Chapter 190 Selling Yams
Even if I still had high hopes when I left the village, they had already disappeared without a trace after the tragic scenes and stares I witnessed along the way.
It had only been a few days, and the flood in Shanshui Village had not receded completely, but there were already so many homeless and foodless victims outside!
Now that I think about it, their village is actually very good. It is located in a remote corner, and a dam was built to block the flood, so the houses and people in the village are fine.
As long as the houses are not washed away, the food, household goods and livestock are all there, and people don’t have to be displaced if they have a place to live.
“Speaking of which, this time the flood was so serious, but no one in our village died. Before leaving the village, I thought it was a common thing, but after leaving, I realized how lucky it was.” Xu Laosan, who was pulling the cart, lowered his voice and was scared.
This time, they went out to buy by carpooling. Three or five men gathered together and took turns pulling the cart.
The man next to Xu Laosan looked around, fearing that the victims with dim eyes would rush over. Hearing this, he also whispered: "If you don't go out, you won't know how serious the situation is outside!
Before I went out, my mother told me to buy more black noodles to store them. Why am I in such a hurry? I can buy more later when it's really not enough. Now that so many people have nothing to eat, buy more quickly! Buy more!"
No matter whether the family has enough food or not, who would complain about having too much food!
I thought about saving food before, but now it seems that I can't save it. How can I have the strength if I don't eat enough? What if I don't have the strength to rob these victims and the refugees behind me!
Wang Shiyi lowered his head and said sullenly: "When Sister Shuiqing said that we should protect day and night, I couldn't help laughing. I always thought that women were timid and thought too much. Now I know that I am not very knowledgeable."
"Oh, who isn't?"
"When we return to the village, we must tell the old village chief to form a protection team according to what Sister Shuiqing said!"
"We must have it day and night, and we can't relax."
"Yes."
"Everyone follow closely, let's go back together, and the team can't be chaotic!" Ding Heli sat on the ox cart frame and turned back to shout to the men behind him.
Looking at the crowd staring at them, many men immediately understood the reminder in the words.
"Okay!"
"Let's go together! There will be no chaos."
When paying the city entrance fee, everyone was surprised to find that it had increased by one cent, and now it was three cents per person.
No wonder there were so many disaster victims on the city wall and on both sides of the official road, who couldn't enter the city.
The official was very active in these matters.
After paying the entrance fee with great reluctance, after entering the city, although there were many more beggars than before, the city was obviously much better than outside the city.
There were many people repairing their houses, especially the roofs, which should have collapsed due to the previous heavy rain.
As the leader of the team, Ding Heli looked around the situation in the city and said to the men behind him: "It's still okay in the city. We have many people and many cars. It's inconvenient to block the road if we all go together, and it's not fast to buy things;
The cars form a small team and try to buy within an hour and a half. After an hour and a half, we will gather here and go back to the village together. No one will wait for us if we are late! Did you hear it clearly?"
"I understand!"
The road they came here was difficult to walk, and it took a lot more time than usual. It would take even longer to go back with the weight of the goods.
If they want to get back to the village before dark, the time for shopping will not be long. It will be good if they can have an hour and a half.
One oxcart, four carts, and two wheelbarrows were scattered on the spot, and everyone walked quickly, trying to buy things in the shortest time.
Fan Jin drove the oxcart, and the two came to Renjitang, the largest medicine store in the city.
Unlike the men in the village who only bought things, they also sold things.
Fan Jin had come to sell Polygonum multiflorum before, but he was afraid that the shopkeeper would recognize him, so he didn't go in, and let Ding Heli go in alone to negotiate the price - he was a professional herbalist, and Renjitang would definitely not be able to fool him.
After the shop assistant saw Ding Heli clearly, he ran into the inner room and called the shopkeeper.
After a while, Shopkeeper Qin came out with a smile, "Brother Ding, I haven't been here for a long time. What good stuff do you have this time?"
Ding Heli pointed to the things placed on the floor in the lobby and said with a smile, "I couldn't get out because of the heavy rain a few days ago. I found these when I went up the mountain as soon as the rain stopped. I thought of sending them to you before the floods were completely receded;
It's not easy to get these now, so you can't bargain for them."
"I won't bargain for you, Brother Ding!" Shopkeeper Qin waved his hand and squatted down to look at the things at Ding Heli's feet.
Three bundles of things that looked like dead branches and tree roots were tied tightly with straw. They were simply washed and washed for easy preservation without mud.
"This is fresh yam! It's rare, extremely rare!"
The medicinal effect of yam is not very obvious, but it can be made into many snacks. As a daily conditioning food, it is most loved by the masters, ladies and young ladies of those wealthy families.
Fresh yam is even more difficult to find. First, there are few in the wild, and second, few people know it.
Renjitang has a special supply of wealthy families. Whenever they get good medicinal materials that can be eaten fresh, they are first sent to the mansion for priority selection.
Shopkeeper Qin hesitated and asked the price: "In the past, it would have been no problem to sell this product for 150 or 160 wen per jin. Today, I can only sell it for 110 wen per jin. I hope Brother Ding can understand."
"After all, this medicinal material is not like food, especially this kind of medicinal food material. One jin can buy more than ten jin of rice or flour."
Fresh ones cannot be stored, and it is unknown whether the masters and ladies have cut down on their expenses after the flood.
If they cut down on their expenses and do not buy these medicinal foods, they can only make dried yam by themselves if they cannot sell them. Although they will not lose all their money, they still bear risks.
Ding Heli had already made preparations before he came.
The two families agreed that if the price was higher than 90 wen, they would sell it. If it was too low, they could just make it into yam slices.
Shopkeeper Qin was telling the truth. The 110 wen he gave was already beyond his bottom price, so he nodded in agreement without saying much.
Shopkeeper Qin saw Ding Heli agreed, and then he stretched out his hand to open the sack next to him, and saw that it was snow-white and clean yam slices with excellent appearance.
He praised without concealing: "These yam slices are really pleasing to look at! Brother Ding's skills in preparing medicinal materials are unmatched, and our medicine shop can't compare with them!"
Ding Heli bowed and said modestly: "No, no."
Shopkeeper Qin looked at the yam slices with excellent appearance, gritted his teeth and asked: "How about yam slices at 400 wen and 20 wen per catty?"
If Guangning Mansion really couldn't sell it, he would transport such good-looking dried yams to the main store.
After Ding Heli knew that this was given according to the previous price, not the flood price, he said gratefully: "Okay."
The medicine shop clerk waiting on the side hurriedly weighed and quoted the price.
Fresh yam costs 110 wen per jin, and 30 jin was brought over, which is 3 liang 3 qian;
Dried yam is half a sack, and the dry yam is not heavy, so half a sack is less than 40 jin, which is 16 liang 1 qian.
The Ding family splits the revenue of the processed medicinal materials 30% and 70% respectively. Yam is easy to prepare, so the Ding family was unwilling to take 30%, but Shuiqing and Fan Jin said that there are easy ones for difficult ones, and since it has been agreed, it will be 30% regardless of whether it is easy or difficult.