"This rice was given to me by a deity," Mo Qianshang said with a straight face, "The deity said that if we don't want to reveal ourselves, and if we meet anyone in the future and they ask, just say that we took this from those two bad guys earlier, understand?"
"Mmm!" The four little ones believed Mo Qianshang's words without a doubt.
The two traffickers also had a pot on their bodies. Mo Qianshang took the pot off, spent two coins to buy water in the mall, cleaned the pot, and then put it on the fire.
The yellowish brown rice was put into the pot, and it bubbled and steamed with the heat of the flames. The aroma of the rice spread from the pot, making people's mouths water.
Mo Qianshang ladled rice porridge from the pot, put it in a clean bowl, and handed it to the four children: "Drink this first."
The rice porridge was thick and creamy, a delicacy reserved for newborn children in the village.
The four little ones couldn't wait to pick up the bowls. The third one was so quick that he spilled two drops of rice soup on his hand. He didn't mind the heat, but instead stuck out his tongue and carefully swallowed the drop of rice soup. The rice soup was fragrant and sticky, and it slid down his mouth and down his esophagus. It felt warm and cozy in his stomach. It was simply the most delicious thing in the world!
The sensible eldest son, Qin Heming, looked at the rice porridge in his hand, hesitated for a moment, and then handed the bowl to Mo Qianshang beside him: "Mother, you drink it." The rice porridge was too precious. "I am an adult now, and I must learn to protect my family."
Although he didn't know why the gods would give them food, he understood the value of food. What if the gods were in a bad mood tomorrow and didn't give them any?
Mo Qianshang was taken aback, not expecting Qin Heming to be so sensible at only seven years old.
Mo Qianshang ruffled Qin Ziming's hair and whispered in his ear, "I've already spoken to the immortal. He said you're both good children, so he's willing to give you good food. He'll send me food every day so I can cook it for you."
"But if you don't eat properly, the gods will be unhappy."
"Really?" Qin Heming's heart tightened when he heard that the gods would be unhappy. Mo Qianshang nodded seriously, and Qin Heming believed her and started eating.
After drinking the rice porridge, the rice was cooked.
Although there were no side dishes, in those days, being able to eat at all was already a blessing.
After finishing his meal, the precocious Qin Heming looked up at Mo Qianshang and asked, "Mom, what should we do next?"
"We need to find a place to stay first, it's getting dark." The dilapidated temple they're currently staying in is too low-lying, and if it rains again in the middle of the night, they might get flooded. Also, wild animals are likely to be around in the low-lying areas.
The eldest brother, Qin Heming, carried the pot on his back; the second brother, Qin Qingyu, carried the bowl; the third brother, Qin Zixuan, carried the remaining firewood; and Mo Qianshang, holding the youngest brother, Qin Yuya's hand, stripped the traffickers of their clothes and disguised them as packages to carry on their backs. If they encountered anyone, they would pretend that the food was taken out of the package to avoid arousing suspicion.
Before it got completely dark, Mo Qianshang finally found a cave.
When Mo Qianshang went inside, she discovered that the people who were settling down in the cave were actually from Fushou Village!
"You're the one who stole our grain and injured my mother!" Qin Heming was so angry that he pointed at the other party and cursed loudly, attracting everyone's attention.
Unexpectedly, Mo Qianshang had actually survived. Liu Dashan, the bully who had beaten and robbed her, was stunned for a moment, then retorted defiantly, "Bullshit! Who stole your things? Do you have any evidence? You're just spouting nonsense, it's utterly absurd!"
Even before fleeing the famine, Liu Dashan was a local tyrant. Most of the villagers had been bullied by him, but none of them dared to fight back.
Firstly, they couldn't beat him, and secondly, Liu Dashan always acted in secret and knew how to avoid suspicion.
The other party clenched his fists, half in a threatening gesture, completely disregarding Mo Qianshang and her family of five.
With her fighting skills, she could easily beat up Liu Dashan, but she had no evidence. Liu Dashan always stole things in the dark. If she was betrayed and driven out of the cave, it would be dark tonight, and who knows what might be outside. She probably couldn't protect four underage children by herself.
Now is not the time for a direct confrontation.
Mo Qianshang bypassed the crowd and came to the village chief: "I'm sorry, my child made a mistake. We are all from the same village, so we'll just stay here. Is that alright?" As she spoke, Mo Qianshang took out a small bag of rice from her bundle.
The village chief glanced at Mo Qianshang and said to Liu Dashan beside him, "Hurry up and put your fists down. We're all from the same village. If we attract wild beasts, we'll all die."
Thinking that Mo Qianshang had given in, Liu Dashan chuckled and sat back down.
Mo Qianshang led the children to an open space in the cave. Qin Heming glared at them resentfully, "Mother, are we just going to give him all those things?"
“Heming.” Mo Qianshang sighed. Although Qin Heming knew how to protect his family, he was somewhat reckless and would probably suffer in the future. “It’s not wrong for you to want to take back what’s yours, but you need strength to get back what belongs to you. If you’re not strong enough, you should look for a suitable opportunity.”
Qin Heming blinked, seemingly understanding but not quite: "But..."
“I know you want your things back.”
"Okay, I'll make a bet with you. I promise I'll make that person return your things to you obediently within three days, how about it?" Mo Qianshang's gaze was firm, but Qin Heming was still skeptical.
The stepmother has become more powerful, but can she really deal with the bully? Or will a deity intervene to help her?
With doubts in his mind, Qin Heming remained silent.
After waking up, Mo Qianshang used three coins from her spatial storage to exchange for three coarse flour buns, which she shared with her four children.
"We'll go up the mountain with them in a bit and see if we can find anything to eat."
Each family had very little food left, so they searched for food as they walked, mostly eating wild vegetables from the mountains.
When Mo Qianshang was a mercenary, she had undergone wilderness survival training. There were many pine trees on the mountain. Mo Qianshang kept turning over the roots of the trees and finally touched a soft mushroom.
【bite--】
[Porcini mushrooms found, 96 coins/jin!]
【bite--】
[Pine fungus found, 50 coins/jin!]
Mushrooms are much more expensive than wild vegetables, especially these wild mountain mushrooms.
Because most mushrooms are poisonous and can cause hallucinations, most people are hesitant to pick these mushrooms that look different from ordinary ones, so they all ended up being given to Mo Qianshang.
Taking advantage of the fact that no one was watching, Mo Qianshang quickly exchanged the mushrooms for silver coins, selling 123 in one go. The feeling of having money moved Mo Qianshang so much that she wanted to cry.
Fushou Village had just been flooded, and the water was still up to her calves. Mo Qianshang groped around for a while before finding a relatively shallow spot, where she wove a fishing net from rattan to catch fish.
Fortunately, she had previous experience, and with one cast, she actually caught three small fish!
"Mother, fish, it's fish!" Qin Qingyu, unable to contain her joy, cheered, "Great! We'll have fish to eat tonight!"
Mo Qianshang carefully placed the fish in a net woven from rattan into Qin Qingyu's arms.
Qin Qingyu was an untamed wild spirit. Although he understood the principle of not flaunting wealth, Mo Qianshang did not stop him. Instead, she turned her gaze to Liu Dashan's location in the distance.
Beside her, Qin Qingyu, seeing Mo Qianshang intently watching her catch fish, came over and said, "Mother, can you teach me how to weave a fishing net? I want to catch fish too!"
“Okay.” Weaving fishing nets was not a difficult task, and Qin Qingyu learned it quickly. Qin Zixuan and Qin Heming couldn’t help but come forward as well. The three of them formed a fishing team and kept casting nets to catch fish in the river.
However, this seemingly simple task was actually quite difficult. Qin Qingyu tried several times, but not only did he fail to catch a single fish, he also made a large hole in the fishing net.
Qin Qingyu, who had been in high spirits, suddenly became dejected.
Seeing his expression, Mo Qianshang walked over and decided to give her son another lesson: "Look, although the river's flow is less clear due to the rising tide, there are still some patterns. For example, here, the riverbed is higher. If fish swim from this side to this side, won't they be obstructed? After being obstructed, the fish's speed will slow down, and the probability of catching them will greatly increase."
Qin Qingyu immediately understood: "So if you want to catch fish, you have to set your net there!" She even went on to explain further, "There are aquatic plants over there that fish like to eat, so won't they gather there?"
"Erbao is so smart!" Mo Qianshang gave her son a thumbs up.
The boy's eyes widened in delight at the praise, and he excitedly scratched his head, grinning foolishly. Mo Qianchang would bet that if Qin Qingyu had a tail, it would be wagging high in the sky right now.
With the help of Mo Qianshang, the three brothers worked together and quickly caught three fish, one of which was quite large, weighing about half a pound.
In the shadows, Liu Dashan watched the scene with disdain, his eyes filled with jealousy and greed.
As the sun sets in the west, the sky gradually darkens.
Mo Qianshang lit a fire inside the cave to prepare to grill fish, and also boiled a pot of water.
Just as her pot boiled, Liu Dashan arrived.
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