Before dawn, Qin Yao got up.
She boiled a full pot of water, stored it in a bamboo tube, and cooked ten taros the size of a child's fist. She packed these into a bag woven with grass ropes and began to prepare her gear.
She poured more than half of the salt from the jar into a small bamboo tube and stuffed the flint into her pocket to carry with her.
A ten-meter-long bundle of grass rope was coiled up and fastened to her side; the bow and arrow were slung on her back; the handle of the short knife was re-wrapped with fabric strips. She held the knife in one hand and carried water and food in the other, extinguishing the fire in the stove.
With everything ready, she walked toward the northern mountains as the sky revealed the white belly of dawn.
As soon as she left, the door of the side room gently opened.
