Chapter 41: Making Charcoal

“Sanbao, run!” Yan Yu laughed joyfully. Leaving her uncle behind made even the wind feel freer.

Yan Lao’er had already tied both himself and his daughter securely to the ox’s back. With one hand, he symbolically held the reins, and with the other, he helped his daughter hold onto her nearly airborne straw hat.

After she had her fill of running wild, the two of them dismounted and continued on foot.

“Father, I think the water supply in the village is running low,” Yan Yu said.

She had noticed that some of the villagers’ water storage jars were empty.

“You can tell from the number of mantou they’re trading. They’re still eating three meals a day, but the portions have shrunk,” Yan Lao’er observed.

“Sanbao, can you find a water source?” Yan Yu asked hopefully.

Sanbao shook his head. He didn’t have that function.

Yan Yu sighed.

“The platform opens at midnight. If it still connects us with the same three people as last time, Dad, who do you think we could trade the most water from?” Yan Yu tilted her head in thought.

Yan Lao’er frowned. “None of them seem likely.”

One of them lived off nutrient solutions.

One had water everywhere but couldn’t drink it, relying on bottled water provided by the platform.

The last one might have water, but considering his environment, getting food and water was a life-or-death struggle.

“Why haven’t we walked out of this drought-stricken area yet?!” Yan Yu was frustrated.

Taking shortcuts had led them farther from the main roads, towns, and villages.

Sometimes, there wasn’t even a path ahead—they had to carve one out themselves.

All around them was either barren, cracked earth, foul-smelling water patches that hadn’t fully dried up, or one rocky, barren mountain after another.

“I really want that guy’s exploration and collection robot! If we had it, finding water and food would be so much easier!” Yan Yu exclaimed.

“Snap out of it, girl. You just said it’s a robot. Even if it has synthetic skin, how do we explain suddenly having an extra person?” Yan Lao’er knocked on her head.

“We’ve already traveled quite a distance. At our current pace of over 20 kilometers a day, and improving over the past few days, we should be covering nearly 30 kilometers daily. At this rate…

Whoa! Not bad! In at most half a month, we’ll reach our first milestone—leaving Qishan Prefecture.”

Yan Lao’er hesitated for a moment before saying, “Alright, I’ll show you something.”

Yan Yu: ???

Show me what?

They got back on the ox. This time, Yan Lao’er checked the bindings multiple times, tying them both down as securely as possible.

Yan Yu didn’t know what was coming, but she was starting to feel excited. It seemed like her father was about to pull off something big.

“Sanbao, up the mountain! Giddy up!”

Despite mentally preparing himself, Yan Lao’er was still shaken dizzy by the ride.

Meanwhile, his daughter was screaming excitedly the entire way. Her voice even turned hoarse.

“Oh my god! Sanbao, you’re amazing! You can jump so high, so far—how are you so incredible?!” Yan Yu showered Sanbao with praise.

Standing atop the highest peak in the area, she finally saw it—green.

The green mountain was still far away, but that didn’t matter. She had seen it—hope.

“I see you!” Yan Yu declared boldly. “Wait for me—I’m coming!”

Yan Lao’er couldn’t speak for a while. He felt like if he opened his mouth, his breakfast would come right back up.

On the way down, Sanbao was as gentle as possible, but Yan Lao’er still needed a long time to recover.

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

Yan Lao’er weakly shook his head. He was completely drained.

“How come you’re not dizzy?”

Yan Yu blinked. “It was exciting! I didn’t feel dizzy at all.”

Ancient, naturally formed rocky mountains were wildly irregular. There were no paths—just mechanical force pushing them upward. Of course, it was thrilling.

“Let’s head back and check your trade list again to see if we missed anything,” Yan Lao’er said tiredly. He let Sanbao take over the ride automatically.

Closing his eyes, he listened as his daughter read through her notes:

“Pots and basins—we have plenty, but we can’t trade them all at once, maybe two at most.

Straw sandals—we’ve got tons! It’d be great if we could sell them all on the platform, but we can only sell a portion.

Doctor Cui’s four sets of medicine—two for diarrhea, two for colds. If we trade them, we need to explain to that sister that the effect might be slightly weaker.

Handcarts—we can spare two if we pack the villagers’ belongings tighter, but selling these would be troublesome. Let’s put that on hold for now.

Clothes and blankets—there are a lot, but they’re hard to deal with.

Dad, what do you think about secretly selling two books from Uncle’s collection?”

Yan Lao’er’s eyes shot open. “Your uncle would kill you! You know how he and your older brother are—bookworms through and through. Any chance they get, they’re reading!”

“Also, Dad, how’s the charcoal-making plan going?”

“I talked to the Qi brothers. They’ll gather wood at noon and try burning some in the evening.”

Every day, the villagers spent time searching for firewood. Sometimes it was easy to find, other times they had to travel far. Instead, they decided to try the method suggested by Bamboo Slip No. 3—making charcoal, which was easier to carry.

“This way, we have an excuse to stay away from the woodpile,” Yan Lao’er suddenly realized. Then he laughed. “Right! From now on, we’ll burn charcoal on platform-opening nights, whether we need it or not!”

—

When they returned to the group, the delicious aroma of meat filled the air from a distance.

Yan Yu ran over excitedly. She saw that a piece of dried meat hanging on their cart had been cut down, and her smile was as bright as the sun.

“Mom! Are we having meat?!”

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

After saving and scrimping for so long, with the second platform opening approaching, even Li Xuemei couldn’t resist indulging a little.

She poured in a bit of oil, added the sliced meat, and stir-fried it. The aroma burst forth immediately. Then she tossed in the wild vegetables and a pinch of their mixed seasoning.

The smell was irresistible!

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

Even Yan Huaiwen put down his book and started casually wandering nearby, sneaking glances at the food.

As soon as the small table was set, the Yan family took their places automatically.

The moment the meat entered her mouth, Yan Yu was overwhelmed with happiness.

“Awoo! Meat is the best!”

—

The Qi brothers had gathered a lot of wood, both thick and thin.

Yan Lao’er wasn’t sure what type of wood would work best for charcoal, so they decided to experiment with everything.

At dusk, the four of them moved further away and picked a spot near the riverbank.

Following Yan Lao’er’s instructions, the Qi brothers stacked the wood upright, then coated it with mud from the drying riverbed, leaving an opening at the top.

They stuffed a large handful of dry grass into the hole and set it on fire.

Then Yan Lao’er personally dug a few small ventilation holes at the base.

“That’s it. Now we wait.”

The Qi brothers exchanged glances.

That’s it?

That simple?

And this would produce charcoal?

Where did Yan Lao’er even learn such an unreliable method…

Would it really work?

—