Chapter 14: The Price Has Gone Up…

Master Lei’s home wasn’t very far from Mao’er Hutong. Well, of course—not surprising, just look at the names of the surrounding alleys, and you’d know that many skilled artisans serving the imperial household lived around here. A renowned construction family like the Leis naturally wouldn’t live too far away.

But before heading to the Lei household, Fang Dahai had one more thing to take care of.

He stepped into a narrow alley and, after making sure no one was around, raised his eyes to check his golden finger prize wheel.

Excellent. From noon the day before yesterday until now, he had accumulated a total of 25 points. What a great haul. He wondered what he’d get this time.

Click. Confirm. Prize…

“This round of the lottery is complete. Congratulations, Host, you’ve received a 25m storage space! It has been automatically merged with your existing space. Please check it at your convenience, and we look forward to your next click.”

This—this was a wonderful surprise!

Because the previous two times had yielded food, Fang Dahai had subconsciously believed the lottery system was all about edibles. Even if it gave him oil, salt, soy sauce, or vinegar, he wouldn’t have been shocked.

But storage space? What did that mean? What did it mean, dear readers? It meant this lottery system could give out anything! Could he start hoping for skills next? Would it become like those sign-in novels where even money could be drawn someday? Oh wow, the more he thought about it, the more excited he became!

Overflowing with anticipation, Fang Dahai’s first priority was to check his upgraded space. 25 meters! Added to what he already had, that made 35 square meters! That was about the size of two side rooms. Just imagine how much he could store!

When he focused on the space, his view instantly widened. Sure enough, the once-cramped storage area now had more than half cleared out. Sigh—if only he had had this much space earlier, he could’ve taken more things from the Fu family’s house. He wouldn’t have had to waste so much time reorganizing and juggling everything.

Still, better late than never. Now that he had it, life was bound to get better.

Shutting the space and tidying his mood, Fang Dahai happily headed to Master Lei’s house. Originally, he’d hoped the lottery might produce food, which he could’ve brought over on the way to help cover the mystery of its sudden appearance. But now, that wasn’t necessary, and he had to move fast—he still had to visit the grain store, after all.

Master Lei was easy to find. When there’s work to do, who isn’t eager? Buying household supplies from a shop owned by Lei’s relatives also went smoothly. Just like the old lady had said, not only was the shop well-stocked, they also offered delivery, saving Fang Dahai a lot of trouble. But when he arrived at the grain store…

“Has the price of grain… gone up?”

Fang Dahai frowned as he looked at the wooden price tag stuck into the rice barrel and asked Master Lei beside him. But when he turned his head, he saw that Master Lei was frowning too.

“It has, for sure. Look at this 44-pound sack of foreign flour. My son’s birthday was yesterday, and I bought a bag—back then it was 200 copper coins.”

Master Lei pointed to a price tag next to the stacked flour sacks. The current price clearly read 220 copper coins.

“Hiss…”

Fang Dahai sucked in a breath of cold air. Just one day apart, and the price had increased by 10%? That’s quite a jump!

“Oh hey, Master Lei! Thinking of buying some grain today? I’ve got a decent selection. What would you like?”

The two of them had been standing in front of the rice barrel for a while, and the shop clerk had seen many similar scenes today. Glancing at Master Lei’s burly frame, he shivered a bit—afraid of getting hit—and quickly called for the shopkeeper.

They were all neighbors, so the shopkeeper recognized Master Lei right away and came over with a big smile to greet him.

“Manager Qi, these prices… you raised them?”

“Yes, they’ve gone up. Not just me—the whole city has raised grain prices.”

As soon as grain prices were mentioned, Manager Qi furrowed his brow and shook his head, clearly helpless.

Sure, every businessperson wants to make money. If you can sell for more, why not? But it depends on the business. Grain is something you profit from in volume, not high margins. A big price increase like this… he wasn’t some well-established merchant; he mainly dealt with locals. He was genuinely worried that the rising prices would ruin his reputation. He might not even be able to show his face around here anymore.

“You guys probably don’t know. Just yesterday, the nearby garrison issued an order—they’re collecting grain for the army. Practically 70% of the grain stock in all the shops across the capital has been requisitioned. How could prices not go up?”

What? Seventy percent of the grain went to the military? Then what were the common folks supposed to eat? What on earth were they planning?

“Planning? They’re conscripting soldiers in exchange for food! I heard from a guy who helped transport grain outside the city yesterday—over 2,000 people from nearby villages were drafted in just one day.”

Suddenly, he felt so lucky! Fang Dahai could practically hear his own heartbeat. If they had still been in the village, then… at his age, he’d be in serious danger. And if he were conscripted, never mind how unlucky that would be—it would be nearly impossible for the kids back home to survive this ordeal alone.

No, no. That’s all in the past now. He had to focus on the present. Seventy percent of the grain had been requisitioned, and this was already past the autumn harvest, when grain stores were at their highest. The capital’s grain prices… were definitely going to keep climbing from here on out!

Fang Dahai suddenly had a flash of inspiration in his mind—he realized the key point of the matter. He quickly stepped up in front of the shopkeeper and asked anxiously:

“Boss, do you deliver if I buy grain here?”

“Deliver? Yes, of course! As long as the quantity is large and the distance isn’t too far, we deliver.”

The shopkeeper glanced at him—this guy looked unfamiliar. Was he new here? How could he not even know this basic rule?

But since there was business to be done, the shopkeeper immediately left Master Lei aside and warmly welcomed Fang Dahai, even subconsciously giving him a quick once-over.

Fang Dahai, however, didn’t care what others thought right now. All he could think about was buying food.

“Alright, I’ll take 50 jin of rice, two bags of foreign flour, 200 jin of sweet potatoes, and 200 jin of cornmeal. Please give me the total price and deliver it to No. 36 Mao’er Alley. I live just beside the front hall in the courtyard. My surname is Fang.”

“Hiss…”

This time, the ones gasping in surprise weren’t Fang Dahai—it was Master Lei and the shopkeeper. Both stared at him with wide eyes, visibly shocked.

“Sir, why are you buying so much all of a sudden?”

Didn’t he just say earlier, when they talked about fixing the house, that he had only just bought it? And now he’s buying a house and making a big purchase of grain… Seems like he’s quite well-off. But looking at his face and clothes… he doesn’t seem like it! Could it be that I judged wrong today?

Indeed, Fang Dahai was hiding a solid family background. But exposing his wealth so bluntly like this wasn’t something he wanted—it was something he was forced to do. The bigger picture left him no choice.

“What else can I do! You heard it too—70%! They’re taking 70% of the reserves all at once. Given how things are outside now, it’s unlikely the gap will be filled any time soon. And who knows how much prices will rise later? My family doesn’t have much, and if I don’t stock up while prices are still bearable, later… we might starve. My home’s full of kids. If something bad happens, I’d never forgive myself.”

A lot of people understood this reasoning. But humans are naturally inclined to wishful thinking. They always believe things won’t get that bad and want to wait and see. So even though the facts were right in front of them, these adults weren’t as quick to act as Fang Dahai.

“It can’t be that serious, can it?”

See? Master Lei was already speaking for the masses.

“Tianjin is so close. Maybe other goods are hard to ship, but machine-milled flour? That should be easy. As long as a couple of boats arrive, how could the capital possibly run out of grain? Besides, the autumn harvest just ended not long ago—there should still be a lot of sweet potatoes. Prices shouldn’t rise that much.”

What could Fang Dahai say to that? Should he say that war was about to break out? That the Nationalist government was going to go crazy trying to seize the last bit of wealth? That the newly issued Gold Yuan Certificates were about to crash? He couldn’t say any of that! He was just an ordinary citizen, a newcomer to the capital, supposedly clueless about politics. So all he could say was:

“Better safe than sorry. It’s not like stocking up on food will lose money. No matter how much I buy, we’ll eventually eat it. At least it gives me some peace of mind.”

Put that way, it didn’t sound so unreasonable. Master Lei was moved too—he thought it over and said to the shopkeeper:

“Alright then, I’ll also take 200 jin of cornmeal and two bags of flour. Deliver it to my place later.”

Even though he had just made two big sales in a row, the shopkeeper didn’t look especially happy. Instead, he hesitantly asked Master Lei:

“Master Lei, you really think prices will go up?”

“Heh, you’re the grain shop owner—why are you asking me?”

Why did he ask? Because the shopkeeper was starting to get nervous himself.

He knew a bit more than the average person. For example, he knew the usual daily amount of grain shipped from Tianjin to the capital, and how much had been arriving lately. He hadn’t thought much of it before, but now that it had been pointed out, he realized that since August, the volume of grain deliveries had steadily decreased. If this trend continued, with 70% of reserves already taken out of the capital, something bad might happen in less than a month.

Given all that, how could the shopkeeper not be nervous? He was even considering whether he should start limiting daily sales.

“I was just thinking maybe my own family should stock up a bit too…”

“Come on now. Anyone might go hungry, but your family won’t be one of them. Alright, we’ve got things to do, we’re heading off. Don’t forget the delivery.”

Hearing that Master Lei was leaving, Fang Dahai glanced at the sun outside, quickly took out two silver dollars, and placed them on the counter with a slight bow.

“Boss, this is the deposit. Please take it. Once the goods are delivered, I’ll pay the rest. Sorry, I didn’t bring that much with me today.”

“Ah, no problem, we’re all neighbors. Take care!”

Seeing how well Fang Dahai understood the custom, Master Lei felt very proud. After all, he had brought him to this shop, hadn’t he? So once they stepped outside, he enthusiastically introduced it.

“The boss’s surname is Zhang. His shop, ‘Fuxing Grain Store,’ has been around for over 20 years. It’s one of the oldest around here—always honest, never raises prices without cause, and the grain is clean. Compared to those black-hearted shops that mix in sand and stones, this one’s way better. From now on, if you need food, come here. You won’t regret it.”

Hmm, Fuxing Grain Store? Boss Zhang? Why did that sound so familiar?

Fang Dahai turned back for a glance and happened to see a boy around ten years old holding a candied hawthorn skewer, hopping happily toward the shop.

“Who’s that?”

“Oh, that’s the shopkeeper’s only son, Zhang Mingzhi. He’s the treasured only child of three generations—his father dotes on him like he’s his own eyeball.”

Zhang Mingzhi? That name sounded even more familiar. He felt like he’d heard it somewhere before! Had he… missed something important?