Chapter 31 – Cannon Fodder Old Woman Fleeing Famine (Part 1) (No CP)

Just as Lin Qingxue made up her mind to begin her next mission, a flash of white light appeared, and a woman in her forties slowly walked in. Lin Qingxue looked at her—thin as a twig, with a numb expression, and patches upon patches sewn on her clothes. Judging by her attire, this world was likely an ancient historical setting.

As soon as the woman entered, she knelt down and tearfully pleaded:

"Immortal lady, I only wish for my children and grandchildren to survive this famine and avoid being beaten to death by the roaming refugees. Please, help this pitiful old woman."

Lin Qingxue didn't stop her from kneeling—maintaining that air of mystery would help her in the long run. When the task was complete, it would likely increase her reward.

So, she waved her hand in a deliberately mystical manner and said:

"With me here, your wish shall be fulfilled."

Just as Lin Qingxue was about to continue roleplaying as a celestial being, the system had had enough and directly transported her out.

The system simply couldn't bear its host's dawdling anymore. It felt like Lin Qingxue was wasting precious time—time it could be spending playing games. Especially since its recent attempt to woo the system-next-door had ended in failure, it had been using gaming as a way to grieve its lost romance.

This time, the process of entering the body of the task target felt much better for Lin Qingxue. The soul pain was still there, but well within tolerable limits.

She called to the system and requested it to upload all the memories of the original host's life prior to death.

After receiving everything, Lin Qingxue was devastated to discover she had become a 43-year-old woman named Wang Daya.

Well then. This time, she wasn't a blossoming young girl—she was a grandmother with three grandkids.

Although this mission had only one objective, the difficulty was hell-level, because in seven days, this village would face a brutal attack by barbarian raiders from the north.

The border troops only had less than ten thousand soldiers, and were completely unprepared for the barbarians' ambush.

In the end, the barbarian cavalry ravaged the land, pillaging and murdering. The entire village was forced to flee in famine.

To make matters worse, the north had been suffering from drought, which made survival and escape even harder.

No food was already bad enough—but no water made things near impossible.

As for the original host, her family was nothing more than cannon fodder NPCs, whose sole function was to donate their money to the reborn female lead, Qian Lan, so she could fund her early escape.

Qian Lan, having the advantage of past-life knowledge, sold her farmland early when she learned Linjia Village would soon be fleeing famine. The original host became one of the naive suckers who bought the land.

Using the money, Qian Lan activated a multiverse trading system, and eventually married into royalty, living happily ever after with a prince.

This extra info about Qian Lan's future was something the system had specifically added to help Lin Qingxue plan ahead.

To be fair, Qian Lan didn't really do anything wrong. But from Wang Daya's perspective, this was absolutely despicable—Qian Lan clearly knew the village would collapse soon, yet still offloaded her land to Wang Daya's family. That was a trap in plain sight.

But now that Lin Qingxue knew the truth, she wouldn't be stupid enough to fall for it.

Thankfully, Wang Daya held the highest authority in her household. Everyone had to listen to her—she had absolute say in family matters.

Another thing that pleased Lin Qingxue: the original host's husband had died twelve years ago while hunting in the mountains. He fell off a cliff and died instantly. In other words, Wang Daya was a slightly older widow.

She had raised three sons by herself, and while her personality was fierce, it had to be. Widows were often the subject of gossip and bullying. If she hadn't held her ground, her sons would've suffered.

So now, in the village, Wang Daya was someone no one dared to provoke—not old grannies, not young wives.

The first two sons were already married with children. The third son was a posthumous child, only 12 years old and a child scholar (tongsheng). The original host had high hopes for him.

Here's a breakdown of her family:

Eldest son: Lin Tieshi (28), wife: Zhao Xiaohua. Two kids:

Son: Lin Shiwen (10)

Daughter: Lin Chunhua (8)

Second son: Lin Tiezhu (25), wife: Zhang Zhaodi. One daughter:

Lin Chunya (7)

Third son: Lin Tiefeng (12), unmarried, currently studying at a town academy.

There were seven days left before the disaster, and Lin Qingxue's first task was to bring her youngest son back from the academy.

In her previous life, due to the chaotic and rushed escape, the original host died without seeing her youngest son again. She had no time to fetch him during the evacuation.

Second, since she hadn't bought Qian Lan's farmland yet, she planned to go to town and stock up on era-appropriate supplies to avoid suspicion during their escape.

Although her space had supplies, most of them didn't fit the current era. Only things like food, cloth, etc., would be safe to use.

(As for the cloth—she had prepared it in case she ever transmigrated to a parallel world in the 70s or 80s.)

She had also stockpiled old-style bicycles, sewing machines, cotton, and more.

As for the secret of her space, she was prepared to reveal it selectively to her sons. She wouldn't share everything, but she had to keep them safe during the escape.

Her cover story would be that her late husband occasionally left her good things from the afterlife. Ancient people were superstitious, so that would be easy for them to accept.

Once her plans were clear, Wang Daya fell asleep—and by early morning, she was up again. Her internal clock was wired that way. Older people didn't sleep as much.

Still, waking early was a good thing—she had to act fast, because time waited for no one.