Chapter 410 – Perfectly Safe

Li Yiyi followed the soldiers with a calm expression, and looking at the quiet mountain ahead, she didn’t feel the slightest bit afraid.

As they entered the mountain, aside from some birdsong, there wasn’t even a trace of wild chickens or rabbits to be seen.

Li Yiyi followed behind the group, already fully expecting this. That was exactly why she insisted on coming up the mountain with them.

While the people in front were focused on surveying the surroundings, she discreetly smuggled a live white rabbit out from her dimensional supermarket and placed it on a tree stump.

The rabbit, freshly transported from the supermarket, hadn’t yet come to its senses. It sat dazedly on the stump like a silly little thing, and Li Yiyi quickly called out, “Come quick and take a look—is that a rabbit?”

At her shout, the group that had been scattered around searching for wild game immediately rushed over.

“Hey, it really is a rabbit! I can’t believe there are actually rabbits here. We’ve been searching all around and hadn’t seen a single one—thought there was nothing here,” Hong Shuo said excitedly when he spotted the big rabbit.

When he went to grab it, he realized the rabbit was acting like it had been drugged, completely unresponsive. He caught it with just a light grasp.

After the initial joy, he quickly grew anxious. Holding the rabbit tightly, he found Li Yiyi. “Comrade Li, this rabbit didn’t move at all when I caught it. Do you think it might have those parasites too? Is that why it was so easy to catch?”

Li Yiyi chuckled at his concern. To avoid raising suspicion, she suppressed her amusement and said, “Let me take a look.”

Hearing that, Hong Shuo immediately remembered her identity. “Right, you’re a doctor. You’ll be able to tell for sure.”

Without hesitation, he handed the rabbit over to her.

Li Yiyi was, of course, confident—after all, she had taken the rabbit straight from her supermarket space. There was no way it could be carrying any parasites.

So, after a casual inspection, she confidently said, “No issues. It’s perfectly safe. This rabbit couldn’t be healthier—we can definitely eat it.”

Relieved by her diagnosis, Hong Shuo grinned. “That’s great! Looks like we’ll have some meat for dinner tonight.”

“But there’s more than a dozen of us here,” Li Yiyi pointed out. “One rabbit won’t be enough. Let’s keep looking. We might find more.”

Now that they had a rabbit as proof, everyone was convinced there was food to be found in the mountain.

The group quickly scattered again to continue the search.

Meanwhile, Li Yiyi lingered at the back, occasionally sneaking out a few eggs or releasing one or two domesticated pheasants from her space.

By the time they were ready to return, they had collected one rabbit, three pheasants, and twelve eggs.

When they got back to the educated youth settlement, Dazhu was already there waiting for them. The moment he saw what they were carrying, his eyes widened in disbelief.

“Brother Dazhu, who would’ve thought the mountain behind your village would have so many goodies? Look at what we found!” Hong Shuo beamed, raising the rabbit in his hand proudly.

Dazhu rubbed his eyes, still stunned, and asked, “Comrade Hong, did you just say you found all that stuff from the mountain behind our village?”

“Of course!” Hong Shuo said cheerfully. “Didn’t I say? We got all this from your back mountain!”

Dazhu glanced again at the things in their hands and couldn’t help but wonder if they had been going to the wrong mountain all this time.

Their villagers went up that mountain every day, and not once had they brought back anything edible.

Yet these people had clearly found real food… he was confused.

Li Yiyi smiled and, seeing Dazhu standing there dumbfounded, asked, “Brother Dazhu, did you come over this late for something?”

“Oh, nothing much. Just wanted to ask how you’re handling dinner—and if there’s anything we can help with?”

Li Yiyi looked at what they had gathered. It still wasn’t quite enough. Since arriving at the mountain, they hadn’t had any white rice. Honestly, she could barely remember what it tasted like anymore.

“Now that you mention it, there is something we could use help with,” she said.

Dazhu immediately responded, “Just say the word, Comrade Li!”

“We’d like to ask for some rice… and a pot, if that’s possible?”

“That’s no problem at all!” Dazhu replied enthusiastically. “Our village grows rice—every household has some. And I’ve got an unused pot at home. I’ll bring it over for you.”

Li Yiyi was delighted and thanked him.

Dazhu was indeed reliable. Within half an hour, he had delivered everything they needed.

In addition to the rice and pot, he also brought along some fresh vegetables from his own home.

However, Li Yiyi was worried they had been watered with well water that might contain parasites, so in the end, they didn’t use them.

After everyone had eaten, it was already past ten o’clock. Since the local water was still a concern, no one bathed that night—they just went to bed.

Li Yiyi shared a room with Gu Weiwei, Liu Caifeng, and a few other women.

As she lay there listening to the chirping of crickets outside, sleep wouldn’t come. Her thoughts drifted to Jiang Shan, still out in the deep mountains on a mission.

Sometimes, she found it uncanny how thoughts could summon reality. The moment she thought of her man on a mission, she heard his voice outside.

At first, she thought she was imagining it—that she missed him so much she was hallucinating.

But then she heard it again, this time along with Hong Shuo’s voice, and realized it wasn’t just in her head.

She immediately got up from her floor mat and tiptoed outside.

In the quiet courtyard, two tall figures were standing and talking in low voices.

Li Yiyi instantly recognized the silhouette of the man who had been on her mind all evening.

“Jiang Hong,” she called softly to the figure.

Jiang Hong, who had been listening to Hong Shuo recount the day’s events, stiffened when he heard her voice. He turned around and his eyes immediately locked onto the woman standing there.

“Wife,” he said, his voice a little hoarse but full of a smile.

Li Yiyi walked up to him, ready to ask something, but the moment her gaze met the amused eyes of Hong Shuo, who was grinning at them like a cat that got the cream, she blushed and stopped herself from speaking.