Exile? A mad, wicked woman empties the national treasury to escape famine.

As Tie Tou spoke, he handed the iron pickaxe in his hand to Ji Yunshu.

Ji Yunshu smiled and was about to reach out to take it when Xie Moyao stepped forward and took the pickaxe first.

Before Ji Yunshu could speak, Xie Moyao said calmly:

"That's fine now, you can go back."

"Uh... okay, okay..." Tie Tou was stunned for a moment, not quite reacting. Seeing Xie Moyao's indifferent expression, he scratched his head, smiled at Ji Yunshu, and then said:

"Alright, now that the things have been returned, I'll head back. Thank you so much for lending us the things, Madam Ji. We will definitely remember this kindness. If you ever need our help in the future, Madam Ji, please just ask. We will do our best to help if it's within our power!"

Tie Tou was truly grateful to Ji Yunshu and Xie Moyao.

Previously, Ji Yunshu was very generous. When she was looking for food in the forest, she told them the location without hesitation, so they could pick some fruit and wild vegetables in the woods and eat them for two days.

They also gave them meat pies.

Such immense kindness and virtue is truly unforgettable.

Today, Ji Yunshu kindly lent them her pickaxe, allowing them to break the ice and fish. Tell me, in this world, besides family, who else would treat them so well?

Even the people from the imperial court had previously ignored their lives on the streets.

Only Ji Yunshu and Xie Moyao still treated them as human beings!

Ji Yunshu was unaware of what Tie Tou was thinking. She smiled and didn't explain further.

"We all live in Anjia Village. Let's work together to make our lives better. That's better than anything else."

Our future will definitely get better and better. Alright, go back and go fishing. I see there are quite a few of you, so you must be catching a lot of fish.

The others haven't started breaking the ice yet, so take this opportunity to catch as much as possible. If you can't finish it, keep it as a pet.

Once others break the ice, there will likely be more and more people fishing, and it will be harder for you to catch more fish then. So, take advantage of this opportunity and catch as many as you can.

Upon hearing Ji Yunshu's words, Tie Tou nodded repeatedly, thanked Ji Yunshu several times, and then hurriedly returned home.

Ji Yunshu's words made sense. He had also seen the others' intention to break the ice, and many people were waiting by the river, already looking for a place to go.

They had a large number of miners, all of them men, and they needed to eat a lot every day.

This fish is the most precious food they've found so far, so they need to get as much as possible, or there won't be any left.

Thinking of this, Tie Tou quickened his pace and soon arrived near his group of people.

He glanced around and saw that many people were looking in their direction. Tie Tou quickly pressed the heads of several miners down and whispered:

"I just came back from the princess's place. She reminded us to catch as many fish as possible while we have the chance, as it seems that others are also preparing to break the ice and fish."

Once they break the ice again, we won't be able to catch many fish. Everyone, hurry up and get to work!

Tie Tou quickly relayed his conversation with Ji Yunshu to everyone.

The miners were clever; having finally obtained the precious fish, they naturally wanted to catch as much as possible. They dared not dawdle any longer, and squatted on the ice, constantly pounding the opening of the hole to make it bigger.

The others took their knives and went to the nearby woods to cut down some bamboo stalks.

Sharpen one end of a bamboo pole, hold the other end, stand on the ice, and when you see fish swimming back and forth in the river, thrust the bamboo pole downwards with all your might.

If you're lucky, you can catch a fish in five or six tries; if you're unlucky, you might not catch a fish even after a dozen tries.

"No way, Iron Head, we can't even get a fish out by sticking it in like that. There are so many of us sticking it in, and look, we've only managed to stick two or three fish out."

At this rate, by evening we probably won't have caught many fish. What are we going to do?

Tie Tou frowned, seeing everyone struggling to tie the fish up, but they couldn't seem to get the fish up very well.

Moreover, after all that trouble they caused, many of the fish in their ice cave have already gone elsewhere, and there are fewer and fewer fish left in their ice cave. If they continue like this, the fish will all be gone sooner or later!

If all the fish escape, all the hard work they put into carving out the ice cave will be for nothing.

Upon realizing this, Tie Tou panicked and immediately stopped everyone.

"Stop, stop, stop! No, no, if this keeps up, all the fish will get away! This won't do!"

At Tie Tou's shout, everyone instinctively stopped what they were doing and looked at the river. Just as Tie Tou had said, almost all the fish had escaped.

Now everyone was a little panicked. They had worked so hard to break through the ice hole, and if all the fish got away, wouldn't all their efforts have been for nothing?

"Iron Head, what do we do? You need to think of something! We can see these fish, but we can't catch them. We can manage to poke a few with these bamboo poles, but they all get away!"

Seeing the fish in the pond constantly swimming away to other places, everyone was extremely anxious.

For a moment, Tie Tou didn't know what to do.

"I don't know what to do either. These fish were all scared away by us. We can't do anything else. Let's all stop what we're doing and let the fish swim a little closer. Then we'll think of a way to catch them."

After hearing Tie Tou's words, the others dared not make any further moves. They all stood on the ice with their bamboo poles, watching the fish swimming around at their feet.

On the other side, after Tie Tou returned the pickaxe to Ji Yunshu, Ji Yunshu gave it directly to Aunt Wang.

Aunt Wang was learning to weave fishing nets with everyone when she saw Ji Yunshu hand her a pickaxe. She put down the net and prepared to take the pickaxe to break the ice.

She wasn't very strong, but there were many people waiting to use the pickaxe, and she couldn't hold them up.

Aunt Wang knew perfectly well that Ji Yunshu had deliberately left the pickaxe for her and her second son so that they could also break through a layer of ice, make a hole, and catch some fish.

Aunt Wang knew about Ji Yunshu's kindness and naturally wanted to accept it. Even though she knew she wasn't very strong, she still wanted to try shaving the ice.

By this time, quite a few people were already waiting.

Everyone was extremely anxious, hoping that Aunt Wang would use it soon so that they could use it properly.

But seeing that Aunt Wang was an old woman and didn't have much strength, it was hard to say how long it would take for her to break the ice. However, with Ji Yunshu and Xie Moyao nearby, no one dared to urge her.