I survived the famine by scavenging and supported my family.

The group dared not let their guard down and remained on high alert outside the courtyard.

Zhao Ningning added a few handfuls of firewood to the brazier, and the flames shot up instantly, brightening the courtyard.

Under the cover of night, the rats swarmed everywhere, gnawing on everything in sight.

Old Zhao's family.

The Zhao family's house wasn't on the main road, so when the rats came running over, they immediately closed the gate. Only a few rats managed to jump into the yard.

Nobody knows what's going on on the road outside, except that there are lots of rats, so the door can't be opened right now.

Granny Qian arranged for her two sons to keep watch, then went back to her room to sleep.

At first, Granny Qian was sleeping soundly. But in the middle of the night, she heard a loud rustling sound outside. When she got up to look, she was furious.

The third brother was supposed to be guarding the yard, but somehow he went back to sleep, and now the yard is full of rats!

The courtyard was teeming with swarms of grayish rats. As soon as someone opened the door, the first few darted into the house from under Granny Qian's feet. Granny Qian cried out, "Oh no!" Ignoring her disgust, she shouted the names of her eldest and second eldest sons.

While shouting, Granny Qian used her foot to shove away the rats on the ground and closed the door to the main room.

Zhao Laoda hurriedly got up, threw on his clothes, and saw that the yard was full of rats; there wasn't even a place to put his foot down. He stood there awkwardly, and when Granny Qian saw him, she angrily scolded, "What are you still standing there for! Can't you see that the rats have all run into the main room? Our grain is all in the main room!"

When the rat infestation arrived, Granny Qian immediately instructed her two sons and daughters-in-law to move all the edible items into the main room so she could keep an eye on them.

Thinking of the grain, Zhao Laoda disregarded his disgust and swept the rats to both sides with a broom as he walked towards the main room.

At this moment, the third brother arrived late. When he saw the rats in the yard, he was startled and retreated back into the house.

"Third brother! Why aren't you coming over here right now! If it weren't for you, how could so many rats have gotten into our house!" Granny Qian was furious. She stood at the door of the main room, and the rats, smelling the aroma of grain inside, crawled up Granny Qian's ankles and onto her body.

Granny Qian was terrified. She jumped up and down, throwing the rat off her. In the main room, Old Man Zhao roared, "Quick! The rat has made a hole in the back! Block it up right now!"

Granny Qian waited for Zhao Laoda to arrive, and the two of them squeezed into the main room together. As they entered, more than a dozen rats squeezed in through the crack in the door.

By the light of the oil lamp, Granny Qian saw at least fifty or sixty rats gnawing around the grain sack. The lid of the grain jar had been gnawed open, and the rats were piled up densely inside, wriggling about.

Seeing this scene, Granny Qian's eyes rolled back and she fainted. Zhao Laoda, who was standing behind her, quickly reached out to catch his mother, dragged her into the house and put her on the bed, and then came out to chase the rats with Old Man Zhao.

When Granny Qian slowly woke up, she felt a piercing pain in her hand as soon as she got up, and it seemed that something was moving beside her hand.

Granny Qian was startled and flung aside the things beside her. There was no oil lamp lit in the room, so she couldn't see anything.

The main room was quiet. When Granny Qian got up and put her hands on the bed for support, another sharp pain shot through her.

--it hurts!

Granny Qian endured the pain and got up. Things were falling off her body, and she felt a chill run down her spine.

What had just fallen? Granny Qian dared not think about it. She stumbled to the door, opened it, and saw that the grain piled in the corner of the main room was now just empty bags.

Old Zhao and his two sons and daughters-in-law stood there staring blankly, while Granny Qian felt dizzy upon seeing the grain sack.

"Mother!" Zhao Laosan went over to support her. "Mother—are you alright?"

"Get out! Get out of my way!" Granny Qian forcefully shook off Zhao Laosan's hand, then steadied herself by the doorframe. "Where's our grain?"

No one dared to speak. Sun and Zhao Laoda both kept their heads down, while Wu was looking at the two bags.

Finally, Old Zhao put down his shovel and said, "It's all gone, all gone! The rats ate it all!"

That was the last bit of food in the family! If they were careful with it, it would be enough for them to eat until spring. Granny Qian was heartbroken and clutched her aching chest.

Their food supplies could have been fine! Everything was fine in the first half of the night—yes, it was the second half of the night that caused the problem!

In the latter half of the night, not many rats scurried into the yard. Granny Qian instructed her two sons to take turns keeping watch in the yard and to call for help if there was any movement.

Everything was arranged perfectly, except for Zhao Laosan! He was lazy, which led to the family's food being eaten up!

Granny Qian raised her hand to hit Zhao Laosan. Zhao Laosan did not dodge and took the slap. Then he said, "Mother, I was too cold, so I went back to my room to warm up. Who knew that in just this short time, a rat came into the yard."

In reality, Zhao Laosan noticed that very few rats had come in, and they wouldn't pose much of a threat anyway. Plus, it was cold, so he yawned and went back to his room to sleep.

"How dare you say that!" After hitting him, Granny Qian felt a piercing pain in her hand. She looked at her hand and saw that a piece of flesh was missing from her fingertip! The hole was deep enough to expose the bone, like...like a rat bite!

Under the double blow, Granny Qian swayed as she leaned against the door frame. Zhao Laoda, who was supporting his mother, was close by and could see the wound on Granny Qian's hand. The teeth marks were clearly the work of a rat.

"Mother! When I put you on the bed inside the room, there were no mice in the room!" Old Zhao explained anxiously, supporting Granny Qian.

Upon hearing the word "rat," Granny Qian fainted immediately.

Chaos erupted at the Zhao family's house.

On Ningning's side, even in the middle of the night, fearless rats continued to hop into the yard in droves. The group worked together to catch them all.

Zhao Qi was bold. He took a burning piece of firewood from the brazier and patrolled the yard every now and then, quickly plugging up any holes he found.

The chirping noises outside gradually subsided as dawn broke.

Ning's mother climbed the ladder and looked outside. The road outside was empty; there wasn't a single mouse in sight.

"They're gone." Ning's mother slowly climbed down the ladder. "They should all be gone; there isn't a single mouse outside now."

"My God, they're finally gone." Zhao Ningning threw the stick on the ground, wishing she could just sit down. Zhao Qi helped his sister up and asked, "They won't come back, will they?"

"It's hard to say," Ning's mother sighed. "We've never seen anything like this before. Anyway, let's be careful. Let's go back and eat to replenish our energy, and then we'll take turns resting."

After a tense night, Ning's mother had no energy to cook. She returned to the main room, took out a wooden basin for washing hands from her spatial storage, added hot water, and washed her hands and face. Then she took out some steamed buns that she had made earlier from her spatial storage.

The others washed their hands and then took it to eat.

"You guys go to sleep first, I'll keep watch in the yard," Ning's father said.

"Okay." After breakfast, the group went back to their rooms to sleep.

Ning's father sat at the entrance of the main room, warming himself by the fire while keeping an eye on the activity in the yard.

Instead of the rats, they encountered villagers. Seeing Zhao Lao Er sitting wearily by the fire at his door, the village men greeted him and moved on to the next house.

It turned out that the village head had sent him to go door-to-door asking if anything was wrong.

At noon, Ning's mother got up to relieve him and go to sleep. Before going to sleep, Ning's father went to the village to inquire and learned that rats had visited every house in the village last night, but some houses suffered heavy losses while others suffered light ones.

When asked about Zhao Ningning's family, Ningning's father sighed and said that several bags of grain had also been destroyed by rats, but fortunately they were chased away in the middle of the night, which saved the rest.

The villagers are in a similar situation.

Besides the food being eaten, several people were bitten by rats. The most serious case was Granny Qian, whose fingertip was bitten by a rat. Others were bitten on the hand and ankle by rats that jumped up when they stepped on them, but all of them suffered only minor injuries.

Others who were frightened or felt unwell were not counted by the village head.

The biggest loss this time was to the grain. Fortunately, the rats have already passed Wangli Village and it seems unlikely that they will return anytime soon.

Back home, Ning's father told Ning's mother and the others about the situation. Ning's mother was silent for a long time, then said, "Last time it was a cold wave, this time it's a rat infestation... plus the drought before, sigh."

A thousand worries turned into a sigh. The two looked at each other and Ning's mother said, "Our family has to work hard to survive here."

Their family was lucky; they were well-prepared, and everyone was quick-witted and agile, so they weren't bitten by rats. If they had been bitten, there was no rabies vaccine in ancient times, and with so many rats, who knew if any of them were carrying diseases?

In the village, the wounds of people bitten by rats festered for several days and could not be healed. Finally, they went to the county town, where the doctor removed a piece of rotten flesh to expose the healthy flesh underneath, applied wound medicine, and bandaged it again. It took a month for the wounds to heal completely.

Even after it heals, the small scar is still quite noticeable and remains so for decades.

It's lucky if a minor wound heals completely, but Granny Qian's wound was large and took two months to heal. In the end, a dent remained on her fingertip, and it would hurt a lot if you touched the thin skin there even lightly.

After the rat infestation, Fengning County spent more than half a month managing the situation before finally eliminating the remaining rats.

After the Qingming Festival, the earth gradually warmed up, and the frozen soil was no longer so hard. The village head and his men chose a place with good feng shui to bury the people who died in the cold wave.

The villagers braved the strong winds to plow the fields, turning the soil over so that it would be ready for planting after a while. This way, at least this season's harvest would be secured.

As the winter chill fades and the spring chill lingers, willow branches quietly sprout new yellow-green buds, making the entire Wangli Village appear lush and green from afar.

Standing by the river, the village head looked at the thawing ice in the river and felt a little more at ease.

Although this winter has been unusual, the recent snowfalls have moistened the previously parched land. At this rate, the melted snow will eventually bring the river levels back to normal.

As long as the weather remains normal, there's nothing to worry about this year. If the villagers work hard and get through this lean season, things will be much better from now on.

Most villagers thought the same way. As long as the weather warmed up and the river had water, they could grow crops no matter how tiring or difficult it was, carrying water day and night.

The worst fear is that it will be like before, with three consecutive years of drought, where the water poured into the fields dries up and the grains can't get any water at all.

As soon as the weather warms up and the mountains turn green, more and more people go to the mountains to dig for wild vegetables. In order to prevent the villagers from noticing anything unusual about their family, Ning's mother took her family to the mountains a few times and dug up a bag of wild vegetables. Some of them were used to make dumplings, and the rest were blanched and dried into dried wild vegetables.

By borrowing a peck of grain from one place and half a pound of rice from another, and with the help of scarce wild vegetables in the spring, families that suffered heavy losses of food during the rat infestation barely managed to survive.

The belated spring plowing began, and the villagers went to the fields to sow seeds. Ning's parents dug holes in front, her older brother threw the seeds one by one into the dug holes, and Zhao Ningning walked behind and covered the soil with her feet.

After planting drought-resistant soybeans, Zhao Ningning and her family carried their farm tools home.

Since the beginning of spring, it hasn't rained yet, and people are worried that this year will be as dry as in previous years. Only a small portion of the villagers grow rice, which requires a lot of water. Although the water level in the river is higher than last year, they are still afraid that the weather might not cooperate.

What you fear most is what happens. The brief "spring" has passed, and after only a month, the Great Zhou Dynasty is once again experiencing scorching heat.

And it's hotter than ever before!

The willow leaves, which had just sprouted and had not yet grown, were directly baked by the huge sun and curled up. The once lush green mountains were directly scorched and turned yellow, and from a distance, they looked like a withered yellow, just like autumn.

This change caught Zhao Ningning's family off guard. Zhao Ningning took some time to clear out the freezer, making room to put several clean basins inside to freeze ice.

As soon as the weather gets hot, Qingfenglou in the county town starts selling ice cream and ice jelly again, and the business is booming, making others envious.

He knew that Ningning's family used to run a stall in the county town, and also knew that the Zhao family had caused trouble and ruined Ningning's business.

In He's eyes, Zhao Ningning's family's business was ruined, they only had two acres of land, and the family could only stay at home every day.

Fearing that Ningning's family might not have enough to eat during the lean season, she always thought of helping them out, even going to the mountains to pick wild vegetables to give to Ningning's family.

This put Ning's mother in a dilemma: accepting the wild vegetables was fine, but not accepting them was also problematic. Eating a little bit of the wild vegetables was just to enjoy their freshness, but if Ning ate too much, she would start asking for meat. So, Ning's mother had no choice but to accept them temporarily, dry them into dried vegetables, and store them away together.

Actually, Zhao Ningning's family had plenty of food, which was why she was staying home and fattening up. Ningning's mother thought that life in ancient times wasn't as safe as in modern times, and if something happened on the road, Ningning and her brother would be in great danger when the adults weren't around.

So during the months she spent at home, she had nothing to do but have her two children practice boxing every day. Before Ning's father's leg injury healed, she only instructed him to train his upper body strength. After his leg injury healed, she told him to take it easy and also practiced with him.

After a winter, the Ningning family's once withered and sallow faces have become plump and fair. Especially Zhao Ningning, whose cheeks are rosy when she runs. Every time He sees her, she pulls her into her arms and adores her.

When Zhao Ningning gained a little weight, her big eyes no longer looked frighteningly large as before. Instead, they resembled dark, round, and incredibly lively grapes in summer.

The amount of trash collected in the space kept piling up, much of it useless. Zhao Ningning would have to find time to empty the trash and then "throw it away." With the space's function of designated trash disposal, all the trash in Zhao Ningning's house was collected and placed at the elevator entrance to wait for disposal.

As the weather grew hotter, Zhao Ningning took out two ice cubes from her spatial storage, poured them into a glass, and then added lemonade. This lemonade was particularly sweet and sour, but Ning's mother preferred it a little less so. She also unscrewed a bottle of mineral water that was placed outside and poured it in, mixed the two together, and then served it to Ning's mother.

Ning's parents had just returned from the county town. Seeing their daughter had thoughtfully prepared drinks, Ning's mother patted Ning's head and praised her generously, "Ning is so considerate!"

Zhao Qi promptly took out clean towels for the two of them to wipe their sweat. Ning's mother did not show favoritism and praised, "Xiao Qi is so good."

After Ning's mother finished praising the children, Ning's father also praised the two children. After closing the courtyard gate, they began to talk about their experience in the county town.