I survived the famine by scavenging and supported my family.

"That girl didn't go out today!"

"Quickly, go find someone, I'll stay here and keep watch!"

After waiting for three days, she finally found an opening. Granny Qian sent Sun out and moved a small stool over to sit down facing the courtyard.

Fearing that sitting idly would arouse suspicion, she unusually went inside to find a worn-out old garment and began sewing it in a rather professional manner.

Zhao Ningning did not go out today. A few days ago, when Ningning went to the Zhou family, she had arranged for Zhou Jian to accompany her up the mountain today. He is a few years older than Zhao Qi and often runs up and down the mountain. With him accompanying her up the mountain, Ning's mother would feel more at ease.

Even so, before leaving, Ning's mother repeatedly reminded Ning to be careful and not to go far or wander around when she was with her uncle. She added that if they couldn't find any false sour grass, then so be it.

Going up the mountain too early would leave dew, so the two families agreed to meet at 9:00 AM. Zhao Ningning stayed home peacefully, reading picture books and occasionally listening to the sounds outside the courtyard.

However, the younger uncle didn't arrive; instead, other people came.

Is Wuya home?

—Huh? Why would someone come looking for me?

Zhao Ningning put down the picture book and opened the window a crack to look outside.

"That girl is inside the house, go find her!" Granny Qian's voice was unusually gentle.

Hearing the noise, Zhao Ningning quickly lowered the window, put the picture books on the bed into her space, and gently opened the door a crack.

A young girl, who looked about the same age as me, walked towards me through the door. She carried a basket, wore a faded light red dress, and had her hair tied in two buns with two red ribbons tied on top.

Who is this?

Seeing that Zhao Ningning was still in a daze, the little girl reached out to pull her: "Wu Ya, I haven't seen you at home for several days. I finally found you today. Let's go to the mountain to dig for wild vegetables together."

"We're so bored if you don't come up the mountain."

When the name was mentioned, Zhao Ningning finally retrieved the information from her memory. She was Li Xiaoyan from the same village, ten years old this year, and one of the original owner's playmates, but they didn't get along well because she always intentionally or unintentionally bullied the original owner.

She wasn't very favored at home either, and she would always show off anything she got to Wu Ya.

When Zhao Lao Er returned from working in the city, he would sometimes save the gifts his employer gave him for his daughter. He would tightly wrap a piece or two of candy and keep it close to his chest so that it wouldn't be taken away by Granny Qian.

When Wuya received the candy, it had already melted a bit and was flattened and stuck to the glutinous rice paper. Even so, it was a rare sweet moment in her dark memories.

Sometimes Zhao Lao Er would save up the reward money given by his master and buy his daughter and daughter-in-law fashionable hair accessories in the county town when he went home.

Wuya didn't dare wear it at Old Zhao's house; she only dared to secretly take it out to wear when she went up the mountain to collect firewood.

When Li Xiaoyan sees that Wu Ya has new things on her, she will secretly tell Granny Qian, who will then scold Wu Ya and take the things away.

……

After reminiscing, Zhao Ningning pulled her hand away from the other person's and coldly refused, "You guys go, I'm not going."

Ever since Li Xiaoyan entered the room, Granny Qian had been keeping an eye on things. Seeing that Wu Ya remained unmoved, she was afraid that Wu Ya would stay in her room all day and not come out, so she couldn't help but coax her.

"Fifth Girl, Xiao Yan came all the way to see you, why don't you go with him? I've noticed you haven't been out to play for several days."

She had the demeanor of a kind grandmother.

"I said I'm not going, and I'm not going!" Zhao Ningning didn't want to argue any further and said bluntly, "The wild vegetables we dug up before were enough for our family to eat for many days. Why would I want to go up the mountain to dig up more wild vegetables?"

"Why are you like this?" Li Xiaoyan pouted. "If you don't want to go, you don't have to go. Why are you yelling at me like that?"

Zhao Ningning was speechless. Where was she being fierce?! She was just telling the truth. The wild vegetables were so bitter that Zhao Ningning chopped them up and fed them to the chickens. Her mother had bought enough vegetables for three days, and they were still stored in her space.

"Why don't you go with that fat girl?" Zhao Ningning waved her hand.

If Zhao Ningning had dared to speak to her like that before, Li Xiaoyan would have turned her back and left long ago. Just thinking about the bag of candy that Zhao Ningning's aunt had given her mother at her house today made her mouth water.

Biting her lip, she persuaded again, "Since you're just sitting at home doing nothing anyway, why don't you come with us and have some fun?"

"I'm not going." Zhao Ningning refused decisively. Seeing that she was still going to pester her, she took a few steps back and went back into the house, slamming the door shut.

Upon hearing the sound of the door latch being closed, Li Xiaoyan's expression twisted in horror.

Why is Wuya being so disobedient today?! Before, she would foolishly believe anything she said!

Seeing that Li Xiaoyan had failed to lure the person out, Granny Qian became so anxious that she threw down the tattered clothes she was holding and hurried to the backyard. Grabbing Li Xiaoyan's arm, she whispered, "What's wrong? Why isn't she coming out?"

"How should I know..." Li Xiaoyan pouted and complained, "Grandma Qian, you pulled my arm and it hurts."

"Oh, oh." Granny Qian let go of her hand, pacing anxiously in circles.

"Why don't you shout again?"

"...Alright then."

Li Xiaoyan switched the basket to her other arm, rubbing the spot where Granny Qian had pinched her, and shouted loudly towards the window.

"Wu Ya! Wu Ya! Why did you go back inside?"

"If you don't come with me, we won't invite you next time we go up the mountain!"

The people inside remained unmoved. Frustrated, Li Xiaoyan couldn't help but unleash her ultimate weapon:

"If you keep doing this, we're not playing with you anymore!"

—Who cares about this?

—That kind of coaxing only works on 8-year-olds. I'm a 17-year-old adult!

The mature "adult" Zhao Ningning ignored the commotion outside and dared not take out any more picture books to read. She simply chopped up the last bit of wilted wild vegetables left in the house and threw them into the chicken coop.

In the morning, Ning's mother lets the chickens out to forage for themselves, and when she returns in the evening, the chickens go back to the Zhao family's house on their own. They are fed bran mixed with chopped vegetables once a night, which is very convenient. They can even lay a free-range egg for the family every day or two.

Li Xiaoyan shouted and jumped outside until her mouth was dry and she had no other choice but to look at Granny Qian.

Granny Qian gritted her teeth and pounded hard on the window.

"Wuya! Why are you so disobedient?! You've grown too big for your britches after the family division, haven't you?! The Li Xiaoyan family has always helped our Zhao family a lot. What's wrong with letting you go out and dig for wild vegetables with Xiaoyan? Are they going to devour you alive?!"

With Granny Qian making such a fuss today, Zhao Ningning could tell with her bare hands that something was wrong.

—Could it be that he's planning to harm himself today?

Zhao Ningning rubbed her chin. Should she go along with their plan? She's been living in the same courtyard as them, which makes it very inconvenient for her to go out and set up her stall every day. Should she take this opportunity to cause a scene and then move out of Old Zhao's house?

That's a good idea, but one person can't inform Ning's mother alone—wait, there's still her uncle!

Speak of the devil, and he appears; Zhou Jian's loud voice carried from afar.

"Ningning! Ningning! I'm here!"

"Hey!" Zhao Ningning answered crisply, and the next second she opened the door. Granny Qian, who was raising her hand to knock on the door, was caught off guard and missed, hitting her arm on the door frame and crying out in pain.

"Grandma? What are you still doing here?" Zhao Ningning feigned surprise. "Didn't I say I wouldn't go dig for wild vegetables with Li Xiaoyan?"

"You! You brat! You did this on purpose!" Granny Qian clutched her arm, glaring at Zhao Ningning with hatred, wishing she could tear her apart and devour her whole.

—Oh dear, I never intended to be a bad person.

Zhao Ningning chuckled, turned around, locked the door, and ran straight out of the courtyard.

Zhou Jian was standing guard at the gate of the courtyard, just thinking of calling his niece again, when he saw her come out of the courtyard the next second.

"Uncle, let's hurry!" Zhao Ningning rushed ahead to lead the way.

"Hey—" Zhou Jian couldn't stop her in time, he could only shout, "Slow down, be careful not to fall!"

By the time Granny Qian came out, Zhao Ningning had already vanished.

After a busy morning, she hadn't even managed to touch the hem of this little girl's clothes. Granny Qian was furious.

Just then, Madam Sun hurried back and saw her mother-in-law in the yard, holding her forehead. After looking around, she carefully closed the gate and asked, "Mother? What happened? How come I saw Wuya going up the mountain with that Zhou boy?"

"Up the mountain?" Granny Qian removed her hand and looked directly at Madam Sun. "She went up the mountain?"

"Yes, I just came back from the fields and saw her running very fast from afar, followed by the Zhou family boy. They were heading up the mountain."

"Let's go, let's go!" Granny Qian went back into the house, took out a large basket, stuffed a bundle of hemp rope into it, and after thinking for a moment, put in a piece of rag.

The two women, feeling guilty, quietly locked the courtyard gate. Seeing that no one was around, they hurried up the mountain along another less frequented path.

On the mountain.

I haven't been up the mountain to collect firewood for several days. The vegetation on the mountain looks even more withered due to the continuous drought and scorching sun. The leaves are drooping on the branches, looking completely lifeless.

Zhao Ningning frowned as she looked at it.

In this awful weather, even if there were false sorrel, it would have been dried up by the sun, right?

Perhaps because of the slight shade provided by the large trees, the wild grass clinging to the ground still retained some greenery. As Zhao Ningning walked, she immersed her consciousness into the space, examining each of the false sorrel plants on the trees.

They walked and stopped frequently, and she and her uncle also picked some wild vegetables along the way.

As the sun rose higher and higher, Zhou Jian stopped and let his little niece sit in the shade. He then took out a bamboo tube from his basket.

"Here, have some water."

"Thank you, Uncle!" Zhao Ningning said sweetly, took the bamboo tube from her uncle, opened the lid, and took a sip.

Zhou Jian took out another bamboo tube. After the two finished drinking the water, Zhao Ningning said, "Uncle, those two from the Zhao family will come to the mountain to catch me later."

"What?!" Upon hearing this, Zhou Jian's bamboo tube trembled, spilling a lot of water.

Before going up the mountain, his mother had repeatedly told him to keep a close eye on Wuya, especially to guard against those two old hags from the Zhao family.

"Don't worry, listen to me." Zhao Ningning put the bamboo tube lid on and placed it in the small basket. "If they come to grab me, just let them. I can protect myself from any harm..."

Then, Zhao Ningning explained her idea in detail.

After hearing this, Zhou Jian initially strongly objected. However, Zhao Ningning repeatedly assured him that she had ways to save her life and could escape in time if she encountered danger, which softened Zhou Jian's expression.

Having meticulously planned out the timeline, Zhao Ningning got up from the ground, brushed the grass off her clothes, and said, "If my mother were here, she would agree too, Uncle, don't worry!"

"If this works out, you can come visit me more often!"

Zhou Jian nodded, then shook his head, and said, "That's not why I'm helping you."

If things go well, my sister's family can get rid of the Zhao family, and he and his mother can visit my sister more often...

"Okay, your uncle will help you," Zhou Jian made up his mind.

"Come on, give me a high five!" Zhao Ningning held out her hand, and Zhou Jian hesitated before extending his own hand when he saw her doing so.

Zhao Ningning slapped it directly with her hand. After the loud slap, rustling sounds came from down the mountain.

"Shh!" Zhou Jian instinctively shielded Zhao Ningning behind him and looked warily down the mountain.

Granny Qian and Madam Sun were climbing the mountain with great effort.

"Let's go that way." Zhao Ningning pointed the way, and Zhou Jian nodded. The two of them carefully walked up the mountain, keeping a distance from the two of them.

It's too early to be "caught." Zhao Ningning's main task is to find ice powder seeds. With Zhou Jian keeping watch for her, she can confidently search the mountain with her small wooden stick.

The sun was high in the sky, its rays intense.

Just as Zhao Ningning was about to give up on this arduous task, she suddenly noticed a leaf with curled edges that looked somewhat like the one in the book.

She immediately stopped, gently parted the weeds around the plant with a stick, and squatted down to compare it carefully.

It looks almost exactly like the one in the book, except that the leaves are a bit scorched and curled around the edges due to lack of water and sun exposure.

Zhao Ningning recalled that she had seen similar plants on her way here, but they had changed drastically due to the drought and she hadn't recognized them. This one was growing under a rock, where a large rock blocked the midday sun, which was why the drought wasn't so severe.

Carefully digging it up by the roots, Zhao Ningning pinched open a fruit sac. The seeds inside were almost fully formed. Thinking that it was almost time for it to ripen, Zhao Ningning carefully collected the seeds.

"Uncle, this should be it." Zhao Ningning handed the fake sorrel with the soil attached to it to Zhou Jian.

Zhou Jian hurriedly put down the basket, carefully took it, and put it into the basket.

Zhao Ningning still had to deal with Sun Shi and Granny Qian later, so she could only let Zhou Jian take the plant back.

With her mission accomplished and before the two men could catch up, Zhao Ningning relaxed and sat down under the rock to rest in the shade.

After putting away the grass, Zhou Jian took out the pancakes he had made that morning from under his basket, then pulled out a small jar of pickled vegetables and, as if by magic, produced a pair of chopsticks, which he then had his niece use to roll the pickled vegetables in the pancakes.

Zhao Ningning was deeply moved. Her uncle was so reliable; even her mother hadn't thought to prepare dry food for her!

Ning's mother was extremely wronged. She never imagined that Zhao Ningning, whose physical age was only eight, could run so fast. She thought that Zhao Ningning and Zhou Jian had searched together for a whole morning and then returned home.

After eating the rolled pancakes and drinking some water, the two rested until the sun began to dip slightly in the west, but they still couldn't see Granny Qian or Madam Sun.

Could it be that those two went home after being lost? Zhao Ningning shielded her eyes with her hand and, taking advantage of the terrain, peered out from the mountain. She could only make out two small, indistinct dots halfway up the mountain.

—It turns out they were climbing the mountain too slowly.

Zhao Ningning went back to rest with peace of mind.

It was already past 1:00 PM. Calculating the time, it was almost time to go down the mountain. Zhao Ningning got up, and Zhou Jian, who was standing beside her, immediately followed suit nervously.

"Ningning, is it time to take action?"

"Okay!" Zhao Ningning nodded to him. "My mom... my mother should be back around 3 PM today. That's about an hour, enough time for you to bring the villagers up the mountain to find me."

Zhou Jian swallowed nervously. He was only fifteen years old, yet his little niece had entrusted her life to him.

The boy clenched his fist tightly. "Good!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than the sounds of conversation drifted over from the foot of the mountain.