The sky was caught between darkness and dawn, with thin mist still lingering among the mountains. Some diligent households had already risen to sweep their courtyards.

Pang Zhishan had risen at the cock’s crow today. After washing and dressing, he went door to door notifying everyone: At the beginning of the Chen hour (7-9 am), each household should send one or two people to the village threshing ground to discuss refugee settlement matters.

As for the only two refugees, Shu Wanxiu and her nephew naturally didn’t need to participate in this meeting.

By the time Shu Wanxiu woke up, the sky was already quite bright. After getting up, she first checked the embers from yesterday to confirm she could start a fire later, then entered the room to roll up the straw curtain blocking the wind from the window before shaking Shu Shouyi awake.

“Come down the mountain with Auntie. We need to borrow a pot from Aunt Chen before we can make breakfast.”

Shu Shouyi opened his eyes drowsily, stared at Shu Wanxiu’s face for two breaths, then obediently climbed up.

“Let’s go.” Shu Wanxiu carefully carried the earthen pot used for brewing medicine. The dregs of herbal medicine from last night hadn’t been discarded – today she could add water and brew it again.

However, with both hands carefully holding the medicine pot, she couldn’t hold Shu Shouyi’s hand. She could only have him hold onto her clothes and remind him to watch his step carefully to avoid kicking stones and falling.

Truth be told, after fleeing famine across thousands of miles, even a child as small as Shu Shouyi had developed considerable walking stamina.

Having not rained overnight, the ground was much drier, eliminating the need to tiptoe while walking. Soon enough, the two reached the stream at the mountain’s base.

This was a stream over ten feet wide. With the heavy rains of the past two days, the water level was currently high and the current quite rapid.

Shu Wanxiu didn’t dare be careless in the slightest, stopping Shu Shouyi from a considerable distance away.

She found a dry spot free of insects and ants to place the earthen pot, confirming the bowl placed upside down on top remained steady, before taking Shu Shouyi’s hand and approaching the stream slightly closer.

“Keep your head down properly. Auntie will wash your face clean.”

He nodded, spreading his legs apart and lowering his head and back slightly.

Shu Wanxiu found this insufficient, so she simply pulled him into her arms. First squatting by the stream herself, she then clamped him between her legs, pressing his back to lean over her thighs. With one hand supporting his forehead and the other scooping water, she washed his face.

Shu Shouyi had long grown accustomed to his aunt washing his face with her hands, skillfully closing his eyes and holding his breath.

The stream water was somewhat cool. After scrubbing his face clean, Shu Wanxiu used her sleeve to wipe his face dry.

“Auntie, can I open my eyes now?” Shu Shouyi asked in a muffled voice.

“Alright, alright, you can open your eyes now.”

Shu Shouyi let out a long exhale before opening his eyes.

Shu Wanxiu looked at his sallow, dark, and thin face that had turned red from holding his breath too long, feeling quite helpless. “Next time when Auntie wipes your face, you can breathe out.”

“Mm, I understand, Auntie.”

It was like this every time.

He agreed readily, but when the next time came, he still forgot.

Shu Wanxiu shook her head helplessly.

Due to the hysteria, this child had become somewhat slow.

Fortunately, the doctor said it was only temporary and would resolve once the hysteria was cured.

Comforted by these words, Shu Wanxiu thought: For now, it’s fine if he’s a bit slow – she could accept that.

Not emphasizing this point further, Shu Wanxiu cupped his face and carefully checked for any unwashed spots.

After inspection, she confirmed his face was clean, but his hair was quite messy.

Using her fingers as a comb, she smoothed his hair strand by strand. For particularly unruly sections, she dampened her hand with water to flatten them properly.

Doing this wasn’t very useful – if not properly tied up, it would soon become messy again.

There was no other way. During their escape from famine, they had pawned both the cloth hair ties and the cloth wrappers.

Fortunately, there were plenty of plants in the mountains. When she had time, she could pick some long-stemmed wild grass and weave it into hair ties.

After helping her nephew tidy up, Shu Wanxiu also groomed herself by the stream. Feeling she had achieved the most presentable appearance possible under the circumstances, she stopped fussing. Picking up Shu Shouyi, she crossed the log bridge with sweaty palms.

Yesterday, Shu Wanxiu had asked for directions to Pang Lizhang’s house. After crossing the log bridge, she proceeded without delay toward the center of the village. After passing two or three intersections, she spotted a house with green bricks and tiles surrounded by a bamboo fence.

All the other houses along the way were made of mud bricks, making this one unique. Shu Wanxiu knew she must have reached Pang Lizhang’s residence.

Indeed, although the bamboo fence was dense, it wasn’t tall. At her height, Shu Wanxiu could see into the courtyard.

Inside were two figures – one standing and one sitting. Chen Sanhe was the standing one, drawing water from the well. Beside her was a delicate-looking woman around thirty years old, sitting before a wooden tub washing clothes.

After Shu Wanxiu watched for a few moments, the woman washing clothes alertly looked up.

“Oh!”

Surprised to meet Shu Wanxiu’s gaze, she quickly turned toward Chen Sanhe and said, “Mother, they’re here.”

Chen Sanhe had just drawn a bucket of water and was pulling up the rope. Hearing this, she looked up toward the courtyard entrance.

Shu Wanxiu hurriedly called out: “Aunt Chen!”

“Ah!” Chen Sanhe responded heartily. Holding the newly drawn bucket of well water with one hand, she turned to pour it into the vat, deftly covered the well, and quickly reached the courtyard gate to open the bamboo fence door for them.

“Why did you come so late? If you’d been any later, I would have gone up the mountain to check on you.”

From their contact the previous evening, Shu Wanxiu knew Chen Sanhe was straightforward, but being thin-skinned, she blushed crimson at the remark.

Just as she was about to explain she had overslept, the delicate woman nearby smilingly came to her rescue.

“Having just moved into a new home, you probably didn’t sleep well, right? Or perhaps you were frightened living in the mountains?”

Chen Sanhe had only been concerned about their late arrival, worried they might have gotten lost or something had happened. Hearing her daughter-in-law’s words, she immediately asked how they had slept and whether they had heard any wild animals howling.

While Chen Sanhe was asking, the delicate woman scooped water to rinse her hands and went inside.

Soon, she brought out three wooden chairs with backs in two trips, placing them before Shu Wanxiu, her nephew, and Chen Sanhe, inviting them to sit and chat.

Shu Wanxiu paused her conversation with Chen Sanhe to thank her. “…May I ask how to address you?”

Although she guessed this was likely Chen Sanhe’s daughter-in-law, Shu Wanxiu didn’t presume to assign a title.

The woman smiled gently, a shallow dimple appearing at the left corner of her mouth. “You can call me Sister-in-law Pang. No need for thanks.”

Then Chen Sanhe introduced her: “I have two sons and one daughter. This is my eldest son’s wife, also my niece from my maiden family. Like me, her surname is Chen, and her given name is Lian.”

Since they were all seated, some casual conversation was inevitable. Shu Wanxiu asked, “Aunt Chen, which village is your maternal family from?””

“There, Wuli Village.”

Chen Sanhe raised his chin and gestured in the direction from which Shu Wanxiu had come.

“Wuli Village?”

Shu Wanxiu said enthusiastically, “I know! Because my uncle’s family settled in Wuli Village, yesterday Pang Lizhang kindly took Shouyi and me to Wuli Village for a walk.”

Shu Wanxiu’s grandparents had three children, all sons. Unfortunately, the eldest and youngest died young, leaving only Shu Wanxiu’s father to reach adulthood.

In her father’s generation, they only had one son and one daughter.

That uncle was the descendant of Shu Wanxiu’s great-grandfather’s elder brother. He was ten years older than her father, and since childhood, her family had taught Shu Wanxiu and her brother to call him uncle.

After her brother and sister-in-law passed away, the uncle had taken care of them a great deal. Later, when settling down, the uncle pleaded with the county officials to assign their two families to neighboring villages.

Yesterday, knowing that Wuli Village came first and Wupai Village was behind it, the uncle asked Pang Lizhang to accompany them along the way, just so the two of them could familiarize themselves with the route. This way, they could seek help from Wuli Village whenever needed in the future.

During the day, things had been too rushed. Chen Sanhe had heard about this from Pang Zhishan before bed and was already aware of the situation, so he wasn’t surprised. Instead, he said, “In the future, when Xiaolian and I return to her family home, you two can join us to visit your uncle.””

This was an opportunity too good to refuse. Shu Wanxiu eagerly agreed.

“Please don’t laugh, Aunt Chen. Although I tried hard to memorize the route yesterday, I’m still afraid of taking a wrong turn. Having you and sister-in-law accompany us would be the best.”

After their lively conversation, Chen Sanhe remembered the main reason for Shu Wanxiu’s visit and hurried into the kitchen to fetch a small iron pot.

“I thought a small pot would be just right for the two of you to cook meals. Our family usually uses the large stove, so this small pot isn’t of much use to us. There’s no need to rush to return it; you can keep it until you’ve saved enough money to buy one yourselves.”

Not only that, but Chen Sanhe also packed some seeds for her.

“The court has issued relief grain to you, but being new here, you must have no vegetables to eat. At this time of year, even wild vegetables are hard to find in the mountains. You should quickly clear the land around your house and plant some vegetables.”

“Alright!” Shu Wanxiu responded, her eyes reddening.

At that moment, she felt that Aunt Chen’s tone of concern and guidance was exactly like that of her late mother.

“I’ll listen to you, Aunt Chen. After breakfast, I’ll go pull weeds as soon as I return.”

The sallow-faced girl’s eyes welled up with tears for no apparent reason. Her already dark eyes grew moist, making them even more lively and endearing.

Guessing that the child must have suffered greatly on her journey and wondering what sad memories had surfaced, Chen Sanhe didn’t press further. Instead, she affectionately patted Shu Wanxiu’s head and said gently, “Good child, hurry back now. I’ll come to see you later.”

Shu Wanxiu thought Aunt Chen’s words about “coming to see you later” were merely polite, but she still replied earnestly, “You’re welcome anytime. Wanxiu will be waiting.”

…

Back at the stream, this time neither the aunt nor the nephew could return empty-handed.

Shu Wanxiu assigned Shu Shouyi to carry the lighter earthen pot, while she washed the small iron pot, filled it halfway with water, and carried it up the mountain.

The first thing she did upon returning home was not to start a fire, but to check whether the grass knot tied to the door had been disturbed.

Leaving their grain at home had required immense courage on her part.

Fortunately, neither wild animals had broken in nor had anyone stolen the two refugees’ relief grain.

With half a pot of water, she washed two bowls once, rinsed the rice once, and used the remainder to cook porridge.

Her uncle had secretly taught her that although the imperial court had posted notices to reassure refugees like them, promising monthly relief grain distribution per person after settlement, over time… it was hard to say whether some woodworms might try to embezzle these grains.

It was late October now. In recent years, rice-wheat rotation had become popular in the south, keeping the fields productive year-round.

The spring wheat to be harvested in the first half of next year had already been sown. They had neither wheat seeds nor allocated land, so they couldn’t catch this season’s planting.

However, waiting until around May next year to receive rice seeds, then cultivating and waiting until early October for the autumn harvest—that was too long! A full year.

Just in case, the grain they received had to be eaten sparingly. If they felt hungry, they could tighten their belts a little; every bit of grain saved counted.

Even if the relief grain were cut off by August or September next year, the little they had saved over the previous months could help them hold out until the autumn harvest, right?

Keeping her uncle’s words firmly in mind, Shu Wanxiu made her porridge even thinner by two-tenths compared to what was distributed at the charity porridge stalls outside the county town.

After finishing his bowl, Shu Shouyi smacked his lips and asked with a puzzled look, “Aunt, why is there so much water in the porridge today?”

Shu Wanxiu’s gaze wavered slightly. She couldn’t tell her young nephew about her hidden worries that corrupt officials or woodworms might withhold the grain. She could only say, “We don’t have much grain, so we must eat frugally. Although I don’t have a solution right now, once we grow vegetables, it’ll be better. We can cook vegetable porridge, and that will be more filling.”

“Okay,” Shu Shouyi nodded obediently.

Even before his illness, the child had been well-behaved. After falling ill, he remained just as docile and easy to care for. Though he didn’t always manage to do what he promised, he never argued with what she said.

Seeing his obedient, slightly dazed expression, Shu Wanxiu felt her strength surge. She wished she could immediately clear all the weeds around the house, plant a patch of vegetables, and ensure that neither she nor her nephew would go hungry again.