Chapter 21

At the old Xu family home, Liu Guifang was causing a ruckus, urging to go find Gu Qinghuan to ask for food.

Xu Mingshan came out to quell the disturbance.

He was a person who cared about face. Since the food had already been given, it should be given properly and with respect, leaving some face and goodwill. If they gave it and then started to make a fuss, wouldn’t that be slapping their own face?

Although Liu Guifang was sharp-tongued, she dared not defy Xu Mingshan’s decision and could only begrudgingly accept the situation.

In the end, no one believed her that the food was really lost; they all just thought she was making a fuss.

However, the old Xu family wasn’t short of food, after all.

Gu Qinghuan rested for a while, but the kang was too hard, making it impossible to sleep comfortably. It was very uncomfortable.

She got up just in time to tidy up the things from her previous life.

The food at home was now stored in her room—big and small bags, and without a cupboard, it was truly inconvenient.

There seemed to be a carpenter in the village. They should be able to make a cupboard, right? She decided she would have to make a few cupboards sometime soon.

The bedding and sheets from her old belongings had been given to the east room, leaving only a few odds and ends.

An old military water bottle, a toothbrush, a cup, several patched-up old clothes, a pencil, and a notebook.

Seeing the military water bottle suddenly triggered some memories of her previous life.

Gu Qinghuan had an uncle, also a soldier.

This water bottle was given to her by her eldest uncle, Zhong Ziyan. He truly doted on her and her sibling, giving them whatever they wanted.

Unfortunately, later on, due to family matters, they were implicated and the couple was sent to the Great Northwest to work the land.

That place was constantly plagued by wind and sand, and they couldn’t grow any food. Gu Qinghuan couldn’t imagine how they managed to survive there.

Fortunately, their only daughter had already been married by then, so she escaped the calamity.

Her grandparents, parents, and she herself were still able to take care of each other. But her eldest uncle’s family must have been suffering much more than they were here. She needed to find a way to send them some things.

Winter was approaching soon, and both food and warm clothing were essential.

Food was easy to deal with; the vending machine could be used to buy it. However, warm clothing couldn’t just be bought. Even if she took it, they wouldn’t be able to wear it. They were now sent to the Great Northwest as “Stinking Intellectuals.” so how could they wear clean, comfortable new cotton clothes?

Thinking of this, Gu Qinghuan decided to personally make two “patched cotton jackets” and send them off with the food the next day when she went to pick up the people.

Gu Qinghuan opened the vending machine and bought two military coats, one for men and one for women.

In this day and age, nothing could be warmer than military coats. They could be used as both clothing and blankets.

She had almost forgotten that in her villa’s storage, there was a big item.

It was the sewing machine that her grandmother had brought as a dowry. Her grandmother had once said that when she was young, she had relied on that sewing machine to support her whole family.

Later, when her grandmother passed away, Gu Qinghuan kept the sewing machine as a keepsake, and now it was just the right time to put it to use. She wouldn’t have to buy a new one.

She pulled out the old companion and began to get busy.

She took all of her previous life’s old clothes apart and stitched them into ragged clothes to cover the military coats. She didn’t sew them shut so that the ragged cloth could be removed and washed, making it both convenient and clean.

After finishing the two “patched cotton jackets.” the two children woke up.

Gu Qinghuan gave them a few instructions and left a big bag of White Rabbit candy, then quickly grabbed the axe and the water bottle and set off to the mountain to chop firewood.

On her way up the mountain, she ran into a few people from the Educated Youth Courtyard picking up branches on the hillside.

They ignored her, and she was glad for the peace. She simply kept walking on her own.

In the afternoon, she took a different route, as usual, heading into the deeper mountains.

The scenery was different along this path.

She even came across a snake searching for food, which startled her, and she quickly hid in the space. She waited until the snake passed before daring to come out.

After encountering the snake, her luck seemed to improve. She soon found two wild chestnut trees, as well as a grove of persimmon trees.

The fuzzy, spiky balls hung from the tops of the trees, and the persimmons were already ripe. Many had fallen to the ground, and birds were constantly pecking at the ones still on the trees.

When encountering such good fortune, it was certainly not something to be missed, but taking her time to pick them would clearly not be practical.

Only children make choices, adults take everything.

Gu Qinghuan tried touching the tree trunk, silently chanting to put it in the space. In an instant, the entire tree vanished from its spot, leaving only a deep hole in the ground.

She repeated the process with the two chestnut trees and the grove of chicken-heart persimmons, not sparing a single one. She transplanted them all into the space.

After giving them a handful of spiritual spring water, they were settled in their new home.

Having finished her task, Gu Qinghuan continued on her way, finding a patch of bushes with many dead branches. She began chopping away at the dry wood, swinging the axe relentlessly.

The firewood she gathered was even more than in the morning, and she estimated there were about seven or eight bundles. There was no time to tie them up, so Gu Qinghuan sat down on the ground to catch her breath. She was exhausted—this work was truly not for people to do.

She pulled out her military water bottle, took a large gulp of spiritual spring water, and finally started feeling better.

Gu Qinghuan was thinking that after working so hard today, she should treat herself to something good for dinner.

Suddenly, she heard a strange sound. Looking down, she saw a gray rabbit, seemingly seeking its doom, coming toward her. By pure coincidence, it bumped into her axe, and in an instant, blood splattered everywhere.

Wait for the rabbit by the tree—wasn’t that what the ancients had said?

And it really happened?

Gu Qinghuan picked up the axe and struck again. The gray rabbit finally succumbed, no longer moving.

She threw it into the space and happily began to tie up the firewood. Tonight, there would be rabbit meat for dinner. What should she make?

Spicy rabbit cubes? Cold rabbit? Double-pepper rabbit? Red-braised rabbit meat?

At that moment, just where Gu Qinghuan had sat, two wild chickens suddenly flew over, seemingly drawn by the scent. They pecked at the ground non-stop.

Gu Qinghuan realized that when she had been drinking water, some of the spiritual spring water had spilled onto the ground.

She casually walked over, and the wild chickens, as if enchanted, didn’t react at all. She caught one with each hand, tied them up with rope, and tossed them into the space.

Was the attraction of this thing so strong for animals?

Thinking back to the snake she had encountered earlier, and possibly the wild boar with its greenish tusks, Gu Qinghuan shuddered in fear.

She hastily tied the firewood on the ground and threw it into the space, then quickly retraced her steps.

Not long after Gu Qinghuan left, a spotted leopard came running along, following the scent, but found nothing and left empty-handed.

Approaching the hillside, to avoid drawing attention, Gu Qinghuan took a bundle of firewood, slung it over her shoulder, and struggled to make her way back.

Walking in the mountains was difficult enough, and carrying firewood made it even harder. Gu Qinghuan had to stop and rest after every few steps.

After walking for a while, she ran into a group from the Educated Youth Courtyard, still chopping firewood.

Their work efficiency was low, with most of them just idling away. Didn’t the old saying go: “One monk carries water, two monks carry water, but three monks have no water to drink”?

There was already little firewood on the mountainside, and since most of them weren’t working seriously, they had spent a long time and only managed to gather two bundles.

Even with several of them working together, they still didn’t match the amount Gu Qinghuan had collected alone.

Gu Qinghuan continued to carry the firewood down the mountain.

Suddenly, someone called out to her: “Comrade Gu, hello, may I borrow your axe for a moment?”

It was Lin Shengnan, the young female intellectual who had helped deliver the food yesterday.