After cleaning the wheat straw and removing impurities, Li Yan began to beat the soft and rotten straw to disperse its fibers, which would be more conducive to the subsequent pulping and papermaking.
Li Yan was trying to make paper by herself in the backyard when Mr. Li's voice rang out.
"Come here quickly, girl. Your uncle Yong wants to talk to you."
"Oh, right here!" Li Yan cut the last bit of wheat straw in her hand, washed her hands, and trotted to the front yard.
"Uncle Yong is looking for me, what's the matter?"
Seeing Li Yan, Li Yong rubbed his hands awkwardly and asked a little embarrassedly: "I heard from the clan leader that the girl can buy our food at a normal price?"
Li Yan nodded. She had informed the clan leader about this matter in advance, but everyone’s food had not been dried out yet, so clan leader Li did not formally say anything about it for the time being!
Seeing Li Yan agreed, it became true. He then asked, "Girl, will you accept the grain from other villages?"
On the way back just now, he thought of asking for his Yue family. If the girl was willing to accept it, then his Yue family would not have to sell the grain to the Zhao family's grain shop, which would reduce the loss, right?
So that was the matter. Li Yan smiled and said, "This is my fault. I haven't had time to tell you all yet. I've been asked by the Qin family grain shop to buy all the grain. The price is the same as in normal years. It doesn't matter whether you send it to me or to the Qin family grain shop!"
Li Yong's eyes widened after hearing this. "Does that mean you'll take all the food from anyone?"
Li Yan nodded. "If you uncles find it troublesome to queue up in the city, you can just send the food directly to me. The price is the same. If Uncle Yong is worried, you can go to the Qin family grain store outside the city to inquire!"
After hearing this, Li Yong waved his hands and said, "Since the girl said they are the same, then they must be the same, no need to ask. I will go and tell my father-in-law so that he won't sell them cheaply to the Zhao family." After that, he ran out of the yard happily.
A few days ago, Li Yan met with Qin Yue again to discuss the grain collection.
She needed a reason to buy food so that her purchase would not attract attention.
In addition, Qin Yue's grain shop also needed to collect grain, so Li Yan suggested that while she was collecting grain, she could also help Qin Yue collect grain at the same time.
Qin Yue knew the cave where Li Yan stored grain. It was not big, but not small either. The grain stored there was enough for Lijia Village to eat for a year. Compared with the amount he wanted to purchase, it was not worth mentioning.
They are all smart people. Regarding Li Yan's sudden proposal, he could naturally guess the reason why she did this, which was just to avoid being seen.
It didn't hurt that someone was willing to share the burden. He had to buy food anyway, and now that someone was willing to help him, he was very happy. With a wave of his hand, he withdrew several hundred taels from the account office to give to Li Yan to buy food.
He also told her to collect as much grain as she could, and if she ran out of money, she just had to inform the shopkeeper Qin!
This is why Li Yan made the solemn promise to buy food.
Thinking that most of the villagers' grain should have been dried by now, Li Yan said to Old Man Li in the courtyard, "Master, today is the best day to do it. Please tell everyone about our grain harvest!"
This was something that was worth making everyone happy about, so Mr. Li agreed without any hesitation, "Okay, I'll go tell everyone right away!" With that, he put his hands behind his back and went to tell the villagers about this matter with a happy face.
"Uncle, are you serious? Are you kidding me?" Li Wensong asked excitedly.
"Kid, why should I try to trick you? If you don't believe me, just go to the Qin family's grain shop and ask!" Old Master Li said leisurely.
"Old friend, ignore that kid. What you meant just now is that you want to collect not only the grain from our village but also the grain from other villages?" Li Youshan asked.
Mr. Li nodded.
Upon hearing this, Li Youshan immediately called out to his son, "Hurry up and send a letter to your sister. Don't let them sell the grain at a low price!"
His daughter's family was very poor, far away from the city, and had very little access to information.
After the summer harvest, grain merchants will come to the village to collect grain. If they are deceived, they may sell the grain at a low price.
Li Wensong reacted after hearing this and ran towards his sister's house. He had to run faster, otherwise he might not be able to get back before dark.
Li Youshan happily pulled Old Man Li and said, "Don't leave today, have a meal at home!"
"No, there are still many families I haven't informed yet!"
Li Wenshan loosened his grip and said repeatedly, "This is important, this is important."
When Mr. Li walked to a house, someone from that house came out in a hurry, running outside at the speed of light.
No need to think, they were all sending letters to their relatives.
On that day, countless young men from Lijia Village ran out to deliver letters to their relatives.
There was no other way, they were also afraid that relatives who were not well-informed would sell the grain at a low price!
When these messengers came back, it was said that some of them actually met the Zhao family's servants who went to the village to collect grain.
The attitude of the Zhao family servants was extremely arrogant and domineering. Under their coercion and inducement, the honest old farmers in the village almost sold their grain at a low price.
Fortunately, the letter was delivered in time, so those people did not succeed.
In the evening, the Zhao family servants returned home with nothing to show for it and reported to Mr. Zhao what had happened that day.
"Master, what do you think we should do? The Qin family has already opened up a gap. As long as they buy grain at a high price, our current purchase price will not be enough!"
After hearing what his attendant said, Mr. Zhao gloomily smashed the teacup in his hand!
Last time, when refugees were about to come, it was the Qin family grain store that dismantled the supply of grain to the people of Rongcheng, causing him to suffer a great loss. Not only did he not make any money, but he also lost face!
Mr. Zhao paced back and forth angrily. He really didn't dare to touch the Qin family's grain shop. It was the general's private property. Even though he was so angry that he was fuming, he didn't dare to do anything to the other party. But he was unwilling to raise the price of grain and give up some profits.
After thinking for a while, Master Zhao said to his followers, "How about this: Go to the nearby town tomorrow to inquire about the grain market. We have a branch shop there. If the price there is suitable, you can buy directly from there."
For now he can only avoid the sharp edge, who can blame him for being powerful?
The attendants actually wanted to persuade Master Zhao to raise the price so that they could go to other towns to buy the food. The food would have to be transported back later. Not only would the journey be long, but the transportation would also cost a lot, so it wouldn't be much of a bargain.
But seeing the master's gloomy face, he finally retreated silently!
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