Chapter 440 Opening a Black Shop
The seventeenth day of the twelfth lunar month.
It snowed heavily for three consecutive days, lowering the tree branches at the entrance of the streets.
Looking at the white mist exhaled, Nanzhi's face became a little sad.
Yesterday Xu Chou came back from the countryside and said that there was also a problem with the land in their village.
Gotta hurry up...
The eighteenth day of the twelfth lunar month.
The sky was so foggy that I couldn't see the scenery.
Snowflakes fell in large tracts, covering the eaves and branches in a silvery white.
Two women were hurrying along the street.
"Are you telling the truth?" A woman looked hesitantly at her neighbor who was rushing to the grain store beside her.
She sneaked into her home last night to tell her that there was important news, but she called her out early this morning.
"Why did I lie to you!" Seeing that she didn't believe him, the woman just rolled her eyes.
This is my first-hand information!
Yesterday her nephew, who was outside the city, brought her something. He only said that it was not peaceful recently, and there were rat infestations everywhere in the village. He also wanted to borrow some money from her to buy food.
"Didn't you see that there are more guards near the city gate? There is a disaster outside the city! I guess they are afraid that those country people will come to the city. Let's buy more food, lest the disaster victims come in. We won't Gotta eat.”
The woman's tone was a little arrogant. Yesterday, her nephew brought a chicken and wanted to borrow two taels of silver. Could it be that she was stupid?
A chicken holds two hundred coins in the sky, but you want two taels of silver as soon as you open your mouth?
I only told her for the sake of my neighbor. If she doesn't believe it, then life will be difficult in the future, so don't blame yourself.
"But the price of food is probably a bit high now." Another person frowned and muttered in his heart.
There are indeed more guards at the city gate these days, and there are also a lot more patrols at night.
"No matter how powerful it is, how can it be better? It's better than the disaster victims entering the city and the whole family not having enough to eat."
After hesitating for a while, the woman finally gritted her teeth and followed him to the grain store.
There were two red lanterns hung at the door of the grain store. Seeing someone coming so early in the morning, the waiter started to murmur in his heart.
Logically speaking, it is approaching the New Year, and the price of food in the shop has increased. There should not be so many people coming to buy food.
It's strange, the business in the shop has been surprisingly good these days.
"Man, what's the price of food today?"
The woman looked around and saw that no one was around, then asked.
"Today's new rice is ten cents per catty, old rice is six cents per catty, and white flour is thirteen cents per catty."
The waiter looked at them and pointed to the wooden board beside them.
The daily price is written on it, but someone asks about it every time.
It's really weird.
After hearing the price, both of them looked a little strange.
The price has doubled than usual!
"Are you going to buy it?" The waiter saw that their faces were not very good, so he just rubbed his hands.
In this cold weather, it’s up to you whether to buy it or not!
"Buy, buy, give me thirty kilograms of old rice, and if you want, I will give you twenty kilograms of new rice."
The woman felt a little sick. Her man could earn 900 cash a month, but her family spent more than 400 cash a month on rice, flour, grains and oil. Now that food prices have risen, it makes her stomach ache to spend the money!
But the New Year is almost here no matter what, and we can’t still eat old rice during the New Year.
In addition, the woman's family life was not as good as hers. After hesitating for a long time, she only bought thirty kilograms of old rice.
Seeing the two men secretly carrying the grain bags, the grain shop clerk just glanced at them a few more times, then rubbed his hands and returned to the house.
This year it will be freezing to death.
When his feet landed on the ground, they only made a deep mark, and the white snow was stepped crookedly into the mud.
When Liu Jie came back, his eyebrows and temples were already frosted.
Looking at the dozen or so carriages behind him, Shen Wenchen breathed a rare sigh of relief.
Dumb sent a letter yesterday.
The situation in Kyoto is urgent, and now Yancheng can't take care of it. I'm afraid they all have to find a way on their own.
Although Yancheng is rich, there is only so much money in the county government, and most of the surrounding cities are closely connected with Xincheng. All they can do now is to hold on.
The matter of holding on to Kyoto has a result, holding on to the end.
It’s been more than half a month since I left, and now I’m finally back.
"General, the general is back." When Liu Jie saw Shen Wenchen and Nanzhi, he quickly turned over and dismounted, clasped his fists and bowed his hands in salute.
Seeing the vicissitudes of life of his subordinates who used to have a youthful look on their faces, Shen Wenchen felt a little emotional.
"Hard."
Liu Jie went there in a hurry, and it was hard to buy food all the way down the river. The way back was even more difficult.
"General, my subordinates have heard that Xincheng and the other three cities have joined forces. I'm afraid we have to rely on ourselves this time."
Liu Jie's voice was hoarse, and he felt hatred in his heart when he thought of the information he had found out.
Xincheng was built near the water. When they passed by, they even asked the price. A pound of old rice cost them eight cents, and new rice cost thirteen cents.
Xincheng is close to water and has always been the largest transfer station for grain exchanges.
But he opened his mouth to their lions!
He felt something was wrong, so he secretly sent a childish-looking subordinate to inquire about the price of food.
As a result, the people in the city said that now a pound of old rice only costs four cents, and new rice only costs seven cents!
And as long as you buy enough, the price will continue to drop!
Just because they knew they were from Yancheng, they raised the price so much!
Later, he asked several of his subordinates to disguise themselves and go to various grain stores in the city to buy 500 kilograms of grain, and then sneaked away before being discovered.
Later, after passing the other two cities, they realized that everything was caused by the city lord of Xin City.
I simply scraped together things along the way, and finally bought some food.
"Just come back."
Shen Wenchen patted his shoulder and helped him up.
The nineteenth day of the twelfth lunar month.
Yancheng became lively again.
Sanweiju finally made some news half a month after it closed its doors.
The old plaque was replaced and put aside, leaving only the new plaque with the words "Lin's Grain Shop" engraved on it and hung high.
The tables, chairs and benches that were originally neatly arranged in the lobby have long since disappeared, and now there are wooden barrels filled with various grains.
"Dear fellow villagers, our Lin's Grain Store officially opens today. Everyone is welcome to come in and take a look!"
Uncle Ping changed his usual style and wore a thick gray jacket today, with a smile that was the shopkeeper's signature style.
The onlookers poked their heads around for a long time. After a long time, someone asked in a low voice: "Whose grain store is this?"
"Of course it was driven by the city lord's wife." Liu Da glanced at him with a hint of arrogance.
"Why, why is it so expensive?"
Someone saw the price tag on the grain barrel and started smashing it without controlling the volume.
When he said this, some people also looked over.
I only saw the price of ten cents per pound on the old rice, and the price of sixteen cents per pound on the new rice.
"Is this city lord's wife going to open a black shop?"
Some people whispered, and naturally some others picked up the conversation.