sbdcsierra Chapter 481 Can I rely on myself?
Chapter 481 Can I rely on myself?
Xiu Niang was just an ordinary farm girl; the world she could see was limited to the area around the village.
Her family was relatively well-off, she rarely went hungry, and she had a loving mother. She was already happier than many girls in the village.
The furthest thing I can imagine is marrying into a good family in the future.
Until things started to change in the village, one by one the young and strong men in the village were conscripted for labor and never returned, and the girls of marriageable age were all married off to places they could never have imagined.
Since her brother never came back, her mother was filled with fear and begged time to slow down. She had secretly overheard her mother arguing with her father. Her mother said that the girls in the village were being married off like this, and that they might never come back. Every girl they married off was replaced by several men, but they would all be taken away after three months. What was the point of sending so many girls away?
Her father always scolded her, saying she was all talk and no action, that girls were sent out to enjoy a good life, and that she shouldn't worry about so much.
The mother muttered to herself that she didn't want such good fortune; she only wanted her family to be safe and sound.
Xiu Niang once asked her mother, what would happen if it were her turn one day? Where would she marry?
Back then, her mother would always hug her tightly and say, "Xiuniang will not go anywhere, and I pray to God to protect the girls in the village from going anywhere either."
But Xiu Niang knew that one day it would be her turn. She had actually seen Sister A Huan run away that day. She had thought about calling out to her, but she also knew that if she had called out to Sister A Huan, Sister A Huan's life might have been ruined.
What can happen to someone who can't come back?
They're most likely dead.
So she watched Ah Huan run away without saying a word.
When her father made her put on her wedding dress, all she could think about was that if she got married, her mother wouldn't have to be beaten anymore. She accepted her fate and the possibility of dying.
She stopped struggling, stopped resisting, and stopped thinking about whether she could survive. If she had thought that way, she would have been terrified.
So she remained quiet the whole way, and even when she was put into the coffin, she didn't make a sound, wondering if she could just sleep and die.
When the older sister came to rescue her, she was only worried about whether she would implicate the older sister. It was only when the older sister told her to hide and wait that the fear belatedly swept over her.
It was as if she had experienced a long and thrilling life, as if she had lost the feeling of being alive while waiting, as if the soul that had been cleaved out of her body had been completely separated from her, and everything seemed so unreal.
But the hunger felt so real at that moment.
All the many ways she had imagined what life would be like, none of them could compare to this moment, how wonderful it felt.
I'm so hungry, I just want to live.
It's good to be alive.
Lu Yangyang was also very hungry at this moment. In fact, she had been hungry for a long time. She was both hungry and tired, but her mind was constantly on edge. She kept thinking about what to do next and whether she could rescue the person, so much so that she ignored the feeling of hunger.
Only after she brought Xiu Niang out and saw that she was alright did her tense nerves finally relax a little.
Hunger surged forth.
As she gripped the iron chain, preparing to climb down, she heard the rumbling of their stomachs echoing around the rock face, and heard Xiu Niang's soft murmur. She quietly tied Xiu Niang to her back with a rope, comforting her as she did so.
"After we get down the mountain, I'll catch a pheasant and we'll roast it and eat it."
Xiu Niang blushed slightly and said, "Well, I'm not that hungry."
Lu Yangyang gripped the iron chain and began to climb down. The rock wall was dozens of feet high, and the bottom was nowhere in sight. It looked terrifying during the day, and even more terrifying at night. A thin mist hung in the air below, as if she were being chased down to hell.
Xiu Niang only glanced at it by accident, and she froze.
Lu Yangyang sensed her unusual behavior and asked, "Are you scared?"
Xiu Niang said softly, "Yes, a little, but it's okay. I'm not that afraid of heights, sister. My legs are feeling better now, they're not as numb anymore, so I can climb by myself."
Lu Yangyang immediately understood her little scheme; she was probably afraid that carrying her like this would be a burden.
What a lovely little girl.
"When I was three years old, my family abandoned me and threw me into a hunting trap in the mountains. The trap was very high, with upright wooden spikes inside. It was extremely cold at night, and there were many sounds of wild animals outside, but what I heard most clearly was the rumbling of my stomach. I was so incredibly hungry. I remember that when I was thrown in, I hadn't eaten anything for several days," Lu Yangyang told Xiu Niang as she climbed down.
"I was so hungry that I started hallucinating. I could smell the aroma of meat wafting in the air. I reached out to grab it, but my hand was pricked by thorns in the cave and bled. The pain made me realize that I was still trapped in a pit where I couldn't see the cave entrance. But I was so hungry that I could only grab the dry grass in the cave and chew it bit by bit. At that time, I thought that if I could get out, I could eat a whole cow."
Xiu Niang became extremely nervous upon hearing this.
Lu Yangyang asked her with a smile, "Guess if I ate a whole cow after I went out?"
Xiu Niang asked cautiously, "Is there?"
Lu Yangyang laughed out loud: "Of course not. It was a hunter uncle who was passing by who heard my voice and pulled me out. He only had a dry biscuit that had been sitting for two days, and he gave it all to me. I ate it for a long, long time and almost broke my tooth."
"And then what happened?" Xiu Niang couldn't help but ask.
"Later, in order to survive, I learned to run very fast, to work and trade for food, and to find out what was edible and what wasn't in the mountains. At that time, I didn't know how to get out of the village. I just thought that as long as I didn't starve to death, every day I lived was a day more. I learned everything I could, and every survival skill I learned meant one more full meal," Lu Yangyang told her.
"I can send you back, but you'll have to find your own way to survive from now on. Living is no easier than dying."
"But if you're alive, you can feel hunger, but one day you'll learn the skill to make sure you have a full meal."
Xiu Niang seemed thoughtful. "Rely on myself?"
Lu Yangyang said firmly, "Yes, rely on yourself."
Lu Yangyang didn't mean to say those words to comfort Xiu Niang. Rather, seeing Xiu Niang was like seeing her former self. Before Xiu Niang knew her own background, the only truth she knew was that she had been abandoned by her family. They abandoned her and wanted her to die.
But she wanted to live.
For a young girl who can't leave her mountain village, living is very difficult.
All help and charity are limited; it may be a meal today or a meal the day after tomorrow.
During the free time, you either go hungry or rely on yourself.