dtnovels Chapter 246 Food Price
Chapter 246 Food Price
If he was lucky, he would have fallen on the haystack. If he was unlucky, such a small child would have fallen on his head and might have died on the spot.
Ji Wenhe stood up and said, "Aunt Lan, I'm going back. The cabbages will be ready for harvest in a few days. I'm going to dig a cellar behind the shed."
"Okay, just don't dig too big."
"Well, let me see how to dig."
I went home and got a shovel. I dug a hole like I was digging a well, then kept digging downwards.
The further she went down, the more inconvenient it became and she couldn't move freely, so she put down the shovel and rested for a while.
Lan Qiuhua went into the house to drink some water, then came to the gate, turned around and looked at her, and asked, "How deep is it?"
"It's only half a meter. There are small stones inside that are difficult to dig. The deeper you go, the more trouble you have."
There was no ladder at home, and if they dug too deep, they would have to ask Shen Rongshan to make a wooden ladder.
After resting for a while, he continued digging the hole.
The width of the cave entrance is probably enough for Shen Rong Mountain to go down.
Shen Wenshan came back from the field and took the shovel from her hand.
Ji Wenhe went home, picked up a wooden barrel and a machete, and dumped the excavated soil into the wasteland.
Once the three pieces of wasteland are well cultivated, we plan to enclose them in vegetable fields and cultivate them for half a year. The soil should be better than it is now.
At noon, Shen Wenshan went home to cook. After finishing the meal, he came back to continue digging the cellar: "Sister-in-law, don't go down. I'll go down and you can hold the barrel up there."
"Okay, digging two meters deep should be enough, right?"
He went down the wooden ladder, which he had borrowed from Shen Zhong's house.
"Almost done, I'll dig a little bigger."
Using a worn-out shovel to expand the bottom of the hole, Ji Wenhe pulled the wooden barrel up with a rope and poured the soil into the wasteland.
When I got back to the cave entrance, I said to him, "We need to ask your elder brother to order a board."
Shen Wenshan nodded: "By the way, sister-in-law, leave some soil on the edge and cover the wooden board with it so that the rain will not fall in."
"it is good."
The two of them dug the cellar together and placed the shovel across the hole to prevent anyone from falling in.
At this time, the two brothers Shen Rongshan came back driving a donkey cart.
Ji Wenhe turned around and saw that the two were stopped by several aunts, who were probably asking about the price of grain in the town.
Walking to the door of Lan Qiuhua's house, he said, "Aunt Lan, judging from everyone's attitude, the price of grain should not be high, but it won't be too low either."
I don't know what Shen Rongshan said. They didn't look too happy or too disappointed, just a normal reaction.
"He'll come over soon, and we'll know after asking him."
She was hoping that she could get richer so that she could sell the grain and find a wife for her son.
After talking for a while, two men came over pulling a donkey cart.
Lan Qiuhua couldn't wait to ask, "Rongshan, how much is the price of grain in the town?"
Shen Yuanshan raised his right hand and spread out his five fingers: "The highest price. My brother and I went to several stores and found that they were selling for four cents a pound."
They didn't have even a stone of food in their house.
"Aunt Lan, you should hurry to town to sell the grain. We heard from the owner of Zhou's Rice Shop that the price might go down in a couple of days."
"Oh! We have to hurry." She stood up hurriedly and shouted into the house, "Xiao Ya, come out and help sift the rice."
"Uncle Shen, Aunt Lan, can your family finish the work today? I'll take you there."
None of them knew how to drive a donkey cart, so Shen Rongshan was worried.
Shen Erniu looked at the rice on the ground and said, "I'm afraid it won't work today. I estimate it will take until noon tomorrow."
"Then let's help get it done. Let's finish it early and sell it in town. The price of grain may drop tomorrow."
Ji Wenhe looked at Shen Rongshan and said again.
"You are going to sell goods in the village in the north tomorrow. You haven't been there for more than half a month. The rice and flour they bought for their families are probably almost finished."
The village behind the mountain is the farthest, and in the past you had to take a long detour to get there. But with the advent of donkey carts, it saves a lot of time compared to walking.
"Okay." He tied the donkey under the tree and turned to the four people who were busy, "Aunt Lan, Uncle Shen, we will come over after dinner."
"Hey, you guys go ahead." Lan Qiuhua responded, and then shouted into the house, "Xiaoya, come out and help quickly, don't just lie there."
Ji Wenhe walked side by side with him: "Brother Shen, a villager wants to borrow a donkey cart to go to town to sell grain, would you lend it to me?"
"I asked Wenshan today, and he said there are too many people selling food in the town, and you have to queue up. If you go early in the morning, you won't get a spot until the evening."
Some may have to stay there overnight before they can get a spot the next day.
"Yes." Shen Rongshan nodded. "When we entered the village just now, the aunts said they wanted to borrow our donkey cart."
"I can transport the food to the town and then transport the food for another family. I can transport all the food for the villagers in one day."
"We'll take the wheelbarrow to town. Whoever sells their food first will lend the wheelbarrow to someone else. We'll bring the donkey cart back to sell the goods ourselves."
"Okay, I'll listen to you." She turned and looked at him, "How many pounds of grain do we have? How much did you sell it for? Is it one stone?"
There were about 40 kilograms of rice left at home. One kilogram of rice could produce about 6 taels of rice. 40 kilograms of rice could produce about 24 kilograms of rice.
The forty kilograms she left behind were not calculated according to the current sixteen taels. She kept forty kilograms according to the weight of her previous life.
I originally wanted to leave more, but when I came back I thought about leaving less and mixed it with brown rice, and sold the rest.
"No." One stone weighs about 120 kilograms.
Shen Rongshan took out a small cloth bag from his arms and said, "We have a total of 102 jin of grain, 5 wen per jin, a total of 510 wen."
Ji Wenhe took the purse and said, "Not bad, not too much, not too little either."
When he opened the cloth bag, he saw that it was full of broken copper coins. Suddenly he asked him doubtfully, "Do you think grain merchants can use ghost scales?"
"Yes, every grain merchant does this, and we all know it in our hearts, but it's no use saying it out loud. If you expose it in front of us, the consequence is that your family's grain will never be sold in the town again."
"It will also implicate the villagers. Several grain merchants in town have agreed not to buy grain from your village, so everyone knows it. As long as it's not too much, everyone will pretend not to know."
She sighed: "It's so hard for ordinary people!"
Shen Rongshan bent down and brushed off the dirt on her hem: "You'll get used to it."
There is no way to get used to it, because going to the town to make a fuss will not achieve any results. On the contrary, it will bring disaster to the family.
There is no fairness in this world, and ordinary people have no fairness at all.
"Sister-in-law, brother, it's time to eat." Shen Wenshan poked his head out with a bowl in his hand.
"Here I am." Ji Wenhe held the purse, "Go to town in a couple of days to buy some goods. Buy two pounds of spare ribs and one pound of pork shanks."
"By the way, go to the market and see if there's any corn for sale. If there is, buy three or four."
"Okay, what else do you want to buy?"
She thought for a moment and said, "I'll go with you. I guess Aunt Lan will also go to town."
Shen Anguo and his son were going to work in the town, so he asked them if they wanted to hitchhike with him.
After dinner, the four of them went to Lan Qiuhua's house to help.
"Uncle Shen, our family is going to town to buy supplies on the 16th. When are you going to town? Why don't you come with us so you don't have to run over there."