Chapter 11: Preparing to Enter the City

With the village chief’s approval, Hunter Wang led a few agile young men swiftly down the mountain.

They hurried along for about half an hour before they finally caught sight of the official road.

After observing the area at the base of the mountain for a while and seeing nothing unusual, they proceeded forward.

After running for about two miles, they could vaguely make out the city walls. As they got closer, they noticed small groups of refugees gathered outside the city.

Hunter Wang raised his head and looked at the sign that read Baoning Prefecture City, feeling somewhat puzzled. Fortunately, he and his companions were tall and carried wooden staffs, so the refugees didn’t dare to approach them.

Noticing the guards at the city gate, Hunter Wang walked over.

“Officer, what is the process for entering the city?”

The gate guard took one look at his clothing and immediately recognized him as a refugee. With a sneer, he replied, “You want to enter the city? You have to pay. Ten taels of silver per person. Do you have that kind of money?”

Hunter Wang frowned and asked, “Then, may I ask, once inside the city, can we buy food and salt?”

The guard gave him a once-over before replying, “As long as you have silver, you can buy as much as you want.”

Having obtained the information he needed, Hunter Wang didn’t ask any more questions. He turned around and led his group back up the mountain.

By the time they returned, it was already late, and the villagers had settled in for the night. However, aside from the young children, no one was actually asleep.

When they heard the news Hunter Wang brought back, everyone’s faces turned grim. Some of the women even began to sob softly.

“This is unbearable! Just a word from the official’s mouth, and we have to pay ten taels? Even all our belongings combined wouldn’t be worth that much!”

“Damn those greedy officials! They’re trying to take my old life away!”

“…”

No one knew who cursed first, but soon, a chorus of angry voices rose, their complaints echoing throughout the cave.

No one tried to stop them, because everything they were saying was true. Ordinary people struggled to save even three taels of silver in a year. For them, entering the city was no different from waiting to die.

Yet, entering the city was necessary.

“We’re out of salt, and our food supply is running low. If we want to survive, we must enter the city. There are nineteen households among us. If each family contributes, we might manage.”

As soon as the village chief finished speaking, the sound of an old woman crying rang out.

“Wang boy, the eighteen of you can pitch in, but even if my family pays the entry fee, we won’t have any silver left to buy food.”

Several families broke down in despair, their wails filling the air. Even the village chief found himself at a loss.

Xu Yaozu had a possible solution in mind, but before he could speak, a female voice suddenly interrupted.

“I have an idea. May I speak?”

Xu Yaozu turned around and saw that it was his own daughter, Xu Nian.

It wasn’t that Xu Nian was trying to stand out, but she simply couldn’t bear to listen to the endless crying.

Especially the older women’s soft weeping—echoing through the empty cave—it sent shivers down her spine.

The village chief absentmindedly nodded.

“Village Chief Grandpa, uncles, in order for us to reach Beijiang safely, we can’t rely on each family’s individual efforts anymore. Let’s not even talk about others—just my own family will have little silver left after entering the city.”

“So, the best solution is for all of us to pool our resources together. Instead of each family paying their own way, we should combine all of our silver and get through this crisis together.”

The villagers’ eyes lit up upon hearing this, but they soon let out deep sighs.

The wealthiest families in the village were the chief’s family, the Xu family, and Hunter Wang’s family. But no one was foolish—who would willingly hand over their silver for others to spend?

“Village Chief Grandpa, we don’t even know what the next prefectural city will be like, or if there will be food available there. Even for Baoning Prefecture City, we need to act quickly.

The village chief understood this logic, but he hadn’t expected the Xu family’s daughter to be so righteous. After all, if they did things this way, the Xu family would undoubtedly contribute the most silver.

However, since this was just a child’s suggestion, the village chief still turned his questioning gaze toward the head of the Xu family, Xu Laoye (Old Master Xu).

Xu Laoye was no fool. He knew that this approach was actually the most beneficial for his family.

“What the eldest girl said is what I think as well. Wife, take out whatever silver we have left.”

Although Madam Wang was somewhat reluctant, she had never questioned Xu Laoye’s decisions in all their years together.

She, along with the three daughters-in-law of the Xu family, turned around and loosened the ties of their garments. After fumbling around for a while, they each produced some small pieces of silver and a handful of copper coins.

Madam Wang counted them carefully before saying, “Yaozu spent quite a bit when he went to take the imperial exam, so this is all we have left—28 taels and 375 wen.”

In Dahe Village, this was considered a large sum. Most of the other families could only contribute two or three taels at best.

Following the village chief’s instructions, his wife gathered their household’s silver, totaling 15 taels and 682 wen. Hunter Wang’s family contributed 12 taels and 150 wen.

After pooling all the silver together, the village chief held a total of 102 taels and over 600 wen.

Seeing such a large amount of silver, the villagers felt a renewed sense of hope. However, Xu Nian remained unconvinced. She feared that food in the prefecture city wouldn’t be as easy to purchase as they imagined.

In the end, the village chief decided that Xu Yaozu would be the one to enter the city and buy grain. He also appointed thirty strong men to wait outside the city gate in case of trouble.

After finalizing their plan, everyone returned to their sleeping areas to rest.

Xu Nian had expected to be scolded, thinking that if it weren’t for her suggestion, the Xu family wouldn’t have had to give up all their silver.

To her surprise, no one said a word. They simply laid out their bedding and went straight to sleep.

In reality, no one slept soundly that night. Xu Nian, too, tossed and turned, racking her brain for a solution.

She entered her space, rummaging through her belongings. Unfortunately, she never liked gold jewelry, so none of her accessories could be exchanged for silver.

Then, her gaze fell on her water cups—a set of six pink gradient-colored cups, ranging in size.

She recalled that ancient glassware (liuli) was more valuable than gold in this era. Perhaps she could ask Xu Yaozu to pawn them tomorrow?

But after a moment’s thought, she dismissed the idea.

She feared that if Xu Yaozu brought out modern glass, she’d end up losing her father instead.

Looking at the vast, empty black soil in her space, she realized she had no choice but to rely on growing food herself.

However, she decided not to plant corn again.

Although she still had two bags of corn seeds left, processing corn was too much trouble, and it wasn’t easy to bring it outside without arousing suspicion.

She sorted through the various vegetable seeds she had bought and picked out a few that didn’t exist in the Sheng Dynasty before planting them. Then, she spotted a few sweet potatoes left in a plastic bag and buried them in the soil as well.

After completing all this, she finally felt a little more at ease.

Xu Nian walked to the creek and checked on the rabbits.

Seeing that they were still nestled in their spot, she poked them lightly. When the rabbits opened their eyes, she sighed in relief.

She was relying on these rabbits to breed more—they would be a valuable food source in the future.

After drinking a few sips of creek water, she took out a plastic bag and began picking fruits from the trees.

The cherries and crisp jujubes had ripened long ago, but even after days of picking them alone, she hadn’t managed to finish harvesting them all.

Thankfully, things in her space never spoiled—some fruits simply fell to the ground beneath the trees.

In the past few days, Xu Nian had also discovered a secret:

Although the creek water lost its special properties once taken outside, using it to water the soil inside her space made the crops grow with enhanced health benefits.

She had noticed that after Xu Kang and Xu Jian ate some of the jujubes from her space, their complexions had visibly improved.

However, the Xu family had yet to realize this effect.