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

Although those ten pounds of sorghum were bait he intentionally placed outside, they were still grain! At that time, even a single grain of rice was precious.

"Get out of the way!" Wang Mang kicked him again, knocking him to the ground completely.

"Brother!" Chen Ling'er rushed towards Chen Mo, bursting into tears. "Don't hit my brother! Take the food away... Please, don't hit him!"

The child's cries were sharp and piercing.

Looking at the brother and sister curled up on the ground, Wang Mang's last bit of doubt disappeared.

If there were truly a large stockpile of grain, who would risk their life for such a small amount?

He finally believed it.

"Walk!"

Wang Mang, satisfied with the spoils he had plundered, turned and left.

As they parted, he pointed at Chen Mo's nose and warned him fiercely, "Chen Mo, you better understand this: from now on, every day when you need to fetch water, you have to go to the village well. Make sure my men see you. If you try to sneak around again, I'll break your legs!"

A group of people left in a daze, the gate was open, and the courtyard was in a mess.

Only when Wang Mang and his men's footsteps completely disappeared did the Chen family feel relieved.

Chen Ling'er helped her brother up, tears still streaming down her face: "Brother, how are you? Does it hurt?"

"It's nothing." Chen Mo patted the dust off his clothes, checked his chest where he had been kicked. It hurt quite a bit, but no bones were broken.

Chen Dashan walked over and looked at the mess on the ground. He felt a chill run down his spine, but he said to Mo'er, "Mo'er, this method... is too dangerous..."

Chen Mo's eyes calmed down, and he said, "Father, if we don't do this, we can't protect the real stuff." He then added, "What they took today is less than a tenth of our stored grain. They think we're poor, so they probably won't come back anytime soon."

He hurried back to the kitchen, checked that no one was around, and then carefully pried open another stone slab.

Below, the passage leading to the underground spring and the actual granary remains intact.

In the darkness, one could almost smell the aroma of rice noodles and dried meat wafting from the depths.

That was the real reason their family could survive.

That night, Chen Mo lay in bed, his chest aching so badly that he couldn't fall asleep.

The system's mechanical voice echoed in my mind.

[Daily information has been updated, please select:]

[1: Next to the old cemetery at the east end of the village, there is a burrow recently dug by a wild rabbit, containing about two pounds of stored grass seeds. (The cemetery is strangely eerie.)]

[Second: At a bend in the stream behind the mountain, there is fertile river mud deposited by the water flow. Approximately 100 jin (50 kg) can be dug up for use as fertilizer. (This requires working in the water.)]

[Third, in the haystack of the abandoned post station thirty li away, there are about three jin of alfalfa seeds mixed in, which would be quite suitable for feeding livestock. (The journey is quite long)]

Chen Mo's gaze immediately locked onto information number two.

River mud.

The potatoes and bean sprouts in the sinkhole needed fertilizer, so this rain was just in time.

He chose it without hesitation.

In an instant, a clear image unfolded in his mind: the stream behind the mountain, where the current slowed down at a hidden bend, and a thick layer of shiny black mud accumulated at the bottom, about a foot thick in the thickest part.

With this, the output of sinkholes can be increased to another level.

Chen Mo called Sun Dazhu, and the two of them, taking advantage of the darkness, each carried two sacks and sneaked down to the back mountain.

Without saying a word, the two took off their shoes and socks, rolled up their trousers, and went into the water.

They shoveled the most fertile black mud from the bottom of the water into sacks, one shovelful at a time.

The damp soil is exceptionally heavy; a sack of it would weigh at least fifty or sixty pounds.

The two gritted their teeth and ran back and forth between the stream and the sinkhole again and again.

The icy muddy water flowed down my trouser legs, and my feet were already numb with cold.

It wasn't until dawn that nearly 100 kilograms of river mud were all transported to the sinkhole.

Without taking a break, Chen Mogu evenly spread the fertile river mud around the roots of the potatoes and bean sprouts.

Crops that do not require fertilization will visibly become more vigorous, with leaves that are more expansive and greener.

Chen Mo also deliberately kept a small bag of river mud, which he had other uses for.

Chen Mo's performance began early the next morning.

He set aside a small plot of land, about the size of a palm, in the most prominent spot in his yard to cultivate.

Instead of using fertile river mud, he chose the most barren yellow soil in the courtyard.

Next, he scattered some wild vegetable seeds that he had collected earlier.

After doing all that, he picked up the bucket and walked confidently toward the village well for the first time.

And it really was like that; Zhao Si was squatting under a big tree by the well, chatting with a few thugs.

Upon seeing Chen Mo, Zhao Si's eyes immediately followed.

Chen Mo kept his eyes fixed straight ahead, without looking away. After collecting the water, he carried the buckets slowly home and watered the small patch of land.

Zhao Si immediately ran to report to Wang Mang.

"Brother Mang, that guy actually went to the well to fetch water! He even planted vegetables in his own yard."

Wang Mang lay in the courtyard, lazily asking, "What are you planting?"

"It's just a small area, about the size of a palm. It looks like bitter lettuce. The soil is all yellow mud, so probably nothing will grow there."

Wang Mang sneered.

"That's all a poor wretch can achieve."

He completely let his guard down.

Chen Mo's performance was a success.

A few days later, while feeding the chickens in the house, Chen Ling'er suddenly discovered something interesting.

The menacing rooster in the house is always chasing after the hen named Xiaohua, and it will peck at her feathers from time to time.

"Brother, look, the rooster is always bullying Xiaohua." Chen Ling'er ran over to tell her brother about this.

Upon hearing this, Chen Mo was immediately overjoyed.

This isn't bullying, it's about pairing up.

The hen is about to start brooding.

He immediately told his sister to put more soft, dry straw in the chicken coop in the corner.

Sure enough, three days later, the hen, Little Flower, burrowed into her nest and refused to come out again, carefully guarding the eggs beneath her.

Chen Ling'er was very excited and carefully added water and food for it every day, just like taking care of a precious baby.

The family's hope has grown a little more.

That night, the system refreshed again.

[Daily information has been updated, please select:]

[One: In the backyard of an abandoned dye house in the village, there are discarded dye vats. The indigo mud remaining at the bottom of the vats can be used as dye. (Useless stuff)]

Second, deep within the cave complex on the back mountain, there is a small pool formed by dripping water from stalactites. Rare blind snails inhabit this pool, and their meat is quite delicious. (The cave is very deep and not easy to navigate.)

Thirdly, in a corner of the old bandit stronghold's armory at Black Wind Ridge, there are five jin of gunpowder that were not taken away. Although it is damp, it can be dried and used. (Gunpowder is dangerous.)

Chen Mo's gaze lingered between the second and third options.

Gunpowder...it's incredibly tempting.

But the risks are equally enormous.

Now is not the time.

He chose information two.

A new and sustainable source of protein.

The image that comes to mind is this: in a deep cave, water drips continuously from stalactites, forming a small, clear pool below that is so deep you can see the bottom. On the rock walls beside the pool, there are countless tiny gray-white snails, each only the size of a fingernail.