Thinking of this, Qi Qingyao instructed the three children.

"Mommy will carry the two buckets home first. You stay here and guard this big fish! Mommy will fetch you later, okay?"

"Okay, we will help Mommy guard this big fish."

"Very good children."

Qi Qingyao carried a bucket and headed home first. The little children silently and obediently guarded the "big fish" at his side. Erniu's big, round eyes blinked. With her small, fleshy hands, she held her round and meaty cheeks as she watched the man who seemed to be dead lay on the ground.

"Big brother, although Mommy said we should save him, but…"

"But what?" Dabao asked.

"But we already don't have enough to eat, now there's one more to feed…" Erniu retorted, the corners of her mouth flattened.

Dabao thought for a moment, then said, "We have more than ten fishes now. There's enough to eat."

Xiaobao also patted Erniu's head and said, "Mommy just said that he is a big fish."

"A big fish cannot be let go," Dabao chimed in.

"Listen to Mommy, surely she's not wrong," Xiaobao said, a little loudly.

Erniu dared not refute Dabao and Xiaobao's words, but she secretly thought to herself that they along with Mommy had relatively small appetites. The person in front of her was a man, and men generally have bigger appetites! They eat more!

Erniu's little heart was full of worries.

Qi Qingyao was already exhausted after two rounds of carrying the bucket. This time, she had to go back and carry a man home. Just the thought of it already had Qi Qingyao's scalp feeling numb. After she put the fish away, she rummaged through the whole house. She found a piece of wooden board and she took two more ropes.

After returning to the rock pile, the three children eyed the provisions in her hands, looking confused.

Dabao asked with concern, "Mommy, this man is so tall. Can you move him?"

"With this wooden board and these two ropes, I can move him!"

While Qi Qingyao spoke, she moved the injured beauty onto the wooden board. She then tied the ropes on both sides of the board and followed closely. She looked like an old bull pulling a cart. With the rope tied around her waist, she pushed forward forcefully.

The three children watched as their mother's face grew redder and felt distressed.

They were too young and could not offer much help. They could only silently cheer for her along the way.

Qi Qingyao persisted, and finally dragged the man who had suffered a thousand swords back home. When she got home, she was also barely alive.

"I've finally dragged him home. I'm exhausted." Sitting on a small bench, Qi Qingyao wiped beads of sweat off her face.

It was a cold winter's day, and everyone was half-dead from the cold. She was the only one who was so hot that she was drenched in sweat.

Qi Qingyao filled the bed-stove with a few firewoods to heat it up. She then exerted more strength to haul the injured man onto the bed-stove. The three children laid at the side as they watched the unconscious man.

Xiaobao scrunched his brows and said, "Mommy, he's almost out of breath."

Qi Qingyao sighed and felt for his pulse. She then raised his eyelids to check his eyes and then proceeded to check his nose.

D*mn, he has been poisoned!

She swept a glance at the sky. The fog was growing heavier, and the sky was getting hazier. She could not wait for the snow to cover the mountain.

Then it would be too late.

Although she did not get to rest at all today, there was no other way.

After Qi Qingyao had made her mind, she filled the bed-stove with more firewood.

Then she said, "I'm going out to collect some medicine to treat his injuries. Rest with him first. If someone were to come in, use him as a shield. Got it?"

After ensuring that the children were obedient, Qi Qingyao took an ax and shovel, carried a small back basket, then turned to leave the house.

As she walked, she muttered to herself.

"I could have steamed some fish and had a meal. Yet, I rescued an uncle and brought him home. Now I have to wander out again to gather some medicine. What a tough life I have!"

Little cabbage, the ground is yellow! (TN: These are lyrics from the Chinese folk song 'Cabbage', which originated from the Hebei province. It tells the story of a young girl whose mother has died and whose father has remarried a woman with a son. She is given less food, shabbier clothes, and less attention than her brother. In the song, she cries for her dead mother in anguish.) Pity me! What crime have I committed!

What was that saying about catching a koi fish and getting lucky? This luck was clearly dog sh*t!