By the end of the market, Shen Qingwan was left with a full one hundred jin of brown rice.

The village head was initially worried that she wouldn’t be able to take it all and even considered helping her carry some.

However, Shen Qingwan assured him that she was fine.

The village head arranged for the grain to be delivered to her home.

At first, Old Madam Lu held back from scolding her, but on the way home, she couldn’t help but nag.

“Why did you buy so much grain all at once? When will the three of you ever finish eating it? You just got a little money, and you’re already wasting it! What will you do when you run out of money later?”

Shen Qingwan couldn’t take it anymore and simply pulled out a large meat bun from her basket, stuffing it into the old lady’s mouth.

Realizing that she was eating a meat bun, Old Madam Lu became even more furious.

“You wasteful woman! Even if we had mountains of gold and silver, you’d eat us out of everything! Do you know how much a single meat bun costs? Five wen! That’s enough to buy half a jin of grain!”

“Enough! Even stuffing your mouth doesn’t shut you up,” Old Master Lu scolded as he shot a glare at his wife.

The eldest daughter-in-law had finally changed for the better—she was actually willing to spend money on her own family.

They couldn’t keep criticizing her like this.

After all, it was better that she spent it on them rather than letting those ungrateful people in Shenjia Village take advantage of her.

“Mother, these buns are for Xiaoyu and Xiaochen. They’ve never had a meat bun before, and I wanted them to try one. I also bought this pack for you and Father. Take it home and eat it. The children are waiting at home, so I’ll head back first,” Shen Qingwan said, shoving a pack of buns into Old Master Lu’s arms before hurrying off as if she were being chased by a dog.

Old Madam Lu was so angry that she kept shouting, “Wasteful daughter-in-law!”

The pack contained ten buns—just enough for the ten people in the family, except that everyone had already eaten dinner.

So, Old Madam Lu decided to save them for breakfast the next morning.

…

When Shen Qingwan returned home, the two little ones were sitting in the courtyard, counting the stars. Even though Old Madam Lu had called them in for dinner, they refused to eat, insisting on waiting for her.

As soon as Shen Qingwan walked through the door, Xiao Chen ran up to her.

“Mother, I missed you so much!”

In Xiaochen’s mind, Shen Qingwan was his real mother.

Even though she often hit him, as long as she showed him a little kindness, he would still adore her.

Xiaoyu, on the other hand, was older and understood that Shen Qingwan was just her stepmother.

She knew why she and Xiaochen were often beaten.

However, something had changed in the past few days.

Ever since Shen Qingwan hit her head, she seemed like a different person—she had become much kinder.

“Have you two eaten yet? Look what I brought you!”

Shen Qingwan pulled out a few steaming hot meat buns from her basket.

The two little ones had never eaten a meat bun before, but they had tasted wild vegetable buns made by their grandmother, so they immediately recognized what they were.

“Wow, buns!”

For them, even getting a coarse grain pancake was a luxury, and eating meat was something they didn’t even dare to dream about.

“Mother, there’s meat inside!”

Xiaochen took a bite and was so excited that he nearly jumped up.

Seeing the children’s joy, Shen Qingwan felt as if life had suddenly gained color.

In her previous life, she had struggled to survive in the post-apocalyptic world, accompanied only by three companions.

Even though they had faced countless life-and-death situations together, they still had to be wary of each other.

There was no trust—everyone feared that one day, their so-called allies would betray them for the sake of survival.

Life was a constant struggle.

But here, despite all the challenges, she felt a sense of peace.

She knew that, although the people around her could be cruel, they wouldn’t threaten her life.

And these two children—who brought warmth and purpose into her otherwise bleak life—made her feel like she could keep going.

If possible, she wouldn’t mind raising them for the rest of her life.

..

The next morning, several families who hadn’t bought grain the previous day set out for the town together.

Shen Qingwan left some buns for the children and then hitched a ride on the village’s ox cart to Ping’an County.

Today, she planned to trade grain and buy a mule cart in preparation for the coming disaster.

After what the tavernkeeper had told her, she was certain that famine was inevitable.

Even aside from the drought, the increasing unrest among refugees was a terrifying threat.

If the imperial court could suppress the uprisings quickly, then perhaps the chaos wouldn’t last long.

But if they failed to act, the situation would spiral out of control.

When she arrived in Ping’an County, Shen Qingwan first went to the livestock market and bought a mule cart.

She specifically chose one with a covered compartment, so people wouldn’t be able to see what she was transporting.

There was also a hidden compartment at the bottom, perfect for storing extra supplies.

The mule cart wasn’t cheap—it cost over twenty taels of silver.

She also had the seller include a cartload of fodder.

Fortunately, the cart was spacious and sturdy.

Though she knew how to ride a horse, this was her first time driving a mule cart.

After a few practice runs under the seller’s guidance, she finally managed to steer it properly.

Back at her rented courtyard, she changed into men’s clothing, stored the fodder in her space, and then packed a wooden chest with six hundred gold bars.

Without her spatial ability, she doubted she could have even lifted the chest—it weighed over a hundred jin!

With her mule cart loaded, Shen Qingwan headed straight to the Bai family’s granary.

Steward Bai had been waiting there since early morning.

He wasn’t worried that she wouldn’t show up—after all, grain prices were skyrocketing. In just one day, they had doubled.

That morning, he had received urgent news from the Bai family: Jizhou was in chaos, and Youzhou would soon follow. They advised him to make preparations.

Many grain merchants had caught wind of the situation, which explained the sharp price increase.

In fact, Steward Bai secretly hoped that Shen Qingwan would back out of the deal or cancel the transaction altogether.

But as a businessman, he valued integrity above all else.

The Bai family’s century-old reputation couldn’t be tarnished for the sake of short-term profits.

When he was informed that Shen Qingwan had arrived, he hurried out to meet her.

However, the sight that greeted him nearly scared him to death.

She had driven her mule cart straight into the granary yard, blatantly hauling a chest full of gold as if she didn’t care about being robbed!

The chest was so heavy that one person couldn’t lift it alone.

It took two men to carry it down from the cart.

“Steward Bai, please verify the amount—six hundred bars in total, each weighing two taels. I already paid seven bars in advance, so the total should be six hundred and seven.”

Steward Bai nodded and had his men check the gold.

“Young Master Shen, you’re about to make a huge profit. In just one day, the grain price has doubled—it’s enough to make anyone envious,” he said with a smile.

Shen Qingwan noticed the regret in his eyes.

A sudden spike in grain prices was not good news—it only confirmed that Youzhou was on the brink of chaos.

“Steward Bai, why did the price rise so sharply? Did something serious happen?” she asked tentatively.

Steward Bai didn’t hide the truth.

“Jizhou is overrun with refugees, and the local government can’t control them anymore. It won’t be long before the chaos reaches us,” he explained.

“Isn’t the imperial court doing anything about it?”

Shen Qingwan didn’t know much about court politics, but she had to ask.