RWNEFE -Chapter 143 Shopping and Gathering Information

Having seen the difference between the stone houses and the mud-brick ones, no one in the Shen family wanted to move out!

“Mother, maybe we should let big brother talk to Lanxi,” Shen Conglian whispered.

“Talk about what? So she can bury him in the ground again?” Shen Congli sneered, muttering to himself about how cruel his niece had become, though he didn’t dare say it out loud.

“Mother, just let big brother speak!” Shen Congyi not only didn’t want to move, he also hoped to get another stone house. With so many people crammed into one courtyard, how could they live comfortably?

Shen Congwen kept his head down, saying nothing; no one knew what he was thinking.

“If big brother doesn’t want to, Yuanjing can go talk to Lanxi instead!” Yuanjing suggested. Since he often ate at Lanxi’s place, she would surely treat him, her younger cousin, with some consideration.

The old matriarch of the Shen family sighed as she looked at her discouraged and dispirited children and grandchildren.

None of them were particularly capable. At her age, she still had to step forward and plan for her family’s future!

“I have some silver here. Yuanjing earned all of this!” The old lady pulled out a pouch of silver, placing eighty taels on the table, one ingot at a time.

“The courtyards we looked at before—the eight-tael one and the fifteen-tael one—are both very good. Buy them. Second, third, and fourth sons, draw lots and move in!”

The three brothers’ faces darkened.

“Mother, we’ve always lived together as one family. If we split, shouldn’t we stick together and support each other?” Shen Congyi objected first.

The matriarch said calmly, “We’ve always been supported by the main branch. If you want to split the family, all the silver is here—take it and divide it!”

Upon hearing this, the three brothers’ expressions immediately changed.

Even a fool could see that the main branch had advantages now. If they didn’t split, they could claim some excuse to get more. If they split, they’d get nothing.

And this amount of silver—divided among them—wouldn’t even cover a proper holiday!

“When our parents are alive, we don’t split. That’s what we agreed on!” Shen Congli muttered gloomily.

Shen Conglian stood and grabbed the silver. “There will be more exiles coming later. Who knows if they’ll be assigned here? If we buy the houses now, maybe we can get a better price!”

His words steadied those who had been wavering.

But at the thought of leaving such good stone houses to live in straw huts, they felt uncomfortable.

Stepping out of the stone house, Madam Liu pouted. “Couldn’t mother go speak to Lanxi and save some face?”

Shen Conglian snapped, “She dares bury my brother in the ground—what else wouldn’t she dare do? If she really gets angry, she’ll leave us behind. Then let’s see if you’d still complain!”

“Lanxi used to be so gentle and filial… how did she become like this?”

“Keep your voice down. Every time you speak, think about those people on the exile road,” Shen Conglian warned.

Madam Liu pouted and stayed silent.

“Have Yuankun and Yuanxu spend more time with Yuanjing. From what I see, Lanxi is harsh only toward my big brother and those concubines; she’s actually quite good with the kids.” Shen Conglian recalled how the children always came back from training with pastries and gifts, prompting him to remind Madam Liu again.

“Have you hidden the money and items Yuankun and Yuanxu brought back?”

Madam Liu quickly looked around and whispered, “Yes, carefully.”

Seeing her like this, Shen Conglian felt reassured.

“We’re not too poor to buy stone houses ourselves. Now that the old lady is willing to pay, let’s use it. Straw huts aren’t bad either—people live there. We should pick the courtyard with the best yard, then hide inside and eat in peace without anyone seeing!” Shen Conglian got more excited as he thought about it.

Madam Liu agreed—it was great to have a house to live in without spending their own money.

When buying houses, the three brothers discussed again and chose those near the stone houses, close to family for easier care.

After a busy afternoon, everyone fell into a deep sleep. The next morning, shopping continued.

Liu Yanhui took the opportunity to go to the county with Zhang Liao to purchase supplies.

Wei Dongzhu’s injuries were at a critical stage; he couldn’t be exposed to the wind, so his subordinates went out to buy charcoal.

Women from Liu-Zhao Village and students from Qinglan Academy split off half the group to shop.

Some stayed home to repair and reinforce roofs, clean, and exchange items with people from the military camp.

Exchanging items was secondary—the main goal was to gather information.

Shen Lanxi took Chunxue and Qiushuang to explore nearby areas.

These past two days, Hongliu Village had become lively because of their arrival.

The women would gather in small groups, always talking about them.

“They don’t look like exiled prisoners!”

“I don’t think so either!”

“When Wang Er’s family came, they didn’t even look human!”

“They look like officials! Maybe they offended someone and got demoted here.”

“How can you tell?”

Knock, knock, knock.

“Who’s there?”

Liu Taoye laughed. “I heard your family has the most chickens and ducks. Can I trade some grain for them?”

The women inside looked at each other.

Trade grain? How? They couldn’t give too little!

“Come in, come in! It’s cold outside—come inside!”

The women of Hongliu Village warmly welcomed the two inside, only leaving at noon when it was time to cook.

At noon, Zhang Liao returned with the purchased grain, and everyone in Hongliu Village cheered with excitement.

On the way back, Liu Yanhui had already asked:

“Brother Zhang, Dongchuan has plenty of land. There shouldn’t be a shortage of grain. Why are you buying more?”

Zhang Liao replied helplessly, “All our year’s hard work gets collected. The little we keep isn’t enough for two months. If we didn’t hunt on the mountains to supplement, we wouldn’t survive the winter!”

This was the harsh reality for the military households—the majority of their crops were collected, and they were called to fight as needed.

…

“Eat your fill, but keep your mouths shut. Don’t let this spread!” Zhang Liao repeatedly warned while distributing food.

Liu Yanhui went to report with the fine tea he had bought.

“There’s a centurion named Cao Lianwang above Zhang Liao. He’s ruthless, doesn’t care if the soldiers die. According to regulations, every military household must give 600 jin of grain. He demanded an extra 200 jin. The soldiers had no choice but to cultivate more land. Cao Lianwang heard about it and confiscated all the harvest.”

That’s why these military households had to buy grain secretly, divide it secretly, and eat it secretly.

Shen Lanxi, however, noticed something different.

“How did the information about the cultivated land reach Cao Lianwang?”

Liu Yanhui’s eyes lit up as he whispered a few words to Shen Lanxi.

“Go ahead—once we handle this, future operations in the military camp will be much easier!”