Happiness System

In a flash, more than half a month had passed and they had traveled one-third of the journey. After traveling a thousand miles, Kong Hu kept his promise and returned a mule to the Fu family.

Seeing this, the Ning family next door also spent a large sum of money to buy three mules.

Qin Yunxi didn't want to be the first to do so, nor did she want to act like she had a lot of money and be treated like a fat sheep.

Under the explicit and implicit instructions of her mother-in-law Li Mutong and the first wife, she not only did not buy an extra mule, but also cut off the three-day ration of food.

Apart from buying a few kilograms of rice and flour for the two children and the old lady when replenishing supplies, Qin Yunxi didn't spend a penny again, looking very tight on money.

Seeing this, Li Mutong couldn't help but feel guilty again, and was even more worried that Qin Yunxi would ask her to return the silver she had handed over before regardless.

Fu Ronglang told her that the Fu family’s previous belongings should not be touched unless absolutely necessary, which meant that after arriving in Mo Nan, the money she had left would be the assets of their entire family.

In the past, she always thought that there were too few people in her family, but when it came to spending money, Li Mutong suddenly felt that there were too many people in her family.

There are many things that make Li Mutong sad. Since Qin Yunxi became stingy, her life has become even more difficult.

Qin Yunxi didn't give her any food, and Fu Qingyue was also implicated.

After that, the yamen runners began to covet the women of the Fu family again. It was time to pay tribute again!

Li Mutong did some calculations, then counted out the money for filial piety with shaking hands.

Even if there were no accidents on the way, by the time she arrived in Mo Nan, there would be less than one hundred taels of silver left in her hands to settle down.

One hundred taels of silver was not enough for her to make a set of jewelry in the past, but now it is the livelihood of an entire family!

Thinking of this, Li Mutong made up her mind to cut off the five portions of food that the family received every three days. Five taels of silver each time, that is fifty taels a month. Cutting this expense could save the family nearly a hundred taels of silver!

However, Li Mutong couldn't save money just because she wanted to.

Perhaps it was because they were too far away from the imperial capital, in a 'safe' area beyond the reach of imperial authority, the various forces in the imperial capital began to stretch out their fangs, determined to crush the opposing forces.

The Fu family does not belong to any faction, but they will inevitably be affected by this kind of chaos.

During the third wave of "bandits" attack, after Fu Xiusheng used one of his concubines to block a fatal blow, the atmosphere in the Fu family became weird again.

Qin Yunxi spent a lot of money to buy a machete and started sharpening it every day.

In addition, Qin Yunxi bought some cotton and cotton cloth to start making winter clothes.

This time, she didn't even prepare any share for Fu Ronglang and Li Mutong, but only prepared share for her second wife's family of four and an old lady.

After Fu Ronglang fell silent, he just let his wife pay for the shopping.

This year, poor harvest is an inevitable trend for both grain and other crops.

Looking at it this way, this drought may have spread to the entire Li Kingdom.

And if you look at the prices of things bought by the yamen runners, you can tell that prices have begun to rise subtly.

Li Mutong had just paid for the medicine for her wounds, and now she was asked to pay for cotton and cloth. This was simply asking for her life!

She said with shaking hands, "It's midsummer now, not even autumn yet. It's a little early to buy cotton now, and it's not cost-effective to buy old cotton."

Fu Ronglang didn't say anything. The old lady beside him looked at her daughter-in-law and shook her head, saying, "Autumn days are short and winter days are long in the north. Besides, you don't even look at the weather now. I'm afraid we can't afford the new cotton!"

This daughter-in-law is not even as good as Brother Wen's daughter-in-law. Alas, her past life was too comfortable. She has fallen into such a state that she still has no thought of danger.

When Li Mutong heard the old lady say that they couldn't afford new cotton, her face suddenly turned pale. What are the prices like in Mo Nan? How could she not be able to buy cotton with nearly a hundred taels of silver?

She remembered that the second-class maidservant around her used to receive only twenty taels of silver a year. The little maidservant Ai Qiao often bought herself some small gadgets to wear, saying that half of the monthly salary would be handed over to the family for daily use, and at the end of the year the remaining money could be used to buy a new set of clothes for the whole family!

I can’t afford cotton, what kind of prices are these!

Seeing that Li Mutong was getting too obsessed with his thoughts, the old lady sighed at her son and shook her head to indicate that she couldn't do anything about it.

Fu Ronglang could only pull his wife aside and explain the whole thing to her in detail.

Li Mutong's hands were shaking again. She couldn't be the head of this family anymore!

It's a pity that no one can take over her job!

It only took a few days for the women among the exiles to go from desperate resistance to numbness and then to compliance, and for their cries for help to turn into playful laughter and flirting.

What's even more ridiculous is that in a family like the Fu family that works so hard to protect its female members, there are actually some women who envy those women who go to the yamen runners to exchange their bodies for food.

What's more, some people even imitated those women and seduced the yamen runners just to get an extra bite of food.

Seeing that the concubines of the Fu family were also being looked at with envy, Fu Ronglang closed his eyes in pain. When he opened his eyes again after a while, there was no other emotion except coldness.

He said to his wife, "Starting tomorrow, let's resume feeding her once every three days. Don't let her starve so badly that she'll do something she'll regret for the rest of her life. Remember her and marry her off when we get to Mo Nan."

Li Mutong was not a demanding person. She nodded without caring about the money.

Let's take it one step at a time. Even if all the money is spent, the men at home will not let them live on the streets with hunger.

After another half month of this chaos, the number of refugees had been reduced by nearly half.

There were still about forty days left until the scheduled arrival time, and they had only traveled half the distance.

In addition, if the losses continue like this, not only will we not be able to arrive in Mo Nan on time, but the number of prisoners handed over may not meet the requirements.

Kong Hu was fed up with the chaos caused by the three-day bandit movement. In addition, some people had no martial ethics at all, and even nearly thirty yamen runners were killed.

This is simply intolerable!

Kong Hu sent a letter, and within three days, peace was restored on the road.

After that, everyone was busy traveling during the day, and all the mess disappeared. People were so tired that there were even fewer wild mandarin ducks at night.

He had to walk for nearly fifteen hours every day, most of the time under the scorching sun. Even though he could occasionally ride in a mule cart, Qin Yunxi still felt a little overwhelmed.

As a result, she no longer had the energy to cook for the elderly and children.

I had to get a small stone mill to fry the rice, and then let the children push the cart around while I was on the road during the day.

Boil a pot of water in the evening, pour the rice noodles in, add thin slices of dried bacon and a little wild vegetables, mix them together and it will be dinner for everyone in the car.

Of course, in addition to the extra coarse grains, Qin Yunxi also ordered three portions of food at an additional cost.

This time, instead of buying every three days, I buy it every day.

Apart from this, Qin Yunxi continued to be stingy!

In the blink of an eye, their team, which had been reduced by half, arrived at the capital city of Mo Nan: Baicheng.

One mile outside the city gate, Kong Hu asked his deputy to stay behind to settle the fugitives, and he selected six men to ride on horses and carry letters into the city to take over.

Before Kong Hu came back with the person to take over, the officials from Baicheng came with the messengers.

There is a special group of people in the south of the desert: wandering wives!

Mobile wife!

Women who exist to reproduce!

Mo Nan is the northern border of Li Country. There have been frictions with foreign races for many years. There have been many large wars, but there have been many small wars. Men are disappearing like consumables.

The imperial court rarely recruited soldiers except for arranging exiles, so the problem of manpower could only be solved by the powerful generals guarding the south of the desert.

For the sake of the population of Mo Nan and the subsequent military strength, General Wei Meng had no choice but to agree to his adviser's proposal.

A new post for streaming media was added to the official media department, and some women of childbearing age who were not able to survive were recruited to give birth to children for young and middle-aged men who could not afford to marry.

In the beginning, most wives who left their homes were widows who could not raise children or were kicked out by their husband’s family.

Later, because there were too many men queuing up to register, the selection range of wandering wives expanded a lot. Some women even felt that the possibility of becoming a widow was very high anyway, so they simply did not marry and became wandering wives.

Later, the government set its sights on the fugitives. Most of the female convicts were too frail to do heavy work, so it would be better to make use of them instead of letting them hold back!

Moreover, Liu's wife is a civil servant with a salary. Although she is at the bottom, it is better than going to the force field to be abused or exhausted to death.

The media person who arranged this time was very efficient. He quickly introduced this profession and then emphasized the salary.

When most women heard about the treatment, they were tempted.

Not to mention those concubines of lower status, if Qin Yunxi didn't have a trump card and was a good citizen, maybe she would be tempted.

After all, compared with high-risk and high-intensity labor, being able to eat enough food and being protected by others, and if you can’t or don’t want to have more children after giving birth to five, the government can still arrange jobs and retirement arrangements for you. Isn’t such a life more beautiful and hopeful?

Wives who have left their homes are not subject to the control and restrictions of their temporary husband's family. The government has special residences for them to live in. Doctors will regulate their bodies in the early stages, and when their bodies are suitable for bearing a child, they will be arranged to live in their "husband's home." If they are abused before pregnancy is confirmed, they can appeal.

Once it is confirmed that the husband's family is indeed abusing the wife, the government will immediately take the wife away and deprive the husband's family of the right to apply for the wife's removal again.

Once it is confirmed that the exiled wife is pregnant, the government will take her away and place her in a designated place to nurse the baby until the baby is one month old.

After the baby is one month old, it will be sent back to the husband's home, and the exiled wife will go into recuperation again...

It can be said that apart from not having the freedom to be pregnant, Liuqi is one of the happiest women in Mo Nan.

Looking at the concubines with agitated expressions on their faces, Li Mutong closed her eyes in pain.

Whether it was the Dingyuan Marquis Mansion in the past or the Fu Family now, she believed that she had never treated these concubines unfairly...

That’s it! That’s it!

What’s the point of keeping someone if their heart is not with you anymore!

Under the angry and anxious gazes of Fu Xiusheng and Zou Yiran, the three concubines of the first house all stood up and said that they were willing to become exiled wives to reduce the burden on the Fu family.