NFBE Chapter 105 Years in the Palace 13
Chapter 105 Years in the Palace 13
Unfortunately, Liu Xingxing couldn't find a habitable cave or a sheltered spot with large rocks. By then, the sun was about to set, and she hadn't found any herbs or anything like that.
Before it got dark, I found some dry branches and a branch that I could climb up. I stacked the branches on top and laid them out to make a makeshift bed. Then I laid a few large, unidentified leaves on top to make it more comfortable to sleep on.
Fortunately, the forest had no shortage of dry leaves and firewood. Liu Xingxing, imitating the survival bloggers, used her primitive fire-making skills to collect some flammable dry twigs and grass and desperately started drilling into the wood.
She said she had a talent, and she succeeded when the sun had completely set and night was slowly approaching. She gently poured the specks of wood ash onto dry lint and blew on it lightly, and the fire started.
Immediately add flammable dry grass and leaves, then add small twigs to start a fire, and finally add large pieces of firewood.
Tonight should be safe, but starting a fire by friction is too time-consuming and laborious. Tomorrow, I'll go along the stream again and see if I can find any rocks that can produce sparks. That would be much easier.
He rubbed his rumbling stomach. It was really not a good time to look for food elsewhere. He didn't see any wild fish or anything edible in the river, not even a snail.
"Forget it, being hungry is better than being carried away by mountain spirits or monsters."
Seeing that the visibility around him was getting lower and lower, and glancing at the clear night sky, he figured it wouldn't rain tonight, so he threw more large pieces of firewood into the fire and started burning it. Then he climbed onto the makeshift bed he had set up and went to sleep, still clutching a sharp-tipped branch tightly in his hand for self-defense.
She didn't sleep very well that night. Various mosquitoes were flying around and would bite her every now and then. Fortunately, her clothes were long, so not much of her skin was exposed. Also, some kind of animal in the mountains would occasionally let out a howl.
He basically slept for a while and then woke up again. In the middle of the night, he had to go down and add more firewood to prevent the fire from going out.
As dawn broke, the number of mosquitoes around increased, and the birds in the mountains began to chirp incessantly, making it impossible for me to fall asleep again.
After sleeping for a few hours, I felt much better than yesterday, and the minor cuts on my body didn't hurt as much anymore.
Liu Xingxing stretched lazily, scrambled down, washed her face by the stream, rinsed her mouth briefly, and then sat by the still-glowing fire pit with only a few pieces of charcoal left, lost in thought.
They waited until the sky was completely bright and the sun had risen before setting off to continue their journey.
Fortunately, the path along the stream wasn't too difficult to walk on. Liu Xingxing even found a tree laden with fruit. The tree wasn't very tall, and she could climb up to pick the fruit, but she didn't recognize what variety it was.
Liu Xingxing only dared to put the ripe fruits that had fallen to the ground with signs of being eaten by animals, and the fruits on the trees with signs of being eaten by birds, before she felt safe to put them in her mouth.
She picked some more unripe fruit as dry food. At least she hasn't been poisoned to death yet, nor has she shown any symptoms of dizziness or lightheadedness, which means the fruit should be edible.
So, Liu Xingxing picked fruit to eat when she was hungry and drank stream water when she was thirsty, but she couldn't even think about hunting.
The luckiest time was when I caught a nest of three mountain stream fish. However, the largest one was only about three fingers wide and didn't have much meat. After much deliberation, I decided to roast the three small fish into jerky for easy carrying and to keep me full.
For the first few days, I counted down the days, but then I stopped, lest I break down.
Anyway, I only remember that it took about half a month to walk there. When she saw a road with human footprints again, Liu Xingxing knelt down and cried for a long time.
She cried until she had no more tears left, then continued walking along the main road until she found a place inhabited by people.
These days, Liu Xingxing has been eating irregularly, sometimes hungry and sometimes full. She only eats a little to fill her stomach when she is really starving, because she is not always lucky enough to find new food after finishing the food stored in the previous batch.
Now, all she hopes to do is find a place where living people can give her some food. She hasn't eaten for two days. Face and pride don't matter at all; nothing is more important than food.
The feeling of hunger was so unbearable that she couldn't help but think of her past life, with scenes replaying in her mind like a revolving lantern.
As a child, she was the happiest person. Even though her family in the countryside wasn't wealthy, they were never short of food and clothing. Her parents loved each other, and she thought she would live a carefree life forever.
But who knew that the two would actually get divorced? Her mother left and never came back to see her again. Her father took her to a bigger city and didn't find her a stepmother like other divorced people, but he also stopped caring about her. No, he did care about her, but he just forced her to learn all sorts of things.
"Oh dear, where did this girl come from? Why is she in such a miserable state?"
A voice came from beside her, but Liu Xingxing's vision became increasingly blurry, and she couldn't see who it was at all. Her head slumped, and she collapsed.
……
Liu Xingxing was awakened by the fragrant aroma of food after she had been unconscious for an unknown period of time.
I groggily propped myself up and looked around blankly. The house wasn't big, just big enough for a bed and a wooden wardrobe. There wasn't much space left. It was also very simple, built with mud bricks. It must be a farmhouse.
The blanket covering her was also very old, and the pattern on the blanket was barely visible. The curtains covering the blanket also looked very old.
There was a small table, probably nailed together by the person, placed by the bedside. This table looked relatively new, and on it were two small pancakes and a glass of water, served in a large bowl.
Without saying a word, Liu Xingxing took a piece of cake and ate it with water.
This was the first time she had ever fainted from hunger in all her years of life. She must have been really starving. The pancake had no flavor and didn't even seem to be made with wheat flour, but she ate it with relish. It was really dry, but luckily she had a cup of water to help her finish it.
However, the smell of food that Liu Xingxing smelled did not seem to be coming from the two pancakes. It must have been coming from outside, because the smell had not stopped yet. Moreover, she seemed to hear sporadic voices outside the room. She didn't know if the people were deliberately lowering their voices, but she couldn't hear them clearly.
But she was already grateful to have any bread to eat. After eating wild fruits for so many days, she was already quite happy to have any staple food. She wasn't picky.
The two pancakes were quickly finished, and the water was gone. Only then did Liu Xingxing regain some strength to get out of bed and prepare to thank the kind person who had saved her.
However, Liu Xingxing vaguely heard some of the conversations between the people outside, and stopped her hand from touching the back of the door.
"Auntie, why are you picking up people like Jiu'er? What if they're bad people?"
"No, that girl looks fair and clean. Although her clothes are a bit tattered, the material looks quite expensive. I wonder if she's a young lady from some family in the city who has fallen on hard times. She shouldn't be a bad kid."
"Tsk, yes, I think she's really pretty, even prettier than the young ladies from wealthy families in the city. She must be a good daughter from some good family."
"We'll find out when she wakes up. By the way, Jiu'er and Da Han have been gone for so long, why aren't they back yet? It's almost dinnertime, and look, Mother's already cooking meat..."
"That's the venison that Jiu'er and Da Han hunted. Mother, really, you didn't even wait for Jiu'er before cooking the meat."
"Oh, don't you know our mother? It must be that your sister-in-law can't wait any longer."
"Does Mother know that there's someone else in our house now?"
"If she knew, would I still be able to cook meat in the kitchen with peace of mind? I didn't tell her."
"Sigh...it's going to be a lot of commotion again."
Liu Xingxing listened to what sounded like a conversation between the couple from behind the door, and that's when she realized where the fragrant aroma was coming from.
It seems that things in this farming family are not as simple as they seem. And the names "Jiu'er" and "Da Han" sound a bit familiar, like I've heard them somewhere before, no, I feel like I've seen them before.
With a creak, the heavy wooden door opened, and the two people who were talking outside looked over in surprise.