Rebirth in Famine: She Thrives by Lucky Space

Chapter 823: Chapter 823: Up the Mountain

Just when she couldn’t hold on any longer and wanted to find Li Yungui, Jiang Xinyu returned.

”Xiao Jiang, you’ve nearly scared me to death.”

Jiang Xinyu also felt a bit embarrassed, ”Sister-in-law Liu, it won’t happen next time.”

”Xiao Jiang, don’t go again.” Sister-in-law Liu spent the whole day in suspense.

”Tomorrow I’ll go one more day. After that, even if I want to go, there won’t be a chance.”

Sister-in-law Liu knew Jiang Xinyu’s habits, so at night the two of them also ate porridge.

After dinner, Jiang Xinyu placed the persimmons on the windowsill. ”Sister-in-law Liu, I’ve tasted them. These persimmons are delicious, I’ll pick some more tomorrow.”

”Xiao Jiang, I should go instead. You stay at home and watch the children.”

”I should go. It’s a rare opportunity, so I’ll go for a walk tomorrow. Sister-in-law Liu, if you want to go, wait until the village organizes a trip up the mountain, then you can go with everyone.”

Since coming here, Sister-in-law Liu was very attentive to this home and the children, so Jiang Xinyu thought she should let Sister-in-law Liu go out for a walk too.

”I wouldn’t want that. My father never came back down from the mountain, otherwise I wouldn’t have married that short-lived man.”

”Sister-in-law Liu, would you like to go back and have a look?”

”You can’t handle the children by yourself.”

”It’s okay, I can manage on my own. You should go back the day after tomorrow and stay a few days if you can. Otherwise, once I start teaching the children, I really won’t have any time.”

Sister-in-law Liu thought for a moment, ”Alright, then I’ll go back the day after tomorrow. I’ll just stay for one night and come back the day after.”

”No rush, the lessons will only start after it freezes over.”

Sister-in-law Liu still shook her head, ”No, I don’t feel at ease leaving you alone at home.”

Jiang Xinyu didn’t push further.

After freshening up, she returned to the room. Shi Xian was playing by himself; it seemed he had been awake for a while.

”Babies, did you miss mommy?”

The two kids showed toothless smiles.

Jiang Xinyu played with the children for more than an hour before feeding them, lulling them to sleep, and thinking about taking photos with Sister-in-law Liu and the kids when she returned.

The day had been quite tiring, so after the children were asleep, she also quickly drifted off.

Wei Kaiyun was still with the three kids listening to Master Shang’s storytelling, but his thoughts were on his wife.

He wondered if she missed him? Thinking about how there were only two women and two children left at home, Wei Kaiyun didn’t feel quite happy.

He hoped the matters here would conclude quickly because he already started missing home.

The next morning, Jiang Xinyu carried a basket on her back and went up the mountain again.

This time she went directly to the wild jujube grove. Fortunately, as soon as she arrived, she heard clucking sounds and saw a pheasant trapped, unable to move due to being tangled in vines.

Jiang Xinyu went all out, carefully using her woodcutter’s knife to free the pheasant.

”Finally caught some game.”

She placed the pheasant into her basket and started picking wild jujubes again.

After filling a snakeskin bag with jujubes, she stopped, checked the time, and saw it was already past one in the afternoon. Not wanting to go further, she decided to pick red dates instead.

But as she turned around, she suddenly saw several wolves slowly surrounding her.

Jiang Xinyu was startled, slowly retreating, knowing that entering the wild jujube grove might pose some challenges for the wolves.

As she stepped back, she pulled out meat she had prepared in advance from her space, smeared with sedatives, and tossed them piece by piece.

Wolves naturally eat meat. They sniffed it, and all five wolves swallowed the drugged meat. However, the medicine, though potent, needed fifteen minutes to take effect.

Now Jiang Xinyu could only try to stall for time.

Step by step, she retreated. The jujube branches were prickly, and despite her thick clothing, she felt a lot of pain.

But there was nothing else she could do; she didn’t have the strength to fight, especially against five wolves, with no chance of winning.

As Jiang Xinyu retreated, the wolves continued to close in.

Fixated on them, she failed to watch her step. By now, she was halfway into the jujube grove while the wolves lingered outside, perhaps deterred by the prickly branches.

Realizing it was an opportunity, she continued to retreat, knowing the other side was a cliff. Although not very high, there was a gentle slope, and if necessary, she’d descend it rather than face dire consequences.

She reached the edge of the cliff, while the wolves remained circling the grove.

Almost ten minutes passed, and she needed to hang on for another ten minutes at most to be safe.

Standing motionless amid the jujube grove, she fixated on the wolves’ movements.

In the current scenario, a few minutes felt incredibly long.

Jiang Xinyu mentally counted the time until she saw the wolves stagger, feeling relieved that the threat had diminished. Still, Jiang Xinyu didn’t dare to emerge until all the wolves collapsed; only then did she venture outside. Now, exposed skin bore bloody streaks from the jujube thorns.

Once outside, she didn’t linger, quickly using her woodcutter’s knife to bleed the wolves.

With a wave of her hand, she collected them into her space before collapsing from the fright.

No more trips to the mountain; it’s too dangerous. That short half-hour was more than enough to die a hundred times.

When she was backing away earlier, she sensed a cave beneath the cliff. Seizing today’s chance, she decided to explore it, knowing she wouldn’t climb up again.

Cautiously, she approached the cliff edge and spotted steps.

Having snake-repellent medicine from her daughter, knowing large animals couldn’t hide here, she used her woodcutter’s knife to probe her path down to the cave entrance.

Inside, everything was pitch dark, so she picked up a rock from the ground and threw it into the cave, waiting several minutes with no reaction from within.

Feeling reassured, she switched on her flashlight and cautiously entered.

She wouldn’t have dared enter without the advantage of her space.

It was a winding passage, and it felt like she walked for half an hour, constantly descending.

She thought about giving up but felt reluctant. In the end, being all the way here, she hardened her resolve to see it through.

The path ended abruptly, startling Jiang Xinyu as she stumbled upon numerous skeletal remains scattered around, seemingly more than a dozen.

With hair standing on end, Jiang Xinyu scanned the scene with her flashlight to find numerous boxes amid the remains—possibly because of time, the wood had decayed indicating that they contained valuables.