Xu Qing carefully put away the indenture, waved his hand to lead the person to the farthest room and closed the door, then arranged for someone to guard the person before coming over.
The people of Baijiazhuang all had their eyes on the bulging vehicle, but no matter how curious they were, no one dared to touch it or ask Bai Manshan anything.
The employer treated him very well, but the punishment for his mistakes was also very clear, with no room for negotiation whatsoever. The Sun family was the best example of this.
The people from Shanshui Village were also shocked. They had never seen a scene of selling people before and always thought that it only happened in plays.
Upon seeing Bai Manshan, I realized that he was the patriarch from the opera! His family was extremely wealthy and he had countless servants.
On second thought, that makes sense. Otherwise, how can so many people be managed? And if they can't be managed well, how can they amass great wealth?
The scene fell silent for a moment, with only the rustling of leaves and the chirping of cicadas.
Bai Manshan ignored what the people on both sides were thinking and only asked Xu Qing, "How long can your food last?"
Xu Qing had already compiled the statistics over the past few days, which was also his biggest concern. When he heard his employer ask, he immediately replied, "Originally, we could eat until April or May of next year, but the flood did not completely reach Yubei Mountain, so we lost some of it. Now, even if we eat sparingly, we can only eat until about January."
"Master, I went to the prefectural city a couple of days ago. Grain prices there have skyrocketed, they've risen too high. Our farm's grain won't last until the winter wheat harvest. What should we do?"
Their village has a lot of fertile land and good grain harvests. The landlord always keeps a lot of grain, and according to past experience, the stored grain can last until April or May of next year. With the addition of this year's autumn harvest, there is always a surplus of grain every year, and there will never be a situation of food shortage or running out of food at home.
But this year there was a flood, and the new grain harvest failed. The winter wheat will not be harvested until April or May next year. What will we eat during the two or three months in between?
One or two people would be fine; even though grain in the prefectural city was already incredibly expensive, buying a bag and adding some wild vegetables would be enough to last them two or three months. But their village had over two hundred people!
A sack of grain is gone in a day. Not to mention that if dozens or hundreds of sacks of grain are transported from the prefectural city to Baijiazhuang, then Baijiazhuang will become the biggest piece of meat in the eyes of all the disaster victims!
Bai Manshan did not answer the question, but continued to inquire: "What else is lacking in the estate? What needs to be added?"
"Some of the hoes and shovels were taken away initially, but the rest were left in the pit and soaked in water. They were fine and could still be used after being dug out. A lot of farm tools were damaged, but it's okay, the carpenter is already making new ones."
"We're gradually adding houses and firewood. We'll use thatch for the roof for now, that's not a problem. The only tricky thing is salt," Xu Qing paused here.
Bai Manshan frowned. Bai Family Village was extremely far from Nanning Prefecture, making travel inconvenient. He kept enough grain and salt for the village head to buy for two or three years each year.
Firstly, to avoid the inconvenience of travel; secondly, because salt is essential, it's better to be prepared.
He looked at Xu Qing and asked bluntly, "Just tell me."
"When I took over, I found that there was only enough salt for two or three months. When I asked Old Man Sun, he neither said whether there was any salt left nor where the money to buy the salt had gone." Xu Qing knew in his heart that the money to buy the salt had most likely been misappropriated by Old Man Sun.
You just don't have energy if you don't eat salt; you really can't do without salt.
Bai Manshan sighed: "It's probably been used up. There's neither salt nor money left."
Since the salt was going to be sold anyway, he didn't want to waste any more money chasing dogs into poor alleys. Most of the time, managing people and affairs meant focusing on the big picture and letting go of the small details.
He walked up to the cart that Hu Wenhua was in charge of, took out a small bamboo basket from the bag covered with oil paper, and handed it to Xu Qing, saying, "Tomorrow, after you sell the Sun family, take whatever money you have to buy salt."
"And the silver in this bamboo basket, part of it will be used to buy salt, and the rest will be kept for emergencies."
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