Chapter 8: Crisis

Xia Daohua’s face twisted from the pain, and her voice involuntarily changed pitch:

“Let go! You’re biting my finger!”

Linghua released her teeth and let go of Xia Daohua’s finger, but immediately clamped down hard on the candy ball instead. With a big, joyful smile, she mumbled:

“Sister, you’re the best!”

This little girl—she usually just called her “Daohua,” but now suddenly remembered to call her “sister”!

Xia Daohua couldn’t help but smile.

Suddenly, Linghua propped herself up, threw herself into Xia Daohua’s arms, wrapped her little arms around her neck, and with a loud “smooch,” planted a wet, slobbery kiss right on her cheek.

Before Xia Daohua could react, Linghua giggled mischievously, spun around, and ran off.

That soft little body suddenly pouncing on her, then letting go just as suddenly—it was all so unexpected.

Xia Daohua turned her head and raised her sleeve to wipe off the slobber. For a moment, she couldn’t quite describe what she was feeling inside.

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With the two little troublemakers—one genuine, one not—gone, Jiang-shi and Lihua worked much more efficiently.

In less than an hour, they had already washed all the bedding and clothes that needed to be taken apart and cleaned. Everything was now hung neatly on the clothesline in the courtyard to dry.

The clothesline was full of bedding and garments patched in every color imaginable—sheets, shirts, pants, skirts, robes. When the wind blew, they flapped noisily in unison. It was quite a grand sight—like flags from all nations waving together.

The sunlight was good, but the weather was still brutally cold.

Very quickly, even after several rounds of wringing, the wet clothes froze stiff like boards, as if made of ice. Water that had dripped down along the fabric’s weave had already frozen into icicle-like tassels.

The children ran under the clotheslines, gleefully raising sticks of firewood to knock down the icicles.

Some of the kids, silly and clueless, even shoved the icicles into their mouths and ate them like candy.

Xia Daohua couldn’t bear to watch.

She seriously considered whether she should smuggle out some candy balls to share with the little ones and give them a taste of real sweetness.

After thinking about it, she decided—better not, for now.

Eating less sugar was better for their teeth, anyway.

Xia Daohua only stood in the courtyard briefly to take a look, then turned and went back inside to warm herself by the fire.

Her clothes were thick and warm, so she wasn’t cold. But her head—cold air breezed right through it. That she couldn’t take.

Her hair had been completely shaved for easier application of medicine. And to avoid touching the wound or disturbing the medicinal paste, she couldn’t even wear a hat.

Jiang-shi had thoughtfully wrapped a headscarf around her, but to avoid the wound, it only covered part of her head—barely enough to block the cold at all.

So Xia Daohua returned indoors, but Linghua stayed outside. The children from the Fifth and Sixth Households—Zao Hua and Liu Lang—were there too. With playmates around, the sister who wouldn’t cooperate in games had been tossed aside without a second thought.

As she rolled snowballs and built snowmen with Zao Hua and Liu Lang, Linghua grumbled inwardly:

“Ever since Daohua hurt her head, she’s gotten so lazy! She won’t even build a snowman! And she actually gave away the candy ball big brother gave her! Did she really fall and knock her brains loose?!”

Naturally, Xia Daohua couldn’t hear Linghua’s inner thoughts. She had no idea the little girl was silently roasting her for being brain-damaged. Seeing that no one was around, she happily entered the supermarket space.

She checked her remaining supermarket coins, then bought a whole bunch of cooked foods and snacks, storing them in an easily accessible area in her supermarket inventory.

In truth, the Xia family’s meals were already considered pretty decent among the tenant households of Beiguan Village.

Though the staples were mostly coarse grains, the dishes had no meat, and the vegetables were just radish, cabbage, and pickled mustard chunks—at least they could eat their fill.

But to Xia Daohua, this food was practically inedible.

A meal or two was okay, just to switch things up once in a while.

Eating it every day? That was pure torture.

So Xia Daohua hid in the supermarket storage area and ate an entire box of pre-sliced braised pork knuckle.

Back in the modern world, Xia Daohua had preferred lean meat. When it came to red meat, she mostly ate steak or lamb chops—occasionally some tenderloin. As for pork belly or knuckle, no matter how well it was cooked, she wouldn’t even touch it.

Mainly because the fat content was too high. She thought it wasn’t healthy.

But now—after being brutally educated by reality—she had come to fully appreciate the beauty of fat.

The box of braised pork knuckle weighed 200 grams. She didn’t pair it with anything, just ate it straight, and still finished the whole thing in one go—with a lingering desire for more.

Even so, Xia Daohua resisted the urge to binge.

She carefully wiped her greasy fingers and lips with wet wipes, brushed her teeth, rinsed her mouth, and threw all the packaging and used wipes into the trash bin inside the supermarket storage area. Then, she tiptoed back out of the space.

The main room was quiet. Not a soul in sight.

The little tea stove still burned warmly, its firewood crackling.

From outside came waves of laughter and shouts—Linghua, Zao Hua, and Liu Lang’s excited voices echoed from afar.

It seemed the kids were still outside playing in the snow—having a blast.

Looking through the stove door at the flickering flames inside, Xia Daohua suddenly thought of a serious question:

What was the time relationship between the outside world and the supermarket space?

The Xia family had no clocks. To keep time, they mostly relied on the sun during the day and the stars at night. When it was overcast or rainy, it all came down to gut feeling.

Inside the supermarket, there were all kinds of timekeeping devices—but she couldn’t take them out and use them directly!

The question bothered Xia Daohua for a bit, but she didn’t dwell on it.

After all, she was now a little kid sitting on a mountain of treasure. What she needed most now wasn’t curiosity or bold exploration—but to stay calm, act cute, and keep a low profile and survive.

For that, she not only had to do her best to play the part of a normal child, but also actively learn everything she could about this era.

So far, she had learned:

The Xia family lived in a village called Beiguan Village, which was under the jurisdiction of Beiguan Town, which belonged to Beiguan County, a border stronghold in the far north of the Great Chu Empire.

North of Beiguan County lay the Northern Barbarians’ territory, separated by eighteen mountain ridges.

The Northern Barbarians would send troops to harass Beiguan County almost every two or three years.

Fortunately, Beiguan Village was in a remote and impoverished corner of the county. More importantly—those eighteen mountain ridges were incredibly hard to cross.

So although the Northern Barbarians frequently invaded, the flames of war rarely reached Beiguan Village directly.

These bits of information mostly came from the original host’s memories.

And just thinking about how she was practically sitting on the rim of a volcano, Xia Daohua felt her scalp go numb.

(End of Chapter)