TSWPF – Chapter 15 Situation

After catching a whole nest of live rabbits, Li Qingling, upon seeing the wild chickens and hares, stopped shooting them dead. Instead, she cooperated with Liu Zhimou to catch them alive.

After tying up the legs of another wild chicken and putting it into the basket, Li Qingling wiped the sweat off her forehead and asked the panting Liu Zhimou, “Tired?”

Having just caught another prey, Liu Zhimou felt that no matter how tired he was, it was worth it. “I’m okay…”

Seeing that he could still hold on, she felt relieved and turned to lead him further inside.

With Liu Zhimou by her side, her courage grew. She even dared to peek into the dense bushes that she wouldn’t normally approach.

Looking here and there, she actually found something edible — potatoes growing in a patch of land near the stream.

The wild potatoes weren’t large, some quite small, but Li Qingling was thrilled. In no time, she dug them all out.

She unearthed more than twenty small potatoes and piled them on the ground.

Liu Zhimou picked one up, turning it over curiously. “What’s this? Can we eat it?”

Li Qingling froze, blinking. He doesn’t recognize potatoes? Could it be that potatoes didn’t exist in this era?

But that didn’t make sense — they were growing naturally here. Maybe people just didn’t recognize them yet?

Her mind was in a whirl. Seeing Liu Zhimou waiting for an answer, she calmly told a harmless lie, “Yeah, it’s edible. I tried it last time I came here — no poison.”

After saying that, she carefully placed the potatoes in her basket like they were treasures. These things were easy to grow and had high yields — she planned to bring them home to plant.

Liu Zhimou nodded without asking further. At the moment, he didn’t realize how much he trusted Li Qingling — whatever she said, he believed.

Li Qingling secretly sighed in relief. Thank goodness he didn’t ask more; otherwise, she’d have to make up more lies. “Let’s go!”

Along the way, they caught a total of five wild chickens — three alive and two killed — six big hares, five little ones, plus the fish they’d caught earlier and the potatoes. All in all, it was quite a fruitful trip.

Liu Zhimou was grinning the entire way back, but Li Qingling wasn’t completely satisfied. After selling and splitting everything in half, it wouldn’t amount to much.

She glanced at the sky. The sun was about to set. They’d gone past the hill where she’d rested before. Going back now wasn’t practical — they’d have to find a place to spend the night.

They’d ventured pretty deep in, and she couldn’t help worrying about wild animals roaming around.

“Brother Zhimou, wait here. I’ll go find a place we can stay overnight.”

“I’ll go too.” Liu Zhimou didn’t feel at ease letting her go alone. No matter what, he was older — if anything dangerous happened, he could at least help.

After thinking for a moment, Li Qingling nodded. They started searching nearby together.

Their luck was good — they soon found a hidden little cave.

Li Qingling set down her basket and climbed up the rocks carefully to check inside. There were no signs of animal droppings, meaning it wasn’t a lair. She finally relaxed.

“Brother Zhimou, come up!” She climbed back out and waved to him. Liu Zhimou handed her the basket, and once she took it, he started climbing up himself.

The slope outside the cave was steep, and since it was his first time climbing, plus he was carrying a basket, it took him quite some effort.

When Li Qingling reached out to help him, he refused. He didn’t want to seem useless — if she could climb up, so could he. Gritting his teeth, he climbed up through sheer determination.

As soon as he made it, Li Qingling gave him a big thumbs-up and praised him.

Everyone loves to be complimented — Liu Zhimou was no exception. He smiled, dusted off his clothes, and walked inside.

Inside, he was surprised. From the outside, the cave entrance looked small and hidden, but once in, it was spacious and not too damp — perfect for spending the night.

“Next time we come, we can stay here again. This can be our resting spot,” Li Qingling said with satisfaction. Finding such a good place deep in the mountains was truly rare.

Liu Zhimou didn’t object. Out here in the wild, he was a complete novice, so he just listened to her, the more experienced one.

Li Qingling sat down to rest for a bit. After her fatigue lessened and fearing it’d get too dark, she got up again. She took the other prey out of the basket, leaving only one dead wild chicken and the clay pot. Turning to Liu Zhimou, she said, “Brother Zhimou, go gather some firewood. I’ll prepare dinner.”

Liu Zhimou had no objections and followed her out of the cave. They divided the work efficiently.

When Li Qingling returned, Liu Zhimou had already lit the fire. Smiling, she told him they’d be having mushroom chicken stew tonight. Just thinking of that savory taste made her mouth water.

Seeing the sparkle in her eyes, Liu Zhimou chuckled and nodded.

That night, they not only ate mushroom chicken stew but also grilled a fish. By the end of the meal, their stomachs were both round and full.

“One of life’s greatest pleasures is to eat well and then sleep beautifully!” Li Qingling patted her belly and sighed. She had no lofty ambitions now — she just wanted her family to have enough to eat and warm clothes to wear. “Brother Zhimou, do you have any dreams or ambitions?”

Liu Zhimou, sitting beside her, turned slightly. In the past, when his parents were alive, he’d wanted to study hard and serve as an official one day.

But now? He’d become more ordinary — his only wish was to raise his younger siblings, see them grow up, marry, and have children.

“What about you?” he asked, turning to look at the fire.

“Me?” Li Qingling chuckled. “Women in this era just stay home and take care of their husbands and kids. What big ambitions could I have?”

It wasn’t like her previous life, where women could hold up half the sky.

Here, women’s status was low — even if they had ambition, there was no way to realize it. Besides, she didn’t have many skills. If she could feed her family, that was enough reason to be happy.

Hearing that, Liu Zhimou turned to look directly at her. His gaze made her heart flutter nervously — had she said something wrong?

“Not bad,” he said softly after a long silence.

“…”

Li Qingling raised an eyebrow and thought for a moment. “Zhimou, do you still want to study?”

At that, he froze, then slowly shook his head. “No.”

Only by denying it could he suppress the yearning.

But Li Qingling could tell — he did want to, only their family’s situation made it impossible.

“If you had the chance to go back to school, would you?”

Liu Zhimou closed his eyes briefly, lips pressed tight, saying nothing.

Li Qingling didn’t press him further. He’d studied with his father since young; if his father were still alive, he would definitely continue.

But now…

The two sat in silence. Li Qingling, exhausted, curled up on the ground and soon fell asleep.

Liu Zhimou gazed at her small figure, his eyes deep, thoughts unreadable.

It wasn’t until the howls of wild animals echoed outside that he came back to his senses.

It was his first night sleeping in the wild. Hearing the cries of beasts made his heart uneasy. Seeing the fire burning low, he hurried to stoke it higher, afraid it might go out.

That night, Li Qingling slept soundly, while Liu Zhimou didn’t close his eyes at all. When dawn finally approached, he couldn’t hold on any longer and drifted off to sleep on the ground.

When Li Qingling woke, she saw Liu Zhimou fast asleep. Not wanting to wake him, she quietly got up, grabbed the clay pot and a fish, and went outside.

By the time she finished preparing breakfast, Liu Zhimou was still asleep. She nudged him awake gently.

He opened his eyes groggily, bloodshot and weary, making her pause in surprise. “Did you not sleep last night?”

She’d been too tired yesterday — once she lay down, she fell asleep immediately, unfazed by the sounds outside.

Liu Zhimou glanced at her, then closed his eyes again. After a long pause, he murmured, “Yeah… the beasts were noisy.”

Seeing how haggard he looked, she told him to rest a bit more, but he shook his head stubbornly and got up.

When he stood, he swayed slightly, and she quickly caught him. Feeling the heat of his skin, her heart skipped.

“You’ve got a fever?” She reached to touch his forehead, then compared it with her own — sure enough, he was burning up. “Sit down.”

Forcing him back to sit, she said firmly, “Drink some fish soup first. I’ll go find herbs to bring the fever down.” In the wilderness, a fever could be life-threatening if not treated.

“I’m fine,” Liu Zhimou said weakly. He just felt a bit tired, nothing serious.

“Be good!” she scolded sharply. Her tone startled him into obedience. He nodded helplessly and took the soup she handed him, drinking it slowly.

Li Qingling didn’t dare delay. She quickly ran out of the cave to find fever-reducing herbs.

A quarter of an hour later, she rushed back with freshly washed herbs, sweat beading on her forehead. Thankfully, she knew which plants worked for fevers — otherwise, it’d be bad.

Seeing her so anxious, Liu Zhimou felt guilty. “You should drink some soup first. I’m not in a hurry,” he said, handing her the clay pot.

She didn’t argue — she took it and drank the soup, then ate the remaining fish before heading out again to fetch water.

When she came back, Liu Zhimou’s face was even redder. She wasted no time tossing the herbs into the pot to boil.

She kept an eye on the fire, occasionally reaching out to check his forehead — terrified that his fever might rise any higher.