Zhao counted out the money and put it on the counter. She wanted to say something to comfort them, but she didn't say it in the end.
Little Lingling suddenly thought of something and whispered something into Zhao's ear.
Zhao's eyes lit up, and after confirming with Xiao Lingdang again and again, she stepped forward and said, "Manager Wang, to be honest, we were planning to flee the famine, so we did bring some water with us, and we can share some with you.
But we want to trade water for some food. Is that possible? I was going to the food store to buy some, but when I got there, I found they were all sold out!
Lin Feng was a little surprised and raised his hand to stop her. After all, water is more important than food now. But he knew that his mother would not do anything that was not cost-effective, so he had to calm down for the time being.
When Shopkeeper Wang heard this, he looked over and asked, "You, you have water?"
Little Bell shook the water bag in her hand and said, "It's right here, Uncle Shopkeeper, look!"
Zhao smiled and took the water bag from her granddaughter and handed it over. "Indeed, we have some, but we didn't bring much with us on our journey. So, the most we can give you is a bucket of water. If you need more, you'll have to figure it out on your own. I can give you some water here to use when you go back and make medicine!"
Manager Wang was very surprised. One bucket of water was already a lot of water. They could drink it sparingly and immediately hitch a cart to the county. They should be able to get more in time.
Moreover, with this water, medicine can be boiled, and his mother can survive. This is tantamount to saving a life!
Thinking of this, Shopkeeper Wang stood up, walked to his wife and was about to kneel down to Zhao. Zhao couldn't stand this and quickly asked her son to help lift him up.
Shopkeeper Wang choked up and said, "Sister, you saved my mother's life! I'll trade you some grain! I bought this specifically in the county two months ago. I didn't think the situation was good when it didn't snow before the New Year."
So, at the beginning of the new year, I made preparations to escape famine and bought some extra food. So, you are all willing to exchange water for me. This is a great favor, and I won't do it for nothing. I will sell it to you at the price I paid before, 20 wen per jin. How about it?
However, I didn't buy much, and I don't know what will happen next, so I can only sell you 100 kilograms at most."
Zhao was delighted. "Really? That's enough, that's enough. If I save a little, I can eat it for a long time!"
Shopkeeper Wang smiled and said, "Okay! This hundred pounds is a bit heavy, I'll send it to you on a cart. I'll also bring back some water. Where should I send it to you?"
"It's right at the entrance of town, very close! Just bring a bucket!"
Shopkeeper Wang smiled and quickly handed the key to Zhou, and poured the water in the water bag into a clean kettle.
"Caiyun, clean up the shop and lock it up before heading home. I'll be back with some water soon. Have your son and daughter-in-law pack up everything at home. We won't wait for you. We'll leave as soon as I get back!"
After saying that, Shopkeeper Wang went straight to the backyard of the shop. After a while, he pushed out a large bag of grain on a cart. He also put an empty bucket on top and covered it with other things, for fear that someone would notice something.
The group walked out while checking the surrounding situation. The news of water shortage had spread throughout the streets and alleys. People were scrambling for water everywhere, and the cries of pain were endless.
Zhao held Xiao Lingling's head in her arms, not wanting her to see the cruel reality, and even more not wanting her young heart to be frightened.
But even if she couldn't see it, just hearing it made Xiao Lingling involuntarily tense up.
This was the first time she had been so close to evil, yet she felt no anger or disgust, only endless helplessness and sorrow...
When they arrived at the town entrance, Lin Yue and his wife had already returned. Because food and water were the most scarce things now, for safety reasons, they could only find a safe corner to trade.
In the end, Zhao successfully exchanged a bucket of water and two taels of silver for 120 kilograms of grain.
The extra twenty kilograms were secretly stuffed into the car by Manager Wang before he left, using the excuse of returning the bucket. They didn't discover it until Manager Wang left and they were about to continue on their journey.
Needless to say, these foods are a token of gratitude for the life-saving water.
I have to say that everyone is happy at this moment. Maybe this is the reward for kindness.
However, there is less water now, so everyone has no choice but to be more frugal. But Zhao was not at all panicked, because Xiao Lingling had said at the time that there was a lot of water in her treasure.
In this way, you only need to find an opportunity to get water out in the future, but if you want to get food out, you have to find an excuse. In comparison, water is definitely easier to solve.
Therefore, Zhao didn't feel that she was losing out at all by exchanging water for food. It saved her a lot of money. If she went to the grain store, these 120 kilograms of food would be sold for more than 8 taels.
Now they have nearly 360 to 370 kilograms of food in their car. If everything goes well, they can reach Yongcheng Prefecture.
This way you can eat a little more on the way. After all, traveling all the time is hard work, and not eating enough will affect your progress.
However, the trip for Sun's mother and son was not very smooth. They went in with great effort but ended up buying nothing.
Fortunately, my family had bought some extra food for the full moon party, so there was still a lot left, so we were not too anxious.
After making sure everyone was ready, the team set off again.
This time they had to walk along a section of the official road first, and then they could turn onto a small road when they were almost at the county.
This town is even farther from the county, so they definitely won't be able to get there today, but Lin Changshu has already planned where to stay for the night.
There is an abandoned temple on the road from the town to the county. It was the former land temple. Later, the county built a bigger one and the temple was abandoned.
But it is still enough to rest for the night, but they have to speed up, otherwise they will have to travel at night.
To speed things up, all the children were carried by adults. Zhao had originally planned to have Wu Hong ride in the donkey cart with Xiao Lingling, but after a short rest, Wu Hong felt much better and decided not to go.
When Xiao Lingling heard this, she just smiled at her and said nothing.
Seeing that she was determined not to do it, Zhao Shi gave up and put her two grandsons on board. "We have to hurry up. You two are responsible for keeping an eye on your sister. Do you understand?"
Lin Ran and Lin Wu nodded, and sat on either side of Xiao Lingling. They tacitly held one of Xiao Lingling's arms and fixed her firmly on the donkey cart.
"Don't worry, grandma. Look, we are protecting our sister!"
Little Lingling looked at her heavy hands, giggled, pouted, and felt so happy in her heart. Her brothers really loved her very much!
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