In a year of natural disasters, the young woman had billions of resources to build a paradise.

Liu Nianggu returned quickly. "We can stay here, but we don't want money. We only want things, fifty catties of grain per person."

Hong'an County has also experienced nearly a month of torrential rain, but due to its relatively high elevation, it has not yet reached the point of being flooded.

However, the price of grain in the city had already been driven up to a level they couldn't afford. They figured they'd rather have grain than silver.

Magistrate Ye had guessed the situation in Hong'an County. He cursed inwardly that everyone was shrewd, but he had no choice but to back down again.

"Fifty jin is too much. Look how far we've traveled, how could we possibly carry that much grain? Twenty jin?"

"No way, with so many of you, it's not difficult to gather fifty pounds, right? It has to be at least forty-eight pounds!"

After some haggling, the two finally agreed on 36 catties of grain per person, with a total of 100 people.

Magistrate Ye could finally breathe a sigh of relief and immediately began collecting grain and counting heads.

Yu Tieniu, who was mixed in with the other teams, spat.

"Second brother, what should we do?"

The man he called Second Brother was none other than Gou Xingwang, the burly-browed man who had been poisoned by Jiang Mianmian with a tracking curse.

"What's the rush? How many times have I told you not to be so hasty in doing things?"

Gou Xingwang narrowed his eyes. "Let's find a place to rest for a while."

"Aren't we going to find a way to get into the village? The team leader gave his spot to his grandson!"

Yu Tieniu was really anxious. Ever since he was kicked out of the group by Granny Li, he had nowhere to go and had been wandering around with a few brothers.

They had planned to rob the Jiang family and have a good meal, but those idiots' boxes were full of random junk, making their efforts a complete waste. They then considered going back to the county to check, only to find the entire town flooded; where could they possibly find food?

He had no choice but to catch up with the group again. Luckily, he ran into Gou Xingwang and his group. They became friends after a fight and ended up in a small team together.

Gou Xingwang lowered his voice, "Let them take it. Do you think your second brother would let you suffer a loss?"

"what?"

Yu Tieniu's eyes lit up. He looked around before whispering, "Second Brother, do you have a way to get into the village?"

"Shh, let's go find a place to rest first. Call all your underlings over too, I have something to say to them."

The two put their arms around each other and found a place to shelter from the rain.

The squad leader breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that they hadn't started making a scene, and sent his grandson to the group that was about to enter the village.

Before long, the food was ready.

After Liu Nianggu checked and found nothing wrong, he let the people in, ordered someone to guard the village entrance again, and then went home.

As night deepened, candlelight gradually illuminated the village, casting a warm glow.

The aroma of the food was half-dissipated by the rain, but the other half stubbornly drifted into the eastward retreating ranks.

The wealthy huddled together in a carriage, where it was warm and sheltered from the rain.

Those who were less fortunate could hide under carts or tarpaulins and barely survive the night.

At worst, all they had was a straw raincoat and hat, and the whole family had to huddle together for warmth.

Thinking that this was much better than those who stayed in the village or the city and drowned, I felt that it wasn't so hard to bear.

The food smelled so irresistible that everyone, whether rich or poor, hiding in or under their cars, swallowed hard.

Along the way, they were not allowed to rest in dilapidated temples, post stations, or farmhouses. If they wanted to eat, they could only eat the dry rations they brought with them. If they wanted to drink water, they could only rely on the kindness of those "upper-class people" to boil hot water and fill their water bags.

Want a proper meal? Absolutely not.

Smelling this, I could only console myself and force myself to close my eyes and go to sleep.

Otherwise, the jealousy in one's heart would drive one mad, making one unable to resist rushing into the village and robbing it ruthlessly.

Magistrate Ye stayed overnight at the village chief's house, where several men gathered together and drank alcohol.

Village Chief Liu raised his glass in apology, "Your Excellency, please don't blame me. Life is really tough these days, and we're afraid too."

"How could that be? If we hadn't really been unable to survive, I wouldn't have led so many people to flee the famine."

Magistrate Ye looked worried. "This is only the first village. Further east, I don't know how difficult it will be."

"So, where did your fairy say she wanted to settle down? Where exactly is it safe to go?"

The two had already drunk quite a bit of wine, and Magistrate Ye, who had a lot on his mind, finally found an outlet and spoke it all out.

Hearing this, he became even more worried. "They didn't say anything, they just said we were going east. Brother, aren't you planning to leave?"

"Where can you just leave whenever you want?"

Looking out the window at the dark, heavy rain, Village Chief Liu suddenly said, "Your Excellency, does the rain seem a little lighter than yesterday? Is it about to stop?"

"Yes, it is a bit small."

Magistrate Ye's tone remained unchanged. So what if the rain stopped? There are still other natural disasters to come.

As expected, it will be a drought; a severe flood is always followed by a severe drought! Moreover, these fields have already been soaked and rotten. Even if there is no drought, there will probably be no harvest this year. Staying here will only lead to certain death sooner or later.

But he was too lazy to say that. What did it matter to him whether other people lived or died?

If you're willing to go, we can go together; it's good to have company on the road.

It's even better if they don't want to leave; if any opportunities arise, their own team won't have enough to go around.

Village Chief Liu actually wanted to leave, but as the village chief, he still had to follow the orders of his county magistrate.

The two chatted for a while before taking a break.

When it was completely dark, Yu Tieniu was woken up by Gou Xingwang.

"Shh, let's go."

Yu Tieniu, who hadn't been sleeping soundly to begin with, nodded excitedly upon hearing this and tiptoed after him.

A dozen or so people, like ants, carried the things they had chosen in advance and joined up with a group of people who had quietly slipped out of Qingbao Village.

The items were passed to the dozen or so men in Qingbao Village. Yu Tieniu and his men then went back and carried them twice before following them into the village via a side path.

All twenty-odd people squeezed into a courtyard at the end of the village.

There was already an old woman inside the house, who was starting a fire, boiling water, putting in rice, and cutting meat.

Yu Tieniu finally ate his first bowl of meat porridge in a long time. "Second brother, you're amazing!"

Gou Xingwang was also very hungry, so he ignored him and slurped down a bowl of food before asking with a smile, "Second Brother, Second Brother, do you know why I call you Second Brother?"

A small-eyed man next to him burst out laughing.

"Why, why?"

Yu Tieniu looked at the two men, and a thought suddenly struck him, "Is this the eldest brother?"

The small-eyed man waved his hand, "What big brother or second brother? We're just joking around. It's fate that we met."

"Oh, I'm so glad to finally see my big brother!"

Yu Tieniu immediately changed his tune and bragged several times.

He had no integrity or dignity to begin with; he was just a vagrant in Tupo Village. As long as he could survive, he would do anything.

Unfortunately, there were only six of them in total. They followed Gou Xingwang just to get a meal.

Since Gou Xingwang calls this person "Big Brother," then I have to follow him!

Look at all this rice and grain in the house. With this, what's there to be afraid of?