Chapter 191

Fresh yams don’t require processing, and Ding Heli resolutely refused to accept money for them.

He shared the profits from the dried yams, earning four liang, eight qian, and 350 wen. For many people in Shanshui Village, this amount is unattainable even in a year.

Ding Heli thought about the good food and drinks every day, without worries or hard work, and earning nearly five liang in just a few days, feeling very satisfied.

Not to mention, the family’s meals have significantly improved, with everyone visibly putting on weight.

In the past, he and his wife would either collect or process medicinal materials, leaving their daughter Jiajia alone with no one to talk to. Now, she visits Shuiqing’s house daily, where there are many friendly people to interact with.

The more Ding Heli thought about it, the more he realized that this was a great decision!

Fan Jin carefully stowed the silver. With Uncle Ding, who was familiar with medicinal materials and shops, selling the materials was simple and quick without the worry of being cheated.

As they rode in the ox cart, Fan Jin asked, “Uncle Ding, what do you want to buy first?”

This time, Ding Heli had quite a list of things to buy.

Fortunately, they had Fan Jin’s ox cart. Otherwise, with so many items, navigating the muddy roads and increasing number of disaster victims would make it hard to transport everything home in one trip.

He prioritized, saying, “First, we need to buy salt. Aunt Ding said this is the most important. If we pass by a rice shop, we also need to buy two bags of rice and flour.”

Currently, they could process medicinal materials and shamelessly eat at Shuiqing’s house, but that wouldn’t last. Eventually, they’d need to return home.

Yilin had learned some recipes from Shuiqing, especially the cornbread, with its crispy base and soft, fragrant top. They would definitely need wheat flour, though they could buy cornmeal from Fan Jin’s house.

People in the village exchanged potato seeds with Fan Jin’s family, who had more cornmeal than they could eat, saving the trouble of hauling it all the way from the county.

As they chatted, they passed a crowded and chaotic rice shop.

The shop assistant kept shouting for people not to push, and the shopkeeper came out waving his hands to maintain order.

Seeing the crowd, Ding Heli said, “Let’s check the next one!”

The next shop was even more crowded.

Fan Jin looked at Ding Heli, who gritted his teeth, rolled up his sleeves, and charged in!

Usually, they could just buy what they needed, with the shop assistant helping to load it onto the cart. But now, it took almost half an hour, with Ding Heli carrying everything out himself.

Fan Jin quickly took over, securing the load on the ox cart with the rope they brought.

Ding Heli went in and out several times, buying five sacks before finally breathing a sigh of relief. He wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve, sat on the cart’s frame, and muttered, “You wouldn’t believe it, it’s like a stampede in there!”

The shopkeeper could barely keep up with taking the money, and the assistant was so busy that even getting a few words in edgewise was difficult.

Originally, I planned to buy four sacks, but seeing the situation, I quickly added another one! Well, at least our family of three won’t have to worry about food for next year.”

Once the potatoes are harvested in the latter half of the year, we can buy more to mix with these fine grains, which should last us at least a year and a half.

By next year, the village should have some rice harvest, which we can buy locally.

Fan Jin, seeing the bustling rice shops, frowned slightly.

Salt, sold exclusively by the government, was still plentiful and hadn’t increased in price yet. The salt shop was better off than the rice shops but still busier than usual.

Ding Heli bought several tens of jin, and Fan Jin bought some as well.

Shuiqing Mall has everything, but since they were out, they might as well buy some essentials. Grain was too heavy to transport back, but salt was practical and long-lasting.

The general store was surprisingly empty.

It made sense, given the flood. Food and basic necessities were priorities, while non-essentials were the first to be discarded in tough times.

With ample silver in hand, Ding Heli bought a lot of brown sugar, hairpins, lamp oil, and fire starters.

Since he bought so much, the shopkeeper even gave him a discount.

Finally, they went to the fabric store, which was even emptier. Besides the two of them, there was no one else.

Ding Heli bought some fine cotton, in bright colors, obviously for his daughter.

He also bought some dark-colored coarse cotton for himself and Yilin.

Fan Jin bought even more.

With a large family, especially with growing children, each needing two sets of clothes per season, a lot of fabric was necessary.

They bought a variety of fine cotton, coarse cotton, and linen.

Unlike Ding Heli, who bought the best fabric for his daughter, Fan Jin’s family used the good fabric for inner garments and the rougher fabric for outerwear.

Shuiqing said that good fabric is soft and comfortable to wear close to the skin.

For frequent mountain, field, and farm work, they didn’t mind if the rougher fabric got torn or worn out.

Each person also had one set of good fabric for going out.

An hour and a half passed quickly, and the two arrived early at the meeting point, where the village men were already waiting.

Seeing them return with a fully loaded cart, they hurried over to talk.

“The price of grain has skyrocketed! Black flour used to be three wen per jin when cheap, and at most four wen when expensive. Now it’s six wen!”

“Coarse grains are also expensive. I wanted to buy some millet for porridge, but it’s two wen more per jin than before! It’s too expensive.”

“There are so many people, like a stampede. I only managed to buy ten jin.”

“We went to three shops, each more crowded than the last. Last year’s old grain hasn’t gone down in price; it’s gone up. With no new grain, prices will keep rising.”

“Uncle Ding, what did you buy? Did the prices go up?”

Ding Heli replied quickly, “I bought rice and flour. These two only went up by one wen per jin.”

The men nodded in understanding.

Rice and flour are considered fine grains, already expensive and less frequently bought, so their prices didn’t rise as much.

“Knowing prices would go up is one thing; seeing them rise so much is another.”

“The money we thought would buy a hundred jin of black flour now buys less than seventy jin, a loss of over thirty jin.”

“In a few days, black flour might sell for the price of coarse grain!”

“Don’t scare us like that!”

“Am I being scary? Look at the fields. Do you see any harvest? Without grain, prices will skyrocket.”

Sighs echoed through the crowd.

Fan Jin quietly counted the people. Once he finished, he called out, “Everyone’s here, let’s head back to the village.”

The men, who had been lamenting, looked up at the sky and realized it was indeed late.

Their carts were full of essential items, and they couldn’t afford any mishaps.

With the carts loaded, Fan Jin and Ding Heli walked alongside.

The men took turns pulling and pushing the carts, with everyone else helping to steady them.

As they left the city, disaster victims in tattered clothes eyed their carts hungrily, swallowing hard.

The men of the Shanshui Village team felt waves of cold sweat down their backs, thankful they had come in numbers. If it had been just one or two, it would have been terrifying!

Home, quickly, back home.