Pinduoduo connects the past and present; the wildest young commander and his entire army help me bar

Xing Xingwen said, "So everyone doesn't need to worry about this. Just go back and tell the landlords and rich folks that if they want to exchange grain, they can come; if they don't want to, then forget it."

No one objected to this. Besides, by mobilizing these landlords and rich people who usually drink human blood and eat human flesh, they could get a day's pay for free. Why not?

Having figured things out, the crowd dispersed.

After finishing their work, these people didn't feel tired at all and went straight to mobilize others.

And you know what? The power of the people is boundless.

That very night, a wealthy landlord sent someone over to secretly inquire about the situation from Zhang's adjutant.

"Lieutenant Zhang, we heard from the villagers that your Jinsan Brigade is willing to exchange grain with us. Is this news accurate?"

Upon hearing this, Lieutenant Zhang perked up. He had been burning the midnight oil, waiting for these big fish to take the bait. And as they say, even in a storm, the fish are quite good.

He smiled. "That's right, Uncle. Which village are you from, and how much grain are you planning to exchange?"

The old man, with a cautious and shrewd demeanor, carefully inquired, "Sir, how shall we exchange this grain?"

Lieutenant Zhang had been waiting for this moment. Upon hearing this, he opened a small booklet containing the rules for exchanging grain. These rules were formulated by Xing Xingwen, who was quite knowledgeable about antiques and gold and silver jewelry. Therefore, no one could fool him about the value of anything.

After seeing the contents of the booklet, the visitor breathed a sigh of relief.

He then cautiously inquired, "Sir, the exchange rules here are very fair. However, I am merely the household steward and need to go back and discuss it with my master. If he deems it feasible, we will bring our goods to exchange for grain tomorrow. What do you think?"

Lieutenant Zhang nodded.

He even took one out of the stack of booklets and handed it over.

"Sure, take this with you. It'll help your husband understand our rules for exchanging grain, and it'll make things easier for you."

This move delighted the housekeeper.

He had served in the military for many years and had dealt with warlords before. Because he couldn't afford to offend them, he was always very careful. This time, he dared not act rashly and carefully considered his words, afraid that he might provoke someone and get shot.

After all, when those who wield power, who cares about reason?

I've always heard that the Jinsan Brigade is different from the previous warlords, and seeing it today, it's indeed different.

The butler left, thanking the booklet profusely.

I stumbled home, not daring to catch my breath, and knocked on the master's door.

The master was already waiting in the living room. Under the dim light of the oil lamp, the old master sat upright in the armchair, gently tapping the tobacco pouch in his hand before lifting his eyelids to look at the butler.

"How about it?"

He appeared nonchalant, but his taut fingers betrayed his nervousness.

The butler took out the booklet from his pocket and carefully handed it to the old man.

As soon as the booklet was published, the old lady next to her also leaned over to look.

After seeing the densely packed exchange rules, the old lady asked suspiciously, "It looks quite legitimate, but I wonder if it's another trap."

"We've fallen into traps before, old man, we absolutely can't afford to be fooled again."

The old man squinted, tightened his grip on his pipe pouch, and looked at the butler. "Old Li," he said, "repeat everything you said to the soldier, and what he replied."

This is the old man's skill honed over many years; his ability to read people and understand their true nature is unparalleled, allowing him to see the truth from the smallest details.

The butler explained everything in detail.

"It sounds like there's no problem now."

The old lady beside her immediately became anxious. "Old man, let's be cautious. Don't rush things. We're not the only ones who've run out of food. Let's see how things go for the others after they exchanged their food. If there are no problems afterward, then we can follow up."

The steward's voice turned bitter upon hearing this, "But Madam, our food supplies are almost gone; we really can't last more than a few days."

Upon hearing this, the old lady asked, "How much rice is left in the rice jar?"

"We're out of rice. Last time the young master had a fever and insisted on drinking rice porridge, so we used the last bit of rice to make porridge for her."

The old lady's expression turned serious. She straightened her body, and as soon as she moved, she felt her stomach rumbling. There was nothing she could do; she was old and felt it would be a waste to eat the food herself, so she gave all the food to her younger generation.

Maintaining such a large family is difficult; they're all equally precious, and it's unacceptable to mistreat any of them. In the end, I can only suffer in silence.

"As for noodles, I remember we had steamed buns for our last meal, right? How many steamed buns do we have left?"

The housekeeper looked distressed. "We've already finished our steamed buns for the last meal, and now we only have two pounds of flour left. That should only last us for the next day or two."

The old lady made a decisive decision: "Endure!"

"Make all these noodles into a thin soup, boil it in an iron pot, even if it's simmering, even if we go hungry, we have to get through these two days, otherwise, all the last things our ancestors left us to make a comeback will be completely gone."

"Once these things are gone, our Fan family will be completely doomed."

Just then, the door was suddenly opened with a bang.

Then, the second daughter-in-law, holding the child in her arms, knelt down on the floor with a thud, pressed the child's head down, and the mother and child kowtowed to the old man and the old woman together.

"Grandma, our Daqiang is starving. Please sell our things to buy food."

With tears welling in his eyes, Daqiang sensibly wiped away his second daughter-in-law's tears and comforted her, "Mom, I'm not hungry. Please don't force Grandpa and Grandma to change their food."

The second daughter-in-law hugged Daqiang and cried uncontrollably.

She's incompetent!

The man she married was a scoundrel. After she gave birth, her health was damaged, and her husband couldn't wait to seduce a concubine while she was still in confinement.

The concubine was charming and able to coax men, which captivated her husband's heart, and she later gave birth to sons and daughters one after another.

Although her son Daqiang was born to the first wife, she was not favored by her husband, and Daqiang was weak and sickly, which was no match for the concubine's children. Therefore, her husband always favored the concubine.

Now that famine has struck, she and her son are being ostracized to an extreme degree. The food allocated to the second wife is usually snatched up by the concubine's family.

Sometimes she would argue so fiercely that her face would turn red and her neck would get her husband to give her a little bit of leftover food out of consideration for their past relationship.

But as the food allocated to the second wife dwindled and the family's food supplies dwindled, she and Daqiang received nothing left.

In his drowsy hunger, he vaguely heard his concubine's sinister warning.

"Go to hell! Take your sickly son with you! It's good that you're dead, then there will be peace and quiet, and you won't be able to come and take our food anymore!"