Chapter 5: You Must Have Money…

Funeral arrangements are physically and emotionally draining, especially for a family of four children, who truly felt the depth of exhaustion, both physically and mentally.

“Growl…”

Especially their stomachs, which had started to protest.

Fang Dahai sat on the threshold of the main room, glanced at the commotion made by Fang Dajian, and then looked at the sun. Wow, it was almost noon! No wonder they were hungry.

“Yulan, cook some food. Make it thicker for lunch. Everyone’s hungry.”

When Yulan heard it had to be thicker, she paused, having already stood up. A little troubled, she said:

“We only have 10 sweet potatoes in total, and we already used two this morning. If we make it thicker… Brother Dahai, I’m afraid it won’t last us two days. How about we just make a simple meal, then in the afternoon, we can go pick some wild vegetables and eat a little more for dinner?”

The system had given standard sweet potatoes, one and a half jin each, not misleading anyone. However, this made it easy for He Yulan, the one cooking, to see the family’s current predicament.

With such little food, if they didn’t save, how would they survive?

“We still need to work in the afternoon. If we don’t eat something filling, we’ll be exhausted later,” said Fang Dahai, glancing at the chaotic state of the house, his brows furrowing slightly.

Yesterday, they had returned when it was already dark. This morning, they had been busy with the funeral. It was only after everything was over that he realized just how poor and disorganized the family was.

The few boxes they had were opened and thrown on the floor, clearly searched through. Particularly in the room where their father had lived, the large jar where they stored food was empty—if a rat went in, it would come out crying. The bedding on the kang was tattered and covered with footprints. The house and belongings had to be tidied up, or it would be hard for them to find a place to sleep tonight.

So, there was indeed a lot of work to be done in the afternoon, and some tasks would require a fair amount of energy. But he knew what He Yulan was worried about. Thinking for a moment, Fang Dahai waved his hand and said to her:

“Given how cautious Father was, if there was one place where he hid food, there must be a second or third. Let’s deal with the immediate issue first. I’ll think of where else he might have hidden it.”

When He Yulan heard that Fang Dahai thought their father might have hidden more food, even the youngest, Xiangcao, let out a sigh of relief. Who wouldn’t want to eat more?

“Alright, I’ll add three sweet potatoes to make the porridge,” she said.

But since they had grown used to living in poverty, even when she wanted to make a larger meal, He Yulan could only stretch the amount to three sweet potatoes from two. The increase… thinking back to breakfast, which was barely more than sweet potato soup, Fang Dahai could only smile bitterly.

Even when he was an undercover agent on the border, he hadn’t been this poor. This third life had really lowered his standards.

No, this couldn’t continue. He needed to come up with a plan. First, regarding food, while he couldn’t guarantee a reward from every lottery, the system hadn’t specified a limit on how many times he could draw in a day, right? As long as he saved up five points, he could draw once, and he figured he’d be able to gather enough food for their family of four.

Additionally, he needed to solve the money issue quickly. The safety of the village was just too poor, and considering when the capital might be liberated, it was hard to avoid imagining the potential dangers of war. Fang Dahai thought that entering the city early was the safest option for the family.

But the capital wasn’t easy to get into. Not to mention the difficulty of finding a place to stay, what would they eat once inside? In the village, they could find some wild food from the mountains, but once they entered the city, they had no other option but to buy food. So he also needed to figure out how to make a living once they entered the city.

Sigh, if only he could bring his savings from the Ming Dynasty! Just a couple of days ago, before the Mongol army cut the border, he had counted his little stash. Beneath the bed, in the hidden money box, he had saved up thirty taels of silver, along with two gold nuggets and a piece of Hetian jade. These valuable items could still be worth something. At the very least, they could probably exchange for two rooms in a big shared courtyard in the capital.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t lucky. In his first life, both times he died before spending his money. What a heart-wrenching thing!

Wait… hidden money? An unexpected thought struck him. It seemed there was another family facing the same problem as him!

Fang Dahai slowly turned his gaze toward a spot outside the courtyard wall, his eyes beginning to light up.

Maybe… he should take the opportunity to go over and search carefully!

No, it wasn’t about waiting for the right moment—it was about going as soon as possible. There were always people who were clever, and certainly many like him who had thought of this. If he didn’t act fast, he might not get another chance.

With that in mind, Fang Dahai immediately stood up and said to Fang Dajian:

“You stay here. I’m going out to see if I can find any food.”

“Should I go with you? Father wouldn’t be buried outside, right? That wouldn’t be safe!”

“No need. I’ll go alone. Father wouldn’t hide things outside. We’ll look around when it’s close to dark. Otherwise, if someone sees us, they might start thinking about our house.”

Fang Dajian understood. Right now, they were just a house full of children, and they were the easiest to be bullied. There might even be people thinking of starving them to death. In this day and age, anything could happen.

“Wait, are you going to dig for wild vegetables? Big brother, how much can you do by yourself?”

“Don’t worry about it, someone has to stay at home.”

If you’re going to say that, then Fang Dajiang didn’t say more. Although he was only a ten-year-old boy, he could still shoulder some responsibility.

“Got it, big brother, I’ll make sure to watch over our family.”

Fang Dahai glanced at his younger brother, who was puffing out his chest and looking very serious, and smiled as he patted his head. Then, he cautiously poked his head over the courtyard wall, checked to make sure no one was around, and immediately darted to the back of the main house. With one push, he quickly leapt over the wall.

Fang Dajiang scratched his head in confusion, then looked at He Yulan and Xiangcao, who had just come out of the kitchen, both startled by the situation. He shifted and sat in the spot where Fang Dahai had been, his mind unclear, unsure of what to think.

Fang Dahai had no time to care about the thoughts of the other kids at home. His mind was consumed with the possibility of hidden wealth, excitedly daydreaming about getting his first “bucket of gold.” As he walked towards the Fu family’s compound, he even started using his slightly rusty spy skills due to not having adjusted his body, completely focused on being the lucky person who would get the first mouthful of meat soup.

It was then that he discovered something. The village had at least one-third of its houses empty.

What was going on? Didn’t they say not many people had died? Why had so many people disappeared?

Well, it was simple. The food had been looted, and those who were left had seen no hope of survival and went to seek refuge with relatives and friends.

Though Fang Dahai didn’t have it all figured out right then, he was content with this situation. The fewer people in the village, the easier it would be for him to move around unnoticed. Once he got his hands on something, it would be easier to bring it back.

With this in mind, Fang Dahai quickened his pace. When he reached the back wall of the Fu family’s house, he carefully stopped and pressed his ear to the top of the wall, trying to listen for any sounds inside.

Maybe because it was still daylight, others who were smart enough to think like Fang Dahai didn’t dare come out, so he spent quite a while listening without hearing anything.

Since that was the case, Fang Dahai wasn’t going to be polite anymore.

He took a few steps back, jogged forward a little, kicked off with his foot, climbed, and swiftly leapt over the wall. Then, with a quick turn, he landed inside the courtyard.

Most rural small landowners’ houses weren’t very big, and three courtyards were almost as large as it would get. In a place like this, where people didn’t have much experience hiding things, it was too easy for someone with Fang Dahai’s skills to find anything hidden.

It didn’t take long before Fang Dahai made a significant haul.

In the master’s bedroom, he found a secret compartment inside a carved wooden bed and recovered two small dried fish. In the study, he discovered a small wooden box hidden in a shadowy corner of the rafters, which contained two rolls of silver dollars totaling 100 coins. In the cellar of the backyard, he found a hidden door and inside were three jars of fine wine. In the kitchen, although most of the jars had spilled, he was still able to gather enough oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar to make a good collection.

Besides these, Fang Dahai didn’t miss the larger, more obvious items: iron pots, teapots, bowls, chopsticks, jars of pickled vegetables, bedding, cotton jackets—all the things that their family lacked, that they would need once they entered the capital. He collected everything and stuffed it into his space.

What? Too thorough in looting? Well, as the saying goes, “a ruined family can be worth a fortune.” These seemingly insignificant items, if they really made it to the capital, would cost a fortune to replace. To be honest, if not for the limited space in his system, he would’ve even taken the bed frame.

When his space was nearly full, Fang Dahai finally reached the front gate of the Fu family’s house. By this point, he had pretty much looted the entire place, and he should have left right away. But Fang Dahai couldn’t help but feel a bit reluctant.

Could the Fu family have really left no food behind? In this day and age, they couldn’t possibly just rely on a single cellar for food storage, right? Surely they had a backup plan.

Thinking this, Fang Dahai couldn’t resist looking back at the main house. When he did, he noticed something strange—the width of the house didn’t seem to match the size of the interior he had walked through earlier. Could there be a hidden wall?

If that was the case, this trip might turn into a huge windfall!

Quickly, he turned back to the main house to take another look!