As the last glow lingered on the horizon, Shu Wanxiu hurried up and down carrying a newly acquired wooden bucket and wooden basin, fetching water twice.

After filling both containers to the brim, she turned to Shu Shouyi, who had been following her every step, and said, “After we have our evening meal, Auntie will heat some water to wipe you down.”

The evening’s events had felt like a dream. After drifting back to reality in a daze, Shu Wanxiu’s first priority was to teach Shu Shouyi not to forget gratitude.

Only after repeatedly confirming that Shu Shouyi would remember did she relax and share happily: “Now our family has not only gained so many new household items, but you and I each have a change of clothes too. Tomorrow during the day, we can bathe properly and change out of these clothes we’re wearing.”

It was hard to say exactly how long it had been since they’d had a proper bath. After all, while fleeing famine, the more unkempt women and children looked, the less likely they were to be harmed.

Hearing Shu Wanxiu’s plans, Shu Shouyi lowered his head to sniff his own smell and quickly made a gagging expression.

Shu Wanxiu was greatly amused by his reaction. “Shouyi can’t stand it anymore either, can you?”

“Mm!!”

Noticing Shu Shouyi had become a bit more lively, vaguely regaining his mischievous spirit from before their flight, Shu Wanxiu was overjoyed. She didn’t even sit for long before rolling up her sleeves to start preparing the evening meal.

“Let me tell you, nephew – I thought we’d have to wait over a month to eat vegetable porridge, but unexpectedly today we received greens from kind aunties.”

What Chen Sanhe gave would have been enough for two or three days, but then Aunt Pang and Aunt Lin Xinghua also brought vegetables.

Now in a shaded corner of the Shu family’s main room, there were not just greens but also several types of durable melons – pumpkin, loofah, and wax gourd – along with about thirty eggs.

Shu Wanxiu took out one golden herb, stripped off all the leaves and washed them clean, then twisted them into small segments with her hands. She didn’t put them in the pot immediately but set them aside in a bowl for later use.

As darkness had completely fallen and Shu Wanxiu didn’t want Shu Shouyi staying up too late, she added two large dry sticks to the fire while cooking the porridge. The flames burned fiercely, bringing the pot to a boil quickly.

To prevent the porridge from sticking to the pot, she gently stirred the bottom with a wooden spoon until the rice grains burst open, reaching the perfect consistency for serving.

Without a word, Shu Shouyi brought out two stools, pushed one under Shu Wanxiu, and sat on the other himself, swinging his short legs while staring eagerly at the porridge pot over the fire.

“Don’t be impatient.”

Just before the porridge was ready, Shu Wanxiu took an egg from beside her, decisively cracked it into a bowl, quickly scrambled it, and poured it into the pot.

Watching the egg mixture change color, she finally added the small golden herb segments to blanch them before beginning to serve the porridge.

From the moment the egg was added, Shu Shouyi was nearly drooling. As soon as the porridge was in his hands, he couldn’t wait to press his mouth to the bowl’s edge and inevitably scalded himself, grimacing in pain.

Shu Wanxiu quickly ‘confiscated’ his porridge and went to the bucket to scoop some cool water for him to soothe his mouth.

“Auntie,” he said, looking up while the redness on his lips hadn’t yet faded. He wasn’t thinking about the porridge though – his short finger pointed at the eggshell Shu Wanxiu had placed on the ground as he asked: “Can we roast and eat the egg white on the eggshell like we did at home?”

“We can.” Shu Wanxiu’s main attention remained on him, but that didn’t stop her from answering promptly.

Eggs, when cracked open raw and poured into a bowl, make it difficult to fully extract all the egg white.

Its sticky nature means that even after scraping the shell two or three times with a finger, a tiny amount of egg white inevitably remains inside.

Who among farming families doesn’t know that eggs are a precious food? So even this small residue cannot be wasted.

The best way to handle it is to clamp the shell with fire tongs and hold it near the flames. In no time, the small amount of egg white inside is roasted solid by the high heat. After peeling off the shell, that tiny, white, and fragrant roasted egg white can leave a lasting impression on a poor child’s palate.

Thanks to careful handling, her lips weren’t scalded. Once the porridge had cooled, Shu Wanxiu handed it to him again.

Although the porridge still didn’t contain much rice, the addition of eggs and vegetables made it much more substantial.

Shu Shouyi contentedly and happily drank two bowls of egg and vegetable porridge. As soon as he put down the bowl, Shu Wanxiu handed him the freshly roasted eggshells.

“Auntie, you have some too.”

Of the two half-shells, Shouyi only reached for one.

“Auntie is full from the porridge. You can have them all.”

With such a tiny amount—no larger than a fingernail—how could Shu Wanxiu compete with a child? Still, seeing her nephew think of her even when enjoying a small treat warmed her heart.

She scrubbed the pot clean, placed it back over the fire, and began heating water for washing.

Turning away for just a moment, she heard Shouyi, while eating, unintentionally swallow even the eggshell.

After finishing, he cautiously looked up to gauge Shu Wanxiu’s expression.

He didn’t realize that eggshells are brittle and make a sound when eaten.

Shu Wanxiu heard it, but she neither scolded him for being greedy nor told him to spit it out.

Having once survived on tree bark, how could she possibly think eggshells were inedible?

The child had simply been starved during their flight from famine. Even with over thirty eggs now in the house, he still didn’t feel secure.

Truth be told, Shu Wanxiu didn’t feel secure either.

The sudden outpouring of kindness today was unexpected, and she was deeply grateful. Yet she knew clearly that from now on, she and her nephew would have to rely on themselves. There was still a long, difficult road ahead.

They could grow more vegetables themselves, but eggs couldn’t be planted—they would have to find a way to raise chickens someday.

But when would they ever have the means to buy chicks and raise them?

Since she had never heard of anyone falling ill from eating eggshells, and since they were edible, she didn’t object to Shouyi savoring every bit.

So, as Shouyi watched her anxiously, she bent down, patted his head, and reassured him gently, “Next time, Auntie will wash the eggshells more thoroughly.”

Relieved at not being scolded, the child’s eyes instantly sparkled.

But the next moment, when Shu Wanxiu poured out a bowl of bitter medicine, his expression dimmed again.

Having eaten so much, Shouyi’s stomach was already bulging. Forced to down a bowl of medicine, he let out two loud burps and slumped against the chair back.

Soon, his eyelids grew heavy and closed against his will.

Seeing he was about to fall fast asleep, and considering he would bathe tomorrow anyway, Shu Wanxiu didn’t insist on him washing up before bed.

However, she didn’t dare let him sit near the fire, afraid he might doze off and tumble into the flames.

She moved the stool further away, poured warm water to wash his face clean, and finally carried him to the room, covering him with a thin quilt.

Worried about the fright incident, Shu Wanxiu didn’t dare sleep deeply that night, waking up at least three or four times. Fortunately, each time, Shu Shouyi showed no signs of restlessness.

Just before dawn, she finally allowed herself to fall into a deep sleep for a while.

…

As dusk gave way to dawn, by the time the aunt and nephew got up, the sky was already fully bright.

Shu Wanxiu picked a small handful of Chinese Leek, washed it clean, and similarly chopped it into small sections to cook a pot of vegetable congee.

While having breakfast, Shu Wanxiu felt grateful to be living on this deserted mountain with no neighbors nearby. Otherwise, rising so late every day would likely leave others with the impression that she was lazy.

Unexpectedly, Shu Shouyi soon pointed toward a direction at the foot of the mountain and said, “Aunt, there’s smoke rising over there too!”

Skeptical, she followed his pointing finger and was puzzled to see a plume of smoke indeed rising. Judging by its direction, it wasn’t very far from their house.

Could it be that some other household in the village was also having breakfast this late?

Although she had met some villagers yesterday, she didn’t know where each family lived.

After a brief moment of puzzlement, she stopped overthinking it and took her nephew to continue weeding in front of the house as they had done the day before.

Today’s goal was also to clear a patch of land and plant two types of vegetables.

At the foot of the mountain, Xun Yi had returned late last night but did not sleep in today.

His routine was like that of most villagers—he rose at the break of dawn.

As a blacksmith, his daily work involved heavy labor, so early in the morning, he cooked a pot of dry rice and, paired with pickles his sister had made before her marriage, devoured three bowls like a whirlwind.

After the meal, he sorted through the iron materials he had brought back yesterday, taking out what he needed for the day’s forging and locking the rest back in the house.

Forging consumed a lot of charcoal. Most of his firewood was stacked under the eaves, while the woodshed stored charcoal. Each day before starting work, he had to carry a load of it to the furnace room.

After finishing his preparations, he locked the door and headed toward the center of the village.