Chapter 11 Upon hearing this, Qin Ren said to him, "No..."

Upon hearing this, Qin Ren said to him, "Don't be afraid, just eat yours."

Seeing that Qin Ren wasn't afraid, Liu Qingyue felt a little more at ease.

With his back to the two men, he carefully took a small piece of bread out of his backpack.

The bread was delicious, fragrant and soft, with a hint of sweetness. Liu Qingyue loved it.

He took out a small piece of bread, first asking Qin Ren if he wanted some. When Qin Ren waved at him, he carefully took a small bite.

Qin Ren glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, thinking that the child ate too politely.

Could it be that all children from wealthy families in ancient times were as particular as him?

Noticing Qin Ren looking at her, Liu Qingyue asked somewhat uncomfortably, "What's wrong? Is there something on my face?"

"It's nothing, I just think you look quite good when you eat."

Feeling inexplicably praised, Liu Qingyue quickly lowered her head.

Seeing this, Qin Ren wanted to tease him a little more, but just then, the two men cautiously approached them.

Qin Ren immediately shifted his gaze away from the thief, then looked at the two men with cold, deep eyes.

Both of them were men, and neither of them was very tall, about 1.7 meters.

One of them was a little older, and the other was only a teenager.

They were drawn by the food, and they seemed afraid of Qin Ren, so they didn't dare to get too close.

The older man asked politely, "Excuse me, do you two have any extra food?"

Qin Ren couldn't understand what he was saying, so Liu Qingyue immediately whispered and repeated it for him.

The same words, spoken by Liu Qingyue, were understood by Qin Ren.

Qin Ren: "You asked them what they would exchange?"

He wasn't there to do charity. Even if their attitude was decent, he would have to exchange something for food.

Liu Qingyue turned to look at the two men and deliberately asked them in a rough voice, "What are you going to offer in exchange?"

The boy was stunned for a moment, seemingly realizing that Liu Qingyue's identity was not right. He wanted to ask Liu Qingyue if she was a boy, but his father reached out and pulled him back forcefully.

Liu Qingyue and Qin Ren were together; they were either brothers or a married couple.

Whether it's the former or the latter, rashly asking a young man about his identity will anger that tall man.

The boy quickly realized what was happening and immediately lowered his head, not daring to look at Liu Qingyue again.

The older man said to Liu Qingyue, "We have no money on us, only some herbs. We wonder if we could exchange them for some food?"

Upon hearing this, Liu Qingyue leaned close to Qin Ren's ear and repeated what he had said.

Liu Qingyue: "Do we want some herbs?"

Qin Ren twitched his ears and after a long while said, "Have one of them come over. I need to see what kind of herbs they are. If the herbs are good, I'll trade with them."

Liu Qingyue immediately acted as a messenger, conveying Qin Ren's message.

The older man nodded, telling the boy to wait there while he carried the herbs over himself.

The boy was very worried. "Father, that man looks so scary, and he's from another race. I... I'm worried he might harm you."

The older man whispered, "Don't be afraid. He has a young man with him, and that young man doesn't seem like a bad person. Besides, these herbs can't be eaten, and it's the dead of winter. If we don't get something else to eat, we won't be able to make it through the rest of the journey."

They are still in the north, where the north has suffered from severe drought for two consecutive years. Now it is a cold winter, and they have long since run out of food. They can't find anything to eat along the way.

The nearby towns are now in chaos, with starving people colluding with bandits to burn, kill, and loot everywhere in the towns.

The herbs they carried were not something they could exchange for food in town, and they might even attract unwanted attention.

The middle-aged man thought that the alien looked scary, but he had a young man with him.

There are two men on their side; the other side shouldn't easily provoke a conflict with them.

Under the worried gaze of the young man, the middle-aged man approached Qin Ren and Liu Qingyue.

Liu Qingyue asked him to take out the herbs for her to see. The middle-aged man glanced at him cautiously and then took out a he shou wu (Polygonum multiflorum) from his person.

He is a doctor, and his family runs a clinic.

Later, when the world fell into chaos, he took his valuable herbs and fled south from his hometown.

He sold them along the way, but lost a lot of herbs. Now he only has one He Shou Wu (Polygonum multiflorum) and one small Lingzhi (Ganoderma lucidum) left.

He didn't plan to exchange the Ganoderma lucidum for anything. Ganoderma lucidum is very valuable and precious, and he wouldn't take it out unless absolutely necessary.

Qin Ren recognized the Polygonum multiflorum plant and was quite surprised when he saw that it was a Polygonum multiflorum plant.

This looks good. It must be wild. It's quite big, probably weighing six or five pounds.

In Qinren's area, artificially cultivated He Shou Wu (Polygonum multiflorum) costs about 20 to 50 yuan per jin (500 grams).

Wild ones are much more expensive, costing between 100 and 500 yuan per kilogram.

Of course, he couldn't possibly charge according to his own price.

If we buy at his normal price, he'll lose a lot of money by making the trip back and forth and taking risks.

Qin Ren nodded at the he shou wu plant and then took out some food from his backpack.

He gave the middle-aged man five packs of instant noodles, two sausages, and two apples.

The instant noodles and sausages had already had their packaging removed and were packed into two plastic bags by Qin Ren.

He also gave the middle-aged man a plastic bag so that he could carry it easily.

This time, he packed more food in his backpack than he had last time.

The middle-aged man looked at the contents of the plastic bag. There were three items in total, but he only recognized the apple.

They don't call apples "apples" here; they call them "nai".

The middle-aged man pointed to the instant noodles and asked, somewhat puzzled, "What is this?"

Upon hearing this, Liu Qingyue explained to him, "This is called instant noodles, or you can just call it noodles. It can be eaten directly."

Qin Ren told him all of this. He had also eaten instant noodles that hadn't been soaked, and to be honest, he thought they tasted better than when they were soaked.

"Then... what about this?"

"This is called a sausage. It's a type of meat that can be eaten directly."

Seemingly worried that he wouldn't eat it, Liu Qingyue took a piece from Qin Ren, broke it off, and put it in her own mouth.

Seeing that even Liu Qingyue, the young man, had eaten, the middle-aged man was no longer so worried.

He was initially worried that the food might be poisonous.

Then I thought about it, and realized that poison wasn't so easy to get.

If they harbored ill intentions towards him, they wouldn't have needed to go through the trouble of poisoning him; they should have done it long ago.

With this in mind, the middle-aged man picked up what he had obtained and happily walked towards the boy.

After that, the father and son talked about something, but they just huddled together and whispered to each other for a long time.

Later, the bolder middle-aged man reached out, broke off a piece of instant noodles, and stuffed it into his mouth.

Seeing his father eat such strange things, the boy couldn't help but hold his breath in fear, afraid that he would see his father fall to the ground in the next moment.

Then... he didn't see his father fall to the ground, but only saw his father say with a surprised look, "This food looks strange, but it tastes pretty good."

"real?"

"Yes, you should try it too, it's delicious."

The boy hesitated for a moment upon hearing this, but still followed his father's example and broke off a piece to taste.

The noodles really taste good; they're very crispy and fragrant. Even though they're made of noodles, they're incredibly crispy.

Moreover, the more you chew it, the more fragrant it becomes, and the boy, who had been hungry all day, couldn't resist eating another small piece.

Then they tried the ham sausage.

Compared to regular instant noodles, ham sausages have a stronger and more pungent flavor.

Compared to instant noodles, the teenager, who is still growing, clearly prefers sausages.

The boy ate one in one go, then looked at the remaining one with a look of lingering satisfaction.

He can't eat this; it's meat. This should be saved for his father.

We don't know how long the journey will take, so we can't eat all of this good stuff.

Seeing the boy staring intently at the sausage, the middle-aged man reached out and touched the small lingzhi mushroom hidden in his clothes.

"Son, why don't we trade the Ganoderma lucidum with them for food?"

Upon hearing this, the young man decisively shook his head. "No, the Ganoderma lucidum is our last possession. We'll need it to exchange for silver when we settle down in the south."

"But we don't even know where we'll end up, so we might as well take this opportunity to get some more food."

What if they don't make it to the south, or encounter danger along the way?

Rather than leaving the Ganoderma lucidum to others, it's better to exchange it for food, so at least they can eat better now.

He only had this one son in his entire life, and seeing him suffer and toil with him, the old father couldn't help but feel a pang of heartache.

The father and son discussed it for a while, and finally the middle-aged man gritted his teeth and decided to replace the remaining Ganoderma lucidum.

After the middle-aged man passed by, relying on Qin Ren's seemingly decent appearance and Liu Qingyue's good temper, they boldly bargained with them.

"Look, this is top-quality wild Ganoderma lucidum, our family's treasure. I was reluctant to trade it just now, but after seeing that you two are both nice people, I thought I'd trade with you."

Liu Qingyue looked at the other person, who was so old, and because of the famine and war, he was not only emaciated but also looked very haggard.

The other party also had a teenager with them, and they had suffered a lot along the way, so Liu Qingyue couldn't help but feel a little soft-hearted.

but……

All this food and stuff belonged to Qin Ren; he still needed Qin Ren's protection. He knew Qin Ren was short of money, so he couldn't make decisions for Qin Ren.

Liu Qingyue dared not make decisions on her own, so she obediently repeated what the other party had said to Qin Ren.

Qin Ren reached out and took the Ganoderma lucidum from the middle-aged man's hand. He examined it and found that the Ganoderma lucidum did indeed look quite good.

It's a pity it's a bit small; if it were bigger, it could definitely sell for a lot of money.

Qin Ren rummaged through his backpack and pulled out five packs of instant noodles, five sausages, a bag of soda crackers, a packet of sugar, and a packet of salt.

This bag of soda crackers was delivered by my third uncle today. He also brought a box of soda crackers and a box of two cans of milk powder.

He brought more food this time than last time.

But his backpack contained mostly medicine.

He had thought that in such a chaotic world, the people here would need medicine even more, but now it seems he was overthinking it.

Many sick or injured people are unable to travel for long periods of time, either because they have been abandoned or because they have given up on themselves so as not to burden their relatives and friends.

They were still able to travel, and most of the people they encountered were healthy.

Such people need food first and foremost; they wouldn't be willing to spend a lot of money on medicine.

It seems... he needs to take some time to go back and sell the gold and herbs he has, and then get some more food from the town.

A note from the author:

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