Space Food Storage: Daily Travel

The group helped each other off the boat.

We walked to a small town three miles away from the port. This town is called Haiyu Town, which is about the same size as Yukou Town.

There is a stone road in the middle of the shops. Most of the shops on both sides of the stone road are made of yellow mud and stones. The roofs are covered with tiles. The stone houses look quite sturdy.

It is probably because there are frequent typhoons on the seaside, so building a stone house is safer.

It was the afternoon, and apart from a few shops open, there were not many people in the town.

The group followed Huo Yi and Huo Er and walked for about a quarter of an hour before stopping at the Haiyu Inn, the only inn at the back of the town.

The inn is quite big. The houses are made of stone and large wood. They are two stories high and form a courtyard with three houses on one side, a wall and a gate.

The inn covers a large area, and a rough estimate shows that there are at least hundreds of rooms.

Huo Yi led Huo Dong to meet the innkeeper. Liu Yuhan happened to see a middle-aged man kneeling before Huo Dong from where he was standing. Huo Dong helped him up, and the two exchanged a few words before leaving.

Huo Dong came over and said to them, "Old Liu, Uncle and Aunt, Miss Xiaohan, it rained heavily on the island yesterday, and the mountain roads are difficult to travel. It's getting late today, how about we stay at the inn for one night and go back tomorrow morning?"

"It's up to you."

"Then the waiter will take you to rest first. Dinner is ready. We will eat in the lobby on the first floor."

Several waiters came out and led them into several rooms on the second floor.

Huo Dong followed the shopkeeper.

Liu Yuhan and others entered the room. The room was elegantly laid out, and the mosquito nets, bedding, and screens were all classically painted and embroidered, making it very suitable for female family members to live in.

This must have been cleaned up specially, or perhaps a female family member had lived there before.

There was a couch outside the screen partition, and Liu Yuhan planned to sleep there at night. One room was enough for three people.

Half an hour later, the three of them washed, changed their clothes, and packed up. Huo Er then called them downstairs for dinner from outside the door.

There weren't many people around, so there weren't so many rules to follow outside, so the men and women all sat together.

Dinner was primarily based on local seafood specialties. There were boiled shrimp, braised red fish, steamed sea bass, sea cucumber and hen soup, steamed spare ribs and small greens, and what must have been local wild vegetables. These dishes were perfectly suited to Liu Yuhan's appetite.

She was the youngest among them. Seeing that she was eating with relish, everyone asked her to eat more. Huo Dong saw that she liked shrimps, so he asked the kitchen to serve her another bowl.

Liu Yuhan was not polite. She liked to peel the shrimps and eat them herself. The dipping sauce should be soy sauce with minced ginger and a little bit of dogwood, which was very much to her liking.

After eating and drinking, I went to rest.

At noon on the second day, after breakfast, Huo Yi, Huo Er and others had already taken the horses they were going to ride. Liu took Grandma Qin, Liu Shinan took Doctor Liu, and the rest of the people rode a horse each.

Huo Yi came first, followed by Huo Er, Liu Yuhan followed behind her mother, and Huo Dong followed behind her.

"Miss Xiaohan, the road is a bit slippery, please be careful."

"I understand, Brother Huo Dong."

The road was indeed rugged, but fortunately it was not very steep, so it was still possible to ride slowly on horseback. For some better sections, they rode faster, and it took them nearly an hour to arrive.

Not far away, I could see a patchwork of stone houses. Like giant mushrooms lost in the forest, they were scattered here and there. The terrain where the stone houses were located was relatively flat, like a hill.

Huo Yi stopped at a yard far away from the other stone houses. The stone houses had been renovated and surrounded by a large courtyard.

The large courtyard gate was a simple wooden gate made of large logs, and the courtyard walls were made of stone and yellow mud, more than a meter high.

After tying the horses under a tree outside the courtyard gate, Huo Dong led everyone towards the gate. He patted the gate and shouted inside.

"Is anyone home?"

"Who is it? I'm coming right over."

Liu was extremely nervous and excited, her hands were trembling slightly. Liu Yuhan held one of her hands, and Grandma Qin held the other.

The gate creaked open, and a tall but thin old woman with silver hair appeared in front of them.

"Grandma, I'm Huo Dong."

"Hey, you're Huo kid? How did you get here? You've grown so tall."

Liu's body was trembling as she broke free from the two men's hands. Her trembling lips wanted to scream but no sound came out.

If you want to talk, tears will flow first.

"grandmother……"

Huo Dong stepped aside. The old woman squinted her eyes at the shouting sound, her pupils gradually dilated, and her mouth trembled as she tried to shout, but no sound came out.

This, this is the little granddaughter she's been thinking about, right? Is she seeing things?!

"Grandma, it's me, I'm Yan Xi... wuwu..." Liu took two steps forward and knelt in front of the old woman, hugging her legs and shouting in a trembling voice.

"Grandma, I, Qin Mo Niang, pay my respects to you. I have finally brought the young lady back." Grandma Qin also knelt down beside her.

The old woman helped Liu up with her trembling hands, and gently stroked Liu's face with her dry, old hands.

"Yan Xi, my child, where have you been all these years?! Do you know how worried we are?"

"Grandma, it's Yan Xi who is unfilial. Yan Xi is sorry for you!"

The grandfather and grandson hugged each other and cried bitterly. People around them couldn't help sighing when they saw this scene.

After the two of them calmed down a little, they went back to the yard. There were many stone benches in the yard, and the old woman asked them to sit down.

"The house is simple, so please sit down. There's no need to be so formal."

Liu grabbed her grandmother's hand and motioned Liu Shinan and Liu Yuhan to come forward.

"Grandma, Yan Xi is married, and I am the head of the family. This is my eldest daughter."

"Greetings, Grandma. My name is Liu Shinan."

"Greetings, grandma. My name is Liu Han, you can just call me Xiaohan." The father and daughter knelt down to the old lady.

"Get up, get up. I told you not to be so formal. Okay, okay, it's good to get married. The girl is so grown up now. Xiaohan, sit next to grandma."

"Okay, grandma." Liu Yuhan sat next to her obediently.

Old Madam Liu held her granddaughter's hand with one hand and Liu Yuhan's hand with the other, and asked Liu softly about her family situation.

The more she looked at Liu Yuhan, the more satisfied she became. This young man looked so much like her daughter-in-law when she was young. His eyes were also like her son's, like a member of his Liu family.

"Xiaoqing, come here to grandma and greet everyone." Old Lady Liu said to the girl who was standing stiffly at the door.

Liu Yuhan looked over and saw a little girl about 10 years old, wearing old clothes and a pair of cloth shoes.

She has a pretty face and fair skin, and at first glance, she looks a bit like Liu Yuhan.

The girl called Xiaoqing stood beside the great-grandmother and, under the introduction of the great-grandmother, bowed to everyone one by one.

"This is your aunt, and this is your sister."

"Meet my aunt, meet my sister."

"Xiaoqing, come and sit next to me." Liu Yuhan invited Xiaoqing to sit next to her and chatted with her in a low voice. Soon the two of them became familiar with each other.

From Xiaoqing's words, I learned that there were only three children in her family: her brother, her older brother, and her younger brother. They were all her eldest uncle's children. Her brother was 17, she was 12, and her younger brother was 10. Her name was Liu Qing, her brother was Liu Hong, and her younger brother was Liu Zhi.

My grandfather took my eldest uncle, my younger uncle and my brother to the mountain to check the traps they had set to see if there were any wild animals.

My grandmother took my brother and went to the beach with their neighbors to pick up edible shells.

She originally wanted to go with them, but her grandmother asked her to stay at home with her great-grandmother. Her great-grandmother was old and had accidentally fallen and injured her leg bone last time when she was alone at home. Fortunately, it was not serious.

From then on, no one dared to leave her alone at home. Liu Qing would cook and manage the vegetable garden at home.

Xiaoqing also took Liu Yuhan to see the vegetables she planted. There was a vegetable garden of about one acre next to the wall, surrounded by a bamboo fence.

I planted cabbage, green beans, eggplant, loofah, edamame, amaranth, leek, etc., and they are all growing well.