Chapter 10: Retrieving Objects from Thin Air

Madam Xu’s blisters had burst, and she was now sitting on a rock, groaning softly. Madam Qian wanted to stay behind to take care of her, so she looked at Yan Huan with an apologetic expression and said embarrassedly, “I’m afraid this will trouble you, little sister-in-law.”

Yan Huan didn’t find Yan Xiyao a burden. Having only met a few times, she had already managed to rank second in the child’s heart, which made Yan Huan quite happy. She playfully flicked her nose and said with a smile, “If Xiyao is obedient, Auntie will take you along.”

Yan Xiyao jumped up excitedly, shouting happily, “I’ll listen to everything Auntie says!”

Seeing her so happy, Yan Huan couldn’t help but feel a pang of sadness. This child was still so young and didn’t know what she would face next. Right now, seeing relatives she hadn’t seen in a long time, she still felt a sense of novelty. But in a little while, if she really had to eat those throat-scratching vegetable dumplings, she would probably choke and cry.

Silently, she thought about getting some good food for her later. She would do her best along the way to make sure the child suffered less.

Having experienced hardship herself as a child, someone who had been rained on always wanted to hold an umbrella for others.

Yan Xiyao wouldn’t let Jiang Duo’er touch her and held Yan Huan’s hand the whole way. Naturally, Yan Huan couldn’t just disappear into her dimension in front of her. The two of them first honestly went to look for wild vegetables.
The further north they went, the drier and cooler the climate became. The wild vegetables in the wilderness were noticeably fewer than near the border of the capital. The two of them searched for a long time and only managed to fill half a basket, let alone find anything delicious for Yan Xiyao.

Yan Huan couldn’t take out delicious food from her dimension in front of the little one. Jiang Duo’er got bored after playing for a while. When Yan Huan found a small pool to wash the wild vegetables, she was already lying on the grass to the side, chewing on a foxtail grass, completely giving up.

It was always inconvenient to constantly go into her dimension to retrieve things. Yan Huan wanted to try if she could take things out without entering it. Taking advantage of the opportunity to wash the vegetables, Yan Huan used her mind to take out a fish stored in her dimension. Unexpectedly, it actually worked.

Suppressing the wild joy in her heart, she scooped the fish out of the water.

The fish was dead, but it would be easy to fool the little Yan Xiyao.

Adjusting the expression on her face, she pretended to be surprised and exclaimed, “Oh, look what I caught! There’s actually a fish in this water. We’ll have a treat tonight!”

To prevent Yan Xiyao, who was sitting next to her, from noticing anything amiss, Yan Huan tossed the fish to Jiang Duo’er who was on the side.

“Duo’er, you can clean the fish.”

As soon as the dead fish was in her hands, Jiang Duo’er knew that Yan Huan must have taken it out of her dimension. Although she didn’t know exactly how Yan Huan did it, as friends for so many years, they had this much understanding.

She raised her eyebrows at Yan Huan to indicate she understood, then forcefully slammed the dead fish on the ground, pretending to stun it. Then, looking at the motionless fish on the ground, she looked a little troubled.

“We don’t have any suitable tools.” In their previous life, they both cooked at home, and she always helped Yan Huan with chores. Cleaning fish was a piece of cake, but the problem was, there was no knife now. How was she supposed to clean the fish?

The guards wouldn’t allow them to carry knives, not even small ones, as they could be used as weapons.

Yan Huan looked around, picked up a flat, thin stone, tossed it to her, and said with a smile, “Sharpen it on the side and make do with it.”

The stone knife wasn’t sharp, but Jiang Duo’er was strong. It could probably work if they made do.

Seeing that the method worked, Yan Huan followed suit and took out two more fish from her dimension.

Yan Xiyao watched as her little aunt conjured up several fish as if by magic. She jumped up and down clapping her hands, shouting, “Little Auntie is amazing! Little Auntie is the best!” Her rainbow-colored flattery made Yan Huan feel a little lightheaded.

These were probably the only fish that had been brought into the kitchen, meant to be eaten that day. The fish had died before they could be cleaned due to the sudden events. If they wanted to eat fish again, they would have to find another way.

Thinking about what Zhao Song had said earlier that the situation would become increasingly difficult, she knew they had to prepare well. There wasn’t much food in her dimension, and it would eventually run out.

By the time the wild vegetables were washed clean, the three fish were almost ready. One for the Yan family, one for the Jiang family, and Yan Huan sent the remaining one to the guards as an extra meal.

The dinner consisted of only one fish and half a basket of wild vegetables.

The fish was for the masters, and most of the wild vegetables were stir-fried for the servants.

The first branch of the Yan family, excluding the second son Yan Jinrong, had seven people left. The second branch had five, the third had four, the fourth had ten, plus the old madam. For such a large family, this little bit of food was really not enough.

The fish wasn’t big, maybe a little over a pound. If they really ate the meat, each person wouldn’t even get a chopstickful. The old method was to make soup, adding more water, just for the fresh flavor, so that the vegetable dumplings would be easier to swallow with the soup.

Previously, the maternal grandfather, thinking that grains wouldn’t spoil easily, had prepared a cart of rice and flour for them. But the guards wouldn’t allow them to bring too much. In the end, they only kept a small bag of flour. Yan Huan planned to save it for the old madam and the younger children so they could have a few more meals.

Although the vegetable dumplings didn’t taste great, they were proper staple food. They couldn’t be too picky on the road of exile. As long as it filled their stomachs, that was enough. They could find ways to improve their meals when they had the chance.

First, everyone was given a small half-bowl of soup. Then, all the fish in it was scooped out, the bones removed, and the fish meat was distributed to the elderly and the growing children. Finally, the remaining fish soup was used to cook a noodle soup, with the remaining wild vegetables added, which could be considered a combination of meat and vegetables.

The old madam nodded secretly, seeing Yan Huan’s arrangements were so well-organized.

Fortunately, this girl didn’t take after her mother and was quite capable.

However, with so many people, there were many things to deal with. Some were satisfied, but others were not.

Everyone was quietly eating, except for Jinshi, the third concubine of the fourth branch, who directly threw the vegetable dumpling in her hand onto the ground. Her face was full of grievance, and tears streamed down her face as if they cost nothing.

“Fourth Master, look at this! Is this food for humans? I can’t eat it!”

Yan Qinglin was eating a vegetable dumpling, half of it in his mouth, unable to swallow or spit it out.
Not food for humans? Then he was eating it, so did that mean he wasn’t human?

He felt a little annoyed, but looking at her delicate face, he couldn’t bring himself to say the words of reproach.

He first glanced at the old madam. Seeing that she was looking down and minding her own business, completely ignoring them, he then bent down to pick up the vegetable dumpling from the ground, patted off the dust, and coaxed softly, “Eat a few bites to fill your stomach first. I’ve still hidden some money here. I’ll go find the officer later and see if I can exchange it for something better to eat.”

Originally, this was an issue for the elders, and Yan Huan didn’t want to get involved. But hearing what her fourth uncle said, Yan Huan finally couldn’t help but laugh.

It was strictly forbidden to privately carry belongings on the road of exile. The main reason the Xu family was able to send her that package of medicine was because the journey was long, and no one could guarantee there wouldn’t be minor illnesses or disasters along the way. Having these life-saving medicines from the Xu family provided the guards with extra security, so they did her a favor.