Upon hearing this, Song Ning turned her head and saw a well-dressed middle-aged man walking towards her.
With a kind face, he asked with a smile, "Little girl, I see you're selling mountain products, right?"
“Yes.” Song Ning nodded.
“Here’s what I’ll do: I’ll give you one hundred coins, and I’ll take everything in your basket.” He said, taking out some money from his pocket and handing it to Song Ning.
They spend money without hesitation, they're very generous.
Handing over the contents of the basket, Song Ning asked, "Uncle, do you want pheasants or rabbits? I have those too, I just caught them yesterday."
Upon hearing this, the man's eyes lit up, and he immediately nodded: "Yes, yes, where is it? Can I see it?"
"Yes, it's in my basket."
Song Ning quietly released the rabbits and pheasants from her spatial storage, took down the basket, and lifted the covering cloth.
To avoid arousing suspicion, she carried a large basket with her on her back today, covered it with a cloth, and nothing could be seen.
The man eagerly craned his neck to look into the basket containing the rabbits and pheasants, and immediately became happy.
He slapped his thigh and exclaimed, "Oh my god, thank heavens! My young master has been asking for this for the past few days, but we couldn't find it in town. Isn't this a stroke of luck?"
Seeing that he was pleased, the man immediately agreed: "Okay, I'll give you two taels of silver, and I'll take all of these things."
That's great. Song Ning thought to herself, she was just worried about not being able to sell them.
They immediately exchanged money for goods. Song Ning kept one pheasant and two rabbits for himself, and sold the rest.
Before leaving, the man instructed, "Young lady, if you have any more of these good things recently, please send them over; I want more."
Clutching the heavy silver in his hand, Song Ning happily hurried to the grain shop.
Grain stores now display price tags, and after glancing at them, I realized that grain prices are outrageously high.
In the past, grain prices were only a few coins per kilogram, but since years of disasters, grain prices have increased many times over.
Rice is now 20 wen a jin, wheat flour is 16 wen a jin, and millet is still 10 wen a jin.
Song Ning's heart sank. The price of grain changes every day; the price might go up the moment she buys it.
However, since the family had been without food for too long, Song Ning didn't mind spending the money and bought ten catties of each, as well as some coarse rice and coarse flour, just in case.
As soon as I came out of the grain shop, I had only taken a few steps when the street suddenly became chaotic.
Not knowing what had happened, Song Ning quickly moved to a corner and hid in an empty alley.
Looking at the chaos on the street, he sighed. The world is not peaceful; who knows what might happen next.
Once the street had finally calmed down, he emerged from the alley.
I strolled around the streets for a while longer, and bought almost everything I needed. My basket on my back was almost full.
On her way back, she passed by the store where she bought the grain again and saw that the prices had changed.
In a short while, the price of rice went from twenty coins to thirty coins.
It seems the commotion earlier was related to food supplies. Ever since the disaster, there have been frequent incidents of people looting food in the town.
The price of grain at just twenty coins was already prohibitive for most people; now that the price has gone up, it's even more unaffordable.
My mood suddenly turned heavy. It seems that many more people are going to suffer.
On the way back, Li Daniu became less talkative, and the atmosphere became somewhat heavy.
Seeing that Song Ning remained silent, he spoke first: "What's wrong?"
Song Ning smiled and said, "It's nothing."
"You don't need to worry. Even if the people in our village run out of food, we still have those mountains, so they won't starve to death for the time being."
That being said, if it doesn't rain, it probably won't last much longer.
Now there are hardly any wild vegetables left on the mountain. If this continues, families without food will have no choice but to gnaw on tree bark.
Thinking of this, Song Ning asked, "Uncle Li, I heard that the imperial court provides relief grain?"
"Now more and more places are suffering from disasters, and our place is remote. How can the imperial court manage it all? At first, there was relief grain, but I estimate that the imperial court's grain supply is not enough now."
"So, will no one take care of us from now on?"
"I'm afraid so, but our magistrate is a good official and has been trying to find a solution. Don't worry, nothing will happen," Li Daniu reassured him.
......
The more they talked, the more Song Ning's heart sank.
In the past, the imperial court provided relief grain, and no matter how much, the villagers could at least receive some.
But now the imperial court is no longer involved, so we'll have to find our own way from now on.
However, this news also made Song Ning wary. From now on, no matter what he says, he must never say that his family has grain.
If others find out, it could easily bring disaster.
Upon entering the village, I could see Liu Yuelan standing by the roadside, gazing towards the village entrance from a distance.
Seeing this, Song Ning quickly waved his hand.
He jumped out of the car, thanked Li Daniu, and turned to go home.
Liu Yuelan quickly took the basket from Song Ning's back; it was quite heavy.
Once inside, Song Ning quickly replaced the old pot with a new one.
Then he took out the rice, flour, oil, salt, and some seasonings from the basket, and also cut three catties of pork, which was very fatty, just right for rendering lard.
When Liu Yuelan saw that Song Ning had taken out so many things, she was so surprised that she couldn't speak for a moment.
Yesterday, my mother-in-law gave me 100 coins. After deducting 35 coins for the medicinal herbs, I still have 65 coins left.
Sixty-five coins can buy all this stuff?
"Has the price of grain in town dropped?"
Song Ning smiled and whispered, "It's not that grain prices have dropped, it's that I've made money."
"Last time I went up the mountain, I found a rabbit burrow and some mountain produce. I put it in my basket when I left today and sold it for more than an ounce of silver."
"One, one ounce?"
Liu Yuelan had never seen so much silver in her life. Er Ya earned so much from just one trip!
Sure enough, her daughter is capable!
Who says raising a daughter is useless? Who says her daughter is a money-loser? Her daughter is the best.
"Mom, let's steam rice for lunch."
"Why!"
With money and food in the family, there's nothing more joyful than that.
Aunt Zhao came over to help in the morning and even brought a bunch of greens, which we stir-fried with meat for lunch.
In Nanshan Village, food is mostly boiled or stewed; it's rare to see food stir-fried with oil.
Song Ning gave a brief explanation, and Liu Yuelan understood.
Rice and water were put into one pot, and vegetables were stir-fried in another. Liu Yuelan cut the meat and washed the vegetables.
According to Song Ning, they began refining the oil.
The white, fatty meat was rendered into scalding hot lard in no time after being put into the pot.
The fried pork cracklings are crispy and delicious, making your mouth water just looking at them.
Song Ning picked up the bowl of fried pork cracklings, picked out the largest piece, and held it to Liu Yuelan's lips: "Mother, you should try it."
Following Song Ning's action, Liu Yuelan put the fried pork cracklings into her mouth, her expression brightening: "Delicious!"
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