Su Yin left the rice shop and went straight to the grocery store, where she picked out necessities for her future escape from famine.
For example: salt, oilcloth, water bags and other items.
Su Yin wanted to take it directly from the Su family to save some money, but whether it was salt, oil cans, or rice, all the food was tightly controlled by Mrs. Su. Mrs. Su would check every day, and she would be able to find out if a grain of rice was missing.
Su Yin didn't expect to get much here. After ten days or so, no matter how much she tried, she wouldn't get much. On the contrary, it would attract the attention of Old Lady Su, which would be detrimental to their private actions.
Not wanting to lose the big picture for the small, Su Yin never considered this at all.
After coming out of the grocery store, Su Yin turned and went to the pharmacy next door.
The medicine is expensive, but it can save lives in emergencies. No matter how expensive it is, Su Yin still bears the pain and buys some hemostatic medicine. She dares not buy too much, let alone buy too expensive ones.
"Shopkeeper, give me another packet of sulfur powder."
"Okay."
Su Yin asked in a relaxed tone, as if chatting, "Boss, why are these things more expensive than usual?"
"Oh, don't mention it. Yunzhou, Minzhou, and Ganzhou are in chaos. The cost of securing goods is high, and the price of raw materials has increased a lot. Naturally, the price of this thing has also increased." [Note 1]
"Was it a big commotion?"
"Yes, I heard that many people died."
"Will that affect us?"
The shopkeeper smiled and said, "We are still separated from that place by Yuzhou. I heard that the imperial court has sent high officials to provide disaster relief. I think it won't be long before we can have some peace and stability."
Su Yin nodded. In her previous life, the villagers did not believe Li Rui's words, probably because they were influenced by this rumor.
"Boss, which states are below Meizhou?"
The shopkeeper became interested and said with a smile: "You asked the right person. When I was young, I traveled to many places, to the north and more to the south. If I go from Meizhou, I will arrive first..."
In his previous life, Su Yin had never left the county until his death. He was completely in the dark about the outside world and knew nothing.
If you want to escape, you have to know something about the outside world so that you can deal with what happens next.
She was lucky enough to meet a talkative and knowledgeable shopkeeper.
Whenever she encounters something she doesn't understand, Su Yin will ask a question.
The shopkeeper also patiently explained everything to her, and if she didn't understand, he would speak frankly.
"After arriving in Ruzhou, I didn't go any further. Now that I think about it, it's really a pity."
"Boss, why don't you take your family to the south and take a look over there. There's no end to the money you can make." Su Yin reminded gently.
She looked at the boy playing at the door and said, "It is said that reading ten thousand books is not as good as traveling ten thousand miles. If you help your child broaden his horizons, he will be able to read more efficiently."
If the shopkeeper can really listen to it, it would be a good deed.
The shopkeeper laughed, "You, girl, even know the saying 'reading ten thousand books is as good as traveling ten thousand miles', not bad, not bad. Your suggestion is even better. When things settle down, I will listen to you."
After saying goodbye to the shopkeeper, Su Yin took her things and left.
The backpack was filled with bags of things, big and small, and the money in his mouth was almost spent.
"Selling pork, top quality pork leg meat."
The shouting in the alley attracted Su Yin's attention, and she looked over there.
When fleeing from famine, if there is meat, it can also supplement protein. It is not good to eat only dry food.
Smoking and drying the meat to make jerky is a good food.
The stall owner noticed Su Yin and called out, "Miss, would you like a pound? I'll give you a discount."
Su Yin touched his pocket, which had only a few copper coins left, and shook his head.
Alas, I’m still short of money!
The money can only be used to buy the most important things, and we can’t afford anything like meat.
After buying the things, he met up with Su Baozhu.
Su Baozhu looked at the full sack of rice, and then at the backpack that was filled with things.
"Will these things be too conspicuous to bring back?"
"Not taking it back to the village."
"Where should I put it?"
"Do you remember that there is a cave on the mountain to the north? I plan to store these things there first."
When the cave was mentioned, Su Baozhu's expression changed slightly, "Someone died in that cave, and it's haunted."
Su Yin looked up at her and asked calmly, "People are scarier than ghosts."
Su Baozhu thought of the scene of death in her previous life and stopped hesitating.
That cave is the best place to hide things. People in the village usually take a detour. Children in the village are strictly warned by adults not to go near that place. The fewer people go there, the less chance of being discovered.
At most, they only need to store it there for eleven or twelve days.
Unless their luck is really bad, they can't hide for even ten days and are discovered by chance.
Su Yin covered the things with worthless items to disguise them. Then the two of them each shared some supplies and hurried back with the things on their backs.
They had to get home before the sun went down.
"How did you get on?"
"There's a locust plague in Minzhou, two states away from us, and it's very dry. But I heard that the imperial court has sent an official called something like the governor to provide disaster relief there. Everyone in the teahouse is looking for the governor to discuss this matter."
"What else?"
Su Baozhu shook her head, "Nothing else."
It seems that the matter of the refugees has been kept secret very well.
Just as he walked out of the city gate, Su Yin noticed a beggar on the roadside.
Su Baozhu noticed it and asked, "What's wrong with that beggar?"
"Have you noticed that there are more beggars in the county town than before?"
Su Yin seldom came to the county town, and the few times she came she always followed her father. The last time she came to the county town was during the Lantern Festival at the beginning of the year.
Upon hearing this, Su Baozhu looked around at the beggars hiding in the corners. After paying attention, her eyes gradually widened.
“It’s true.”
Su Yin's expression became serious. "I hope the speed at which the refugees come hasn't changed."
When mentioning refugees, Su Baozhu's face turned pale.
The two of them couldn't help but quicken their pace.
On the way back, Su Yin and Su Baozhu pulled a lot of grass from the roadside and covered the top of the backpack with it, making it look like they were carrying a basket of pig grass.
They were worried about meeting acquaintances along the way, but until they turned into the mountains, they did not meet any villagers, which made the aunt and niece feel inexplicably relieved.
As they approached the cave, Su Baozhu's face turned frightened and she was a little afraid to go any closer, but seeing Su Yin striding forward, she could only grit her teeth and follow him.
The entrance to the cave was overgrown with weeds. Su Yin knocked on the surroundings with a wooden stick to drive away snakes, insects, rats and ants. She put down the backpack, tied a cloth strip to the stick, applied a little oil, made a simple torch, lit the torch, and walked into the cave.
The cave was relatively dry, so the two began looking for a suitable place to hide things.
Su Yin spotted a small hole about seven feet high. He moved a stone and climbed up using the raised part of the cave wall.
Su Baozhu was watching from below, "Be careful."
As soon as she finished speaking, she heard a cry of surprise from Su Yin's mouth.
“What the hell!!”
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