Chapter 207: Lin Zhaodi brought back more than a stone of grain! ...
Because Lin Shu and Zhou Ye had predicted the flood before, and the villagers had witnessed Lin Shu's ability with their own eyes after a few days in the mountains, when Lin Shu said this, the villagers actually listened to her.
In addition, the village head's grandson Zhang Zongyao had just returned from the town. He was a smart scholar. If smart people said so, how could they really not listen?
Immediately, a villager gritted his teeth and said, "Old Liao, when you leave later, please give me a shout. My family also wants to buy some food!"
“My family buys it too!”
“And my home!”
"Whatever, I'll buy some too. I'll use all the remaining money at home to buy food!"
Just like when they had fled to the mountains to avoid disaster, one or two people took the lead, and the other villagers, fearing they would be left behind, also started asking for food. Even those who didn't have much money at home would buy even a liter or two.
Without waiting for the villagers to disperse, Lin Shu and Zhou Ye went back first.
Before the flood, the family's money jar and cash box had been buried in the courtyard. Lin Shu planned to take some of the money out and buy as much food as possible, at least enough to feed the family for six months. In addition to rice, she also bought gray flour and grains, buying whatever was cheaper.
He Guixiang was willing to listen to her. Money couldn't be eaten, and at a time like this, it was natural to stockpile more food for security. But she was overthinking it and said with some concern, "Ah Shu, if we buy too much food, I'm afraid we won't be able to hide it from the villagers."
When everyone is having a hard time, if one family is doing too well, they will be hated.
Of course Lin Shu knew, she knew better than anyone that when people are forced into desperate situations, they will do anything. The ugliness in human nature will be infinitely magnified, morality will be degraded, humanity will be annihilated, and everything is done for the sake of survival.
But the situation wasn't quite as dire as it once was. At least this was a peaceful era. The current ruler was a conservative ruler. Aside from occasional incursions from the Rong and Di tribes on the northwestern border and bandits in remote areas, there wasn't much unrest. Aye's fate was due to bad luck. The local governor was a corrupt official who had mixed sand and shells into the grain provided to the imperial court for disaster relief. Furthermore, the locusts had wiped out everything, leaving even wild vegetables uneaten. The people were forced to leave their homes in search of a way out.
This only refers to the well-behaved lower-class people. As for those who didn't, some were so hungry they stole food from other people's homes, while others killed their officials in anger and turned bandit. But no matter what, the situation was eventually quelled. The corrupt officials were executed, the bandits were suppressed, and the only ones who suffered were the majority of the well-behaved people.
Jingxi Town should not be in such a bad situation. As long as the people above are not greedy, even if the disaster relief efficiency is a little low, food will be distributed to the people sooner or later. Besides, people live by the mountains and rivers, so they will not be forced to leave their homes.
Lin Shu is now only thinking about her own family. Other families can endure it, but she and A Ye cannot. They have big appetites, and the food rations for just the two of them are equivalent to the food rations for seven or eight adults in an ordinary family.
In the current situation, it’s better to hide how much food there is at home, and it’s better to hide it if you can. With her and A Ye here, she doesn’t want to see who dares to steal the food!
But this couldn't be said in front of He Guixiang, so Lin Shu comforted her, "Don't worry, Mother. Old Man Liao is on our side. Just ask him to help cover up a few things."
In fact, she suspected that there were some good things hidden in the wooden barrel and backpack that Aunt Lin brought back, most likely food.
"Mom, let's dig the money box quickly. It will be inconvenient if someone comes later." She and A Ye came back first in order to take out the money box and money jar buried in the ground.
As soon as she finished speaking, Zhou Ye came over with a shovel. Before he could ask, Lin Xiaopu quickly pointed to the stone slab on the ground and said, "Brother-in-law, it's right under this stone slab. My sister put it there herself."
After Zhou Ye knew the location, he dug a big hole with a shovel.
After a while, he looked up and said, "Xiao Pu, are you sure this is the location?"
Lin Xiaopu:? ?
"I clearly remember it's here." She rolled her eyes and looked at Lin Shu.
Lin Shu laughed, "Isn't this stone slab movable? It would have been displaced by the flood. You need to find an immovable object as a reference, like our stove."
After she finished speaking, she gestured back and forth, pointing to another spot beside the stone slab, "Aye, try digging here."
Although Zhou Ye worked in vain, he had no complaints. He started digging at the other place Lin Shu pointed. After digging for a few times, the shovel hit something hard. From the sound, it sounded like it hit a stone.
He raised his eyebrows slightly, "Ashu is smart. She even put a slate on top of the cash box."
After the stone slab was pried open, revealing the money box and money jar underneath, Zhou Ye threw away the shovel in his hand. Not minding the dirt, he simply used his hands to dig away the wet mud around them. After most of the iron box and iron jar were exposed, he used the shovel to dig up more soil on the side and took out the iron box and iron jar intact.
Seeing him working so seriously, Lin Shu couldn't help but lean over and kiss him on the cheek, "Kiss me, Ah Ye is so charming when he works."
Zhou Ye was stunned for a moment, his ears turned red instantly, but the corners of his mouth curled up slightly.
For a moment, he forgot all about natural disasters and man-made disasters.
As long as Ah Shu is by his side, no matter how difficult the days are, they will not be bitter.
Because, Ah Shu is sweet.
"Cough, cough, cough, cough!" Lin Dashan, who was sitting on the side doing nothing, was choked by his saliva. His eyes widened. He immediately looked at He Guixiang and Lin Xiaopu, but saw that they looked normal.
No, could it be that he is too old-fashioned? How could he do such an immoral act in broad daylight, in front of so many outsiders!
Seeing that his wife and youngest daughter didn't seem surprised, he began to doubt himself again. Was he really making a fuss out of nothing? Besides, they weren't outsiders.
After thinking about it this way, Lin Dashan finally came to his senses. "Well, there's a flood, and people have died outside. Compared to that, everything else is just a small matter."
Lin Dashan was still calm at this moment, but when the cash box was opened, he became uneasy again.
Lin Dashan stared with his eyes wide open, staring at the things inside, and took a breath of cold air.
So much money!
At a glance, there are so many money, in strings!
This must be several dozen dollars, right?!
After giving Ah Shu such a large dowry, his wife still had so much money left? ?
This wasn't the end of it. When Lin Shu opened her own money jar, Lin Dashan stretched his neck to take a look, and actually saw several white silver ingots?? ! !
Silver ingot!!!
He actually has silver ingots at home? Even he, the head of the family, doesn't know about it!
However, the women in the house didn't even glance at her, and continued to discuss how much to use and how much to keep. Even A Ye and Xiao Pu were dragged in, and they all started whispering to each other.
Lin Dashan, who was excluded: ...
Thinking about the reasons why he might be disliked, Lin Dashan fell silent.
If his wife and daughter hadn't been careful last time, he might have been cheated out of money by his sister-in-law and nephew. He valued family ties, but he was not a fool. Obviously, everyone thought he was a fool.
Well, never mind, never mind. Anyway, the money in the family is managed by his wife, so there is no point in asking him to borrow. He will not promise anything to others casually in the future. If asked, it means that there is no money at home. Even if there is money, he will save it to buy medicinal herbs and food for Ashu.
However, Lin Dashan was still curious and scratched his head. How on earth did his wife save so much money? He was shocked. With that much money, the family could buy dozens or even hundreds of acres of land. He could become a rich man!
But on second thought, this money was most likely earned by Ah Shu and Ah Ye, and should be kept to buy expensive food and medicinal materials for Ah Shu to nourish her body. He couldn't be a rich man or anything like that, so he should just farm his fields in an orderly manner.
Lin Shu didn't know that Lin Dashan had already made up some nonsense in his mind, and finally completed his spiritual sublimation and ideological baptism. After discussing with He Guixiang, she planned to take out 20 strings of money to buy food.
In these few days, no matter whether the price of grain will continue to rise or not, buy as much as you can with twenty strings of cash.
It’s not that they can’t come up with more money, but in the current situation, there are too many people who want to buy food, and they are lucky enough to be able to buy enough food for their own families.
After the discussion, twenty strings of cash were taken out and the rest of the money was kept.
Considering that Old Man Liao's ox cart could only carry seven or eight stone of grain at a time, Lin Shu took out another seven strings of cash.
One dou of rice costs 120 wen, one dan of gray flour costs 1,200 wen. The price of gray flour is rising a little slower at the moment. It used to be 100 wen per dou, but now it is still 120 wen per dou. Three dan of brown rice and two dan of gray flour cost six strings of cash, and the remaining one string of cash can be used to buy miscellaneous grains.
Just as the money was collected, the old yellow cow's cry was heard outside the yard, "Moo——"
Lin Xiaopu, who was on the lookout, immediately ran back, "Sister, it's Old Man Liao and the others who are back!"
Outside the courtyard, Old Man Liao had just parked his oxcart. The others on board had already been sent away, leaving only Lin Zhaodi and Zhao Laosan, along with the sundry items they had brought back. Liao Dunzi had also followed them back.
Liao Dunzi didn't understand what was going on. He just saw a few people stretching their necks to look around, then mysteriously unloading the things from the ox cart and moving them to Uncle Lin's house.
"Sister He, A'shu!" Lin Zhaodi called out in a low voice, her eyes shining.
All the goods on the car were moved into the yard. The miscellaneous items on the surface of the two wooden barrels were moved away, and the wooden basin covering the backpack was also opened. It was full of food - old rice, gray flour and various beans!
Even though Lin Shu had some guesses, she was still quite surprised by how much there was. It must have been nearly two stone of grain!
The money earned on the day of the flood wouldn't have bought that much at today's grain prices, unless Aunt Lin and the others had bought it before the price went up.
He Guixiang gasped, "Sister Zhaodi, what are you doing..."
Lin Dashan also stared at Zhao Laosan with wide eyes, "Brother Zhao, how did you buy so much food?"
Since everyone in the courtyard was considered her family, Lin Zhaodi no longer hid anything and told Lin Shu and the others what had happened in the past few days.
On the day of the flood, she and Zhao Laosan arrived in town early. Because the weather had been incredibly hot and humid, their jelly sold quickly, completely sold out by the morning. After closing their stall, Lin Zhaodi's cousin Huang Dahua left first, returning to the village; her home was close enough to walk back. Lin Zhaodi and her husband planned to buy some food before returning.
Unexpectedly, a strong wind blew outside soon, making it difficult to drive the ox cart in such conditions. Old Man Liao said he would wait and see, and as a result, the flood came as a result of his wait.
The shops in the town were all closed, leaving them with nowhere to hide even if they wanted to. Lin Zhaodi luckily met a customer who loved ice jelly. He was a wealthy man, also surnamed Zhao, like Zhao Laosan. Mr. Zhao usually liked to stroll by and queue up to buy ice jelly. He became familiar with Zhao Laosan and Lin Zhaodi after a few interactions, and he invited Zhao Laosan and his wife, along with Old Man Liao, to his home to shelter from the rain.
No one expected that this heavy rain would turn into a flood. Fortunately, Mr. Zhao's house was made of blue bricks and tiles, and the house was sturdy, so it was not washed away by the flood. The group of people only needed to find a high place to hide in the house to avoid the flood.
Mr. Zhao's family was in business and he was very sensitive to the price of grain. He immediately said that he had to buy grain and stockpile it. It happened that he had some friendship with a grain merchant in the town. Before the water on the ground had receded, he asked his servant to take silver and money to find the grain merchant and ask him to buy five stone of rice, five stone of lime flour and five stone of miscellaneous grains.
Seeing this, Lin Zhaodi shamelessly asked Mr. Zhao to help buy some food. She didn't care about the fact that she had to share the money she earned with Lin Shu. She took out the nearly two hundred dollars that had come into her account that day and planned to exchange it all for food.
Mr. Zhao then said that if he could buy all the grain he wanted, he would sell her two hundred yuan worth of grain at the market price, but if the situation on his side was not good, he would have to share some of it with them.
As expected, merchants are profit-oriented. Even though Mr. Zhao had a close relationship with the grain merchant, the grain merchant was only willing to sell him three stone of rice, three stone of lime flour and four stone of miscellaneous grains, and charged him 10% more.
Since Mr. Zhao was unable to buy the grain he wanted, he only gave some to Lin Zhaodi and her husband as a token of his appreciation, and gave them a few buckets of rice, flour, and other grains.
Lin Zhaodi didn't think it was too little at all. Mr. Zhao's family was not short of money. If it weren't for the daily bowl of ice jelly, and the fact that her third son carried Mr. Zhao's six-year-old grandson on his back when they were taking shelter from the rain in the house, so that the little boy didn't get wet and avoided the possibility of catching a cold, Mr. Zhao might not have shared his grain with them. After all, he wanted to add 20% to the price to buy grain, but the grain merchant refused.
With the grain that Mr. Zhao sold her at the market price, plus some miscellaneous grains and brown rice that she and Zhao Laosan bought themselves before the flood, the total amount was more than one stone.
Later, after the accumulated water in the town was drained, Mr. Zhao went to purchase medicinal herbs and other items as soon as possible. Lin Zhaodi followed suit and bought some as well, spending all the money she had.
As Lin Zhaodi spoke, she took out the contents of the wooden barrel and backpack one by one. After she took out a bag of white rice, she placed it directly in front of Lin Shu. "Mr. Zhao's family eats refined rice, so I asked her to buy refined rice too. Ah Shu, take this bag of refined rice! I exchanged the money from the ice jelly for food and medicinal herbs. We will divide them according to the profit distribution method."
Lin Shu shook her head and said, "Aunt, you're at a loss if we divide the food this way. The price of grain in town has risen sharply, and the money I was allocated can't buy so much grain."
After thinking for a while, she said, "Let's divide these food and herbs equally."
Of course Lin Zhaodi refused, but before she could refuse, Lin Shu said, "After our two families split up, you'll still want to give Old Man Liao some, right? Even if it's split equally, I'm already getting a big advantage. Aunt Lin, please stop pushing it around."
Old Man Liao was stunned when he heard this. He had thought it was none of his business. He usually only brought a few coins with him when he went to town for food, so when he was hungry, he could buy some steamed buns or something. So this time, when Zhao Laosan and his wife came to buy food, he had no money at all. Even if he wanted to buy, he couldn't. Who would have thought that Zhao Laosan's family would even share the money with him?!
Lin Zhaodi was also taken aback when she heard Lin Shu's words. She hadn't thought of giving Old Man Liao a share. After all, Old Man Liao's wages were all paid at the end of the month. But when Ah Shu said that, she remembered how hard Old Man Liao had worked along the way. She couldn't let him down. Even if the other party didn't want it, she had to be polite. So she hurriedly said, "Yes, even without Ah Shu's advice, I was going to give Old Man Liao a tenth as well."
Old Man Liao was pleased to hear this, but he had no intention of asking for the other party's food. "My husband Dunzi said that this time we were able to survive thanks to the food from Aye and Ashu's families. I have quite a lot of food stored at home. You two have just separated and I'm afraid you don't have much at home. You should keep it for yourselves. If you really want to share some with me, then give me a few packets of medicine. I'll keep them at home."
After a brief exchange of objections, Lin Zhaodi finally gave him four packets of medicine. "...These two packets are for treating colds, and these two packets are for febrile diseases. If you accidentally use these, ask me for more if they're not enough!"
When it was Lin Shu's turn to share, Lin Zhaodi was even more generous. Although she agreed to a 50-50 split, she only picked the best ones for Lin Shu and gave the entire bag of white rice to Lin Shu, not wanting any. She also got a larger portion of the expensive gray flour and the least of the cheap grains.
Seeing her insistence, Lin Shu didn't refuse her kindness. Thinking of the bag full of rice, she was actually a little greedy. But she also brought Lin Zhaodi some good news, "Aunt, because you were not at home on the day of the flood, Aye and I moved all your food to the cave and stored it. We didn't have time to take other things, so Aye and I will help you move the collapsed beams of the thatched house. Whatever you are looking for, we will help you."
Lin Zhaodi was delighted to hear this. Although there was not much food left at home, even one or half a jar of food would be life-saving food at this critical moment.
As for other things, she brought tables, chairs, bowls, plates, spoons and chopsticks with her when she set up the stall. It is no exaggeration to say that her home is bare. Apart from a few clothes and a set of bedding, there is really nothing worth taking.
If she hadn't set up a stall in town to sell ice jelly, she wouldn't have been able to meet a figure like Mr. Zhao, and she wouldn't have had the opportunity to buy so much food and medicinal herbs.
She was able to escape the disaster successfully and buy so much food, all thanks to Ah Shu!
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