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

The family members were heartbroken when they saw their lifeless child lying on the ground.

"Ah, Dashan, Dashan, why did you leave? How can I live with you? I might as well go with you~~"

The parents whose stomachs were broken saw the miserable state of their child and fainted from grief.

There was a flurry of activity at the scene. Everyone took out needles and thread, cleaned their hands, and began to sew up the two men's bellies with trembling hands.

They also washed the faces of other deceased people, changed them into clean clothes, and let them go in a dignified manner amid the cries of their families.

Zhou Guo looked at the scene of life and death with an expressionless face. She had experienced such farewells many times along the way. Those who left here included people from other families as well as her own family members.

In this chaotic world, the lives of civilians like them are like ants. No one cares and there is no way to report it. The only one they can rely on is themselves. Only when they become strong can they avoid hunger and losing their lives.

Some of the other refugees who survived heard that they had eliminated those cruel demons, and they knelt down and cried miserably.

Everyone felt the same grief, but they never imagined that they would suffer such great hardships here.

Zhou Guo was extremely sad. In this short month, she had seen more dead people in this life than she had seen in the past twenty years in her previous life.

Just as I was feeling sad, a heavy package was handed to me.

She looked up and saw the old man carrying a package with sadness in his eyes. She was stunned and asked stupidly, "Master, are you leaving?"

The old man explained: "This is what I looted from those thieves. It's full of gold and silver, and I guess they were all robbed."

Zhou Guo looked at the boss's package and asked in confusion, "What are you doing for me?"

"If I don't give it to you, how can I keep it? What do I need so much money for? I don't know who these were stolen from. It's up to you to do with it." said the old man.

She took it and picked up a heavy bag. She touched it and found it was full of hairpins and beads. She thought they were all gold, silver and jewelry. These people were really good at robbing. There were rich people everywhere on this road, but they were able to rob so much. If she hadn't run into them, she would have made a fortune.

She took the package and went to her uncle's village chief to discuss with them, "There is so much money here, take out some and share it with the people in the escort team, especially those who lost their lives. Give more to their families, which can be regarded as compensation and protection for them."

The two nodded.

Zhou Dacang asked, "What about the rest?"

The village chief said, "Yes, what are you going to do with the rest?"

She looked at the refugees who were crying their hearts out and had lost their families and everything, and said, "Give the rest back to them. They are just like us, refugees who have lost their homes. Now they even have no family members. They are even more miserable than us."

The two were stunned. They didn't expect her to return the money to them.

Zhou Dacang frowned in embarrassment and said, "Of course, it's okay, but who can guarantee that the things in here are theirs? You know, people are greedy. If you give it to them, they will say that everything in this bundle belongs to their family."

The head of the village nodded repeatedly, "Yes, yes, yes, very much. I think we don't need to return it. Just give them some money. We spent so much money to get their things back. If we return it, they might scold us behind our backs and say we took kickbacks. It's better not to return it at all."

Zhou Guo thought about it and nodded. Naturally, she didn't understand such social practices as well as the other two.

A few people found a secret place and opened the package. When they opened it, they were stunned.

There were blocks of silver, gold, and jewelry inside, as well as two wooden boxes.

She picked up one of the boxes and opened it. Inside was a box of pearls the size of lotus seeds, each one round and plump, with a dazzling luster.

Zhou Dacang opened another box, which contained a stack of silver bills.

The three of them looked at each other. They thought the things inside were valuable, but they didn't expect them to be so valuable. How could they divide them?

These silver and banknotes are fine, but these jewels and gold, it is not appropriate to share them, right? Holding them in your hands may even bring disaster.

The three of them thought about it and decided not to divide the eye-catching things for the time being. Maybe these things were stolen from some wealthy family. If they were divided up and someone couldn't control themselves and took them out for pawning, wouldn't that cause trouble?

Zhou Guo took out the silver and banknotes and put them all together.

There were thirty silver ingots of ten taels each, two thousand taels of silver notes, ten gold bars, and some gold hairpins, bracelets, and jewelry.

The village head kept muttering as he watched all this, "No wonder those mountain kings like to do these kinds of robberies. It's really the fastest way to make money. Think about how many of us work so hard to pick the fruits, peel the fruits, transport the fruits, and find buyers, but in the end, the hard work of so many people is not as much as what they can get from the robbery."

Zhou Dacang said, "Uncle, that's not the way to say it. The money we earn is clean money, and we spend it with peace of mind. Look at what you have now. If I give it to you, would you dare to use it?"

He picked up a piece of gold and weighed it, saying, "How many people's blood is stained on this?"

The head of the village nodded and agreed.

Zhou Guo said, "There were 33 people in the guard team, including Master and me, a total of 35 people. Eight of them died. Master has made great contributions and contributed the most, so he should be compensated more. The rest should be divided equally. Take out 1,200 taels from these, and give 50 taels to each of the eight families and Master. The rest will be divided equally among us, and each of us can get more than 28 taels."

The village head waved his hand and said, "You are a girl and you are still young. You have done a lot of work. We cannot let you suffer any loss. You should share the same as them."

Zhou Dacang nodded, "Then the remaining one thousand taels will be distributed to the refugees affected by the disaster."

As for how to give the money... after discussing it, several people felt that it was not appropriate to just give the money like this. After much thought, they felt that it would be most appropriate to stuff the money into the bodies of those thieves.

Zhou Guo took advantage of the fact that no one was paying attention, quietly moved to the bodies of the thieves, stuffed all the money on them, and then pretended to pick up a silver ingot from beside them, and shouted: "Oh, so much money, uncle, come and see, so much money!"

This shout attracted everyone's attention, including everyone on their side.

Everyone rushed over and looked at the silver ingot with their eyes shining.

But before they could say anything, the refugees on the roadside rushed over like crazy, directly onto the four people lying there, saying, "Mine, mine, all mine."