The Lin father and son were halfway down the road when they encountered Zhou Ren and a few other team leaders. The village head had called a meeting, stating that the situation was now more or less settled and urging everyone to prepare early.
"Uncle Lin, can we still buy grain in town?"
Zhou Ren looked quite anxious—otherwise, they wouldn’t have been rushing to town so late.
"You can. The delivery’s coming tonight. You’d better hurry. After tomorrow’s town meeting, it’ll be hard to get in line."
Hearing Lin Guozheng’s words, the group finally relaxed a little. "Why just you few? Aren’t the others worried about buying grain?"
Zhou Ren sighed helplessly. The villagers were stubborn, not easily persuaded.
"The village head has worn his lips out trying to convince them, but they just won’t listen. I think the irrigation issue will be troublesome too—many insist we can’t waste the land."
Lin Guozheng waved them off toward town. "Hurry along. It’s not safe walking at night."
The two groups parted ways after their brief encounter. By the time the Lin Family returned to the village, many were gathered in the streets discussing the matter.
"Old Brother Lin, you went to buy grain too? I say there’s no need to rush. The experts might not be right, you know."
Lin Guozheng sent his two sons home first, stopping to chat with the crowd. "I’m just buying two or three hundred jin as preparation for the harvest. Eating more means more strength for work—we’ll need it when we start carrying water to the fields soon!"
Unlike the village head, who urged everyone to spend all their savings on grain, the team leader’s words were more palatable to the villagers.
"Old Brother Lin, today the village head said we should ignore the other fields and only irrigate the high-yield cornfields starting the day after tomorrow. What a waste! Can you talk some sense into him?"
Under the collective economy, every uncultivated plot meant less food for everyone. How could they not be upset?
With the lean season approaching, following the village head’s orders would leave the villagers starving until next year’s harvest.
Lin Guozheng tried to reassure them. "Don’t panic yet. Tomorrow we’ll attend the town meeting and follow the town head’s instructions—he won’t steer us wrong. If you’ve got spare money, follow my lead and buy a few hundred jin of grain. It won’t spoil, and you can always sell it later if needed."
Exhausted from the round trip to town, Lin Guozheng made an excuse and headed home.
That evening, Fan Shuting prepared dinner. Her daughter-in-law, Zhou Wei, remained curled up on the kang, having thrown the meal Lin Sizhong brought her onto the floor.
When Lin Jianguo learned his wife had wasted food, he beat her again and forbade their two sons from feeding her for three days.
Lin Guozheng’s head throbbed at Zhou Wei’s wailing. "If it’s that bad, just send her family two sacks of cornmeal. Must she make such a scene? How are we supposed to live like this?"
Lin Jianguo scratched his head in frustration. "Dad, how can you say that? It’s not about a sack or two of grain! One sack wouldn’t even last them ten days."
The poorer they were, the more children they had—and the more children, the poorer they became!
"I told Zhou Wei we’d take in her parents and give them food, but not a bite more. If she keeps causing trouble, she can go back to them and starve together!"
Lin Sizhong and Lin Sicheng exchanged glances, their appetites gone. Neither parent was wrong—poverty was the real enemy. When would common folk ever prosper?
After dinner, Fan Shuting sighed. Her relatives had already cut ties, while Lin Guozheng’s kin in the village would at least listen to reason and avoid starvation.
Her worry was for her daughter in the county town—how would they fare?
Nan Sheng arrived at the old house with her family after supper. Fan Shuting assumed she had news, only to learn she’d bought another five hundred jin of grain.
Without prying, the elderly couple let Nan Sheng and her children rest on the kang while they waited for the grain delivery to arrive, planning to send it directly to her home later.
Nan Sheng made herself at home but didn’t sleep. Instead, she summoned her system to review the plot.
Starting tomorrow, temperatures would soar, peaking at 40°C. Crops would wilt quickly, dying entirely within twenty days.
Meanwhile, panic would grip the county as relentless heat forced people indoors until the rains came—but by then, it would be too late.
With harvests failed and relief grain insufficient, Lin Xue would return with her entire family in tow, impossible to turn away.
The Nan Family would be in similar chaos: Nan Sheng’s grandfather, living with his youngest son, her bedridden mother, and Mingli sent to a labor farm.
With only two hundred jin of grain left, Nan Jingyu would still grit his teeth and send thirty jin to his father and another thirty to his mother-in-law.
Nan Sheng’s kindhearted maternal grandparents, knowing their daughter’s hardship, would refuse the grain and even add twenty jin of their own. Later, they’d starve, reduced to eating bark and dirt before choking to death.
Her grandfather wouldn’t fare better—though his eldest son provided food, the youngest would hoard it, locking him away to starve.
Worst of all, Nan Sheng’s uncle would exploit the old man’s name to extort more food from Nan Jingyu.
In the original plot, Nan Sheng herself would be in dire straits. When Lin Han returned and found their children abused and their savings gone, he’d divorce her on the spot, sending her back to her parents with thirty jin of grain—just enough to keep her from starving.
Returning to find her parents skeletal with hunger, a guilt-ridden Nan Sheng would leave the grain behind and vanish, her fate unknown.
Thus would the minor antagonist’s story end.
The weight of these events pressed on Nan Sheng. To her, every name in the book represented living people—family she’d grown to cherish.
But she was here now.
And she’d already changed their fates.
Nan Sheng collected her system rewards—the usual lottery wheel. Two spins: one yielded an Encyclopedia Q&A, the other a "Thank You for Playing" message.
"Rewards can do that? That’s just cheating!"
System: "They’ve always been possible. You’ve just been lucky until now."
Nan Sheng: "Unbelievable."
Still fuming by delivery time, Nan Sheng decided to tag along instead of sleeping. Lin Jianguo brought his two sons, Lin Guozheng came, and Lin the Third joined separately.
The village head arrived with his three sons, and the two groups merged before heading to the rendezvous point.
Shitou and his men circled around the village’s rear path. Spotting Nan Sheng, he nodded, then had the grain inspected. The village head’s family checked five thousand jin, paid promptly upon confirmation, and left.
Doing business with the black market for the first time left them uneasy.
Next was the Lin Family’s inspection—four thousand five hundred jin, exact weight. The remaining sacks were Nan Sheng’s. While the Lin Family loaded their share, Lin Guozheng inspected hers.
When Nan Sheng tried to pay, Shitou pushed the money back and handed her a small cloth pouch instead.
"Xiao Yi’s orders," he murmured. "We’ll head out now. Just shout if you need anything—don’t hold back."
Shitou knew his boss had it tough. For all their apparent success, greasing palms cost them dearly every year.
This time, having received the tip in advance, they pooled their money together and invested everything they had. As long as the grain arrived, they were certain to make a hefty profit.
Shitou wanted to build a good relationship with Nan Sheng—partly out of gratitude for her guidance, and partly because he might need to rely on her for more tips in the future.
Nan Sheng held the money in one hand and a small cloth pouch in the other. She could roughly guess what was inside.
Xiao Yi was indeed a man of his word!
