Chapter 208: Buying Food Lin Shu buys food, and the price of rice rises again...
Several families happily distributed food and medicine, and Lin Zhaodi mentioned Lin Yushu and Zhang Zongyao again.
"Originally, I had forgotten about the village head's son. I was just thinking about Yushu still studying in town, and I had to take Yushu with me, so I asked your Uncle Zhao to go and find out. A student at the school where Yushu was studying had injured his arm, and I wasn't sure if he'd ever be able to write again. Fortunately, everyone else was fine. Later, Yushu reminded me that the village head's grandson was studying at another school in town. I smacked my forehead, and then I remembered, and went looking for Zhang Zongyao again. Alas, it's said that someone in that boy's school was killed by a collapsed beam, and another caught a cold during the flood and developed a fever, but burned to death because they couldn't find medicine..."
Because a classmate died in the school, Zhang Zongyao's face was extremely ugly at the time, but when he met Lin Zhaodi and others who came to pick him up, he still thanked them politely, and without much delay, hurried to the school to collect his books.
After such a severe flood, the school would definitely not be able to continue operating in the short term. Lin Yushu and Zhang Zongyao did not hesitate at all. They were worried about their families, so they took Old Man Liao's ox cart back to Tianshui Village.
At first, Lin Zhaodi was a little happy because she bought the grain in advance, but when she talked about the things in the town, her mood became heavy.
The rainstorm was so severe that even in the town, many houses were in disrepair. It was inevitable that there would be casualties.
This was only what Lin Zhaodi and the others saw; there were many more places they couldn't see. However, the town was still much better than the village.
Lin Shu broke the slightly depressed atmosphere. "It has already happened. There is no point in being sad. The living have to look forward. Right now, all the thatched houses are uninhabitable and need to be rebuilt. We can start preparing today. Aunt Lin, the head of the village should organize the villagers to rebuild their houses in batches. We don't know when it will be our turn. Aye and I plan to do it ourselves. This time we will use bamboo to build the houses. Double-layer bamboo, with a layer of yellow mud and straw inside. This way it will be stronger. Why don't we build ours first? We can build ours first. Ours is the biggest. When it's finished, you can all live in ours first. Then we can build houses for you and Old Man Liao's family. If my third uncle and third aunt are willing, we can bring them in too."
With so many people together, plus her and A Ye, one can do the work of several people, so it should be enough to build a house.
Lin Zhaodi, Zhao Laosan and Liao Laohan had no objection. They were eager to work with Zhou Ye, who was strong, and Lin Shu, who was smart.
As they were talking, the rice porridge in the pot was ready. When He Guixiang learned that Old Man Liao's ox cart was coming back, she increased the amount of breakfast so that it was enough for several families to eat together.
While the rice porridge was cooling down, He Guixiang mixed three more bowls of batter to make pancakes, and Lin Zhaodi helped. When it was almost done, Lin Xiaopu went to his uncle and aunt's house again. If his uncle and aunt hadn't made breakfast yet, he would call them over to eat together. The amount was enough for a few more mouths, but if they had already made it, he would just leave it alone.
Lin Xiaopu ran back and said that Aunt San had already cooked, so Lin Shu let it go.
Eating just the pancake seemed to be missing something, so Lin Shu made a few wild vegetables. There were a lot of dried goods at home, so she just fried some bamboo shoots and mushrooms and rolled them up in the pancake, which would be delicious.
After breakfast, Lin Zhaodi, Zhao Laosan and Liao Laohan were all very satisfied.
Although they had been enjoying the benefits of following Mr. Zhao's family, the first few days were also difficult. The villagers could escape to the mountains, but the people in the town had no choice but to wait for the flood to recede before they could use the stove and other things.
Because the stove was broken, Master Zhao and his family had decided to eat raw rice. Lin Zhaodi and Zhao Laosan moved a stone table and bench from the courtyard and built a simple stove. Furthermore, the firewood in Master Zhao's woodshed was piled high, and the top was still usable. This allowed them to start a fire and have cooked food. However, due to the poor conditions, they hadn't had enough to eat in those days.
Liao Dunzi chuckled at the side and whispered to Old Man Liao, "Dad, I've been eating well these past few days with Sister Shu and the others. Oh, and I brought the money jar with me so we can buy some food. Sister Shu said the price will go up later, so we should go shopping with her."
"Do I need you to remind me that I should keep a few hundred coins in the money jar as a backup, and use the rest to buy food." Old man Liao touched the boy's head lovingly, thinking that fools have good luck.
Old man Liao had saved some money from driving an ox cart over the years, which was enough to buy a lot of food. There were few people in his family, so even if there were problems with the relief from the imperial court, it would be enough for them to survive until next year.
After a short rest, Old Man Liao drove away in his ox cart. He still had to go to each household to collect money for buying grain. He would not advance money to buy grain for other families.
"Old Man Liao, see you at the village entrance later. My family bought a lot of food, so I have to go there myself." Lin Shu said.
"Okay, I'll be waiting for you at the village entrance. Dunzi, you should stay at your Uncle Lin's house and don't run around."
Liao Dunzi nodded. Even if his father hadn't said it, he would have known. Their thatched cottage had fallen into disrepair and was in a terrible state. The bed boards had collapsed, leaving them with nowhere to sleep. They had been staying at Uncle Lin's house for the past few days. The beds at Uncle Lin's house were all in good condition and had been dried in the sun. They could sleep there tonight without having to go back to the mountains.
The bowls, chopsticks and plates on the table had not been collected yet, so Lin Zhaodi helped He Guixiang clean them up very skillfully.
The fish pond behind the vegetable patch was flooded, and the bamboo water pipes in the courtyard were swept away by the flood. Furthermore, the large water jar in the kitchen had been damaged by the flood, leaving no way to store water in advance. The family had to use a wooden bucket to collect clean mountain spring water. Lin Zhaodi didn't use the water in the bucket, but picked up the wooden tray and walked out, intending to wash in the stream.
Lin Shu called out to her, "Aunt Lin, your thatched hut is newly built. Only one beam has fallen down. The wooden bed and cabinets inside shouldn't be damaged much. I'll ask Ah Ye to go over and take a look. Move the beams out and take out the usable items inside, especially the wooden bed, to dry in the sun. After a day's sun, they'll be almost dry and ready for sleeping at night."
Lin Zhaodi quickly responded, "Chengcheng, I'm just thinking about how to start."
Zhou Ye frowned and looked at her, "Ashu, you want to go to town alone to buy food?"
"Why are you alone? Isn't there Old Man Liao?"
Zhou Ye's expression was solemn. "The grain store must be in a mess right now. The people in town are even more short of food than the villagers. They must be scrambling to buy grain. Leave the grain purchase to me."
When Lin Zhaodi heard this, she remembered something and immediately said to Lin Shu, "Ashu, Aye is right. Several grain stores in town are packed with people. Even though grain prices have risen so much, there is no shortage of wealthy families in town. Even ordinary people are richer than farmers like us who work in the fields. They are all rushing to buy grain now!"
Normally, it was the townspeople who went to the grain store to buy food. Villagers were self-sufficient and rarely went to the grain store when they ran out of food. But in the past, the townspeople would buy food once a month, buying enough for a month and then buying more when they ran out. This time, the floods had completely destroyed all the food supplies in the townspeople's homes. Rice and other grains were fine; they could be eaten after washing and drying them. But ash flour, which had been mixed with rainwater, was inedible and would make people sick.
The townspeople were starving for food, and knowing that the floods were likely to wipe out their crops, they all wanted to take advantage of the situation and stockpile more food. While the imperial court would certainly provide disaster relief, having actual food in hand was no guarantee of peace of mind.
Lin Shu's heart sank when she heard this. "With so many people rushing to buy food, I'm afraid the price will rise sharply again soon."
Because of this, Lin Shu insisted on going.
"We need help back home. Ah Ye, you stay home. Father Liao and I will buy some food and come back soon. We won't delay you."
Zhou Ye remained silent. He always obeyed Lin Shu's orders, but when it came to personal safety, his silence represented his disapproval.
"It's not that I don't want to take you with me, it's just that you're so tall and strong that you're too heavy. If you come with me, I'll have to buy less food."
Zhou Ye said: "I won't ride in the ox cart, I'll follow behind the cart."
Lin Shu laughed angrily, "Did you see the wheels of the oxcart? They're covered in a thick layer of mud. It was scraped off by Old Man Liao. The road outside is muddy and difficult to navigate. Even driving an oxcart will be much slower than usual, and you'll have to walk even longer. Don't worry, Ah Ye. Don't forget, I'm no longer a spoiled girl, I'm a powerful spoiled girl! I will definitely buy the grain back successfully!"
Zhou Ye's mouth twitched slightly at Lin Shu's witty remark. He didn't say he would follow her, but only reminded her: "When buying food, be careful of the people bumping into you, and be alert on the road."
After Lin Shu gave her guarantees, she took the seven strings of cash, went to the village entrance to meet up with Old Man Liao, and then left on an ox cart.
The two of them walked and talked on the way. Just as Lin Shu expected, although the villagers followed suit and wanted to buy grain, they all bought one or two dou of grain, and some even bought only a few liters. Some felt that they had enough grain at home and did not want to buy expensive grain, so they did not even buy a liter of grain.
The total amount of grain these families requested was only two stone, which was not much, but the headman's family requested two stone of grain.
Lin Shu fell silent after hearing this. She had actually forgotten about the headman's family. Since Zhang Zongyao had advised the villagers to buy grain as soon as possible, then naturally their family would have to buy a lot. This would be three dan of grain. In addition, Old Man Liao had revealed that he wanted to buy five dou, and Aunt San's family also wanted to buy five dou, which added up to another dan.
The ox cart was so small that she didn't know if it could hold the six stone of grain she originally wanted to buy.
"Old Man Liao, how many dan of grain can your ox cart hold at most?" Lin Shu asked. Seven or eight dan was a conservative estimate; it might be more.
Old man Liao replied, "Before we left, I fed the old ox some grass. Now that it's full and strong, it can easily pull nine or ten dan of grain. If the road were easier to walk on, it could pull another three or four dan."
Lin Shu was delighted to hear this. After calculating it this way, she could still let it go.
However, Lin Shu had good thoughts in her mind, but when she arrived in town, she realized that what Aunt Lin said was still conservative.
The grain store in the town was even more chaotic than Aunt Lin described. People swarmed into the store, and even if the shop assistants scolded them with sticks, it didn't have much effect.
When Lin Shu was worrying about how to squeeze into the grain store, she suddenly heard a cry of surprise from inside the store.
"It's only been a short time, why are the prices already going up again? One hundred and forty coins a dou, why don't you just go and rob people?!"
"Swindler, swindler!"
"Is there any law left? We ordinary people are starving to death!"
At this moment, someone shouted, "Hurry up and go to the other grain stores. Rice in those stores is still 120 wen a dou!"
The crowd blocking the entrance of the grain store suddenly retreated like a tide.
When Old Man Liao heard that the price of rice had risen to 140 wen per dou, his face darkened. "It's only been less than a day, and the price of a dou has gone up another 20 wen!"
Old Man Liao was also planning to go to another grain store that hadn't raised its prices yet, but at this moment Lin Shu said firmly: "Buy! Buy it from this grain store!"
The prices set by the grain shops in the town must have been discussed in advance. If one shop raised its price, it would mean that the other shops would have to raise their prices soon, even if it was just a matter of a quarter of an hour.
When the people found out that several other grain stores had also raised their prices, those who wanted to buy would still grit their teeth and buy.
Old Man Liao looked hesitant. "This... but the villagers all thought it was 120 wen per dou. Now the price has increased. The villagers may not buy it."
Lin Shu said, "Use all the money you bring to buy grain. If you are willing to accept the price increase, the money they gave you will be converted into grain you can buy. If you don't accept the price increase, return the money to them. I will give the villagers the money they return, and I will take all the grain they don't want. You can buy the grain with confidence!"
After hearing what Lin Shu said, Old Man Liao had no hesitation at all, and the two of them went straight to the grain store.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
