The Jiang family decided to stay for one more night, waiting for Jiang Wan to wake up before making further plans.
After the fright of the previous night, most of the villagers had decided to leave and flee the famine. Although no one knew what the situation would be like outside, at least they would have each other for support on the road. If they stayed in the village, what if more refugees tried to infiltrate? The remaining few were undecided, and the village chief went to talk to them.
No one in the Jiang family had the time to care about who was leaving and who was staying; the entire family was anxiously waiting for Jiang Wan to wake up. However, Jiang Wan showed no signs of waking. Chen Yuezhi and Jiang Pan discussed it and decided to take Jiang Wan to the foot of the mountain to call back her soul. The elders said that if a child's soul was lost where they fell, one should go to that spot to call it back, and if it returned, the child would be fine.
The couple carried the child and went to the foot of the mountain under the moonlight. They squatted at the spot where the mother and daughter had fallen that morning and called out, "Jiang Wan, come back, Jiang Wan, go home."
Jiang Wan, in a daze, heard someone calling her name. Even with her consciousness still unclear, she could feel the urgency and worry in the voices. Chen Yuezhi, as she called out, began to cry, "Husband, what if Wan'er doesn't wake up? If she doesn't wake up, I don't want to live either."
Jiang Pan immediately interrupted her, "She will! Wan'er will be fine, she will definitely wake up."
"Yes, I'm fine."
A sudden childish voice came from between them, startling the couple. They looked down and saw that Jiang Wan had opened her eyes at some point.
"Wan'er?!"
Jiang Wan grinned, wanting to smile at her parents, but a rumble from her stomach interrupted her, "I'm so hungry..."
Her pitiful plea for food made Chen Yuezhi burst into laughter, and as she laughed, tears fell again, "Wan'er, Mom will get you something to eat right away. By the way, does anything hurt? Does your head hurt, does your stomach hurt?"
Jiang Wan shook her head, "Mom, Wan'er doesn't hurt. The old immortal said he would protect Wan'er and not let her get hurt."
This was the second time the couple had heard Jiang Wan mention this old immortal. "Wan'er, what old immortal?"
Jiang Wan, with a serious expression, fabricated a story, "It's the old immortal with the white beard. Mom, we fell from the mountain because the old immortal protected us, that's why we weren't hurt."
Her reminder made Chen Yuezhi suddenly recall that apart from a few bumps, she didn't even have a scratch on her body, and the pain was not even significant anymore. Jiang Wan was in the same situation. They had fallen from a height of twenty to thirty zhang. Even a rock falling from that height would shatter into pieces, yet mother and daughter were unharmed. They had been too worried about Jiang Wan to notice this earlier. Now that Jiang Wan mentioned it, they remembered.
Jiang Wan raised her index finger to her lips and blew, saying mysteriously, "Dad, Mom, before, when Wan'er became smart, and those foods, it was all done by the old immortal. The old immortal said this is his blessing to our family, and we must not tell anyone, or he won't take care of us anymore." She had thought that if she kept using her abilities for small things, she might be exposed sooner or later. So, she decided to push everything onto this "old immortal" to provide a "reasonable" explanation for things that couldn't be explained.
The couple exchanged glances, unsure if Jiang Wan was telling the truth. But if it wasn't true, how could they explain today's events? And what about the previous items? The wild chicken, yam, and ginseng could be explained as being found because they were not easily discovered, but what about the chestnuts? Some things shouldn't be overthought, as it could lead to misinterpretations.
The couple swallowed and looked around, "Wan'er, is that old immortal here?" If he was, they had to quickly kowtow to him, as they had received so much kindness and couldn't accept it as a matter of course; they had to show their gratitude.
Seeing their excited and nervous expressions, Jiang Wan really wanted to laugh, but she quickly pinched herself, suppressing the urge to laugh. She pinched herself so hard that tears welled up in her eyes, "Dad, Mom, the old immortal isn't here, Wan'er is so hungry."
Chen Yuezhi quickly picked up Jiang Wan, "Let's go back, Mom will get you something to eat."
The couple carried Jiang Wan back to the village. Da Lang and his brothers and Su Shi, seeing Jiang Wan sitting on Jiang Pan's arm, rushed over excitedly, "Wan'er, you're awake? Does anything hurt? Does your body ache?"
Looking at her family surrounding her, Jiang Wan felt a warmth in her heart, "Big brother, sister-in-law, second brother, little brother, I'm fine, I don't hurt at all."
"Really?" The siblings were a little disbelieving. After all, they had fallen from such a height and had been unconscious for a day; their hearts were still in their mouths. Jiang Wan knew they were worried about her, so she nodded heavily, "Really, it doesn't hurt at all!"
Jiang Pan felt that these unobservant fellows would cause his precious daughter to continue being hungry, so he glared at them, "Alright, what's with all the nonsense, get out of the way!"
Chen Yuezhi called Su Shi aside, "Wan'er says she's hungry, and everyone hasn't eaten either, quickly find the yams and roast them." The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law nimbly found the yams from the cart and started a fire to prepare something to eat.
San Lang sidled up to Jiang Wan and said, "Wan'er, little brother already got revenge for you, beating Jiang Yu that brat into a pig's head. Do you want to beat her again to vent your anger?" As he spoke, San Lang turned to grab Jiang Yu. However, when he looked back, Jiang Yu was nowhere to be seen. San Lang stomped his foot in anger, "That damned girl actually ran away, Wan'er, wait, little brother will go catch her!" He then headed towards the old Jiang family house.
Jiang Wan quickly called out to him, "Little brother, don't go, I don't want to beat her." What fun would it be to beat her? She would deal with Jiang Yu slowly later, making Jiang Yu wet her pants just hearing her name!
Jiang Yu, taking advantage of the time when San Lang and the others were looking at Jiang Wan, sneaked back to the Jiang family. As soon as she entered the house, she was caught by Zhou Shi.
"You little slut, you dare to come back? Watch me beat you to death today! You caused trouble and made me suffer too, am I indebted to you?" Zhou Shi, thinking of the beating she received today, which was both painful and humiliating, immediately took off her shoe and started hitting Jiang Yu on the head and body. Jiang Yu cried out in pain, wanting to run but unable to break free. In desperation, Jiang Yu suddenly said, "Mom, don't hit me anymore, I have something to tell you, the eldest branch is hiding grain!"