As the notification sounds continued to ring in her ears, Gu Xingzhao saw a series of messages on her system interface: [Collected gratitude from Lu Zhou of the Lu family. Contribution points +10!]

[Collected gratitude from… Contribution points +5!]

A long string of similar notifications followed, each one contributing to her growing pool of contribution points. Gu Xingzhao was momentarily stunned, thinking she might be dreaming.

“System, did you just glitch?”

Usually, she would receive one or two scattered notifications, sometimes from Lu Qing, or from Lu Xingyao and Lu Xingyan. But today, so many names popped up that the notifications were almost non-stop, leaving her bewildered.

In response, the system displayed detailed information on the contribution points, showing that all 26 members of the Lu family were contributing points—some 10, some 5. After counting, Gu Xingzhao realized that tonight alone, her contribution points had increased by a total of 160!

Adding that to her previous balance, Gu Xingzhao now had 210 contribution points in total. The losses from a few days ago had been completely recouped.

“Oh my gosh! With 200 contribution points, I can repair an ancient artifact!” Gu Xingzhao thought, feeling like she was no longer impoverished. Looking at her increased contribution points, she couldn’t help but feel a newfound affection for the Lu family. Each and every one of them was her dear baby, and she immediately decided to treat them to something special tomorrow—perhaps some drumsticks!

Just as she was pondering whether to prepare anything else besides drumsticks, the system chimed in:

[Host, would you like to proceed with the ancient artifact restoration?]

The system was undoubtedly referring to the piece of clothing she had brought back from the ancient era a few days ago.

Gu Xingzhao responded quickly, “Do you even need to ask?”

The system was ready to deduct the contribution points, but to its surprise, Gu Xingzhao simply lay back down in bed, wrapped herself snugly in her blanket, and drifted off to sleep, completely ignoring the suggestion to restore the artifact.

In her dreams, she cursed the system from top to bottom, inside and out, hundreds of times. “You scamming piece of junk! If I fall for this again, then there’s something wrong with my brain!”

What’s the point of restoring a piece of clothing that wouldn’t fetch much money anyway? Spending contribution points on that would be a waste. Now that the supermarket’s promotion was gaining attraction and generating income, she could afford to be patient and wait for a more valuable ancient artifact to appear.

After all, she was carrying a hefty loan; she couldn’t just focus on short-term gains. She needed to keep her eyes on the long-term prize.

“These precious contribution points need to be used wisely,” she thought as she drifted off to sleep.…

The next morning, the members of the Lu family, who had slept warmly for the first time in half a month, were the first to wake up. They quickly packed away the blankets that had kept them warm through the night.

As Lu Qing rolled up the blanket, he marveled at how such a thin piece of material could be so effective at keeping out the cold wind. And the warm patches? They were still radiating warmth! He chuckled at himself for having doubted the blanket’s effectiveness the previous night. “How foolish of me,” he thought. “Anything bestowed by the ancestor is bound to be the best.”

The blanket, when rolled up, was only about the size of two palms. Lu Xingyao tied it securely to himself, determined to take good care of it. After all, it was infused with the ancestor’s divine magic.

As he glanced at Lu Xingyan and smiled slyly, Lu Xingyao felt a surge of pride. He no longer cared about that little bottle his uncle had kept.

His smugness was evident, as if to say: “Look at me, from head to toe, I’m decked out in gifts from the divine ancestor!”

Lu Qing caught sight of his grandson’s barely concealed glee and promptly smacked him on the back of the head without holding back. Song Shi, who witnessed the smack, winced in sympathy.

The smack quickly brought Lu Xingyao back to reality, and he became more restrained.

Last night was the most restful and comfortable sleep the Lu family had experienced in half a month. They weren’t cold, they were assured of divine protection, and they were hopeful for the days to come. Everyone was in high spirits, and even the residual warmth of the warm patches filled their hearts with a sense of security.

As the other prisoners gradually woke up, many were coughing and shivering from the cold, having caught colds from the night before. While they ate the coarse biscuits that were distributed, they couldn’t help but notice how the Lu family seemed ready to set off, having already eaten. “Did the Lu family get spooked or something? Why are they up so early today?”

They seemed to have woken up earlier than usual.

Someone whispered, “You don’t get it. They’ve got divine protection now…”

“Look how we all froze last night. But the Lu family? They didn’t make a peep! They must be tough as nails.”

“Stop talking nonsense. If they really had divine protection, would they be suffering alongside us?”

“Whoever heard of a god protecting convicts on their way to exile? They’ve got nothing to offer as tribute. You think gods are stupid?”

Most people still didn’t believe in the idea of the Lu family being divinely protected.

Only the Liu family members, who were camped next to the Lu family, knew that the Lu family’s protector deity had likely appeared again last night. They couldn’t help but feel envious.

Du Hangwu remained skeptical of any supernatural explanations. He was convinced that the Lu family must be practicing some kind of dark magic. How else could they have spent a freezing night outdoors and still be so full of energy this morning?

That day, because many people had caught colds, the pace of travel slowed significantly. The sick prisoners were weak, and some of the younger, healthier ones were deliberately slacking off. The guards, however, were sharp-eyed, and anyone caught slacking was brutally whipped, leaving them bloodied and crying for mercy. After that, no one, not even those who were sick, dared to lag behind, forcing themselves to keep up with the group.

Du Hangwu was growing impatient. If not for the ambush on the road, they would have already reached Laiyuan Town according to the original schedule.With snow likely to fall in the next two days, he knew that if they didn’t reach Laiyuan Town before then, they would all—prisoners and guards alike—freeze to death in some godforsaken mountain valley.

At this point, even the Lu family, who hadn’t slowed down the journey at all, was starting to look more favorable in his eyes.

Meanwhile, in the modern world, Gu Xingzhao was busy running her supermarket. Today, the number of customers was double what it had been the day before. Business opportunities were scarce in the town, and there were few ways to make money. Hardly anyone would dare to attempt a risky promotion like hers, where one wrong move could result in significant losses.

Customers came with the mindset of getting a good deal and winning prizes. After all, everyone needed to buy supplies for the new year—so why not buy them from her supermarket?

At her store, they could get a dozen eggs for free and have a chance to win a prize. If they hit the jackpot, it would be a huge win!

This mentality led to an influx of customers, making Gu Xingzhao’s supermarket the most popular in town. Word spread to neighboring towns, and soon, even residents from there were coming to shop. The result was that her supermarket almost monopolized the customer base from both towns.

Gu Xingzhao strategically released prizes, using them as incentives whenever the store’s revenue hit a target. It turned out to be a highly effective strategy.

Aunt Wang, seeing how well the supermarket was doing, was genuinely happy for her. She thought to herself that running a successful business really required a sharp mind to make money.

The owner of the neighboring fruit shop, however, was less pleased. Jealous and bitter, he spread rumors to his customers, claiming that the supermarket’s promotions were just a scam. But his badmouthing only seemed to make business at the supermarket even better. Watching Gu Xingzhao rake in money day after day made him so envious it hurt.