Chapter 41: Burning Charcoal

“Sanbao, run!” Yan Yu laughed cheerfully; leaving her eldest uncle behind, she felt as if even the wind was free.

Yan Lao'er had long since tied the father and daughter to the back of the ox. One hand held the reins symbolically, while the other helped his daughter hold onto her straw hat, which looked ready to fly off at any moment.

Only after his daughter had had her fill of frolicking did the two of them climb down from the ox's back and begin to walk slowly.

“Dad, I’m afraid the water in each household won't last much longer,” Yan Yu said.

She had noticed that several of the villagers' water jars were empty.

“You can tell from the number of steamed buns being exchanged. Although they are still eating three meals a day, the portions are smaller,” Yan Lao'er had naturally noticed as well.

“Sanbao, can you find a water source?” Yan Yu asked with a glimmer of hope.

Sanbao shook its head; it didn't have that function.

Yan Yu sighed.

“The platform opens at midnight tonight. If it connects to the same three people as last time, Dad, who do you think we can exchange more water from?” Yan Yu tilted her head, thinking back.

Yan Lao'er replied, “None of them seem likely.”

One lived on nutritional solution.

One had water everywhere but it wasn't potable, surviving on bottled water provided by the platform.

The last one might have water, but considering the environment he was in, obtaining food and water would require risking one's life.

“Why haven't we left the drought zone yet!” Yan Yu felt a bit frustrated.

Because they were taking shortcuts, they were getting further and further away from the official roads, as well as from towns and villages.

Sometimes there wasn't even a path ahead; they had to forge one through sheer force.

Aside from the barren, cracked earth and the stinking, partially dried-up puddles, the surroundings consisted of nothing but one bald stone mountain after another.

Yan Yu said, “I really want that uncle's exploration and collection robot. If we had it, how convenient it would be to find water and food!”

“Wake up, daughter. You even called it a robot. Even if it's covered in bionic skin, how are we going to explain a person suddenly appearing out of nowhere?” Yan Lao'er tapped her small head.

“We've already walked quite a distance. Based on everyone's pace, we can cover over twenty kilometers a day. These past two days have been even better than the start, probably around thirty kilometers. Calculating it this way... Whoa! That's quite a lot. In at most half a month, we can reach our first small goal: leaving Qishan Prefecture.”

Yan Lao'er struggled for a moment, then added, “Forget it, let me show you something.”

Yan Yu:???

See what?

The two of them got back on the ox. This time, Yan Lao'er checked repeatedly, tying them both on extremely tight.

For some reason, Yan Yu began to feel expectant, sensing that her father was about to pull out a big move.

“Sanbao, up the mountain! Giddy up!”

Even though he had prepared himself mentally, Yan Lao'er was still tossed around until he was dizzy and disoriented.

In contrast, his daughter was shouting with excitement, her little voice nearly hoarse from yelling.

“Oh my god! Sanbao, you're amazing! You can jump so high and leap so far! How are you so awesome!” Yan Yu did not hold back her praise.

Standing at the peak of the tallest nearby stone mountain, she finally saw a long-lost sight of green.

That green peak was far away, but it didn't matter; she had seen it—hope.

“I see you!” Yan Yu declared grandly. “Wait for me to get there!”

Yan Lao'er was temporarily speechless; he felt that if he opened his mouth, his breakfast would end up right there on the ground.

When descending the mountain, Sanbao tried its best to be gentle, but Yan Lao'er still couldn't take it and had to recover for a long while.

Worriedly, Yan Yu handed him a bamboo tube. “Dad, are you okay?”

Yan Lao'er shook his head, feeling completely drained.

“How are you not dizzy?”

Yan Yu blinked. “It just felt quite thrilling; I didn't really feel dizzy at all.”

Ancient, natural stone mountains were incredibly irregular, shaped by nature however they pleased.

Without man-made roads to climb them, relying purely on mechanical braking to force one's way up was indeed incredibly thrilling.

“Let's head back and double-check that list of yours to see if anything was missed,” Yan Lao'er said weakly. Once back, he let Sanbao take over the autonomous driving.

With his eyes closed, he listened to his daughter recite the items one by one

“There are quite a few pots and pans, but we can't exchange them all at once—at most two.

There are so many straw sandals; it would be great to sell them all to the platform, but unfortunately, we can only sell a portion.

Regarding Physician Cui's four doses of medicine—two are for diarrhea and two are for colds. If that lady explains clearly when she exchanges them, the medicinal effect might be slightly less potent.

As for the handcarts... if the villagers squeeze their belongings together, there should be two left over, but selling those might be a bit difficult, so let's not consider it for now.

There are many clothes and quilts in various households, which are also hard to handle.

Dad, what do you think about me secretly selling two of the books I took from Uncle?”

Yan Lao'er snapped his eyes open. “Then your uncle would probably fight you to the death! Look at him and your eldest brother—two bookworms, they'll grab any chance to read, read, and read.”

“Also, Dad, how is the charcoal preparation coming along?”

“I've settled it with the Qi brothers. They'll look for wood at noon and try to burn it during their rest this evening.”

During their daily rest periods, the villagers spent time searching for firewood everywhere. Sometimes it was easy to find, and sometimes they had to walk quite far. It was better to try the method from the bamboo slips—burning some charcoal to make it easier to carry.

“We can just use the excuse of watching the woodpile from a distance.” As soon as Yan Lao'er said it, he realized his own logic and laughed, “That's right! In the future, we'll just burn the charcoal on the day the platform opens, whether we need it or not.”

...

When the father and daughter returned to the group, they smelled the fragrant scent of meat from afar.

Yan Yu ran over quickly and saw that the piece of dried meat hanging on their cart had a chunk missing. She grinned so wide her eyes nearly disappeared.

“Mom! Are we eating meat?”

Li Xuemei wiped her sweat and smiled. “We got lucky today and found a handful of wild vegetables, so we stir-fried them with the meat.”

Having lived frugally, she had finally waited for the second opening of the platform, and Li Xuemei couldn't resist wanting to eat something good for a bit of luxury.

She poured a little oil, added the sliced meat, and after a few tosses, the aroma exploded. Then she added a handful of wild vegetables and a pinch of the family's mixed seasoning.

It was incredibly mouth-watering!

Everyone's eyes were practically glued to the Yan family's pot.

Even Yan Huaiwen put down his book and wandered around nearby, unable to stop glancing over.

Once the small table was set, the Yan family members automatically took their places.

As soon as the meat hit her mouth, Yan Yu fell into a state of immense happiness.

*Chomp!* Meat is the best!

...

The Qi brothers helped find quite a lot of wood, both thick and thin.

This was also Yan Lao'er's suggestion; he didn't know which kind of wood would burn best, so he decided to try them all.

When evening rest arrived, the four of them walked a bit further away to a spot near the riverbank.

The three Qi brothers began, following Yan Lao'er's instructions, to stack the wood vertically. Then, they dug up river mud from the not-yet-completely-dried riverbed and smeared it over the woodpile, leaving an opening at the very top.

They stuffed a large handful of dry grass into the opening and lit it.

Yan Lao'er personally stepped in to dig a few small ventilation holes at the bottom.

“That's it. Just wait.”

The Qi brothers looked at each other in confusion.

Is that it?

That simple?

That's all it takes to make charcoal?

Where on earth did Yan Lao'er learn this unreliable method...

Will it actually work?