Sold immediately after wearing it? I took my family and fled the famine.

After leaving Wangyue Tower, Jiang Xing went to the grain shop. She originally wanted to buy some more flour to make noodles for her grandmother.

But the queue outside the grain shop made him instinctively feel that something was probably wrong.

The last time she came to town, there was no one in front of the grain shop. This time, the line stretched from the shop to the main street, dozens of people winding their way through, each with anxiety written all over their face.

She waited in line for almost half an hour before she could get into the store.

The grain shop owner was still the same chubby middle-aged man, but the expression on his face was completely different.

Last time he was all smiles, but this time he looked worried and sweaty as he weighed rice while answering a barrage of questions from customers.

"Shopkeeper, how much is flour per pound?"

"Thirty-five articles."

Jiang Xing thought he had misheard: "Wasn't it eight coins last time?"

The shopkeeper sighed, his voice hoarse: "Miss, that happened three days ago."

Three days.

From eight coins to thirty-five coins. That's more than a fourfold increase.

"What about brown rice?"

"Twenty-eight coins."

"What about coarse salt?"

"Sixty coins."

Jiang Xing stood in the grain shop, his mind racing.

Three days ago, white flour cost eight coins, brown rice five coins, and coarse salt ten coins; today, all of them have more than quadrupled in price.

This isn't a price increase, this is a market crash.

"Shopkeeper, where has the battle reached?" Jiang Xing asked in a low voice.

The shopkeeper looked around, leaned closer, and whispered in a voice almost inaudible: "The entire territory of Yongzhou has been lost. The troops in the north have fled, and refugees are flooding south like a tide. I heard that the vanguard of the rebel army has already crossed the Yongzhou River and is less than two hundred li away from here."

Jiang Xing's heart sank to the bottom.

Two hundred li is a journey that a fast horse can cover in a day, and even for infantry, it would take three or four days.

She didn't have time.

Give me ten pounds of brown rice, five pounds of wheat flour, and five pounds of coarse salt.

The shopkeeper hesitated for a moment, then said, "Alright, young lady, won't you buy more?"

"I don't have enough money on me, so I'll buy these first." The items in the mall are cheaper, so buying these is just a pretense.

The shopkeeper fell silent.

He quickly weighed the rice, flour, and salt, packed them into a sack, and handed it to Jiang Xing.

"A total of seven hundred and fifty-five coins."

Jiang Xing handed over a tael of silver and moved the grain onto the oxcart.

The third uncle followed behind and listened the whole time without saying a word, and it was unclear what he was thinking.

It seems she needs to accumulate more points so she can buy things directly from the store later.

When she returned to the village, it was already dark. Zhang was waiting for her by the stove, where a bowl of wild vegetable porridge was warming.

The calf was already asleep. Jiang Xing finished his porridge, sat by the stove, and told his grandmother everything he had seen in town that day.

"Wheat flour is thirty-five coins a pound, brown rice is twenty-eight coins, and coarse salt is sixty coins." Each word struck Zhang's heart like a hammer: "It wasn't this price three days ago, what about three days later? What about five days later?"

Zhang's face turned pale.

"Grandma, we're leaving." Jiang Xing looked into her eyes. She wasn't discussing it; she was informing Zhang Shi because she had already made this decision in her heart.

Zhang remained silent for a long time. The firelight reflected on her face, making her wrinkles appear as deep as if they were carved by a knife, and her gray hair shone with a dark red light in the firelight.

She opened her mouth as if to say something, but then swallowed it back.

Finally, she asked, "Which way?"

"South." Jiang Xing said, then pulled a map from his sleeve. "The shopkeeper at the grain and oil store sold me a map. Go south for eighty li to Anshui County, then take a boat across the river. Pingzhou is on the other side. Pingzhou is prosperous and there's no war there. Once you get there, you'll be safe."

"When are you leaving?"

"I want to wait a few more days, hunt more game, and gather more food. The journey will take at least a month, and if we don't have enough supplies, we'll die."

Zhang nodded and didn't ask any more questions.

She pulled a cloth bag from under the stove, opened it, and inside was a string of copper coins—her life savings accumulated over most of her life.

"Da Ya, take this."

Jiang Xing looked at the silver and accepted it without refusing. She put it into her spatial storage where Zhang Shi couldn't see it.

"Grandma, don't worry. I will make sure you get out of here alive."

Zhang reached out and touched her granddaughter's face. The rough skin against her face brought an unexpected warmth.

The little calf woke up at some point, rubbing his eyes as he walked towards his older sister and grandmother: "Older sister, I want to help too."

Jiang Xing smiled; it was the first genuine smile she had ever had since she transmigrated.

The next morning, Jiang Xing went to find the village chief, Shen Dehou.

Shen Dehou was drying grain in the yard when he saw Jiang wake up. He put down the winnowing basket and dusted off his hands.

"Da Ya, I heard you hunted another wild boar?"

"Um."

"How much did you sell it for?"

Forty-five taels.

Shen Dehou paused for a moment, looked up at her, and his eyes showed surprise and worry.

"Da Ya, tell your uncle the truth, are you leaving?"

Jiang Xing didn't hide it from him: "Yes."

Shen Dehou was silent for a while, then sighed: "I guessed it. Make sure your grandmother and your brother are settled in properly, and don't let them suffer."

"Village Chief, I've come to see you with two things." Jiang Xing took out the land deeds from his pocket: "First, I want to sell the paddy fields and dry land in my family."

Shen Dehou frowned: "Sell it? Sell it to whom?"

"Jiang Dazhu".

Shen Dehou thought for a moment, then nodded: "Are you really going to sell?"

"He's always been eyeing my family's land, so let's grant his wish."

Shen Dehou looked at her and remained silent for a long time.

"Okay," Shen Dehou said. "I'll go ask about it later and make sure it's taken care of for you."

Jiang Xing took out a piece of paper from his pocket, on which the transfer agreement had already been written.

Shen Dehou looked at it, signed it, and stamped it.

"And the second thing?" Shen Dehou put the contract away.

Jiang Xing hesitated for a moment, then spoke up: "Village Chief, you should go too."

Shen Dehou was stunned.

"The price of grain has doubled in three days. Wheat flour is 35 coins a catty, and brown rice is 28 coins. Things are probably not going to be peaceful." Jiang Xing looked at him.

"The rebel vanguard is less than two hundred miles from here, and they'll be at our doorstep soon. If we don't leave now, it will be too late." The man in front of her was the first person besides her family who had been willing to give her warmth since she transmigrated, so she was willing to repay this favor.

Shen Dehou didn't speak. He stood in the courtyard. The autumn wind blew, and the grain drying on the mat made a rustling sound, like countless insects crawling.

Then a soft sigh drifted past her ear on the wind: "Uncle is the village chief of this village. His home is here. How can he just leave? If I leave, what will happen to the villagers? Besides, if I go on a long trip, I will need to go to the government office to get a travel permit. I believe the imperial court will not abandon us common people."

Jiang Xing sighed inwardly. Well, she had said what she needed to say and done what she needed to do. The rest was beyond her control.

She bowed, turned and left.

For the next three days, Jiang Xing went into the mountains every day to hunt and earn points.

Xiao Niu helped boil water and prepare vegetables at home, while Zhang Shi marinated the meat and hung it above the stove to smoke.

She caught a muntjac using a rope trap and sold it to Manager Zhou of Wangyue Tower for eighteen taels of silver.

She bought another thirty catties of brown rice, ten catties of white flour, and five catties of coarse salt from the grain shop, spending nearly four taels of silver, but she did not hesitate.

When the space was full, she would wrap the grain in a cloth and stuff it under the bed.

On the third day, she tidied up her space, took out clothes she didn't use often, and went into the mountains to hunt a wild boar.

This one was a bit smaller than the one in the space, weighing about 70 or 80 pounds. She sold it for 30000 points and took out the 100-pound one from the space, then had Zhang marinate, smoke, and make it into jerky.

Zhang's skill in curing meat is unparalleled.

She cut the wild boar meat into large pieces, rubbed it with coarse salt and Sichuan peppercorns, and marinated it in an earthenware jar for two days. Then she took it out and hung it above the stove to smoke it with pine and cypress branches.

Amidst the swirling smoke, the surface of the meat slowly turned a deep red, emitting a rich aroma.

The calf squatted by the stove, drooling all over the floor.

"Grandma, when can we eat?"

"What's the rush? It can only be eaten after it's smoked."

"When will the fumigation be finished?"

"the day after tomorrow."

The calf counted on its fingers and sighed, "It'll be a long time."

Jiang Xing squatted down and pinched his cheek: "Once we're on the road, you can eat as much as you want."

The calf's eyes lit up: "Really?"

"real."

That evening, the three of them sat around the stove and ate a meal.

The meal was simple: a pot of brown rice porridge, a dish of stir-fried pork with wild vegetables, and a few slices of freshly smoked wild boar meat.

The calf turned the pieces of meat over and over again, reluctant to eat them. Finally, under Jiang Xing's watchful gaze, it carefully took a small bite, chewed it more than a dozen times, and then swallowed it.

"Sis, this meat is delicious."

"Then eat more."

"I won't eat much. I'll save it for the journey."