parents only wanted him to finish high school and then be an ordinary teacher, believing this was the only way to have a stable life.


    Yin Chuan had originally wanted to continue his studies, but his family was unwilling. In the end, he went to study architecture.


    His parents didn''t want him to pursue research-oriented majors, seeing them as life-threatening. Yin Chuan didn''t finish his studies because his parents passed away one after another.


    When he saw architecture textbooks in the distant northern forest, he was surprised that even university textbooks were avable here. When he asked his wife, he learned that she even had a high school level exam certificate.


    Yin Chuan was silent for a long time as he looked at the date on the academic credentials his wife had dug out, realizing his wife''s education level was actually quite high.


    Previously, when they chatted, Yin Chuan had deliberately chosen topics he thought were suitable, not realizing his wife had read far more books than he had.


    He felt he hadn''t known his wife at all for so long.


    An An hadn''t been hiding anything; it''s just that education level wasn''t something she considered important.


    Who would ask about someone''s educational background when dating here? Wasn''t it assumed that being able to read and do basic math was enough?


    Hearing this exnation, Yin Chuan realized it was true. Only in more popted cities were there ces for centralized learning. Situations like An An''s family were rare.


    After all, it was already difficult to bring so many things after the disaster, and Yin Chuan noticed from the professional books that the school name was from An Province.


    This was even stranger, as usually, a university''s professional textbooks are mostly authored by that school, so Wen Qian''s books all came from one school during the same period.


    Wen Qian''s exnation for this was that she had bought them in bulk by weight out of curiosity about other majors'' textbooks.


    As for how they got here, Wen Qian said she brought them by car after the disaster, along with building materials.


    She had arrived here first anyway, and there was no evidence to contradict her story from other neighbors.


    As Wen Qian got older, she would just pretend to be confused if asked further, and the young couple wouldn''t continue questioning.


    Interestingly, Yin Chuan found his family member''s name in one of these books. It was just a name, but he knew it must be his rtive.


    It was a miraculous connection that moved Yin Chuan deeply.


    Across the vast expanse of time and space, he had met his rtives here.


    After Wen Qian passed away, the young couple needed to air out the books every year. It was tiring work, but they both did it willingly.


    Later, they donated some of the duplicate books to the reading room in the small town, while carefully preserving the rest.


    Because these were all used books, they contained names, notes, and small sentences written during moments of distraction.


    An An and her husband found joy in these books, and because their parents were always handling books, their children also developed an interest in them.


    Fortunately, there were some picture books at home, so Qiu Qiu could also read.


    Wen Qian had done this unintentionally, but coincidentally, the books she had preserved became the most valuable treasure she left for An An.

 Chapter 215

    After Wen Qian left, only An An''s family of three remained in the house. They still kept rabbits and a dog.


    Since Yin Chuan had also marked out an area for himself and built a house there, he often traveled between the two ces to hunt when it wasn''t snowing.


    Yin Chuan and An An shared their knowledge about books, essentially bing readingpanions. Their knowledge bases weren''t entirely ovepping, allowing them to learn from each other.


    In terms of practical skills, Yin Chuan had to learn everything from An An. She was more familiar with the survival guidebooks they had, and often demonstrated techniques for him.


    Yin Chuan was always diligent in his learning, expressing admiration for An An''s mastery of skills without feeling embarrassed about his own shorings.


    An An found teaching him to be a pleasant experience. Living with someone for a long time was a significantmitment. Her mother had once asked her about spending a lifetime with one person.


    Many people separate along the way or fall in love with others, believing they''ve found their true love.


    An An was brave. She felt she could take responsibility for her choices.


    If she could make it work with someone until the end, that would be wonderful. But if one day they both wanted to part ways, she could walk away.


    People change. Even if you''re deeply in love and get along well at first, it doesn''t guarantee you''ll still be in sync yearster.


    Marriage is just marriage; it doesn''t guarantee eternal love. In moments of deep affection, you might wish to grow old together instantly, but aren''t such thoughts fleeting?


    While she hoped for a lifelong partnership, she could ept parting ways if necessary.


    Hearing these thoughts, Wen Qian could only say that her daughter''s ideas were admirable, but when real emotions are involved, actions aren''t always so clean-cut.


    Wen Qian believed that with such awareness, even if things didn''t work out one day, her daughter would be able to pick herself up and move on, rather than sinking into despair.


    It wasn''t until An An actually had a partner and a child that she truly understood theplexities her mother had spoken of. She found herself softening, especially towards her child.


    Although she appeared calm and rational on the surface, her mindset and choices did change slightly. She became gentler, as if her sharp edges had been wrapped in a softer shell.


    Initially, herposure made Yin Chuan feel insecure. He thought his wife was too cool, almost to the point of being unapproachable.


    But gradually, he realized that despite her cool demeanor, she was very patient with both him and their child, and paid great attention to details.


    Beforeing to the North, Yin Chuan had always imagined his future as mundane and predictable. He could envision an unchanging life stretching ahead of him.


    Even when he first arrived in this forest and started building his house, he never imagined his future would change so dramatically.


    Now, with a wife and child, Yin Chuan sometimes wondered if he was living in a beautiful dream. He had a family now, and could look forward to growing old with his wife.


    This was something he had never imagined before. In the past, he could predict events based on minute data and details, but he never foresaw this turn in his life.


    Although he could still see the general trajectory of his life, having someone by his side changed his perspective entirely.


    This just goes to show that one''s life ns should remain flexible. They shouldn''t be too full or too rigid, as there are too many variables in between.


    After the wise olddy passed away, An An often felt mncholic. Even their young child would asionally ask where grandma had gone.


    An An would point to the stars in the sky and say grandma had gone there. This was amon exnation, as children seemed less afraid of distant, twinkling stars.


    If they told the child that the ashes were buried in the back mountain, he might not understand or even be scared, as it was so close yet unreachable.


    It was better to let the child gaze at the stars.


    Although An An was sad, she didn''t stop her daily tasks. From a young age, her mother had taught her that regardless of emotions, necessary work must continue.


    In the forest, one had to be like a squirrel, always gathering food.


    After Wen Qian''s passing, little Qiu Qiu took over her reclining chair. Sometimes An An would lie there too, with the child resting on her legs.


    For An An, lying in that chair felt like returning to her mother''s embrace. She could feel the sunlight and wind just as her mother had experienced them here.


    One day, An An decided to make some pottery for herself. She and Yin Chuan went to the back mountain to gather some y.


    As his wife familiarized him with their surroundings, Yin Chuan was filled with curiosity.


    He wondered about all the scattered items on the back mountain, how they got there, and how they were originally ced.


    Even the y they brought back seemed strange to him. It didn''t seem native to the area, but rather transported from elsewhere.


    This made him even more curious about his mother-inw. What kind of background did she have that allowed her to gather so many materials here?


    He guessed that perhaps there had been ns to build something here originally, but the project was abandoned when the natural disasters began. Or maybe his mother-inw had used her personal resources to obtain these materials.


    No matter how imaginative he was, he would never have guessed that his mother-inw had ess to a special space and could foresee disasters in her dreams.


    With Wen Qian gone and the significant age gap between An An and her, these things remained unexined. An An could only say that as far as she could remember, these things had always been there.


    Yin Chuan knew that An An had been adopted by Wen Qian, as An An had told him when they got together. This also exined their age difference.


    ording to his wife, her mother initially had no ns for marriage or children, but decided to take her in when she found her abandoned.


    An An''s mother had also been adopted, so when she found An An abandoned, she decided to raise her as well.


    Yin Chuanmented on this, saying, "It''s like fate."


    Indeed, it was like fate. The two of them relied on each other, and Wen Qian never expected to havepany in herter years, with the sound of children''sughter filling the courtyard.


    This was different from the old age life she had imagined, because the addition of An An brought about a change that dramatically altered her future.


    Wen Qian hadn''t considered eldercare when raising her child; the issue of aging had always been part of her own ns. All she could do was take good care of her own health.


    From the beginning, her thinking differed from those around her. For instance, she didn''t believe that marriage automatically meant someone would take care of her. Marriage should be about mutual support, meaning both parties should have the behavior and ability to care for each other.


    Wanting to receive care from the other person without giving anything in return ¨C where in the world could such a good thing exist? Even if it did, it wouldn''t be avable to everyone. It would be a case of some people falling into good fortune while others sank into a quagmire.


    Simrly, those who believed that having children meant guaranteed care in old age ¨C did everything really turn out as they wished?


    From observing the lives of others, Wen Qian had learned that regardless of the choices made, people would regret not choosing a different path if their lives weren''t going well.


    It seemed as though choosing the other path would have made their lives better.


    But was there a possibility that life was inherently filled with hardship, regardless of the choices made?

 Chapter 216

    When An An and Yin Chuan lived together, Yin Chuan would often mention some of the foods he used to eat in the south.


    He then discovered that An An knew about many of them, or could make dishes that were quite simr.


    The only difference was that they weren''t near the sea here, so there weren''t many seafood options avable. Otherwise, there really wasn''t much difference between the food here and what Yin Chuan ate in the south.


    The foods he described, An An not only knew how to make but also said she had eaten them as a child because her mother used to make them too.


    They had quite a few recipes at home, and since life needed some excitement, Wen Qian often tried new dishes.


    Within the limits of avable ingredients, Wen Qian would try to create as much variety as possible.


    In An An''s memories, she had eaten many delicious things. That happiness was still imprinted in her mind, even though she could no longer remember the exact appearance or taste of the food.


    When she was little, Wen Qian had fed her cake and chocte. Those things would make children''s eyes shine brighter and make them dance with joy.


    However, Wen Qian rarely had those foods, so she only gave them to An An when she was very young, to avoid An An asking why they no longer had them when she was old enough to remember.


    An An not only knew how to cook, but she also taught Yin Chuan. Eating was a joyful thing, and asionally cooking could give a sense of aplishment.


    But day after day, year after year, three meals a day could be tedious.


    Stir-frying might not take too much time, but the process of washing and cutting vegetables beforehand, and cleaning the kitchen afterward, these processes added up to be quite troublesome and tedious.


    In the past modern society, many people''s marriages broke down due to arguments over household chores. It was even worse now in this era where everything had to be done by hand.


    So she would take turns cooking with Yin Chuan, or make convenient foods.


    These convenient foods were backup meals for when both of them were too tired and didn''t want to cook, with convenience and speed being the biggest advantages.


    Now there were no self-heating meals or instant noodles, but they could make simple foods themselves.


    Wen Qian would make vermicelli and noodles, and when they wanted to eat, they''d just boil a pot and add various side dishes. This was what she considered as "throwing something together quickly."


    This habit was fully inherited by An An, who would also make jams or dried fruits with Yin Chuan as side dishes.


    In winter, they had more options. The cold weather outside was like a big refrigerator.


    They could wrap many dumplings and buns, store them in containers outside, and boil them whenever they wanted to eat. It was quick and easy.


    The sesame paste, soybean flour, and lotus root starch that Wen Qian used to make also became a category of their convenient foods.


    Yin Chuan felt that his diet hadn''t changed much; the only difference was that before he used money to buy food, and now he had to make it himself.


    Along with their daughter Qiu Qiu, who was also a child who took eating seriously, the family of three could be said to frequently research food.


    Most of the time, they would try to make their food preparation process quicker and more convenient. On rare asions, they would spend time making big meals, usually for holidays.


    Many holidays had lost their original meaning, so they were now used as asions to make corresponding foods. Life was already quite dull, so of course, they had to find reasons to celebrate for themselves.


    Good food could make people happy, and whenbined with various seasonal festivals and holidays, it allowed people to sense the passage of time.


    They would also share some of their longersting foods with their neighbors.


    When hunting and gathering, Yin Chuan could clearly notice some patterns. The area around An An''s family had more foodpared to his own area.


    There were more berry bushes than in his area, not to mention the trees they had specifically brought back to nt.


    An An said her mother had lived here for a long time, so she consciously nted various edible nts in their area.


    So Yin Chuan also started to cultivate small fruit seedlings and gradually nted them in his own area further away.


    During this process, he also realized that Wen Qian must have had many seeds when she first came here.


    Because the seeds stored at home were veryprehensive, with many bottles and jars to store them. It seemed that after the disaster, everything beneficial for survival could be found here.


    The water wheel and millstone by the small river, the well in the yard, the stone mill in the house, various seeds and medicines, and books about survival.


    Everything ultimately came down to survival.


    What Yin Chuan could think of, An An could think of too. They guessed that perhaps there were signs of the impending disaster that allowed Wen Qian to make more preparations.


    Beyond that, they couldn''t imagine more.


    Wen Qian was no longer there, so they could only guess.


    Everything was left to them, including the grapevine in the yard.


    The grapevine was older than them, and as it aged, it began to enter a period of decline. An An was reluctant to part with it and didn''t want to rece it with a new one.


    In the end, she cut branches from the old vine and continued to propagate them, nning to set up trellises outside the yard to grow grapes.


    As for the gnarled old grapevine in the yard, An An was waiting for it to die naturally before deciding what to do.


    An An was reluctant to throw away anything rted to her mother, but those fruit trees would eventually die of old age, and she had to prepare for their recement.


    The fruit trees that Wen Qian initially nted were all very old now. Perhaps some of these trees could live longer, but as fruit trees, their yield would decline.


    When her mother was still around, she had reminded An An to have as much food around her as possible.


    Whether hunting, farming, or gathering, it was essential to have more than one survival skill.


    She not only followed this principle herself but also made sure Yin Chuan learned well. The two of them would look out for each other when hunting or fishing together.


    And their child, Qiu Qiu, was also learning from their example, weeding the vegetables in the yard.


    Children always start by imitating. The way family members eat, the way they work, and the way they read books.


    These would be the child''s habits and style, without her even realizing it, she was already doing things like the adults.


    Although Wen Qian was no longer there, An An felt she could find memories rted to her mother everywhere.


    It made her feel at peace.

 Chapter 217

    Many years ago, starting from when Fang Ya had her child, she gradually began to feel that this environment was no longer suitable for human survival.


    Later, when a major volcanic eruption triggered a volcanic winter, her husband decided to lead the whole family south.


    They were among the early groups to leave at that time. Her husband, in particr, thought of the impending volcanic winter and his first reaction was to head towards warmer regions.


    However, others were still waiting and watching. People around them wondered if they could weather the storm in their hometown, after all, An Province was located in the central region, unlike the north.


    Especially Fang Ya''s inws, who thought that if everyone headed south, there could be numerous dangers on the road. The current situation was rtively stable, and things might turn around.


    But Fang Ya''s husband, their son Chen Ming, insisted on going south. No matter how good the environment was here, he always felt that in the future world, survival rates would still be higher in warmer ces.


    If they didn''t leave now, waiting until the environment worsened would not only make transportation inconvenient, but the massive flow of people alone could separate them.


    He had seen disaster movies; crowds easily led to trouble. They needed to head south early, and he was now effectively the pir of the family.


    His parents were getting older, and even if they insisted on staying in their hometown, he didn''t waver in the slightest.


    He felt that their family home was here, their fields were here, and if nothing bad happened in the next two or three years, they could alwayse back.


    If bad situations arose, this ce would likely face harsh winters and drastic seasonal changes, possibly making it unsuitable for farming.


    Once he made a decision, he really started nning: how to reach their destination, what to bring, how much money to prepare.


    While the whole world was trying to calm people down, urging them not to panic and to work together to ovee difficulties, those with foresight and means were gathering near the equator.


    It wasn''t about following what ordinary people did, but about watching where those people were going. Clearly, anyone with some ability was moving south.


    This made Chen Ming unable to stay peacefully in this mountain vige. He didn''t seek anyone''s opinion or exin to anyone, but made this firm decision.


    His parents had no choice but to follow him. After all, if their son really took his wife and child south, what use would it be for them to stay here?


    This decision directly changed the fate of their entire family. Two or three yearster, when the environment worsened, many people in their area also wanted to move south, but by then the conditions had be extremely harsh.


    This refers not only to the climate, soil, and vegetation, but also to the social environment.


    Because of the disaster, all the evil in people was revealed. Theft becamemon, and in more hidden ces, even murder urred.


    At first, the people here didn''t show much movement, but then they discovered that people from even further north starteding this way. The once quiet mountain vige became noisy.


    After Fang Ya''s family left, some said they had gone to stay with rtives in the south. Some envied them, others mocked them, thinking they were cowards.


    Some wanted to go south like them, but couldn''t because of disagreements within theirrge families.


    Some elderly felt they should die in their hometown and let the younger generation leave on their own, but obviously most people couldn''t let go.


    On the contrary, some people without any ties were free to go wherever they wanted and left quite decisively.


    Later, Wen Qian''s hometown became increasingly popted, with locals bing the minority.


    Eventually, someone directly broke the lock on Chen Ming''s house in Xiaochenwa and moved in. The same happened to Wen Qian''s home, which was simply upied.


    Fang Ya and her husband went to stay with a rtive of a rtive. One family there had married a wife from the southernmost province, so their rtives'' home often had various southern fruits.


    Now they nned to go there. That rtive also lived in a rural area, so Fang Ya''s family went there, thinking that living in a southern rural area would be very safe.


    Coincidentally, the rtive''s hometown was in the mountains, even more sparsely popted than Xiaochenwa, with many mountains. However, the climate was better, with a greater variety of fruits.


    Fang Ya''s family temporarily settled here, relying on money to buy everything. People with better conditions might have gone to better ces, but Fang Ya''s husband felt that staying in a less popted area was rtively safe.


    Later, even in the sparsely popted areas, people gradually increased, and Fang Ya''s group had to be more vignt. Crowded ces easily led to chaos.


    At first, neers could still find ces to settle, butter arrivals couldn''t even find a ce to stand.


    It wasn''t that there truly wasn''t enoughnd, but more and more areas in the south were designated as nting zones. Any ce that could grow crops was turned into farnd.


    Fang Ya''s family left early, so for them it was like changing to a different ce to farm. They prepared warm clothing, stockpiled firewood and medicine.


    When global coolingter set in, Fang Ya realized that even the southern mountains that never had winter turned cold. She wondered how people in their hometown would survive the winter.


    The original nting and harvesting times were now marked by snowfall. What crops could be grown in their former home, and what food could they eat?


    The situation worsened year by year. At first, there were grain reserves and efforts by the authorities to maintain stability, butter things got worse and worse.


    The situation in cities was bad, let alone in rural areas.


    Without food, what could one rely on to survive? Naturally, people started moving south.


    Although Fang Ya''s life was hard, it was far from the darkness experienced by those fleeingter.


    After living in the rtively warm south for over a decade, even the children who had known only hardship since birth had grown up.


    When it was confirmed that the volcanic winter had passed, they waited a few more years. After the temperature improved slightly, they returned to their hometown.


    More people chose to stay here, as there were more cities in the south, but Fang Ya''s husband felt it wasn''t stable enough.


    Modern life had disappeared, technological development had stalled, which meant that as long as the climate stabilized, they only had one path forward: farming.


    In the South, the poption was too dense and survival was too difficult. Initially, people had gathered there for warmth, but now that the harsh winters were gone, he wanted to take his family back to their hometown. At least there, it would be a bit easier to obtain farnd.


    Over these past ten-plus years, although his parents had grown older, they longed even more for their old home, thinking that even if they died, they wanted to be buried in their hometown.


    When they returned, everything would be a fresh start, as their house had deteriorated beyond recognition over the decade.


    Originally, quite a few people had returned to their hometowns from the city, but after the natural disasters, when they came back here once again, everything had been abandoned.


    Later, some strangers came to settle here, and everything seemed to return to its original track. However, Chen Ming''s family could hardly find anyone they used to know.


    Fang Ya saw Wen Qian''s copsed house. Her memories of this girl had already be blurred, but she thought that since this person had been in the city, she should have been able to survive, right?


    She never received any news about this child and could only wish her safety and happiness wherever she might be.

 Chapter 218

    Wang Xiaoping, Wen Qian''s birth mother, married into the Zhang family with a burning desire to have a son. Instead, she gave birth to three daughters.


    Wen Qian happened to be the third and only surviving daughter. The adults in the family silently agreed to abandon the child on the roadside, leaving her fate to chance.


    When they didn''t find a bodyter, Wang Xiaoping and her husband realized someone must have taken the child in.


    The matter was left at that. Some might imagine that parents who abandon their children must have their reasons or at least feel uneasy about it.


    In reality, this couple felt none of that. They were desperate for a son, and the fact that others had sons while they didn''t made them feel insecure, unable to hold their heads high, and looked down upon by others.


    How does one get a son? Naturally, by staying healthy and continuing their efforts in the bedroom.


    Finally, their wish came true. Wang Xiaoping gave birth to a son, feeling immensely relieved.


    The child was born with the physical attributes she had longed for. This was what Wang Xiaoping had been waiting for with bated breath. She was overjoyed, holding her son and kissing the little one countless times.


    Some might think this reaction excessive, but this was what she had yearned for after many years. She felt her suffering had finally paid off.


    Her inws, who had never shown her a kind face before, finally deigned to cross the threshold to take a look. It''s worth noting that when she had given birth to girls, they wouldn''t even enter the room, just asking a question from outside before turning away with gloomy faces.


    Zhang''s father was also delighted. The Zhang family finally had an heir, and he felt he hadn''t let down his ancestors. He felt that all his hard work finally had meaning.


    They followed all the customs - holding a celebratory feast and taking photos. Not a single celebratory activity was skipped, a treatment the two older sisters never received. This was unique to the Zhang family''s son.


    Although Wang Xiaoping felt her inws still didn''t treat her well, having a son gave her hope. She could now stand a little straighter. Where she used to bow her head, she now spoke with more confidence.


    At this time, they didn''t think about Wen Qian at all. They had two daughters right in front of them, but they didn''t care about them either, only worrying that their son wasn''t being well-cared for by his sisters. They had no time to think about the child they had abandoned.


    But gossips will be gossips. They naturally knew about the Zhang family''s daughter-inw''s secret, and simrly, they noticed when a family in a distant vige suddenly had an extra child. Gradually, they pieced things together.


    The viges were far apart. The Zhang family didn''t go to that area, and Wen Qian''s adoptive family didn''te to their area. Although the rumors reached Wang Xiaoping, she simply chose to ignore them.


    Having many children in the family meant higher expenses, mainly for raising the son.


    Spending more on the son and saving more for his future meant that when she looked at her daughters, Wang Xiaoping saw them as mere abacus beads, calcting how soon they could grow up and earn money to reduce the family''s burden.


    Often, children aren''t really a burden to a family. Rather, the family already has many burdens, and the arrival of a child is just another drop in the bucket of "when it rains, it pours."


    The two daughters were always grimy, doing various chores, but Wang Xiaoping saw this as expected and never praised them, only demanding more.


    As for their father, as long as the children were alive, fed, and clothed, he didn''t concern himself with anything else.


    So the two daughters did as Wang Xiaoping said, dedicating their lives to their brother, always putting him first.


    Even though this brother still had infinite possibilities, Wang Xiaoping had already pigeonholed her precious son as a living corpse.


    While others hope for their sons to be excellent and sessful, Wang Xiaoping was different. She wouldn''t let her son take an extra step, carrying or piggybacking him herself, and making the two sisters do the same.


    In her imagination, her son was mentally challenged, unable to dress himself, feed himself, or do his ownundry. Everything should be done for him by his two sisters and herself.


    If it weren''t for the fact that she couldn''t relieve herself for him, she would have helped with that too.


    She imagined her grown-up son as a destitute person, believing he couldn''t find a girlfriend on his own. So she nned early on for her two daughters to prepare everything needed for their brother''s marriage.


    She didn''t think her son was excellent, just precious - the result of countless efforts in bed with her husband, opening several "blind boxes" before finally getting one with male genitalia.


    She wanted to reserve the best for her son, yet paradoxically imagined that everything he needed could onlye from his sisters.


    This was puzzling - if he was so precious, why raise him to be so useless, and in such a seemingly mentally challenged way?


    Wang Xiaoping''s child-rearing methods eventually dissatisfied her husband and inws. While it was expected for the girls to be hardworking, they couldn''t raise the boy to bepletely helpless.


    At this rate, he would starve even with food hanging around his neck.


    So Wang Xiaoping was scolded at times, with other adults in the family not allowing her to raise the child to be useless.


    The children finally grew up, and both daughters got married. However, Wang Xiaoping felt that her daughters were unsessful, unable to help their brother after marriage.


    They used to hand over their wages to her before marriage, but after marriage, they stopped giving money.


    Zhang''s father was fine with this, believing that married daughters were like spilled water, and it was enough to visit during holidays and not embarrass themselves at their inws'' homes.


    But Wang Xiaoping was different. She felt that the two sisters should be responsible for their brother for life, even after he married and had children. She thought the daughters should prioritize helping their brother over their own children.


    However, if she were to say this to anyone, they would likely call her crazy, so she could only fret about it internally.


    It''s worth noting that they had received substantial bride prices for their two daughters, asking for the local average amount. The daughters took nothing with them, and Wang Xiaoping and her husband kept all the money for their son.


    These two daughters owed their parents nothing, but Wang Xiaoping believed that parental kindness was greater than the sky, and daughters could never fully repay it in their lifetime. So she wanted them to repay it through her son.


    Ironically, after her son''s first marriage failed, Wang Xiaoping was anxious to find someone with better conditions, worried that the ex-daughter-inw would remarry and have children first.


    She wanted to be superior in every aspect, but her dreams were far from reality. They weren''t a wealthy family with a gold mine; no matter how much they puffed themselves up, they couldn''t make themselves look bigger than they were.


    Moreover, her son had expensive tastes butcked the skills to match. He never considered his own ie when making purchases, always asking his mother for money first. He insisted on high-end items, believing that everything in the house belonged to him anyway, so he was merely using it in advance.


    Unable to squeeze any more resources from her two daughters, Wang Xiaoping suddenly remembered she had another daughter she had abandoned.

 Chapter 219

    Wen Qian was the third child to be abandoned, and the fourth, also a daughter, was given away. Wang Xiaoping''s precious son was the fifth child, and the most important person in her life.


    Unable to rely on the two daughters she kept, she began searching for the daughters she had abandoned.


    It was then that she started having trouble sleeping, not out of guilt or unease, but because she couldn''t figure out how to make contact.


    The third child was said to have gone to university and was now working and living in the city. The fourth child was still in school and not yet earning money.


    So Wang Xiaoping''s hopes fell on Wen Qian. She believed that, as the birth mother, if she went to meet her, she would surely get something out of it.


    Generally speaking, abandoned children crave familial affection more and are easily moved by kind words and concern.


    Simrly, the least favored child in a family often hopes to gain parental approval through greater efforts.


    In reality, neither gets what they want because they were never loved from the start. They don''t love themselves, so they can''t see that their efforts won''t earn them anything in return.


    On her first visit, Wang Xiaoping brought her son, drove with gifts from home, nning to make a respectable appearance, as if visiting rtives.


    Unfortunately, there was no ripple in the other party''s eyes, no shock or joy, as if they were merely a bystander.


    When they actually started talking, Wang Xiaoping sensed strong hostility, or rather, a distinctck of courtesy from the other party.


    But she thought, the other party must harbor resentment, and having resentment was better than nothing. Perhaps with some soothing, their attitude might soften.


    She could n for the long termter. She felt heaven was helping her because this child called Wen Qian had long lost her adoptive parents.


    This meant the girl was now alone, which implied she needed support.


    To put it nicely, it was support. To put it bluntly, Wang Xiaoping believed a girl shouldn''t have money. Her money should go to her parents, husband, or children, not belong to herself.


    This girl had no adoptive parents, no husband, and no children, but she did have some money. Wang Xiaoping thought that even if she couldn''t get it directly, she could at least "borrow" some.


    It was a pity that her husband felt too ashamed to participate in this, so he decided not to get involved. However, if his wife could actually get money from that girl, he would admire her for it.


    After the failure of the first meeting, Wang Xiaoping prepared for a second attempt. She had nned how to appear heartbroken and tearful.


    But when she saw the other party''s knife and whetstone, along with their wicked smile, her first instinct was to flee.


    After all, she only wanted money; she hadn''t considered the possibility of being hacked with a knife.


    This time, the sight of Wen Qian holding a knife behind her back thoroughly frightened Wang Xiaoping, shattering her schemes.


    gued by nightmares, Wang Xiaoping finally couldn''t keep her worries to herself and told her husband about the incident. His response was that they should never seek out their abandoned children again.


    This meant they should no longer count on outsiders, and the couple would have to manage on their own to support their son''s affairs.


    Wang Xiaoping thought to herself that the person was so heartless, even daring to threaten her birth mother with a knife. It proved that abandoning her had been the right decision.


    Most peopleck the capacity for self-reflection on their thoughts and actions, so Wang Xiaoping never looked for faults in herself.


    Being despised now made her believe that abandoning the child over twenty years ago was correct. This kind of twisted thinking quite matched her character and mindset.


    With no chance of getting benefits elsewhere, Wang Xiaoping and her husband could only use their newly saved nest egg to find a wife for their son.


    This time, they nned to find a girl who was already pregnant to marry into the family, ensuring she could bear children and avoiding another divorce.


    To be honest, this was highly unlikely in their local area, as it clearly went against local customs.


    But surprisingly, they managed to find someone who agreed to these conditions ¨C a woman three years older than their son who agreed to live together first and only marry after bing pregnant.


    So they happily made arrangements. Their son, having been divorced once, left the decision for his remarriage to his parents.


    In fact, their son had refused to remarry, but no one in the family would allow him not to marry and have children, so this idea was basically ignored.


    This was the first time the precious son felt his parents'' indifference. He had always believed he was their most important child.


    But now he felt that what was truly valuable might just be one of his organs, serving the purpose of continuing the family line. Otherwise, there would be no difference between him and his sisters.


    In the end, hepromised. As long as he agreed to find a girl and get married, his parents would arrange everything else.


    He would still be himself, with no need for his life to change, so hepromised quickly.


    During the selection process, as long as their son didn''t dislike the appearance, Wang Xiaoping and her husband could basically make the initial decision.


    Then they let their son choose the one he found most appealing for long-term interaction.


    Most girls couldn''t ept having a child before marriage. This was strange, so many negotiations fell through. Only one person agreed.


    Things went more smoothly than imagined. When hearing the requirement to get pregnant first, she directly brought up the bride price, requesting it be paid before the child was born.


    After the two became familiar, they moved in together. A few monthster, the girl finally became pregnant, and they could prepare for the wedding.


    Because this girl entered the family while pregnant, those unaware of the situation simply thought it was a couple marrying due to pregnancy. Those in the know discussed it differently.


    They felt the Zhang couple was too eager to have a grandchild. Just because the new daughter-inw hadn''t conceived in a year, they immediately had their son divorce.


    The second time around, they directly required the bride to bring a child into the marriage. It was outrageous that someone agreed to such a demand. They didn''t know whether to call it good luck or suspect the woman had other motives.


    Overhearing the adults'' gossip, a young student interjected, "Could it be that the woman''s child isn''t actually theirs? One side was desperate for a child, the other desperate to marry, so maybe..."


    However, the student''s imagination didn''t catch the attention of those around. They believed that for the Zhang family to let the woman enter their household, they must be certain the child was their own.


    The Zhang family weed a grandchild slightly earlier than his ex-wife''s remarriage, which delighted Wang Xiaoping even more than her own son.


    With his duty fulfilled, the son promptly became a hands-off manager, content that he had produced an heir to continue the family line and leaving all other matters to others.


    Consequently, the son and daughter-inw, along with their firstborn, began relying on the older generation for support. The couple was quite harmonious in this approach.


    Wang Xiaoping could tolerate her son''s dependence, but she struggled to ept her daughter-inw''s behavior. However, after giving birth, the young woman''s demeanor had changed significantly from her initial docility upon entering the family.


    Moreover, her son no longer heeded her advice, instead choosing to defend his second wife. This left Wang Xiaoping at a loss for how to deal with this woman.

 Chapter 220

    Later, when natural disasters struck, their family was also affected. They had originally been staying in their hometown, but the cmity made it impossible for them to remain there.


    The whole family began to move south, along with many others. The elderly and children were the first to suffer.


    Some bodies couldn''t even be buried and were left where they fell. Others walked on, numbed, in wave after wave of people.


    Wang Xiaoping was deeply concerned for her eldest grandson. Seeing her daughter-inw walking closely with other men, she urged her son to discipline her.


    Unfortunately, her son was only focused on moving forward, not wanting to waste any energy on other matters.


    Wang Xiaoping couldn''t stand it, believing her daughter-inw was trading her body for food. She didn''t share her secretly stashed food with her daughter-inw, but she also couldn''t bear to see others giving her food.


    By this point, there were even those who resorted to cannibalism when hungry on the road, and trading bodies or children for food wasmonce.


    Finally, one day, Wang Xiaoping couldn''t find her son, but her daughter-inw was still within sight. She panicked and started urging her daughter-inw to search for him.


    Hungry and exhausted, her daughter-inw didn''t want to search. Wang Xiaoping began to fight with her, hurling vulgar insults.


    At this moment, her eldest grandson started to help his own mother. The daughter-inw held the child in her arms and smugly revealed the truth.


    Wang Xiaoping watched the mother and son continue walking forward, while she copsed to the ground. She couldn''t believe that the grandson she had raised from infancy wasn''t actually her own flesh and blood.


    She thought her daughter-inw must be lying, but who would smear themselves like that? Unless it was true.


    She was going mad. If her grandson wasn''t her son''s biological child, what would happen to her son?


    At this moment, she saw her husband catching up with her son. It turned out they had gone to find food.


    Wang Xiaoping felt as if struck by lightning. She hugged her son and repeated what her daughter-inw had said. Now, both father and son fell silent.


    Zhang Jiale held his mother''s hand and looked at her seriously: "I knew I couldn''t have children even before I lived with her."


    Before they nned to live together, his then-prospective wife had asked if he was infertile.


    Zhang Jiale had of course denied it, but his wife directly requested that both parties undergo examinations to check if there were any problems with their bodies.


    Zhang Jiale had never considered it might be his issue. Even when his ex-wife hadn''t conceived after a year, he didn''t think it was her problem. But his mother and wife had a very sharp conflict.


    His ex-wife''s proposal for divorce wasn''t because of the child issue, but simply because she didn''t want to be with him. Not having children was actually a good thing in that case.


    Zhang Jiale didn''t dare tell anyone about the examination results, and the woman didn''t ask. She directly proposed finding someone to help him have a child.


    Zhang Jiale went home saying he didn''t want to get married, but none of his family members would listen to him. After all, what had they pampered him for since childhood?


    Wasn''t it because he was male? But now, even his little tadpoles were all dead, ruling out even in vitro fertilization.


    In the end, Zhang Jiale chose to marry the woman. She found aplete stranger to get pregnant, and the child would be considered his.


    This wasn''t something the woman could have done alone; Zhang Jiale had to help to make it all work out.


    If not for the natural disaster, Zhang Jiale thought things could have continued this way. But now everything had been exposed, and his wife had left with the child.


    Wang Xiaoping felt she was going mad. She couldn''t believe that her son, whom she had raised from childhood to adulthood, was infertile. This was absolutely unbelievable to her.


    Zhang''s father epted it a bit faster than her. After all, the grandson still carried their family name. If he ran away, there would be no heir. The family hurriedly moved forward and finally found the mother and son.


    Regardless of what Wang Xiaoping thought, Zhang Jiale wanted to be with his wife and child, so the three of them stayed together.


    Only Wang Xiaoping was left behind, questioning her entire life. She didn''t believe her son couldn''t father children, but Zhang Jiale no longer had the paper examination results to show his mother.


    Wang Xiaoping didn''t speak, and Zhang Jiale tried to persuade her from the side, only to find that he could no longer capture his mother''s attention.


    He wanted to ask if his mother would have treated him differently if he had been born without that ability.


    But he didn''t dare ask. He had experienced absolute favoritism, initially thinking it was because of his gender advantage. Now, though his gender remained the same, hecked a certain function. He couldn''t help but overthink.


    He imagined if he had been judged unable to have offspring from the beginning, what would his parents have done? Would they have discarded him like the third or fourth daughter?


    The reason he had kept this secret with his wife from everyone was that he felt he couldn''t bear the consequences of revealing it.


    Now, with the truth exposed due to the conflict between his wife and mother, Zhang Jiale felt his parents'' judgment should alsoe to light.


    This might be for the best.


    His father quickly calmed down. He inquired about the process of finding a sperm donor back then, and upon learning that everything had been part of his son''s n, he said no more.


    As for Wang Xiaoping, she hadn''t spoken much to anyone, always moving forward in silence.


    She couldn''t process it all at once, always thinking that when peace returned to the world, she could find an Old Gentleman to divine for her or seek an old doctor for some medicine. Perhaps there might still be a chance to turn things around.


    But in the current situation, she had no options. If her son really couldn''t father children, at least the current grandson was still their family''s boy, certainly enough to continue the family line.


    But she also knew she couldn''t swallow her pride, and no one was giving her a way out. She had been silent for too long, long enough for her husband and child to think she couldn''t ept it.


    Wang Xiaoping prayed countless times in her heart, hoping that heaven wouldn''t be so cruel, that any retribution would fall on her instead of her son.


    As she thought about it, she wondered if it was because of her own sins that her son couldn''t have children.


    The little grandson, after all, had been raised by his grandparents. When his parents seemed to be back to normal, he felt the arguments were over and would still be close to his grandparents.


    However, his grandmother seemed to have changed, never smiling at him anymore. He didn''t understand why.


    Those who could ept it remained as before, while those who couldn''t ept it now lived in a daze. Wang Xiaoping imagined countless possibilities, wanting to help her son out of his predicament.


    But at present, even survival had be a problem. Though Wang Xiaoping had thought of solutions, she had no means to implement them.


    After enduring numerous hardships, Wang Xiaoping finally arrived in the south with her family. But before anyone had a chance to catch their breath, Wang Xiaoping died.


    Whether it was due to the unfamiliar environment or because she had been barely clinging to life, Wang Xiaoping fell gravely ill as soon as they arrived. Zhang Jiale desperately searched for an experienced doctor who could treat her. However, Wang Xiaoping insisted that the doctor check her son''s pulse first.


    In the end, as the Old Gentleman shook his head, Wang Xiaoping''sst breath never came, and she passed away just like that.


    For Zhang Jiale, this became an immense shadow looming over his life. Every time he thought of his mother, he felt as if he had been the cause of her death.

 Chapter 221

    In the second year after Wen Qian''s departure, the two elders of the Jin Family also passed away one after another. Now, the only ones who could still be called elders were the couple from the Nisha Family.


    Although Little Jin and Little Ning were no longer young, they were still children in front of their parents. The passing of their elders meant that they no longer had anyone to shelter them from life''s storms.


    The only constion was that their children had grown up, and after starting their own families, they had be grandparents themselves.


    Here, as some passed away, new life was born. This was perhaps the only thing that could bring them joy and hope.


    Every Qingming Festival, they would visit the graves of the deceased to sweep the tombs, and they would also pay respects at their neighbors'' graves.


    No one knew what the deceased had be, and the living could onlymemorate them with their heartfelt intentions, if only tofort their own grief.


    When they had time, they would also visit the Nisha Family to see the two elderly people from their parents'' generation and listen to stories about the elders from the past.


    After all, they were the only ones left who could recount those stories. An An, whenever she heard others mention her mother, always wanted them to say more, as if this was the only way to make her memories more vivid.


    In early summer, An An took her child to weed the fields near the forest farm, while Yin Chuan went hunting in his area. When he returned, he didn''t forget to pick some fruits for the child.


    They continued their previous lifestyle, through the four seasons and three meals a day.


    The ce where Wen Qian had lived, that bedroom, hadn''t been cleared out. Instead, it had be their daily activity room.


    When they weren''t out working or sleeping, both children and adults would stay in this room, reading, ying games, or doing handicrafts.


    An An didn''t want to clear away all traces of her mother; in fact, she would intentionally preserve them. Wen Qian''s handwritten notebooks were still on the shelf, and she would still flip through them from time to time.


    Even in some books she asionally browsed, she could find her mother''s sharp sentences written during moments of free thought.


    Now that the children were only a few years old, they naturally slept with them at night. She thought that when the children grew older and needed their own bedrooms, she would let them sleep in this room.


    There was an old sewing machine by the wall, which she could still use to make clothes. There was also a very old, broken-down machine stored in the row of rooms at the back.


    An An remembered that her mother had bought a new one after the original one broke down and couldn''t be repaired.


    In reality, when Wen Qian had worn out the old one, she brought out the new spare machine she had bought, but she couldn''t bear to throw away the old one because it had been left by her grandmother.


    An An estimated that this thing must have been quite expensive, after all, even now, sewing machines weren''t something ordinary families would have.


    Additionally, several heaters that Wen Qian had bought originally had now been mostly reced. The iron stoves had gotten thinner with use, and Wen Qian would rece them when the time came.


    By An An''s generation, they had just installed two in the house, and the remaining spare inner liners were stored in the storage room, along with those stainless steel tabletops.


    Wen Qian had put a lot of thought into hiding things, managing to dispose of the less noticeable items before her passing.


    Since Wen Qian first settled here, the walls had remained fixed, and the house initially had only a few rooms.


    The additions didn''te quickly. The real rapid increase in rooms probably happened after Wen Qian started raising children.


    In the past, everything was stuffed into the space, but now they had to slowly bring things out. As the items needing storage increased, naturally, more rooms were needed.


    By the time An An took over everything, she had more resources at her disposal than others.


    The things stored in Wen Qian''s space remained in their original condition when taken out, with virtually no quality deterioration or depreciation.


    Now in An An''s hands, including some fabrics, she had to store them carefully, using what she had on hand first and only considering buying from outside when they ran out.


    Fortunately, a family of three consumed things much faster than Wen Qian did alone.


    Some stic products basically disappeared after use and didn''tst long in storage, so An An used them up before they could spoil.


    As for stainless steel and iron items, they tried to take good care of them as long as they were usable.


    When Qiuqiu turned five, she actually had no impression of her grandmother, but every random item in the house could prompt her mother to mention Grandma.


    The cute little animal-patterned sweater she wore was prepared for her by Grandma, the mooncake molds they used were left by Grandma, and a room full of books were all Grandma''s things.


    Grandma was like a fairy in a fairy tale, able to conjure up many things.


    When An An took Qiuqiu to pay respects, Qiuqiu would lie on Wen Qian''s grave, mumbling, hoping that Grandma would meet her in her dreams.


    There were still old-fashioned cameras in this era, but Wen Qian hadn''t left any photos for An An, so Qiuqiu had no way to see her grandmother''s face.


    The things in the house wereter mostly made from raw materials they could ess, such as y or wood.


    Those things Wen Qian initially brought from that era were now gone.


    Their pressure well also became unusableter because the original stic water pipes broke several times. After Wen Qian reced them a few times, there were no more materials to continue supporting its use.


    The iron part of the upper half of the pressure well had already decayed, and Wen Qian''s recement parts were also exhausted in theter stages.


    It must be said that the things Wen Qian originally prepared indeedsted until her departure, but the following An An''s family could no longer enjoy this convenience.


    The pressure well''s tform was removed, and theyter drew water from the well''s edge to use at home, building a tform by the well and cing wooden buckets to fetch water.


    The stair railings were still as Wen Qian had designed them. After years of repairs and maintenance, theyrgely maintained their original appearance, with expanded tforms nearby for resting.


    Since Wen Qian had An An, her life began to settle like her neighbors'', with storage rooms, preservation methods, and practical effectiveness.


    By An An''s time, there were quite a few seeds left by Wen Qian. Besides the ones they nted every year, An An also nted a bit of some less frequently grown seeds annually.


    Even when seeds are preserved with the utmost care, their viability gradually decreases over time. To prevent all the seeds from bing ineffective, An An would cultivate some seedlings.


    She didn''t nt everything herself. Sometimes she would give seeds to neighbors or exchange them with others at the market.


    With such a vast collection of seeds, An An couldn''t possibly nt them all herself, but she didn''t want the seeds her mother had painstakingly preserved to lose their vitality.


    As long as the seeds could continue to be passed down, An An didn''t mind who actually nted them.

 Chapter 222

    The little girl Qiu Qiu, whose full name was Wen Qiu, only knew her grandmother as a grave on the hill behind their house. Qiu Qiu was too young when her grandmother passed away, and her memories from that time werepletely nk. She couldn''t remember anything from before.


    Yet everything in their home was connected to her grandmother, from the house itself down to a single needle.


    Qiu Qiu could sense that her mother deeply missed her own mother. While Qiu Qiu could see her mom whenever she wanted, her mother didn''t have that luxury.


    Although Qiu Qiu hoped to chat with her grandmother in her dreams during their annual grave visits or when passing by the burial site, it never happened. On the contrary, she heard her mother mention a few times that she had seen grandmother in her dreams.


    Dreams are usually fragmented and disjointed. Qiu Qiu had many dreams, most of which she forgot. Some were about her parents, others about stories she had read, but she never dreamed of her grandmother.


    She didn''t have any photos of her grandmother either, only books and notes with her handwriting. But these couldn''t help Qiu Qiu recall anything about her grandmother.


    Until one hot summer day, when her mother said the weather was nice and decided to air out the books in the storage room.


    They only aired out a portion of the books at a time, spreading it over several days. If theyid out all the books at once and a sudden sun shower came, it would be disastrous. It was easier to quickly gather up a smaller number of books if needed.


    No matter how much they tried to keep pests and mice away, there was always a lingering smell in the room. Her mother said it was the scent of wood and paper.


    While the adults aired the books, Qiu Qiu was in charge of turning the pages. asionally, she''d be engrossed in an interesting book, forgetting about the task at hand. The adults didn''t mind what she was reading, busy with their own work.


    As Qiu Qiu flipped through the pages, she made a discovery. A small ck card, about the size of a palm, fell out of a thick book.


    Curious, Qiu Qiu picked it up and found it was a small booklet with golden letters that read "Student ID".


    She opened it carefully, as it had been pressed so tightly in the book that the pages seemed fused together. She was afraid it might crumble.


    Inside the booklet was a portrait photo next to a name: Wen Qian.


    "Mom! Come quick!" Qiu Qiu had a hunch, but she needed her mother to confirm it.


    "What is it?" The child''s voice was so loud that An An was initially worried, but as she approached, she saw her daughter gesticting excitedly, seemingly fine.


    Qiu Qiu ced her new discovery in her mother''s hands. An An didn''t understand at first, but the small red-background photo in her palm made her freeze.


    She had heard her mother talk about her experiences when she was young. The school on the ID was one her mother had attended, the name was her mother''s, and the photo appeared to be from her university days.


    An An cradled the small booklet, on the verge of tears from excitement. This was her mother''s student ID photo from when she was eighteen.


    Time suddenly rewound sixty years. The Wen Qian in the photo was different from the grandmother An An remembered, but the eyes and brows still matched her memories.


    Qiu Qiu stood on tiptoes, continuing to examine the photo of her grandmother''s youthful face, saying, "So this is what grandmother looked like. I finally know her appearance."


    From that moment on, she could connect her grandmother to this image.


    An An was overjoyed and excited, proudly showing her mother''s photo to her husband when he returned home.


    This single small photo brought An An happiness for a long time. She even became more indulgent with Qiu Qiu, making her egg cakes for several days.


    The student ID must have been ced in Wen Qian''s dimensional space when she left the city to return to her hometown. It had remained there, which exined its excellent preservation.


    A few years before Wen Qian passed away, the book appeared on the outer shelves. The book containing her student ID was one of her old textbooks from her major.


    Because it was so thick, and her major wasn''t particrly useful in this era, An An hadn''te across this book during her student years.


    Wen Qian had tucked it into the bookshelf before she passed away, where Qiu Qiu eventually found it.


    An An carefully preserved the rediscovered photo, hoping it wouldst as long as possible since it was the only one they had.


    Not only did Qiu Qiu and Yin Chuan see and discuss the photo, but when Uncle Big Jin and Uncle Little Ning came to visit, she also showed it to them for recognition.


    An An sessfully used the photo to spark memories in the two uncles about the past. They had met Wen Qian when they were around ten years old.


    The Wen Qian in their memories was closer to the one in the photo. At that time, Wen Qian was in her thirties, but they said she looked simr to the photo, just with a slightly yellowerplexion. Her facial features remainedrgely unchanged.


    For a long time afterward, An An treasured this photo, but as time passed, the colors began to fade.


    This was something An An couldn''t change. She knew the photo was already over sixty years old and should have looked old when she first saw it.


    For some reason, she had the mistaken impression that it aged faster in her possession, when in fact, this was the normal aging process.


    The reason it hadn''t changed much before was due to Wen Qian''s dimensional space. Now, without the protection of the space, it naturally aged slowly in An An''s hands.


    An An wanted to find methods for photo preservation in books, but she only found information about the lifespan of photos. Color photos typicallyst about a hundred years.


    This meant that by the time she was old, the photo would bepletely unclear.


    So she thought about preserving the photo in another form, such as a portrait drawing.


    An An began to practice drawing with pencils again, using books on manga and sketching.


    Wen Qian herself didn''t have many talents. Given the living standards of her time, having enough to eat, drink, and study was already fortunate, so she didn''t develop any artistic skills.


    When she was raising An An, she didn''t have many special skills to teach her. She had books on art and music, but no paints, brushes, or instruments.


    The only thing she could teach An An was how to draw cartoons from books, which An An did as a child to exercise her imagination. As she grew older, she stopped drawing.


    After many years, An An tried using pencils and charcoal to draw portraits in an attempt to capture her mother''s likeness. Whenever she had free time, Qiu Qiu would see her mother practicing drawing.


    Unlike her mother''s method of drawing from photographs, Qiu Qiu preferred the cartoon-style three-head-body proportion technique, as she found the resulting figures adorable.


    When An An noticed that Qiu Qiu had reced her diary writing with drawing, she praised her daughter, impressed by her creativity.


    Yearster, Qiu Qiu observed her mother sketching her grandmother''s face on a nk sheet of paper with a pencil. The resemnce to the photograph was remarkably high.


    She realized that her mother was no longer afraid of photographs disappearing.

 Chapter 223

    In her old age, Wen Qian rarely visited the surrounding hunters'' cabins anymore. An An, however, began to make rounds to the cabins on her own.


    On an autumn day, An An delivered the dried food prepared by her mother, along with freshly washed and sun-dried bed sheets and pillowcases, to the cabins.


    By the time winter officially arrived with snowfall, she would be able to stay overnight in these cabins without having to carry too many supplies on her journey.


    It had been a while since herst visit. The family had been busy harvesting and processing crops at home, which took considerable time for both her and her mother.


    When she finally arrived, she noticed from a distance that the third cabin was upied.


    An An had heard her mother mention before that there used to be a neighbor who liked to take advantage of others, but that person had long since gone.


    She hadn''t expected new people to arrive, and she wasn''t sure when they hade.


    Upon observation, she saw that there were three people, and they didn''t appear to be recent arrivals.


    An An noticed that only one of them carried a gun. She thought she might be able to take on that person, but she couldn''t ovee their superior numbers. So, after a brief look that day, she headed straight back home.


    Over the next week, she visited the cabin area three times, finding people there each time. This really angered her.


    Even if they were temporary residents, they should have gone out to find a suitable ce to live, cut trees, and dig foundations, rather than squatting in someone else''s house without any intention of being self-reliant.


    Without even looking, she knew that the bedding, firewood, and other household items she had left there were probably being used by them.


    She had even ced these items in boxes atop wooden poles she had nted nearby to protect them from snakes, insects, and rodents. The smooth lower part of the poles could deter animals and insects, but not humans.


    The mere thought of her belongings being used by others made her want to throw a grenade in there and blow them up.


    Finally, one day, she approached with her gun pointed at one of them. That day, two of them had gone out armed, leaving only one person near the cabin.


    The person''s first reaction was to beg for mercy, voice trembling: "We''re just staying here temporarily, haven''t been here for long."


    "I''ve been observing you for a while, and it looks like you''re nning to stay long-term," An An replied.


    Hearing this, the person realized they had been caught out, unaware that the cabin''s owner had been secretly watching them for so long.


    An An kicked him hard: "What? You think there''s such a good thing in this world? Living in someone else''s built house for free!"


    The man tried to defend himself: "We thought this was an abandoned cabin. I didn''t know it belonged to someone."


    An An fired a shot near his feet: "Don''t y dumb."


    The man started begging for mercy, repeatedly saying sorry.


    Apart from apologizing, he probably had nothing truthful to say. Although Wen Qian''s cabin was old, the door lock was brand new.


    This alone was enough to prove that this was not an abandoned cabin.


    They had originally intended to build their own house, but upon seeing a ready-made one, they had abandoned that idea.


    They thought that with their superior numbers, the original owner might have to swallow their anger if they returned.


    Little did they know that while the cabin''s owner was indeed alone, she was not to be trifled with.


    As he mumbled his pleas, he was wondering when his family would return, but An An knew they wouldn''t be back so soon.


    The other two were currently struggling in traps set by a neighbor. Otherwise, An An wouldn''t havee alone to confront this man, not knowing when the others might return ¨C that would have been like making herself a target.


    Everyone who had survived the natural disaster had been through experiences; there were few truly naive people left. So why pretend to be innocent here?


    When this family first arrived, they had initially talked about rebuilding at old Liu''s copsed house.


    Later, as they moved in this direction and discovered Wen Qian''s small cabin, they settled in without returning to prepare materials for building their own house.


    When An An discovered them, she went home and told Wen Qian. This scenario was familiar to Wen Qian; the Liu family had behaved simrly in the past.


    With strangers around, one should always be on high alert.


    When Wen Qian''s first neighbor arrived, she didn''t sleep in her own bed for a while, but in the attic instead.


    She made the bed look as if someone was sleeping in it, creating the illusion of upancy.


    It was only after she became familiar with the family, finding them friendly, self-reliant, and of good character, that she feltfortable continuing to interact with them.


    If those new neighbors had been like this current batch of people, Wen Qian would have certainly dealt with them swiftly.


    This was where she intended to spend her old age, so she naturally would eliminate any destabilizing factors, including bears invading her territory and ill-intentioned people.


    Now that An An was facing a simr situation, and also alone, she had to retreat for now.


    So Wen Qian asked her what she nned to do.


    An An touched her gun. Killing them and hiding the bodies would be the simplest and most brutal solution, but she hesitated. If she let them go this time, how would she handle potential retaliation?


    Wen Qian thought this aligned with An An''s personality. If it were herself, although she had the courage to kill, she wouldn''t make it her first choice either.


    However, the risks that mighte from letting them go would have to be borne by An An herself. Although An An hadn''t experienced this before, she was considering the situation quiteprehensively.


    So Wen Qian advised her to prioritize her own safety before considering her course of action.


    When Wen Qian killed, it was usually to ensure her own safety. She wouldn''t give time forst words, only exining her motives in a soliloquy after confirming the deaths.


    She instructed An An not to give them a chance to retaliate.


    So this time, while it appeared that An An hade alone, Wen Qian was actually watching from afar.


    The man didn''t know that his two family members who had gone out were temporarily detained. The person helping was Little Jin, whom An An called Uncle.


    When An An lowered her guard, the man she was holding at gunpoint suddenly snatched her gun.


    The tables turned, and the man revealed a smug smile, tapping An An''s face with the gun barrel.


    "This iswless territory. Never mind upying your house," the man said with a sinister grin, "What could you do even if we took you?"


    An An didn''t even flinch, which puzzled the man.


    Even with a gun pointed at her, An An maintained an air of nonchnce, tilting her body slightly to the side.


    A gunshot rang out, and the intruder fell to the ground, eyes wide open, unaware of who had shot him from behind.


    When the man had spoken with ill intent, saying this was awless ce, An An had already signaled. If Wen Qian couldn''t make the shot from a distance, An An would have taken care of it herself.


    As for the gun that had been taken from them, it only had one bullet left, which An An had just fired.


    The deceased probably never imagined that his own threatening words would be his death sentence.


    Wen Qian thought this should be thest time she''d kill someone; she was getting too old for this.


    An An pulled out a small pistol from her clothes and put two more bullets into the body on the ground, making sure the person waspletely dead before dragging the corpse away.


    As for the two people temporarily trapped by Uncle Little Jin, An An didn''t need to trouble him or her mother anymore; she would handle it personally.


    When Little Jin returned home, he was still marveling at An An''s methods. Someone who usually seemed so quiet and unassuming, yet she could kill without batting an eye.


    This child''s emotions didn''t fluctuate much; she showed neither excitement nor fear before or after killing.


    An An thought, it''s just killing. Even the deceased had said this was awless ce.


    So what was strange about him and his family dying here?


    These people didn''t die unjustly. After the natural disaster, they had always believed that being ruthless was the key to survival in this world.


    They never thought there was anything wrong with stealing the fruits of others''bor.


    When they finally fell under An An''s gun, they atst felt the fear of death.


    But what difference did it make? Even when faced with their tearful pleas for mercy, An An didn''t hesitate for a moment to end their lives.


    After disposing of the bodies, An An went home. Wen Qian was there, preparing something delicious for her to eat.


    This was An An''s first time shedding blood, so Wen Qian wanted to pay extra attention to her state of mind. To her surprise, the child was quite calm.

 Chapter 224

    As An An entered middle age, stic products once again appeared in people''s lives.


    Thus, An An''s family began using a hand pump well, and she and Yin Chuan no longer had to carry water.


    The differences between the north and south grew increasingly stark, with some southern cities already using electricity, while the northgged behind.


    shlights and cassette yers started to make aeback.


    Things that An An had only read about in books, and items her mother had used in her youth, gradually began to appear in her own life.


    She and her husband would buy one or two items to satisfy their curiosity, and they would also go to the small town with their family to take photos as keepsakes.


    She knew that living in such a remote area meant it was virtually impossible to get electricity lines; they would probably only reach as far as the nearest vige to them.


    Everything was slowly spreading from south to north, and An An guessed that the future would probably be as the books described, with a sudden leap forward at some point in time.


    But she also felt that she probably wouldn''t live to see it¡ªthe era her mother had experienced.


    After all, there were only so many people, and no matter how fast things progressed, they wouldn''t reach that stage. But she thought her child, Qiu Qiu, might see it.


    Or if Qiu Qiu had children, they would probably be able to enjoy it.


    When her mother was still alive, she used to say that although the standard of living was improving, people''s desires were hard to control.


    Back then, poor people thought that having three meals of white rice a day was a good life, but when everyone could afford fish and meat and eat well three times a day, people started chasing after cars and houses.


    When others have something and you don''t, it creates a huge disparity, even making people feel that life has no meaning. Not only do they push themselves to climb higher, but they also burden their children with life''s purpose.


    So children who were free from the pressures of survival now faced mental pressures.


    Children experiencing these intangible mental pressures would be mocked by adults who had lived through tangible hardships. The adults would think that the era they lived through, when they couldn''t even eat their fill, was the worst, and that mental pressure was just a sign of having too much free time.


    Back then, she didn''t understand what mental pressure was, but now she did. People startedparing who had shlights, who had radios and tape recorders, and even sewing machines and watches.


    Once people were well-fed, they had to find other things topare, even extending toparing their children''s education.


    Even weddings and funerals became a matter ofparison¡ªwhat wasn''t there topare?


    Paper newspapers and magazines began to appear, and people learned more information, making them yearn even more for the south. Many young people began to hope to carve out a new life there.


    In the course of history, many people want to venture out, but only a few truly seed in the end.


    In An An''s view, even sess could go through cycles in history; it all depended on which lucky individuals had the right timing, location, and support.


    Bicycles became moremon, andter, four-wheeled oil-burning farm vehicles appeared, as well as trucks in the north.


    Some main road sections began to be widened, with cement and soil making aeback. In the north, vehicles were mainly used for transporting coal or timber.


    People wanting to go to another ce no longer had to spend as much time and energy as before, although the speed was still far from what it was before the disaster.


    Later, when electricity came to small towns and viges, people brought projection equipment to show movies in the vige.


    An An and her husband, along with neighboring vigers, all went to watch. Surprisingly, they showed old movies from many years ago, restored and reyed.


    Many people came from the surrounding areas. An iron frame was set up with a veryrge screen, allowing everyone to see.


    Wen Qian''s generation had all passed away. Now, the people watching the movies mused about the lives of their predecessors, unsure whether to envy or sympathize with them.


    They knew more or less about the past, but couldn''t truly understand that era, as too much time had passed.


    As An An watched, she thought of her mother, wondering if she had watched the same film many years ago when she was young.


    Because of the written records at home and the early newspapers that had long since withered away, An An felt a sense of familiarity mixed with strangeness whenever new things appeared.


    Yin Chuan asked An An if she wanted to move to a small town or vige, but An An refused. She was fine with visiting asionally, but she couldn''t bear to leave her home for long.


    She felt that she might be getting old, bing more attached to the ce where she grew up, feeling safe only there.


    Qiu Qiu was sometimes very curious about how developed the south had be. When An An asked if she wanted to go see for herself, she said no.


    Qiu Qiu had her own ideas; she didn''t want to be too far from her family. Although she couldn''t go to distant ces, she could always hear news from afar.


    An An told her that to see how developed the south was, all she needed to do was check if they could see the stars in the sky above.


    This was what Wen Qian had told her before: as cities develop, air pollutionbined with light pollution at night means you can barely see the stars in the sky¡ªthat''s when you know it''s about there.


    This was gradually proven trueter. People returning from the south described how the stars had be fewer, but not to the point of beingpletely invisible.


    At this time, the south wasn''t yet able to light up useless lights at night, so the sky was still visible for now.


    However, as cities developedter, it became very difficult to see the starry sky in urban areas.


    An An always paid attention to various changes in life, as if her mother''s era was gradually unfolding before her. She could now imagine what her mother''s life had been like back then.


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