In times of chaos and famine, I traded one pound of rice for two royal flushes.

The sky was already beginning to lighten, and Qin Shaolang was slowly eating his breakfast.

He wasn't trying to appear cultured, nor was he trying to maintain his health; rather, it was because the processing of this coarse rice was too simplistic, leaving a lot of residual rice husks.

When you take a bite, you often get pricked by the rice husks.

Having just transmigrated here yesterday, he was not used to this kind of rice and could only eat it slowly, spitting out some of the rice husks.

After all, rice husks don't contain much nutrition, so they're not very useful to eat.

Seeing that Qin Shaolang was eating very slowly, Su Jin, who had been standing by the table waiting for instructions, took the initiative to step forward and pushed the pot of stewed pheasant meat, which had been stewing for a long time, to Qin Shaolang's side.

"this……"

Seeing the stewed chicken, Qin Shaolang was even more speechless.

Entrusting the wild game to her to handle last night was definitely a mistake.

There were still many downy feathers on the pheasant skin, which made Qin Shaolang very unappetizing.

Using his chopsticks, Qin Shaolang cut open the chicken's abdomen to examine it, and then he breathed a sigh of relief.

Thankfully, at least the internal organs were removed, and the intestines weren't cooked along with the food.

"Next time you process a pheasant, first boil a pot of water, then soak the pheasant in it for a while. This will make it easy to pluck the coarse feathers. As for the small downy feathers, you can use tongs to hold them and place them on the stove to singe them off."

Su Jin's face was filled with tension. This was the first time Qin Shaolang had made a clear request since she was bought.

"I will remember this and do better next time."

Qin Shaolang nodded slightly and continued eating the brown rice in his bowl.

This is a habit left over from the military: even if the food isn't very good, you have to finish it all.

Wasting food is a shameful act.

Seeing that Qin Shaolang remained silent, Su Jin was truly worried.

If Qin Shaolang is dissatisfied with her, where can she go?

The sisters had been escorted by officials to many places, but no one had taken a liking to them because they were "skin and bones".

Before Qin Shaolang took them in, the soldiers had already treated them with hostility.

If they can't be sold, keeping them in the ranks is just a waste of food.

If they hadn't been lucky enough to meet Qin Shaolang, they would never have been able to reach their next destination alive.

Neither of the sisters had any skills, and she couldn't think of any way she could help her sister get through the coming winter.

The tragic experiences of the past, combined with the current worries, brought tears that could no longer be held back, streaming down her cheeks.

She didn't cry out loud because the soldiers hated crying women; their sobbing annoyed them.

……

After her various emotions subsided, she saw Qin Shaolang still engrossed in eating, and suddenly felt that she might still have a chance to fight for herself and her sister to survive and get through this cold winter.

Su Jin knelt down with a thud, placing her slender hand on Qin Shaolang's leg.

"Please, please don't send us away. I promise I'll do everything you say I will. Whatever you want me to do, I'll do it... Please, please let my sister stay. I'd die for you!"

Qin Shaolang suddenly frowned, put down his chopsticks and looked at Su Jin seriously.

"When did I say I was going to kick you out?"

Su Jin looked at Qin Shaolang, who was still expressionless. For some reason, his emotionless face could make her put aside all her worries in an instant.

As the sky gradually brightened, Qin Shaolang finally saw two lines of tears on her face.

He frowned, then reached out and wiped away the tears on Su Jin's face.

"How old are you? Why are you still crying?"

Su Jin felt the warm hand stroking her cheek, and her heart finally settled down completely.

If Qin Shaolang wanted to lose the sisters, he would never have acted so intimately.

Apart from her parents, no one has ever wiped away her tears.

Those officers and soldiers, along with all the buyers they encountered, never cared about their lives or deaths, much less their tears.

Qin Shaolang did not treat them as purchased goods.

Thinking of this, Su Jin suddenly lowered her head and raised her sleeve to wipe away the remaining tear stains.

"I'm sorry, I was just being overly worried."

Before she could finish speaking, Qin Shaolang interrupted her.

"The people of Great Wei are now living in misery, their lives as worthless as weeds, and everyone is in danger. It's normal for you to have such concerns, and I understand your thoughts. But I am not that kind of person. Never abandon, never give up—that's the principle my old squad leader taught me."

It was only at this moment that Su Jin regained her already limited confidence.

She felt it was necessary to have a good talk with Qin Shaolang, so that if a crisis truly came down to making a choice, he would know her thoughts.

"I'll do anything you ask. I can do anything for you. I can learn anything I don't know until you're satisfied. As long as you can help my sister grow up safely, I will remember your kindness even if I die, and I will repay you in my next life, even if I have to be your slave."

Qin Shaolang turned his head and saw his younger sister, Su Tang, curled up in a tattered cotton quilt, fast asleep.

He hesitated for a moment before nodding.

"I understand what you mean, but I will try my best to prevent that day from coming."

After saying that, Qin Shaolang stood up and was about to walk outside.

Su Jin quickly followed.

"Aren't you going to rest? Where are you going? Is there anything I can do to help you?"

When Su Jin said those words, she herself did not realize that she had subconsciously come to regard this place as her home.

With Qin Shaolang supporting it, the family is dilapidated, but it will never fall.

Qin Shaolang rubbed his slightly dizzy head.

"Naturally, we'll go hunting. Autumn is almost over, and to prevent the heavy snows from cutting off our food supply in winter, we need to prepare enough food in advance to get through the cold winter."

After saying this, Qin Shaolang thought about it carefully and decided that it would be better to arrange some things for Su Jin to do. There wasn't much time for her to overthink things now.

"Help me organize everything in the house, and we'll decide what to buy when I get back."

The morning sunlight shone on Su Jin's face, and she nodded vigorously.

"Um!"

……

Qin Shaolang brought the weapons he had captured the night before and was now fully armed.

According to the memories left by the previous inhabitants, the village would be covered by heavy snow in winter, and every year people would starve or freeze to death in the cold winter.

There are three people in the family, so the amount of food they need is not small.

The most critical issue was that the previous incarnation had already been drained of money by Scarface, and seeing that they wouldn't survive the winter, the previous incarnation decided to buy a woman for pleasure, taking most of the food rations. The remaining coarse rice at home was only enough to last for three days.

If we don't act now, and the heavy snow closes the mountains, making it impossible to gather wild vegetables, and the wild animals hibernate, how will we solve the food problem then?

Besides food, there are also firewood, clothing, and other necessities needed for winter, all of which are urgent and troublesome matters that need to be dealt with.

They are all messes left by their predecessors.

Suddenly, Qin Shaolang shook his head vigorously, banishing these distracting thoughts from his mind.

"I'm not going to think about it anymore. There's always a way out. As long as we don't give up, we'll always find a solution."