11 He Woke Up

Through the opening, Xu Xiang saw that the tree was really hollow inside. With a smile on the corner of her mouth, she took out a bag of five catties of wild chestnuts and poured them into the tree hole. After that, she put the empty package back into her space.

Now, the food problem has been solved temporarily. Looking at the dry land, she was thinking of an excuse to take out water from her space. After thinking about it, she still couldn't find a good way to give the Xiao family water.

'Let's tackle the food issue first. I will find another opportunity to give them water in the future.'

After making a decision, she turned around and called Xiao Han. "Second Young Master Xiao, I found something here."

Hearing her calling himself, Xiao Han walked towards her. Seeing nothing, he looked at her calmly and asked, "Miss Xu, what did you find? I didn't see anything here."

She smiled at him, pointed to the hole in the tree and said, "Look inside."

He didn't know why she asked him to look into the tree, but he still glanced in from the tree hole, and was really surprised to find that there were many wild chestnuts inside. Looking at the chestnuts, he couldn't help but be surprised.

"Miss Xu, your luck is really great to be able to find these. How could you have the idea to check this tree? Most people will just walk past it."

"I saw a wild chestnut in front of this tree just now, and I was curious when I saw the hole. That's why I decided to check the inside of this tree." She lied as she picked wild chestnuts from the hole.

After listening to Xu Xiang's words, Xiao Han's eyes flicker for a split second. Without changing his expression, he smiled and said, "I must learn from you. It seems that I am still too careless."

Listening to his sincere words, she felt a little guilty. "Let's pick these up quickly before anyone comes."

He observed her expression for a second, smiled at her and said, "All right."

It took the two of them a few minutes to pick all the wild chestnuts and put them in her bamboo basket. Xiao Han looked at the wild chestnuts and said, "I don't know what this is, but it looks edible. With this amount, you can at least eat for one week."

Xu Xiang looked at him with a bamboo basket in her hand, and said, "This is chestnut and has a great taste. Now that we've found it, let's share it. Although I found them, you also helped pick them up for me."

Thinking that his family was hungry, Xiao Han agreed with her. Ashamed as he was, his family's lives were more important than his face. Seeing that they had been leaving for more than half an hour, she said, "Let's go back so your family won't get worried."

"Mhm."

Xiao Han carried the bamboo basket filled with wild chestnuts and walked out from the forest with a slight smile on his lips. Glancing at Xu Xiang, he still looked calm, but the vigilance in his eyes faded a little bit.

When they walked out of the forest, they saw that the three members of the Xiao family were laughing and crying at the same time. Xu Xiang and Xiao Han looked at each other and quickened their pace. Before Xu Xiang had time to ask them what happened, Xiao Han had already run over.

"Elder brother!"

Standing behind them, she saw Xiao Shao sitting weakly leaning on a dead tree. She was not surprised to see him wake up, because she was very confident in the medicine she gave him.

"Elder brother, you finally woke up." Xiao Han took his elder brother's hand and smiled brightly.

Xiao Shao looked at his younger brother and patted his head lightly with the other hand. Looking at Xiao Han, he said in a weak and hoarse voice: "Mhm. Thank you for taking care of our family while I'm unconscious."

Xiao Han nodded with a smile on his face when he heard what his elder brother said. "Um."

Looking at the two brothers, Xiao Yi smiled and said, "It's good that you woke up."

Seeing Xu Xiang standing there, Xiao Han put down the bamboo basket and said embarrassedly: "I let Miss Xu watch the joke."

"It's good that your elder brother wakes up. You can talk with him while I prepare lunch." She smiled at him and left with the bamboo basket.

Just as they were talking, Xu Xiang went to make a small bonfire and took out her earthen pot with the remaining water. Looking around, she surreptitiously added more water to the jar, then simply set the jar over the fire. Since Xiao Shao just woke up, she planned to make chestnut soup for him.

While the water was boiling, she cracked the chestnuts to separate the kernels from the shells. By the time the water boiled, she had cracked enough chestnuts to feed six people. She crushed the chestnut flesh and put it in boiling water, and then threw the remaining chestnuts into the fire to roast.

Taking advantage of no one's attention, she secretly took out salt, brown sugar, and evaporated milk from her space. After adding a little salt, brown sugar and enough evaporated milk on the jar, she put the remaining ingredients back into her space.

Since she didn't have a ladle, she quickly picked up a twig, washed it with water, and used it as a ladle. Stirring the soup, she couldn't help but let out a long sad sigh.

'It's really hard to live like this. I need to find a good excuse so I can at least take out the basic tools and make life more comfortable.'

While she was still racking her brains for an excuse, the nutty aroma of the creamy chestnut soup spread out. Ignoring those envious, greedy, and vicious eyes, she calmly looked around for something that could be used to hold the soup.

"Young lady, is your soup ready?"