A massive famine! The whole family travels through time together, and with their spatial abilities,

"Thank you for reminding me, Uncle. My parents are queuing up to buy food nearby. We'll go back after we're done. We won't run away," Shen Shuli replied innocently.

"That's good." The old man at the tea stall quickly got up to serve the soldiers when he saw them come to drink tea.

Shen Shuli, who was about to leave, picked up her teacup again and started drinking, eavesdropping on the conversation between the four soldiers.

"Quickly, bring us a pot of tea."

"Here you are~ Freshly brewed tea, gentlemen, please enjoy."

The officers and soldiers drank a cup of tea, which relieved their dry throats, and they immediately began to chat.

"This is exhausting! These scoundrels are really good at hiding; I almost let them get away with it."

"That's right. The county magistrate said that he would reward us with a handful of rice for every person we capture. I've already captured dozens, enough to feed my family for several good meals."

"You're lucky! I only caught twenty or thirty. Tell me where you caught them!"

"You can't say that carelessly, my family is still short of food. But I heard yesterday that Liu Bantou is going to make a fortune. He's got his eye on a group of several hundred people and has already led a group out of the city to capture them. I don't know when they'll be back."

"Several hundred people? That's worth a lot of grain!"

"You bet! I really envy Liu, he's sure to make a lot of extra money this time. Sigh, why am I not so lucky?"

"When he gets back, we'll definitely make him treat us to a good meal."

"Take me one!"

After the officers and soldiers finished their tea, they left a few copper coins and departed.

The old man at the tea stall looked at the four or five copper coins scattered around, his face full of worry.

"Oh dear, this is far too little. It's not even enough to pay for the water." The old man at the tea stall sighed as he looked at the copper coins in his hand.

The entire Qingzhou region is suffering from drought, though some areas are more severely affected than others.

The water situation in Qingyun City is also very serious, and the people have to pay for water.

"Uncle, the water shortage is so severe right now, you shouldn't set up your stall anymore," Shen Shuli said, feeling sorry for him.

The lives of ordinary people are the hardest, and they dare not ask the soldiers for money for tea.

"If we didn't set up a stall, my family wouldn't even have enough money to buy grain. These days, a pound of old coarse grain costs fifty coins..."

The old man sighed, put away his teacup, and hunched over as he left.

Shen Shuli knew she couldn't change the world.

She took out a silver ingot of one tael from her spatial storage, placed it on the table, covered it with a teacup, and quietly left.

Based on current information, the soldiers will not pose a threat to the villagers for the time being.

The issue that needs to be addressed now concerns the Wang family.

Shen Shuli didn't know where the Wang family would spend the night, or whether they had successfully left the city today.

But she vaguely remembered that the soldier had mentioned something yesterday, saying that the Wang family was staying at an inn in the east of the city.

Shen Shuli headed east of the city to search for her.

There are only three inns still open in the east of the city.

Shen Shuli didn't want to be watched if she went through the main gate, so she quietly climbed over the wall from the backyard.

Wang Kui's family has several livestock.

One of them was a very rare yellow and white spotted cow.

By simply checking if the cow is in the livestock shed, one can most likely determine whether the Wang family is at this inn.

At first glance, there was only a black cow and a mule in the livestock shed.

Let's try another one.

Shen Shuli searched all the inns but couldn't find any members of the Wang family.

Just as we were about to leave the last inn, things took an unexpected turn.

"You careless woman, how could you be so careless! You actually left something so important behind!"

"If it's lost or the inn denies it, I'll divorce you immediately, you wretched woman!"

Wang Kuina's familiar voice reached Shen Shuli's ears.

She immediately stopped and hid on a nearby rooftop.

Wang Kui and his wife immediately went into the inn, explained the situation to the innkeeper, and then went back to their room to look for their belongings.

"Thank goodness we didn't lose anything!" The couple looked relieved, as if they had escaped a disaster.

Shen Shuli followed closely behind Wang Kui and his wife, leaping and bounding across the rooftops.

I want to find out where they went.

soon.

After Wang Kui and his family reunited, they left the city through the city gate.

The East Gate was the gate through which they entered the city, meaning they exited the city via the same route.

It seems the Wang family was unable to leave through the south gate.

It seems unlikely that the county magistrate would easily allow the people to leave Qingyun City and flee south to escape famine.

It seems this county magistrate isn't exactly a righteous person either.

Otherwise, how could they have blocked the people's livelihood?

There was still half an hour until the agreed time with Su Ping'an and his brother.

Shen Shuli planned to go to the county government office to find out about the county magistrate.

He changed into a camouflage uniform he wore during military training in a secluded alley and took out a pair of night vision goggles with thermal imaging capabilities.

She originally wanted to change into an ancient-style night-clothes or something similar, but unfortunately there weren't any in her spatial storage, so she could only wear this one.

He skillfully scaled the high wall of the county government office and stepped onto the main courtyard, which offered the highest view.

Use night vision goggles to survey the entire county government office and locate the county magistrate.

The county government office was the residence of the county magistrate.

The magistrate was pacing anxiously back and forth in his wife's room in the inner quarters, his hands behind his back.

"You should pack your things quickly these next few days. I've received news that Hanshan Pass has been breached by the Northern Barbarians, and they'll probably reach Qingzhou in about ten days. We need to escape as soon as possible."

"What? Is this news true?"

"Of course it's true! Why would I joke about something like this?"

“If we leave, it will be abandoning the city and fleeing, leaving the people behind. You will not be able to become an official.”

"The Emperor won't let our family off the hook either; he might even implicate our entire clan! No, no, we can't run away; it will bring ruin upon our whole family..."

The magistrate's wife's lips trembled; her mind was in turmoil, and she didn't know what to do.

"What time is it? How can we care about these things? His Majesty is too busy taking care of himself to care about the lives of us local officials."

“I’m not the only official who chose to flee. Many local officials have already run away. The fact that I’ve managed to hold on until now shows that I’m a good official who cares about the people.”

"Stop talking nonsense and hurry up and pack your things. Take your most valuable and important supplies. We'll be heading south in five days!"

"The money I've earned over the years is enough for us to live comfortably for ten lifetimes. Going to the south will also allow us to quickly establish ourselves. You don't need to worry too much."

Shen Shuli lay on the roof, lifted the tiles, and used a dagger to dig a small hole the size of a fist into the soil underneath.

She watched the conversation between the two people inside the house through the hole, and she almost laughed in anger.

So this corrupt official knew all along that Qingzhou would soon be conquered and occupied by the Northern Barbarians, and that the people here would have no way to survive.

He even prevented people from going out to find a way to survive!

Does this kind of person deserve to be an official?

Sure enough, the very foundation of this imperial world in the book was already rotten to the core!

It's basically giving the male and female leads the whole empire for free!

Enraged, Shen Shuli threw a sleeping powder into the room without further hesitation.

The sleeping gas took effect quickly.

The two people inside the room collapsed limply to the ground.