Mi Guo woke up early, eagerly anticipating the next day's excursion.
He meticulously washed his face and brushed his teeth but dared not wake the others.
Gu Qingcheng, still drowsy from watching dramas the previous night, rolled over and continued to sleep when his movements disturbed her.
Mi Guo had no choice but to sit, resting his chin on his hand, waiting for everyone to wake up.
Fortunately, Gu Chaobei's biological clock was quite punctual. Around eight o'clock, he woke up as scheduled.
Seeing Mi Guo already awake and dressed, he gave him a McDonald's hamburger and hot soy milk.
Stirred by their activity, Hu Lanfang and Gu Qingcheng also woke up.
Though a bit sleepy, Gu Qingcheng felt embarrassed to sleep any longer. She yawned and lazily got up to brush her teeth, wash her face, and eat.
After everyone had eaten and dressed, they prepared to leave.
As they descended the mountain, one end of the rope ladder was tied to a tree by the cliff. When they reached the bottom, a whistle would prompt Hu Lanfang to retrieve the ladder.
They had agreed that two whistles upon their return would signal Hu Lanfang to lower the ladder again.
Mi Guo already knew how to ski.
The techniques Gu Qingcheng had taught him earlier came in handy.
The three put on their skis and glided towards the town.
Naturally, they intentionally avoided the previously bustling streets. Upon reaching the town center, they removed their skis and walked towards the city gates.
The city gates were still unguarded.
Mi Guo was momentarily startled by the ice sculptures of the city guards at the gate.
Fortunately, his sister remained calm, and he gradually regained his composure.
Walking to the riverside, he saw an old man with his back to them, seemingly fishing.
Mi Guo instinctively asked, "Old man, excuse me, could you please move aside so I can pass?"
However, the old man didn't respond for a long time.
Mi Guo squeezed past him and looked back, startled. The old man was already frozen in place, his face bearing a strange smile, just as his sister had described.
Mi Guo's heart pounded.
Gu Qingcheng quickly comforted him, "I was also scared when I saw this scene the first time I came down. It's alright, you'll get used to it."
Mi Guo nodded vigorously, but he still clutched his chest.
Gu Chaobei did not deliberately shield them from this sight, as it was the reality they now faced, and avoidance was impossible.
Fortunately, it wasn't snowing that day, but the sky was overcast, with no sign of the sun, creating an indescribable oppressive and pale atmosphere. The world seemed frozen.
The three reached the Jinsha River, put on their ice skates, and skated forward.
It was Mi Guo's first time wearing ice skates, and he was initially unaccustomed to them, falling twice. Fortunately, Gu Qingcheng had anticipated this and had him wear knee pads and wrist guards, so he was unharmed even when he fell.
Thanks to his skiing foundation, Mi Guo quickly mastered the art of ice skating and gradually kept pace with them.
"Dad, this village looks good. Shall we go in and take a look?"
After skiing for about five li, they saw a village by the river, with a grand house boasting blue tiles and white walls that looked quite imposing.
The three removed their ice skates and walked into the village.
The village was also eerily quiet, devoid of any signs of life. As soon as they entered, they saw chickens, ducks, and dogs, all frozen like lifelike ice sculptures standing by the roadside.
Mi Guo forced himself to get used to it all.
Approaching the grand house, they saw two stone lions guarding the entrance and three tall steps. It was clearly the home of a wealthy family in the village.
The family's main gate was not tightly shut, suggesting it wasn't yet bedtime and people were still coming and going, so the door hadn't been fully closed.
Gu Qingcheng pushed the door open with a creak. The scene in the courtyard was as they had imagined: servants by the stove, children who were previously playing under a tree, and a family sitting in the main hall eating. However, they were all frozen to death.
Mi Guo's scalp tingled, but he was relieved to have his father and sister with him.
They calmly walked through this "sculpture garden of ice figures" towards the backyard.
Wealthy households typically had granaries. In the backyard, they indeed found a door secured with a brass lock. Gu Chaobei struck it forcefully with an axe, and the lock snapped open.
After the extreme cold, metal became more brittle, which was why it was so easy to break.
Inside, it was a granary filled with grain, piled high. There were at least four to five hundred sacks, each weighing over a hundred jin, meaning this family had stored forty to fifty thousand jin of grain.
Mi Guo was astonished by the sight, exclaiming, "So these rich people had so much grain? No wonder they always looked so healthy and ruddy, unlike us who were gaunt. It turns out they were hoarding all the grain."
Gu Qingcheng smiled slightly and casually collected all the grain.
"Thieves don't leave empty-handed." Since they were already there, Gu Qingcheng felt no moral qualms about taking from the ruling class, and continued their search.
In the master bedroom, Gu Chaobei found a chest full of gold bars, about twenty 100-gram bars, and a box full of silver ingots, likely over a thousand taels.
There were also various other seemingly valuable jewelry items, made of gold, silver, and jade. Some appeared to be small toys that Mi Guo could play with.
Gu Qingcheng unceremoniously took them all.
After collecting these, the three went to the kitchen.
The kitchen also had a good supply of provisions: fresh meat, dried meat, and pickles. The vegetables were spoiled and unusable.
Gu Qingcheng didn't overlook the scattered seasonings on the stove, collecting them all into the storage cabinet. Behind the kitchen was a woodshed, filled with firewood and about a ton of coal. "Good, let's take it."
The haul from this house was substantial.
Normally, a village would only have one or two wealthy households; most villages were poor and couldn't produce so many affluent families.
After leaving this house, they toured the rest of the village. They saw mostly houses with earthen walls and some sheds made of straw and wood, clearly the homes of impoverished commoners. They didn't go inside these.
Next, they skated further down the Jinsha River. When they encountered villages, they went into the houses of the best-built families, and none of their visits were fruitless.
They found anywhere from over 100 sacks of grain to over a thousand sacks, making Mi Guo gasp in amazement, repeatedly realizing the stark difference between the lives of landlords and ordinary people.
The most fruitful discovery was at the village public office in a large village, which served as the administrative center for nearby villages.
In the Great Zhou Dynasty, commoners had to pay grain tax annually, one hundred jin per person, which was delivered to the village public office.
The village public office's granary contained what was supposed to be the autumn harvest's public grain, not yet submitted to the authorities. There were at least 30 tons of grain, which Gu Qingcheng, overjoyed, also collected.
Of course, the series of satisfying moments harvested along the way was immense, and at the village public office, the satisfaction reached its peak, earning her 100 satisfaction points from the system.
Gu Qingcheng felt that her coordination with the system was improving.
A mutual pursuit!
Mutual fulfillment!
Although the system was so generous, it seemed to be playing a grand strategy.
"Who cares? Let's enjoy it first."