Traveling through troubled times to escape famine and cultivate crops as a grain merchant

Zhou Guo and the others didn't know they were being targeted and ate their meal peacefully.

Recently, everyone has been practicing martial arts. They do horse stance and stick exercises whenever they want. Their skills are improving, and their appetite is also increasing rapidly. The food, which was already limited, is now even less.

No one dared to eat too much at this moment. They held their stomachs in and ate their bowl of rice slowly, fearing that the food would be gone before they could even taste it.

This scene seems unlike refugee behavior to others. Which refugee eats like this? Chewing a mouthful of food more than ten times before swallowing it. They don’t eat like this at home.

It seemed even more like that to those who were secretly paying attention. In their view, this group of people had no shortage of food, and they were not used to these coarse grains and could not swallow them. Look at the children, they chewed a mouthful for a long time, and pushed the food into the adults' bowls because they were not used to it. This was suspicious, and they secretly became alert.

After finishing the meal, Zhou Guo, Zhou Dacang and the old man wiped their mouths, patted the dirt off their bodies and walked towards the first ship. They were not idle while eating. Seeing the errand boys going up and down the first ship, they knew that the person in charge was most likely on it, so they went straight to the first ship.

The village head stayed behind to look after the house.

Before the three of them reached the boat, someone came up to them with a smile and said, "Gentlemen, my master invites you." He stepped back half a step and stretched out his hand to lead them to the boat.

The three of them looked at each other, their expressions somewhat solemn.

Zhou Guo raised her eyebrows. She was skilled and courageous. She put her hands behind her back and took the first step back. She knew that she had to break into the dragon's den today.

The old man and Zhou Dacang followed closely behind.

Several people followed the guide up the floating ladder and arrived on the deck.

She took in the situation on the ship calmly. There were three floors on the ship. The top floor should be where the most important people lived, the second floor was used to entertain guests, the first floor was where the manager lived, and the ship also had a lower floor, which should be where the workers lived.

The entire deck of the ship is as big as two basketball courts, and this deck alone is enough to accommodate the 300 people of them. It was just a piece of cake, and she felt there was hope.

"This way, please."

The three followed the instructions and came to a hall on the second floor, which was obviously a reception room. "Please wait a moment, my master will be here soon."

A few people sat down, and soon someone came to serve tea. Then everyone left, and suddenly there were only three of them left in the hall.

Zhou Guo looked at the furniture in the living room that was all painted black, which was heavy and solid. Somehow he was reminded of the Eight Immortals Table in their house that was missing a small part of its leg, and had to have half a piece of wood stuffed underneath to keep it stable. It was nothing compared to this.

But what kind of wood are these furnitures made of? Times are different now than in the past, so they should all be solid wood, not fakes, right?

The old man was playing with the tea lid calmly. He wanted to take a sip, but he was afraid that it might be poisonous.

Zhou Dacang was, after all, just a country boy. The farthest he had ever walked was to the county town. He had never seen any good things. Looking at the clean, bright and spacious living room, he looked down at his dirty clothes, fearing that he would dirty his bright chair.

Seeing his little niece looking around calmly, he felt that he was not even as good as a child. He forced himself to sit still, trying his best to look calm and fearless.

The actions of several people naturally fell into the eyes of those who were paying attention.

"Master, look, this is the leader of those people. But the weird boy in front, with his hair cut like that, might be a little monk. I don't know what this little monk is doing with them?"

The man calmly withdrew his gaze.

"Oh, everyone, thank you for coming all the way here. Thank you for your hard work."

Zhou Guo and others stood up and looked towards the door. They saw a bearded man in his forties wearing a silk shirt coming in. He was of medium build, with a pair of shrewd eyes. His face was full of smiles when he saw them, but the smile did not reach his eyes.

The man took a seat and said, "Sit down, sit down, sit down. You're welcome. Everyone, take a seat."

Zhou Guo and his companions sat down.

The man picked up the teacup and took a sip, then smiled and said, "Where are you from and where are you going?"

These words were directed at Mr. Zhao. The old man had traveled all his life, and it was obvious from his aura that he was not an ordinary person.

The old man didn't say anything, Zhou Guo said, "We have a business to do with you, sir."

When the man saw Zhou Guo, such a young child, speaking, he looked at the old man in confusion. Seeing that he had no intention of speaking, he had to look at Zhou Guo, "Oh? I wonder what business you want to do with me?" There was a hint of impatience in his tone.

"Hmph, we don't want to do your kind of small business here. There's no need to waste your time." The person standing nearby was very displeased when he saw Zhou Guo, a strange-looking child, speaking.

Zhou Guo said, "You haven't even seen it yet, how do you know it's a small business? Do you have X-ray vision, or can you help this gentleman make the decision?"

"You!" The person who spoke had a red face.

The man couldn't help laughing and looked directly at Zhou Guo, "Tell me, what business do you want to do with me?"

Zhou Guo rummaged through the small bag in front of him, took out a few ginkgo nuts, put them on the table in front of him, and said, "This is the business I want to do with you."

The man who spoke earlier came down and brought some fruits to the man.

The man didn't take it seriously at first, but when he got the thing in his hands, he became serious, peeled off the outer shell, revealing the flesh wrapped in a black membrane inside. His expression changed, he closed his eyes, took out a handkerchief from his arms and wiped his hands slowly.

Zhou Guo saw that he stared for a long time without saying anything, but his eyes became different. He couldn't help but become alert and glanced at his master and uncle secretly. If anything was wrong, they would rush up and take care of the leader.

Zhou Dacang clenched his fists secretly. He didn't bring anything on the boat, and now he felt it was inconvenient. He had been holding the sickle for a long time, and suddenly put it down, he felt a little uncomfortable.

The old man sat up straight without saying anything, but looking at the man, he felt that this might really work, but he only knew about fighting and killing, so his apprentice had to do these things.

The man wiped his hands and looked up. He stopped looking at others and only looked at Zhou Guo. The smile on his face disappeared and he asked seriously, "So, these are the things loaded on your carts?"

Zhou Guo rolled his eyes, he didn't expect that this man saw them all. The situation where he was in the light while others were in the dark was really bad. He nodded, feeling a little aggrieved.

The man started laughing, and the smile reached his eyes and lasted for a while before stopping.

Zhou Guo was a little unsure of what this person meant. She was still too young!

Sure enough, the man smiled and said, "You just exposed your family's wealth in front of me like this, aren't you afraid that I will do something dirty?"