Chapter 41 Charcoal Burning

“Sanbao, run!” Yan Yu laughed joyfully, feeling like even the wind was free after leaving her uncle.

Yan Lao’er had long since tied the father and daughter onto the back of the ox, holding the reins symbolically with one hand while using the other to keep his daughter’s always-about-to-fly-off straw hat in place.

Only after she had run wild enough did the two of them climb down from the ox and start walking slowly.

“Dad, I’m afraid everyone’s running low on water,” Yan Yu said.

She had seen several of the villagers’ water storage jars sitting empty.

“You can tell from the number of buns being traded. They’re still eating three meals a day, but the portions are smaller.” Yan Lao’er had noticed too.

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

Sanbao shook its head. Not in its skill set.

Yan Yu sighed.

“Platform opens at midnight tonight. If it’s still the same three people we connected with last time, Dad, who do you think we can trade the most water from?” Yan Yu tilted her head, thinking.

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

One lived on nutrient solution.

One was surrounded by water but couldn’t drink it, living off bottled water provided by the Platform.

The last one probably had water, but considering his environment, getting food and water there was a matter of survival.

“Why are we still not out of the drought area?!” Yan Yu was a little frustrated.

Because they had taken a shortcut, they were getting farther and farther from the official road, and further still from towns and villages.

Sometimes there wasn’t even a road ahead, and they had to force a path through.

All around was nothing but barren, cracked earth, stinky, not-yet-dried water holes, and one bald rocky mountain after another.

Yan Yu said, “I really want that uncle’s Exploration and Collection Robot. If we had that, finding water and food would be so much easier!”

“Wake up, girl. You said it yourself, that’s a robot, even if it’s covered in bionic skin. How are we going to explain suddenly having another person with us?” Yan Lao’er knocked her on the head.

“We’ve already come pretty far. At our walking speed, we’re covering more than twenty kilometers a day. The past couple of days, we’ve been doing even better, close to thirty kilometers. If we keep going like this…

Whoa! That’s no small distance. At most half a month, and we’ll reach our first small goal—getting out of Qishan Prefecture.”

Yan Lao’er hesitated for a moment, then said, “Forget it. I’ll show you something.”

Yan Yu: ???

Show her what?

The two got back on the ox. This time, Yan Lao’er checked everything several times, tying them both down tight.

Yan Yu didn’t know why, but she started to feel excited. Felt like her dad was about to pull out a big move.

“Sanbao, up the mountain, giddy-up!”

Even with all the mental preparation in the world, Yan Lao’er still got shaken up till he was dizzy.

Meanwhile, his daughter was screaming with excitement the whole way, her voice going hoarse from shouting.

“Oh my god! Sanbao, you’re amazing! You can jump so high and so far! You’re incredible!” Yan Yu spared no praise.

Standing on the peak of the tallest nearby rocky mountain, she finally saw the long-lost sight of green.

That green mountain was still far away from them, but who cared? She had seen it—hope.

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

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

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

Yan Yu handed him a bamboo tube in concern: “Dad, are you okay?”

Yan Lao’er shook his head, completely drained.

“Why aren’t you dizzy?”

Yan Yu blinked: “Just felt super thrilling, didn’t feel dizzy at all.”

Natural ancient rocky mountains were incredibly uneven, formed by nature as they pleased.

There were no man-made mountain paths, and they had purely relied on mechanical force to climb up. Of course it was crazy thrilling.

“Let’s head back. Let’s double-check your list, see if we missed anything.” Yan Lao’er sounded weak and let Sanbao switch to auto-pilot on the way down.

With his eyes closed, he listened as his daughter read aloud one item after another:

“Pots and pans, quite a few, but can’t trade them all at once, at most two.

Tons of straw sandals, it’d be great if we could sell them all to the Platform, but unfortunately we can only sell a portion.

Physician Cui’s four sets of medicine: two for diarrhea, two for colds. If that sister trades for them, better explain properly that the effect might be a bit weaker.

Handcarts… if we squeeze things together, we can spare two, but selling these would be a hassle, let’s hold off for now.

Lots of clothes and quilts from each household, also hard to deal with.

Dad, what if I secretly sell two of Uncle’s books?”

Yan Lao’er’s eyes snapped open: “Your uncle would kill you! You’ve seen him and your big brother, those two bookworms grab every chance to read.”

“And Dad, how’s the charcoal burning prep going?”

“I talked to the Qi Family Brothers. They’re collecting wood this afternoon, and after resting in the evening, we’ll give it a try.”

Every day during rest time, the villagers spent time searching for firewood. Sometimes it was easy to find, sometimes they had to walk far. Better to try out Bamboo Slip Three’s method, make some charcoal—much easier to carry.

“Just use the excuse of watching the woodpile and stay farther away,” Yan Lao’er added, then suddenly laughed at himself: “Yeah, from now on, let’s schedule charcoal burning on Platform days, whether we need it or not.”

…

When the father and daughter returned to the group, they smelled the rich aroma of meat from far away.

Yan Yu ran over quickly and saw that the piece of dried meat hanging from their cart was missing a chunk. She smiled so hard her eyes disappeared.

“Mom! Are we eating meat?!”

Li Xuemei wiped the sweat from her forehead and smiled: “Got lucky today, found a handful of wild greens, stir-fried them with the meat.”

After so much frugality, finally waiting for the second Platform opening, even Li Xuemei couldn’t resist wanting a treat, splurging just this once.

She poured a little oil, added sliced meat, stir-fried a few times till the aroma burst out, then threw in a handful of wild greens, pinched a bit of her homemade mixed seasoning.

It smelled heavenly!

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

Even Yan Huaiwen put down his book and wandered nearby.

He couldn’t help glancing over again and again.

As the small table was set, the Yan family members automatically took their seats.

The moment a slice of meat entered her mouth, Yan Yu was wrapped in bliss.

Awoo! Meat is the best!

…

The Qi Family Brothers helped gather quite a bit of wood, thick and thin alike.

It had been Yan Lao’er’s suggestion—he wasn’t sure what kind of wood would make good charcoal, so they decided to try them all.

When evening rest time came, the four of them walked a bit farther, finding a spot near the riverbank.

The three Qi brothers began stacking the wood vertically as Yan Lao’er instructed. Then, they dug up river mud from the still-not-fully-dried riverbed and coated the woodpile with it, leaving a hole at the top.

They stuffed a big bunch of dry grass into the hole and lit it.

Yan Lao’er personally got to work, digging several small air vents at the bottom.

“That’s it. Now we wait.”

The Qi brothers looked at each other.

That’s it?

That simple?

And this is supposed to make charcoal?

Where did Yan Lao’er even learn this sketchy method…

Could it actually work?
(End of chapter)