Chapter 98 He is really calm
In the kitchen, Chen Lie's ears twitched. He turned his head to look in the direction of the kitchen door and saw that Sang Luo just stood there for a while and then left, as if she was going to another courtyard door.
He asked Shen An: "How much rent and tax did our family pay this year?"
Chen Anke knew this very well. He pressed his thumb and stretched out four fingers: "Four stone four, brother, grain is so precious. Our family didn't have that much grain at the time. It was my sister-in-law who borrowed money from the shopkeeper who bought our goods to buy grain and pay the tax. Later, we were asked to do corvée labor. Even if there were no young and strong men in the family, we had to go. My sister-in-law used another stone of grain to hire someone from Uncle Zhou's family to do the labor for us."
Five stones and four.
Chen Lie felt guilty just thinking about it. All the rent and taxes of the family had to be borne by a woman like her. She paid for Xiao An and Aning, and he, who didn't know whether she was alive or dead, also added two stones of burden to her.
"Do you know how much food costs here now?"
Sang Luo never hid family matters from her two little ones, and Shen An and Shen Ning actually knew about the grain prices.
"Three hundred and fifty coins a bushel. My sister-in-law has been stockpiling food bit by bit, but it's too expensive."
Shen Lie nodded and asked if those things piled on the shelves in the main room were all food?
The two kids nodded in unison: "It's mostly millet, and there are a few bags of flour."
Shen Lie silently estimated that the food that was originally enough to last for more than a year, with the addition of him, would only last until the end of next summer at most.
He ate a few bites of the food in the bowl, went out to wash the dishes, and then arrived at the door of the main house. Sang Luo was sitting at the table with a large bundle of reeds and three rolls of hemp rope on it.
Chen Lie knocked on the open door, and when he saw Sang Luo look up and see him, he entered the room.
He cast his eyes on the reeds, somewhat puzzled, but first turned to his large bag on the floor beside the table.
Sang Luo thought he was using clothes to take a bath, so she didn't say much. She put the three rolls of hemp rope together and started to twist them into thin ropes.
Chen Lie did not take out clothes, but took out a cloth bag and sat opposite Sang Luo. He unfolded the cloth bag and placed a wooden box with not very delicate workmanship in front of Sang Luo.
Sang Luo was a little confused and looked at Chen Lie: "What is this?"
He opened the wooden box, and inside was a ginseng that looked to be of good age.
Sang Luo was stunned.
Chen Lie said, "I have been walking in the mountains for most of the past eight or nine months. I was lucky enough to dig up a ginseng. Xiao An told me that the family used five stone and four dou of grain for rent and corvée this year, which was all bought with the money you borrowed. I'll give you this ginseng."
Sang Luo looked at the ginseng, then at Chen Lie: "Do you know the year of this ginseng?"
The skin is old and dark in color, and the iron wire patterns are fine, dense and deep. Although Sang Luo cannot determine the exact year, she knows that this thing can't be bad.
Chen Lie nodded: "When we dug it up, there were three palmate compound leaves. Dashan knows how to look at this and said it should be at least thirty years old."
Sang Luo: "Then give it back to me?"
Chen Lie was stunned by her question. The family had bought so much food, and this ginseng was the only valuable thing among all his belongings. Wasn't it right to give it to her?
He was stunned for a moment and then said, "This is all I have now."
Sang Luo wanted to laugh for some reason, but she was afraid that he would see her, so she lowered her head and eyes for a while, then raised her eyes and said, "I spent about eleven taels of silver on buying food."
She pointed to the grain bags on the wooden shelf by the wall: "Including these."
Shen Lie looked at her without saying anything, obviously waiting for the next words.
Sang Luo's eyes curved this time: "So there is no need for this ginseng. If you really want to do your best for this family, you can sell the ginseng and give me six taels of silver."
She didn't ask for eleven taels, after all, she needed to eat the food.
Shen Lie might say this, eleven taels, and give her six taels, how is this calculated?
He felt strange for a moment, but he didn't think much about it. He said, "No need, I'll give it all to you. If you have extra, you can buy some more food and store it. I passed through Qizhou a few months ago. The price of food there was already 660 coins per bushel. Who knows how much it has risen to now. If the world is going to be in chaos, I'm afraid it won't be peaceful for a few years. It's better to store more food for safety while the price of food here is not too high."
When Sang Luo heard that it was 660 wen per dou, her breathing became tense. "You said it was 660 wen per dou a few months ago?"
Shen Lie nodded: "Yes, about four months ago."
Four months ago, the original body was still there.
It was early August when Sang Luo traveled through time. The price of grain had risen, but not to an exaggerated level. It was 70 wen per dou. But in September, the price of grain suddenly rose from more than 80 wen to more than 150 wen, and it was always on sale.
Compared with the north, the south reacted more than a month late. Up to now, the grain price in Qiyang County has risen to more than 300 wen. So to what extent should the grain price in the north have risen?
Just thinking about it made Sang Luo feel a little numb.
She was a little optimistic before, because although the grain merchants had limited sales, the restrictions were not too excessive, and all the grain was moved to the north. Now after listening to Chen Lie's description of the situation in the north, Sang Luo was sure that it was not that the grain merchants did not want to move most of the grain to the north, but that there were many bandits and rebel forces, so they did not dare to send grain there.
Several grain stores in the county are reluctant to sell grain now, perhaps because they are waiting for the price to go up or saving it for later use.
Sang Luo covered the wooden box containing the ginseng, wrapped it with cloth, and said, "Okay, let's go to the county in a few days and sell the ginseng and exchange it for grain. I have saved some money, so I will find a medicine shop to buy some common prescriptions and prepare some medicine."
When the world is in chaos, the things that are most lacking are food and medicine. Food is essential for survival, and medicine is for saving lives at critical moments. Money, on the other hand, is the most useless thing at that time.
Chen Lie didn't expect her to react so quickly. She didn't even blink an eye at the price of 350 wen. He was quite convinced in his heart. But when he thought about it, he heard from Xiao An and Aning that she had been hoarding grain, no matter it was more than 80 wen a dou at the beginning or more than 300 wen a dou later. It was obvious that she had always attached great importance to this.
Seeing that she had put away the medicine, Shen Lie was ready to get clothes to take a shower. As soon as he stood up, he thought of something and his eyes fell on the reeds on the table: "Are you going to make something?"
Sang Luo had just put the ginseng away, but when she heard Chen Lie's question, she didn't know what to say for a moment.
She wanted to weave two curtains.
Chen Lie is back, and he can't let him go down the mountain to stay at another house. It's also not realistic to sleep on the floor in the kitchen in the middle of winter. Although he has no bed to sleep on as he has traveled through mountains and forests all the way, this is his own home, and there is no reason to not let him sleep on a bed.
Sang Luo never thought of making such an unreasonable request.
She thought about letting him sleep in the same bed with Shen An, and Shen Ning sleeping with her, and then hanging a curtain between the two beds, and then separating the two children with another curtain, so there shouldn't be any problem.
Sang Luo thought she was a pretty good judge of people. Although she didn't know Shen Lie very well, after a brief encounter with him, she felt that he was an okay person. Most importantly, she didn't have many other choices.
So, it's a compromise.
When Chen Lie asked this, Sang Luo pursed her lips and made up her mind. She felt that there was no better time than now, so she said, "I want to make two roller curtains and install them between the two beds. They can be rolled up during the day and put down at night."
Shen Lie frowned, and then he heard Sang Luo say, "That's great. I have something to discuss with you."
Chen Lie seemed to be aware of something vaguely in his heart, but it was as if there was a layer of gauze between him and him, so he couldn't figure it out for a moment. When he heard that she had something to discuss with him, he sat down again.
"you say."
Sang Luo glanced at his expression and said, "I wonder if Xiao An and An Ning have told you that I am a refugee who fled from the north?"
Shen Lie nodded.
Sang Luo said, "When I married you, I actually knew you were gone."
Realizing that this was not right, she said, "I heard that you were killed in battle."
Chen Lie didn't care much. He looked at Sang Luo and motioned her to continue.
Sang Luo: "I stayed because I wanted to have an identity that would allow me to settle down, register my household registration, and have a place to stay."
Having said that, Shen Lie vaguely understood something. She was not going to marry him as a person, but a household registration.
So, now he is back alive...
When he thought of this, his fingertips moved slightly, but he still said nothing. He looked at her, waiting for her next words.
Sang Luo was actually quite embarrassed, but she was paying attention to Chen Lie's reaction while she spoke. Judging from the slight change in his expression just now, he should have understood.
She cleared her throat and whispered, "Of course it's great that you can come back, but we are very unfamiliar with each other. I thought, why don't we get along first and see if we are suitable for each other, and then decide whether we want to go on together in the future, how about it?"
She spoke just a few words while paying attention to his expression.
How could she ask this question? She looked at him carefully, her eyes full of expectation.
Expect him to agree.
Chen Lie listened to everything she said, and repeated the sentence "Let's decide whether to continue together in the future" twice in his mind. His eyes fell on the reeds on the table again, and he thought of what she had just said about hanging a curtain between the two beds. Only then did he realize the real meaning behind her words.
He was only eighteen, but he had been in the army for two years. Other people didn't care whether he was unmarried or not, and they would occasionally talk about all sorts of topics. Even if he didn't understand, he would understand after listening more.
After realizing what she really wanted to say, and then meeting that pair of clear and expectant eyes, Chen Lie truly experienced for the first time that people's faces really do burn when they are embarrassed.
From the face to the ears, and from the base of the ears to the neck.
He suspected that his entire body was red now. For the first time, he was thankful that his skin had become much darker after staying in the mountains, so his face was not too obviously red.
Chen Lie didn't dare to look at the pair of eyes full of expectation just now. He nodded randomly: "Okay."
"I'm going to take a shower."
Chen Lie didn't know how he got up and how he found the clothes in the bag. He should have run outside with the bag and searched for clothes, because if he stayed a little longer, she might have noticed his red ears and embarrassment.
But strangely, he pretended to be calm.
He nodded calmly, agreed calmly, stood up calmly, turned around and walked to the bag calmly, found his clothes calmly, and walked out calmly...
He is so calm.
As he thought about this, Chen Lie rubbed his face fiercely and pulled his burning ears twice.
Shen An and Shen Ning had just gone to feed their precious chickens and ducks. When they came in, they saw their eldest brother standing under the eaves outside the house, holding a few clothes and pulling his ears.
Shen Ning asked, “Brother, do you have frostbite?”
If you get frostbite on your ears, it will be very itchy. She and her second brother got it. It was only because her eldest sister-in-law went to the county to get frostbite oil to apply on them that they recovered.
Chen Lie was so embarrassed that he was about to smoke, especially after Aning shouted. The people inside must have known that he was standing not far outside the house and hadn't left, right?
There's a tendency for smoke to come out of my ears again.
"No, I'm going to take a shower. Where do we take a shower at home?"
"Bathroom." Chen An pointed to the bathroom and said, "Brother, I'll get you a bath towel."
Shen An ran into the house. His sister-in-law made him four bath towels before winter. One was made of new cloth for bathing, and three were made of scraps of cloth for wiping hair.
As soon as he entered the room, he went straight to where he kept the bath towels. He took good care of these bath towels and would wash and dry them every time he used them and put them away together with clean clothes.
While turning over the bath towel, she reported to Sang Luo: "Sister-in-law, Aning and I have fed the chickens, ducks and geese, and the chickens and ducks have been locked in their nests."
Sang Luo smiled: "Okay, thank you for your hard work."
Chen An felt that the eldest sister-in-law was really different from anyone else in their village. She was extremely polite. When he and Aning did a good job, they would either be praised or receive a smile from the eldest sister-in-law for her hard work.
Chen An liked it very much. He grinned and said, "It's not hard. It's the sister-in-law who works hard every day. I'll bring a bath towel to my brother."
Seeing Sang Luo busy, he asked, "What are you doing, sister-in-law? I'll come to help you in a while. Ask Aning to come along."
Then, without waiting for Sang Luo to respond, he happily hugged his bath towel and rushed out like a gust of wind.
Sang Luo couldn't help but chuckle.
Well, I was hesitant and reluctant, probably in large part because of these two children, who are so warm, caring and adorable.
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