A fierce wife enters the house: She helps up a house full of spineless people.

The scarred-faced soldier looked at Wang Jinzhu's troubled expression and didn't think she was lying.

He did the math in his head: eight taels per person, twenty-nine people, that's two hundred and thirty-two taels. That's enough for him to live a carefree life for quite a while. And the woman was right, this was just a piece of cake for him. There were risks, but the rewards were far greater.

He paused for a moment, then said, "Eight taels it is." He added, "However, let me make this clear beforehand. This eight taels of silver is only for getting you into the city. Once you're in the city, you'll have to figure out your own household registration and where to stay. The city is cracking down hard right now. If you're a vagrant without a household registration and the patrol is caught, you'll be beaten and thrown out of the city just the same."

Wang Jinzhu's heart skipped a beat. She had completely forgotten about that.

Yes, getting into the city is only the first step. So many of them, without household registration, are essentially unregistered. They'll find it incredibly difficult to move around in the city, unable to even find a proper place to live.

"Then... sir, could you also think of a way to handle this household registration matter?" Wang Jinzhu asked quickly, her attitude much more humble than before.

"Find a way?" Scarface sneered. "Do you think the city's household registration system is as easy as cabbage? You think you can just get it done like that? That's much more troublesome than letting you into the city."

Hearing his tone, Wang Jinzhu knew there was hope.

"Sir, you are all-powerful and surely have a way. Please show us the way, and we will not let you work in vain." Wang Jinzhu said, reaching for his silver again.

"Alright, alright." Scarface stopped her. "The money isn't urgent. Here's what we'll do: I'll point you to a place. Once you're in the city, head west. There's a place called Houkou Village. It's a remote place, the poorest area in the prefectural city. All sorts of people come here, and the government doesn't bother with it."

Find a place to stay there first, but don't go too far into the city center. As for the household registration, I'll come to the entrance of Houkou Village to find you the day after tomorrow at noon, but that will cost a different price.

Houkou Village—it doesn't sound like a good place. But given their current situation, having a place to stay is already a blessing. And judging from the soldiers' words, as long as they pay, their household registration issue can be resolved.

This is enough.

"Thank you for your guidance, sir!" Wang Jinzhu felt reassured and immediately said, "We'll do as you say! Eight taels of silver per person, we'll go and raise the money now. But there are many of us, could you please wait for us a moment, sir?"

"Alright. I'm on duty for the latter half of the night. Come find me here before midnight." Scarface pointed to an abandoned watchtower not far away. "Remember, keep it quiet."

"Okay! Thank you, sir!" Wang Jinzhu kept all the details in mind.

She didn't leave immediately, but asked again, "Sir, Houkou Village is far from the city center, is it also far from the city gate? In this world, we just want peace and quiet."

Scarface hadn't expected a woman to be so thoughtful, and couldn't help but take another look at her.

"You've come to the right place. That place is on the far west side of the prefectural city, far from the other city gates. Even if there's some trouble, it won't affect there for a while. But that place is poor and chaotic, so you should be careful."

"Thank you for the reminder, sir."

Having obtained all the information she wanted, Wang Jinzhu lingered, nodded to Scarface, turned and blended into the crowd, quickly walking towards her own group.

Watching Wang Jinzhu's departing figure, Scarface stroked his chin, a smile playing on his lips.

Two hundred taels of silver! He thought to himself with delight, tomorrow I can go to Chunfeng Tower to listen to folk songs again.

When everyone saw her return, they immediately surrounded her.

"Jinzhu, how is it?"

"Honey, what did you find out?"

Looking at everyone's anxious faces, Wang Jinzhu didn't speak immediately. Instead, she called aside several of the men in charge, including Wang Dali, Wang Tianfang, and Chen Wangda.

"Let's find a quiet place, I have something important to say." Her expression was very serious.

Seeing her like this, everyone felt a chill in their hearts, knowing that things were probably not simple.

They drove the oxcart to a secluded grove of trees.

She recounted in detail her conversation with the scarred soldier.

When they heard that it would cost eight taels of silver to enter the city, everyone gasped in shock.

"Eight taels?! Why doesn't he just rob us?!" Wang Xiaobao was the first to exclaim. "There are twenty-nine of us, that's over two hundred taels of silver?!"

"These damned soldiers are profiting from the national crisis! Aren't they afraid of retribution?!" Chen Wangda was so angry that his face turned red.

Wang Shun and Wang Gui were ashen-faced and speechless. Eight taels of silver per person, that's thirty-two taels for a family of four. They'd only gotten a little over twenty taels from selling their land and furniture, and they still needed that for their household registration!

Only Wang Dali and Wang Tianfang remained silent, their brows furrowed.

Wang Jinzhu observed their reaction, which was exactly what she expected.

She waited until they calmed down a bit before speaking, "The price is high, but do we have any other options?"

One sentence silenced everyone.

Yes, they had no choice. They could either pay to save their lives and enter the city, or stay outside the city with hundreds of thousands of other refugees, waiting to starve, die of disease, or be robbed and killed.

"But...but Jinzhu, we...we don't have that much money..." Wang Shun finally spoke, his voice trembling with tears. "Our two families have sold our land and houses, scraped together every penny, and we only have less than thirty taels of silver left..."

They were determined to follow Wang Jinzhu, but unexpectedly, they were hampered by money at the end. The feeling of having hope so close yet being unable to reach it was even more agonizing than despair from the start.

Chen Wangda's family was slightly better off, but only slightly. He sighed and said to Wang Jinzhu with a troubled expression, "Jinzhu, our family... including what my father gave us and what we saved ourselves, we only have thirty taels at most. Twenty-four taels would be enough for the three of us, but..."

But the remaining money couldn't help anyone else much.

For a moment, everyone fell silent. The atmosphere was terrifyingly oppressive.

Wang Dali frowned, considered for a moment, and said, "My family has ten people, which is eighty taels. I can barely afford that amount."

He had slaughtered pigs his whole life, and his son had followed his daughter in the business for so long that the family had indeed saved some money. Although the eighty taels of silver were painful for him, he had no choice but to accept it in order to survive.

Wang Gui gritted his teeth, as if he had made up his mind, and said to Wang Jinzhu and Wang Dali, "Niece Jinzhu, Brother Dali, why don't you just leave us alone? You take your families and go into the city first. We'll stay outside the city and figure things out ourselves..."

His heart was bleeding when he said those words. But he knew he couldn't be a burden to everyone any longer.

"Yes," Wang Shun replied, his eyes also red-rimmed, "We can't let our two families hold everyone back. You go in first, and we...we'll see if there's any other way to make a living..."

"What nonsense are you talking about!" Wang Dali's eyes widened upon hearing this. "We agreed beforehand that we were a team, and we'd face any difficulties together! Now that we've just encountered a little trouble, you're spouting such discouraging words. What kind of behavior is that!"

"But, Brother Dali, this money..."

"We'll figure out the money later! We can't let the people fall apart!" Wang Dali said firmly.

"Alright, stop arguing."

As soon as Wang Jinzhu spoke, everyone fell silent and turned to look at her.

She looked at Wang Shun and Wang Gui and said calmly, "Uncle Wang Shun, Uncle Wang Gui, since I brought you out, I never intended to abandon you. If you believe me, then don't say such things again."

Upon hearing this, Wang Shun and Wang Gui's eyes immediately reddened, their lips trembled, and they couldn't utter a single word, only nodding repeatedly.

Wang Jinzhu's gaze swept over everyone, and she said each word clearly and forcefully: "I will pay for this trip to the city."