Chapter 12: Locusts Pass Through, No Grass Leaves

The sun rises above the horizon.

The oxcart stopped on the main street of Ping'an Town.

Cheng Wanwan and Zhao Dashan jumped out of the car and walked towards the pawnshop first.

It was still early, but the town was already bustling with people. The roadside was filled with stalls, mostly selling snacks, and the aroma was fragrant.

As they approached the pawnshop, Cheng Wanwan paused for a moment: "Dashan, go buy two meat buns."

She took out a few coins from her waist and handed them over.

Zhao Dashan turned around and left.

Cheng Wanwan stepped into the pawnshop, and the clerk immediately came to greet her.

She took out the silver hairpin from her sleeve. The shopkeeper examined its quality and held up one finger: "One hundred coins."

Cheng Wanwan's brow twitched. This was something her original husband had spent nearly a tael of silver to buy, yet it was only worth a hundred coins?

"The silver hairpin is too old and the style isn't nice. Plus, there's been a lot of people pawning their jewelry lately, so the price is naturally down." The waiter said with reason, "Auntie, I didn't make a random offer."

The word "auntie" brought tears to Cheng Wanwan's eyes.

She took the silver hairpin back: "Never mind, I won't do it anymore."

One hundred coins is really too little. It's not worth it to pawn the token of love between the original owner and her husband for such a small amount of money.

She turned and walked out, and the shopkeeper didn't stop her. He figured that once the family ran out of food, this woman would definitely come back again.

Outside, Zhao Dashan had also come over after buying steamed buns. He hurriedly asked, "Mom, how much did you pawn?"

Cheng Wanwan put the silver hairpin into her sleeve and said, "Two hundred coins."

I used the money I earned from selling mushrooms yesterday to buy some seasonings and soap, and this morning I bought two meat buns. I have exactly two hundred coins left.

Zhao Dashan smiled: "Two hundred coins can buy a lot of grain..."

He only feels at ease when there is food in the house.

Cheng Wanwan took out ten coins and gave them to him: "Go to the general store and buy some salt and some other seasonings. I'll go to the grain store to check."

Zhao Dashan stuffed the meat bun into his mouth, took the copper coins and went to work.

Cheng Wanwan went straight to the grain store. Every grain was marked with a price: rice was twelve coins a pound, millet was five coins, and wheat flour was eight coins.

Her brows furrowed. When she returned to town to buy grain, millet only cost two coins per pound. How long has it been? The price has increased so much.

She walked out of the grain store and went to an empty alley. She opened the virtual mall. The food in the mall was much cheaper than in the grain store.

Rice cost two coins per pound, so she bought twenty pounds. Flour cost four coins per pound, so she bought twenty pounds as well. Then she spent thirty coins to buy an iron pot.

The basket on her back suddenly felt heavy; she had originally planned to buy some things, but she really couldn't carry it anymore.

Cheng Wanwan walked out carrying a backpack weighing dozens of kilograms and met Zhao Dashan head-on.

Zhao Dashan held a small bag of salt in his hand and said, "Mom, the price of salt has gone up. Ten cents can only buy this little bit."

Cheng Wanwan shook her head: "I just bought some too, let's go home."

Salt is cheap in the mall; you can buy five large bags for ten coins.

Just as the two were about to board the oxcart, chaos suddenly broke out on the street, with the people looking panicked and talking amongst themselves.

"Bandits broke into Master Wang's house last night and stole a thousand catties of rice!"

"These bandits are too audacious! They actually broke into my house and stole my grain. Have they reported it to the authorities?"

"We reported it to the authorities last night, but they haven't caught anyone. Everyone, lock your doors tightly tonight so you don't get targeted by thieves."

"..."

When Cheng Wanwan turned around, she saw that the price tag at the grain store had changed, and the price of rice had become fifteen cents per pound.

Zhao Dashan was stunned: "Why is it so expensive..."

Cheng Wanwan sighed.

A thousand catties of grain were stolen from Ping'an Town, making the already scarce grain even more precious. Today it costs fifteen coins, but tomorrow it will probably cost twenty coins.

Fortunately, she has an online store, so she's not afraid of soaring prices.

But others in this era inevitably suffer a great deal.

Cheng Wanwan shook off her complicated emotions and led Zhao Dashan onto the oxcart.

Seeing her basket on her back, Zhao Da casually asked, "Sister-in-law Zhao, why did you buy a pot? This pot looks really nice. When did Zhu the blacksmith's craftsmanship become so good?"

Cheng Wanwan said, "It wasn't Zhu the blacksmith who made it."

She refused to say another word about where she bought it.

Zhao Da thought to himself, "What kind of critical moment is this? We should be lucky to have any food to eat, and this spendthrift woman is actually spending money to buy a pot."

The other passengers on the oxcart were all in a bad mood after their trip to town, and they chatted idly along the way.

"Millet costs five copper coins a pound, which is unaffordable, so I bought some buckwheat flour instead."

"We only have three days' worth of food left at home, and we're counting on the crops in the fields. If it doesn't rain soon, our family will have to eat tree bark every day."

"Last year, the imperial court distributed relief grain during the locust plague. If there is no harvest this year, the imperial court should not ignore it."

"We're suffering from a drought here, but I've heard it's been raining every day in Ancheng, and all the crops have been drowned. With so many people suffering, is the imperial court's food supply sufficient?"

"..."

The more they talked, the more somber the atmosphere became.

Suddenly, something flew onto Cheng Wanwan's head, startling her so much that she didn't dare to move: "Dashan, quick, help me get it down!"

She had lived for thirty-three years, fearing neither heaven nor earth, except for insects and spiders.

Zhao Dashan hurriedly tried to catch the insect on her head, but his face fell as soon as he did: "Uncle Da, take a look, is this a locust?"

A yellowish-green flying insect with long forewings—what else could it be but a locust?

The woman on the oxcart screamed.

"Didn't the locusts fly away last year? How come there are still some?"

"Don't scare yourself. There's only one locust. Just crush it."

Aunt Fugui stepped forward and pinched the locust, which instantly burst with juice. She threw the locust onto the cart and stomped on it twice to vent her anger.

As the saying goes, when locusts pass through, not a blade of grass grows.

The locust plague was more terrifying to the villagers than the drought.

Droughts can be alleviated by the hope of rain, but locusts can devour crops in less than a day.

Last year was the same; Dahe Village had no harvest at all, and only through the relief from the imperial court and the autumn planting and spring harvest did they manage to survive until now.

No one dares to go through it again.

Upon arriving at the village entrance, Cheng Wanwan and Zhao Dashan jumped out of the car. Only Wu Huiniang was home, mending clothes.

Cheng Wanwan went inside: "Huiniang, go close the door."

The incident involving the wealthy man Wang in town served as a warning to her: she must never flaunt her grain, or it would attract the covetous eyes of others. That's why she bought a pot in town and placed it upside down on her basket, so no one could see what was inside.

Even Zhao Dashan didn't know exactly what his mother had bought.

She first took out the iron pot, and then took out the other items one by one.

Twenty catties of rice, twenty catties of flour, and two catties of pork belly that she bought at the mall, a big bag of coarse salt, and all sorts of necessary seasonings filled the table... She was now penniless and had to go up the mountain in the afternoon to find mushrooms to earn some copper coins.

Cheng Wanwan handed the pork belly to Wu Huiniang: "We're having braised pork for lunch today."

Wu Huiniang paused for a moment: "Mother, what is braised pork?"