"No, no, don't eat my older brother! You bunch of bad people!"
"Sister, run!"
"Mother, wake up..." The cries of four children were chaotic and noisy in Mo Qianshang's ears. She frowned and suddenly opened her eyes. What she saw was several children crying together and two men holding them tightly.
What's going on?
Mo Qianshang was in a daze. When she saw that she was awake, the only girl among the children rushed to her: "Mother, please save my eldest brother."
A memory that wasn't hers surged towards her—she had transmigrated into the body of a stepmother to four children!
There was a famine at the time, and the original owner of this body was fleeing the famine with three children and the whole village. However, they were spotted on the road and their only food was stolen. Not only that, the original owner was also beaten bloody and died while fighting with the people for the food.
The two people in front of her actually tried to take advantage of the original owner's death and eat her four stepsons!
Mo Qianshang suddenly sat up, startling the other person who was pulling the child.
"That old hag is really tough; she managed to wake up even in this condition." The two thugs' eyes were bloodshot; even though Mo Qianshang had woken up, they didn't take her seriously.
"This woman has a really nice figure! Shall we keep her until we've had our fill before eating her? These four are enough for us to eat for half a month!" The skinny man, who looked like a monkey, licked his lips wantonly, his eyes filled with greed, making Mo Qianshang feel nauseous.
"Alright." The one-eyed man grinned lewdly, instantly understanding what the skinny monkey meant.
The two men weren't worried about Mo Qianshang escaping, and they didn't even bother to tie her up. After all, in their eyes, Mo Qianshang was just a weak woman, how could she possibly stand up to two men?
As the two men approached, Mo Qianshang, a top mercenary, looked around and finally fixed her gaze on the wood-chopping knife in the one-eyed man's hand.
The one-eyed man walked toward Qin Heming, the eldest of the children, his dirty hands about to grab him.
"Big brother!" Sensing the impending danger, the youngest Qin Yuya burst into tears.
"What's all the noise about!" The one-eyed man raised his hand to slap him, but Mo Qianshang grabbed his arm in mid-air. With a grappling move, she instantly threw the one-eyed man to the ground and took the wood-chopping knife from his hand. She then used the back of the knife to knock out the skinny monkey standing nearby.
Unexpectedly, Mo Qianshang was so skilled in combat. Just as the one-eyed man was about to speak, Mo Qianshang swiftly brought down her knife, and the two of them collapsed unconscious.
The four children stared wide-eyed at Mo Qianshang in disbelief.
When did my stepmother become so formidable?!
"Hoo..." Mo Qianshang was about to speak when she felt dizzy and her stomach was cramping with hunger. She collapsed and sat down next to the two people.
Damn it, how long had the original owner been starving?
"Mother, are you alright?" Although Mo Qianshang seemed like a different person, the four children still gathered around her, their eyes filled with worry.
Sensing the dependence in the children's eyes, Mo Qianshang rallied her spirits.
"Da Bao, Er Bao, go tie them up and see if they have any food on them."
The eldest brother, Qin Heming, and the second brother, Qin Qingyu, nodded obediently. After stripping the two men of their clothes and tying them up with strips of cloth, they rummaged through their pockets and found a few copper coins and a few hardened cornbread buns.
"Mother! He has some food on him." Qin Heming came to Mo Qianshang with a steamed bun in his hand.
Looking at the stinking steamed buns in front of her, Mo Qianshang was disgusted. "Is this something a human can eat?"
Behind Qin Heming, the three little ones were swallowing hard. Qin Qingyu raised her hand to wipe the drool from her mouth, covered her eyes, and said, adhering to the principle of 'out of sight, out of mind', "Mom, you eat. I'm not hungry."
The other three nodded in agreement.
Although the original owner's family lived in poverty, the children were very filial, and the original owner treated them very well. It's just a pity that good people don't get good rewards.
"You guys eat," Mo Qianshang said, unable to bring herself to eat the cornbread. "I'm not hungry."
The four children hesitated for a moment, but couldn't resist the temptation of the cornbread. They took it and wolfed it down.
Qin Heming pressed down on Qin Qingyu, who was standing to the side: "This is our last meal, so we have to eat it sparingly."
Qin Qingyu, who had just finished eating half of the steamed bun and was about to take the rest, glanced at Qin Heming with disappointment, and finally withdrew her little hand. While savoring the steamed bun she had just eaten, she rubbed her still-unfulfilled tummy.
"Ah, if only I had a meat bun right now," Mo Qianshang sighed, as a crisp "ding" sounded in her mind.
Meat buns: 3 coins each
Current balance: 14
[To purchase or not?]
Mo Qianchang was startled. A cheat code!
Mo Qianshang took out the copper coins she had just taken from the two men from her pocket; there were exactly fourteen of them.
So, will real-world money also correspond to virtual currency in the Goldfinger Mall?
Mo Qianshang suppressed her excitement, afraid that suddenly pulling out a meat bun would scare the four children: "Wait for me, I'll go out and find you something to eat."
Mo Qianshang came outside.
[Meat buns: 3 coins each, would you like to buy?]
【yes!】
The next second, a hot and fragrant meat bun appeared in her hand!
Mo Qianshang was extremely excited, and happiness seemed to be emanating from every pore of her body.
After quickly finishing the meat bun in her hand, Mo Qianshang's stomach, which had been starving for a long time, felt as if it had been parched and had finally received rain, and she sighed with relief.
After replenishing her energy, Mo Qianshang opened the trading panel.
Besides food, the mall also sells many other necessities, including cars, airplanes, medicine, and guns.
Brown rice, 3 cents/pound, would you like to buy?
【yes!】
After exchanging three catties of brown rice, looking at the two coins left in her pocket, Mo Qianchang, who had never lacked money, couldn't help but sigh: "This money goes by too quickly. I need to find a way to make money."
I carried the brown rice back home.
[Ding—] A notification sound suddenly rang out in the store: [Purslane, 9 coins/jin].
Purslane is a drought- and flood-resistant, resilient Chinese medicinal herb that can also be eaten as a wild vegetable. During times of famine, almost every household relied on it to survive.
Looking at the trading panel in front of her, Mo Qianshang was pleasantly surprised. Could it be that the things she gathered or hunted in this era could be sold in the space mall?
Thinking about it, Mo Qianshang quickly picked a few purslane plants, and only stopped when the store indicated that she had picked a pound of purslane.
[A pound of purslane costs nine coins. Are you selling it?]
【yes!】
The next second, nine copper coins appeared in her waist pouch.
That's brilliant.
After that, she only needed to pick wild vegetables and mushrooms that were more valuable by the roadside and in the mountains, and then exchange them for rice. She wouldn't have to worry about feeding her children!
Having figured out how to use the online store, Mo Qianshang was overjoyed. Afraid that the children would worry, she quickened her pace to return.
When she returned, she saw four little ones. The eldest and second eldest stood guard at the door, while the youngest and the youngest sister were drooling over the last moldy cornbread in their hands, but they couldn't bear to eat it.
“Mother hasn’t eaten yet. Brother said this should be saved for Mother.” The youngest girl reached out her hand and then shook her head. Her sensible and well-behaved appearance melted Mo Qianshang’s heart.
She must take good care of these four precious children!
"Da Bao, Er Bao, San Bao, Yao Mei, Mommy found something delicious!" Upon seeing Mo Qianshang return, the four little ones excitedly surrounded her.
"Rice! It's rice!" Qin Zixuan, the third brother, swallowed hard, never expecting that Mo Qianshang could actually find rice. "I haven't eaten rice for almost two years. I've almost forgotten what rice looks like!"
The original owner's village was called Fushou Village. In the past two years, Fushou Village has suffered from locust plagues and floods, and the fields have yielded almost no harvest. This is why the whole village had the idea of fleeing the famine.
"Mother, where did you find the rice?"
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