Staring at Agu, a gleam flashed in the Wei leader’s eyes. A richly dressed elderly man quickly stepped onto the high platform, bent down to whisper something in his ear. He looked past Agu at Mu San, who had been quietly observing, frowned almost imperceptibly with apparent wariness, then laughed loudly, “What a united Great Zhou! Master Ji has lost. Your country’s grand gesture, using thousands to fight against Ji alone—naturally the silver you’ve collected exceeds what Ji has. Ji is delighted to lose. I don’t usually see frozen corpses by the roadside, but today Ji has finally done one great charitable deed.”

“Good! Today’s trade exhibition ends here. Clean up, everyone.”

At his command, the merchants withdrew their goods. Though the crowd rejoiced at their victory, their voices weren’t too loud.

This man’s words made people uncomfortable.

But many people still nodded toward Agu. Without this beautiful and intelligent young lady, this time would have been even more embarrassing. Many were also disappointed at being unable to purchase fine rice and grain tonight.

One type of rice feeds a hundred types of people—such is the nature of human sentiment in this world.

The beggars were dividing the silver. Someone grinned at Agu, “Hey, we can have a warm meal today thanks to you, miss.”

Agu showed no joy, slightly frowning.

Among the common people, a scholar shook his head, “Pitiful people must have detestable qualities. With sound limbs, why become beggars?”

Many more sneered coldly, “Pitiful? Worth sympathizing with? Bah! It’s exactly these kinds of people who shame our nation’s dignity.”

Further away, there were many more elderly and weak beggars who hadn’t dared compete with those young, strong beggars for silver. Their yellowed eyes stared intently at the Wei coins on the ground that no one cared about anymore—that Master Ji didn’t bother to take back. A ragged woman clutched a four or five-year-old beggar child. The little beggar wanted to pick up the money, but the woman held him back with reddened eyes. The child became fierce, baring his teeth and hitting his mother several times. In the end, he just sucked his finger, staring longingly at the grain on the platform.

Suzhen quietly swallowed her saliva, looking toward Li Zhaoting. She saw he was helping Agu supervise the beggars’ division of the silver that people had donated, fearing the beggars might cause trouble over unequal distribution of “spoils.” With matters half-settled, Mu San first walked toward them, joining Murong Liu and the others. These young masters of the Murong family were very quiet. Earlier, Murong Qi and Murong Jiu had gone out to distribute some loose silver without making any show of their status. That Murong Liu standing behind her had remained silent throughout, making no sound. Yet somehow, his silence gave her a sense of oppression.

Suzhen felt her flat money pouch, finally lifting her robe hem and walking confidently over, saying to Master Ji on the platform, “I want to buy grain.”

“Oh, it seems this young master didn’t hear clearly. Tonight, Zhou silver cannot buy Great Wei grain. Not even ten thousand taels can buy a single grain of rice.” The man raised his eyebrows and smiled.

Suzhen said nothing, bending down to pick up the Wei silver on the ground piece by piece.

“Hey, what are you doing?”

Behind her, several Zhou men with strong blood shouted sternly.

Suzhen paid no attention, straightened up, handed over the Wei silver, and repeated again, “I heard the leader’s words clearly. I want to buy grain—please weigh out three sheng of rice, thank you. Or are you saying Wei country’s money cannot buy Wei country’s grain?”

Master Ji’s expression changed, saying coldly, “Do you have a container?”

Suzhen removed her outer robe, spread it on the ground, and smiled, “Just put it here, thank you.”

People had been shouting angrily just moments before, but now fell completely silent. They watched as the young man wearing a scholar’s cap stuffed the picked-up silver into the robe along with the rice grain, then bundled up the outer robe, tied it, and dragged it before the woman.

The woman stared blankly, and after a long while said timidly, “I cannot take this. Before my family fell into ruin, I heard the village private school teacher speak of such principles—never lose one’s integrity, and the child must know this too.”

Suzhen smiled and shook her head, turning to look in Agu’s direction and calling out, “Yes, pitiful people must have detestable qualities, but what about this child? Loss of integrity has nothing to do with him—it concerns those in power, it concerns the Great Zhou. Fairy sister, all I know is that for him, hunger is greater than anything!”