Chapter 96
"There's a severe drought in Wojiang County, and the river has dried up. A while ago, the villagers were happy to be able to pick up fish from the river and take them home to eat, but now the river has completely run out of water and they are panicking. Not to mention irrigating the crops, it's hard to even find a place to fetch two buckets of water to drink."
"Although the summer was hot in previous years, it was never like this. Everyone was not careful enough. I'm afraid the harvest this year won't be good."
"Let alone Wojiang County, the situation in the entire Ningjiang Prefecture is not optimistic. Even our Siyang is hotter this summer than in previous years. Villagers have begun to draw water from the river to irrigate crops."
When Zhang Fangyuan entered the pharmacy, he saw a group of people chatting together. He tilted his head to listen and was completely absorbed in what he heard.
"My dear, besides woad root, we need something else."
"My dear!"
Seeing that Zhang Fangyuan was distracted by the excitement, the clerk at the counter raised his voice again. Zhang Fangyuan then came to his senses and apologized, "That's all."
The clerk opened the drawer behind him that contained the woad roots, felt the herbs and found that there were not many left. He told the medicine boy next to him to get some from the warehouse.
While he was waiting, he chatted with Zhang Fangyuan: "It's hot this year, and it's dry elsewhere. The heat-clearing woad root in the shop is also in great demand. I'm afraid the price will go up soon. Would you like to buy a few more bags to keep?"
"become."
The speaker may not mean it, but the listener may take it seriously. Zhang Fangyuan smiled slightly in agreement. The young man was very happy and quickly tied up the medicine bag.
When carrying the medicine out, Zhang Fangyuan couldn't help but look up at the sky.
He went out to the city at daybreak today. Although the sun has not risen yet, he can see the bright sun and white clouds in the sky. There is no sign of rain, so it is bound to be another sunny day.
Zhang Fangyuan felt vaguely uneasy, so he went to a teahouse on the street to order a cup of tea. He met a few peddlers and asked them a few questions. Every time he asked them, they all talked about the drought, which had become a hot topic today, just like what the peddlers at the teahouse back home had said.
This couldn't help but confirm what Zhang Fangyuan was thinking.
He sighed, feeling very complicated.
Feeling sorry for the people who were about to be affected by the disaster, he did not hesitate. He threw a few copper coins on the table, went straight to Linglong Shop, put the medicine in the shop, withdrew the silver he could move from the account, and went to the grain store in the city.
"Don't be in a hurry, don't be in a hurry, come one by one. Line up first, we have everything!"
"You over there, come and get in line. Don't even think about cutting in line."
"It's already thirty cents, it's not the same price as before! If you don't have the money ready, let the ones behind you come first!"
Zhang Fangyuan was surprised when he entered the grain store. This place, which usually did not have many customers, was as lively as a street teahouse today. He hesitated for a moment and wondered if he had come to the wrong place.
There were many customers coming and going, and the six or seven waiters were too busy to come over. The noise was loud and noisy, and it took a while before I saw the tall and strong Zhang Fangyuan at the door.
Perhaps the waiter had seen him before, so he hurriedly came forward to greet him: "Boss Zhang, you're here too. I was so busy that I didn't notice you."
Zhang Fangyuan waved his hand: "It's okay. Business is so good today?"
"Nowhere." The waiter said with some complacency, "It's been a while. Boss Zhang is here to stock up on food, right? What kind of rice do you want? I'll take you to choose it right away."
Zhang Fangyuan took a breath. Seeing this situation, the people in the city had already started hoarding food. He was still thinking of buying and hoarding a large amount of food at a low price. When a drought occurred, many people would surely have no food to eat, and the price of rice would inevitably rise.
Unexpectedly, he arrived too late. Even ordinary people had started buying and hoarding rice. Those well-informed merchants had already heard the news and hoarded food, so it was not yet his turn.
He should have been alert when Song Yong came to Siyang. If he had calculated carefully and stockpiled grain at that time, he would have made a profit. Unfortunately, he was busy with silkworm cocoons and reclaiming wasteland, and Xiao E was getting married. He never thought that this would happen. By the time he realized what was happening, the weather was already extremely hot.
"Boss Zhang, the price of our refined rice has increased by ten cents." The clerk chatted with Zhang Fangyuan in advance, thinking that as a merchant, he would not buy low-quality rice, so he did not mention it.
Zhang Fangyuan originally planned to come here to stock up rice and sell it, so he certainly couldn't stock up on refined rice. Now that he heard that the price of refined rice had gone up, he thought that there would be no chance of selling inferior rice either, so he had to give up the idea of making money and asked, "How much did the price of inferior rice go up?"
"The price of low-quality rice is half that of polished rice."
Zhang Fangyuan responded, it was expected, but this price was a bolt from the blue for ordinary people.
The villagers are fine, as they have their own food to grow and don't have to worry about it. But the ordinary people in the city who don't have land to farm are unlucky, as they have to buy everything they eat.
The clerk said, "This is the price right now, but there's no guarantee it will go up in the future."
Zhang Fangyuan nodded: "Many people bought it, it's true."
"So what kind of rice would you like?"
Although my family did not open up several acres of land to grow crops last year, we still had rice stored in the warehouse. His fourth uncle's family had a bumper harvest of grain last year, and all the grain is now stored in their granary, so they should have no problem surviving the disaster. However, natural disasters have long-term impacts and will not be gone after this year.
In the year of the disaster, food prices skyrocketed. The following year, the food supply on the land was insufficient and food prices did not go down.
Zhang Fangyuan still spent 20,000 coins to stockpile several carts of grain. The so-called "being prepared for any eventuality" meant that he did not make money by reselling rice. He stockpiled it while the price was not too high to avoid anxiety when disaster struck. Besides, he had to store rice in the tea shed and guesthouse.
Before he returned to the village with the food, he first went to the tea stall. The price of rice in the city had gone up, and the price of food in the tea stall would naturally go up as well, so he had to inform them in advance.
"Little Dad, you'd better not come here again."
"You heartless little thing, I gave birth to you and raised you, how could you have such a life now? Now that you are living a good life, you have forgotten your father! You little ungrateful wolf!"
Zhang Fangyuan asked his servant to carry two large bags of rice into the guest house. When he passed the warehouse, he heard voices in the grocery store. He couldn't help but ask Wu Zi beside him, "Who is this?"
"It's Wenzi's little dad who's here."
Zhang Fangyuan's eyebrows twitched slightly.
"I'll go call them out." Wu Zi hurriedly went to knock on the door: "Second Aunt's wife said that they were allowed to see each other, so I didn't stop them."
Zhang Fangyuan raised his hand to stop his action, signaling him to keep silent and go down first.
"If it weren't for my father's inappropriate ideas, I would not have been driven here when I was doing my job well at the mansion, and I would have failed my husband and master's trust."
The person in the room wiped his eyes and started crying.
Seeing this, the middle-aged husband did not think of comforting her, but was very disappointed: "That's because you are incompetent! I had a plan, but you messed it up with your clumsy hands, and now you are blaming others."
Wenzi was furious: "Little Dad is so capable, why didn't he have a solution when our family was so poor? Why did he only think of selling me to my brother as a betrothal gift?"
The middle-aged husband was speechless after being suddenly yelled at. He calmed down and softened his tone: "It's your boss's husband who is jealous. After all, he is from a peasant family and can't tolerate a younger one. It's not your fault."
Wen Zi did not answer.
The middle-aged husband stroked Wenzi's hand and said, "Think about how you worked so hard in their family, but in the end they sent you here to work hard. It's really heartless. If that's the case, why are you still so supportive of them? In the end, you can only rely on your family. Life at home is better now. Your brother and sister-in-law know that you are here, and they are thinking about you. The family feels guilty about you."
"I have discussed with your father. When I have saved enough money, I will redeem you and bring you home. Then you can marry into a good family. Is that okay?"
Wen Zi just kept sobbing and didn't answer.
The middle-aged husband shook Wenzi's hand and said, "But you know that the family has so many debts in arrears. We want to take you back home earlier, but we don't have that much money on hand. Seeing that the weather is not good this year, it will be even more difficult to save enough money."
Wen Zi didn't comment, just looked at the person in front of him: "What do you mean, little daddy?"
"You silly child, the Zhang family is so rich, and there is nothing in the guesthouse. You just need to subsidize the family, and you will be able to save enough money soon." The middle-aged husband said confidently: "This is not only for the family, but also for you. You can't be a slave for the rest of your life."
Wenzi suddenly laughed, his eyes full of sadness: "What if the master finds out?"
"You better be careful, it won't be that easy to find out!" The middle-aged husband didn't notice Wen Zi's expression change, but thought he was relieved, and became more and more excited as he spoke: "When the time comes, you can do this..."
Wenzi suddenly stood up: "Wuzi, Wuzi!"
Hearing the shouting from inside the house, Wu Zi rushed up again, but saw Zhang Fangyuan still at the door and did not dare to move.
Zhang Fangyuan put his hands behind his back and nodded slightly. Wu Zi rushed in and asked, "What's wrong?"
Wenzi yelled, "He wants to steal something, get him out now! Don't let him come over here again!"
The middle-aged husband was startled and immediately jumped up: "You little bastard, you actually framed your little father like this, you are really a traitor! I will... Ouch, it hurts!"
Before he could finish his curse, Wu Zi grabbed his hands on his back, and the middle-aged man throbbed in pain.
Zhang Fangyuan looked at the person being dragged out from a distance and sneered. Fortunately, the young man did not continue to be confused.
"Don't let that person come here again. Even if he comes to buy things, don't sell anything to him."
Zhang Fangyuan said something to his clerk, and then heard the people who were escorted out by Wu Zi yelling and cursing outside. He exchanged a look with his clerk, and soon the place became quiet.
Zhang Shiyue came in hurriedly: "Nothing serious happened, right?"
Zhang Fangyuan shook his head: "No problem."
Zhang Shiyue finally breathed a sigh of relief: "He Ge'er is still good at giving advice. He took the initiative to cut off the relationship, which is much better than us guarding against it."
Zhang Fangyuan responded, "During troubled times, we cannot tolerate thieves in our home. Fortunately, we are still able to handle things in a reasonable manner."
Zhang Fangyuan was transporting several carts of grain back to the village. When the villagers saw him, they gathered around to ask what was going on. They heard that many people in the city were hoarding grain, that there was a drought in other provinces, and that the price of rice was rising. They couldn't help but sigh.
“Is the increase a lot?”
"The price has increased by five or ten cents. The city is in an uproar, and everyone is talking about the drought in other counties."
The villagers did not realize how great it was when they heard this. Instead, their eyes lit up. "The price has risen so much this morning. Many grain stores in the city must be buying grain. I'm afraid grain will be easy to sell now. I'll also take two carts to the city tomorrow. That will make more money than last year!"
Then he said to Zhang Fangyuan, "If Landlord Zhang wants to buy grain, let us know. This way we don't have to go to the city to buy it."
Zhang Fangyuan took a breath and said, "The drought has caused the price of food to go up. If everyone doesn't keep some food for themselves, wouldn't it be a big loss to buy food when they run out of food?"
"Last year's harvest was good, so there's a lot of grain in the granary. Besides, it's just a drought year. Although Siyang is hotter than in previous years, it won't ruin this year's crops. There will still be a harvest in the autumn, so we won't starve. It's just not as good as last year's harvest."
Seeing that they were all familiar faces from the same village, Zhang Fangyuan kindly advised: "It's better to be safe and wait and see. Don't try to make a little money at the forefront of the trend."
The villagers agreed twice and said nothing more. After Zhang Fangyuan drove the carriage away, they immediately started to grumble again: "The Zhang family makes so much money, but they can't stand us making money. They want to oppress the villagers, and they still say that we should not be after that little money! The Zhang family is really rich!"
"Qiu Liu, what Zhang Fangyuan said makes sense. We should store the food first. If the natural disaster lasts for a long time, it will not be enough to eat after selling the food."
"Oh my, do you have any brains? Do you really believe whatever the Zhang family says? There are always a few hot days in every year. I don't believe that it can dry up the river at the entrance of our village."
Two households followed Qiu Liu's lead and said, "Yes, if you don't make money, that's fine. I'll go to the grain store in the city this afternoon to take a look."
The villagers on both sides held different opinions and ended up parting on bad terms.
Two days later, Zhang Fangyuan saw several merchants and some strong men coming from the city. The villagers thought they were here to buy poultry, eggs and fresh fish, but it turned out they were here to collect grain.
In previous years when there were good harvests, the villagers would deliver the grain to the grain store in the city on their own. The merchants would turn a blind eye and only accept the grain if they liked the merchants. But this time, the merchants were very polite. Not only did they come to the village to take the grain, but they also offered very attractive prices.
Those who had not planned to sell grain after listening to Zhang Fangyuan's words were immediately tempted by the merchants' encouragement and the high purchase price and the fact that they would collect grain at the doorstep, which was really trouble-free. They called the merchants to come to their homes to buy grain.
Zhang Fangyuan couldn't help but feel a little angry when he heard the news, but since they had already reminded him, if he went to stop them, he would probably upset everyone and get into trouble, and then they would blame him.
Zhang Fangyuan was not in charge of the entire village, so he only told his relatives not to sell the grain in the granary just because the grain price was high.
Zhang Shixin had originally asked his wife to invite the merchants, but after hearing what Zhang Fangyuan said, he grumbled that he didn't want to agree. But after thinking it over for a while, he finally called his wife back, as he regretted not selling the property.
Zhang Fangyuan felt slightly relieved.
Seeing her husband running around to persuade relatives, and seeing her own granary filled with food, Xu He was puzzled: "Do you think this drought is really that serious?"
Zhang Fangyuan set up a mousetrap in the granary and said, "After a severe drought, there will be a severe disaster. It is best to be cautious."
He didn't know how to explain it to Xu He, but this sentence was omnipotent.
After a severe drought, the riverbed dries up and cracks, insect eggs run rampant, and it is extremely easy for locust plagues and epidemics to breed. This has been the experience over the years.
Although not every drought will be so unlucky and encounter so many problems, unfortunately this year's drought is indeed following this path.
He had many vivid memories of things from his previous life, and he had encountered many natural disasters in his life. He had not taken those minor disasters seriously, except for one year's severe drought, which started in Wojiang County.
Many places felt noticeably hotter than in previous years that year, but the driest place was Wojiang County. The people in Siyang City at the time didn't take it seriously, after all, as long as the sparks didn't fall on their feet, they wouldn't feel the heat.
After the severe drought in the summer, not many crops survived in Wojiang County. Then there was a locust plague, and all the crops were lost. The people complained bitterly. A plague broke out in Ningjiang Prefecture again, and people were in panic for a while. Merchants couldn't even do business, and the people were in danger. The imperial court sent officials to govern the situation many times and allocated silver for disaster relief several times.
Siyang is relatively far away from Ningjiang Prefecture, so fortunately the plague was not brought here, but it did not escape the famine.
The drought in the summer had a significant impact on the autumn harvest, and then there was a snow disaster in winter, which lasted until February and March in the spring. The series of disasters affected many places, and countless people died of starvation, disease, and freezing. People were selling their children everywhere. It was a tragic scene.
When Zhang Fangyuan went to the city and learned that there was a drought in Wojiang County, he felt a pang in his heart.
After asking around a bit, I had to confirm what I had in mind.
He patted the back of Xu He's hand and said, "Anyway, just trust me. Ask the Xu family to store the food as well. Then there will be only good food and no bad food."
The more confident Zhang Fangyuan became, the more uneasy Xu He felt.
He responded. If his relatives didn't remind him, they would come to him in tears when a disaster struck. Therefore, reminding them early was not only for the good of their relatives, but also for his own good.
"Don't worry too much. We've made preparations early, so we don't have to worry even if there's a natural disaster."
Xu He said: "If there is a natural disaster, people will have a hard time, and our business will be hard to do either."
"Even if there is a natural disaster, people still have to eat. We are a small business, not a big restaurant, so it won't be too troublesome." Zhang Fangyuan comforted him: "Besides, there are ways to make money in a year of natural disasters."
Xu He laughed: "Stockpile food and sell it? That's too late now. Or we should call the villagers to stop giving the food to the merchants in the city and buy it and stockpile it."
Zhang Fangyuan snorted coldly: "Forget it, these people are not smart, I won't do this business."
Then he said firmly: "Starting tomorrow, go up the mountain to collect firewood and burn charcoal."
"Huh?" Xu He's eyes widened: "In this golden month, burning charcoal?!"
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