Though it’s all filled with fatherly love, having it occasionally is fine, but if it’s every meal, Hua Jin thought she’d pass.
In Hua Chengtian’s ears, it automatically converted to his daughter’s thoughtfulness for him, making him so moved that his eyes turned red.
He sighed, thinking how great it is to have a daughter, see how considerate she is!
"Daddy’s not tired," making food for his daughter isn’t tiring at all, Hua Chengtian felt full of energy.
Hua Jin was both amused and helpless, so she said nothing more.
A father’s love is like a mountain, as a daughter, all she could do was accept it.
However, soon her father would become busy, and wouldn’t have the energy to make food.
Next were the three states bordering Lingyun State, since they were already out and acted as a saint once, Hua Jin decided to visit them all, only worrying the family, as the time spent might be much longer than they expected.
After they were full and had interacted a bit, they left the space and the journey mode commenced again.
Meanwhile, in the valley, Granny Hua was fretting about why this father and daughter had not returned.
"Don’t worry, Chengtian is there with them, there’s no problem, and even if there is, it’s no big deal."
The implications were clear to Granny Hua, and she nodded.
Understanding is one thing, but going out for such a long time still inevitably brings worry.
"Tell the daughter-in-law too, Chengtian and the others surely have something to attend to, they’ll be back when they should."
Granny Hua nodded, knowing that if she’s this worried, the daughter-in-law must be even more so.
Time flies swiftly, and more than a month had gone by.
During this month, Hua Jin and Hua Chengtian were practically on the road nonstop, and if they weren’t actually in a vehicle, they would’ve collapsed from exhaustion.
Despite this, Hua Jin had to prepare to stop. Nearly two months of constant travel burned through a huge amount of gasoline, even under their efforts to conserve it.
Only because she had stored a good amount earlier did they run out during this trip, even so, there wasn’t much left in the space, and even though the third state wasn’t completed, Hua Jin decided to end it.
The space’s gasoline is non-renewable, so she’s not planning to use what’s left. Who knows what may happen in the future, and an emergency reserve is necessary.
It took almost three more days to return, and when the vehicle entered Shanggu Town, Hua Jin felt significantly lighter, finally arriving at a familiar place so she no longer needed to stay on high alert.
Thinking of what she saw in Cangzhou and Liao State, Hua Jin couldn’t help but feel heavy-hearted.
The situation there was far worse than in Lingyun State.
Lingyun State has the Yun River, except for Lin State’s better conditions due to bordering it, the other two states’ people could only be described as living in torment.
Day and night had become extremes again, and the daytime’s scorching heat silenced everyone, but once the night fell, the surviving people went mad. Scenes from the mountains repeated themselves, as everyone went to any length just to live.
The most frequently seen scenes on the way were various tragic mummies, some still had intact bodies, while others... didn’t even have time to decay before quickly turning into mummies.
If officials still had a bit of conscience, then it was fine, but as for the selfish ones, there was no need to mention them, too busy taking care of themselves to even care about the commoners’ lives or deaths.
Many also died of thirst in their own homes, entire villages being wiped out was not unusual, and a village’s few survivors were just barely hanging on, the lucky ones saved by Hua Jin.
Through two states, the given water barely exceeded Lingyun State’s, showing the population had shrunk drastically under the extreme heat during the two weeks.
Meanwhile, Hua Jin and her father had also dealt justice to many villains and killed numerous people.
Raising people to drink their blood for survival, such people would be brutally savage even if they survived later. Discovering these people meant they couldn’t be spared.
Among these, Hua Jin discovered a group capturing several adolescents for bleeding. Instantly, she sent them to meet King Yan with one crossbow arrow through the vitals each.
After bandaging the kids’ wounds, leaving them with medicine, enough water, and food, they moved on.
Faced with those grateful and hopeful looks from the children wanting to follow, father and daughter could only silently apologize and pretend not to notice.
If the distance were close enough, they might have taken them along out of kindness, but traversing two states on foot in such conditions was impossible, and exposing the vehicle was out of the question.
So, the rest depended on the children’s fate. With enough caution and the supplies left, surviving until the extreme heat passes was completely possible.
"Daddy, I’ll drive next, you rest in the space," seeing her father’s weary face, Hua Jin felt heartbroken and quickly said.
On this journey, her father barely let her drive, coupled with the constant travel; his rest time was much less than before. Even an iron man would be overwhelmed, let alone flesh and blood.
Hua Chengtian indeed felt exhausted, and arriving in familiar surroundings, he no longer forced himself, nodding before being sent into the space by his daughter, where he fell asleep immediately without even washing up.
Night quickly approached, so Hua Jin directly drove back to Hua Village, intending to check on the children and Qin Shu’s family before returning to the mountain.
By the time she reached Hua Village, the night was deeper, yet she spotted light smoke gently rising from the two family courtyards when she approached under the half-moon.
Evidently, the children and the Qin family had already risen from their rest day.
Hua Jin headed straight for her own home, where the children lived.
At this time, the gate was tightly shut, and Hua Jin didn’t knock, instead clambering over the courtyard wall, a move that didn’t disturb the children. It wasn’t until reaching the kitchen door that she was noticed by Hua’er, Wan’er, and Caogen, who were preparing food inside.
They opened their mouths in surprise, their eyes widening with joy before they all rushed out without caring for the heat, shouting "Sister Jin."
"Who’s there? Sister Jin?" Their calls also alerted Da Liu and Gouzi, who quickly dashed out from the cellar, grinning widely upon seeing the figure in the courtyard.
All the children looked at her with delight, wanting to approach but hesitating. Seeing this, compassion stirred in Hua Jin’s heart, so she moved toward them.
She patted each child’s head, except for Da Liu, and even Gouzi leaned over, with eyes trying to please her, making Hua Jin almost mistake him for Da Black.
"I’m just stopping by to check on you, no worries, carry on," Hua Jin said with a smile.
"Sister Jin, join us for a meal, we’re cooking fish today," Hua’er happily ran back to the pot, lifting the lid to show her proudly, then looked at her expectantly.
"Thank you, Little Huahua, but sister’s already full."
"Ah... already full?" Hua’er and the children sounded noticeably disappointed, as they anticipated eating with the savior big sister.
"Yes, don’t mind me, enjoy your meal, I’m just here to visit," Hua Jin gently reassured them, smiling warmly at these lovely children.