After Zhu Xixi finished packing everything she could in the yard, she jumped into the hot spring with satisfaction and soaked comfortably.
Completely forgetting about what happened between Old Lady Zhu and Madam Liu outside the space, he was comfortably dozing off.
At this moment, Old Lady Zhu, who was outside the space, had already entered the depths of the grass. Suddenly, she abruptly grabbed Liu, who was walking in front, and made a shushing gesture with a tense expression.
Liu immediately stopped and turned to look at Old Madam Zhu, nodding with her lower lip pursed.
Just then, a man's gruff voice rang out from the other side of the bushes, "Alright, the bushes have been cleared. Let's go back first and move on at midnight."
Upon hearing the order, the others responded and picked up their hoes and sickles, leaving in an orderly fashion.
After a long while, Old Lady Zhu gestured for Liu to squat down, and she tiptoed through the grass to look outside.
The ground was empty except for the arched opening. After confirming that no one was there, she turned around and told her daughter-in-law.
"When I say one, two, three, we'll run towards the archway ahead and run all the way in."
"Mother, I understand."
Liu hugged Zhu Xixi tightly and nodded firmly.
Old Lady Zhu was worried that the Turks might turn back halfway, so she suggested that the two of them rush out as fast as possible. Once they entered the stone canal, they would be temporarily safe.
She took a deep breath and whispered the numbers, "1, 2, 3, run."
At a command, Old Lady Zhu and Madam Liu pushed through the bushes and ran quickly toward the archway.
Although Liu tried her best to protect Zhu Xixi with both hands to prevent her from being too jolted, the running motion was too large.
Zhu Xixi, who was fast asleep, was shaken awake and groggily looked around at her surroundings.
What time is it? What's the situation now?
Upon hearing her daughter's voice, Liu dared not stop and ran quickly into the stone canal.
After the two of them successfully entered Shiqu, she slowly stopped, panting as she looked down at her daughter.
"Xixi, are you alright?"
To avoid worrying her mother, Zhu Xixi gave her a bright smile and waved her little hand while babbling.
"Eldest daughter-in-law, how are you? Was Xixi frightened?" Old Mrs. Zhu followed closely behind and came to Liu's side, panting as she looked down at her granddaughter.
She looked right at Xixi's smiling face and breathed a sigh of relief. "This child, she can still smile even after such a bumpy ride."
"Mother, let's hurry and leave!" Liu looked at the dark passage with some fear, her voice trembling.
Seeing this, Old Lady Zhu quickly took out a tinderbox from her bosom, held it up, and walked ahead, leading Liu Shi deeper into the stone canal.
The two walked straight ahead until they reached the end, only to find that the end of the passage led to several archways in different directions.
[Holy crap! Where are we going? We've gone the wrong way. This leads to East Street and goes directly to the grain store.]
Zhu Xixi had already studied the route map, and with a wave of her chubby little finger, she pointed to the rightmost archway, making babbling sounds.
Following Zhu Xixi's little hand, Liu went up to Old Madam Zhu and reminded her.
"Mother, Xixi keeps pointing at the rightmost archway and calling out. Could that be the right one?"
After hearing this, Grandma Zhu turned around and looked at her granddaughter, who was waving her little hand excitedly and nodding with a smile without hesitation.
"Okay, I'll listen to my Xixi."
The two immediately decided to walk towards the rightmost archway. After about half an incense stick's time, they finally saw a ray of white light in front of the passage.
"Mother, it's just ahead." Madam Liu was the first to spot the white light and pulled Old Lady Zhu along, jogging towards it.
The two passed through the passage and arrived smoothly at the small door next to the city gate. Pushing open the small door, they entered the market on East Street.
Inside Jiangyang City, a peaceful scene of singing and dancing still prevailed, a completely different world from outside the city.
The only difference was that every rice shop had a sign saying "Sold Out of Rice," except for one rice shop that was still open.
A long queue formed outside the rice shop, where each person was limited to buying only one dou (a unit of dry measure) of rice, and no one was allowed to buy more than that, even if they had money.
As Grandma Zhu watched the scene of people rushing to buy rice, her unease grew even stronger.
“Eldest daughter-in-law, let’s go to the bank to exchange the gold for silver first, and then buy some rice. I’m not feeling quite at ease here.”
Remembering her daughter's earlier warning, Liu's eyes revealed a hint of fear, and her voice trembled slightly, "Mother, I'm a little scared."
"Don't be afraid, we'll exchange the silver for smaller pieces and then leave. Tell the second brother and the others the location of the stone canal."
Seeing this, Grandma Zhu quickly stepped forward, took her daughter-in-law's hand, and gently comforted her.
Although Liu was somewhat worried, the mission still needed to be carried out, so she could only nervously look up at her mother-in-law.
"Okay, Mother, let's hurry and exchange the money!"
Grandma Zhu held her daughter-in-law's hand with a relieved smile and led her toward the money exchange, which was nearly empty.
They quickly exchanged the gold in their hands for loose silver and some silver. Because there was too much money, Old Lady Zhu had to put some of it in the inner layer at the bottom of the bamboo basket.
Then, carrying a bag of loose silver, they hurried toward the rice shop. However, when they arrived at the rice shop...
Rice shops that used to sell rice for a few taels of silver per dou (a unit of dry measure) now display signs for fifty taels per dou. Despite this, a steady stream of people still crowd in front of the rice shops, holding silver notes, eager to buy rice.
Old Mrs. Zhu stood at the back of the crowd, bewildered, staring blankly at the endless stream of people. "Fifty taels for a peck of rice? How can it be so expensive?"
“Yes! This price can buy a whole bag of rice. How come it has suddenly gone up so much?” Liu was worried that her mother-in-law would be bumped by the crowds of people scrambling to buy rice. She frowned and helped her mother-in-law back.
Zhu Xihao craned her neck to look outside the door, blinking as she peered through the crowd at the shop.
Suddenly, the Turks who had been seen in the stone canal appeared in the shop and furtively led the shop assistant to the warehouse.
"Hide all the rice, and then pack some brown rice and moldy rice to sell to these Yuan people."
Upon hearing the manager's instructions, the workers immediately sprang into action and moved all the rice from the back of the warehouse.
The obese shopkeeper looked at the bags of moldy rice on his assistant's shoulder and a strange smile appeared on his face.
“These lowly people only deserve to eat this moldy rice. The good rice should naturally be transported to our Turkic camp.”
"Eagle Lord's idea is really good. By raising the price and selling the problematic rice, we can not only earn money from the Yuan people to fund the military, but also get these good varieties of rice for free."
Upon learning about the shop's situation, Zhu Xixi clenched her small fists in anger and waved them angrily in the air.
[Tsk tsk, that's amazing! They deliberately inflated prices to disrupt the market and cause chaos in Jiangyang City.]
They even sold moldy rice to the people, and then sent rice from the Yuan Dynasty to the Turkic army camp. It's infuriating!
The border that my father worked so hard to guard has been completely destroyed by these villains, and even the people are living in a state of hunger.
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