The Fifth Prince decided to exchange the grain for food first, since so many refugees were waiting for relief from the court. After the grain issue was settled, he didn't leave immediately, but sat there and drank four or five cups of tea.
Lin Qianqian was very puzzled. Wasn't he quite busy? Now that he'd finished his business, why wasn't he leaving? Was the tea here really that good?
Just as she was wondering whether she should send him a pound of tea, the Fifth Prince finally spoke up.
"Fairy Lin, may I borrow a batch of high-yield grain seeds from you on credit? Don't worry, I will send you all sorts of secret recipes, formulas, gold, silver and jade artifacts every day. I swear I will never renege on my debt."
The Fifth Prince thought that if there were enough seeds now, many places could be sown again, so it would be good to get the seeds as soon as possible. However, as a prince, he found it difficult to ask for credit, which is why he dawdled for so long.
Lin Qianqian understood the current situation of the Tianwu Dynasty. Years of poor harvests had forced many people to eat their own seeds to survive. The marketplace had a large stock of seeds, and buying on credit wasn't out of the question; she wasn't worried about the Fifth Prince defaulting on his debts.
With a sigh, he took out some high-yield seeds of sweet potatoes, potatoes, corn, wheat, rice, and other crops, and asked him which ones he wanted.
The fifth prince touched this and looked at that, and when he heard about the yield per mu, his mouth was practically watering. He wanted it all.
If the people of the Tianwu Dynasty had such high grain yields per mu, there wouldn't have been so many people starving to death every winter. Nor would there have been such a sharp decline in population and widespread suffering during times of famine.
Can I have both?
Lin Qianqian frowned and looked at him for a long time, but in the end, she still let him take all the grain seeds. Thinking about it, she lent him a tablet with many seedling cultivation videos downloaded on it.
He was taught how to play the video, and was told to take the tablet with him to show the ministers of the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Works. He was also advised to find more farmers to learn together.
As a result, the Fifth Prince owed Lin Qianqian a large sum of money, and he repeatedly promised to repay the debt as soon as possible.
Lin Qianqian was in a good mood. She had received a batch of secret manuals and casually flipped through a few. Then she asked Luo Zexuan to make copies of all the manuals and formulas.
The Fifth Prince immediately expressed his desire to buy the photocopier, saying that with it, the entire mansion would no longer need to copy documents overnight.
“Buying just this photocopier is useless, and your residence doesn’t have electricity.” Of course, Lin Qianqian could also sell generators or something, but there’s no need to accelerate their civilization progress so much all at once.
Their most pressing need right now is to weather the disaster and quell the chaos. Why buy such an impractical photocopier? They'd be better off buying printing technology first.
She made a copy because the system would deduct nearly half of the cost, and she didn't know how much it would deduct, so she wanted to be prepared.
"However, you can bring the original book to me for photocopying, that way..."
Lin Qianqian was just about to suggest that they come here to make copies so they wouldn't have to copy it slowly.
But the system suddenly popped up, interrupting her.
"Host, I suggest you don't let them do that. If they absolutely have to make copies, then you must receive the originals, not copies."
"Huh? Why? The content of the photocopy is the same, why do you insist on receiving the original?"
"Since these are martial arts manuals and ancient formulas, they should have a retro feel. What would a blank paper photocopy look like?"
"It's not like we're selling it as an antique, so why does it have to be antique-looking?"
"Insufficient host privileges; the system cannot respond."
"You..." This damn system, it either doesn't appear at all, or it's infuriating when it does.
But why must it be the original?
Forget about that for now; we'll find out the reason eventually anyway.
Today, in addition to officials of all ranks and their families from the capital, some wealthy and influential merchants also came to visit, making large purchases. However, Lin Qianqian imposed purchase limits on grains, salt, and sugar.
This was also an agreement between her and the Fifth Prince: aside from the Fifth Prince's residence and the Imperial Palace where purchases were unlimited, everyone else was subject to purchase limits. This was to prevent grain and salt merchants from buying from here at low prices, hoarding them, and then reselling them at higher prices later.
In Lin Qianqian's shop, a pound of pure white rice costs only one coin, but now it's impossible to buy a pound of the same rice outside for twenty coins, and even old rice and coarse grains cost ten coins a pound.
Even without an agreement with the Fifth Prince, she planned to limit purchases and not sell only to wealthy people.
Since she's here, she has to do something while ensuring the mission is completed. She's not a pure businesswoman; she won't truly prioritize profit over human life.
After lunch, Lin Qianqian was teaching another maid, Xiaolan, how to handle cashier duties on the first floor when a child walked in.
Actually, he had been watching from the doorway for quite some time, feeling somewhat intimidated as he watched important figures come and go.
Finally, he mustered his courage, walked up to Lin Qianqian, kowtowed respectfully, and then asked cautiously, "Fairy, I only have three coins. Can I buy some rice? I heard that rice here costs only one coin per pound."
Lin Qianqian looked at the child in front of her. He was generally clean, but his hair was dry, his face was sallow, his clothes were tattered and old, and he was wearing straw sandals. His exposed hands and feet were rough and covered with small wounds. He was so thin that it was hard to tell how old he was.
After looking her over, Lin Qianqian felt a lump in her throat.
"Get up quickly, you don't need to kowtow to me. If you want to buy something, just go and choose it. Three coins can buy three catties of rice. Find the lady over there, she will weigh it for you. After you buy it, come over here to exchange it for credit tickets before paying."
A little while later, the little boy came to pay the bill happily, carrying a bag containing three kilograms of rice.
He carefully placed the rice bag in his arms and wrapped it with his tattered clothes. The situation outside was unsafe; he dared not casually carry the rice down the street like that.
Just as he was about to leave, Lin Qianqian called out to him.
Are you a local? Where do you live? How many people are in your family?
The little boy didn't understand why Lin Qianqian asked that question, but he answered honestly anyway.
His name is Zhang Qi. He has a sister who is three years younger than him, and the two siblings are orphans. They now live in a slum in the north of the city with a group of other orphans. They make a living by begging and occasionally running errands for others.
This morning, someone gave him a black steamed bun and asked him to deliver a message to a guard at the residence of Minister Huang of the Ministry of Personnel. He overheard this message at the back door of Minister Huang's residence.
He went home, took out all his savings, washed his face and hands, and followed a wealthy family into the street. He hoped to buy some food to take back, as several of his friends in their dilapidated house were too hungry to even get out of bed.
After listening, Lin Qianqian asked thoughtfully, "Did you sneak in with another group? Are you not allowed to enter this street?"
“There are soldiers guarding the intersections on the street ahead. Only officials and wealthy merchant caravans are allowed to enter. Ordinary people will be driven away if they get too close.”
Lin Qianqian remained calm upon hearing this, but the anger inside her was almost uncontrollable.
She took out two meat buns and handed them to Zhang Qi, saying, "I have a job distributing flyers, and I need twenty or thirty kids your age. I wonder if you and your friends would like to do it? Ten yuan a day plus three meals a day."
Lin Qianqian explained what distributing flyers meant. Zhang Qi nodded quickly after hearing this, patting his chest and promising to find someone to come over immediately.
"You don't need to come today. Just wait at the intersection ahead tomorrow morning, and I'll have someone pick you up."
Zhang Qi happily agreed and went back to find the person.
At this moment, Master Zhang also ran over and told Lin Qianqian that he had received a message from his disciples and grand-disciples via carrier pigeon.
They and a group of martial arts figures were blocked outside the city gates and couldn't get in...
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com