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

"Tell me! Where is your grain? Where did you hide it?"

Chen Mo lowered his head and remained silent.

"Smack!"

The whip struck his back again, right next to yesterday's wound.

Chen Mo grunted and swayed, but still didn't speak.

"You're still pretty stubborn!" Wang Mang was furious and raised his whip to strike again.

"Don't hit my brother!"

Chen Ling'er suddenly rushed over, stretching out her thin, small arms to shield Chen Mo.

"Get out of here!"

Wang Mang didn't even look at her before kicking Chen Ling'er aside.

"Ling'er!"

Chen Dashan's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. He coughed up blood as he got up from the ground and grabbed Wang Mang's leg.

"Master Mang...Master Mang, spare us...My family...my family really has nothing left...Please, have mercy and give us a way to survive..."

Wang Mang kicked Chen Dashan away in disgust, looked at the messy and impoverished courtyard, and finding no evidence, had no choice but to give up.

He pointed at Chen Mo menacingly and said, "Fine, you're something else. Chen Mo, you just wait! When the reckoning comes, let's see what you'll use to pay your taxes!"

After saying that, he led his men away.

Chen Mo helped his sister up. Looking at their dilapidated home, there was no despair in his eyes, only a chilling coldness.

After autumn.

Your Wang family may not live to see the end of autumn.

That night, the system's voice sounded again.

[Daily information has been updated, please select:]

[1: Among the ruins of the collapsed houses in the village, there are about two hundred usable blue bricks that you can collect. (The ruins are dangerous.)]

[Second: There are dozens of discarded stone slabs in the old quarry pit behind the mountain, which would be quite suitable for paving. (The stone slabs are quite heavy.)]

[Part 3: The old bandit stronghold wall at Black Wind Ridge has some intact timber that can be dismantled and used. (The stronghold is not very sturdy.)]

Chen Mo looked at the first option.

Blue bricks.

Doesn't the Wang family like to tear down walls?

I'll build you one that you can't tear down.

He chose information one.

For the next few nights, Chen Mo and Sun Dazhu were like rats in the ruins.

They dug out the blue bricks that were half-buried in the soil and secretly transported them into the cave.

Once the Wang family relaxed their surveillance, the two began work.

They used these blue bricks to rebuild the damaged walls and even reinforced the foundation of the entire house.

Chen Ling'er then carefully applied the prepared yellow mud to the outside of the blue bricks.

Overnight, the dilapidated mud-brick house was replaced with sturdy brick walls, but from the outside, it still looked as poor and pitiful as ever.

In mid-April, the spring rains completely stopped.

Inside the sinkhole, the potato plants grew quite lushly, reaching about half a person's height.

Chen Mo casually parted a plant, and a bunch of 78 potatoes, each the size of an egg, were hanging from the base. Their skins were smooth and they were heavy.

The bean vines next to it have also climbed up the trellis, blooming with tiny flowers, and some of them have already formed tender green bean pods.

Sun Dazhu's eyes lit up as he looked at Chen Mo, and he excitedly grabbed Chen Mo's arm.

"Chen Mo! We...we've succeeded!"

Chen Mo, however, was not as excited as him.

His brows were furrowed.

How do we harvest, transport, and store so much grain?

If any link in the chain goes wrong and is discovered by the Wang family, it will be a major disaster.

A few days later, the system refreshed again.

[Daily information has been updated, please select:]

[One: In the blacksmith's junkyard in town, there are two broken but repairable sickle heads. (Sneak in at night)]

Second, there's an abandoned hunter's trap on the back hill. A fully grown badger is stuck inside; it's dead, but its fur is still quite intact. (It might rot.)

Three: A broken boat plank floated down from the upper reaches of the Qingshui River. The planks can be used to make storage boxes. (The current is rapid)

Harvesting requires tools.

Chen Mo chose information one.

He sneaked into the town late at night and found two rusty sickle heads in the garbage dump behind the blacksmith's shop.

He spent the entire day sharpening the sickle head with a whetstone until it was as sharp as new, and he found two sturdy wooden sticks to make the handle.

With tools, you can have a plan.

He told Sun Dazhu, "You can't harvest rice all at once. You have to do it in several batches, and stop after harvesting about 40 or 50 jin each time."

"Let's make the delivery tonight, one trip each, taking different routes."

"Potatoes cannot be placed in the same place; they must be stored separately in several dry corners inside the cave."

"After the beans are harvested, dry them, then put them in jars and seal them. They can be stored for quite a long time."

The six chicks at home have all grown to the size of a fist, and they chase and play in the yard.

The two hens also recovered and started laying eggs again.

Eating two eggs every day has never changed, and it has become the most stable source of nutrition in our family.

Chen Ling'er took good care of the chickens; their feathers were glossy and smooth.

Chen Mo secretly took a few eggs and traded them with an elderly woman living alone in the village for needles, thread, and scraps of cloth.

He clumsily sewed a new dress for his sister.

From the outside, it still looks like it's patched on top of patch, but the inner lining is a soft, clean old cloth.

By the end of April, the transition from summer to winter had not yet begun, and every household was running out of stored grain.

The Wang family posted a notice announcing that they would collect the spring tax ahead of schedule.

Calculated per person, one adult gets one liter of grain, and one child gets half a liter.

The Chen family, two and a half liters.

Chen Mo once again brought out all his savings, gathering together the mixed grains he had specially kept in the cellar.

Wang Mang was still in charge of collecting the grain.

He hefted Chen Mo's grain bag in his hand, staring at him with a forced smile.

"After autumn, the tax on your two mu of land will be one dou. If you can't pay it by then, the land will belong to the Wang family."

Chen Mo lowered his head and remained silent.

But inwardly, he sneered.

After autumn.

It's still uncertain who will take care of whom.

In early May, the weather gradually got warmer.

[Daily information has been updated, please select:]

【1: There is a patch of wasteland near the village where a lot of mugwort grows. It can be picked, dried, and used to repel insects and prevent diseases. (Open harvesting)】

[Second: In the damp, shady area behind the mountain, there are wild honeysuckle vines that are currently in bloom. You can collect about two pounds of them. (Requires climbing)]

[Three: Near the Snake Valley in Black Wind Ridge, there exists a medicinal herb called Paris polyphylla, which can neutralize poison, but picking it is quite dangerous (as venomous snakes are rampant).]

Chen Mo chose honeysuckle.

He climbed up a slippery rock face on the back of the mountain and picked a large bunch of honeysuckle covered in dew.

After drying it, he used it to boil water for his whole family to drink every day.

The water is golden in color and has a delicate fragrance.

Chen Ling'er quite liked the water: "Brother, this water is sweet and delicious."

In mid-May, the potatoes in the sinkhole finally ripened completely.

Chen Mo and Sun Dazhu began their first official harvest.

They only selected the outermost fifty plants.

With a hoe, you dig down and unearth bunches of round potatoes, some as big as a fist, others as small as an egg.

One plant can yield three or four kilograms.

Fifty plants yielded nearly two hundred catties (approximately 100 kg).

Inside the cave, the potatoes quickly piled up into a small mountain.

Sun Dazhu looked at the pile of grain and couldn't stop smiling.