Chapter 576

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Main Character:

Shen Yao

"If nothing unexpected happens, Dogzi and the other villagers will return today."

After saying the two words "Dogzi," Shen Yao still felt a strange awkwardness; well, it just slipped out, and he was, after all, this body's husband.

The System, oblivious, said, "The implication of 'if nothing unexpected happens' is that something unexpected will happen."

Otherwise, why would this body have fainted and collapsed? Wasn't it because he had a premonition long ago?

In the dynasty's final years, the localities were unstable, and demons and monsters appeared frequently; their living in such a small village did not mean peace and tranquility.

"Go keep watch. Notify me promptly if there's any movement," Shen Yao waved her hand, sending the System off to work, while she took the opportunity to observe this residence.

When she came over yesterday, her body was unwell, and then night fell quickly and she rested; Shen Yao had never had a chance to go out and walk around.

Now that she had the opportunity, she naturally couldn't miss it; first, look at the surrounding environment, then consider how to handle what comes next.

The clothes on her body were still in the style of an upper garment and lower skirt; her hair was pinned up with a wooden hairpin.

Shen Yao took out a mirror from her Space Backpack and briefly examined this body's appearance.

It bore about a fifty percent resemblance to her own looks, but because of years of eating chaff and swallowing vegetables, this body was thin and weak, its complexion waxy yellow.

Besides a wooden bed that creaked "zhi ya zhi ya" when slept on, the room she lived in only had a wooden table placed by the doorway and a wooden cabinet for storing clothes.

The urns holding grain were placed behind the door in the Back Kitchen, inside were also some daily seasonings.

It was now spring, right at the time when the old grain was exhausted and the new not yet harvested; every household had little surplus grain. The reason this body's husband went up the mountain with the villagers was to fill their stomachs and to support the child in Shen Yao's belly that had come with such difficulty.

With the body lacking nutrition, a pregnant woman was extremely prone to miscarriage; after several years of marriage, the happy news had come with such difficulty — how could they just watch something go wrong?

Shen Yao walked two circles around the house and gained a better understanding of the place she lived.

Mm

How to put it?

It's that kind of raw-earth house — low, dilapidated, and carrying a moldy smell.

The front of the courtyard was enclosed by a not-too-high fence, and there were two not-too-large vegetable plots where vegetables had just been planted but hadn't sprouted.

Currently, their family — oh, one could say the entire village — relied on wild vegetables from the field ridges or the cabbage and white radishes left over from winter for their vegetables.

Shen Yao's family didn't have much food; fortunately, when she transmigrated, she brought her Space Backpack, which stored quite a lot of supplies purchased from the System Mall; otherwise, just adapting to ancient rural life would be enough to give someone a headache.

"Host, there's still no movement on the mountain; it's covered by a layer of thick fog. Looks like they won't be back today."

The System zipped back and, after finishing its report, told Shen Yao a piece of bad news: the village head was discussing with his sons about moving to the county city, saying grain was being rationed outside, refugees were roaming, and it was safer to enter the city.

"Refugees? Grain rationing? Entering the city is safe?"

Shen Yao raised her head and looked toward the center of the village; there stood a house with blue bricks and tile roof — the village head's residence.

The wealthiest person in Willow Tree Village was this village head; his family had several sons, the sons had grandsons, and even nephews with more distant blood ties could eat the benefits the village head brought — one could see the value of relatives in ancient times.

One person attains the Dao, chickens and dogs ascend to heaven.

"Yes, in recent years, Sheng Kingdom has suffered frequent internal disasters, grain harvests have declined, and countless commoners have become refugees," the System had also heard wealthy households in the city mention it; it explained that Mountain Qing County had recently experienced a grain panic — the large households collecting grain didn't have much, so they wanted to raise prices and sell for more profit.

As for rationing? That's just a tactic — creating a sense of urgency to force the commoners to buy.

Shen Yao: ……

Shen Yao turned and returned to her room, and by the way cooked all the remaining grain in the kitchen and stuffed it all into her Space Backpack.

System: …… Huh?

"Prepare in advance; we might have to flee. If the village head runs, she can't stay in the village too long either."

Even living in the mountains would be better than maintaining a persona in a strange environment while guarding against natural disasters and human calamities — she'd be exhausted to death.

Finally, Shen Yao took out a mere three taels of silver from the clay pot under the bed — the couple's entire savings from years of scrimping and saving.

Then she took out the gold bars, silver ingots, and related jewelry from her Space Backpack; Shen Yao could easily distinguish the difference between them.

Ancient refining methods were still too crude; whether in luster or quality, they couldn't compare to the things in her Space Backpack.

It seemed that even if she wanted to sell them, she still had to consider safety.

Put them all away for now.

Shen Yao spent half a day busy at home; after noon, a woman came to call her, and Shen Yao carried a basket and followed her to the foot of the mountain to pick wild vegetables.

Along the way, even though they forced smiles, the women could all successfully explain away Shen Yao's oddness with their own reasoning — after all, Dogzi hadn't returned, leaving only a woman at home; wasn't being worried and frightened perfectly normal?

The wild vegetables grew in lush clusters; otherwise, the villagers of Willow Tree Village couldn't have stayed. A patch of green wild vegetables was picked clean in just a moment. Some felt their baskets weren't full and wanted to go deeper into the mountain; some resisted out of fear and stayed in place with their baskets.

Due to her pregnancy, Shen Yao temporarily didn't follow the first few people into the mountain, but instead returned to the residence first and stored the wild vegetables in her Backpack Space.

Thinking she had nothing to do for the moment, she lay down for a nap — who knew the System would suddenly shout loudly in her mind, saying the people who went into the mountain had returned.

Returned?!

Shen Yao jolted, turned, and ran outside.

Among those who went into the mountain this time, several were the main pillars of their families; as long as they weren't usually too useless, their relatives all ran out.

Before she even reached the spot, Shen Yao heard crying.

Subconsciously stopping her steps, steadying her body and supporting her waist and abdomen, she walked forward; Shen Yao noticed Xu Ningchen standing to the side at a glance.

Oh

Xu Ningchen was in a sorry state; his body bore coagulated, blackened bloodstains; his combed-up hair had fallen loose behind his head; a wild deer that had been dead for a long time lay at his feet.

The two needed no words; a single glance was enough to recognize each other.

But with many people and mixed eyes around, Shen Yao raised her hand to touch the corner of her eye, and accumulated tears instantly fell.

"Dogzi's Wife, don't cry. Dogzi hunted a wild deer back; you two can live securely for a few months."

"Yes yes, one wild deer sells for a good amount of silver money; Dogzi's trip up the mountain wasn't for nothing."

"Tsk, Dogzi was lucky—he didn't hunt any wild deer from the wood and stone, and didn't even come back himself."

"……"

Shen Yao noticed that everyone who came back had bloodstains on them, and some were injured.

She didn't know what to say, only kept her head down and walked to stand before Xu Ningchen.

Soon after, the village head brought the village doctor to arrive.

First he had the village doctor examine those who came back, then he spoke words of comfort, saying that all the wild game brought back this time could be sold to him.

Originally the village head didn't buy much wild game; even if the village head had money, he couldn't compare to the wealthy families in the county city, and wild game had always been the wealthy families' favorite.

But now some of those who went into the mountains were injured, and some didn't come back at all; these wild game urgently needed to be sold for silver money to use for treatment and arrangements.

The village head thought of the climate changes in recent years, and had long planned to move to live in the city.

Wild game was after all a kind of gift; taking it to give as a gift was also a show of status.

Immediately, several households sold the wild game they had hunted to the village head in exchange for silver money.

Peasant families who couldn't recognize a single character, compared to going to the city, were still more willing to stay content with the status quo; besides, the county city was no utopia, and some families' acts of bullying the common people occurred repeatedly.

Of the wild game taken over, not much could fetch a good price; most were sold after being bluffed and scared by others, and they silently went home with not much silver money.

Xu Ningchen did not sell the wild deer to the village head; he planned to go to the county city to look at the situation, and by the way find a reasonable excuse to add some tools for his own home.

The village head had no dissatisfaction with this; even though he had money, he couldn't spend it so extravagantly.

Since Xu Ningchen was unwilling to sell, he could just take it back himself and drag it into the city.

After waiting on and off for a while, they followed the crowd dispersing to return home.

Shen Yao followed behind Xu Ningchen, and the wild deer was dragged by Xu Ningchen walking in front.

Soon, a dilapidated mud-brick house appeared in the two people's sight.

Xu Ningchen and Shen Yao entered the door one after the other, and the wild deer also disappeared from Xu Ningchen's hand; apparently it was put into the Sticker Space.

"Dogzi"

Xu Ningchen: ……

Xu Ningchen helplessly washed his hands, saying that there were still several dead wild game in his space, waiting to be taken to the county city tomorrow morning for sale.

Shen Yao patted Xu Ningchen's shoulder, curiously asking what exactly was going on with this person—was it like when she came over and lay on the bed, appearing in the suburbs as soon as she came over?

Xu Ningchen took off the clothes on his body and threw them on the ground without care, then took out washing supplies from the Sticker Space, and combined with the clear water already at home, quickly gave himself a combat shower.

"I was conscious on the mountain when I became aware, and got separated from the others; these few wild game were hunted by me alone," Xu Ningchen said their meeting up was pure coincidence; there were wild wolves on the mountain behind Xi Tu Village, and they were chased, forcing them to separate and flee.

"Originally the wild game on the mountain shouldn't be like this, but these past few years there hasn't been much rain; some medium and large wild beasts, in order to fill their bellies, would choose to come down the mountain."

The pack of wild wolves they encountered was active in the mountain forest; who knows, after some time, the wolf pack might run down to the homes at the foot of the mountain.

"Xi Tu Village is too dangerous; if possible, we need to leave as soon as possible."

Xu Ningchen felt they needed to change to a safer place to live; in three months' time, who knew what would happen during that period.

"Management here is strict; without the village head's permit, the two of us can't even go to the neighboring county city."

Shen Yao told Xu Ningchen the news she had gathered these past few days, and by the way mentioned the instance name—New and Old Alternating, possibly referring to the turmoil of war.

The Sheng Dynasty had already declined, and there was the drama of princes seizing power; under internal and external troubles, could the Sheng Dynasty still exist?

"Go to Mountain Qing County tomorrow morning to check the situation; as for the village head's permit," as long as they had money, giving the village head enough benefits, there was nothing they couldn't get.

The village head was originally a greedy and timid person; usually in Xi Tu Village he acted high and mighty, but this person didn't dare go too far, afraid of provoking public anger and letting his own family suffer harm, which was why he could serve as village head in Xi Tu Village for so many years.

"I'm worried that three months' time will bring some uncontrollable problems; how about we move into the city first, then consider the rest."

Shen Yao suggested Xu Ningchen simply go all out; since he wanted to bribe the village head, he should just make a grand gesture and get the permit and everything; they didn't necessarily have to live in Mountain Qing County—with the permit they could go to other counties, as long as they didn't leave Li Yuan Jun.

"Wait for me at home," Xu Ningchen rummaged through his Sticker Space, finally took out two reasonably fat wild rabbits, and went to the village head's home to visit.

By the way, Xu Ningchen didn't plan to just get the permit; he also asked the village head about the Government Office.

When Xu Ningchen came back, he told Shen Yao they would enter the city tomorrow morning, and would not return to Xi Tu Village anymore.

Xi Tu Village was just a Newbie Village; according to ordinary people's thinking, they should definitely hide in Xi Tu Village waiting for things to happen, then make subsequent arrangements.

But Shen Yao and Xu Ningchen were not the kind of people who liked to be passive.

Besides, three months' time—said to be long, not long; said to be short, not short.

The two of them were still thinking about whether they could find hidden information to earn extra points.

Oh, this time entering the instance, there was no prompt about how to earn extra points, but that didn't mean this instance had no related regulations.

It could only be said that the method was hidden well enough; they would need to rely on themselves to try to discover it.

No more nonsense; the two finished dinner and lay down to rest early.

When time came to dawn again, the two got up from the bed to wash and eat.

Because there was no means of transportation, they advanced on foot (no one, or in uninhabited places, could use tools from the backpack space), until a city appeared before the two people's eyes.

At the city gate were written the three big characters Mountain Qing County.

The two lined up to pay the fee; after entering, they first went to the Clothing Shop to buy clothes, then to the Ornament Shop to buy jewelry; finally they found a corner, took out the wild game from the space, knocked on the wealthy family's door, and peddled them for sale.

Xu Ningchen had several wild deer and wild boars in his hand, and even several nests of wild rabbits and wild chickens.

The tools of Modern Society were very advanced; these wild game were basically killed in one blow, and their fur and meat quality were temporarily unaffected, so in terms of price they could be given the highest.

Xu Ningchen relied on these wild game and earned a full fifty taels of silver.

Normally he might not even get half, but who let the current situation be special.

Wealthy families lacked no silver money; what they lacked was this wild game that could be eaten.

Next, the two of them hurried to a Carriage and Horse Shop located in the county city, spent money to buy a carriage and a mule for pulling the cart, then went to the Grain and Oil Shop to buy supplies; when they finally left Mountain Qing County, the fifty taels of silver were spent until less than ten taels remained.

Of course, these ten taels of silver were spent at the Government Office; matters like travel permits and household registration all needed silver money to grease the way to be smoothly resolved.

They didn't plan to return to Xi Tu Village, so after leaving Mountain Qing County they directly drove the carriage toward Le Shui County.

Afterwards, following Le Shui County all the way down, they headed toward the Central Plains region.

That was where the Capital of the Sheng Dynasty was located, and also a relatively safer place.