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

His pitiful appearance was so convincing that even Chen Mo had to praise him.

Wang Mang stared at her for a long time, feeling somewhat doubtful. The girl still looked listless, but he just felt that there was something wrong with the Chen family.

A few days later, the system in Chen Mo's mind was refreshed again.

[Daily information has been updated, please select:]

First, on the beam of the granary in the village ancestral hall, there were about three pounds of rice grains piled up by rats. Although these grains were mixed with rat droppings, they could be sifted and washed clean. (This is disrespectful to the ancestral hall.)

Second, in the abandoned charcoal kiln on the back hill, there is a half-sack of millet, weighing about five pounds, left behind by the previous charcoal burners. Although it is damp, it can be dried. (There is a possibility that the charcoal kiln may have collapsed.)

[Three: In the camps of refugees thirty miles away, there are people exchanging food for children and taking the opportunity to make trade. (Human nature risk)]

Xiaomi.

Chen Mo's breath hitched slightly.

In those days when even sorghum was considered a refined grain, millet was a life-saving food for women in postpartum confinement and seriously ill patients.

Five jin (approximately 2.5 kg) may not seem like much, but it carries significant meaning.

"Option Two".

The scene shows a tattered burlap sack half-buried in black ash in an abandoned charcoal kiln that has collapsed halfway. The sack is open, and you can see some clumps of yellow millet inside.

Without delay, Chen Mo immediately called Sun Dazhu. The two of them made an excuse to go up the mountain to chop firewood, quietly avoiding the Wang family's spies, and found the charcoal kiln.

The inside of the charcoal kiln was dark and damp, filled with the smell of dust.

It took the two of them a lot of effort to dig the half-bag of millet out from under the ashes and collapsed rocks.

Although the millet grains clumped due to moisture, fortunately they did not become moldy.

The two carried the millet back to the cave, spread it out on a clean stone slab to dry, and after it was dry, they sifted out the impurities. What remained was exactly four and a half pounds, each grain golden and plump, and it was indeed very beautiful.

That evening, Chen Mo secretly took some millet home and cooked a pot of thick millet porridge in a small earthenware pot. He also found a few dried-out red dates that had been stored for a long time deep in the cellar and put them in.

The aroma of millet porridge quickly filled the entire thatched hut; it was a pure grain fragrance, completely different from the coarse taste of sorghum.

Chen Ling'er held the bowl and drank it in small sips, her eyes narrowed into slits.

"Brother, this porridge... smells so good, it's so sweet." She drank two big bowls in one go, and her little belly swelled up again.

Chen Dashan also drank a bowl. Holding the bowl, he looked at the remaining porridge in the pot, and his eyes welled up with tears again.

"Millet and red date porridge..." His voice was a little hoarse, "Your mother used to... always loved making this."

Chen Mo didn't say anything, but simply served his father another half bowl.

He also tried mixing millet and sorghum together and steaming a pot of mixed rice. With the addition of millet, the originally coarse and rough sorghum rice tasted much better.

At the end of the first month of the lunar calendar, the weather was still cold, but the shadow of death in the village grew even stronger.

The number of people who have starved to death has reached 30%.

Some terrible rumors began to circulate in the village, saying that some people heard a baby crying at night, and then a certain family would have an extra portion of food, but the child from that family would never be seen again.

They exchanged children to eat.

These three words are like a plague, spreading in everyone's heart.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, the Wang family began the final harvest process. They used the moldy old grain to buy up the villagers' land on a large scale.

A bushel of moldy grain can be exchanged for an acre of fine paddy field.

Old Man Sun used to have a neighbor. A family of five had starved to the point that only the father and son remained. Unable to hold on any longer, they tearfully traded their three mu of land, passed down from their ancestors, to the Wang family for two dou of nearly inedible, spoiled grain.

Li Laogen, a kind-hearted man in the village, couldn't stand it and went up to say a few words. Unexpectedly, Wang Mang pushed him to the ground, injuring his back. He could only stay at home and couldn't move around.

After learning about this from Sun Dazhu, Chen Mo remained silent for a long time.

At night, he sneaked into Li Laogen's house and slipped two dried fish and a small packet of pain-relieving herbs he had picked from the mountain through the crack in the window.

"Uncle Li, focus on healing your injuries first," he said in a low voice. "The Wang family... will definitely face retribution."

In order to deal with the increasingly tight surveillance by the Wang family, Chen Mo had his family members start putting on a show.

Every day before he left home, he would have Chen Ling'er smear soot on his face to make him look more haggard, and he would also deliberately make his clothes look more worn out.

He moved most of the dried fish and high-quality grains like millet to a newly dug secret compartment at the deepest part of the cellar in the yard, while what was usually placed outside were sorghum, dried wild vegetables, and that jar of dark-looking fish sauce.

Chen Ling'er was somewhat puzzled.

"Brother, we have plenty of good food, why aren't we eating it?"

Chen Mo squatted down and spoke softly to Ling'er, his voice very low, "You must remember, the whole village is starving right now. If we get fat, we'll be the first ones targeted and cause big trouble. We can eat meat and drink wine openly when we're truly powerful."

Chen Ling'er nodded as if she understood, but she remembered what her brother said: Pretend to be poor, pretend to be hungry.

In early February, as the weather warmed up, the system refreshed again.

[Daily information has been updated, please select:]

【1: There are two wild Sichuan pepper trees in the crevices of the rocks on the back mountain. There are already dried Sichuan peppers that can be picked, about half a pound. (You will prick your hands when picking them.)】

[Second: Early-stage asparagus shoots can be found in the damp mud beside the Qingshui River, yielding approximately two pounds (a relatively small quantity).]

【Three: The old bandit stronghold's medicinal garden at Black Wind Ridge contains remnants of wild mint, mugwort, and other herbs, about three catties (approximately 1.5 kg) can be collected. (The journey is quite long)】

Chen Mo chose option one without hesitation.

Sichuan peppercorns! This is a top-grade seasoning. In this era of scarce medical resources, it could even be used as a medicinal ingredient.

Following the system prompts, he indeed found two small, nearly withered pepper trees on an inconspicuous rock face in the back mountain. The trees were covered with dried and cracked pepper shells, emitting a unique numbing aroma.

Chen Mo carefully picked more than half a pound of fruit, took it into the cave to dry, and then crushed it into powder with a stone.

When he was cooking fish at night, he sprinkled a small handful of Sichuan peppercorn powder into the pot.

The heat immediately released a unique numbing aroma, which mixed with the freshness of the fish, powerfully driving away all the fishy smell.

Chen Ling'er picked up a piece of fish with her chopsticks and put it in her mouth, her eyes widening instantly.