Chapter 5: Evacuating the entire capital
Shen Yichuan glanced at Shen Fenghe, took the chicken legs, handed one to Shen Qingxing, and took the other one himself, taking a big bite: "We're all going to die anyway, it's better to die with a full stomach than a starving one!"
When Shen Qingxing saw her brother eating, she immediately started to eat voraciously as well.
Chen Fenghe narrowed her eyes slightly.
Although Yang Cuicui failed to succeed this time because of her sudden appearance, she will never give up in the future!
As long as they stay in the Shen Mansion, these two little ones will never be able to grow up alive.
This kid is only five years old, but he is so smart, which makes people feel even more distressed.
"If you are not afraid of suffering, I can show you a way to survive."
Upon hearing this, Shen Yichuan looked up in a daze at the man in black in front of him.
Is there any chance for him and his sister to survive?
Chen Fenghe said, "In the next day or two, your eldest sister will probably be exiled. If you are not afraid of the hardship of exile, pack your bags and secretly go find her. She will take you away."
Shen Yichuan didn't quite believe what Shen Fenghe said and looked at her suspiciously.
Chen Fenghe sighed and said, "Don't worry, I actually know your sister. She specifically asked me to come here."
After hearing this, Shen Qingxing said happily: "Brother, he said that sister...will sister really take us away? Brother, let's go with sister..."
After listening to this, Shen Yichuan hesitated for a moment, and finally nodded: "Okay! We are not afraid of hardship! Let's go with Sister!"
Chen Fenghe really wanted to take them away right now, but she was afraid that the Eastern Palace would be raided early tomorrow morning, and they would definitely be discovered, which would cause trouble.
However, the Shen Mansion was indeed no longer safe for them.
"Do you have any acquaintances in the capital? I can take you there to hide first so that you won't be discovered by your father."
There was a nanny who accompanied the original owner's two siblings back to the capital. She was driven out of the mansion by Yang Cuicui on a pretext, so she can be entrusted to others.
Shen Yichuan was indeed smart. After being reminded by Shen Fenghe, he immediately nodded and said, "Yes! We can go to Li Mama's house first..."
Chen Fenghe did not delay any longer. She immediately picked up the two of them and climbed over the wall at night. Following Chen Yichuan's instructions, they went to Nanny Li's house in the west of the city.
She entrusted the twins to Li Ma, left twenty taels of silver to her, and also took some pancakes, big white steamed buns, meat dumplings, braised pork, roast chicken and other food to feed the two little ones. She gave the extra food to Li Ma's family as snacks before leaving.
Chen Fenghe did not return to the East Palace, but went directly to the most prosperous Suzaku Street and knocked on the door of the grain store on the street.
"Who is it? Why are you not sleeping in the middle of the night and knocking on the door? We're closed!" the grain store owner yelled angrily.
Chen Fenghe lowered his voice and said, "Boss, you won't do a big deal?"
The grain store owner, upon hearing this, had no choice but to put on his clothes and remove a piece of the wooden door panel. He asked sleepily, "What a boast! I want to see how big a deal this is!"
Chen Fenghe directly took out a silver ingot weighing ten taels.
The grain store owner, seeing this, was no longer sleepy. He immediately and swiftly removed another piece of the door panel, rubbed his hands with a flattering smile, and said, "Sir... Sir, I have been blind and did not recognize you. Please come in, please come in!"
Chen Fenghe didn't hesitate and walked straight into the store and asked, "How much grain do you have in your store, including the warehouse?"
The owner of the grain store was confused. Ten taels of silver could not buy out his entire grain store, so why should he ask him how much he had in total?
However, since this was obviously a big customer, he couldn't afford to neglect him. Rubbing his hands, he replied, "Sir, we currently have ten dan of wheat (ten dan is about 1,200 kilograms), ten dan of brown rice, ten dan of polished rice, five dan of millet (yellow rice), five dan of sorghum, and five dan of beans. Don't worry, we have enough for ten taels of silver."
Chen Fenghe nodded and said, "I want them all."
When the grain store owner heard this, he was stunned and suspected that he had heard it wrong.
"Sir, the current prices are two strings of silver per dan of wheat and polished rice, five hundred strings of silver per dan of brown rice, and one string of silver per dan of the rest. If you want all of them, that's... that's a total of 70 taels of silver!"
One tael of silver is equal to one guan, which is one thousand coins.
Apart from the purchases made by the rich and powerful, ordinary people, those with a slightly better financial situation, would usually buy ten kilograms of wheat or refined rice, spending a total of one hundred and sixty to seventy coins, which was enough to eat for ten days to half a month.
Some poor families could only afford to buy one or half a pound of food for the day at a time. Moreover, they could not afford rice and wheat, which were too expensive, so they only bought millet or beans, which only cost eight or nine cents a day.
Is this gentleman crazy? He wants to buy seventy taels of silver worth of food in one go. That's seventy thousand coins, enough for a poor family's able-bodied laborer to earn in two years!
Chen Fenghe directly took out 9 more silver ingots from his arms and placed them on the table. Each ingot weighed ten taels, and together with the previous ingot, it was a total of one hundred taels.
She also casually threw in a piece of silver worth about five taels of silver and said calmly:
"Of the one hundred taels, seventy taels are for the grain. Of the five taels, I'd like you to deliver them to the abandoned house in South City before the hour of Yin. Also, I'd like you to run errands and make arrangements with any familiar shops on this street, whether they sell grain, pork, beef, mutton, cloth, ironware, or medicinal herbs. The remaining thirty taels are deposits for the other shops. As long as you deliver all the goods to those shops before the hour of Yin, you'll get your money!"
The owner of the grain store stared at the glittering silver ingots on the table with his eyes wide open.
He had been doing business in Beijing for many years and had seen silver ingots before. He himself had some savings, but this was the first time he had seen such a generous guest, and most importantly, someone so magnanimous!
He had received many purchasing agents from high-ranking officials and nobles, and every one of them was mean and harsh, trying to extort money from him every time.
"Sir, are you serious?" the grain store owner confirmed again, his heart pounding!
Chen Fenghe looked at him and said, "Do I look like I'm joking? There's just one thing: try not to make any noise!"
The grain store owner saw this and immediately said, "Okay! I'll do it right away! I'll do it right away!"
Chen Fenghe nodded, without stopping, walked out of the store and headed straight for the next street.
The next street she went to was a shop that sold cloth, cotton, and the like. In addition to various silks and cottons, she bought more cotton, linen, ramie, and cotton.
In the future, when fleeing from famine, those silks and satins will be of limited use and it will not be easy to use them openly. Instead, cotton and hemp cloth will be more practical.
Just as he had instructed the grain store owner, Chen Fenghe also entrusted the matters of other businesses on the street to the cloth shop owner, and then went straight to the next street.
There are nine vertical and nine horizontal streets in the capital, eight of which are the most prosperous. It would be too inefficient for her to knock on every door one by one.
After running through eight streets, Chen Fenghe went straight to the abandoned house in South City.
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