Li Lanzhen lay on the hillside, dizzy, with chapped lips and an empty stomach. She looked up at the blue sky under the blazing sun, then turned to look at her surroundings. The trees were withered and yellow, and the mountains were devoid of vegetation, with dust and loose soil everywhere.
She didn't want to move, even though the sun was burning her face.
It's not laziness, it's utter despair!
Li Lanzhen came from 2030 and died peacefully at the age of 60. When she opened her eyes again, she was lying on a small hill behind Hanjiacun in the ancient Li Kingdom, her head covered in blood. It turned out that she had transmigrated into a 37-year-old extremely wicked mother-in-law.
The original owner's husband, Han Yanshan, worked as a grain carrier at a rice shop in the county town this spring. He could earn three wild vegetable pancakes a day, but he couldn't bear to eat them himself. When he was hungry, he would drink muddy water. As a result, he was crushed by the two burlap sacks of grain he was carrying on his shoulders and never woke up again.
The couple had three sons and one daughter.
The eldest son and daughter-in-law have a son and a daughter. The second son and his wife have two sons. The eldest daughter-in-law is pregnant with another child.
Wow, they're really good at having babies!
I can't handle it. How am I supposed to get along with so many children? They need to eat as soon as they open their eyes and get dressed as soon as they get up. As for money, it seems that the only thing this family has left is a few taels of silver hidden in a mouse hole for three years. The only food we have is flour made from grass roots and tree bark, and a few bundles of tree bark.
Even worse, the area suffered from drought and insect plagues for three consecutive years. Farmland could not grow crops, and even the grass was all harvested and eaten. The mountains were also stripped bare. The villagers, lacking food and clothing, were on the verge of collapse, and famine was imminent. Instead of reducing taxes, the imperial court's taxes increased.
Seeing that the old emperor was old and frail, the three princes of the fiefdoms began to have their own ideas and used force to expand their spheres of influence. Facing heavy taxes and forced conscription, Han Family Village could no longer stay. Yesterday morning, the village chief gathered everyone by the well at the entrance of the village and notified each household that they would be fleeing the famine before dawn today and should go home to prepare.
Thinking of this, Li Lanzhen, who had just woken up, became anxious and upset. In her previous life, she was all alone and worked in the county's textile factory for 30 years before retiring honorably.
Because she was single, Li Lanzhen lived in the factory's single dormitory.
After retiring, she returned to her rural hometown from the factory dormitory. Although her pension was not much, she had a large yard where she grew vegetables and grains, raised chickens and pigs, and lived a leisurely and peaceful life.
Suddenly, she found herself transported to another world, and this family had so many children! She even had to take them on a journey to escape famine. In an instant, Li Lanzhen thought that she might as well die once, and maybe she would travel back in time and continue lying in her coffin.
Headache!
She raised her hand and touched her forehead, wiping it with blood. This was the result of a fight between the original owner and another eccentric character in the village, Old Lady Wu, over a handful of dry wild grass in the mountains.
At that moment, a voice sounded in my mind: "Ding-a-ling. The Interstellar Mall System is ready. Would you like to activate it?"
A metallic sound rang out, a sound very similar to the clanging of metal on textile machines entering a textile factory.
"Ding-a-ling, the horsetail with roots you have can be exchanged for a cornbread bun. Do you want to exchange it?"
Li Lanzhen rummaged around and looked at the dry straw she had snatched from Old Lady Wu's hand. This was enough to exchange for a cornbread bun.
This "Interstellar Mall" is so reliable, Li Lanzhen felt like she was back in the game.
Better to live a miserable life than to die. Since I've already got the cheat code for transmigrating, so be it. I might as well flee from famine.
"Host, would you like to redeem?"
"Exchange." As soon as she finished speaking, a warm, golden, and fragrant cornbread bun appeared in her hand. Li Lanzhen swallowed a few mouthfuls of saliva and wolfed it down, choking and coughing dryly with her head tilted back.
Before she could even catch her breath, she heard a notification: "Ding. There is a small pine sapling with roots in front of you. You can exchange it for one pound of cornmeal and five cornmeal buns."
With all his might, he pulled out the sapling and also plucked a few blades of grass.
"System, can I exchange this for silver?"
"No. We can only barter. As long as someone in the interstellar dimension needs resources from your world, we can exchange them. Do you wish to exchange?"
Okay, bartering is fine too, but no, bartering for food is the most important thing right now. I must be stupid.
"But I don't know what they need?"
"You don't need to know. The system will remind you."
Li Lanzhen's mind raced. So, she was just a porter, working for this system? That wouldn't do. She had to keep the initiative firmly in her own hands.
"So, you mean I'm just passively following your orders? That won't do. I need to know. You have to let me choose what resources to exchange for. And give me some storage space. Otherwise, at worst, I'll just roll down the hillside and die, and you, system, will be finished too, hmph."
With a crackling sound, a metallic voice rang out: "Alright, considering that you always treated small animals kindly and accumulated good deeds in your past life, this system will apply for a benefit for you."
Here's the control panel, and I'm giving you a space. You better live well and don't make any more demands. At worst, I'll just exhaust my energy and choose a new host, hmph.
The shouting system is still a unique system.
This time, the thatch wasn't taken away; it was still in her hands. Li Lanzhen didn't mind. Sweating profusely, she carried a small cloth bag of cornmeal and five large steamed buns, checking the space she had fought for, and stood on the hillside, chuckling to herself.
The space wasn't large; there was no farmland or spiritual spring water—it was just a big warehouse, but it was enough for their family to use when they fled famine.
Thinking to herself with smug satisfaction: Little brats, I had you all sorts of junkies under my thumb in my past life. I wasn't afraid of any textile machines. You think you can mess with me after you've transmigrated here? No way!
I've been reading transmigration web novels for over a decade, and I still don't know what a "golden finger" is, or what a "system" is.
With a pout, he reached out and opened the system panel. So, the plant requirement was that it include its roots. No wonder the system hadn't accepted this handful of thatch with its roots severed.
Rolling its eyes at the air, it's just a lump of iron, it doesn't even know to remind itself to pull the weeds out by the roots.
System: I told you, you have a blade of grass in your hand! Can't you hear me clearly?
At this moment, Li Lanzhen felt much more relaxed and seemed to have the courage to lead the original owner's group of children and grandchildren to escape the famine.
Before she could continue browsing, she heard the sound of running and panicked shouts. She quickly threw the cloth bag containing cornmeal and cornmeal buns into her space, and a group of people appeared in front of her.
“Mother, the villagers have abandoned us and fled to escape the famine. They’ve all left.”
"Grandma, we didn't leave empty-handed. Besides our family, Gou Dan and his grandma are also here."
"Grandma, the village chief said he won't take us to escape the famine, saying you're too unreasonable and extreme."
"Grandma, Grandma Wu said you're a scoundrel for not taking us with you. She also said you stole her wild vegetables."
"Mother, what should we do?"
(My darlings, my new book is here! Writing is hard work, and your encouragement is my motivation.)
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