Not to mention this era where people rely entirely on the weather for their livelihood, in her original world, a few months without rain would cause a large-scale reduction in grain production, let alone here.
In the face of this natural disaster, there is really no way out.
It's a pity that she can't grow anything in her space.
But the news of the severe drought in the south has not spread yet.
It may also be that the rain in the capital is not too bad. Although the rain is not much, the grain production may decrease, but it should not cause a complete crop failure.
So she could store more food now while others were still not reacting, just in case.
Although she was in the Marquis of Wu'an's Mansion, she believed that even the biggest natural disaster would not starve her. The main reason was that she was stockpiling some food now so that she could help those who could not afford to eat.
Although it may be a drop in the bucket, I can still help if I can.
I believe that if there is a severe drought in the south, causing people to be displaced, the price of food in the capital will definitely rise and ordinary people will not be able to afford to eat.
At that time, even if she sold it to the people at the original price, it would be considered a good deed.
Having made up her mind, she closed the account book and looked up to see Aunt He staring at her nervously.
Xia Tian laughed, "Aunt He, don't be nervous. I don't have any other intentions in asking this. I just want to know if prices have increased."
She picked up the account book and asked Ningxiang to pass it to Aunt He. "You recorded it very carefully. You did a great job."
When Aunt He heard Madam say this, her heart instantly settled down. She smiled and said, "Madam, I've noticed that the prices of rice, flour, grain, and oil have increased quite a bit recently. Do you think we should buy some more and store them in the courtyard first?"
A few days ago, the Madam asked Mu Feng to give her one hundred taels of silver, and she only bought enough food to last for half a month.
"Well, that's a good suggestion, but don't buy too much at once. You can go a few times and don't buy from a fixed store. After all, there are many people in this alley, and it wouldn't be good if you were seen buying too much food at once."
Xia Tian thought it would be safer to let Aunt He purchase as usual so that others wouldn't notice anything unusual.
Besides, the people living in this courtyard are mainly maids and servants who have little fighting power, so they should keep a low profile if possible.
Aunt He nodded. The lady was afraid that someone would see it and become jealous. It would be troublesome if they were targeted by bad people.
"Uncle Chen, when Aunt He comes to buy grain, you send two people to follow her and use a horse-drawn carriage to pull it. Keep it hidden and don't let other people in the family know. Find an empty room to put it first and store more grain." Xia Tian instructed Uncle Chen again.
"Okay, ma'am." Uncle Chen quickly agreed.
Buying grain this way was still too slow. Xia Tian thought for a moment and instructed Uncle He, "Uncle He, please take some time tomorrow to go to Yupinxuan and ask Shopkeeper Bai if he knows any grain merchants who can introduce you to one.
We'll buy some more food from them and say it's because the restaurant is about to open and we need to make preparations." She thought it would be more cost-effective and safer to buy from someone she knew.
Uncle He listened for a long time and felt that something was wrong. Otherwise, the lady would not ask about the price for no reason and would not buy things in two ways, openly and secretly. So he asked, "Madam, what happened?"
Xia Tian saw that there were no outsiders around, so he whispered, "I heard it hasn't rained in the south for a long time."
Several people were shocked and their expressions instantly became serious!
This is a big deal!
"Madam, how much do you want to buy?" Uncle He also thought it would be better to buy them quickly and stock up.
Xia Tian calculated carefully and decided that he couldn't buy too much food at once, otherwise he would have no place to store it.
"First, buy five thousand taels of silver. Uncle He can buy it in several batches. Buy more brown rice, coarse flour, and cornmeal, and less refined rice and flour.
There are other coarse grains that are not expensive and can fill your stomach, so buy more. In short, buy more coarse grains and less fine grains."
Xia Tian doesn’t know how much to stockpile right now, so she can only prepare first. Anyway, there will always be food available, and the extra can be stored in her space without spoiling.
When Uncle He heard that his wife wanted to buy so much food, mainly coarse grains, he knew that it was not for the restaurant.
I was wondering if the lady wanted to wait for the price to go up and then sell it to make money?
"Madam, are you going to do grain business?"
"No, I have other uses for it. Don't worry, I won't make money from this national disaster!" Xia Tian explained.
Uncle He was a little embarrassed, "Madam, if we buy these grains, where should we store them?" Five thousand taels of silver is hundreds of thousands of kilograms of grain, which must be stored in a suitable place.
"That's right. It's also a problem where to store so much food."
This stockpiling of food was a spur-of-the-moment decision today, and nothing else has been considered.
However, buy food first. She asked Shen Nian at night, he should have a way.
"How about this, Uncle He, I'll go back and discuss finding a place to store it. You go find Shopkeeper Bai tomorrow."
Xia Tian instructed, "Let's see if we can buy some food first. We're buying a lot, so remember to bargain! I didn't bring that much silver bills with me today, so I'll have Mu Feng bring it to you tomorrow morning."
"Okay, ma'am, I've taken note of it." Uncle He responded quickly.
"Also, remember to disguise yourself when you buy food. Only a few of us will know about this first, don't tell anyone else." Xia Tian reminded worriedly.
Several people in the room nodded repeatedly!
They are not ignorant children and they know the seriousness of this matter!
Besides, there is food at home, so there is no need to worry. They also agree with the lady's practice of preparing for a rainy day.
Everything has been arranged here, so I'll let Uncle Chen go and get busy in the summer.
Ask Aunt He to find Xiao You and Xiao Zhou for her.
My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com