Chapter 3: and

Xu Yue returned to the main room.

The only torch in the house had been moved from the kitchen to the main room. At the small square table, Xu Yue, Xu Erniang, Xu Da, and Madam Wang each sat at a corner.

On the table sat four bowls of rice bran and a clay pot of boiled water.

As for the rabbit or pheasant meat that Xu Yue had assumed would be an extra treat, it did not appear on the table. Instead, Madam Wang had cleaned it, cut it into small pieces, wrapped them in leaves, and placed them on the stove, seemingly for some other use.

Madam Wang picked up her chopsticks and issued the command: "Eat!"

Only then did the three of them pick up their chopsticks, but...

Even though tonight’s dinner was more substantial than the previous few days, after stuffing a mouthful of damp, barely steamed rice bran—which had absolutely no other flavor—into her mouth, Xu Yue found she simply could not swallow it.

She snuck a glance upward. It wasn't just her; her father’s brows were furrowed into a deep "chuan" shape. He held a mouthful of rice bran, unable to spit it out or swallow it.

He, Xu Qingyang!

A dignified second-generation cultivator, he had been pampered since childhood, eating nothing but genuine delicacies from the mountains and seas.

As a fashion icon in the cultivation world, a trendsetter among cultivators, and a playboy in the eyes of his enemies, he would arrange even the simplest spirit rice into the shape of an exquisite snow lotus before eating it.

Yet, the bowl of rice bran in his hands now was something he had never seen in his life. In his four hundred years of existence, this was the first time he learned that such a thing as "rice bran" existed in the human diet!

Compared to the internal turmoil of Xu Da, Xu Erniang’s resistance to the rice bran was less obvious. She simply stared at the rice bran in her hand with her phoenix eyes—which were identical to Xu Da’s—and fell into deep thought.

Who on earth invented this food?

How could anyone think this stuff was fit for human consumption?

Stupid humans!

The great Light Mage Selina will never surrender!

Madam Wang’s ability to adapt to her environment was astonishing, perhaps because she had experienced even more difficult times than this.

As the most outstanding general of the contemporary Universal Federation, she and her army had once faced a severe supply crisis due to the schemes of political rivals.

At that time, her troops were on a completely alien planet where resources were extremely scarce; even the most basic water had to be extracted from the air using distillation technology.

To fill their stomachs, the soldiers had to risk their lives going underground to catch those cunning sand rats.

In the end, despite being isolated and without support, she still brought every single member of her unit back to the Federation, giving those political rivals who thought she had long since starved to death on that alien planet a massive shock.

Therefore, in Madam Wang’s eyes, nothing was more important than survival. Even in a desperate situation, she would stubbornly persist to the end.

Imperial Admiral Wang Pingping would never bow her head!

Perhaps Xu Yue’s gaze was too obvious. Sensing her stare, the three of them looked up. Eight eyes met, and everyone knew that the others had "swapped cores."

They saw through it but didn't speak of it.

Seeing that no one could eat, Madam Wang simply put down her bowl and chopsticks and stood up.

The father and two daughters put down their utensils and looked at her.

"I have an announcement to make," she said, looking at them seriously.

Madam Wang said, "We must leave this place. Based on my observations over the past few days, the drought is extremely severe. Nine out of ten nearby villages are gone. The only water source is at Dawang Village, ten miles away, but when we went there today to trade game for water, we found that the people in Dawang Village are all preparing to move away."

"The world is in chaos. Various warlords are rebelling under the banner of crusading against Dong Xing. Even our county magistrate has fled. The northern refugee army is rioting again, and they are pushing south toward Shanyang Commandery. We are on the inevitable path of their southward advance; we will suffer sooner or later."

"Every time we go out, we see new corpses on the side of the road. These bodies are completely exposed to the air. With the weather being so hot, they are fermenting, and I am very worried that cholera will break out."

"So, does anyone have any objections to my decision?" Madam Wang asked.

The father and daughters looked at each other, then shook their heads in unison: "No."

Madam Wang made the final call: "Then it is decided. Now, fill your stomachs. Once you’ve eaten, pack whatever you need to take. We leave tomorrow morning."

With that, Madam Wang sat back down and, with the help of the water, finished the rice bran in her bowl. From beginning to end, you couldn't find a trace of suffering on her face.

Xu Yue silently swallowed her saliva. Thinking about the long trek starting tomorrow and the need to maintain her strength, she hardened her heart. Following Madam Wang’s example, she forced herself to finish the bowl of rice bran, one mouthful of bran followed by one of water.

If the youngest, Xu Yue, could eat it, Xu Erniang felt she was no worse than her sister. She grabbed the rice bran, squeezed it into small balls, closed her eyes, and lied to herself that it was delicious food, finishing it all as well.

Xu Da was inspired. He molded his rice bran into the shape of a lotus and began to eat with elegant movements. He actually made Xu Yue feel hungry, as if he were eating some kind of rare delicacy.

After dinner, the four of them prepared for tomorrow’s departure.

Madam Wang poured the boiled water into bamboo tubes, filling five sections. She added salt to two of them, and the five tubes were neatly packed into a back basket.

Xu Da, who had rolled up his sleeves and was standing on the stove molding rice bran balls regardless of his noble demeanor, saw Madam Wang adding salt to the water and looked puzzled.

What strange thing was this woman doing now?

It was one thing to boil the water, but why add salt to it?

The busy Madam Wang had no time to deal with this useless, cheap husband. She took half of the meat she had prepared earlier, roasted it, and wrapped it up. This was for the family to have an extra meal tomorrow; to walk fast, they needed to eat well.

As for the remaining half, Madam Wang used up all the coarse salt in the family’s clay jar to cure it, making it easier to store in such hot weather.

There wasn't much rice bran left either. Excluding tonight’s extravagant meal, the remaining bran only made twenty balls the size of an infant’s fist. All in all, plus the meat in Madam Wang’s basket, the family of five could barely eat for four days.

The couple packed all the food and water into the back basket and turned to enter the room partitioned off by wooden boards at the back of the main room.

This was the bedroom for the Xu couple, and next door was the room for the two sisters. Usually, Xu Dalang slept on a bed made of wooden boards in the main room.

Xu Da followed Madam Wang into the room and watched as she dug under the bed, pulling out a clay jar. His eyes lit up.

However, Madam Wang only pulled ten copper coins out of the jar. This was all the family’s remaining wealth.

Madam Wang counted the ten coins three times but couldn't count an extra one. Angry and ashamed, she glared at Xu Da again.

Xu Da retorted, "If I were the head of the household, I would never have let you and the children fall into such a state."

The implication was: blame the original owner, don't drag him, the Great Xu, into it.

Madam Wang gave a cold snort and handed the ten coins to Xu Da. Xu Da took them and carefully tucked them away close to his body.

These ten coins were the family’s last resort.

This small interaction between the couple set the tone for the household: the man manages the interior, the woman manages the exterior. Madam Wang was responsible for charging into battle, and Xu Da was responsible for logistics and support.

Xu Da was satisfied with his current teammate. Although she didn't act like a woman, he was actually relieved because of it.

If Madam Wang were the type of woman who only knew how to cry when things went wrong, and he had to drag this whole family along by himself... he would choose to end it all right there!

(End of chapter)