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

Li Laogen's Adam's apple bobbed up and down.

"According to the law, he should be punished."

"But the current situation is that more and more people are starving to death in the village every day. The county government probably doesn't have time to deal with such trivial matters."

Wang Laoqi tapped his fingers on the table.

"Hmm? Mr. Li means that letting people go hungry allows them to do whatever they want?"

Li Laogen shook his head, his back hunched even more.

"That's not what I meant. I just wanted to say that the most important thing right now is to reduce the number of deaths in the village."

"Chen Mo's family only has so much food. Even if we take it all, how many days can it last?"

Wang Laoqi didn't say anything, but slowly picked up the teacup and blew on the steam inside.

That's his business.

"I only have one reason. The bow must be handed over."

"Otherwise, I will report it to the authorities and have the officials come to the village to investigate."

Li Laogen clenched his fists on his knees.

"You know perfectly well that when the yamen runners come into the village, all they do is plunder food; they can't do anything else!"

"They'll turn the whole village upside down!"

Wang Laoqi put down his teacup.

"That depends on his choice."

Li Laogen stood up, turned around and walked out.

Wang Mang watched him leave and curled his lip in disapproval.

"Dad, that old man."

Wang Laoqi ignored him and closed his eyes again.

……

Chen Mo was reinforcing the broken door in the yard.

"Uncle Li."

Chen Mo stopped what he was doing.

Li Laogen repeated Wang Laoqi's words verbatim.

Chen Mo listened without showing any expression.

"The bow, I will not hand it over."

Li Laogen's eyebrows were furrowed.

"He will report it to the authorities."

"Let him report it." Chen Mo didn't even raise his head. "In times of famine, they don't dare to kill people indiscriminately. If someone dies, they won't be able to explain themselves to their superiors."

"Besides, if the yamen runners really come, my family won't be the first to suffer."

"The Wang family has grain, and Zhao Si and Sun Gouzi's families might also have some hidden away."

"Those people are the fat sheep in the eyes of the yamen runners."

"Uncle Li, in this day and age, force is more effective than reason."

"If we lose our military force, someone might just break in tomorrow and steal my two pounds of coarse grain."

Li Laogen sighed and waved his hand.

"You'd better watch yourself."

After saying that, he turned and walked into the snowstorm.

It got even colder at night.

Chen Mo sat up and saw his father and younger sister Chen Ling'er huddled together on the other side of the kang (a heated brick bed).

He got off the kang (a heated brick bed), walked to the stove, and added some more of the damp firewood he had collected during the day.

The firewood was too damp to light.

Chen Mo rubbed his cold hands, then sat down on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), muttering to himself.

Finally, just as dawn was breaking, everything went blurry before my eyes.

A semi-transparent panel popped out.

[Daily information has been updated, please select:]

[First, in an abandoned cellar north of the village, there are three kilograms of old cotton wadding hidden by villagers. Some of it has been gnawed by rats. In a low-risk scenario, there is a possibility that the cellar may collapse.]

[Second, in the cave behind the mountain, two of the three injured wild rabbits have died, leaving only the last one barely breathing. This is a medium-risk situation; the temperature inside the cave is low, and the round trip must be completed as soon as possible.]

[Third, on the eastern side of the outer perimeter of Black Wind Ridge, under a wild chestnut tree, there is a pile of fallen chestnuts weighing about eight pounds. Some of them have already been gnawed by animals. This is a high-risk area, the journey is quite long, and there may be starving villagers searching nearby.]

Chen Mo's eyes quickly scanned the three messages.

Cotton wadding can keep you warm.

It's too cold at home. My father's illness can't be delayed any longer, and my sister is almost freezing too.

But food is even more deadly.

He hesitated for only a second.

Survival comes first, then we'll talk about keeping warm.

"Choose two."

In an instant, an image flashed through his mind.

In a cave, two wild rabbits lay stiff on the ground. Beside them, another rabbit was trembling slightly.

As dawn broke, Chen Mo prepared to go out.

A thin layer of white residue had accumulated in the yard, and the thatched roof had turned white as well.

Without much thought, he wrapped himself tightly in the single garment he had at home, then tucked the broken bow and two arrows into his bosom, and hid the other three arrows under the mat on the kang (heated brick bed).

As he passed through the village, he noticed that there was no smoke rising from the rooftops of several houses.

From the east end of the village, the faint sound of a woman's suppressed sobs could be heard.

"The baby is dead."

Chen Mo quickened his pace. This heavy snowfall would surely freeze and starve countless more people to death.

He trudged through the snow and headed towards the back of the mountain.

He quickly found the cave.

The cave entrance isn't large, and it's blocked by several rocks, making it difficult to spot without careful observation.

Inside the cave, the bodies of the two wild rabbits were frozen solid, and the one that was still alive was barely breathing.

Chen Mo went over and checked it.

The dead rabbit had no obvious external injuries and felt cold and stiff to the touch, so it must have frozen to death last night.

He untied a few vines he had prepared beforehand from his waist, tied the two dead rabbits together, and tossed them onto his back.

He tore a strip of cloth from the hem of his shirt, tied its legs and feet together, and held it in his hand.

Just as he was about to leave, his eyes swept into the depths of the cave.

A pile of hay was found in the corner.

It must have been left behind by hunters who went into the mountains before, or by refugees fleeing from disaster.

Chen Mo quickly picked out the drier firewood, bundled it together, and held it in his arms.

On the way back, he deliberately took a long detour, going deeper into the mountains and forests, specifically choosing those difficult-to-traverse areas.

In this kind of weather, even if Wang Mang's men wanted to monitor him, they wouldn't come to such a godforsaken place.

……

Wang Family Compound.

Wang Laoqi, dressed in a cotton robe, looked at the snow piling up thicker and thicker in the yard.

Wang Mang came out of the house wrapped in a thick cotton-padded coat, shivering from the cold.

"Father! That boy didn't hand in his bow!"

"Is that all?"

Wang Laoqi finally glanced at him.

"With such heavy snow, it's hard to say whether he'll survive the winter."

"Send someone to keep a close eye on things."

"I suspect that if his family were truly starving, they might try to steal the food stored in the cellar. In that case, we could catch them red-handed, and the food would be ours, and the bow would be ours too."

Wang Mang's eyes lit up, and a look of sudden realization appeared on his face.

"Father, you've thought things through perfectly! I'll send Zhao Si and the others there right away!"

Old Wang cursed, calling them idiots, "Sending them to their deaths in this weather?"

"Wait until the snow lightens a bit before making any moves. For now, just keep an eye on his house for any unusual activity."

The kitchen was filled with the rich aroma of rice porridge.

Zhao Si and Sun Gouzi squatted at the kitchen door, craning their necks and staring longingly at the pot, swallowing their saliva repeatedly.

"Get lost!"

Wang Mang walked over and kicked Zhao Si in the backside. "What are you looking at? You're not getting any today!"

The two scrambled to the side, their faces contorted with anger but unable to utter a word.

……