Bladed tools were dangerous weapons, so Song Jin had to handle the exchange carefully. She needed to get the weapons into her own hands first before it was safe.
She had no idea whether the two men were trustworthy or if they might suddenly go mad and start swinging their blades.
What if they took hostages and forced her to hand over the sack?
“Alright!”
“Coming right up!”
Fortunately, both men were honest farmers with no intention of robbing her. They sincerely wanted to trade.
The two carefully pulled the hatchet and firewood knife from inside their clothing. They were also tactful enough that, when they were still about three meters away from Song Jin, they voluntarily tossed the weapons onto the ground first and kicked them toward her feet.
Song Jin was very satisfied with their awareness. Planting her feet on top of the hatchet and knife, she straightforwardly tossed two water pouches to them and reminded them, “You two brothers can take a sip first. If the water’s fine, then our deal is complete.”
The two men had truly profited greatly by exchanging their tools for spiritual spring water.
Not only could the spiritual spring replenish stamina, it could also improve one’s physique.
After drinking it, even if they went without salt during the refugee journey, their bodies wouldn’t easily develop problems.
If she hadn’t desperately needed defensive supplies, Song Jin truly wouldn’t have wanted to sell the spiritual spring water.
Taking out the spiritual spring carried the risk of exposing her space.
And Song Jin only intended to trade it this once. She absolutely could not repeat something like this in the future.
The two men who traded their tools had indeed planned to test the water anyway. After all, they had given up a hatchet and a firewood knife.
After hearing Song Jin’s words, they stopped hesitating, yanked out the stoppers, and took a gulp.
The man who traded the firewood knife exclaimed immediately after drinking, “This water is so sweet! There’s no muddy taste at all! It must be well water!”
But the man who traded the hatchet said, “I think it’s mountain spring water!”
At this moment, the two were completely convinced that Song Jin had purchased the water from traveling escorts.
After all, escorts traveled all over the country and surely carried enough well water or mountain spring water with them.
In their minds, the land was now scorched for thousands of miles, without a blade of grass growing and rivers dried up.
No matter how lucky Song Jin was, it would still be nearly impossible for her to find well water or mountain spring water on her own.
So buying it from armed escorts sounded perfectly reasonable.
Worried that the two men might suddenly start debating whether the water was from a well or a spring, Song Jin hurried to send them off.
“Then our deal is complete now. Neither side owes the other anything!”
“Right, right! The water’s fine. Deal done!”
“No problem with the water. Deal!”
The two men also didn’t dare linger. They were equally afraid of being robbed themselves, so once the exchange was complete, they quickly hurried away.
Since the exchange for the weapons had gone smoothly, Song Jin no longer needed to call people over herself.
The woman carrying two cotton coats and the skeletal man pushing a handcart both rushed toward her at the same time, loudly asking to trade for sweet potatoes and water.
“These are two cotton coats. They’ve been patched many times and worn for years, but the cotton inside is still good,” the woman explained timidly, afraid Song Jin might reject them for being too worn out.
The man also hurriedly added, “This is the handcart. Don’t worry—it’s eighty percent new!”
Song Jin said nothing. She simply took the coats and inspected them for a moment.
Judging by touch that the cotton inside was genuine, she readily pulled out four large sweet potatoes from the sack and placed them into the woman’s basket.
“Four sweet potatoes. Deal complete.”
Then she handed a water pouch to the man.
“Leave the cart. Take the water.”
Her family already had one handcart originally. The reason Song Jin was willing to trade for another was for Xiao Dalang and his wife.
Not only were the old Xiao family cowardly, they were also lazy freeloaders who loved shirking work.
In the original owner’s memories, Xiao Dalang and Xu Shi were practically the old oxen of the Xiao family.
Throughout the refugee journey, all the Xiao family’s belongings were piled onto the backs of the couple.
Xu Shi and the sisters Ruyi and Jixiang had helped her before.
That favor needed repaying.
“I want to trade a quilt!”
“I want to trade cotton clothes!”
After obtaining two cotton coats and a handcart, Song Jin continued exchanging supplies with the refugees.
In less than half a quarter of an hour, all the water and sweet potatoes had been traded away.
Because two women failed to get sweet potatoes after being squeezed out by the crowd, they still lingered unwilling to leave.
Left with no choice, Song Jin finally gave each of them two handfuls of elm seeds to send them away.
“Thank you! Thank you! A good person like you will definitely be rewarded!”
The two women had already thought all hope was lost after failing to get sweet potatoes.
But when Song Jin freely gave them elm seeds, they became so grateful they nearly burst into tears, showering her with endless praise.
After finally sending away the last two women, Song Jin let out a long breath.
“Phew… finally solved the trouble.”
However, before she could fully finish exhaling, the village chief—who had been resting nearby the whole time—shot her a disapproving glance.
“You sure the trouble’s solved? Doesn’t look like it to me.”
The village chief felt Song Jin never should’ve given those elm seeds away for free at the end. Now the women, children, elderly, and sick villagers of Xiao Village watching nearby all had envy written across their faces.
If he hadn’t been sitting there keeping order, they definitely wouldn’t have behaved so obediently.
Besides, those two handfuls of elm seeds represented a chance to survive!
How could she just give them away?
What a spendthrift woman!
If she was going to give them away, she should’ve given them to fellow villagers instead!
Not only did the women of Xiao Village feel upset seeing this—even the village chief himself felt pain in his chest from the waste.
Hearing the village chief’s words, how could Song Jin not understand what he meant?
She gave a bitter smile, left aside the wild vegetables and the last sweet potato, then carried the remaining sack of elm seeds over to him.
“Village Chief, please distribute these elm seeds. As for the remaining wild vegetables, I’ll leave one portion each for your family, Third Granduncle’s family, Aunt Fan’s family, and Aunt Lin’s family.”
After all, Fan Shi and Lin Shi had helped deal with the old Xiao family earlier. They had even found a roasted sweet potato hidden in Yang Shi’s pocket and gained some benefit from it already.
Now, hearing that Song Jin still planned to give them each a portion of wild vegetables, the two women became ecstatic.
“Oh my! Second Son’s wife, not only are you a good person, you really know how to handle things!”
“Second Son’s wife, if the old Xiao family dares bully your family again, just come find Aunt Fan here!”
The other women, elderly, and sick villagers of Xiao Village were equally stunned when they heard Song Jin was willing to distribute the elm seeds among them.
Immediately, flattering words poured out nonstop.
“Second Son’s wife, this old woman once spoke badly about you because of my loose mouth. Please don’t take it to heart!”
“Second Son’s wife, it’s not just Fan Shi and Lin Shi who can curse and fight. Aunt Cai here is good at it too!”
“Second Son’s wife, how about I go gather food with you in the future? We can keep each other company…”
“Second Son’s wife, you’re truly wonderful. It’s Second Son’s blessing to have married you!”
“Exactly! Second Son, your wife is truly excellent—you must cherish her!”
“…”
The originally harmless compliments gradually started drifting off-topic.
Song Jin’s mouth twitched awkwardly as she secretly glanced at Xiao Yanzhi.
When she saw that Xiao Yanzhi remained completely unmoved, his face calm and expressionless as still water, she quietly let out a sigh of relief.
Fortunately, this man couldn’t even be bothered to pretend otherwise, giving no one room for misunderstanding.
In the future, when she asked for a divorce from him, nobody should be able to criticize her for it anymore.