On the road fleeing the famine, even having money didn’t guarantee you could buy food.
Hearing Jing Yin’s words, the people who had been unwilling to give up earlier all showed grateful expressions and began pooling their silver to buy the birds.
Before long, a relatively old man came over with some silver.
Although the man was so thin from hunger that he was practically skin and bones, there were two younger men standing behind him who looked like they still had some strength.
There were also two women and some children, clearly a family.
They had quite a few people, so presumably no one would dare rob them.
The old man took out roughly two taels of silver in small, assorted pieces.
Jing Yin said nothing and simply picked up one of the birds and tossed it over.
Soon afterward, two more people hurried over with silver.
They also managed to pool together two taels.
There were another four or five people watching from behind. It seemed that several families had pooled their money together.
After taking the silver, Jing Yin tossed them the other bird as well and then returned to the area beneath the stone bridge with her family.
“Big Brother, give me the crow.”
The fierceness Jing Yin had displayed earlier had completely disappeared.
She now wore a cheerful smile.
After taking the bird from Jing Zhao, the system’s slightly cheerful voice rang out at just the right moment.
【Ding! Injured crow detected. A rescue mission has been issued. Host, would you like to accept the rescue mission?】
(Accept.)
【Ding! Rescue mission issued. Successful completion will reward you with 2 points, 1 bottle of high-quality Golden Sore Medicine, and 10 meat buns. Failure will result in no reward.】
Jing Yin: “……”
(What happened to the double reward you promised?)
【Host, high-quality Golden Sore Medicine is very rare, so I had to find a way to get it for you. That’s why I gave you so many big meat buns. Ten of them! Aren’t you happy? Did I do something wrong? It’s all because I’m so useless…】
The moment the system opened its mouth, it sounded incredibly manipulative.
Wasn’t it acting all aloof before?
Jing Yin rolled her eyes inwardly.
She had Erdan find some thin branches nearby, then cut off a small piece of white cloth from their bamboo basket.
Of the three crows, this one had suffered the lightest injury.
Only one section of its wing was slightly fractured.
Jing Yin carefully used the branches to splint its wing, then carefully wrapped it with the white cloth.
Grandma Jing frowned as she watched.
What was her precious granddaughter trying to do?
“Little Silver, are you planning to keep this bird?”
Jing Yin didn’t answer directly.
She simply continued working with a cheerful smile.
“Grandma, I’ve studied medicine for a while, after all. A doctor should have a compassionate heart.”
Grandma Jing: “……”
She didn’t believe her!
Before long, the crow was bandaged.
【Ding! Congratulations, Host, you have successfully completed the rescue mission. Rewards: 2 points, 1 bottle of high-quality Golden Sore Medicine, and 10 meat buns.】
The rewards were stored in her space.
She now had ten points again.
She had barely managed to save up ten points when the system couldn’t resist making another move.
【Host, do you need more animal feed? It’s on sale now! Buy ten pounds and get one pound free!】
(Do you think I’m stupid?)
System: 【……】
…
“Grandma, we’re having meat soup tonight.”
Jing Yin reached out and snapped the neck of the freshly bandaged bird.
Grandma Jing: “……”
“Grandma, I’m just practicing my technique so I don’t get rusty. I’ll change your dressing again later.”
Jing Yin smiled brightly, revealing slightly yellowed teeth.
Grandma Jing stiffly turned her head and forced out two awkward laughs.
She quickly told Zhao Xiao’e to clean the bird.
The eggs in the clay pot were already cooked.
Grandma Jing glanced around before secretly taking them out and giving one to each person.
She then tossed the prepared bird into the pot.
The bird wasn’t very big, so everyone would only get a little meat soup.
Besides their family, two other places nearby also began giving off the rich aroma of meat.
As the smell of meat spread through the area, all kinds of sounds rose one after another.
The cries of hungry children.
The pleading of adults kneeling on the ground and begging.
Quiet sobs…
Grandpa Jing let out a heavy sigh.
He couldn’t bear to look.
Yet he didn’t make any unnecessary move.
These were things ordinary people like them simply couldn’t deal with.
At a time like this, being able to protect their own lives was already a blessing.
Seeing that Grandpa Jing wasn’t having any inappropriate thoughts, Jing Yin lowered her head and quietly ate her egg.
Compared to what she had experienced during the apocalypse, these scenes were nothing.
Her kindness had long since been worn away completely.
Besides, there was Xia Mingyue’s example right in front of her.
Although Xia Mingyue had left the palace in a hurry this time, she still had two carriages.
One of them was specifically used to carry food.
When Xia Mingyue saw the refugees along the road, she felt sorry for them and took out her own food.
But when the other refugees saw that there was food in the carriage, they became crazed with hunger and swarmed toward it.
In the end, all the food was stolen, and several of the people protecting her were killed.
That was also why Jing Yin had sold the other two birds.
It could divert quite a bit of hostility.
After all, even the strongest person couldn’t fight off an overwhelming number of opponents.
…
After finishing their eggs, they carefully collected all the eggshells.
Once the meat soup was ready, each person received a bowl of meat soup and a small piece of meat.
Crow meat was sour and rather unpleasant, and they hadn’t added any salt to the soup.
However, the slight bitterness of the bitter greens helped balance the flavor, so it wasn’t completely unbearable.
Everyone licked their bowls completely clean.
Zhao Xiao’e began packing everything back into the bamboo baskets.
Jing Yin, meanwhile, changed the cotton cloth covering Grandma Jing’s wound.
The wound had basically already scabbed over, so there was no need to use Golden Sore Medicine anymore.
“As expected of my good granddaughter. You’re so sensible, unlike—”
Grandma Jing was praising Jing Yin while preparing to curse Erdan as a jinx.
But the moment she saw Jing Yin raise an eyebrow, she immediately shut her mouth.
“Grandma, our family has suffered plenty of illnesses and disasters over the past two years. If Erdan were really a jinx, how could our family still be doing fine now?
“Besides, Erdan has been weak and sickly since he was little. Why don’t you say that he’s been taking the disasters meant for our family instead?”
Jing Yin would never allow anything that could harm the family’s unity to continue.
Otherwise, once resentment took root in someone’s heart, even a child could potentially bring disaster upon the entire family.
Either she had to eliminate the source of the problem,
or eliminate the person causing the problem…
“All right, all right, you’re right. Grandma was wrong, okay?”
Grandma Jing shook her head.
After thinking about it carefully, she actually felt that Jing Yin made quite a bit of sense.
With that thought, she tried her best to make her smile gentler and waved Erdan over.
Erdan’s little eyes immediately lit up, and he ran over.
“Erdan, you… get a good rest tonight, okay? Yes, get a good rest.”
Grandma Jing didn’t know how to properly talk to this youngest grandson.
The stiff smile on her face was about to collapse.
When she saw Erdan obediently nod, she immediately dropped the smile from her face.
No!
She couldn’t smile anymore!
Her face was stiff!
“Erdan, go to sleep. We still have to get up early and travel tomorrow.”
Jing Yin patted his head.
Erdan narrowed his eyes comfortably and ran happily over to Zhao Xiao’e.
Grandma Jing had never been affectionate toward him since he was little.
Erdan had basically been raised by Zhao Xiao’e.
…
Jing Zhao and the other two discussed how they would take turns standing watch.
Jing Yin scooped a bowl of animal feed and placed it in front of Tangyuan.
Tangyuan eagerly gobbled it down.
Then Jing Yin took out the “Rapid Cultivation Pill” and put it into her mouth.
The moment it entered her mouth, the “Rapid Cultivation Pill” dissolved.
It quickly transformed into a warm current that flowed through every part of her body.
Jing Yin felt an indescribable sense of comfort throughout her entire body.
It was as though all the sounds between heaven and earth had suddenly fallen silent…