I survived the famine by scavenging and supported my family.

"What are you standing there for? Come here! Your grandma's awake, go help her sit up."

Old Zhao beckoned to Zhao Huilan, and Zhao Huilan hesitated before taking two steps.

—Did you just go over and help the wet nurse up? Has the wet nurse not yet discovered that her money is missing?

Old Zhao was still urging her, so Zhao Huilan had no choice but to pretend nothing had happened and go to the car to help Granny Qian up.

Granny Qian sat up abruptly, feeling dizzy and lightheaded. After a long while, she slowly remembered what had happened before she fainted.

She was struck by lightning!

The villagers must be gossiping now!

Granny Qian rolled her eyes and almost fainted again.

This startled Zhao Huilan greatly. "Grandma! Grandma! Are you alright?!"

"I...I'm fine..." Granny Qian said weakly.

"I'm glad you're alright. We're in a cave now. My dad, mom, older brother, and third uncle are all outside gathering firewood!"

"Go find firewood?!" Granny Qian exclaimed in surprise, "How could you let them go find firewood! It's still raining outside! And it's still thundering!"

"I..." Zhao Huilan tried to explain, but Granny Qian didn't give her a chance. She raised her hand and slapped her across the face. "You brat, they've all gone out to collect firewood, what are you doing here! Why don't you go too!"

A stinging slap landed, leaving five handprints on Zhao Huilan's face. She covered her face, crying, "I! I!"

"What do you mean, 'what ...!' Hurry up and go find your older brother and the others!"

Granny Qian clutched her chest, feeling a sharp pain in her heart. She felt as if she had just woken up, but was about to faint again.

Zhao Huilan gritted her teeth, stopped explaining, and walked out of the cave with her head down.

Grandma never hits herself before! This is the first time! He always hits Wuya and Wuya's mother before!

Besides, it wasn't her who told them to go outside to collect firewood; it was Grandpa who told them! Didn't she go out to collect firewood herself? She came back twice and didn't see them come back either time, so she didn't know where her parents went to collect firewood.

If it were the Zhao Huilan of the past, she might have foolishly gone outside to search for her parents in the rain. But after so many days of fleeing the famine, Zhao Huilan has become more calculating and is gradually no longer so "obedient".

It's still thundering outside. Instead of wandering around like a headless fly looking for someone, it's better to wait at the cave entrance.

Zhao Huilan found a secluded spot near the cave entrance and squatted down, her eyes fixed on the outside.

Zhao Tiezhu and Sun Mei returned from outside side by side, carrying little firewood, but their arms and legs were bulging with something that was hard to tell what was inside.

Upon seeing her parents, Zhao Huilan remained still and did not rush forward.

After a while, the eldest brother returned, carrying nothing on him, but with a happy expression on his face.

She rubbed her eyes and looked again. Her elder brother's face and the corners of his mouth were filled with undisguised joy. Zhao Huilan thought she was seeing things, but when she noticed his hand unconsciously reaching into his robes, she understood.

Sure enough, he must have discovered something to eat.

Zhao Huilan continued to squat down, while her third uncle, who was walking at the very back, was completely empty-handed, carrying only a bundle of firewood in his hand.

The firewood these people have isn't as much as I collected in the last two days!

Zhao Huilan, feeling resentful, walked forward and feigned surprise, saying, "Third Uncle! I was just looking for you!"

"Huilan?" Zhao Laosan exclaimed in surprise. "Weren't you also out gathering firewood?"

Zhao Huilan said, "I've already come back twice. Grandma woke up! Grandma told me to come and find you to go back!"

"Oh, okay, let's go back then." After saying that, Zhao Laosan took the lead and walked towards his own home.

Zhao Huilan followed closely behind him, and the two went back together. Before they even got close to their own car, they heard a series of curses.

"Who the hell is this! Don't let me find you! How dare you touch my money! If I catch you, I'll chop off your thieving hands!"

"Oh dear, my money..."

"How could a thief appear in our perfectly good team! We have to get the village head to arrest you!"

"My hard-earned money! My coffin money! Who on earth stole my money?!"

Granny Qian was slapping her thighs, crying, jumping up and down, and cursing. The content of her curses was so vile that Zhao Huilan lowered her head guiltily, not daring to look directly ahead.

After thinking for a moment, she hid behind her third uncle and, before they reached their own carriage, took out the silver from her bosom and secretly hid it next to a stalagmite, weighing it down with small stones.

After blocking the way, Zhao Huilan lowered her head and followed her third uncle back.

Granny Qian went a little crazy, and the whole neighborhood was there to watch the spectacle.

After all, she herself had just been struck by lightning; who would believe her if her words were a mix of truth and falsehood?!

Granny Qian was so angry that she lay on the cart floor, groaning and moaning.

This actually made things convenient for Boss Zhao and Zhao Wenyuan.

They threw the firewood on the ground, each found a corner to sit down, and secretly hid the things in their arms into their bundles.

Sun had a small package that Granny Qian usually didn't look at. She would hide any food she had in there for Zhao Qian to eat.

Usually, when there was something delicious, Sun would always give it to her eldest son, who was in school, then to her youngest son, Zhao Qian, and finally to Zhao Huilan.

Compared to Zhao Huilan, Zhao Ningning, who used to never get to eat anything, always felt superior. Ever since the second branch of the family separated from the main household, many chores fell to Sun Shi and Zhao Huilan.

However, Sun Shi didn't get a chance to eat; the men in the family ate the majority of the food.

These mushrooms were something that Sun and Zhao Laoda had finally managed to find outside.

Thinking of her youngest son, who was so thin and emaciated from hunger, Sun hardened her heart and didn't tell Granny Qian about finding the mushrooms.

Just as they had hidden the mushrooms, Granny Qian urged them to go out and find firewood.

This time, fearing that her eldest son and grandson would be struck by lightning, she forbade them from going out to collect firewood, and only allowed Sun Shi to take Zhao Huilan with them.

Old Zhao didn't have any objections. He could relax by not going, since his wife knew where the mushrooms were anyway.

But Zhao Wenyuan and Zhao Laosan disagreed!

They found a place where mushrooms grow. If they weren't allowed to leave, where would they pick mushrooms? Where would they hide mushrooms?

Zhao Laosan, looking concerned for his family, helped Granny Qian sit down and earnestly said, "Mother, I know you're worried about us, but we really don't have much firewood left. The newly collected firewood is all wet and can't be burned directly."

"We still have so much to walk! If we don't use this time to gather some firewood, what will we do if we can't find a cave to rest in later?" If they can't find mushrooms on the way, won't their family have to eat rice tree bark every day?

There's not much bark left on the rice tree. If they can't find anything to eat soon, his whole family will have to bang their heads against the wall!

Zhao Laosan planned to secretly store some mushrooms and then tell his family about them.

After his words of comfort, Granny Qian, not wanting to offend him, repeatedly reminded them to stay away from the thunderbolts before letting them go out to find firewood.

Zhao Huilan naturally had to go too. After thinking for a moment, she secretly followed her mother. Zhao Huilan wanted to know where they got what kind of food.

If she couldn't get grain, she'd get whatever food she could find! As long as it was food, even if it was just unpalatable rice or tree bark, she'd take it!

On the other side, Granny Qian hadn't eaten or drunk anything after being struck by lightning. She had shouted and cursed, but after resting, she only felt thirsty and her stomach was rumbling.

With no one else at home, she could only drag her still weak hands and feet down the bike rack.

Old Zhao lit the stove for her and added the rainwater collected by Sun. Granny Qian took out a piece of rice tree bark from her own bag and threw it into the pot.

As she passed the place where her eldest son kept his packages, Granny Qian's gaze stopped.

She remembered that the eldest son's packages weren't this big before!

Did Sun steal her silver to exchange for grain?

Granny Qian threw the rice bark into the pot and aggressively tore open Sun's bundle.

One by one, the mushrooms quietly fell to the ground, still wet with water, clearly having been picked not long ago!

Granny Qian rummaged through the items and found a few tattered clothes, half a hard, iron-plate-like flatbread, and eight coins.

Granny Qian wrapped the mushrooms back up, and put the flatbread and copper coins into her bosom. She was so angry with her eldest son and his wife that her hands were trembling.

Old Zhao noticed something was wrong with her and quickly asked, "Old woman, what's wrong? Why don't you go and rest? I'll bring the rice bark to the cart for you once it's cooked."

Granny Qian waved her hand, "No need!"

Her eldest son! Her eldest daughter-in-law! I don't know when, but they actually dared to secretly hide food from her!

Putting aside everything else, Zhao Laoda's honesty is unmatched by any other man in Wangli Village! As for Granny Qian, she raised her three sons to be completely obedient; if she told them to go east, they would go east, and if she told them to go west, they would never go anywhere else.

Apart from the second son, who seems to have been bewitched by Zhou and insists on going against the family, the other two sons are very filial!

Now the eldest son is showing signs of having a second son… Granny Qian clutched eight coins, her fingernails turning white from gripping them so tightly. She suddenly stood up: “Old man, Sun Shi needs to be taught a lesson! She actually encouraged Tie Zhu to hide grain!”

The couple went out and came back together. If it weren't for Sun's persuasion, how could Tiezhu have let her hide the mushrooms in the package!

"Hiding grain!?" Old Zhao was shocked. Hiding grain was no small matter. Even in a good year, if someone hid grain behind their family's back before dividing the family property, they would be talked about for it!

"It's all because of the Sun family! The Sun family is a scourge!" Granny Qian explained her analysis, and Old Man Zhao, listening to her, realized from Granny Qian's words that what was hidden was not rice or noodles, but mushrooms.

Even if it's mushrooms, it's no different from food! There's nothing else to eat right now, so mushrooms are practically food!

Old Zhao added firewood to the stove, stood up, and said, "When we get back later, we'll have a good talk with the eldest son. We haven't separated the family yet!"

"The eldest son is so easily swayed... We shouldn't have listened to him in the first place! Listening to him only resulted in him marrying a shrew!" Granny Qian said with exasperation. "If it weren't for Madam Sun deliberately falling into the water to make the eldest son jump in to save her, what kind of wife couldn't he have married!"

"She married someone who had eight sisters and two brothers, and even caused our second son to become estranged from us!"

Granny Qian showed no remorse. The reason why the second branch of the family became estranged from the Zhao family was entirely because she and Madam Sun had conspired to capture Zhao Ningning and sell her for money.

The water over there was boiling, and the rice tree bark inside was churning in the water. Granny Qian used chopsticks made of tree branches to scoop out the rice tree bark, put it in a bowl, and then changed the water in the pot and put it back to boil.

After the second rinse, the strange taste of the rice tree bark was basically gone. Granny Qian put the soup and bark into her own bowl, and also gave the old man a small bite along with the large bowl of soup.

Old Zhao held the bowl of hot soup in his hands. A faint aroma of rice stirred up his memories. He sighed and said, "If only my second son were here."

"If the second brother were here, he'd think of us first whenever he got any food..."

Old Zhao and Granny Qian both sighed. Old Zhao said, "No mother and son can hold a grudge overnight. Now that Fifth Sister is gone, when the eldest son and the others bring back the mushrooms, you can pick some of the best ones and send them over. Slowly, you can mend things back."

"Those are mushrooms!" Granny Qian exclaimed reluctantly. "Mushrooms are something we rarely eat even in good years!"

They took a small handful of the dried fruit with them when they left, and finished it before they even left Lingbei Prefecture.

"Do you still want this son?!" Old Zhao glared, his beard bristling. He was unusually defiant. "Think about it, they've got two livestock now!"

"Once we ease the tension, when we set off again, we can ask them for one or borrow one. That would save us so much effort on the road!"

"Next time we find something to eat, let's send some to the second son. Once he's willing, we'll adopt the fourth son. Regardless of whether we sever ties or separate the family, their carriage and such will still belong to the Zhao family!"

Old Zhao believed he had a very clear understanding, and after a long lecture...

Granny Qian shrank back. She remembered that when she said she was going to give her fourth son to the second son's family, Zhou Shi chased after her with a big knife.

If sending some mushrooms could coax the second son back... that would be great.

The two finished the rice bark soup, threw the bowl back into the pot, and waited for the others to return.

Braving the rain, Zhao Laoda and Sun Shi walked to the place where they had originally found the mushrooms.

Pushing aside the withered grass, the mushrooms underneath were still there. Sun's face lit up with joy. "Tiezhu, let's quickly pick these mushrooms! We're close to the cave; we don't want anyone else to find us!"

"Hey!" Old Zhao rolled up his sleeves, bent down, picked one and stuffed it into his arms.

They quickly picked the small patch of mushrooms, and as Mrs. Sun walked forward, she was pleasantly surprised to find another patch.

However, these mushrooms look a little different from the ones I've eaten before.

Mrs. Sun squatted down, snapped one off, held it up, and asked, "Husband, do you think this mushroom is a 'Yellow Hat'?"

Old Zhao leaned closer to take a look. "It looks similar to Old Huang's hat, except for the white ring at the bottom. Is it an elder?"

The mushrooms on the mountain in Wangli Village were picked clean as soon as they sprouted; the two of them hadn't even seen the elder's mushrooms yet!

"Didn't we pick some?" Sun reached into her bosom and pulled out a yellow old hat mushroom. Compared to this "yellow old hat" mushroom, the two mushrooms looked exactly the same, except for the white edge around the stem.

"It must be Old Huang!" Sun stuffed them into her bosom and continued picking with great interest.