The people who set up stalls inside didn't seem to be doing so well either.
They were all sallow and thin, with cloudy eyes, shouting loudly as they sold their wares, but their faces were full of sorrow.
The further you go in, the more good things you find. In addition to the stalls set up everywhere, there are also small stalls built of thatched houses, selling hot water, soup, and other food.
There are also several restaurants built in the style of earthen buildings, with waiters at the door shouting that new dishes such as tofu, bean sprouts, and bean curd cakes are being served.
At the far end of the commercial street are buildings under construction. Although they are not extravagant, they are the kind of brick and tile houses that ordinary people dream of.
The construction area is heavily guarded by security personnel, and outsiders are not allowed to approach except for manual laborers.
The group followed the crowd to a grain shop, which sold edible tree bark and grass roots, and better quality rice bran and mixed flour.
Mixed flour is a type of inferior flour made by mixing sorghum, soybeans, and more than a dozen other leaves or stalks with bran, resulting in food that turns black.
It's similar to the dark flour they used to eat.
Such food has now become a rare delicacy.
Tree bark and grass roots cost 600 coins per pound, rice bran costs one tael of silver per pound, and mixed flour costs one tael of silver and three hundred coins per pound.
The grain shop only accepted money and nothing else. It was thought that not many people could afford such high prices, but a long queue formed outside.
The group stood and watched for a while. Those who went in to buy grain mostly didn't buy much because they didn't have enough money.
With prices so high, they couldn't afford it. After looking around for a while, they went to find a water shop.
Water was also expensive, comparable to grain, costing 500 coins per pound.
Besides monetary transactions, they also collect various items, such as food, warm clothing, herbs, charcoal, and weapons.
The blatant acquisition of weapons and supplies made everyone feel uneasy.
The shopkeeper looked them over for a moment and said, "Your wolfskin coats are quite nice; one can be exchanged for six pounds of water."
Old Chen changed the subject and promoted his products: "Do you buy these stone tablets and stone pots? They're very useful. Look, they're very well polished."
The shopkeeper looked at them for a while and said, "If you need ten stone tablets, I'll give you three catties of water; if you need thirty stone pots, I'll give you eight catties of water."
No bargaining, it's up to you whether you want to change it.
Old Man Chen exclaimed happily, "Change it!"
Getting water is a win; there's no loss at all.
Then, Old Man Chen took out three exquisite square pottery jars.
There are three types of pottery jars in Mini World, each with exquisite patterns. Except for the simple jar, the other two types are painted.
This is why the team members are reluctant to trade them away easily.
The pottery jars sold at Chen's shop cost 30 points each, with random designs; whether they are colored or not depends entirely on luck.
Upon seeing the exquisite pottery jar, the owner became much more enthusiastic and said, "These unpainted, patterned jars can be exchanged for one pound of water."
The other two types were colored; one required two kilograms of water.
If you have enough of these earthenware jars, we can give you more water.
Village Chief Bai said, "We don't have many of these pottery jars; we only brought ten of each type."
There were more than thirty such pottery jars outside.
The team has enough earthenware pots for now; it would be good to sell the extras to get some water.
However, he doesn't plan to change too much water; just enough for everyone to drink in the next few days.
Chen Dong told him that it would rain in four days, which is New Year's Eve.
The boss laughed and said, "Then I'll send someone with you to pick it up later."
Then he added, "I heard you have a lot of stone weapons. If you're willing to trade, one weapon can be exchanged for six catties of water."
Village Chief Bai smiled and said, "Not many. Most of them still use sticks and clubs; those are just for bluffing."
We were even thinking of trading the stone spears for some broadswords to use.
Even when others exposed their secrets, no one panicked. As soon as they entered this area, someone was secretly monitoring them.
There were many onlookers behind them, so it's normal for the news to get inside.
The boss smiled and said, "It's alright. If you want to change, you can come over anytime."
The boss wouldn't accept anything else besides grain.
The group had no choice but to leave and go check out the pawnshop that sold fabric.
The fabric shop didn't have many goods; the main items were three snow-white fox pelts and several bundles of wolf pelts.
What's left is coarse linen, but not much of it; most of it consists of old clothes that have been washed and patched.
Warm cotton-padded clothes and quilts were not for sale.
There's no need to even ask; they can't afford those animal hides.
Linen clothing is a common fabric used by ordinary people in their community.
Producing a bolt of linen is not easy. A skilled weaver can weave a bolt in about ten days by working day and night.
However, before weaving, the process of harvesting hemp, boiling hemp, drying hemp, and spinning hemp thread is required.
If one person does it from start to finish, it can take two or three months to weave a piece of cloth.
The cloth they traded with the human traffickers before was also linen.
Here, half a bolt of linen costs half a pound of grain. The cloth shop only accepts grain and nothing else, so business is practically nonexistent.
Clothes, for adults, and half a pound of grain, choose one item.
For children, choose any two items from half a jin of grain.
In the end, they chose half old clothes and half linen.
Second-hand clothes are cheap, and in the current situation, there's not much point in paying attention to where they come from.
"What kind of food is this?" the shopkeeper asked curiously, staring at the crystal-clear cactus frozen into an ice cube.
Village Chief Bai prepared a piece of cactus that hadn't frozen, took it out and said, "This is called cactus. It's very delicious. You can boil it or roast it."
After the boss weighed it, he told someone to take it to be cooked.
The weather was cold, and all the stalls had stoves lit to boil water, making it very convenient to cook food.
Seeing that there was quite a lot of food, the owner asked curiously, "Where did you get this food from?"
Old Man Chen said with a happy expression, "This is food bestowed upon us by our ancestors."
Our ancestors also instructed that next year, even more cacti would be bestowed upon us, scattered across various places, and those with the right fate would be able to collect them.”
They found out that the leaders of Ma'ao Village were the Dragon Tiger Alliance and the Celestial Masters Sect.
The Dragon-Tiger Alliance is a mixed bag of people, while the Celestial Masters Sect has a large number of members, most of whom are believers and supporters.
The Celestial Masters sect has developed many followers and is very popular here.
Old Man Chen and Village Chief Bai also wanted to take this route. The Chen family had originally planned to develop believers, but they were traveling in a hurry on the way to escape the famine and didn't have many opportunities.
Now that they've stopped, those who can boast will boast as much as they can, and those who can deceive will deceive as much as they can.
Of course, in Old Man Chen's mind, this wasn't exactly a scam.
The cacti were originally found among the treasures bestowed by our ancestors. The cacti that will appear on the mountains next year were planted by his youngest son and others.
The boss was very satisfied with the cactus soup, and immediately after the transaction, he had the cactus delivered to the restaurant as part of the new menu.
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