One Daily Draw in the Famine, and from the Start I Fill the Whole Village’s Granaries

[More women than men + stockpiling food in troubled times + a daily fortune + rising to power in a chaotic age]

After transmigrating to the final years of the Great Wei Dynasty, Li Huai'an becomes the notorious “awful younger brother-in-law” far and wide.

His elder brother dies in battle, but instead of stepping up to support the family, he steals the paper money his sister-in-law burned for her late husband to buy wine, then sells the coal set aside for winter to gamble!

Things are hellish from the start: snow has sealed the river, the family's rice jar is nearly empty, and creditors want to drag his sister-in-law off as payment for the debt.

Li Huai'an looks at the “Hetu Luoshu Heavenly Book” that has suddenly appeared in his hands and smiles.

[Today's water fortune: Great luck]

[Due north, three feet beneath the ice: a frozen golden-thread red carp. Eat it for a major health boost, or sell it for a fortune!]

[Ill omen: Widow Li at the village entrance plans to use a honey trap today. Avoid her, or you may lose your virtue!]

While others risk their lives chiseling through the ice to catch fish, Li Huai'an takes a leisurely stroll by the river, and returns with a courtyard full of fish.

While others chew tree bark and clay, the aroma of a grand fish feast from Li Huai'an's home carries for miles.

His sister-in-law says tearfully, “Erlang, did you flip the wok so much you knock me senseless? Where did all this food come from?”

Li Huai'an has an epiphany.

Who needs to eat their own children? Who needs to watch the land fill with starving corpses?

As long as I follow the water fortune, this chaotic age will be my granary!

Years later, standing in the Golden Throne Hall and gazing at a flourishing realm, Li Huai'an sighs.

“To be honest, at first I only wanted to make sure everyone in the village had enough to eat...”