The last place we went to was a fabric shop, where there were even fewer people; there was no one else besides the two of them.
Ding Heli bought high-quality fine cotton, and the color was also quite bright; it was obviously bought for his daughter.
He bought dark-colored coarse cotton again; this is for him and Yilin.
Fan Jin bought even more.
His family is large, and the children grow quickly, so each child needs a lot of fabric for two sets of clothes each season.
I bought a lot of fine cotton, coarse cotton, and linen.
Unlike the Ding and Li families who give their daughters the best clothes, the Ding family uses the best fabrics for the inside and the worst fabrics for the outside.
Shuiqing said the material is soft and comfortable to wear next to the skin.
They often work in the mountains, fields, and farmland, and they don't feel bad if the inferior materials get scratched or snagged.
One more set of nice clothes for each person is enough.
An hour and a half passed quickly, and the two arrived at the agreed meeting point ahead of schedule, where the men of the village were already waiting.
Upon seeing them return with a cart full of goods, they hurried over to greet them and speak.
"Grain prices have risen too much. Dark flour used to be three coins a pound when it was cheap, and four coins a pound when it was expensive, but now it's six coins a pound!"
"The price of whole grains has also risen sharply. I originally wanted to buy some millet to make porridge, but when I asked the price, it was two coins per pound higher than before! That's too expensive."
There were so many people, it was like a mad rush, I only bought a dozen or so kilograms.
“We went to three shops, each with more people than the last. The price of last year’s grain not only didn’t drop, but it actually went up. Sigh, there’s no way the price will go up now that the new grain is gone.”
"Uncle Ding, what did you buy? Has the price gone up?"
Ding Heli hurriedly replied, "The rice and flour I bought are fine; the price of each only increased by one coin per pound."
Many men found this to be normal.
Rice and wheat flour are refined grains, which are already expensive. It's normal that the price increase is not significant because fewer people buy them.
"Sigh, I knew prices would go up, but I didn't know they would go up this much."
I originally thought I could buy 100 jin of dark flour, but now I only have about 70 jin left, which means I've lost more than 30 jin of grain.
"If we come back in a few days, I'm afraid even black face will be sold for the price of coarse grains!"
"Don't scare me!"
"Am I exaggerating? Look at the fields outside. Will there be a harvest this year? If there's no grain, the price will be high."
Sighs echoed from the crowd.
Fan Jin silently counted the number of people. After he finished, he called out to everyone, "Everyone is here. Let's hurry back to the village."
The men, who had been sighing and groaning, looked up at the sky and realized with a start that it was indeed getting late.
Each of their vehicles was piled high with essential items for their families; nothing could be lost.
The oxcart was loaded with many things, so Fan Jin and Ding Heli got off and followed.
The men took turns pulling and pushing the cart, while those around them also helped push from both sides.
Once outside the city, the ragged refugees watched their vehicles, swallowing hard.
All the men in the Shanshui Village team who went out to work broke out in a cold sweat. They were very grateful that there were many of them. If only one or two had come, they would have been scared to death!
Go home, hurry home.
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