1950s: After transmigrating into a capitalist, I relied on military industry to achieve a comeback.

The next morning, just as dawn was breaking, Lin Jiaoyue and her family got up.

According to the script they had agreed on last night, they had to put on a convincing act of being "poor and destitute" before Li Shouyi sent anyone to arrive.

Lin Hongsheng took out a worn axe from his spatial storage and began chopping wood in the open space outside. He deliberately pretended to be inexperienced, missing the mark several times and looking quite clumsy.

Su Wanqing, holding a broken broom, swept the few fallen leaves that were left in the yard back and forth, her face full of sorrow.

Lin Jiaoyue's task was to start a fire and cook. She placed the black iron pot on the stone stove, poured in some water, and then added a handful of cornmeal mixed with bran, stirring it into a pot of thin porridge so thin you could see your reflection in it.

Wisps of smoke rose from the chimneys, carrying the sweet aroma of corn porridge, drifting towards the village not far away. This was their first signal: we had begun to rely on ourselves.

Just as I was busy working, I heard footsteps and voices coming from the path in the distance.

Lin Jiaoyue looked up and saw a young man in his early twenties carrying a load on a shoulder pole, walking towards them. Behind him were several teenagers peeking out, and two or three middle-aged women carrying bowls and chatting as they walked.

The woman in the lead was rather sturdy, wearing a patched floral blouse, and her eyes darted around, revealing a shrewdness and curiosity.

"They're here," Lin Jiaoyue whispered to her mother beside her.

Su Wanqing immediately understood, her face showing even more distress, and she swept the broom listlessly.

"Secretary Li sent me!" The young man walked up, put down his load, and said in a deep voice, "Secretary Li asked me to bring you some things. This is a bag of cornmeal, half a bag of potatoes, and some dried pickled vegetables. Over there are hoes and sickles; please use them first."

"Oh dear, this...this is too much!" Lin Hongsheng dropped his axe, quickly stepped forward, rubbing his hands together, both grateful and apprehensive. "Thank you so much, young man! Please also thank Secretary Li for us!"

"No need to thank me, we're from the same village, it's nothing." The young man smiled honestly.

Just then, the woman in the floral jacket also came over. Her eyes swept over the three members of the Lin family without any politeness, finally settling on Lin Jiaoyue's face, and she clicked her tongue twice.

"Oh my, Mr. Lin, your daughter is really pretty! Her skin is so white, like the snow around here. She doesn't look like she's ever done any hard labor, does she?"

The question was direct and barbed, and Su Wanqing's face turned pale instantly, leaving her somewhat at a loss for words.

Lin Hongsheng quickly tried to smooth things over: "Sister-in-law, you don't know, my daughter... she's always been weak since she was little. She was seriously ill a while ago and was bedridden for several months. She barely made it back to life. That's why her face is so pale; she looks very weak."

As he spoke, he glanced at his daughter with heartache, his eyes filled with worry and lingering fear, a sight that was truly touching.

"Oh? You were seriously ill?" The woman was clearly not so easily fooled. Her eyes darted around, and she turned her gaze to the wooden house behind them. "You've tidied up this house quite quickly. I heard from the head of the household yesterday that the house was almost collapsing. How come it's all set up overnight?"

This question was even more pointed. Lin Jiaoyue's heart tightened; she knew a test had arrived.

Lin Hongsheng sighed and said with a wry smile, "I had to clean it up, sister-in-law. The wind was so strong last night, it sounded like wolves howling, and the house was drafty. The three of us huddled together under these few tattered quilts, and we didn't dare close our eyes all night. We got up before dawn to plug up all the holes. If we hadn't, we would have frozen to death."

This statement was half true and half false, explaining why they fixed the house so quickly while also playing the victim, implying that they had a tough night.

"Really?" The woman stood on tiptoe, trying to peek into the house, still somewhat doubtful.

Lin Hongsheng stepped forward without making a sound, blocking her view, and said with a simple smile, "The house is a mess and hasn't been tidied up yet, so I won't invite you in, sister-in-law. I'll invite you in for a drink of water in a couple of days after it's cleaned up."

The woman was turned away, looking somewhat displeased, but she couldn't force her way in. She pursed her lips and turned her attention to Su Wanqing.

"Hey young lady, looking at your delicate skin, you don't seem like someone who can cook. Is this mushy stuff in the pot even drinkable?" she said, leaning closer to the pot to sniff it.

Su Wanqing felt uncomfortable under her gaze and could only lower her head and whisper, "Whatever...just something to eat."

Another woman chimed in, "That's right. Look at your clothes, they're a bit old, but the fabric is all good quality. You must have lived a good life back in the south, right? How much wealth must you have had?"

For a moment, the women were talking one after another, their questions becoming more and more direct, as if they were interrogating criminals.

Lin Hongsheng and Su Wanqing were overwhelmed by their questions, and beads of sweat appeared on their foreheads.

Just then, Lin Jiaoyue, who had been silent all along, spoke up.

She slowly pulled a small handful of things from the pocket of her patched old clothes, and then timidly walked up to the children who were watching.

"Little brothers and sisters, here you go." She opened her palm, revealing a dozen or so shriveled, black-skinned peanuts still covered in dirt.

These peanuts were specially found from her spatial storage; they were the worst quality and smallest, looking like they had been stored for several years and were almost spoiled.

The children's eyes lit up when they saw there was food. They didn't care about being dirty or not, and they swarmed over it, peeling open the package and stuffing it into their mouths.

"Hey! You child!" a mother scolded playfully, but there was no real reproach on her face.

The gossipy women were also drawn to Lin Jiaoyue's actions. They looked at the peanuts in the children's hands, then at Lin Jiaoyue's empty pockets, and a subtle shift in their scrutiny and suspicion shifted.

"Oh my, this girl has a really kind heart."

"That's right, they're barely able to feed themselves, yet they're giving their food to the children."

"Look at those peanuts, they're all shriveled up. That's probably their last ration..."

They whispered among themselves.

The woman in the floral-patterned jacket, also known as Aunt Wang, the village's notorious gossip, saw this and felt too embarrassed to press for more information about their "family fortune." They were so poor they could only offer peanuts to their children; asking how much money they had would be like stabbing them in the heart.

"Alright, alright, everyone disperse. They just arrived and are in a flurry of activity. Don't stand around in their way." Aunt Wang waved her hand, bringing this "spectator" situation to a close.

Before leaving, she took one last deep look at Lin Jiaoyue, her gaze now much more complex, no longer simply filled with curiosity and suspicion.

The villagers gradually dispersed, and the young man who delivered the grain also left with his empty load.

The courtyard returned to quiet.

Lin Hongsheng and Su Wanqing both breathed a sigh of relief, feeling as if they had fought a tough battle; their backs were soaked with sweat.

"My dear daughter, you're truly my Zhuge Liang!" Lin Hongsheng looked at his daughter with admiration. "Just a few peanuts, and you've managed to get rid of these gossipy women!"

Su Wanqing patted her chest, still shaken, "Yes, I didn't know how to respond just now. Their eyes were like knives, as if they wanted to see right through us."

Lin Jiaoyue proudly raised her chin: "This is called 'showing weakness.' The more impoverished we appear, the more at ease they will feel. Those few peanuts just now not only shut them up but also boosted our 'poor but kind' image—a win-win situation."

She paused, then became serious again: "However, this is only the first test. This Aunt Wang today is clearly not someone to be trifled with; she'll definitely come to test us again in the future. Father, Mother, we have to keep playing our part, and we have to make it even more convincing."

Lin Hongsheng and Su Wanqing nodded emphatically.

They knew that their survival drama in this unfamiliar land had only just begun.

Lin Jiaoyue looked at the pot of thin, watery corn porridge and sighed.

Acting is also physically demanding.

She rubbed her rumbling stomach, already planning in her mind whether to take out a roast chicken or a plate of braised pork knuckle from her spatial storage to treat herself after closing the door.