Autumn harvest arrived in the blink of an eye. After the group swung their sickles and gathered the rice, the temperature hadn’t completely dropped yet. One could still work in a single layer without feeling cold. Just like last year, the cold snap came late. Sunlight was abundant, and the climate was suitable. Not only did the rice ears fill out well, but the green peppers and luffa also set plenty of fruit. The cotton yield even exceeded Li Cunxin’s expectations.
This was the advantage of this place: abundant natural resources, favorable weather, fertile land, and a pleasant climate. Even though the group, having fallen from a comfortable life to wander here, harbored resentment deep in their hearts, they couldn’t deny that this was a treasured land.
The rice harvesting and storing went smoothly. Naturally, the exploration team of five set out again as planned.
After the last house for the newcomers was finished, construction began on the breeding farm. Overall, it was divided into two main sections: poultry and livestock. Their current poultry included chickens and geese. Livestock included pigs, rabbits, donkeys, and oxen. Donkeys had long gestation periods, small litters, and reproduced slowly. There was only one ox. So, the livestock buildings were mainly for pigs and rabbits. After the wheat was sown, the delivery time for the two pregnant sows arrived.
Zhou Huan had long since cleaned the farrowing pen, padding it with straw for a nest. After the sow’s water broke, she lay sideways on the straw pile, her belly rippling.
Li Cunxin crouched nearby and asked, “Why hasn’t she given birth yet?”
Xia Qing retorted, “Did you think giving birth is as easy as excretion, just popping out with a push? You gotta work up to it.”
“Still easier than when my mom had me.” A thought suddenly flashed in Li Cunxin’s mind. “Hey, Sister Huanhuan, you said you can deliver livestock. All mammals—can you deliver human babies too?”
Zhou Huan was delivering a large animal for the first time. First times always came with anxiety. Having Li Cunxin and Xia Qing staring nearby added another layer of pressure. Irritated, she snapped, “Go on, get out! You two are just in the way here. Finished your work?”
Xia Qing slapped Li Cunxin’s arm, pointing at the sow, and cried out excitedly, “Hey, hey, hey! She’s giving birth, giving birth!”
Sure enough, a piglet, covered in mucus, slid out headfirst and landed on the straw.
The piglet, eyes not yet open, nuzzled around. Its entire body was jet black, with only two pink patches on the bends of its legs. It didn’t so much resemble its mother as it did the general stock they raised—large patches of black skin all over. Even the patches of lighter skin were more of a deep brown than pinkish-white, to make themselves less conspicuous and avoid detection by predators.
Yan Baiyu had just returned with the boiled scissors and towels. Zhou Huan cut the umbilical cord, wiped the piglet clean, then placed it near the sow’s teats so it could find and nurse the colostrum.
Xia Qing watched for a long time, but no second piglet appeared. Greatly disappointed, she asked, “Just one?”
Zhou Huan said, “She hasn’t finished yet. Alright, Baiyu helping me here is enough. You two stop bothering me here and get out!”
The two’s curiosity satiated, they didn’t linger, exiting the farrowing pen. They’d only taken a few steps when they saw Yu Muyang running madly towards them, his face contorted in a horrified expression as if the sky were falling.
Yu Muyang was out of breath. “Village Chief!”
Li Cunxin’s heart lurched. “What’s wrong?”
“Peo- people have come.” Yu Muyang swallowed hard, panting. “New people have come to the village.”
Xia Qing said, “So they’ve come. With a look like yours, I thought something terrible had happened.”
The group had been inspired by the earlier forest-burning for farmland reclamation. They realized fire-setting not only cleared land but also served as a signal flare. From those who had followed the plow fire, they learned that the plow fire was visible from even farther than the beacon smoke, especially at night, when the burning fire illuminated half the sky, making it very conspicuous.
After harvesting the rice, they still wanted to expand the farmland. They then planned to burn forest to create fields and find people, killing two birds with one stone. Having selected the land and dug firebreaks, they set the fire at night.
In the dry autumn weather, the fire burned even fiercer than the last time, lighting up the deep night brilliantly. The group figured that if there were still people nearby, they would surely find their way here, following the direction of the plow fire. Once close, even after the fire died, the beacon smoke would still point the way.
So, they weren’t surprised that someone had found the village this time.
“Vinegar.” Yu Muyang, winded, couldn’t even get a full word out smoothly.
Li Cunxin was utterly puzzled. “What vinegar?”
“Wine.”
Li Cunxin frowned. “What wine?”
Xia Qing lost her patience. “What riddle are you playing? Can you just spit it out? Straighten your tongue before you speak.”
Yu Muyang caught his breath slightly and hurriedly explained, “Oh, come on! One of the women, her talent is the one that can brew alcohol—what’s it called again…”
It turned out the group of five who arrived consisted of three young women and two men. Besides the talents of Animal Husbandry, Ceramics, Hunting, and Bamboo Craftsman, there was one talent they didn’t have here—the very one Yu Muyang mentioned, the talent for brewing: Food Processing.
By the time Li Cunxin and Xia Qing rushed over, Yunxiu was already holding the woman’s hand, examining it over and over, as if afraid she’d run away.
Her soy sauce, her vinegar, her cooking wine—now there was hope!
Several chefs surrounded the group tightly, their eyes blazing, gleaming with a green light that made the five’s scalps tingle. If not for the fact that these people were treating them very politely, they would have thought they’d stumbled into some den of monsters and become prey.
The five stared down at the brown sugar water in front of them, sighing inwardly again. They never imagined they’d get to drink this kind of sweet water again, or see this kind of house.
Li Cunxin was still thinking that no matter what, they had to persuade these five to stay. The five were already itching to get in, thinking about how they could remain here and live together with everyone.
The meeting of the two sides was undoubtedly happy and harmonious.
Li Cunxin’s group, developing for nearly three years now, had gone from initially only having the advantage of food, to later benefiting from greater numbers. The conditions back then, compared to now, were only slightly superior for their multi-person survival group—not overwhelmingly tempting. When they met the seven from East Lake, the village had steadily upgraded. Upgraded living conditions and beautiful houses had undoubtedly stirred the newcomers’ hearts, brimming with attraction.
Now, the village had orderly houses, fertile fields, ample grain reserves, and over thirty members—not to mention the finer details like ironware, draft animals, clothing, and vegetable gardens. Their village’s foundation was solidly built, beautifully established.
For these small groups of just a few people, the village was already a giant to be looked up to.
As Li Cunxin introduced the village to the five, their admiration for the group deepened another layer. While they were still lost, despairing, and wanting to go back, this group had already accepted reality, strived to start a new life, and was creating their own miracle on this land.
The moment Li Cunxin invited the five to stay in the village, they agreed without a moment’s hesitation.
With new people arriving in the village, naturally, the chefs had to prepare a good meal. When dinner time came, there was a constant bustle in and out of the main hall. Several people busied themselves in the kitchen shed that was bright and well-ventilated—washing vegetables, chopping, manning the wok, plating dishes—it was a lively scene, just like a village banquet.
The woman with the Food Processing talent was named Chang Yue. A couple of years older than Li Cunxin, she immediately called her ‘Sister,’ making Li Cunxin laugh.
Chang Yue was originally a bit nervous. After all, she was new, in an unfamiliar place, and just found out this person was the village chief. Being in the other’s territory made her feel timid, and the timidity made her whole demeanor stiff and restrained.
But Li Cunxin seemed like a very amiable person, without any overbearing pressure. She wasn’t too hard to get along with. And after Li Cunxin’s laugh, as if wanting to help her relax, she brought up how others used to call her ‘Mom.’ Chang Yue smiled knowingly, and that sense of restraint vanished.
Li Cunxin asked about Chang Yue’s talent. Learning that her talent encompassed not just brewing, but also extracting cooking oils, processing rice and wheat, and making various sauces—all within her talent’s scope—Li Cunxin’s heart leaped with joy.
Zhou Huan and Yan Baiyu finished up with the sow’s delivery and only then came to the front. It wasn’t until they saw Li Cunxin talking to a strange woman that they learned more newcomers had arrived in the village.
Li Cunxin joyfully waved at Yan Baiyu. “Baiyu, Baiyu! More new people in our village!”
Zhou Huan glanced at Yan Baiyu, then teased Li Cunxin, “Oh, it’s not like we haven’t had newcomers before. You weren’t this excited when we arrived.”
Zhou Huan was deliberately ribbing Li Cunxin. In truth, back when they arrived, the village hadn’t been so easy to find people yet. Li Cunxin had expended quite a bit of effort to persuade them to join. When they came, Li Cunxin had been extremely happy too.
But Li Cunxin wasn’t self-aware of that. Taking Zhou Huan’s words at face value, she thought she had indeed been too happy, forgetting herself. Such differential treatment would be bad for the other villagers. Flustered for a moment, she could only laugh awkwardly. “I’m happy inside for everyone… it just doesn’t always show on my face.”
Yan Baiyu looked at Zhou Huan. “With one sentence, you’ve made both of them uncomfortable.”
Chang Yue couldn’t tell that Zhou Huan was just teasing Li Cunxin. She only sensed a sharpness in Zhou Huan’s words, making her doubly awkward.
Zhou Huan caught Yan Baiyu’s look. Her lips curled into a teasing smile as she gave a soft, snorting laugh towards Yan Baiyu, with an expression that said ‘I knew you’d step in.’
Yan Baiyu said to Chang Yue, “She’s just used to joking with Cunxin. She doesn’t mean anything bad by it.”
Chang Yue glanced lightly at Yan Baiyu, then shyly averted her gaze, before involuntarily taking another look. In this world, a beautiful appearance could no longer stand out on its own. Without the possibility of breathtaking beauty, the sun and dust veiled even the brightest pearl in a thin layer of grime, limiting how far looks could take you. What drew Chang Yue was Yan Baiyu’s serene and composed temperament, which stood out prominently in the noisy main hall.
Li Cunxin said to the two, “Guess what her talent is?”
Zhou Huan asked, “What talent?”
Yan Baiyu said, “Food Processing?”
Li Cunxin was surprised. “How did you know?”
Yan Baiyu smiled slightly. “Yunxiu’s lips are practically curling up to the sky. If something can make her that happy, I figured it must be this.”
Li Cunxin muttered, “I wanted to keep the suspense.”
Yu Muyang and Xia Qing, seeing Zhou Huan arrive, couldn’t resist crowding over to ask, “Sister Huanhuan, how many piglets did that sow farrow?”
Zhou Huan curled her lips in a smile and made a hand gesture.
The two exclaimed in unison, “Twelve?!”
Xia Qing said, “My god, that’s way too many.”
Yu Muyang howled at Li Cunxin, “Village Chief! Butcher the pig! Butcher the pig!”
Li Cunxin yelled back, “I know, I know!”
