The Fortunate Lady and Her Mountain Man

Chapter 113: Chapter 113: Robinson Crusoe

Ji Huan was stunned for a moment before she realized he was teasing her.

"You’re a damsel in distress, not a hero saving one, so don’t flatter yourself. Besides, we found this cave. First come, first served. We’re the ones who took you in, so Dabao and I are the real heroes."

Song Jing couldn’t hold it in any longer, and the corners of his mouth slowly turned up.

Ji Huan tried to hold back, but she ended up laughing too.

This was probably the difference between facing a predicament with someone by your side and facing it alone.

Because of Dabao, she had gritted her teeth and forced herself to stay strong, refusing to let herself collapse. Now, with Song Jing here, her tense body and mind could finally relax. In a situation like this, she actually found herself in the mood to bicker with someone.

In that short time, the sky outside had darkened, and the inside of the cave had become completely pitch-black.

Ji Huan knew Song Jing was sitting not far from her, close enough to reach out and touch, yet she could only hear his voice, not see his face at all.

A sense of loneliness slowly crept back into her heart.

She sighed and stroked Dabao’s little face. "My poor Dabao. You were supposed to wear new clothes on New Year’s Day. I even had lucky money for you, but it’s all ruined now."

Dabao snuggled closer into her arms.

"Are you hungry?" Ji Huan asked.

Dabao nodded.

Fumbling in the dark, Ji Huan untied the bundle she had set aside, took out a few flatbreads, and turned her head toward Song Jing. "Want one?"

A rustling sound came from Song Jing’s direction. "My mother packed some for me, too."

After they finished eating, Dabao started to get sleepy. Ji Huan tried to coax him to sleep, but he refused.

"I almost forgot. It should be our story time now."

There wasn’t much entertainment in this era. During the agricultural off-season, people generally went to bed early. They would eat dinner as dusk fell and be in bed with the lights out before seven or eight o’clock.

Ji Huan couldn’t sleep, and Dabao didn’t need much sleep either, so she had set aside a special story time for him after dinner—a way to combine education with entertainment.

"Today, let’s tell a story that fits the occasion."

Ji Huan snapped her fingers and began to slowly narrate.

"Once upon a time, there was a boy named Robinson. One day, while he was sailing at sea, his ship wrecked. Everyone else on board drowned, and he was the sole survivor. He drifted at sea for a long time before finally washing up on a deserted island. There was no one on the island—no houses, no food, not even a boat he could use to leave. In other words, he was trapped. What was he to do? You see, with no way out and no hope of rescue, all he could do was wait to die, either devoured by wild beasts or eaten by savages... The situation was dire."

"And then?"

Song Jing had assumed she would tell one of those tales about gods and ghosts. Those stories, passed down through generations and known by all, were often used by adults to scare children. He had heard plenty of them himself when he was young.

But this story was different. He had never heard the one Ji Huan was telling; it felt refreshingly new, and for some reason, he found himself wanting to hear more.

Having gained another listener, Ji Huan felt a sense of accomplishment and continued the story.

"...He pitched a tent next to a small hill and built a fence around it with sharpened stakes. Then he dug a cave behind the tent to live in. He hunted wild game for food, drank fresh water from a stream, and even used simple tools to make furniture like a table and chairs... All of this secured his daily necessities. After overcoming the initial hardships, he began to grow barley and rice on the island. He made his own wooden mortar, pestle, and sieve to process flour, securing a stable food source... At the same time, he captured and tamed wild goats, letting them breed. This not only improved his diet but also provided him with goatskin to make hats and clothes to fend off the cold... He even built a country estate and a ranch on the other side of the deserted island..."

When Ji Huan told the story to Dabao, she would often trim it down, keeping only the core parts to make sure he could understand.

But now that she had an older listener, she couldn’t make it sound too childish. Still, she omitted some of the more inappropriate terms.

"This Mr. Lu possessed extraordinary perseverance and courage. When struck by sudden disaster and plunged into a hopeless situation, most people would have given up. But he didn’t wallow in negativity. Instead, he threw himself into doing what he could, step by step, helping himself gain a foothold on the deserted island."

Song Jing commented thoughtfully, then asked in confusion, "Don’t tell me he just lived on that deserted island forever? Did he never think about leaving?"

Seeing how eager he was to know the rest of the story, Ji Huan felt a mischievous urge. She was tempted to say, "If you want to know what happens next, you’ll have to wait for the next Chapter."

Fortunately, her conscience stopped her.

"He never gave up. He was always looking for a way to leave the island... Later, he cut down a huge tree and spent five or six months making a canoe, but it was too heavy to drag to the sea. He had to start over and build a smaller one... His plans to leave the island failed time and again, and many of his efforts proved to be a waste of energy. But he never lost heart. He would learn from his experiences and start over... After living alone on the island for twenty-four years, Robinson rescued a captive named Wu. From then on, he had a loyal friend by his side... A few years after that, he and Wu found a ship, which finally gave them the chance to leave the island and return to the home he had been away from for twenty-eight years..."

In truth, Ji Huan couldn’t remember many of the plot details herself. She could only piece together a rough summary, just enough to get the gist across.

Even so, it was enough to leave Song Jing, who was hearing it for the first time, completely stunned.

Ji Huan understood completely. She still remembered the profound impact the book had on her when she first read it.

’Twenty-eight years... what an unbelievable number!’

’Back then, she couldn’t help but wonder: if it had been her, how many days could she have lasted?’

’The lack of supplies and the harsh environment were secondary. The greatest challenge was the battle against oneself.’

’After all, more than twenty years of solitude and loneliness, with no other people, no one to talk to... anyone else would have probably gone mad long ago.’

Robinson wasn’t just undaunted by the difficulties; he stubbornly refused to give up, trying all sorts of methods to survive. In the end, he endured and returned to his homeland.

’For me, isn’t this place also a deserted island? The only difference is that I can never return to my home.’

"You see, Dabao, no matter what disaster a person encounters, no matter how bad the situation gets, as long as they don’t back down, don’t give in to fear, and don’t surrender—as long as they bravely face the storm, even challenge it, and keep moving forward through it—they can become the final winner and a hero."

At the end of every story, Ji Huan would give Dabao a little summary. Even though he only half-understood it now, she hoped that through subtle influence, it would be useful to him someday.

"Wow, what a great story! Applause!"

Ji Huan said to herself, and then she actually started clapping for herself.

After so much time, her eyes had adjusted to the darkness in the cave. She could faintly make out the sparkle in Dabao’s eyes, and feel Song Jing’s intense gaze upon her.

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