I survived the famine by scavenging and supported my family.

"This lightning sounds like it did in the first few days after the floods started." Ning's mother looked at the sky, and several more bolts of lightning struck, knocking down trees on the distant mountains.

She said seriously, "Old Zhao, this lightning is too dangerous. We need to find a place to avoid it."

Ning's father nodded, watching the line continue its unhurried pace. He couldn't resist taking out his oil-paper umbrella, and just as he was about to get off the vehicle, he heard the village head at the front say:

"We need to find a safe place!"

"This lightning is strange!"

"Yes! I think the mountain opposite looks... looks like it's been struck by lightning several times!"

After the lightning strike, the rain intensified, making the mountain road even more difficult to traverse.

The people of Wangli Village walked down the path cautiously. As they were walking, a white light suddenly flashed in the middle of the group.

With a crack, a cart was smashed into pieces.

Standing nearby, Granny Qian was terrified. Seeing the terrible state of the cart next to her, she quickly climbed down from her own cart frame and carefully walked along the handlebars.

As he walked, still shaken, he said, "Heavens, please don't strike me down. Once I get to Qingzhou, I'll do lots of good deeds..."

—So doing bad things really does get you struck by lightning!

The Zhao family members looked grim. The eldest son muttered, "Heavens above, I, Zhao Tiezhu, have always worked diligently and honestly, I haven't done anything wrong! Please, please don't strike me! Strike the bad guys instead!"

Hearing his eldest son's incoherent words, Old Zhao cursed, "What nonsense are you spouting? Hurry up and follow me!"

Old Zhao pulled the cart and walked quickly forward, while Old Zhao San, who was pushing the cart behind him, also felt a little guilty.

He was also afraid of being struck by lightning, but he didn't dare to say it out loud; it would be too stupid!

Zhao Laosan prayed in his heart, kowtowing to God in his mind, almost to the point of actually kneeling on the muddy ground and kowtowing.

After walking a few steps, they felt the thunder in the sky gradually receding, and the group secretly rejoiced: it seems that praying to God really works!

Granny Qian grinned, "May God bless our family! Eldest son, third son, hurry, hurry!"

Old Zhao and Old Zhao San pushed the cart and jogged to catch up with the group. As they were walking, a white light struck down. Old Zhao San watched in horror as the flash hit right at his feet and fell to one side.

Granny Qian was so frightened that she jumped forward and fell down. After lying there for a moment and not hearing any other sound, she turned around shakily and saw that her third son was lying on the ground without moving. Had he been struck by lightning?!

"Third brother..." Granny Qian reached out to her third brother in fear, a few tears welling up in her eyes.

"Mother, Mother..." Zhao Laosan got up from the ground, and the two of them looked at him: Huh?

"Mother?" the third son asked, "Were you struck by lightning?!"

Granny Qian, who was about to call Zhao Laosan by his nickname, was either struck by lightning or nearly driven mad by his anger. "You're the one who got struck by lightning!" she snapped.

Both of them were unharmed, just frightened. Granny Qian got up from the ground, covered in mud and water.

Zhao Laosan wasn't much better off; his clothes had been constantly getting wet and drying over the past few days, and his lower body was covered in mud.

Now look what happened, his whole body is soaked in mud and water.

"Let's go! Didn't the village head just say that it's safer the further down we go?"

Granny Qian casually patted the mud off her clothes and urged her family to hurry up and move forward.

Luckily, none of my family members were struck by lightning, otherwise... otherwise the village would have been full of gossip!

As they continued down the path, several more bolts of lightning struck around the group. Granny Qian went from being terrified to secretly delighted: It seems that prayers do work. Look, even though the heavens are striking from the left and right, they haven't struck his family!

The cart that was struck by the lightning bolts belonged to a widow in the village, and the carriage of a wealthy family in the village.

Although it didn't hit anyone, it did hit their car!

We were only startled by the lightning; compared to us, they must have done a lot of bad things!

Granny Qian pondered in her heart what she should say when it was time to rest.

Earlier, there were rumors in the village that the widow had seduced the men in the village.

The news spread throughout the village, and everyone was whispering about it. She overheard it and threatened to hang herself under a tree at the village entrance. The village headman stopped her, and the villagers gradually stopped talking about it.

She must have been cheating on her husband! And not just at one family! Otherwise, why would the lightning strike only one of her family's cars?!

As for the other family, it's even easier to explain. They are an outsider who came to Wangli Village many years after it was built. They made money through dishonest means and bought up several good fields from other families in the village when the village was in disaster. They refused to let the other families buy them back!

Granny Qian pondered as she walked.

Lightning struck the group several times, but the village headman kept his spirits up and continued on his way. Wang Xiufeng wanted to go ahead to scout the way, but the village headman refused, fearing that he might encounter danger alone.

As he walked, Wang Xiufeng suddenly saw a mountain wall not far away.

Staying at the foot of the mountain is better than staying here. He told the village head, who made a decisive decision and led the team to turn towards the mountainside.

As they approached, the village head and several villagers discovered that there was a cave at the bottom of the mountain wall!

Although the entrance wasn't large, it was still a cave! The first cave we encountered after traveling for so many days!

The village headman's face lit up with joy, and he hurriedly led the group toward the cave.

Granny Qian was also happy, because encountering a cave meant that the group could rest for a day or two.

They could finally get some rest in the cave!

This time, she wanted to give her second son and his wife a good talking-to. They hadn't seen their two children for so many days; they must have died in the mudslide!

If she could persuade them to accept the fourth son, she would then go and ask the second son's family for their horse, as the carriage frame needed to be matched with a horse.

Just then, a bolt of lightning struck straight at Granny Qian.

Old Zhao, who was standing to one side, was terrified and instinctively dodged to the side.

Granny Qian felt a tingling sensation on her scalp, and then she was pushed away by a force.

A dazzling flash passed by her feet, and in that instant, Granny Qian felt as if a lifetime had passed.

"Boom—"

Then came the sound of thunder.

"Ahhhhh!"

Granny Qian was so frightened that she scrambled to her feet and screamed as she pushed past the people in front of her and ran toward the cave.

—As long as you get into the cave, you'll be fine! Lightning won't strike inside the cave!

Granny Qian, with a strength she didn't know she possessed, managed to bypass everyone and run to the cave entrance in one breath, becoming the first to crawl and tumble inside.

Wang Xiufeng said unhappily, "Aunt Qian, we haven't investigated what's going on inside yet. It would be dangerous for you to go in rashly."

"So what!" Granny Qian stepped into the cave, suddenly feeling safe, and said to Wang Xiufeng without any politeness, "You may not care about your life, but I do! Heavenly lightning is terrifying!"

"You..." Wang Xiufeng had no choice but to dismount, and was about to ask his younger brother to hold the reins for him so he could go into the cave to explore.

Suddenly, a strange, glowing ball floated down from the sky and, following the astonished gazes of Wang Xiufeng and the villagers behind him, crashed straight into Granny Qian, who was still spouting nonsense.

With a "splat", Granny Qian fell to the ground.

"Thunder! Heavenly thunder!"

Wang Xiufeng was so frightened that he took several steps back.

The villagers at the front also saw it.

Even though Granny Qian had already entered the cave, she was still chased inside by a strange bolt of lightning!

"Didn't Granny Qian try to sell her own granddaughter before? Looks like karma has come back to bite her..."

"Was she the only one in our team to get struck by lightning?"

"Yes! Several bolts of lightning struck the group just now, but they only hit the luggage cart frames, except for her..."

"So doing bad things really does get you struck by lightning..."

"God, please don't strike me down! I won't steal the village kids' candy next time..."

"God, I will never hit or scold my granddaughter again..."

"I've also stopped secretly going to see Xiaofang from the next village, without hiding it from my parents..."

For a time, many villagers knelt on the ground in sincere prayer.

Village head: "Hurry up and get into the cave! It's still thundering outside!"

"Dr. Kang? Dr. Kang, please come and take a look at Granny Qian!" The village head looked back.

The village doctor came over from behind, reached out and checked; the baby was still breathing.

He said, "It's still breathing!"

The village head breathed a sigh of relief. "That's good..."

Thankfully, no one was killed.

Fearing that others might encounter such strange and supernatural events, the village headman ordered Wang Xiufeng to take a torch and quickly investigate the cave.

Wang Xiufeng asked for help, and Ning's father volunteered, grabbing his own torch and joining the group.

The cave entrance is extremely small, only wide enough for two horse-drawn carriages to pass side by side.

Once inside, everyone discovered that it was a hidden world—a cave!

Countless stalactites, formed over thousands of years, are layered and intertwined, reflecting a shimmering light when illuminated by a torch.

Walking here, all the noise outside seems to disappear, and you can only hear the rhythmic ticking of the clock.

This place is like a fairyland.

Ning's father, holding the torch, was momentarily stunned.

The others weren't much better off. Even Ning's father, who had seen modern colorful caves before, was stunned. The others were even more excited but also fearful.

"How about we go outside?"

One villager said, "This must be the abode of an immortal!"

"We're just ordinary people. If we barge in like this, the immortals will be angry!"

"The immortals will unleash heavenly lightning upon us!"

Ning's father: ...

Sometimes I really want to kick all these people who promote feudal superstition out of the house.

During droughts, people say they angered the sun god; during cold snaps, they say they angered the sun god; during rat plagues, they say they angered the rat god; and during locust plagues, they angered the locust god.

No matter when, you can always find a fictitious "god" to pray to and ask for.

"Stop talking nonsense!" Wang Xiufeng stepped forward to stop the conversation in the group. "If you don't want to go in, then stay outside!"

"Yeah, it's still thundering outside!"

"I don't want to get struck by lightning, I want to come in!"

After Wang Xiufeng stopped them, the wind direction quickly turned back.

Having traveled through the rain for so many days, they had been looking for a place to stay, and only today did they finally come across this one.

If you miss this shop, you don't know where you'll find another one in the next village, not to mention how dangerous it is outside right now. Who wouldn't want to hide in a cave, shelter from the rain, and rest comfortably?

The group continued forward, encountering only swarms of bats along the way; there was nothing else in the cave.

The terrain inside is quite complex, with many side paths, but there is enough space for the current team.

Wang Xiufeng led the scouts out.

"The terrain inside is too complicated, and it's not easy for the carriage to go in. We can only leave it near the entrance of the cave."

Fortunately, now only 20% of the families in the group have horse-drawn carriages, another 20% push handcarts, and 10% push wheelbarrows and two-wheeled carts.

The remaining half of the villagers carried all their belongings by hand and on their shoulders.

The entrance is too small to accommodate too many people at the same time.

Following the order in which the group arrived, the village headman arranged for everyone to enter the cave one by one.

Ning's parents' carriages were lined up in the middle. After entering the cave, Ning's father went first to claim his spot.

Ning's mother stood guard over the car, and after Ning's father had taken his spot, she had him pull some firewood from the back of the car, put it in a bag, and then move it to their spot.

Finally, after packing up and putting away any other items that could fit in the car, Ning's mother closed the car door and locked it with a padlock.

Fortunately, when Zhao Qi made the car doors, he made both sides lockable, just for this day.

After locking the car door, Ning's mother pulled the lock with satisfaction before getting out of the car with the last few things in her arms.

Upon arriving at the rest area, Ning's mother first looked around, then praised Ning's father, "You made a great choice!"

Ning's mother touched the wall, "It's right next to the wall, and the wall is still dry."

This place is at an angle; although it's small, it's against a wall.

The two of them worked together to stick the stick into the ground and made a "wall" out of tarpaulin to block the base of the triangle.

A horizontal bar is tied at the top, but not at the bottom, so that people can move freely in and out during the day.

At night, we'll use ropes to support the bottom and weigh down the excess edges with stones. That way, if anyone tries to force their way in, they'll definitely make a commotion.

After finishing the tarpaulin wall, Ning's father laid a layer of tarpaulin on the small open space to make the bottom, and then set up the tent.

With double protection, Ning's mother crawled inside and put the blankets and pillows out, making it much more comfortable to sleep at night than in the carriage.

Having not showered for two days, Ning's mother went behind the tent and covered it with a cloth. In the small space, she took out a wooden bucket from her storage space, filled it with hot and cold water, and began to wash herself simply.

After washing her hair, Ning's mother changed the water and washed it clean.

After she finished washing, it was Ning's dad's turn to wash, and she watched from outside, changing the water for him as well.

After they finished washing, they changed into clean clothes. Ning's father gently scrubbed the clothes he had taken off, looking somewhat worried.

Previously, we always relied on the water in Ningning's space, and there was not as much clean cold water as hot water stored in Ning's mother's space.

It's been raining these past few days, and food gets wet and smelly easily, so Ning's parents have taken several showers.

If this continues, we'll have to use rainwater collected on the road to shower and wash our hair.

After washing, Ning's father wrung out the clothes and hung them to dry on the frame he had set up behind the tent where he had just taken a shower.

Ning's mother has already prepared the meal.

She didn't dare eat anything with a strong smell in the cave, so she only took out the steamed cakes she had made earlier.

The pancake had some pickled mustard greens on it.

Even so, it was already a rare and excellent food for the team.

After leaving Huangshi and fleeing to the mountains, the villagers had almost run out of food along the way.

Even the village head's family has been eating dried vegetable pancakes for many days.

Some better-off families could occasionally grab a handful of grain to cook tree root porridge.

Those with lower quality can only eat tree roots and bark.

Zhao Huilan numbly held the bowl of soup that had been given to her.

It's called soup because it's been raining a lot lately, so there's no shortage of water for making soup.

But the soup only contained rice bark, and only a small piece of it.

To save firewood and to save trouble, Granny Qian only allowed Sun to cook it once, so the soup still tasted strange and bitter.

After drinking it, Zhao Huilan felt that her whole body, from her throat to her toes, was bitter.

So what can we do? Even if there's food at home, we won't get to eat it!

Zhao Huilan witnessed it; her grandmother had secretly taken some silver a few days ago and exchanged it for half a bag of grain.

—Oh, right, money…

Zhao Huilan put down the empty bowl and looked at her car frame.