Auntie Zhao(Datou’s wife) saw that after all the commotion, borrowing was still going to happen. She pouted with dissatisfaction.

But when she thought about how those people had so much money, what could they do if she borrowed twenty or thirty taels and simply didn’t return it?

Having made up her mind, she walked straight toward Shen Qingwan.
“Oldest daughter-in-law, since you’ve said so, then I’ll borrow thirty taels of silver and ten jin of grain from you.”

The way Auntie Zhao spoke so righteously made Shen Qingwan want to kick her.

“My money isn’t for just anyone to borrow. You should go find someone else,” Shen Qingwan said.

Auntie Zhao bit her lip, glared at Shen Qingwan, and then turned to look for someone else.

Once people heard that borrowing money and grain was possible, they all started gathering around.

Madam Wang led her little granddaughter, Er Niu, over.

She gave Shen Qingwan an embarrassed smile “Oldest daughter-in-law, I have no choice but to thicken my face and ask to borrow some grain. Our food was stolen, and my family simply can’t survive without it.”

Shen Qingwan nodded. “No need to be polite, Second Aunt. Everyone goes through hard times. Didn’t I also often send my kids to borrow things from you before?”

As the original owner’s neighbor, Madam Wang and Aunt Zhang had lent things to her many times in the past.

Though they were just small, worthless items like sewing needles or thread, the original owner had never once returned anything.

Thinking about it now, Shen Qingwan felt a bit embarrassed.

“How much grain do you need, Second Aunt?”

Madam Wang thought for a moment and replied, “Thirty jin of coarse flour. That should be enough to make flatbreads and last us for a while.”

Shen Qingwan nodded, took out thirty jin of coarse flour from the mule cart, and handed it to her.

Madam Wang thanked her and left.

Shen Qingwan didn’t ask her to write an IOU—she never planned on making Madam Wang pay her back anyway.

Because the village had many different family names, the older women were all called “Madam” out of respect.

But in terms of seniority, Shen Qingwan had to call Madam Wang “Second Aunt” because the village chief, her father-in-law, Lu Xingwang, and Lu Zhiyuan were all from the same clan and had a ranking system.

Lu Zhiyuan was ranked fourth in the clan, so some people called him Fourth Brother, while others called him Old Fourth Lu.

When the villagers saw Madam Wang successfully borrowing grain from Shen Qingwan, they all rushed forward to borrow as well.

In the village, only the village chief and Shen Qingwan had a substantial amount of grain.

Hunter Zhang and Lu Dachuan’s families didn’t have much, so people only went to them to borrow silver.

But even then, each family could only borrow up to three taels at most.

The village chief’s house had the most people borrowing money and grain because he was the most generous.

As for Auntie Zhao, neither Hunter Zhang nor Lu Dachuan’s family was willing to lend her anything.

In the end, she had no choice but to go to the village chief, who only gave her ten jin of grain and one tael of silver.

…

Ever since the day Zhang Qiao’er was dishonored, she had been in a daze.

The only time her eyes showed any emotion was when she looked at Shen Qingwan—with hatred.

She resented the heavens for being unfair.

Why did such a horrible thing happen to her, while that wretched woman Shen Qingwan was living so well?

A widow with two burdensome children, and yet now she was the most well-off person in the village.

Meanwhile, she had become an outcast.

Even her parents had started to despise her.

She couldn’t accept this.

On the seventh day of their escape from the famine, Youzhou fell into complete chaos.

Refugees flooded the land, bandits roamed freely, and riots broke out everywhere.

Their journey began in Youzhou, Luocheng, passing through Ping’an County, Qingshui Town, and Dahe Village.

To reach Suzhou City, they had to travel through twenty-something towns, including Qing’an Prefecture, Linzhou City, Licheng, and Yucheng.

A journey that would take just over ten hours by car in her previous life would now take them over a month, filled with countless dangers and hardships.

The mule cart swayed as it moved forward.

Everyone trudged on mechanically, half-asleep, when suddenly, a loud scream came from inside the cart.

“What are you doing? Xiao Chen! Xiao Chen!”

Shen Qingwan quickly lifted the curtain to look inside. Just as she did, she heard Lu Mingxuan crying loudly.

“Waaah! I didn’t do it on purpose!”

Seeing her son crying, Lu Mingxuan’s mother, Li Qiujing, rushed over to ask what had happened.

“Xuanxuan, what’s wrong? Who bullied you?”

Without even knowing the situation, Li Qiujing glared at Xiao Yu, scaring the little girl into silence.

But seeing her unconscious younger brother, Xiao Yu looked at Shen Qingwan with a wronged expression.

Shen Qingwan saw that Xiao Chen was unconscious and quickly asked what had happened.

“Mother, Lu Mingxuan opened the safety latch while I was asleep and triggered my hidden weapon, hitting my little brother,” Xiao Yu explained.

She had sensed someone touching her hand and immediately woke up, only to see Lu Mingxuan playing with her hidden weapon.

Hearing Xiao Yu tell on him, Lu Mingxuan shouted angrily, “I didn’t do it on purpose! You wouldn’t let me play with it!”

Hearing her son cry, Lu Minghao also started wailing. “Waaah! Mother, I want to play with it too!”

The two children’s crying made Li Qiujing feel like her sons were being wronged.

Lu Wenzhi grew even angrier and pointed at Xiao Yu.

“Stupid girl! If you had just let Xuanxuan play with it, this wouldn’t have happened! It’s just a worthless box—you act like it’s some treasure!”

Shen Qingwan pulled the silver needle out of Xiao Chen’s arm and handed him to Xiao Yu.

Fortunately, the anesthetic would wear off in two hours, so he wouldn’t need any medicine.

“Lu Wenzhi, let me make this clear: that’s a hidden weapon for my daughter’s self-defense, not a toy. Your son injured my child, and instead of apologizing, you blame us? If you love your children so much, then take them off my cart!”

With that, she grabbed the two children and set them on the ground.

They were so scared that they cried even louder.

Li Qiujing quickly comforted them.

“Shen Qingwan, how dare you throw Grandpa’s grandsons off the cart? Just because you have some money now, you think you can do whatever you want? This family is still under our control!” Lu Wenzhi shouted furiously.

Shen Qingwan sneered. “We separated our households long ago. Letting them ride my cart was out of kindness. Not letting them was my right. Your family’s matters have nothing to do with me. And if you keep barking at me like a dog, I won’t hesitate to beat you.”

Her clenched fists cracked loudly.

Though Lu Wenzhi was furious, he knew they still needed the mule cart, so he held his tongue.

“Put the kids back on the cart, and I won’t argue with you today,” he said.

Shen Qingwan ignored him and drove the cart forward.

With two fewer people on board, Bai Yong’an finally had a chance to rest.

“Second Master, come up and take a break,” Shen Qingwan said.

Bai Yong’an immediately climbed onto the front seat, feeling lucky.

He had to thank that idiot Third Brother Lu for this.

He could already see the growing killing intent in Shen Qingwan’s eyes.

Yet Third Brother Lu remained oblivious, constantly provoking her. He just wondered when she’d finally get rid of this troublemaker.

Lu Wenzhi and Li Qiujing, dragging their children, chased after the cart.

The village chief shook his head.

“That third son of mine… truly getting more and more out of line.”