In a chaotic world of infrastructure development, a woman's path to survival after being reborn

The Zhang family had many masters, both high and low, and thus required a great deal of food. However, because they had been pampered since childhood, even knowing that there was unrest outside and that people were starving, the masters of the Zhang family showed no sign of being frugal and continued to treat their daily meals with a picky attitude.

They only use the freshest and most tender parts of the ingredients, and often a single dish requires a dozen or even a hundred portions of ingredients.

The master in the mansion only eats the tenderest parts of the food, while the parts that the master dislikes and considers not fresh are left over. A portion is used to cook for the servants, and the remaining scraps are either divided up by the kitchen managers or disposed of as garbage.

Su Li had helped out in the kitchen for a few days and knew the process of handling ingredients very well. It was because of this that when she gained her space and learned the devastating news that her dream was about to become reality, her first thought was to stockpile food, and the source of this food was the Zhang family's kitchen.

After much effort, Su Li finally got her wish and was transferred to the kitchen to help out. Perhaps to the other maids, being transferred from the master's courtyard to the kitchen was an extremely unlucky thing, but to Su Li, it was a great thing. Su Li was like a greedy mouse that had fallen into a rice jar, and she was overjoyed.

As everyone knows, kitchen work is the hardest and most tiring job, and most people don't want to get involved in it. So, Su Li benefited from this. During this time, she would often take advantage of the night when no one was around to store the leftover ingredients from the kitchen into her space. She didn't care what they were, as long as they were edible.

Of course, Su Li was mindful of what she was doing. She wouldn't touch any precious ingredients. She usually collected scraps that the kitchen wouldn't pay attention to, leftover ingredients from cooking for the masters of the mansion. She collected a variety of items in small quantities, so no one would usually notice. After all, it was perfectly normal for the kitchen to have less food.

And so, thanks to Su Li’s tireless efforts, she had accumulated a lot of stock in her space. She had almost all the ingredients that had ever appeared in the kitchen, and the variety of food was great, but except for a few things, the quantity of the others was not large.

With limited space, Su Li naturally needed to plan carefully, including purposefully stockpiling food. Stockpiling visually appealing but not filling foods would be useless for the future, so Su Li preferred foods that would fill her up, such as rice, steamed buns, noodles, and eggs…

Everyone in the Zhang household, from masters to servants, preferred wheat-based foods. Therefore, during Su Li's time in the kitchen, she stocked up on steamed buns and noodles the most. These foods were plentiful and not easily noticed by others...

After a period of accumulation, the stockpiled goods in the space, especially the steamed buns, were enough for Su Li to eat six a day for a year.

With enough food to sustain them for the next few days, Su Li decided to find an opportunity to leave the Zhang residence and the capital.

……

After returning from stocking up on groceries in the kitchen once again, Su Li lay quietly on her bed. The surroundings were quiet, but her mind was racing.

What kind of reason could they possibly give to leave the Zhang residence and escape the capital?

Lying in bed, Su Li tossed and turned, because she knew very well that maids in ancient times had no human rights whatsoever. Unless they were redeemed or married out of the mansion, they could never even step out of the house.

At first, Su Li actually thought about finding an opportunity to leave the Zhang family and never come back, but this idea was quickly crushed by the feudal system of ancient times.

To survive in this feudal era, one had to have a household registration to prove one's identity. Without this registration, one would find it difficult to move an inch. Although it is often said that one is an unregistered person, if there were any other way, no one would want to be an unregistered person, let alone a runaway slave.

Su Li knew the fate of most unregistered people in history, so she would never allow herself to become one of them. Moreover, the nature of escaped slaves was even worse, and the idea of ​​simply running away was absolutely unacceptable.

Lying in bed, Su Li sighed softly, muttering to herself, "I don't have enough money to redeem myself. Am I just going to have to wait like this?"

……

Troubles are common, but life goes on. The next morning, Su Li got up and went to work as usual, her face calm and composed, showing no sign of distress.

Su Li thought today would be just another ordinary day, and that her headaches would continue. But in the evening, a maid brought back some news that brightened her day.

"I heard that the master of the Zhang family intends to release a group of servants." This news was like a timely rain to Su Li's heart, and she couldn't wait to know what the secret was.

"Is this true?" Su Li had just asked when her question was drowned out by the gasps of those around her.

Upon hearing this news, the maids and servants working in the kitchen couldn't help but gather around and ask, "Is it true? Is Master really going to release a group of people out of the manor?"

The maid Cuilu, who brought back the news, was surrounded in the center, while Su Li, who was originally standing next to Cuilu, had been pushed to the outer edge. However, Su Li did not care and listened attentively to the commotion around her.

Surrounded by people, Emerald had anticipated their reaction, so she remained calm and arrogantly explained the situation to them...

“I only found out this morning when I went out to deliver breakfast to Madam. She said that in order to reduce the expenses of the manor, she was going to send a group of servants out,” Cui Lü explained.

Hearing what the maid said, the people in the kitchen looked grim, fearing that they would be the ones released. Although everyone present wanted to be free, it wasn't the right time, especially when the famine was raging outside. Being released from the mansion now would mean certain death.

Although staying in the manor meant not being free, at least they could fill their stomachs and receive a monthly allowance. Leaving the manor was tantamount to certain death, so no one present wanted to be the one to be released.

"Has anyone said who will be released from the manor? Are there any conditions?" someone asked.

Hearing this, Cui Lü glanced around and said, "There aren't any conditions. It's just that Madam wants to release some of the married servants in the manor. After all, the manor is in financial difficulty right now, and supporting a large family of maids and servants is a burden."

Upon hearing this, the older, married maids and servants in the kitchen immediately changed their expressions, while the unmarried young maids breathed a slight sigh of relief.

Perhaps fearing that the people in the kitchen would have it too easy, after seeing the gloating expressions on the faces of the maids around her, Cui Lü added, "Unmarried maids shouldn't be too happy too soon. Madam also said that if the manor really can't find a large family to send out, we can also select some unmarried maids and servants, pair them up, and send them out."

These words made everyone present look grim, since anyone could be released from the manor.

No one wanted to be released from the manor, which would make them opposing sides. So after understanding the whole situation, most people silently returned to their posts.

With everyone gone, Su Li was able to approach them, wanting to learn more about the recent changes in the manor…