Chapter 66: Coexistence of Determination and Danger

An Yinan was also quite happy. She had come this time because of Chen Xun, but after only meeting twice, she inexplicably trusted Chen Xun's character, and furthermore, she had promised to help look after the Cowshed side, so she would certainly not break her word.

"We've been over here for quite a while, so we need to head back. Beibei and I will be moving out of the Educated Youth Station in a few days. When that time comes, I'll have Yun Shen come over to learn the way. My neighbors have decent characters, so if you need help with anything, feel free to come find me," An Yinan said.

"Alright! Take care," Mo Kun agreed. Although the Cowshed was far from the crowd, he had his own channels, so naturally, he knew about what had happened two days ago. He suspected this little girl had long since planned to move out, and this incident was merely the breakthrough point; if not for this, she would have found another reason.

Reasonable and grounded, with both thoughts and the ability to act—is that kid Chen Xun in a precarious spot?

Besides, the little girl isn't even eighteen yet, right?

Things are getting urgent!

The sister and brother walked along the deserted path. When they reached the Educated Youth Station, the rooms were all dark; either everyone had gone to sleep, or they were reluctant to use lamp oil. Once it was dark, they could only lie down.

An Yinan, wanting to finish her translation task quickly, was just about to return to her room and enter her space, but she didn't expect An Xiangbei to hold her back.

"Sister, I want to learn a foreign language." To go to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a foreign language was a necessary requirement, and not just one.

Since his sister could translate, she must know foreign languages, and he wanted to learn.

An Yinan hesitated for a moment. "Let's wait until we move over there. Doing it now might bring trouble upon ourselves; it's not a good time."

"Beibei, if you want to do something, you must deduce the process and think of the worst possible outcome you can bear." If Beibei wanted to be an ordinary person, she wouldn't say these things today; she would let him have a beautiful childhood, without thinking or worrying, just living in the moment.

But his goal was too great, so great that it left her at a loss.

She even knew how difficult it was to enter the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and how bitter it was to learn a foreign language. She had walked these paths, and no one understood better than she did.

Especially the diplomacy of this era; it was even more difficult than difficult. "Weak nations have no diplomacy" was not just a saying.

But since Beibei had chosen this, she was willing to help him, rather than tethering him to her side like a canary in a cage.

"You have a very difficult goal and a very great wish, but walking on this path, you could fall to the ground at any time and never get back up. Every step, every decision, you must be extremely careful."

A foreign language, in this era, is such a terrifying word.

It couldn't even be mentioned openly; the moment it was brought up, one would be reported and arrested. Being sent down to a farm Cowshed was already the lightest of punishments.

"Sister, let me think about it." An Xiangbei returned to his room, a rare night where he did not study.

After An Yinan finished speaking, she was not calm.

A foreign language—she would do her best to teach her brother, but one must eat a meal one bite at a time and walk a path one step at a time.

Beibei was very smart and loved to learn, but his age was a factor.

"Sigh! Let's just take it one step at a time." An Yinan rubbed her aching brow, yet she still returned to her space and continued the translation that lasted all night.

That's right, she had rarely pulled an all-nighter.

In the past, when drawing design blueprints, she often went three days and three nights without rest and wouldn't feel tired after finishing, but now, after just one night without sleep, her head was throbbing violently the next day, leaving An Yinan feeling somewhat helpless. One truly cannot be too comfortable.

After tidying up the translated manuscript, An Yinan splashed cold water on her face. A shiver went through her entire body, and the feeling of chaos in her head disappeared.

She cooked a pot of millet porridge and heated a few meat buns on top of the porridge.

She put three buns into the space, then moved a jar of pickled vegetables into the space, leaving only one small jar of pickles and spicy cabbage outside, while storing the rest in the space.

She scanned the room; there didn't seem to be much to pack. When the time came, she would move the pickled vegetable jar, and everything else was just small items.

After An Yinan finished packing, she put on her basket, left through the main gate of the Educated Youth Courtyard, took a wide detour, and finally headed up the Back Mountain.

There were villagers doing construction at the foot of the Back Mountain, and she didn't want to be seen, so she had to take the long way around.

It is worth mentioning that Qian Zhao had also participated in the construction these past few days and had explicitly stated he didn't want payment. Anyway, there was no need to work in the fields now, and the villagers had all started preparing for the winter.

Before An Yinan reached the deep mountains, she saw groups of wild rabbits. Now that the grass had withered, the wild rabbits were moving down the mountain in search of food.

An Yinan looked for suitable pebbles as she walked; she had at least several thousand stored in her space.

"Whoosh~" The sound of breaking air kicked off the hunt. The sounds did not cease; in a short time, An Yinan had thrown over twenty pebbles, looking at the fourteen rabbits on the ground.

"Six pebbles missed." An Yinan frowned, not satisfied with this accuracy.

She was practicing with pebbles now, but not just for hunting; it was for self-preservation.

Meeting people from Little Japan last time gave her enough of a warning. This era was different from the modern day; it was not a safe era. Having this skill could save her life at a critical moment.

An Yinan continued walking inward, collecting the fourteen wild rabbits she had just killed into her space. There were already over fifty wild rabbits in the space now. She planned to wait until the new house was built and she moved in, then take them out bit by bit to make dried rabbit meat, which would be easier to store later.

Walking further in, An Yinan found three nests of pheasant eggs and killed six pheasants. Compared to wild rabbits, pheasants were more alert.

She had always thought there were no pheasants on the Back Mountain, as she hadn't encountered any the few times she had been up the mountain.

"So I just hadn't found the right place." An Yinan noted the location of the pheasants; if she wanted to eat pheasant meat next time, she could come here to hunt some.

As she went deeper, An Yinan also set up six traps. She had learned how to set traps from Zhang Qian last time, but she hadn't had time to come up the mountain to set them for so long. Today she had nothing to do, so it was the perfect time to set some and come back in three days to see if there was a harvest.

The mountains here were very deep. After climbing for so long, she had only reached the middle of the mountain and had not yet reached the back of it.

Checking her watch, it was already ten o'clock in the morning. In terms of distance, she had already exceeded the height of the cliff from last time.

An Yinan took her water bottle from the space, drank a few mouthfuls of warm water, and looked around. The bleak winter was coming; the leaves were already covering the ground on the mountain, the wild fruits had mostly fallen, and there were no mushrooms at all.

"Huh?" An Yinan's eyes fixed on a strange piece of wood to her right.

An Yinan jumped down from the tree branch, staying alert to her surroundings, and walked toward that direction. Upon getting closer, she realized, was this wild wood ear fungus?

She saw a long section of a tree that had already rotted somewhat, to the point where one couldn't even tell what kind of tree it was. However, around the wood, dense black wood ear fungus was growing. Because they had never been picked, the wood ear fungus that had grown first had already become dried wood ear, stuck to the trunk.