It's really hard to just farm peacefully.

When Jiang Yan walked out of the Fu residence, she was beaming with joy.

Jiang Ai, Jiang Nian, and Jiang An had already borrowed a cart and were waiting in the alley not far from the side gate. They had rushed to finish their work in order to keep their promise to return to the village together.

"Sister Yan, what good thing did you get that makes you so happy?" Jiang Nian asked curiously, noticing the subtle bouncy in Jiang Yan's steps.

Jiang Yan deliberately kept everyone in suspense: "I won't tell you now, you'll find out when we get back to the village."

This year, only Jiang Yuan and Jiang Nian, the brother and sister, returned to Dongshan Village for the Spring Festival. Aunt Yu Qian, having received news that Uncle Jiang Fu was seriously injured and was recuperating somewhere, specially asked for help to go with the supply team to take care of him, and will not be able to return for a while.

An hour and a half later, the group gathered at Jiang Wang's house to warm themselves by the fire.

Jiang Yan took out a cloth bag from her bosom and opened it: "Ta-da—two catties of cottonseed."

Two kilograms of cottonseed isn't much, not even enough to sow on one acre of land, but it means, "Next year we can legally grow cotton!!!"

This year, the villagers of Dongshan secretly planted more than a dozen seedlings in their backyards and along the furrows, claiming that the seeds had accidentally fallen during last year's cotton harvest. But with just a few seedlings, it's extremely difficult to accumulate enough cotton wadding to make warm clothing or to collect more seeds.

Unexpectedly, things took a turn for the better so quickly. It was a good opportunity to mix in some cotton seeds that everyone had secretly hidden away. Since it had only been a year, their activity level wouldn't have decreased too much.

As for whether she had ulterior motives, Jiang Yan was too lazy to think about it. In any case, she couldn't stop the flood even if she wanted to.

……

On the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, Bai Er, who was on duty in the village, walked into Jiang Yan's home and asked, "Do you still remember how you entered the Central Plains Prefecture?"

Jiang Yan replied without hesitation, "Take a certain mountain path, keep walking along the path, and then go down at the nearest fork in the road and you'll arrive."

Which mountain path?

"I am not sure."

Bai Er questioned, "With your photographic memory, how could you not know?"

Jiang Yan spread her hands: "At that time, I was in a coma for a long time and didn't know how to walk, which was normal."

Undeterred, Bai Er made Jiang Yan recount the entire process from beginning to end. When he heard that she went straight to Peishan Town after descending the mountain, he felt even more regretful, saying, "How could I not remember clearly!"

Jiang Yan said helplessly, "There's only one mountain path. You can easily walk it again, and it would be more reliable."

Bai Er felt a lump in his throat: "We wanted to too... but there was a severe drought before, and large areas of forests withered and died and were burned. Many people also went into the mountains to dig for food, and the mountain roads were destroyed beyond recognition. Later, the mountain roads disappeared because they were covered with shrubs. Now, the mountains are blocked by heavy snow, and we can't tell which way to go."

"That's quite difficult." Jiang Yan felt it was going to be a tough situation just by listening to it. She nodded twice, but then seized on a point of doubt. "Wait a minute, you have a map. How could you make a mistake while looking at it?"

Bai Er: "You've seen what the old maps looked like... We sent out several groups of people, but they either wandered into the deep mountains or almost got discovered in the Central Plains."

"Hehe." Jiang Yan smiled awkwardly. It turned out they only had the old version of the map. No wonder they got lost so easily.

Jiang Yan had seen or revised no fewer than ten old-style maps, all depicting various counties and major roads. But to be honest, they were indeed crudely drawn, very crudely drawn.

Considering that there is no advanced technology in this era to explore how far the Chongshan mountain range extends, how many mountain ranges there are, and what their specific directions are, Jiang Yan does not insist on being able to accurately reconstruct it according to the scale.

However, most of the man-made mountain paths are located on the edge of the mountain range. Under such circumstances, even the directions and landmarks are extremely simplified, which once made her wonder whether it was to prevent the leakage of secrets or because of a lack of ability.

They must be worried about it being stolen by hostile forces and then used to attack the center... Jiang Yan looked at the Chongshan map that Bai Er had no choice but to hand over. Between the Chongshan mountain range connecting Heding Prefecture and Zhongyuan Prefecture, there was only a winding line indicating the mountain road that had been built.

Jiang Yan pondered for a while, but couldn't reconstruct her original route. Pointing to one of the branch lines, she said, "I should have gone down to Peishan Town from here, but turning into the fork led directly down the mountain without having to climb another one."

Below the fingertips are two overlapping mountain peaks.

After a long while, Bai Er, having barely achieved his goal, left Jiang Yan's courtyard. Jiang Yan slowly drank a cup of hot water and suddenly felt extremely hungry.

She went into the kitchen and quickly made herself a small meal. Jiang Yuan had already arrived after hearing the news. "Is there anything urgent?"

Jiang Yan's expression softened slightly: "It's hard to say."

The prefecture is very likely aiming for the capital, bypassing the central prefecture to launch a surprise attack, but the order was clearly given suddenly and there was insufficient preparation beforehand, leaving them somewhat at a loss.

……

Wrapped in a thick, colorful fox fur coat, Jiang Yan was being carried quickly through the mountains, seemingly supported but actually lifted up by two people on either side. She had only one thought in her mind: they were really anxious, and they really trusted her; they didn't even bother to find some local villagers familiar with the terrain.

This was the second day before the New Year festival. Jiang Yan was urgently sent between Hechang County and Heyang County to recall the journey he had taken.

The warmth of her breath frosted her eyelashes. After a long while, Jiang Yan gestured to the people around her to put her down, then pointed to the ice surface below that reflected the sunlight and said, "I drifted downstream along this river."

Bai Er peered down and said, "The drop is quite large."

"Yeah, I also feel lucky to be alive." Jiang Yan carefully looked behind her and asked, "Shall we not go down?"

The tree behind them looked only a few years old, with a trunk only as thick as a bowl. If they tied the rope there and lowered it down, there was a high risk that it would break halfway down, and they didn't even know if the ice below was frozen solid.

The team leader glanced at the direction the river was flowing and said, "Let's go this way."

After walking for an unknown amount of time, the sky in the mountains and forests had already darkened.

Reaching an open riverbank, Jiang Yan looked around and suddenly said, "I might have drifted here and been picked up by someone."

The team leader assessed the water level and agreed with her analysis, so everyone quickly sprang into action. The riverbank was covered with endless pebbles; if a path were paved nearby, it would most likely come in handy.

Some people lit a campfire to prepare for camping, while the rest chose a few spots in the southeast and dug through the snow to check for traces.

About half an hour later, the navigation team faced two choices: take a slightly southerly east direction or a slightly southerly east direction.

The direction of the river flow was roughly the same as the direction of the southeast in the foreseeable distance. Seeing the team leader studying the Chongshan map to confirm everyone's current location, Bai Er unconsciously swayed to Jiang Yan's side: "Which route do you think we should take?"

"I can't feel it." Jiang Yan held the torch and occasionally brought it close to the ground in an attempt to burn away the chill.

She had something on her mind for a long time, and now, faced with such harsh conditions she had never experienced before, she finally couldn't help but blurt it out.