The other adults had a bowl of thin vegetable porridge. They held potatoes sprinkled with salt, feeling extraordinarily satisfied with every bite. Happiness, after all, is a matter of comparison. For those who had nothing to eat or drink elsewhere, walking with capable people made them feel secure, and they found shared labor comforting—no one dared to slack off.
Si Jiuyue, nearby, did not dare to be too blatant about taking things out. Every night, she would secretly fill the communal rice basket and add Spirit Spring Water to the waterskins. Moyuan and Yunyan were also experiencing communal life for the first time; at first, they were unaccustomed to it, but they were gradually moved by the kindness of the villagers and came to consider themselves part of Zhao Village.
The most excited person was Si Beishu, knowing that everyone would reach Luyi City tomorrow. He felt as though he hadn't seen his wife and children in ages; sometimes, the thought alone made him weep in secret. Over the past three days, the group of old and young had only covered a little over a hundred *li*, yet they had already encountered so many disasters. They all felt lucky simply to be alive.
Chapter 146