Sweet Dreams in Famine Years: The System Leads to a Brilliant Life

The team continued to move forward along the mountain road. This time, each villager brought more chestnuts in their bags, so they were no longer worried about going hungry. After a morning of trekking, they had walked more than ten miles, and the villagers looked exhausted. Pan Yang saw this and felt that they might not be able to hold on if they didn't rest, so he found a relatively flat place for everyone to stop and rest for a while.

As soon as the villagers stopped, some of them who had enough food were busy making fires and setting up pots to cook some hot food. Those who didn't have much food had to take out the remaining dry food and eat it with cold water. On Zeng Zhengen's side, Zeng's mother took out a few hard cakes from the package and prepared to share them with everyone, but was stopped by Zeng Zhengen.

"Mom, don't take it out yet. I'll make some dumpling soup later." Zeng Zhengen frowned. He was obviously not interested in these dry and hard cakes. They were too difficult to swallow.

Zeng's mother felt a little embarrassed and said softly, "But, we have used up all the flour at home. Where are the ingredients for making dumpling soup?"

"Mom, I have some hidden noodles and a few pheasant eggs here," Zeng Zhengen smiled and took something out of her arms mysteriously, "I'll make some egg dumpling soup later, let's eat together, it's guaranteed to warm our stomachs." She glanced around and continued, "We've been traveling for so many days, I'm afraid we won't be able to eat if we don't eat well."

"It's better not to throw away the pheasant eggs. Save them for Jun'er and his two brothers." Zeng's mother said reluctantly.

"Mom, we are walking in this mountain all the way. We will definitely come across pheasant eggs again in the future. There is no need to save them specially!" Zeng Zhengen advised with a smile, his tone relaxed.

In the end, Zeng's mother couldn't persuade her anymore, so she nodded and agreed to let Zeng Zhengen prepare the ingredients herself.

Zeng Zhengen walked to the wheelbarrow and carefully took out a small bag of flour from the package. She divided the flour in the bag into two parts, a small half for making dumpling soup, and the other large half for rolling noodles. Then, she took out some pickled wolf meat from the side and paired it with wild vegetables picked from the mountain to make a large bowl of wolf meat and wild vegetable noodles.

When everyone in the Zeng family saw the long noodles, they all looked surprised.

"Ms. Zeng, have you used up all the flour?" Mother Zeng frowned, feeling distressed. She thought that if she could make a paste with so much flour, it would at least feed the whole family for several days. But now it was all used up by her daughter in one meal.

"Okay, the child means well, so stop talking, or you'll disappoint her." Zeng's father couldn't help but interrupt Zeng's mother when he saw her nagging.

In the end, Zeng's mother said nothing more.

After lunch, everyone took a short rest, and Pan Yang asked everyone to pack up and continue on their way. In this way, the team walked in the mountains for a full half month and finally passed through the territory of Qingzhen. The other side of Qingzhen is Bijie.

During the past half month, the villagers would stop at a suitable resting place every day to hunt or collect wild fruits to satisfy their hunger. If they found a cave at night, they would spend the night in the cave; if they could not find a cave, they would camp directly and take turns to keep watch. Such an orderly arrangement made everyone's life pretty good. Although their clothes were getting worn out, their living conditions were much better than those of other displaced refugees.

Zeng Zhengen was not idle during this period. She used the rich resources in the mountains to pick a lot of medicinal herbs. The villagers in the team knew that she knew some medical skills. If someone had a headache or fever, they would always ask her to see a doctor. She lived up to everyone's expectations and carefully treated the villagers' minor illnesses and pains, gradually establishing her prestige in the team.

That day, after walking for most of the day, Zeng Zhengen looked at the map and confirmed that they had crossed the border of Qingzhen, so he excitedly went to find Pan Yang.

"Uncle Pan, we are already in Bijie. How about we go out tomorrow and go to Bijie to see if we can buy some food?"

If the situation in Bijie was relatively stable, they could take the official road instead. After all, the official road was much flatter than the mountain road, and it would be much easier to travel. Pan Yang had already planned this, so he immediately agreed to Zeng Zhengen's proposal.

"Okay, let's take a break first. We'll go down the mountain along this path and reach Bijie tomorrow." Pan Yang pointed to a path not far away and said to everyone.

When the villagers heard that they were going to go down the mountain, they were overjoyed and their spirits lifted. After walking on the mountain road for half a month, they almost became like wild people. Being able to go down the mountain and take the official road was really great news.

Zeng Zhengen walked over to Zeng's mother and said softly, "Mom, sort out all the furs we collected. When we get to the city, I plan to use them to exchange for some food."

After walking in the mountains for half an hour, they also harvested a lot of animal furs.

These furs can still be sold at a certain price in the north, but once they reach the south, they are not that valuable anymore.

Because the climate in the south is much warmer than that in the north.

After arriving in Yuncheng, Zeng Zhengen and her companions had to sell the furs as soon as possible. Zeng's mother took the furs out of the package, handed them to Zeng Zhengen, and said, "Girl Zeng, these furs are all hunted with your hard work. When you sell them for money, you can keep them for yourself."

Zeng's mother knew that when they arrived in the south, they would have to build a house and settle down, and money would be needed for everything. They could no longer rely on their daughter's money.

"Yes, Zeng'er," Zeng's father also agreed, "It's not easy for you to take care of three sons by yourself. How can you do it without some money? Thanks to you for taking care of us along the way, we can't let you worry about it all by yourself."

Zeng's parents understand the hardships along the way, and if it weren't for their daughter's efforts, their lives wouldn't be so relatively comfortable. Although they can't help much, they don't want to be a burden to their daughter.

Zeng Zhengen didn't say much, silently took the furs from Zeng's mother and tied them carefully to the wheelbarrow. She knew that life at home was not easy, and these furs were the biggest resource that could be exchanged for food and silver.

After a while, Pan Yang led the group down the mountain road. Zeng Zhengen pushed a wheelbarrow and walked in the middle of the group with several children and family members. Zhang Jiajun followed his mother, looking at the beads of sweat on her forehead, feeling distressed, and secretly blaming himself for not growing up quickly.

"When I grow up, I can help mom with work, and she won't have to work so hard.

As the sun gradually set in the west, the group finally reached the foot of the mountain. They continued along the path beside and soon came to the official road. After getting on the official road, Zeng Zhengen found that there were obviously more refugees on the road, but most of these refugees were the elderly, women and children, and there were almost no young strong laborers.

Zeng Zhengen guessed that these strong laborers had probably been captured by the soldiers in Qingzhen as soldiers. She frowned slightly, and the scene in front of her made her feel a little more uneasy. The other villagers in the team also saw these scenes, and they were terrified. They were all glad that they escaped in time, otherwise they would have ended up like these refugees, being forcibly conscripted by the court, or even losing their lives.

As the team moved forward, more and more refugees appeared on the road. Most of them were pale and thin, with dazed eyes. Some were even too hungry to walk anymore and could only sit on the side of the road, letting themselves gradually lose their breath.

Zeng Zhengen saw the deep despair in the eyes of these refugees, and felt sad and helpless. She knew that she had no ability to save these people, and even if she couldn't bear it, she could only watch.