Mrs. Qi carefully covered her daughters-in-law and grandchildren with blankets before heading to the bonfire with her sewing basket.
The light by the fire wasn't very bright, and the village elderly women sat nearby, either shedding tears or stitching shoe soles.
Mrs. Qi thought about how much traveling they still had ahead, realizing that shoes for the adults and kids would wear out quickly, so she aimed to make more shoe soles.
Everyone nodded in agreement, afraid of waking the sleeping people.
In the following two days, nearly all the men in the village went out to hunt for food.
The children gathered firewood nearby, while the women stayed outside the cave preparing food supplies.
The uncertainty of the journey's length and the safety of the road made everyone want to store as much long-preserving, easily accessible food as possible.
Originally, they only had flatbread, but now with meat, they could make a wider variety of dishes.
