A peasant girl with a special ability uses herself and two wolves to escape famine!

The grocery store owner said the pharmacy owner hadn't left yet. The reason was simple: he was too hungry to walk.

"Bang bang..."

When Xia Ning opened a door panel, she was startled to see who opened it.

His back was hunched, his hands were trembling, his legs seemed to be shaking too, and his face was an unnatural bluish-black. This person was about to die!

"Boss...I'm here to buy medicine." She stammered for some reason, as if she wasn't the one who needed the medicine.

Before she could finish speaking, she slumped backward limply.

"Oh my god, this is ridiculous!" She grabbed the person, helped them to the ground, and then told Jiang Yi to hurry inside.

"Give me the water bladder!" She added some brown sugar and salt to the water and carefully fed it to the boss.

Hearing the commotion, the other people in the pharmacy came out and were extremely anxious when they saw their father had fainted.

Xia Ning saw that they were even more starving than the other people, like walking skeletons, as if a strong wind could blow them away. Especially the two children; it was heartbreaking to see them like this. Running such a large pharmacy, and yet they were so hungry—alas!

He sighed and took ten cornbread buns from the carriage. "Eat them."

Everyone stared intently at the cornbread, but dared not reach out to take a bite. They were afraid that if they held it in their hands, they wouldn't be able to resist stuffing it into their mouths.

"Eat up." Xia Ning gave one to each person, and stuffed the rest into one of the men's arms.

Once he had the cornbread in his hand, he couldn't stop eating it. He was frantically munching on it, not just because he was starving, but because he was about to die.

Sin!

The person who had fainted also woke up.

"Thank you for saving me, young man." The sweet taste in his mouth hadn't faded yet. They were complete strangers, but he hadn't expected someone to be so generous as to feed him brown sugar, such a precious thing.

He smacked his lips, savoring the moment. Looking up at Xia Ning, he knew from his years as a doctor that she was a young girl. In these chaotic times, life was even more difficult for women; disguising herself as a man was for the best.

"I don't know what kind of medicinal herbs you want, my shop is out of stock of many of them," the doctor said somewhat apologetically.

The cold wave caused many people to fall ill, and his shop was running out of medicinal herbs.

"How many medicinal herbs do you have left? I want them all. By the way, do you have any medicinal herb seeds? If so, could you sell them to me?"

"We really don't have any seeds, and we don't have many medicinal herbs either. We haven't restocked since the cold wave started. As you probably know, there are a lot of patients during cold waves."

Xia Ning nodded understandingly. Actually, whether or not she needed the medicinal herbs didn't matter; what she wanted most was the seeds.

Do you know where the seeds can be found?

"We definitely don't have any in our county," the old doctor said confidently. Their climate isn't suitable for growing medicinal herbs, so they certainly don't have any seeds.

"Do you sell medicinal herbs in the shop?"

"If you want some, I'll keep some for regular use; you can take the rest."

He's a straightforward person!

Most of these medicinal herbs are common; the most valuable one is probably half a ginseng root.

She refused, saying, "In return for these medicinal herbs, I'll give you 100 catties of coarse flour, 50 catties of coarse rice, and half a catty of salt. Is that alright?"

She was willing to give more because she saw how much they were suffering, and the doctor was a rare talent.

"No, no, these things aren't worth that much grain. Just give me 20 catties of coarse flour."

Since the other party offered grain, he didn't mention money. Grain is far more appealing than money.

Xia Ning didn't say anything, and she really wasn't used to the back-and-forth pushing and shoving.

After loading all the medicinal herbs onto the vehicle, she had Jiang Yi unload the grain and then left directly.

The old doctor and his family were already in poor health, so they couldn't keep up. They didn't dare to either, in case someone saw them.

After closing the door, he led his whole family to kowtow at the entrance.

Looking at the grain on the ground, I felt energized. "Hurry up and carry it inside, let's cook a pot of brown rice soup."

"Ai!"

Everyone wore beaming smiles and was overjoyed.

"Dad, we don't need to eat dinner. Our benefactor just gave each of us a cornbread, and we each have half left."

As he spoke, he took out a half-eaten cornbread from his pocket.

The old doctor was moved to tears; he had met a truly kind person.

"Then cook less for the child. All of you, keep your mouths shut. Anyone who leaks this information will be kicked out of the house."

"Dad, don't worry, who's stupid enough to say they'd send someone to rob us?"

"That's right, let's make these into cornbread tomorrow, rest for a few days, and then leave this place."

The old doctor pondered for a while and said, "If we don't leave now, it will be even more difficult to leave later."

"Okay, second brother, you two take turns queuing up these next few days and get lots of water."

"Ai!"

On the way back: "Jiang Yi, tomorrow we'll each take a mule cart. That way we can collect the goods faster and make fewer trips." Anyway, we'll only be out trading after dark, so if we're careful, even if someone wants to, they won't be able to follow us.

"Are we leaving after we've finished collecting everything?" He felt that there was nothing here and it wasn't suitable for long-term residence.

"Okay, after we finish collecting this shipment, we'll also collect the roof tiles from those empty houses, and then we'll leave."

Jiang Yi was dumbfounded: "What do you need the tiles for?"

"We can use them to build houses later; their tiles are so good. By the way, let's ask around tomorrow where there are tile and brick workshops; they probably still have a lot of unsold stock. Let's go buy some!"

"Okay!"

Jiang Yi was full of admiration. Xiao Ning really knew how to manage money and was very thoughtful, unlike him, who only knew how to hoard food.

The grocery store owner was exceptionally efficient. He called all the decent shop owners on the street to his home and told them about it. Everyone said they wanted to switch. Nobody was stupid; if they missed this opportunity, who knew if they'd get another chance? These things were now just junk to them; keeping them would only get in their way.

"Thank you so much, Brother Wu, for remembering us even though it's a good thing. I'm very grateful." A blacksmith bowed deeply, not knowing if the people in his shop would want him, but he was grateful for his old friend's kindness.

"No need to thank me. These days, everyone's having a tough time, so let's help each other out if we can. I was thinking that after we finish exchanging the grain in the next couple of days, we should leave. I don't think the peace in the county town will last much longer. The officials could leave at any time, and the well water could dry up any day. Let's leave as soon as possible, and it'll be safer if we travel together. What do you all think?"

“We’ll listen to you. Once we get the grain, make it into dry rations, and store up water, we’ll leave. I’ll make two wheelbarrows for each family these next two days,” one of the carpenters said.

“In that case, I’ll trouble you, Brother Zhao. Tomorrow, I’ll take some men to collect the goods from each household. Don’t worry if you haven’t arrived yet; it will be your turn eventually. Please don’t come out looking for people,” he reminded them.

I'm afraid they'll be too hasty and rush to exchange for grain. People might be worried about something going wrong and then decide not to exchange it.

“We understand, Brother Wu, please rest assured.”

Everyone knew this was a matter of great importance, concerning the life and death of the entire family, so naturally, whatever he said was law.

After agreeing on this, they each left to go home. Everyone was filled with excitement, praying that someone would take a liking to their belongings and that they could exchange them for some food.

Xia Ning was very punctual, arriving at the general store right on the hour. The shopkeeper, seeing her, quietly breathed a sigh of relief; he was so afraid she wouldn't come.

Seeing that she was driving two mule carts and was well prepared, he felt relieved and greeted her with a smile.

The first shop was the fabric store next door. After the cold snap, they were out of thick clothes and cotton. They had plenty of other fabrics and shoes in stock. Some items weren't properly protected and had mold spots. The owner looked at Xia Ning worriedly, afraid she wouldn't want them.

"I'll take them all, boss. What price are you planning to sell them for?"

He wouldn't dare ask for a price; he'd sell five pounds of rice to anyone who was willing to buy it.

"Just give me whatever you think is appropriate," the shopkeeper said respectfully, bowing and lowering his head.