Du Lai looked at the young mistress with an indescribable expression and said: “I wasn’t going to fight you for it — was that really necessary?”

Fu Miaoxue’s mouth was already stuffed full. She chewed and cried at the same time, without managing to say a single word.

Du Lai thought — she must simply be that hungry.

When he thought about it, it was actually quite pitiable. This young mistress had almost certainly never gone hungry a day in her life. The feeling of gnawing emptiness was no small thing. After all, when people are truly starving, they’ve been known to turn on their own kind.

He glanced down at the finger she had nearly bitten through and shuddered slightly.

He might as well give her the whole banana core.

Fu Miaoxue gripped the white core with both hands and ate in complete silence, as though speaking even one word would cost her a bite’s worth of food.

With this quiet, focused way of eating, she was actually considerably more endearing than usual.

Du Lai sighed inwardly, picked up another banana stalk, and began peeling back the layers to get at the core.

By the time he’d extracted the second core, Fu Miaoxue had already finished the first one.

She looked up at Du Lai with pleading eyes, the traces of her tears still not yet dry on her face.

For some reason, Du Lai thought of the children — Little Bean, Little Sprout, and the rest of that group.

Back then, even though he’d completed his apprenticeship, he had been timid — only daring to sneak a few loaves of bread and some crackers from the supermarket, living very meagerly. Every time he brought food home, the way Little Bean and Little Sprout looked at him — wet eyes, small and pitiful like little animals — was exactly the same as the way Fu Miaoxue was looking at him now.

Du Lai handed the second core to Fu Miaoxue as well.

The stuff was full of moisture and had a slight fibrous texture — crisp and refreshing. It couldn’t compare to proper fruit for flavor, but among everything they’d gathered so far, it was the most filling food available.

Fu Miaoxue quickly finished the second one.

Then continued to look at Du Lai.

Du Lai flat-out refused: “No more — two is enough. If you eat any more, don’t come crying to me when your stomach starts acting up.”

Fu Miaoxue quietly rubbed her belly. Perhaps she genuinely wasn’t as ravenous anymore. Her emotions settled as well — the frantic edge left her. She wiped her mouth quite seriously and went outside to wash her hands.

Du Lai figured this young mistress had been humbled by hunger.

He just wasn’t sure how long this particular bout of humility would last…

Fu Miaoxue came back quickly after washing her hands. The trek out to chop down banana stalks had left her sun-dazed and dizzy. Even with food in her stomach, she was still exhausted. The moment she stepped back into the cave, she lay down quietly to rest.

As long as she wasn’t talking, she seemed rather sweet and well-behaved.

Du Lai watched her for a quiet moment, then shifted his gaze to the mouth of the cave — the sun was blazing outside, a breeze drifting in every now and then, rustling the leaves with a soft, shushing sound.

During the day, beneath this boulder it was reasonably cool. At night, it grew quite cold.

Du Lai bit into a banana core and chewed slowly, his thoughts already moving: *The clay pot needs to get started soon.*

The bamboo tube held so little water — barely enough for drinking if that was all it was used for. But they needed water for daily life as well, and for that, it was far from sufficient.

He could relocate their camp closer to the water source, of course — but that area was crawling with snakes and wasn’t safe. This spot near the big rock was farther away, but it was open, clean, and bright.

After a brief assessment, Du Lai roughly mapped out the rest of the day.

He decided to spend the afternoon weaving a fishing net. Once the sun wasn’t so brutal toward evening, he’d start building the shelter. If the moon was out at night and the light was good, he could slip down to the beach and try to catch crabs. If the moon was hidden… then never mind — he’d wake up early the next morning and take the net to the cave Fu Miaoxue had mentioned, where she’d said there were fish.

Weaving a net required bark or vines — but the sun outside was genuinely brutal; going out in that heat would peel the skin right off a person. He decided to experiment first with the banana leaves he had on hand.

Du Lai picked up a few leaves and began testing them out.

Fu Miaoxue slept deeply beside him. Her cheeks and shoulders had gone pink and red — she looked sunburned.

Du Lai worked with his hands and let his eyes rest on her. Quietly, he set himself a small goal——

Feed her.

—