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

After the rice was cooked, Zeng Zhengen started cooking. She first made a braised fish, then made fish balls with some of the fish meat, and finally cooked a pot of fragrant fish head soup with the fish head. When she finished all this, Zeng Siyuan and Zeng's father also came back from the river, each carrying a fresh fish.

"How did you catch so many fish?" Zeng's mother looked at them and asked in surprise. "Are the fish in the south really that easy to catch?"

Zeng Siyuan chuckled and explained, "Mom, Zhiwu got a fishing net from somewhere and caught several fish. He said Zeng'er helped their family a lot, so he wanted to give Zeng'er two fish, so we accepted them."

"Brother Zhiwu is too polite. It's just a small favor from me. Why would he give so many fish?" Zeng Zhengen said with a smile.

Zeng's mother also nodded in agreement: "Who says it's not true! Zhiwu is just too honest."

The family chatted for a while and finally accepted the fish. After all, it was someone's kindness, and if they refused, they would seem ungrateful.

After dinner, Zeng Zhengen boiled a large pot of hot water. After the three kids had washed themselves, he asked Zeng's father and mother to wash as well.

After everyone had finished washing, Zeng Zhengen walked into the tent with a bucket of water, ready to wash herself. She hadn't taken a bath for a long time, so she bought a single bathtub from the system mall and covered it with oil paper so that people outside couldn't see what was going on inside.

While bathing, Zeng Zhengen enjoyed the warm water and felt very comfortable. After bathing, she put the tub into the system space, since the space was large enough. After taking this bath, her fatigue was swept away and she felt refreshed. While bathing, she also took the opportunity to carefully check the original owner's body and finally confirmed her previous guess: these three little guys were probably not the original owner's biological children. As for why the original owner thought they were her biological children, she had not figured it out yet.

Although she knew that the children were not her biological children, Zeng Zhengen could not abandon them just because of this. After all, she had already established a relationship with the three children during the days of fleeing famine.

The next morning, after breakfast, the villagers began to pack up and then walked towards the town under the leadership of Pan Yang. Many pedestrians in the town saw their mighty team and cast curious eyes on them. Some people even mistook them for refugees and hurriedly ran away for fear of being robbed.

Some even ran directly to the government office, apparently seeking help. Pan Yang and the villagers became nervous and the atmosphere became uneasy. Pan Yang led the villagers and walked silently towards the grain store in the town, trying not to attract other people's attention.

When they arrived at the grain store, the shopkeeper was so frightened by the huge crowd that his legs went limp and his face turned pale. He had heard a few days ago that refugees in Huzhou City had rioted and many stores had been looted, and he couldn't help but shudder. It was over. Was he going to be robbed of grain by refugees?

The shopkeeper hurriedly tried to close the door of the grain store, but because he was too scared, his legs were weak and he couldn't move. He could only stand helplessly at the door, watching the villagers walk towards the store, feeling uneasy.

Just as the shopkeeper closed his eyes and prepared to face the impending doom, he suddenly heard a gentle voice: "Shopkeeper, how much do you sell this grain for?"

The shopkeeper was stunned and full of doubts. Could it be that these refugees asked the price before stealing the food?

Pan Yang waited for a long time, but still did not get the shopkeeper's answer, so he patiently asked again: "Shopkeeper, how much do you sell this grain for?"

The grain store owner slowly opened his eyes and looked towards the source of the sound in horror. After some hesitation, he whispered, "You... aren't you refugees here to steal food?"

Hearing this, Pan Yang's face immediately darkened. He frowned, and said with a hint of dissatisfaction: "Boss, we are just refugees who have escaped from famine, not displaced people!"

"Ah? You...you are not refugees?" the grain shop owner asked in a low voice.

"If we were refugees, would we still be so polite to you?" Pan Yang was so angry that his beard was about to blow up. He thought to himself, is this shopkeeper a fool? None of the refugees would be so easy to talk to.

The shopkeeper finally believed Pan Yang's words, and his expression softened: "Then what kind of food do you want to buy? Our shop has a full range of food, you can choose whatever you like."

"How much is a pound of brown rice?" Pan Yang asked.

"Because of the recent drought in the north, brown rice is now five cents per pound," explained the grain store owner.

Hearing this price, Pan Yang thought it was reasonable. After all, the price of brown rice in the north had risen to six coins per catty, and five coins per catty here was a fair price. He looked at the silver in his pocket, calculated it in his mind, and reported a number.

When the shopkeeper heard this, he smiled so hard that he couldn't stop: "Okay, my guest, please wait a moment, I will ask someone to prepare the food right away."

Soon, the grain shopkeeper had the grain ready. "Sir, the grain is ready. Please check if there is any problem. If not, we can settle the payment." The shopkeeper said respectfully.

Pan Yang checked the grain and confirmed that there was no problem, then nodded. He then called the villagers in, and several hundred kilograms of grain were immediately carried out.

After leaving the grain store, Pan Yang began to distribute grain to the villagers according to the silver paid by each household. When other villagers in the town saw them take out so much grain as soon as they entered the grain store, they were more convinced that they were here to rob.

"Everyone, run! Refugees are coming in to steal food!" Suddenly, someone on the street shouted.

Hearing this shout, the people on the street panicked instantly, packed up their things and left quickly. Pan Yang and the villagers just reacted and realized that they had to escape, but before they could act, they found that there was no one else on the street except them.

The villagers looked at each other in bewilderment, "What does this mean? Are we being treated as refugees?"

Pan Yang smiled helplessly, feeling bitter in his heart, but still said: "Okay, let's quickly distribute the food and continue on our way!"

Just as everyone was busy distributing food, suddenly a group of soldiers came running and surrounded them.

"Sir... Sir, what's going on? Why are you surrounding us?" Pan Yang walked up to the leading officer and soldier tremblingly, his heart tightening.

The leading officer had a stern expression, and his square face revealed majesty. "We received a report from the people that there were refugees coming in to steal things, so we were ordered to arrest them."

Pan Yang's face turned pale instantly. He was panicking, afraid that the soldiers would really treat them as refugees. He hurriedly explained, "Sir, we are not refugees! We are villagers from Dapo Village, Qingping Town, Ping'an County. I am the village chief of Dapo Village. We fled here because of the drought in Qingping County and the failure of crops. This is our household registration, you can check it out."

He hurriedly took out his household registration document and handed it to the officer.

The officer took the household registration and glanced at it. When he found that the information on it was consistent with what Pan Yang said, he relaxed his expression a little. "Okay, since you are not refugees, then leave here quickly! We don't accept refugees here." The leading officer spoke in a slightly slower tone, urging them to leave as soon as possible.