Many years ago, starting from when Fang Ya had her child, she gradually began to feel that this environnt was no longer suitable for human survival.
Later, when a major volcanic eruption triggered a volcanic winter, her husband decided to lead the whole family south.
They were among the early groups to leave at that ti. Her husband, in particular, thought of the impending volcanic winter and his first reaction was to head towards warr regions.
However, others were still waiting and watching. People around them wondered if they could weather the storm in their hotown, after all, An Province was located in the central region, unlike the north.
Especially Fang Ya's in-laws, who thought that if everyone headed south, there could be nurous dangers on the road. The current situation was relatively stable, and things might turn around.
But Fang Ya's husband, their son Chen Ming, insisted on going south. No matter how good the environnt was here, he always felt that in the future world, survival rates would still be higher in warr places.
If they didn't leave now, waiting until the environnt worsened would not only make transportation inconvenient, but the massive flow of people alone could separate them.
He had seen disaster movies; crowds easily led to trouble. They needed to head south early, and he was now effectively the pillar of the family.
His parents were getting older, and even if they insisted on staying in their hotown, he didn't waver in the slightest.
He felt that their family ho was here, their fields were here, and if nothing bad happened in the next two or three years, they could always co back.
If bad situations arose, this place would likely face harsh winters and drastic seasonal changes, possibly making it unsuitable for farming.
Once he made a decision, he really started planning: how to reach their destination, what to bring, how much money to prepare.
While the whole world was trying to calm people down, urging them not to panic and to work together to overco difficulties, those with foresight and ans were gathering near the equator.
It wasn't about following what ordinary people did, but about watching where those people were going. Clearly, anyone with so ability was moving south.
This made Chen Ming unable to stay peacefully in this mountain village. He didn't seek anyone's opinion or explain to anyone, but made this firm decision.
His parents had no choice but to follow him. After all, if their son really took his wife and child south, what use would it be for them to stay here?
This decision directly changed the fate of their entire family. Two or three years later, when the environnt worsened, many people in their area also wanted to move south, but by then the conditions had beco extrely harsh.
This refers not only to the climate, soil, and vegetation, but also to the social environnt.
Because of the disaster, all the evil in people was revealed. Theft beca common, and in more hidden places, even murder occurred.
At first, the people here didn't show much movent, but then they discovered that people from even further north started coming this way. The once quiet mountain village beca noisy.
After Fang Ya's family left, so said they had gone to stay with relatives in the south. So envied them, others mocked them, thinking they were cowards.
So wanted to go south like them, but couldn't because of disagreents within their large families.
So elderly felt they should die in their hotown and let the younger generation leave on their own, but obviously most people couldn't let go.
On the contrary, so people without any ties were free to go wherever they wanted and left quite decisively.
Later, Wen Qian's hotown beca increasingly populated, with locals becoming the minority.
Eventually, soone directly broke the lock on Chen Ming's house in Xiaochenwa and moved in. The sa happened to Wen Qian's ho, which was simply occupied.
Fang Ya and her husband went to stay with a relative of a relative. One family there had married a wife from the southernmost province, so their relatives' ho often had various southern fruits.
Now they planned to go there. That relative also lived in a rural area, so Fang Ya's family went there, thinking that living in a southern rural area would be very safe.
Coincidentally, the relative's hotown was in the mountains, even more sparsely populated than Xiaochenwa, with many mountains. However, the climate was better, with a greater variety of fruits.
Fang Ya's family temporarily settled here, relying on money to buy everything. People with better conditions might have gone to better places, but Fang Ya's husband felt that staying in a less populated area was relatively safe.
Later, even in the sparsely populated areas, people gradually increased, and Fang Ya's group had to beco more vigilant. Crowded places easily led to chaos.
At first, newcors could still find places to settle, but later arrivals couldn't even find a place to stand.
It wasn't that there truly wasn't enough land, but more and more areas in the south were designated as planting zones. Any place that could grow crops was turned into farmland.
Fang Ya's family left early, so for them it was like changing to a different place to farm. They prepared warm clothing, stockpiled firewood and dicine.
When global cooling later set in, Fang Ya realized that even the southern mountains that never had winter turned cold. She wondered how people in their hotown would survive the winter.
The original planting and harvesting tis were now marked by snowfall. What crops could be grown in their forr ho, and what food could they eat?
The situation worsened year by year. At first, there were grain reserves and efforts by the authorities to maintain stability, but later things got worse and worse.
The situation in cities was bad, let alone in rural areas.
Without food, what could one rely on to survive? Naturally, people started moving south.
Although Fang Ya's life was hard, it was far from the darkness experienced by those fleeing later.
After living in the relatively warm south for over a decade, even the children who had known only hardship since birth had grown up.
When it was confird that the volcanic winter had passed, they waited a few more years. After the temperature improved slightly, they returned to their hotown.
More people chose to stay here, as there were more cities in the south, but Fang Ya's husband felt it wasn't stable enough.
Modern life had disappeared, technological developnt had stalled, which ant that as long as the climate stabilized, they only had one path forward: farming.
In the South, the population was too dense and survival was too difficult. Initially, people had gathered there for warmth, but now that the harsh winters were gone, he wanted to take his family back to their hotown. At least there, it would be a bit easier to obtain farmland.
Over these past ten-plus years, although his parents had grown older, they longed even more for their old ho, thinking that even if they died, they wanted to be buried in their hotown.
When they returned, everything would be a fresh start, as their house had deteriorated beyond recognition over the decade.
Originally, quite a few people had returned to their hotowns from the city, but after the natural disasters, when they ca back here once again, everything had been abandoned.
Later, so strangers ca to settle here, and everything seed to return to its original track. However, Chen Ming's family could hardly find anyone they used to know.
Fang Ya saw Wen Qian's collapsed house. Her mories of this girl had already beco blurred, but she thought that since this person had been in the city, she should have been able to survive, right?
She never received any news about this child and could only wish her safety and happiness wherever she might be.
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