The sudden sound drew the attention of everyone present.
In such a state of hunger, cold, and near death, many people even thought the voice was a hallucination and stood there stunned for a moment.
"Strange, why is no one moving? Doesn't anyone want a cotton-padded coat? In this kind of snowy weather, a cotton-padded coat is essential!"
"What about roasted sweet potatoes? Surely someone will take a look at those fragrant roasted sweet potatoes?"
Niu San stopped the flatbed cart he was carrying, went to another flatbed cart, picked out a roasted sweet potato from the mobile earthen kiln, and broke it open in front of everyone.
The overwhelming sweet aroma of the sweet potato instantly reached everyone's noses, like a bewitching enchantress, stealing the souls of everyone present.
The next second, a group of starving and freezing refugees, their faces blue from the cold, rushed over. Their desperate eyes were glowing green, and they almost bit into the wheels of the flatbed cart.
"Stop, stop, stop! Since I dared to come here to buy things, I certainly won't let you leave empty-handed!" Niu San was startled. Even a strong man like him couldn't withstand the weight of hundreds of people!
Moreover, having finally managed to reach the desolate mountain and receive the blessing of the mountain goddess, he couldn't just leave like that!
"Don't rush, come one by one, line up one by one, you won't be left out!"
He almost shouted himself hoarse.
However, the group of refugees in front of them were already starving and had only eyes for the cotton-padded clothes and sweet potatoes in front of them. They couldn't hear anything and just kept rushing forward.
"Sigh." Niu San sighed, thinking to himself, why bother?
Sure enough, the refugees who had just been in complete chaos were quickly swatted away by one fire snake after another. When they flew into the air, they slowly fell down and gently landed in the snowdrifts.
Many people were stunned by the fall to the ground. Just as they were about to rush over, a woman dressed in black and an elderly man with white hair appeared in front of several flatbed trucks.
"This is a barren mountain, you can't just come and rob it!" Cui Ying said coldly, looking at the group of people with an indifferent expression.
A group of refugees nearly fainted as they watched the fire snake slowly crawl up their thighs and then gently press against their chests.
What kind of monster is this? Why is it still alive despite being engulfed in flames?
No one dared to move, fearing they would be strangled by the fire snake at any moment.
"Alright, you can continue. Explain the rules to these people."
Cui Ying crossed her arms and retreated back to lean against the carriage.
Niu San wiped the sweat from his brow, cleared his throat again, and introduced himself: "Hello, elder brothers, elder sisters, and younger sisters, I'm from Niu Family Village..."
"Get to the point!" Cui Ying reminded him in a cold voice.
She glanced at the group of refugees, seemed to have noticed something, and took the initiative to walk over and help up the woman who had fainted on the ground and was tightly clutching her child.
The area around her suddenly became empty, but she didn't care. Instead, she untied the water bottle from her waist, gave the woman a sip of warm water, and then casually summoned a fire snake, placing it in front of the woman to warm her.
She then took the child, held him in her arms, and gently soothed him.
"Ahem, since that's the case, I'll get straight to the point. I know everyone is very anxious and desperately wants cotton-padded clothes to keep warm and food to fill their stomachs," Niu San hurriedly explained.
"Let's make this clear: we in this barren mountain area can indeed give each of you a cotton-padded coat and a roasted sweet potato, but there are conditions!"
"If you are willing to come with us to the barren county and work there for three months, we can give you these for free."
"If you're not willing, we won't force you. You can also purchase it with money or valuables, how about that?"
"A cotton coat costs 80 copper coins, and a roasted sweet potato costs 8 copper coins. If you don't have these coins, you can exchange them for other items you have. How about it?"
"80 copper coins, so cheap?" a refugee exclaimed involuntarily.
The other refugees nodded in agreement. When they left their homes, they naturally brought their money with them. They could afford to spend eighty copper coins to buy a cotton coat.
Normally, an ordinary cotton-padded coat would cost at least five taels of silver. Why are these people selling them so cheaply? Are they just being friendly on the surface, but actually planning to lure them to that desolate wilderness to slit their own throats?
"Eighty copper coins is not cheap. We people who don't know where our next meal will come from can't afford a single copper coin!" Some refugees sighed. Not everyone could keep their belongings. Many were forced to flee penniless.
Otherwise, how could we have ended up in this situation?
“I don’t think it’s a problem if we can’t come up with the money. Didn’t that guy say he’d give us a free ride if we went to work in the remote county?” Someone rolled their eyes, clearly having an idea.
In the crowd, two men dressed in gray clothes exchanged a glance and whispered to each other.
"Brother, who are that man and the woman next to him? They seem to be able to control fire." Jiang Le looked at the fire snakes with envy.
"Lele, that lady must be the legendary extraordinary person. That old scoundrel in the palace keeps a lot of such lackeys. I think it's very likely that our identities were discovered, which is why those lackeys in the palace came after us."
The more rugged-looking man frowned, held his long sword horizontally in front of him, and subconsciously glanced over there.
"What should we do then? Are we not going to make it into the provincial capital today?" Jiang Le was alarmed.
"If we can't get through the city gate, we definitely won't be able to complete our mission, and we'll be ridiculed by the other people in Liangzhou."
This chapter is not finished yet. Please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com