The mountain no longer had boulders tumbling down, and the golden transparent barrier gradually faded away.
“Slap!”
At the critical moment, Mu Yunsheng grabbed the broken rope with his right hand, braced himself on the ground with his left, and successfully pulled Su Yi up.
“Cough, cough, cough—”
Su Yi, having narrowly escaped death, clutched his chest and coughed violently, his face flushed red.
Su Moli snapped back to reality and immediately hugged him.
“Big brother, you really scared me to death just now, wuwuwu.”
“You’re actually—”
“Big brother,” Su Moli interrupted him, “you’d better behave and not say anything, or you’ll never see your real sister again.”
Su Yi fell silent for a moment, then thanked Mu Yunsheng.
Over there, Su Er’s foot had also been pulled out from under the rock, but the wound was quite severe, making it impossible for him to walk for a short period.
Almost all the government escorts except Gu Mang had died. He had no time to grieve, pulling out a map from his chest and laying it on the ground to study it.
“The road ahead is blocked by rocks. We’ll have to detour through Ye City now.”
“Ah? We have to take a longer route?” Lin Zhiman’s face fell as if she had lost her parents.
Ye City?
Shang Yueli perked up.
Ye City was one of the most prosperous cities in Da Qing and the only city without a curfew.
At night, Ye City was as bright as day, earning it the nickname “the city that never sleeps” among the common folk.
It was a hub of commerce, attracting merchants from all corners of the land.
Going there would surely yield many treasures!
“Officer, can we buy a few carriages when we get to Ye City?” Lin Zhiman still refused to give up.
“Instead of worrying about that, you should care more about your man.”
“Ah?”
Gu Mang pointed at the unconscious Mu Tairan on the ground.
“Ah!”
“Is he dead?”
Lin Zhiman panicked, “Officer, quickly cut off his ear! Otherwise, when we get to Fangling and they find someone missing, we’ll all be executed!”
“…”
“Pfft—hahaha.” Shang Yueli couldn’t hold back her laughter. “Sorry, I have a low threshold for amusement.”
After tending to the wounds, another problem arose.
Most of their food had been carried down the cliff by the rocks, and few government escorts for the Su family remained.
Now, with limited food and many people, it was uncertain whether they could even survive until Ye City.
“Can that still be used?”
Shang Yueli pointed at the flatbed cart behind Jiang Xia—the only one that had survived.
If it were broken too…
“It’s broken. The wheels are gone.”
That would be terrible.
Shang Yueli curled her lips into a smile. “I’m afraid we’ll have to trouble everyone a bit.”
“What?”
At first, Lin Zhiman didn’t understand, but when she saw Gu Mang hoist the unconscious Mu Tairan onto his back and start walking, she panicked.
“Officer, why are you carrying him? Isn’t he heavy? Why not just leave him behind and cut off his ear? It’ll save you the trouble!”
“Shut up.”
“Keep yapping, and I’ll cut out your tongue first!”
With their supplies gone, Gu Mang couldn’t produce new hemp ropes to bind them, so he had to let them move freely.
Even so, no one dared to attempt an escape lightly.
Da Qing placed great importance on household registration. If they truly escaped, they would be undocumented for life; if caught, the consequences would be a fate worse than death.
That night, they rested by a river.
With no food, everyone was starving.
Shang Yueli was also hungry, but she couldn’t possibly take anything out from her space to eat in front of everyone.
“Cousin-in-law, I picked some mushrooms. Can you see if they’re edible?”
Mu Shicai held a red mushroom picked from who-knows-where, his eyes sparkling as he looked at her.
After all they had been through, Mu Shicai was utterly in awe of this plump daughter-in-law from the main branch.
Especially during their time living in the cave, Shang Yueli had not only saved him but also cooked delicious meals every day, making Mu Shicai subconsciously believe she could do anything and knew everything.
Shang Yueli picked up the mushroom and examined it carefully. Was it edible?
She had no clue either.
“Lack-of-Virtue System, can this thing be eaten?”
【Host, I am the Merit System, not your encyclopedia.】
“Then let me rephrase: if I feed this to the starving Mu Shicai, will I gain merit points?”
【Detected host attempting to abuse a child. Estimated penalty: 5 merit points deducted.】
“Huh? I only get 1 merit point for painstakingly helping others, but feeding a mushroom costs me 5 points?”
【……】
Shang Yueli facepalmed and sighed, saying to Mu Shicai, “Kid, if you eat this, you’ll be heading straight for the coffin.”
“Huh?”
Mu Shicai didn’t understand, but judging by Shang Yueli’s expression, it probably wasn’t edible.
Without hesitation, he threw the mushroom away and pulled several more from his pocket, all vividly red.
“Can these be eaten?”
Shang Yueli: “?”
What’s the difference?
Noticing Shang Yueli’s confusion, Mu Shicai explained, “These are different from the previous one—they’re cuter.”
He grabbed Shang Yueli’s hand to make her touch them.
“Cousin-in-law, feel them! These are round, while that one was flat. They’re different!”
“Hmm, seems so.”
Shang Yueli asked the System in her mind, “Lack-of-Virtue System, if I feed these to the starving Mu Shicai, will I gain merit points?”
The Merit System was speechless. The Merit System didn’t want to talk.
It was the Merit System, definitely not some Lack-of-Virtue System!!!
A chaotic static noise buzzed in Shang Yueli’s mind, followed by the Merit System coldly uttering one word: Gain.
“Lack-of-Virtue System, did you know? Your silent act is exactly like your silent act.”
“#*￥%…” Another burst of static followed.
Shang Yueli patted Mu Shicai’s head and grinned mischievously, “Good boy, tell cousin-in-law where you picked these cute little mushrooms?”
She was starving too!
“Cousin-in-law, you kind of seem like a villain.”
“Ah!”
In the end, with a large bump swelling on his forehead, Mu Shicai led Shang Yueli to pick mushrooms.
By the time they returned with a pot full of mushrooms, the fire was already lit, and Mu Yunsheng was cleaning several fish he had caught.
“What’s this?”
“Food!”
“Yueli, where did you get this pot?”
“Found it in the woods.”
Of course, Shang Yueli wouldn’t tell them she took it from her space.
“Such luck exists?”
“Mhm.”
With that, they set up the pot and started cooking the cleaned fish with the mushrooms.
Su Er watched with envious eyes.
Su San and Su Si had never been good at physical labor since childhood. After working for half a day, they had only caught two small fish, barely enough to fill the gaps between their teeth.
Su Yi and their mother were in poor health and couldn’t forage for food.
Su Er’s leg was still lame, so he couldn’t help either.
He said to Su Moli, “Little sister, why don’t you go find some mushrooms to eat too?”
“I’m not going!”
“Why not?”
“You idiot! Those mushrooms are bright red—clearly poisonous. Just wait, they’ll soon be vomiting, having diarrhea, feeling dizzy and nauseous.”
Seeing Su Moli’s confident expression, Su Er believed her.
“Then you should go find some food too. Everyone is very hungry.”
“No, it’s so dark here. What if I get lost?”
Su Er glanced at her and said nothing more.
He looked at his own family’s quiet situation, then gazed enviously at the bustling activity on the Mu family’s side, unable to conceal his longing.
“The fish soup is ready!” Lin Zhiman had been squatting by the pot the whole time, never taking her eyes off it.
“Yue Li, we don’t have any bowls. How are we supposed to eat?”
“Hmm… with our hands?”