Traveling to ancient times, with space

Chapter 56 Bartering for Food

At first, the refugees didn't dare to approach the driver who was carrying a large knife, but they couldn't resist the delicious aroma wafting from the carriage.

Just as the carriage stopped for a rest, some hungry refugees, unable to walk, clung to the carriage trying to get inside. One of them was kicked away with great force and lay on the ground for a long time, unable to get up.

The refugees who had gathered behind them could no longer approach the carriage, so they knelt down three or four meters away from the carriage and kowtowed, begging for food.

Su Yue had already changed into the new clothes that Shen Lerong had tailored for her: a light blue top embroidered with silver butterflies and flowers, the sleeves of which were wider than usual, and a fitted waist, paired with a long, pale yellow skirt embroidered with white magnolias. Her hair was styled in a simple bun.

This was Chun Tao's help in dressing up Su Yue, and it was also the first time Su Yue had dressed up like this.

Su Yue wasn't ugly to begin with, and with the daily consumption of spiritual spring water and her constant fleeing from famine, her face was never clean.

"This outfit is really beautiful. No wonder she's a goddess. She's just so good-looking," Shen Lerong thought to herself.

Su Yue was eating the slices of meat that Shen Lerong had grilled and fed to her, which were sprinkled with chili powder made from the chilies she had grown in her space. It was both spicy and fragrant.

He was interrupted by the noise outside. He swallowed the meat in his mouth and looked out through the open window. There were more than a hundred people kneeling outside.

They were all so hungry they were barely clinging to life, as if they would die at any moment.

Su Yue thought about how many bamboo houses were still in the space that she couldn't enter, so she said to Dali and Chuntao, "Chuntao, have those people prepare bags of food and line up to receive the food. But it's not free; they have to exchange things for it."

Then he took out a copper basin from his spatial storage and handed it to Dali, saying, "We'll let him exchange it for food later."

Chun Tao and Dali quickly went downstairs, banging on the copper basin and shouting loudly: "Our boss takes pity on you and can let you prepare bags to fill with grain. You can exchange things for grain. Don't think our boss is easy to fool and just bring some junk to exchange for it. Don't blame us for not having eyes when the knife in our hands is out of sight."

Soon, some of the displaced people were happy, while others began to mutter curses under their breath.

The crowd surged into the carriages in a chaotic frenzy, nearly overturning them. Everyone wanted to be the first to switch, knowing full well how small the carriages were and how much food they could hold. If they were left behind and there was nothing left, they would starve to death.

Su Yue nearly fell onto the grill in the carriage. She ordered Dali to throw out those who didn't line up properly and pushed around, refusing to give them any food in return.

The refugees were so frightened that they dared not push and shove, and had no choice but to obediently line up to exchange for food.

Su Yue took out a bag of broken rice from her spatial storage. It was all collected from the Qian family, and she had a lot of this kind of rice.

She doesn't like it anyway. It's fine to switch it out.

The first person to exchange grain was a thin, dark-skinned young man. He fumbled for two copper coins on his person and put them in the copper basin. He was so nervous that he was afraid the coins were too little and wouldn't be given the grain. He was sweating profusely.

Following Su Yue's instructions, Chun Tao scooped half a ladle of broken rice for the young man. The thin, dark-skinned young man was surprised to see that she had actually replaced it with white rice. After filling the ladle with rice, he excitedly kowtowed to Su Yue in the carriage to express his gratitude.

The people in line behind were so excited when they saw that they could really exchange their food for grain, and even white rice, that their hands were trembling, afraid that they would miss out.

The second one was an old man who was pulling a thin little boy and put a small piece of silver into the copper basin. It looked like it was only half an ounce.

Su Yue asked Chun Tao to pack half a bag for him; any more than that and the old man wouldn't be able to keep it, and it might still get robbed.

Taking the rice, he pulled his grandson along and kowtowed to express his gratitude, just like the previous person, saying, "What a kind person..."

Su Yue loves sparkly things. Even just looking at shiny objects makes her happy and gives her a great sense of security.

Soon more and more people received rice, and they didn't go far; they started cooking it nearby.

Some of them had escaped for so long and still had the pots they brought with them, so now they can be used again.

Some people would use this to exchange for rice and then share the pots with these people to cook porridge.

If you don't want to be with others, just use a broken clay pot; you can use anything.

Soon the whole area was filled with the aroma of cooking porridge.

Some of the refugees discovered that the wagon could not possibly hold so much grain, yet they had indeed exchanged it for that much.

Some observant migrants noticed that the person inside the carriage was the one who had the final say, while the two outside listened to the person inside.

Some elderly people who are superstitious will say that they met gods when they were young, and that gods can transform things.

This must be divine intervention to save these refugees, which is why they have so much food to give them.

The refugees who had exchanged the food knelt down in a rush, crying out that gods had descended to save them.

Seeing that they were still grateful, Su Yue told Dali and Chuntao to continue on their way.

Shen Lerong continued grilling meat for Su Yue, enjoying her comfortable life.

Shen Lerong learned how to grill meat quite quickly, and most importantly, she really wanted to eat it herself.

She used to be a pampered young lady, always waited on hand and foot. Now, things have turned around, but she seems quite happy with it.

Seeing that Su Yue's face was flushed, Shen Lerong thought she was not feeling well. After all, she had been caught in the rain a couple of days ago, and she was still young, so it would be terrible for her to get sick. She put down the meat she was grilling, reached out and touched Su Yue's face, and breathed a sigh of relief when she found that she did not have a fever.

Su Yue felt sleepy after eating, so she rubbed her eyes and Shen Lerong stopped feeding her the roasted meat.

They started grilling food for the three of them, while Su Yue lay in her warm bed and slept.

Two mules pulled the cart along the official road, followed by many refugees, some who had exchanged grain and others who had just caught up.

Some people, upon hearing that they could exchange goods for food, were even more reluctant to leave and craned their necks to smell the aroma inside the carriage.

Many roads had been washed away by the rain, so the refugees could only use this official road, and soon several hundred more refugees gathered behind it.

The train carriage didn't stop again until evening.

Some of the refugees rushed up and asked if they could still exchange their food for grain. Since Su Yue was bored anyway, she agreed to the exchange.

Su Yue took out a chaise lounge from her spatial storage, covered with a thick mattress, and lay down on it while eating melon seeds.

With a wave of his hand, he took out dozens more bags of dark flour and broken rice, and had people line up to buy the food.

When the refugees saw a little girl who conjured up so much food with a wave of her hand, they immediately knelt down to express their gratitude, exclaiming that she was truly a deity and that they would definitely offer sacrifices to her if things ever became peaceful.

Shen Lerong held the copper basin, Chun Tao helped fill it with rice, and Dali stood aside with a large cleaver, watching to prevent any reckless people from trying to snatch it.

These refugees also heard from those who had exchanged for food that they had to queue up, and those who didn't queue properly would be beaten half to death.

The refugees were quite obedient, and most of them lined up obediently. The few who tried to cut in line were dragged out by Dali and beaten up before no refugees dared to cause trouble.

Any more troublemakers or vagrants who wanted to cause trouble or take advantage of the chaos were put to rest.