The dawn gleamed, while wisps of smoke curled up softly.
The stream babbled, and birds chirped and tweeted.
The next morning, at the small wooden house, there was an abundance of joyful laughter, and even more human warmth and pleasure.
By the time Nian Shutong finished cultivation and walked out of the forest, she felt as if she had been transported to a different world.
Everything before her eyes had changed.
In the wasteland, groups of three and five were busy working; glancing beyond the brook, around the small wooden house, there were people coming and going, washing vegetables, laundering clothes, cooking meals, and making soybean paste and tofu.
Some were even building fences around new houses, everyone's face brimming with relaxed and carefree smiles.
In truth, their desires were really not many.
A house, three meals, the four seasons.
A family, living peacefully and working happily, to grow old in safety—this was happiness.
