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

Chen Mo asked Sun Dazhu to go as well.

"Take it back, but don't eat it. Let me see it."

Sun Dazhu left. After a while, he returned carrying a chipped, broken bowl, his face full of disappointment.

The bowl contained a clear porridge.

To call it porridge would be an overestimation. In the murky rice water, there were a few grains of bran and rotten vegetable leaves floating in it, and you could count the rice grains on your fingers, less than ten or so.

Chen Mo glanced at it and sneered.

"Is this what they call distributing porridge?"

This is like giving money to a beggar.

Sun Dazhu put the bowl on the ground and said angrily, "I heard while we were queuing that the Wang family's granary is full of grain sacks, and even the rats inside are eating better than us."

Just then, Zhao Si, a rogue from the village, staggered past the alley entrance. He had a sharp eye and immediately spotted Sun Dazhu walking out of Chen Mo's yard, with a grayish-black stain on his lips.

Zhao Si paused, his eyes narrowing.

Chen Mo carefully divided the powder from the four cakes into three portions.

One portion was wrapped in a rag and cooked and eaten immediately. Another portion was hidden in the dug-out cellar between the stove and the food storage area. The last portion was kept close to his body for future use.

He used that grayish-black powder to cook a small pot of paste, and quite extravagantly added a tiny bit of salt.

"Ling'er, Daddy, dinner's ready."

He served his sister Chen Ling'er and his father Chen Dashan each a small half bowl.

Chen Ling'er took a sip, and her little face immediately scrunched up like a bitter gourd.

"Brother, it's so bitter..."

"You have to endure the hardship." Chen Mo patted her head. "This is food. You'll need to eat it to have the strength to work."

Chen Dashan lay on the kang (a heated brick bed), and after finishing the half bowl of porridge, his ashen complexion seemed to improve somewhat. He breathed a sigh of relief and slowly began to speak.

"It's...it tastes like military rations. We ate this when we were fleeing famine during the war years ago."

In the courtyard, Sun Dazhu squatted in the corner, holding a broken bowl, and drank his share in big gulps.

As he drank, the young man suddenly burst into tears, his tears falling into the bowl and mixing with the grayish-black paste.

"My brother... if my brother could... if he could eat this... maybe... maybe..."

He was crying so hard he couldn't speak, and could only wipe his face haphazardly with his sleeve.

Chen Mo didn't speak.

He knew that in these years of famine, having food a day earlier or a day later meant the difference between life and death.

Zhao Si jogged all the way back to the Wang family compound.

As soon as he entered the house, he rushed over to Wang Laoqi, who was drinking tea.

"Master, master, I saw it."

Old Wang frowned, put down his teacup, and said, "What did you see? Why are you in such a panic?"

"That guy Sun Dazhu, he just came out of Chen Mo's house, and there was still food on his mouth, it was a kind of mushy residue."

Wang Mang, who was sitting to the side, slammed his hand on the table.

"Impossible. I saw Chen Mo empty his rice jar yesterday; not a single grain of rice was left."

Wang Laoqi tapped his fingers on the table, his eyes filled with malice.

"That's the new guy. That useless Sun Dazhu actually got involved with him... Humph, we need to think of a way to separate them."

He gave Wang Mang a wink.

"Go and call that old fellow Sun over. Tell him that his son, Sun Dazhu, stole something from our Wang family. Either he pays us five catties of grain, or we'll bring his son to me."

When Old Man Sun was invited to the Wang family by two servants, his legs were trembling.

Wang Mang sat in a grand chair, put his feet on the table, and slammed his fist on the table.

"Old man Sun, your son is really too bold. He actually came to our Wang family to steal. Last night, he stole the pickling jar from our backyard."

Old Man Sun knelt down with a thud, tears streaming down his face.

"Brother Mang, Uncle Wang, my family really doesn't have any food at all... Dazhu... he's not that kind of person, he definitely wouldn't steal anything..."

"Bullshit." Wang Mang kicked over the stool next to him. "I saw it with my own eyes. Stop arguing and pay five catties of grain, or I'll report him to the authorities for burglary and have him thrown in jail."

"Don't...don't report this to the authorities..." Old Man Sun kowtowed repeatedly.

Wang Mang said with a sneer, "Fine. Then bring him here, and we'll confront him face to face."

Old Man Sun left the Wang family's house absentmindedly, then staggered off to find his son.

At the entrance to the village, he ran into Sun Dazhu, who had just parted ways with Chen Mo.

Old Man Sun suddenly grabbed his son's arm, his withered fingers like iron clamps.

"Zhu'er, tell your father the truth, did you...did you take something from the Wang family?"

Sun Dazhu was stunned.

Seeing his father's terrified expression, he immediately understood that this was a trick used by the Wang family.

"Father, I didn't."

"If you didn't steal it, why did Wang Mang specifically name you?"

Sun Dazhu gritted his teeth and squeezed out a few words: "He wants to force me. Force me to leave Chen Mo."

Upon hearing this, Old Man Sun burst into tears.

"Zhu'er, my child, we can't afford to offend the Wang family... You... you must listen to your father, don't get too close to that Chen Mo, okay? I beg you."

Sun Dazhu's tightly clenched fist slowly relaxed.

In the afternoon, the pain in Chen Mo's leg subsided slightly.

He decided not to wait any longer and to go see the entrance to the underground river himself.

He had Sun Dazhu help him, and the two of them limped slowly toward the back of the mountain. Sun Dazhu remained silent the whole way, as if he had many things on his mind.

Following the image presented by the system in their minds, they found the narrow crevice in a very hidden cave.

Behind a pile of rubble was a crevice, just wide enough for one person to squeeze through sideways. It was pitch black inside, and a damp, foul odor assaulted the nostrils.

Chen Mo lit a prepared torch and peered inside.

The firelight illuminated the narrow passage, which was so deep that its bottom could not be seen.

Faintly, one could hear the sound of rushing water coming from inside.

Sun Dazhu stared at the dark opening, his face filled with fear.

"This...this place is safe for people to get in?"

"I can't get in." Chen Mo estimated the width of the gap with his hand, then looked at himself. "You're relatively thin, maybe you can get in."

Sun Dazhu's face turned pale instantly.

"What if... what if I get stuck inside and can't get out..."

"No rush."

Chen Mo patted the rock wall. "Let's make the opening bigger first. This is a long-term support, so we need to be patient."

The two men got right to work. They took the pickaxes and machetes they had brought and began chiseling along the edges of the cracks in the rock.