Chapter 265 High Price of Food
Liu Ji moved the low table into the yard, and Qin Yao brought out the freshly baked dinner. The family of six picked up their chopsticks and began to eat in silence. The only sound that could be heard in the yard was the slurping sound of their eating.
A group of people in the old house gathered behind the family of six. Seeing their miserable appearance, they felt both funny and pitiful.
Seeing Qin Yao finish a bowl, He and Qiu quickly refilled her bowl. The whole pot of noodle soup was eaten up by the family of six.
After the meal, the six children couldn’t wait to light up the lanterns they brought from the city and ran around the yard happily.
Da Mao should have been asleep at this hour, but now he is very excited. Unfortunately, he can't run or talk yet. He can only raise his chubby little fists and make "ah ah" sounds of agreement, as if he wants to play with his brothers and sisters.
The living standard in the old house has improved, and the little guy is raised by Mrs. Qiu to be plump and white, which is pleasing to the eye.
Qin Yao held the baby in her arms for a while, rubbing his little face, kissing his little hands, and the little guy's innocent smile made her feel very relieved.
"Mom, give me Damao." Erlang came over, followed by Si Niang and Jinhua, wanting to take his brother to play with lanterns together.
Qin Yao didn't dare to hand such a small baby to these naughty kids, so she let the three of them play by themselves.
After enjoying the cool air, the adults went to the main room, holding the sleepy Da Mao.
Qin Yao winked at Liu Ji, and Liu Ji smiled mysteriously at everyone, "Dad, guess how much the grain is selling for per pound outside?"
This old man Liu really doesn't know that they are self-sufficient in the village and will only go out when there is a big market and they are short of something at home.
However, the three Liu brothers had been following Carpenter Liu on his trips for the past half month and knew something.
"I think the price of coarse grains is 40 cents per pound now?" Liu Zhong said uncertainly.
Zhang's mother-in-law and daughter-in-law gasped when they heard this. He asked loudly, "Forty cents a pound? Who can afford this? Black-hearted grain merchants, how can they even ask for this price?"
Liu Ji snorted and said, "Why can't I shout it out? It's already fifty coins per pound, and there are plenty of people buying it."
What’s the use of having more money if you’ve lost your life?
Liu Ji said: "When we came back today, we saw that the government was distributing relief grain to the people in this county. The grain price in this city should drop a little, but for ordinary people like us, no matter how much it drops, it is still sky-high."
Liu Bo frowned and asked, "So what do you want to say?"
No matter how the price of food goes up or down, they will not buy it because they have enough food at home.
Liu Ji rolled his eyes at his elder brother and said, "You are such a peasant. With the current grain prices, don't you want to do something?"
Liu Bo had long been accustomed to his bad mouth and was too lazy to argue with him. He asked unhappily, "What can we do? We have enough food at home. The price of food will naturally drop after the autumn harvest. There is no need to rush to buy."
"Are you just thinking about buying it?" Liu Ji asked in disbelief.
Liu Bo was stunned by this question, but then he reacted and looked at Qin Yao who was playing with the child in disbelief:
"You want to sell food?"
Qin Yao nodded, and Liu Ji continued excitedly: "When we bought it, it was only a little over three coins per pound, including the travel expenses, but now this kind of hulled wheat is sold as a medium-quality grain outside, and it costs one hundred coins per pound!"
Liu Ji asked his brothers to calculate for themselves how many times the amount had increased!
"Thirty-three times?" Liu Fei calculated the answer and his heart trembled for a moment.
Old Man Liu took a deep breath. If they really sold the grain at the current price, then the one thousand kilograms of wheat that they bought for three taels of silver should be sold for one hundred taels of silver, right?
The whole family can only save seven or eight taels throughout the year, and this is how much I can earn now by working with the third son's wife.
In the past, saving 400 grams of silver a year was the best you could do.
These one hundred taels of silver are equivalent to twenty-five years of savings!
After calculating the exact number in his mind, Old Man Liu couldn't help shaking his hands as he held the bowl of bitter tea.
The tea spilled and soaked his clothes. He put down the tea bowl in a hurry. He still didn't quite believe it. He counted it twice to make sure it was this much money. He looked at Qin Yao and his wife in shock, "We, we can also sell it for 100 coins per pound?"
He didn't say anything about the black-hearted grain merchant at this moment. She swallowed hard and poured herself a cup of tea to calm herself down.
Unfortunately, I forgot that this was the old man’s bitter tea. I took a gulp and it was so bitter that my whole face wrinkled. I felt uncomfortable in my mouth and started to retch.
Liu Bo helplessly rushed her to the kitchen and said, "Drink more water. You look so anxious."
Qiu and Liu Zhong looked at each other, feeling a little uneasy. "If they really sold it for so much money, isn't that a bit too cruel?"
Zhang also said: "I can't sleep at night with this dirty money in my hands."
Liu Fei nodded in agreement.
Liu Ji rolled his eyes speechlessly, "Of course we can't do such a wicked thing, so we'll just sell it for fifty coins a pound!"
"Puff~" Old man Liu, who had just picked up the bitter tea, spat out a mouthful of tea. Fortunately, everyone was standing far away, so no one was affected by the sprayed tea.
Isn't it unscrupulous to charge fifty cents per pound?
However, judging from the reactions of everyone in the old house, they all agreed to take out the 1,000 kilograms of stored grain and sell it together with Qin Yao and his wife at a high price.
Liu Ji glanced at Qin Yao and saw that she didn't react, so he continued, "It doesn't have to be fifty cents. We don't know what the price will be in two days. Anyway, as long as we sell it cheaper than those black-hearted profiteers, we will definitely have no trouble selling it."
At this moment, there is no need to worry about selling grain. However, everyone in the old house feels a little uneasy when they think about selling it at such a high price and the capital they have put out is so little.
Qin Yao was not in a hurry either. She still had to deal with the stationery factory matters in the village in the next two days, so she could give them two more days to think about it.
She was going to sell grain anyway, so if she missed this opportunity it would be gone.
When she stockpiled grain, besides thinking of having a safe supply, she also hoped to make a small profit when grain prices went up.
On the way back to the village, Qin Yao looked around and saw that the rice in the fields was growing well. With the autumn harvest as a guarantee, there was no need to worry about producing all 10,000 kilograms of rice.
Moreover, by the time the rice is harvested in mid-to-late July, grain prices will slowly return to normal levels. In addition, according to the news Zhou Zheng has just received, the imperial court's disaster relief order may be implemented in half a month.
Therefore, the best time to sell grain is within the next ten days.
Of course, there are risks as well. Those forces behind the scenes will not allow anyone to steal their business.
But how can you make money without risk?
Qin Yao was not too worried because she could protect her business.
Qin Yao and his wife called the four children who were squatting by the door because they were tired from playing, and led the children home.
When passing by the river, they fetched a huge bucket of water and brought it home. Liu Ji lit a fire to boil the water, and the family finally took a comfortable bath.
It was late at night, the lights were turned off, and the yard became quiet.
Qin Yao lay in her soft and comfortable bed, greedily inhaling the lingering soapberry fragrance on the quilt. She relaxed her whole body, temporarily put aside her worries, and fell into a deep sleep.
(End of this chapter)
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