I survived the famine by scavenging and supported my family.

After this battle, even more refugees passed through the mountains.

From time to time, bandits and outlaws would also come, but fortunately, with the Wen family around, the villagers of Wangli Village were able to deal with it much more easily, and at least there were no serious casualties.

After that day, Zhao Ningning got up early the next morning to go and learn archery from Wen Zichuan.

After learning that this was not a secret technique passed down only by the Wen family, Zhao Ningning, with Wen Zichuan's permission, learned it and then taught it to her family members as well.

She was small and weak, so at first she could only learn some theoretical knowledge and practice her aim.

Later, Wen Zichuan specially made a bow that was a little smaller than his own and gave it to Zhao Ningning, so that Zhao Ningning was finally able to start shooting arrows properly.

She had excellent aim when throwing stones, and learning archery was a piece of cake for her; she mastered it in less than seven days.

Even Wen Zike praised her as a prodigy.

In the past seven days, the number of refugees on the mountain has increased even more.

Originally, they were mostly migrants passing through. The area below the mountain was severely flooded, and they weren't stupid, so they naturally moved to higher ground.

The highest mountain in the vicinity is where the Great Cave is located, so many groups of refugees gathered near the Great Cave sprang up like mushrooms after rain.

Knowing that the cave was not a place to mess with, they didn't dare to come and cause trouble. However, it became even more difficult for Wang Li Village to find food.

The mountaintop was teeming with people; even a blade of grass growing in a crack in the rock was plucked and cooked.

The branches on the mountain were all picked clean.

The people of Wangli Village would go out in groups every day to collect firewood and find food in more distant places.

And we had to brave the rain.

Besides those who went out, the village headman instructed those inside the cave not to rest either. Anyone who could move was to go up to the mountaintop every now and then to check on the movements of the nearby teams.

Taking advantage of its geographical location, the cliff above the cave entrance offers a view of the vast, boundless floodwaters below, which resemble a sea.

The yellow muddy water, mixed with white waves, churned and surged angrily, sending chills down one's spine.

I don't know if it's just my imagination, but the rain has been lighter recently than it was a few days ago.

That day, Ning's father and Zhao Qi went to the top of the cliff for some fresh air, as they did every day.

Zhao Qi squinted and gestured with his hand towards the distant mountains.

"How is it?" Ning's father asked.

"The water... seems to have receded a bit." Zhao Qi squinted and gestured with his hand.

Ning's father kept watch for him, while Zhao Qi took out his phone and took a picture of the distance.

When the two photos are superimposed, the water level is clearly lower!

Zhao Qi exclaimed with delight, "The water has receded a bit!"

"Really!" Ning's father looked at his phone. "It's been so long... We've been stuck on this mountain for so long! We finally have hope of getting down!"

Huddled in the cave, wanting to cook something special meant avoiding people and getting soaked in the rain; Ning's father longed for the rain to stop more than anyone else.

The two went down the mountain and told the village head and the Wen family that the water level was lower than before.

When the village chief heard this good news, he climbed up to take a look himself and returned extremely excited.

Fearing the receding water level would rise again, they didn't tell anyone. Two days later, the water level receded significantly again, and this time, without the village headman saying anything, the villagers who went to the mountaintop for fresh air noticed it themselves.

The water level is receding!

The rain has lessened!

They'll be able to get down the mountain soon!

A few days later, the rain that had been falling for almost two months finally stopped!

The long-awaited sun peeked out from the thick clouds, and dappled sunlight fell on the faces of the cheering people, on the mountains, and on the water.

Beams of light, like gleaming golden swords, pierced through the gaps in the clouds and plunged sharply into the rippling water, a spectacular sight reminiscent of a divine miracle.

Looking into the distance, Zhao Ningning sighed, "Finally... the rain has stopped."

It was ten days later when the water level had completely receded.

The muddy conditions at the foot of the mountain did not deter the group from wanting to descend.

Their food supplies were almost gone. If it weren't for the dried mushrooms and fish they had picked and caught, and the fact that the village had helped them cultivate mushrooms in the caves, they definitely wouldn't have survived the rainy season.

Outside, other groups of refugees were also cheering.

This led to friction between the various teams.

The rain stopped, but food won't grow overnight. They need to have something to eat to fill their stomachs before they can go down the mountain and have the strength.

Someone is eyeing this area of ​​the large cave.

Seeing that they were planning to join forces to attack the cave, and with villagers coming every day to ask when they would come down the mountain, the village head announced: "Pack up quietly and come down the mountain tomorrow!"

Zhao Qi circled his carriage, inspecting all the repairs done over the past few days. After confirming that everything was in order, he went to give the mules and horses extra food.

The cave was filled with a festive atmosphere, and everyone was packing their belongings.

Wang Yan tied up her belongings, and also tied up the remaining little bit of firewood and put it on the cart.

They were carrying a car full of stuff up the mountain, but by the time they came down, the food bags were completely flattened.

Fortunately, no matter how frugal Xiaohua and her friend are, they still manage to eat at least one meal a day.

Touching her daughter's gaunt face, Wang Yan said, "Xiao Hua, once we get down the mountain, we'll have better food. Aren't you happy?"

"I'm so happy!" Wang Xiaohua looked longingly as her mother took out the two mushrooms they were going to eat today and asked, "Mom, can we eat meat after we go down the mountain?"

"If it's available, we'll buy it!"

The villagers, full of confidence, looked down at the road below the mountain, their hearts brimming with hope.

The next day, early in the morning, without the village headman needing to bang gongs and call people, the villagers spontaneously got up, prepared their vehicles, and waited inside the cave.

While it was still dark, the group quietly left the cave, taking advantage of the morning mist.

By the time the groups of refugees who wanted to band together to rob the cave for food discovered them, the group from Wangli Village had already traveled seven or eight miles away.

Going up the mountain is easy, but coming down is hard. Although it's not raining, the mountain path is even more difficult to walk than when we came up.

It's relatively easy to pull a cart by hand. One person pushes it from the front, while another pulls the handles from behind, and they slowly make their way down the mountain.

It's difficult to pull a cart with livestock.

Since the livestock can't walk backwards, they have to carefully get off the cart and hold onto it.

Ning's parents were guarding their car, while Zhao Ningning and Zhao Qi were watching over two livestock at the front, near the door handles.

Almost all other families with horse-drawn carriages were like this.

Even the young master of the Shang family, who rarely appeared in public, was like this. He supported his mother and carefully followed behind his family's carriage.

Not long after descending the hill, the stones beneath our feet were replaced by yellow mud soaked by rainwater. When we stepped on our straw sandals, the mud and fine sludge seeped into the gaps between our toes.

After walking only a few steps, the straw sandals became several pounds heavier, and they had to stop to scrape the mud off the soles of their feet with a stick.

The same applies to the wheels; after traveling a certain distance, you need to use a stick to scrape off the mud that gets stuck on the wheels, otherwise the vehicle will become increasingly heavy.

Despite this, the people of Wangli Village still left with great enthusiasm.

The further down they went, the more greenery they saw!

Even though they were just sprouting grass, they were still a delight to see!

Where grass grows, grain can grow!

Once we get down the mountain, we can find a place to cultivate or buy a acre or two of land, and we'll have a harvest before the new year!

Along the way, the villagers who had survived these waves of natural disasters encouraged each other and described how many chickens they would raise and what vegetables they would grow.

The first day passed, and the temperature didn't rise, nor did it rain.

The temperature is just right for walking right now, and someone specifically sought out the village head to say that they could rest less at noon tomorrow and walk a little longer to get down the mountain sooner.

This left the village headman both amused and exasperated.

The next morning, everyone continued to carefully make their way down the mountain.

During the lunch break, the village head and a few others studied the route using a map.

Wen Zichuan pointed to the Baihe Mountains, "We're roughly in this location right now."

"After crossing this mountain, it will take another three or four days to reach the flat road."

"It's a flat road!" The village head looked at the map again and again, then asked, "After we go down there, we still have to walk a bit to get to Luchuan County, right?"

Wen Zichuan nodded and said, "Yes, if we cross this entire mountain range, we can directly reach Luchuan County."

If they didn't have luggage, the Wen family could cross the Baihe Mountains, but with luggage, they could only walk on flat ground.

The village chief clicked his tongue. "Three or four days... that's about right. That mountain ahead looks rather steep, so we need to be careful when we go down."

The village head put away the map and went to the front to inform the team of the next steps.

Upon hearing that it would only take three or four days to walk out of the mountains, the people in the group only rested for a short while before going to search for food.

After they come down the mountain, they might not be able to find any food!

In the woods, Ning's mother followed behind Zhao Ningning and Zhao Qi.

Ning's father was watching the cars at the rest area, while she brought her two children out to collect firewood and see if there was anything they could take back.

The rainy season had taken a toll, so Ning's mother took the opportunity to return some of the food that He had previously sent.

Ms. He was afraid they would go hungry and refused to accept the food. It was only after Mr. Ning showed her the large bags of dried mushrooms and dried fish that Ms. He finally agreed to take it.

After accepting the food, she distributed the gold and had Zhou Jian secretly send half of it to Ningning's family.

Ning's mother figured that it would be difficult to find an excuse after they went down the mountain, so while they were still on the mountain, she wanted to find some food that she could take out and share some with the Zhou family.

If convenience is the key, then the rabbit meat in the storage space is the most suitable.

Speaking of rabbit meat, it was because Ning's dad saw that people in Sichuan province had a way of cooking rabbit cold, so he bought two packs of rabbit meat online.

Ning's dad cooked one, and it tasted good, but none of the four of them really liked rabbit meat, so the remaining one was frozen at the bottom of the freezer and left to live forever.

If it weren't for the daily updates of food in Ningning's space, Ning's mother would have forgotten about rabbit meat.

After accumulating for so long, she had a considerable amount of rabbit meat. She took out seven rabbits and put them in a basket to thaw, while she followed her two children to hunt in the woods.

Zhao Ningning actually found two edible wild vegetables, but unfortunately, they didn't have many leaves.

Zhao Ningning only picked a few of the larger wild vegetable leaves, leaving the rest of the vegetable heart to continue growing.

When the mother and her two children returned after being out for half a day, there was only a thin layer of wild vegetable leaves at the bottom of Zhao Ningning's small basket. He felt very bad when she saw this, so she called Zhou Jian over, grabbed a large handful of edible wild vegetables from her own basket, and asked Zhou Jian to take them over.

Zhou Jian quickly delivered it, then rushed back with the basket in his arms.

Upon seeing his mother, Zhou Jian was at a loss for words.

"Mother...they caught rabbits!" Zhou Jian lifted the basket of wild vegetables that had been left untouched, revealing two cleaned rabbits at the bottom!

I wonder how they grow up in these mountains; those two rabbits look quite plump!

Mrs. He swallowed hard, briefly shifting her gaze from the basket, and said solemnly, "Go again and take it back to them!"

"Okay." Zhou Jian was a little reluctant, but he readily agreed.

They took it back, and when they came back, they were still carrying the basket. Zhou Jian said with a flushed face, "...They said they had five more, and that we could eat them without worry."

"Five?!" Mrs. He was shocked. It was already difficult to catch any rabbits at all, let alone these two. They had caught seven rabbits in total!

Could it be that Ningning and her friends got lucky and accidentally stumbled upon a rabbit's burrow?

Despite Zhou Jian's envious gaze, Madam He did not utter the words "send it back."

—Well, since it's their good intention, I'll accept it.

Ningning's side.

Two were given to the Zhou family, and Ning's mother sent two more to the Wen family. After all, the Wen family was teaching Ningning and her two children martial arts, but they couldn't pay for the tuition, so they could only subsidize them with these gifts.

Then the village chief and his family gave one to each of them.

There's one left, just enough for our family to eat.

If you can't make cold-served rabbit, roasted rabbit is also a good option.

When more people eat meat, our family won't stand out.

Ning's father parked his car next to the line, cleared a clean spot on the ground, found some gravel to place on it, and then put dry firewood on top of the gravel to start a fire.

The fire was lit, and the prepared rabbits were skewered on branches and placed on the fire to roast directly. Before long, the fat rabbits began to sizzle and ooze oil.

The outer skin began to change from light yellow to golden brown. Ning's father took out a small knife to score the rabbit meat. When the blade touched the golden brown skin, "snap," the crispy skin was cut open, revealing the tender meat inside.

Bake for a while longer, then sprinkle some salt on top and it's ready to serve.

Everyone in the group was looking this way.

One moment they'd be looking at Zhao Lao Er's roasted rabbit, the next at Wen's braised rabbit, and then at the village head's rabbit soup.

The Zhou family, however, didn't have the same rabbit soup flavor as roasted rabbit, and they were far from the group, so only people nearby noticed that they were eating rabbit.

The people in the team were incredibly envious.

There's nothing I can do but envy them; they're just that good! They're the ones who can catch rabbits to eat!

Old Man Xi muttered, "Why didn't we, Da Shun, catch the rabbit!"

He didn't expect it either; Xi Dashun was too lazy to even bend down and pick up firewood, so how could he possibly go out and hunt rabbits?

Old Man Xi wasn't the only one who was envious; Granny Qian and the others were even more envious.

Almost.

They almost got to eat that rabbit too!

Zhao Huilan held the bowl and sipped the grass root and wild vegetable soup, her eyes fixed on Zhao Ningning.

—Such a big rabbit leg, Second Uncle gave it to Wu Ya, but Wu Ya didn't eat it!

"If only you had it! I wouldn't refuse! I would eat it!"

Zhao Huilan pursed her lips, closed her eyes, and the aroma of meat in the air almost transported her back to the New Year celebrations of the past.

Back then, it was still the Zhou family who did the cooking.

Her grandmother would be in the kitchen watching, the freshly made braised pork glistening and jiggling, and her mother would quickly grab a piece and stuff it into her mouth when her grandmother turned away.

It was a little hot, so she swished it around in her mouth a few times, tasted the fragrant meat, and then swallowed it down her throat.

……

Thinking about it, Zhao Huilan felt even more disappointed.

Seeing that Zhao Lao Er's family had eaten the rabbit completely clean, Granny Qian said with a hint of jealousy:

"You damned second son, you didn't even bother to offer a tribute after hunting a rabbit... You're such an ingrate! I've raised you for nothing all these years!"

"You severed all ties so easily! My heart aches..."