The current tent was shaped like a bamboo rain hat — too narrow, too low inside.

Fu Miaoxue remembered all too well the misery of not being able to stretch her legs the night before. She wanted to turn it into a long rectangular shape.

The vision was lovely. The actual execution was another matter entirely.

She had barely finished one “wall” before she discovered that the cloth strips used to bind the branches had all run out.

Fu Miaoxue: “……”

It felt somewhat like excitedly building a structure only to suddenly realize she didn’t have enough pieces to work with.

At that moment, Du Lai came back, cradling a large leaf filled with bright red berries.

Fu Miaoxue’s eyes lit up. She rushed over happily and circled him with questions. “Where did you find these? What kind of fruit is this? Can we eat it? Are they poisonous?”

Even as she asked, her hands wasted no time at all, picking up one and popping it in her mouth——

“Mmm……”

Fu Miaoxue’s mouth scrunched up.

She swallowed with some effort and gave her verdict. “Not bad…… Sour and a little sweet, slightly… astringent……”

But edible.

At a time like this, finding anything to eat was already a lucky break.

“These are brambleberries. I’ve eaten them before. The light was too dim when we were coming through the jungle yesterday, so I didn’t see them. When I went looking just now, I found quite a few different wild fruits around here.”

As Du Lai spoke, he caught sight of the half-built tent beside them. He understood immediately what Fu Miaoxue had been trying to do. He set the berries — leaves and all — on the ground and added, “There’s also some vine along the path. If we cut it, we can use it as rope.”

Fu Miaoxue sat down and ate the berries one by one, nodding repeatedly, too busy to say much.

Du Lai glanced at her, didn’t bother expecting any help, and went off on his own.

……

Yesterday, he had assumed rescue would come quickly, so he had waited and waited — most of his time spent hovering near the “SOS” marker, too afraid to go far.

Now he realized he couldn’t keep going like that.

He was sick. He needed water, needed food, and needed a reliable shelter where he could rest and recover his strength.

His head felt heavy, his feet unsteady — every step felt like walking on cotton.

Du Lai knew perfectly well that he couldn’t hold on for long. He grabbed a fistful of vines, used Fu Miaoxue’s knife to cut them loose, and the pain in both hands made cold sweat break out across his brow.

He had sawed through too much bamboo the day before. From his palms to the base of his thumbs, everything was red and swollen — being scraped across coarse, stiff vines was nothing short of torture.

These had once been dexterous, refined hands. Now they were doing the crudest, most primitive work imaginable.

Du Lai dragged back bundle after bundle of vines, already utterly spent.

He wanted water. He looked at the bamboo tubes — completely empty, not a single drop left.

No need to ask. The young mistress had obviously drunk every last drop of it. That woman had been spoiled from birth and thought only of herself, never sparing a thought for anyone else.

“So many vines!” Fu Miaoxue came over cheerfully, picked up the vines from the ground, and began sorting through them one by one.

“Where are the berries?” Du Lai asked, his voice hoarse.

Without water to drink, at least some fruit could help replenish some moisture.

Fu Miaoxue stretched out a length of vine, decided it was strong enough, and nodded in satisfaction. When she heard his question, she replied, “I threw them away.”

Du Lai thought he must have misheard. He stared at her, bewildered. “What?”

“I threw them away.” Fu Miaoxue pursed her lips. “There were these little black bugs inside the berries. I bit into one and nearly scared myself half to death.”

Du Lai stood there staring at her blankly, momentarily at a loss for words……

He had endured exhaustion, hunger, pain — and now the scorching misery of a fever — and all he wanted was one mouthful of water, a small bite of food, and then to lie down and rest for a little while. And she was telling him she had……thrown it away?

Those berries were their only food, and she had……thrown them away?

Without even saying a word to him, just……thrown them away?!

—