That night, Wei Yuan felt drowsy, drifting in and out of sleep.

Suddenly, the door opened again. The woman had returned.

She was carrying a few pieces of firewood between her arms and had two potato-like objects in her pocket. Her hands and face were frozen blue. As soon as she entered the room, she warmed herself by the fire. It took quite a while before she stopped shivering.

After tucking two pieces of firewood into the embers, she climbed into bed, burrowing into the straw and furs, and snuggled up close to Wei Yuan.

Despite the added fire, the room felt even colder than before. Night must have fallen outside. On such a bitterly cold winter night, the two of them had to huddle tightly together just to find a little more warmth.

Feeling an inexplicable sense of reassurance, Wei Yuan finally fell into a deep sleep.

It felt like only a short while had passed when the woman got out of bed. She drew a bucket of water, mixed it with mud, added chopped straw to the mixture, and then used it to seal the cracks in the wall.

After sleeping for a day, Wei Yuan’s spirits had recovered somewhat. However, his body had actually grown weaker. He knew that his injuries weren’t going to heal at this rate. He had to eat something.

But all day long, the woman had given him only a bowl of soup. She hadn’t eaten much herself either. It seemed...