After burying Su Mingyuan, it was already noon. The sun was at its most scorching.
Everyone sat in the shade, looking exhausted, chatting and resting, waiting for their women to prepare food. Some were so hungry they took out some roasted beans to chew.
Although they didn't catch any prey yesterday, they had found a small pool of water. They had originally planned to venture further in to see if they could find something to eat. But after Su Mingyuan's accident, no one dared to take that risk anymore.
After descending the mountain this morning, everyone tacitly avoided any mention of the small pool.
It wasn't until late morning, when the sun came out and everyone else on the road had stopped to rest, that Su Minghui made arrangements. He assigned over a dozen trustworthy people to secretly carry tools into the mountain with his brother leading the team, to fill the water and transport it down the mountain.
When they decided to flee, everyone had agreed on a rule: on the road, each person was responsible for their own food, which could be exchanged freely. However, all the water found was to be poured into the large vats on the ox carts and distributed uniformly by the village chief.
They were lucky this time; after filling two vats completely, only mud remained in the pool.
Su Muqing arrived at the ox cart carrying their luggage and saw Su Mingyong still guarding it. She quickly thanked him, "Uncle Yong, thank you."
Su Mingyong waved his hand dismissively. "It's nothing major. You calling me Uncle Yong, I should do this little thing for you, it's not worth mentioning. Besides, your father was our brother. It's only right that we do this."
Afraid of reminding the young girl of the deceased Su Mingyuan and causing her sadness, he added, "Don't worry about anything else. Your uncle has made arrangements. From now on, your family's ox cart will be driven by our uncles in turns. You just sit on the cart and take care of Brother Xuan."
Su Muqing nodded slightly. "Yes! Thank you, Third Uncle. I will take good care of my brother."
After chatting with Su Mingyong, Su Muqing began searching through the ox cart. While he wasn't paying attention, she collected the package Su Mingyuan had mentioned before his death into her space.
Then, she took out a pottery pot from the cart, preparing to boil some hot water to make milk for the baby.
After this late breakfast, they wouldn't eat again until they set off in the afternoon. According to the village chief, they would resume their journey that evening.
Leaving Luling Mountain meant they had completely exited Luoning Prefecture. The next stop was Siyang Prefecture. It was said that Siyang Prefecture had also suffered severe disasters, only slightly better than Luoning Prefecture.
Su Muqing wanted to feed the little baby until it was full, and also prepare some more to put into her space, in case the baby got hungry on the road and she didn't have time to prepare it.
However, the question was what to use to hold the prepared milk. Using a bowl wouldn't work either; the ox cart was unstable, and if it spilled while feeding, it would cause trouble if seen by people behind them.
It seemed she would have to find an opportunity to trade in her space again, to see if she could get a milk bottle!
No sooner said than done. While Wang Shi was helping to look after the baby, Su Muqing claimed to have an upset stomach and ran behind a haystack not far from the ruined temple. After confirming no one was around, she flashed into her space.
"217, initiate dimension trade."
"Connecting, please wait..."
"...Hello?" After the connection was successful, Su Muqing took the initiative to greet the other party.
After a few seconds, a deep, magnetic male voice came from the screen. "Hello!"
The other party was wearing a mask, only revealing a pair of very beautiful eyes. But judging by his attire, he seemed to be a doctor?
Su Muqing: "I need a milk bottle. Do you have any?"
"No. The places that sell milk bottles recently will have their trading time end by the time I get there."
Su Muqing was overwhelmed. "Then what should I do? I only have one matching opportunity left today, and what if I don't match with modern times..."
"Are you feeding a child? I have new syringes here. They should be able to substitute for now."
Su Muqing patted her head and gave the other party a thumbs-up. "Right! How could I not have thought of that! Thank you for the reminder! What do you want in return? Let me see if I have anything."
"It's alright, just put anything you have. Syringes aren't worth much in a hospital." He then got up to leave, presumably to get the syringes.
Su Muqing thought for a moment and took out a can of mosquito repellent cream. This was suitable for all ages, and the value of a can of mosquito repellent cream was likely higher than a syringe.
After Su Muqing placed the mosquito repellent cream into the quantum box, the other party also returned. He directly placed a large handful of syringes he was holding into the quantum box.
Su Muqing quickly waved her hand. "I don't need so many. I only gave you one item."
"It's fine, small ones are one yuan each, large ones are two yuan. It only cost a little over ten yuan."
"Alright then. Thank you." Seeing that the other party genuinely didn't mind, she accepted it gladly. In retrospect, her mosquito repellent cream was more expensive, but compared to him, it wasn't his immediate necessity.
After the trade was completed, neither party knew what else to talk about. After a simple greeting, they disconnected.
Su Muqing filled the pottery pot with pure water and then exited the space. She took another empty pottery pot and went to queue up with Su Minghui to collect water. Her family was small, so she only collected half a pot.
It happened that she arrived a bit late today, and by the time she reached the cooking area, most others were already done. They were just cooking simple food, enough to fill their stomachs.
Seeing that most people had left, Su Muqing quickly swapped the pot in her hand with the one from her space and started boiling water.
Fearing that someone might see her with a pot of water midway, Su Muqing only heated the water until it was warm, then put the pot back into her space. She thought that since it was pure water, it should be fine even if not boiled. She then prepared the milk according to the proportions on the milk powder can and set it aside.
She poured the half-pot of water she received into a mouthwash cup. Then, she refilled it with pure water and, after the water boiled, added a small handful of rice to cook porridge.
Only after putting the rice into the pot did she remember that she hadn't washed it. But now there was no extra water to wash the rice. Oh well, if it's not clean, it won't make you sick!
After the porridge was cooked to a soft and thick consistency, Su Muqing ladled out a small bowl to cool, intending to feed the baby later. The rest was her lunch.
Thinking about the two large pieces of meat in her space, tears inevitably streamed from the corners of her mouth!
It seemed she needed to find a way to bring out some meat through legitimate means. This body couldn't remember how long it had been since it last ate meat. Just thinking about the word "meat" made her salivate uncontrollably!
Even if she chopped some meat into mince and added it to the porridge, as long as she could get a hint of meat flavor. Otherwise, having the meat constantly in her mind, being able to see it but not eat it, was simply torture for her!
When Su Muqing carried the porridge into the ruined temple, most of the other elders and children were already eating. Su Muqing directly walked in with the porridge and took the baby from Wang Shi. "Aunt, you should go eat too. I'll feed Brother Xuan some porridge."
Wang Shi was indeed hungry. She nodded, placed the child on the dry grass spread on the ground.