Chapter 31: The Ruan Family Has Joyous News

Arriving at the entrance to the back mountain, Chi Nan Yi looked at the bare mountain and couldn't help clicking her tongue: "Second Brother and Third Brother were still being conservative—how is this 'almost bald'? It's already completely bald!"

Even some of the tree bark had been stripped off.

It seemed impossible to find anything useful at the foot of the mountain.

She glanced toward the deep interior of the mountain and quickened her pace as she walked in.

The paths in the mountain were not easy to traverse—there was only one very narrow path for both going up and coming down. Previously, a hunter had been mauled by a wild beast deep in the dense forest, so the people of Yuping Village no longer dared to venture deeper into the mountains and only wandered around the outer edges.

Therefore, basically everything edible on the outside had been dug clean.

Chi Nan Yi walked along the small path for a while; there were traces of people having been here—wild vegetables were nowhere to be found, dug clean by others, not even a single leaf to be seen.

"It seems the people of Yuping Village are truly poor. This locust plague is unstoppable; if they don't harvest early, there will certainly be no grain at all." Looking at the dug-up wild grass and stripped tree bark, Chi Nan Yi couldn't help feeling somewhat worried.

She searched the vicinity in a circle but found no medicinal herbs—it seemed she could only take some things out from her space.

She was just about to head down the mountain when, at that moment, several leaves exposed on a nearby slope caught her attention.

Why did those look so much like potato leaves?

Chi Nan Yi was nimble; gripping a tree trunk and pushing hard with her feet, she quickly climbed up the slope. She dug at the ground a few times with a shovel, and sure enough, several round little potatoes appeared before her eyes.

They were actually potatoes!

Speeding up her hands, Chi Nan Yi dug all the potatoes out of the ground and counted them—there were over a dozen.

Though they weren't large, they were still rations nonetheless.

"It seems there should still be some food here."

In truth, her purpose in coming up the mountain was not to find food, but to see whether there were any medicinal herbs on this mountain. Now it seemed medicinal herbs were a long shot.

She couldn't expose her space for now; in the future, she would also have to be careful whenever she took anything out from it.

Thinking of this, she made sure no one was around and took a live wild rabbit out from her space—these were all ones she had quietly gone to buy along the road from Jingcheng to here.

Originally she had only bought a few, but now over a dozen had already bred inside the space.

The seeds scattered in the space had also yielded a harvest.

It seemed that whether animals or plants, as long as they were in the space, their growth rate would become extremely fast. She had just set the rabbit on the ground and was about to take a knife to finish it off, but who would have thought she couldn't hold on—the rabbit suddenly bolted and slammed headfirst into a tree.

Chi Nan Yi's mouth twitched. Yesterday they had mentioned the story of "waiting by a stump for a hare"—if she took this rabbit back today, would they not believe her?

But...

But this rabbit really did kill itself by running into the tree!

Sure enough, when everyone in the Chi Family saw a rabbit in her back basket, they were all greatly surprised.

"Little Sister, this rabbit—you caught it?" Chi Huai Qian stared with wide eyes. "Lying doesn't make you a good child."

"I didn't catch it."

"I knew it—did you also run into that hunter we met yesterday?"

"This time it really did kill itself by running into the tree." Chi Nan Yi pointed at the wound on the rabbit's head. "Look, this is the fatal wound."

Chi Huai Qian picked up the rabbit and examined it—the wound did indeed look like it was from an impact.

He turned to look at Chi Huaijin: "Not fair—how come when Little Sister goes up the mountain she can actually 'wait by a stump for a hare,' but when we go up the mountain we can only, only 'wait for a hunter'!"

"Pfft—"

Chi Zhiqiu spat out a mouthful of water, laughing nonstop.

He smacked his lips and looked at the water flask again: "Huh? Why does today's water feel a little different?"

"How is it different?" Chi Huai Qian took it. "Isn't it just water? What different taste could you possibly drink from it?" Saying that, he picked up the flask and took a sip.

After just one sip, Chi Huai Qian's eyes went wide: "It seems, it really is a little different—it's sweet."

"Sweet? You two must be craving so much you're hallucinating!" Chi Ting Song also took the water flask and drank a few mouthfuls, savoring it for a moment. "There really is a bit of sweetness, and how come after drinking it I feel like the fatigue in my body has mostly disappeared?"

Chi Nan Yi only watched them, thinking to herself: Of course it's different—what's inside this water flask is Spirit Spring Water. How could ordinary spring water compare?

Spirit Spring Water's effects of Marrow Washing and Tendon Strengthening, healing injuries and neutralizing poison, and dispelling fatigue were all basic operations.

"I think you two are just so happy seeing Yi'er back that everything tastes good to you." Mother Chi took out two fruits and handed them to Chi Nan Yi: "These were found by your eldest brother today. One for your sister-in-law, and these two are both for you."

The fruits here were all wild fruits, very tart and astringent, but in Yuping Village they counted as good things.

Chi Nan Yi bit into one and felt like her teeth were going to fall out from the sourness.

Seeing the expression on her face, Mother Chi said with some apology: "Can't get used to eating them?"

"A little." The fruit was tart and astringent, truly hard to swallow. Noticing that Mother Chi looked somewhat ill at ease, Chi Nan Yi smiled and said: "Mother, I know the thought behind you and my brothers' kindness."

"It's just that we've wronged you, having you live this hard life with us."

"It's fine." She poured out the potatoes from her back basket and said with a smile: "I also found potatoes on the mountain today. They're a bit small, but they're perfect for stewing with rabbit meat."

"Little Sister is really too amazing—she can find anything!" Chi Huaijin scratched his head. "Third Brother and I wandered around the mountain for so long and couldn't even bring back any tree bark."

"That just shows Little Sister is our family's lucky star—we all have to treat her well."

Just then, a few sounds of retching came from Ruan-shi's room.

Chi Zhiqiu hurried in, and Chi Nan Yi set down her back basket and followed him into the room.

It seemed that at this time, Ruan-shi should have already started experiencing morning sickness.

"Where are you uncomfortable?" Chi Zhiqiu looked at Ruan-shi's somewhat pale face and said with concern: "I'll go find a doctor."

"Forget it! I'm fine." Ruan-shi said in a low voice: "I'm just a bit uncomfortable. It'll pass in a while."

Chi Nan Yi walked to Ruan-shi's side, placed her hand on her wrist, and feeling the pulse beneath her fingertips, she smiled and said: "Sister-in-law, how long has it been since your monthly courses came?"

"Over a month."

As Ruan-shi's words fell, she couldn't help but feel a surge of joy: "Could it be..."

"It's a pregnancy pulse." Chi Nan Yi looked at the delighted surprise on her face: "You're going to be a mother."

"Really? Is this real?" Chi Zhiqiu said excitedly: "I'm going to be a father? I'm really going to be a father!"

He rushed forward, wanting to pick up Ruan-shi, but afraid his grip would be too heavy and hurt her, he could only stand to the side laughing somewhat foolishly.

Chi Family members heard the news, they were overjoyed—adding a new member and increasing prosperity is indeed a great joy!