Chapter 9: Returning Full Handed

Wen Yunhe suspected that her throat injury had healed so quickly because of the peach she had eaten.

Ordinary peaches definitely couldn’t have this kind of miraculous effect, but the peach tree grew by a spring. Perhaps this spring was the legendary spiritual spring?

With a mindset of trying, it out, Wen Yunhe filled a cup with water. The water looked crystal clear like jade, and the moment it touched her lips, a sweetness instantly filled her mouth.

The coolness mixed with delicate sweetness was so refreshing that it made her feel uplifted. It seemed as though even her breath became clearer and smoother.

She drank the water quickly, like a cow drinking, finishing the entire cup. The spring water, like nectar, soothed her dry throat.

She could clearly feel her injury improving. The swelling in her throat had completely disappeared, and the fatigue that had plagued her was gone. She felt full of energy.

Wen Yunhe was ecstatic; it really worked! The spiritual spring was incredibly powerful. Though it couldn’t resurrect the dead, it could likely save people as long as they still had breath.

This made her less fearful of the unknown. With the spiritual spring and her space, she had more leverage to protect the Wen family and survive the chaos of the world.

The effect of the spiritual spring was so strong. Could it have healed the bruise on her neck as well?

She hoped not—she didn’t know how to explain it to anyone if it did.

With this thought in mind, she rushed to the small bathroom in the yard. Seeing that there was still some bruise left on her neck, she breathed a sigh of relief.

The bruise didn’t look as bad as it had in the morning, though it still left some marks.

She quickly used some makeup to cover it, making it look like it did earlier, so it wouldn’t raise suspicion.

She couldn’t drink the spiritual spring water directly for the next few days.

But she could put some of the spiritual spring water in the water tank, diluting it so that the effect wouldn’t be as potent. This way, it could subtly improve everyone’s health and clear diseases.

She wondered if the spiritual spring would help her mother’s eyes. Maybe she could try both internal and external use. It might take time, but it was worth a try.

Previously, she had felt exhausted and had planned to rest before making dinner, but after drinking the spiritual spring water, she felt energized and couldn’t sleep at all.

Since she was wide awake, she decided to prepare something for dinner first. The two children had been working hard all day, so they needed something nutritious to recover their strength.

The small yard in her space had a lot of meat, but it wasn’t easy to take it out just like that. She had to come up with another plan.

The Wen family wasn’t wealthy. During busy farming seasons, the food was simple.

The meal at noon, besides the egg custard, was honestly hard to eat. Thinking about having the same food every day made her feel discouraged.

The urgent priorities now were: 

1. Improve the conditions at home. 

2. Solve the divorce issue. 

3. Stockpile enough food and survival supply for the future.

There were still nearly two months before the escape, so she could plan and prepare things step by step.

At this moment, she was extremely grateful for her previous profession. While attracting traffic with her videos, she had learned many survival skills and traditional crafts.

Many of these skills could be useful in ancient times. With her space and the spiritual spring, life was sure to improve.

She covered her face, grabbed a basket, tied a rope, and took the only machete at home before heading out.

Since it was the busy farming season, all the households had their laborers in the fields, and even the little children were out picking rice. She didn’t see anyone on her way, which saved her some trouble.

Following the small path that people had made, she walked further up the mountain. The air was filled with the ethereal calls of birds, and the rustling of wild chickens flapping their wings. Occasionally, a gray wild rabbit darted across the forest, leaving behind only a fleeting shadow.

The ancient forest was teeming with life, full of wild animals, unlike in later times when overhunting made them almost extinct.

However, catching wild game wasn’t an easy task.

She had once filmed an episode in the deep mountains, capturing wild rabbits and chickens. She had done a lot of research and consulted some old hunters, so she had some experience.

Hunting was something that only experienced hunters, or those who were willing to use bait, could succeed in.

Reaching a clearing, she looked around to assess the situation, chose a spot, and began setting up a trap.

Since there was no time to make a complicated trap, she simply chopped off a branch, tied it with rope, and used more branches to prop up a basket, leaving a gap large enough for an animal to enter.

She scattered oats from her space, along with other grains and beans, generously around the basket. There was also some outside, but not much, to attract animals toward the trap.

These grains and beans were the favorite food of birds and wild chickens. Though food was precious now, she knew that to get wild game, she had to sacrifice a little.

If Wen’s mother saw her wasting food just to catch wild animals, she would surely be heartbroken.

After all, food was a real commodity, but whether she could catch wild game was uncertain. Perhaps in the end, it would be a futile effort with no results.

Wen Yunhe had full confidence in herself. This was actually very similar to fishing—throw out the bait and see who has more patience to wait it out.

She hid herself in the nearby woods, disguising herself, leaving only her eyes visible as she carefully observed, holding the end of the rope in her hand.

As soon as something happened, she would pull the rope, and the branch holding up the basket would fall, causing the basket to crash down and trap the prey.

The principle was complicated, but the actual operation was quite simple.

After waiting for about ten minutes, a flock of birds and a few wild chickens noticed the “treasure” in front of them.

They rushed over to peck at the rare treat, unaware of the danger nearby.

One wild chicken was the first to notice the food under the basket. It cautiously looked around, but couldn’t resist the temptation and cautiously pecked a few times. Seeing no danger, it boldly walked under the basket to eat.

Wen Yunhe calmly kept her focus. It wasn’t time to pull the net yet.

Other wild chickens and small birds, after finishing the scattered grains nearby, also noticed that the basket seemed safe and dashed inside to eat.

A group of birds and wild chickens crowded together, competing for food as the grains on the ground dwindled.

Only then did Wen Yunhe pull the rope sharply. The basket fell heavily, trapping them all under it in a dense, dark pile. They couldn’t fly away.

The birds and two wild chickens that hadn’t gotten into the basket quickly flew off in panic, narrowly escaping with their lives.

Wen Yunhe happily began inspecting her catch.

Three sparrows, two pigeons, and two unfamiliar birds—altogether, seven birds.

Additionally, two wild chickens. It had taken more than half an hour, but this was her biggest haul.

Tonight, they could have wild chicken soup.

If she could find some mushrooms to pair with the chicken, making a wild chicken and mushroom soup would definitely be delicious.

She grabbed some vines nearby, tied up their legs, and put them all into the basket.

The basket was heavy, and the birds were making an awful racket, chirping loudly.

Oh, she could just put them into the space. How could she have forgotten that?

Finally, the world became quiet again.

She didn’t plan to set more traps. With these, they would have enough food for a few days. She hadn’t fully prepared today, but there would be more opportunities to come.

It was still early, and Wen Yunhe thought she should find some mushrooms to bring back, so she specifically looked for pine trees, oak trees, spruce trees, and cypress trees—her target was clear.

Generally, edible mushrooms grew more abundantly under these trees.

In no time, she had collected three large chicken-of-the-woods mushrooms, five liver mushrooms, and some dried-out mushrooms.

That was enough for two meals, so she decided not to search any further. She had been out for over an hour, and if Wen’s mother woke up and couldn’t find her, she would probably cry. It was better to head back.

On the way back, she passed through a pine forest. Remembering that she might need pine needles for kindling, she quickly freed up some space in her basket and filled it with pine needles.

This trip was truly a full haul.

Before entering the yard, she heard anxious voices inside.

“Yuer, where are you? Yuer…”

“Mom, I’m back.”

Wen Yunhe hurriedly entered with the basket on her shoulder.

“Yuer, you went out? Where did you go? I thought the He family had taken you away,” Wen’s mother said, stumbling towards her.

“I went to the mountains. Mom, today I got lucky and caught two wild chickens. We’re having meat for dinner tonight.” Wen Yunhe smiled and said, then turned to close the yard gate.

She first dumped the pine needles into the firewood shed, then took out the two wild chickens and mushrooms.

“Yuer, you’re really amazing! The last time we ate wild chicken was when your father caught it on the mountain,” Wen’s mother said, delighted when she heard the clucking sounds of the chickens.