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

Rodenticide.

It can easily poison large livestock.

The Wang family owns more than a dozen oxen used for plowing the fields. These are their most prized possessions and one of the means by which they exploit the villagers.

In the darkness, a sigh came from the bed beside me.

"Mo'er, can't you sleep?"

It was Chen Dashan; his voice was hoarse and filled with deep worry.

Chen Mo didn't move, he just hummed in agreement.

"What are you thinking about?"

Chen Mo remained silent.

The only sound inside the room was the faint breathing of the father and son.

After a long while, he finally spoke, his voice unusually low, as if squeezed out from between his teeth.

"Dad, I'm thinking... what if all of the Wang family's cows died?"

He didn't mention rat poison, but he knew his father understood.

Chen Dashan suddenly sat up in bed. The sudden movement caused him to cough violently. He coughed so badly that it felt like he was coughing up his lungs and heart. It took him a long time to recover.

"Mo'er..."

There was a hint of fear in his voice.

"Father knows you resent it, Father resents it too! I wish I could eat that man's flesh and sleep on his skin!"

"But...but if we use such despicable methods...wouldn't we become beasts too?"

"The Wang family are beasts; Heaven will punish them. We are human beings, and we must live like human beings. We must live...live until the day we see them get their comeuppance."

Chen Dashan's voice grew fainter and fainter until only heavy breathing remained.

Live like a human being.

The madness in Chen Mo's eyes slowly faded, returning to a deathly stillness.

In his past life, he died like a dog. In this life, he wants to watch the Wang family fall from grace with full awareness.

Using poison is too quick and too easy to get yourself into trouble.

Once exposed, he, his father, and Ling'er will be truly finished.

On a whim, he closed the system interface.

[Daily information has been updated, please select:]

[1. There is about half a pound of sesame seeds that rats smuggled out of the ventilation shaft of the Wang family's cellar, scattered in the corner of the wall. (It may be discovered.)]

[Second: There is a rock eagle's nest on the cliff behind the mountain, with three unhatched eggs inside, which are very nutritious. (Rock climbing is dangerous)]

[Three: Thirty miles away, in a camp of refugees, people sell rat poison, capable of easily killing large livestock. (Human nature is treacherous)]

He chose the first one without hesitation.

Although there aren't many sesame seeds, they are oil, they bring fragrance, and they represent the hope of survival.

Dark as ink.

Chen Mo moved silently along the village paths, like a raccoon dog.

The Wang family compound was heavily guarded, but the ventilation opening in the cellar in the backyard was a blind spot.

He squatted down by the wall and soon found the pile of scattered sesame seeds in the corner.

It was dark and covered in dirt, but when you cracked one open with your hand, a rich aroma immediately filled your nostrils.

He took out a small cloth bag and gently placed the pills inside, one by one.

Just as he was about to finish picking them up, a low sound suddenly came from the cellar.

It's Wang Laoqi.

Chen Mo was immediately stunned, pressed himself against the shadow of the wall, and even stopped breathing.

"...Have you read the letter from the county?"

"I've seen it, Father. They're just those bandits in the north. No matter how badly they cause trouble, can they really reach us?" Wang Mang's voice was full of indifference.

"Idiot," Wang Laoqi muttered under his breath, "This is what it means to be prepared. If things really get chaotic, the town is more dangerous than the village. Our grain... we need to find an even more secluded place to hide it."

"Yes, Father."

"There's something else," Wang Laoqi's tone turned cold. "That Chen Mo guy, the more I think about it, the more suspicious I feel. How could a penniless man who's almost dead have so much grain to pay taxes? There's definitely something wrong with his family."

"Tomorrow! You take men over there and thoroughly search his house! Tear down the walls, dig three feet into the ground! I refuse to believe we won't find it!"

Wang Mang revealed a sly smile: "Good father! I've wanted to teach that brat a lesson for a long time! I'll break his legs!"

The footsteps in the cellar faded into the distance.

Chen Mo remained motionless until he was sure they were completely gone, then slowly loosened the wall bricks he was about to crush.

He looked down at the sesame seeds in his hand.

Just a moment ago I felt hope, but now I only feel irony.

The Wang family is coming to raid our home.

They tore down the wall and dug three feet into the ground.

His heart sank to the bottom.

Chen Mo rushed home and kicked open Sun Dazhu's door.

Startled awake, Sun Dazhu grabbed a wooden stick from beside the door and stood up.

"who!"

"I!"

Upon recognizing Chen Mo, Sun Dazhu breathed a sigh of relief and said, "You little rascal, you almost scared me to death?"

"Enough with the nonsense!" Chen Mo's voice was urgent and low. "The Wang family is coming to ransack our house tomorrow! A thorough search, tearing down walls and digging up the floor!"

Sun Dazhu's face turned pale instantly.

"What?!"

"No time to explain! Get to work! Move the food out of here!"

Neither of them said another word.

As night fell, a race against time began.

The potatoes and beans from the cellar were carried out one bag at a time.

"We can't move everything; we have to leave some behind," Chen Mo said, panting heavily.

They transported the vast majority of their food through that hidden spring entrance into a deeper, more winding labyrinth of caves.

At the entrance, Chen Mo set up three layers of disguise. The first layer was a pile of debris, the second layer was a disguised earthen wall, and the third layer was a movable stone slab.

After finishing all this, the sky was already beginning to lighten with the first hint of dawn.

Still not entirely at ease, Chen Mo took a few handfuls of the already moldy grain from the hidden grain, put them into three broken earthenware jars, and buried them in inconspicuous corners of the courtyard wall.

After completing all of this, he was completely exhausted and plopped down on the ground.

Just as dawn was breaking, Wang Mang barged in with a dozen or so fierce-looking servants.

"Search it for me!"

With a single command, the Chen family's home instantly transformed into a living hell.

The servants used thick wooden sticks to stab the earthen wall hard.

"Splash—"

The mud wall mixed with straw collapsed with a crash, revealing the bare wooden frame inside.

Another group of people, armed with hoes and shovels, dug vigorously in the yard, turning over the soil layer by layer.

They even kicked down the old, dilapidated earthen bed.

Chen Dashan coughed uncontrollably from the smoke and dust, and Chen Ling'er was so frightened that she clung tightly to her father's leg, her little face pale.

"Found it! Brother Mang! There's something here!" a servant shouted excitedly.

Wang Mang walked over and saw that the servants had dug out a broken pottery jar from the corner of the wall.

He snatched it away and fell to the ground.

Several kilograms of moldy grains, mixed with soil, had a musty smell.

Next, the other two pottery jars were also unearthed, and the contents poured out were roughly the same.

Wang Mang's face turned from excitement to ashen.

He stomped the pottery jar to pieces, then turned and walked up to Chen Mo.