In years of famine and drought, their village even rejected fatty meat.

It should be noted that many migrant workers in county towns earn only thirty or forty copper coins a day. In other words, an ordinary person's daily earnings can only buy a little over two kilograms of rice!

An adult male needs to eat at least 2-3 kilograms of grain every day without eating anything else. This means that an ordinary person's daily income is not even enough to feed themselves, let alone support their family.

Of course, ordinary people wouldn't be so extravagant as to buy rice. They would mostly choose foods like sorghum flour. However, even sorghum flour cost 8 coins per pound, and their daily income could only buy 4-5 pounds at most. If it was a family of three, they could barely make ends meet.

If there are more than three people, including both the elderly and children, then they will probably have to go hungry.

"With these grain prices, no wonder my family can only afford bran flour."

Chen Dao twitched the corner of his mouth and began to calculate in his mind. He currently had a total of 283 copper coins, which, if used to buy sorghum flour, could buy about 35 jin (12.5 catties).

However, Chen Dao did not plan to use all the money to buy sorghum flour. Instead, he planned to buy about 20 jin (10 catties) and use the rest of the money to buy sorghum and rice bran to feed the chickens!

Finally, Chen Dao called over the shop assistant and chose to buy 20 jin of sorghum flour, 10 jin of sorghum, and 20 jin of rice bran. By then, Chen Dao had almost spent all his copper coins, leaving him with only 13.

"Could you please help me move it to the donkey cart outside the shop?"

"okay!"

The grain store clerk quickly helped Chen Dao load a total of 40 jin of grain onto the donkey cart parked outside.

Meanwhile, Chen Da and his two companions had also finalized the total amount of grain they would purchase with the grain store manager, and the store's employees were helping them load the grain onto the donkey cart.

"Grain prices are getting more and more expensive!"

Watching the grain shop assistants constantly going in and out carrying grain, Chen Si couldn't help but mutter under his breath, "These damned grain merchants."

"Keep your voice down."

Chen Da glared at Chen Si. Anyone who could do grain business was someone with connections and influence far beyond what the villagers of Chenjia Village could afford to offend.

Soon, the donkey cart was full of grain, and a waiter said to Chen Da, "Sir, all your grain has been loaded onto the cart!"

"Thanks a lot!"

Chen Da thanked him and then said to Chen Dao and the other two, "Let's go back to the village."

After all four men boarded the donkey cart, Chen Si drove the donkey and headed out of the city.

Once outside the city gate, Chen Dao and his three companions' donkey cart undoubtedly attracted the attention of many refugees outside the city.

"That truck must be loaded with grain."

"I wish I could have some of this grain!"

"Should we rob them of their food?"

"Are you crazy? Didn't you see they were all carrying bows and arrows?"

"..."

The refugees outside the city had greedy glints in their eyes, wishing they could steal all the grain from the donkey cart to alleviate their hunger.

Fortunately, these refugees still retained some rationality and noticed the bows and arrows carried by Chen Da and his companions, so they did not rush forward to seize the food.

And so, under the greedy gazes of these refugees, the donkey cart slowly moved away from the county town and disappeared from their sight.

"call!"

Only after the refugees disappeared from sight did Chen Jiang let out a heavy sigh of relief. His entire body had been tense, and he could only completely relax now that he was out of danger: "That scared me to death! I thought those refugees were going to rush up!"

Chen Dao also secretly breathed a sigh of relief. The eyes of those refugees outside the city looked as if they wanted to devour him. His nerves had been on edge the whole time, and a layer of fine sweat had appeared on his forehead.

Fortunately, the refugees were ultimately afraid of the arrows on Chen Da and his companions, and did not attempt to rob the grain.

"Stay alert, now is not the time to relax!"

Chen Da's sharp eyes scanned his surroundings, not daring to relax for a moment.

The dangers outside the city are not only the refugees, but also the bandits and highwaymen who may rush out from both sides of the official road at any time. It is far from time to relax.

Upon hearing Chen Da's reminder, Chen Jiang quickly perked up and cautiously observed the surroundings with Chen Da.

..............................

Chenjia Village, village entrance.

A large number of villagers are gathering here, eagerly awaiting their arrival.

"They haven't come back yet, so late. I hope something happened to Chen Da and the others."

An elderly villager said with a worried expression.

The official roads are dangerous to travel these days, and danger can strike at any moment. The fact that Chen Da and the others haven't returned so late suggests that something must have happened to them.

"Old Chen, stop talking nonsense!"

A burly woman yelled, "How could Chen Da and the others get into trouble!"

"That's right! Old Chen, don't talk nonsense."

"Commander Chen is an excellent archer; who would dare to steal from him?"

"With Chen Si and Chen Jiang helping out, how could anything happen! Old man Chen, shut up!"

"..."

Everyone glared angrily at Old Man Chen.

Faced with the crowd's anger, Old Man Chen hurriedly replied, "I was just worried about Chen Da and the others."

"They're here! Chen Da and the others are back!"

Just then, a surprised voice rang out, and everyone looked towards the outside of the village, where a donkey cart slowly approached. It was the only donkey cart in the village that Chen Da and his group were driving.

"Great! Chen Da and the others are back safely!"

"The truck is full! Chen Da must have bought some grain!"

"Now I'm relieved! With the food supplies secured, at least my family won't go hungry."

"..."

The crowd joyfully welcomed the donkey cart, as if welcoming a returning hero.

Chen Da jumped off the donkey cart and said to the crowd with a smile, "Fellow villagers, I've brought back the grain!"

"Well done, Chen!"

Everyone cheered in unison.

Village chief Chen He then came up to Chen Da, patted him on the shoulder and said, "You've worked hard, Chen Da! And also Chen Si, Chen Jiang, and Chen Dao, those three lads."

"What's so hard about this?"

Chen Da waved his hand dismissively and said, "Village chief, apart from the grain that Chen Dao bought himself, all the other grain is here. You can distribute it to the villagers according to the share Mr. Li wrote down. I won't get involved!"

"Ah."

The village chief turned to the villagers and said loudly, "Bring the donkey cart to my house, and we'll divide the grain slowly!"

"it is good!"

The villagers worked together to drive the donkey cart to the village chief's house to distribute the grain.

Chen Dao looked at the 40 jin of grain and the chicken coop he had placed on the ground and said to Chen Da, "Uncle Chen, can you help me move the grain?"

Chen Da glanced at Chen Dao, knowing that Chen Dao had something to say to him, so he nodded and said, "Okay."

So the two of them carried the grain together toward Chen Dao's house.

As Fang approached his home, Chen Dao saw Li Ping and Chen Fei waiting outside.

Chen Fei ran quickly towards Chen Dao with her short legs, hugged Chen Dao's right leg and said, "Brother."

"What's wrong with Xiaofei?" Chen Dao asked with a smile.

Chen Fei rubbed her cheek against Chen Dao's thigh and whispered, "Your mom and I are very worried about you!"

As the two were talking, Li Ping also came over and greeted Chen Da: "Chen Da."

Chen Da nodded in response, "Sister-in-law."

After exchanging greetings, Li Ping helped the two carry the grain and chicken coop into the front yard, then poured them a glass of water before leading Chen Fei into the bedroom, leaving them space to talk.

Chen Dao warmed his hands with a cup of hot water, hesitated for a moment, and then asked, "Uncle Chen, do you still have any chicken heart grass?"

Chen Da gave Chen Dao a deep look and said, "That chicken you took to the city to sell before, it must have been bred using chicken heart grass, right?"

Chen Da wasn't stupid. He had vaguely sensed something was wrong when he saw Chen Dao's white-feathered chicken before. Now, when Chen Dao mentioned chicken heart grass, how could he not realize that Chen Dao's white-feathered chicken was related to chicken heart grass?

"Yes."

Chen Dao had long planned to be honest with Chen Da, otherwise he wouldn't have specifically asked Chen Da to come home with him: "To be honest, Uncle Chen, the white-feathered chicken you saw before was bred by me using chicken heart grass and gray-feathered chicken."

"Grey-feathered chicken?"

Chen Dayi was taken aback.

"That's right!"

Chen Dao nodded emphatically: "The breeding method is also very simple. Just feed the gray-feathered chickens chicken heart grass for three consecutive days and the gray-feathered chickens will turn into white-feathered chickens."

"I see!"

Chen Da suddenly realized, and then said, "Such a priceless secret formula, you're just going to tell me about it so easily? Aren't you afraid that I'll use it against you after I get it?"

"I believe Uncle Chen."

Chen Dao said, "When my father was alive, he said that you were not his biological brother, but you were more than his biological brother. There might be people in the village who would harm our family, but you would never do that!"

Upon hearing this, Chen Da was deeply moved.

Chen Dao's father, Chen Ping, was absolutely his best brother, without a doubt!

He and Chen Ping played together when they were young. Although one became a hunter and the other an ordinary farmer when they grew up, their friendship never faded and instead grew stronger.

That is why, after Chen Ping passed away, Chen Da did everything he could to help Chen Dao's family without asking for anything in return.

"Your father is also my best brother!"

Chen Da, a middle-aged man in his thirties, couldn't help but have tears in his eyes as he recalled the bits and pieces of time he had spent with Chen Ping. When he was a child, Chen Ping always took care of him like an older brother and would always share some of the food from home with him.

Even after he grew up, Chen Ping always cared for him deeply, taking care of him whenever he was injured while hunting...

Chen Da still remembers that during the time after Chen Ping's death, he was completely distraught and depressed for a long time, and it took him a long time to get out of his grief.

Looking at Chen Da, who was silently shedding tears, Chen Dao felt a pang of emotion. The original owner's memories did indeed tell him that Chen Ping and Chen Da had a very good relationship, but he did not know that their relationship could be this good. Just mentioning a sentence from Chen Ping was enough to bring tears to the eyes of Chen Da, a man who seemed extremely resolute.

In fact, the reason why Chen Dao was willing to tell Chen Da the secret recipe for the Gray Feather Chicken's advancement was not only because of the relationship between Chen Ping and Chen Da, but more because he needed to obtain Chicken Heart Grass from Chen Da. In addition, Chen Da already knew the effects of Chicken Heart Grass, and the secret of the Gray Feather Chicken's advancement could not be kept secret.

That's why Chen Dao spoke so frankly.