A daily intelligence report; in chaotic times and famine years, grain is plentiful.

The five families pressed their fingerprints on the document while trembling.

Some people mortgaged their land, some mortgaged their houses, and some even mortgaged their teenage children.

Sun Dazhu's eyes were lifeless. He took the bag of moldy grains, tears falling into the bag and raising a clump of dust. He didn't say a word, but holding the crucial bag of grains, he staggered out of the crowd.

Wang Mang stood on the stone steps, smugly surveying the desperate faces, his voice rising even louder.

"Anyone else want to borrow? Today is the last day! This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! The price of grain will go up tomorrow; a bushel of grain won't be worth an acre of land!"

The crowd stirred, and many more people's eyes wavered.

Standing at the outermost edge of the crowd, Chen Mo gripped the iron pickaxe handle in his hand until it turned white. He knew that the Wang family intended to suck the blood out of the entire village, leaving not even a trace of bone behind.

He can't help everyone.

All he could do was protect his father and sister.

This requires more food and greater strength.

Just then, Wang Mang's gaze pierced through the crowd and landed on Chen Mo. He grinned and immediately raised his voice.

"Chen Mo, what are you looking at over there? How about exchanging those two acres of barren land that nobody wants for some grain? For the sake of us being neighbors, I'll give you a discount: three catties of grain for one acre. How about it?"

With a bang, everyone's eyes instantly turned to Chen Mo.

Chen Mo faced everyone's gaze with an expression that remained completely calm.

"No change."

Wang Mang heard a huge joke.

"Don't be stubborn! I've heard that your father is coughing up blood! Without food and medicine, I wonder how many days he can last?"

Chen Mo didn't want to pay any more attention to him and turned to leave this troublesome place.

"Wait!" Wang Mang shouted from behind, rushing over with Zhao Si and Sun Gouzi to block Chen Mo's path. "You stole things from the village! Tell me, did you take the bird's nest from the well yesterday? That's village property!"

Chen Mo gripped the pickaxe handle tightly.

What was bound to happen has finally happened.

That excuse is ridiculously clumsy.

But in those times, whoever had the food had the right to speak.

Wang Mang, Zhao Si, and Sun Gouzi blocked Chen Mo's way. Behind them, a dozen or so villagers who hadn't left yet also gathered around, craning their necks to watch the spectacle.

"Everyone, come and judge this!" Wang Mang's finger was almost touching Chen Mo's nose. "Yesterday, someone saw Chen Mo acting suspiciously by the well in the middle of the night, and today the bird's nest in the well is gone. That well belongs to the whole village, and the bird eggs inside should be divided equally. How could he secretly take it all for himself?"

Zhao Si chimed in, spitting everywhere.

"Yes! That's right! My brother and I saw him slip away from the well with our own eyes!"

Sun Gouzi exaggerated the matter further, saying, "Bird eggs can be considered meat. At this time, a bite of meat can save a life. Why can his family eat and drink well, while we all have to starve?"

A murmur arose from the crowd.

"There's a bird's nest in the well? How come I didn't know?"

"Really? If there are bird eggs, how many would there be?"

"Hiss... Chen Mo's family is so poor they can barely afford to eat, and he still has time to go down the well to steal bird eggs?"

Chen Mo's gaze remained calm as he watched Wang Mang jumping around.

"You accuse me of stealing bird eggs, where's the evidence?"

Wang Mang was momentarily speechless.

"What more evidence do you need? Someone saw it!"

"Who saw it?" Chen Mo pressed. "Call him out here, and we'll confront him face to face."

Wang Mang was speechless. He couldn't say that Lin Qingxue saw it when she got up to use the toilet in the middle of the night. If he did, it would be the same as letting everyone know that the Lin family was still keeping an eye on Chen Mo's family's every move for the Wang family.

Seeing that Wang Mang remained silent, Chen Mo's tone turned cold.

"Can't say it?"

Wang Mang was enraged and his face turned bright red.

"Shut the fuck up! You dare let us search you? That thing is definitely still hidden on you!"

"Why are you searching me?" Chen Mo's eyes turned cold.

"Ha, feeling guilty now, huh?" Wang Mang pointed at Chen Mo's chest and shouted to the villagers, "Everyone come and see, his chest is bulging, he must be hiding something!"

Several villagers subconsciously looked at Chen Mo's chest. Indeed, there was a bulge in his clothes there, which was the cloth he used to bandage his wounds, and there was also the silver coin he kept close to his body.

Li Laogen, leaning on his cane, squeezed through the crowd, stood in front of Chen Mo, and shouted to the crowd, "Wang Mang, don't go too far!" He then added, "Searching someone's body without evidence? There's no such rule in the village!"

Wang Mang sneered and glanced at him sideways.

"Old Li, you're protecting him so much, are you getting a few bird eggs in return? I advise you not to meddle in other people's business, or you'll get yourself into trouble!"

Li Laogen was so angry that his beard trembled, but he couldn't utter a word.

Seeing the situation before him, Chen Mo knew that if he didn't handle this matter properly today, the Wang family's mad dogs would keep bothering him.

He reached out and put his hand inside his clothes.

In an instant, everyone's eyes were focused on his hands, and even their breaths stopped.

Excitement gleamed in Wang Mang's eyes.

However, what Chen Mo pulled out was not a bird egg.

Instead, it was a small package tightly wrapped in oil paper.

Wang Mang was stunned.

"Money? Where did you get the money?!"

Chen Mo didn't respond to him. In front of everyone, he peeled off the layers of oil paper one by one. Inside the oil paper were five blackened copper coins and a yellowed piece of paper.

He opened the note and read it aloud to everyone, word by word:

"Li Sanzang is here. If I pass away, the money will belong to whoever finds it. December 7th."

After reading it aloud, he looked at the villagers, his voice not loud, but clear and distinct.

"This is Uncle Li's handwriting. Before he starved to death the winter before last, he hid his last money in the cracks between the bricks of the well. Yesterday, when I went to the well to fetch water, I saw that the bricks were loose. I reached in and pulled this out."

The crowd erupted in a huge uproar.

"Li San? Is that the old, childless Li San?"

"My God, he hid money?"

"This...this is true...Chen Mo's luck is just amazing!"

Wang Mang's face turned pale and then red. He gritted his teeth and tried to defend himself, saying, "Then... how do you explain the bird's nest? Don't think you can get away with just taking a few coins!"

Chen Mo rewrapped the money and note and stuffed them back into his pocket.

"I don't know what a bird's nest is. The well walls are extremely slippery, and I can't fly, so how can I climb down?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the cloth bag he was using to bandage his wounds came undone because of his earlier actions.