After urging her grandson to go home and get the tools, Aunt Li remembered something important. So she hurriedly asked Jiang Wanwan in a loud voice, "Wanwan, how do we exchange locusts for grain? What kind of grain? How many locusts do we need to exchange for a pound of wheat bran?"
In her view, pests like locusts were completely useless; it would be good enough if they could be exchanged for some wheat bran.
Upon hearing this, the field instantly fell silent, everyone staring intently at Jiang Wanwan, their ears perked up, eager to know how much grain the locusts could be exchanged for, and what kind of grain it could be exchanged for.
Jiang Wanwan said with a light laugh, "Aunt Li, locusts are sold by weight. Two pounds of locusts can be exchanged for one pound of rice. Tomorrow morning, please bring the locusts you have caught to our house, and we will weigh and register them for everyone."
Two pounds of locusts for one pound of rice—this was a result she came to after careful consideration.
A few months later, Daqi will suffer another drought, followed by internal strife. The farmers will have an even harder time in the future, with no harvest in the fields. She needs to hurry and make sure the villagers stockpile more food, so that every household has enough to ensure their safety.
Moreover, in the future, the villagers will need to unite and work together to protect the safety of the village and their own homes, which is why she traded rice for locusts.
Rice was a precious food in this era, costing twenty coins per pound. The villagers would sell their rice to exchange for four pounds of unpolished rice, which allowed them to store some grain.
Trading locusts for rice may seem absurd, but the idea of locusts being exchanged for grain was unheard of in that era, and the villagers wouldn't doubt it.
As soon as Jiang Wanwan finished speaking, the villagers erupted in an uproar.
"Wow, two pounds of locusts can be exchanged for one pound of rice! Good heavens, did I hear that right?"
"It's already strange enough that locusts can be exchanged for grain, but I never imagined they could be exchanged for rice! It's simply unbelievable."
"No wonder they're from a wealthy family! They're really generous."
"That's great! Once we get the rice, we can take it to town and exchange it for brown rice. One pound of rice should be enough to exchange for three or four pounds of brown rice."
"Hey, what are you all standing there for? Hurry up and catch the locusts!"
A sharp voice jolted everyone awake. They abandoned their discussion and hurriedly began catching locusts.
When the Jiang family heard that they could exchange locusts for grain, and rice at that, they were all fired up like crazy, grabbing nets and frantically trying to catch them.
Each of them had a cloth bag tied to their waistband with an elastic rope. Each time they caught a locust, they would put it into the bag and then tighten the rope to prevent the locust from flying out and escaping.
Jiang Wanwan begged her uncle to hurry home and weave some bamboo cages for her, so that they could easily hold the locusts that the villagers brought in.
Grandma Jiang and Madam Lu were responsible for going home to cook, while the rest of the people were catching locusts in the fields.
It wasn't until it got dark that the Jiang family members rushed home for dinner.
Other families didn't even go home; after eating the porridge their families brought them, they went back to catching locusts.
Catching more locusts means you can exchange them for more grain.
With fewer locusts, some of the crops in the fields can be saved.
Old Jiang's main room.
At this moment, all members of the Jiang family were sitting around the dining table, preparing to eat.
Grandma Jiang's gaze fell on Jiang Liu, and she asked incredulously, "Hey, Liu'er, why are you home?"
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