Chapter 157 - 157 Chapter 157: Food Prices Had Risen Again
157 Chapter 157: Food Prices Had Risen Again
Qin Xiaoyao only felt a little better after downing two large cups of tea.
Song Que laughed softly in amusement.
Only when he saw Qin Xiaoyao looking at him did he stop smiling.
“How’s the situation at Father-in-law’s house?” he asked.
In his previous life, he had little contact with the Qin family, so he naturally didn’t know about Madam Zhang and the Zhang family’s situation.
However, now that he knew there were gamblers in the Zhang family and the Zhang family were not good people, he had been a little worried after Qin Xiaoyao left.
As a result, he couldn’t fall asleep even when he was lying on the bed.
After that, he simply got up and started to practice calligraphy.
He had been waiting for a long time. Fortunately, this woman finally returned.
“Everything went smoothly!” Qin Xiaoyao smiled.
Then, she told Song Que about what had happened to the Qin family and the subsequent arrangements.
“It’s good that your Eldest Sister-in-law is willing to raise that child. She can also fulfill her own and Big Brother-in-law’s wish,” Song Que said after hearing this.
Qin Xiaoyao nodded.
“You don’t know how happy Eldest Sister-in-law was about this. She even held my hand and thanked me!” she said with some excitement.
Song Que also smiled.
“It seems you’ve gained a lot from this trip back to your parents’ house.”
“Of course!”
“Now, Eldest and Second Sisters-in-law don’t hate me anymore. Big Brother, Second Brother, and Father all believe in me!”
Song Que smiled again. He realized that he quite enjoyed seeing Qin Xiaoyao’s self-satisfied look.
“That’s good.”
Qin Xiaoyao turned around with a smile. “Oh, yes. I have something to tell you. I don’t think you will believe me.”
“What is it?” A look of curiosity flashed across Song Que’s eyes.
Qin Xiaoyao looked at Song Que and said, “My father had also planned to stock up on food.”
Song Que was taken aback. He was really surprised.
Then, Qin Xiaoyao told him what her father had experienced.
“Father’s money was all spent by Madam Zhang. In the end, it was Big Brother and Second Brother who will fork out the money to stock up on food. Each household is contributing 400 catties, so it’s a total of 800 catties.”
Qin Xiaoyao then turned to look at Song Que.
“I estimate that if they don’t have enough, we can help them out when the time comes.”
“By the way, in your prophecy, how long will the famine in our town last? Do we need to stock up on more food?”
Song Que was silent.
“The calamity is quite serious. I’m afraid it’s no less serious than the drought Father-in-law experienced 25 years ago.”
“It took almost three years for Mountain Spring Town to recover a little. This time, the situation should be similar.”
In his previous life, he left with the Emperor not long after winter began.
In addition, he didn’t pay much attention to the situation in Mountain Spring Town after that, so he didn’t know much about it.
However, the entire city of Hua An Prefecture and even the surrounding areas were suffering from drought at that time.
The Imperial Court had indeed spent a lot of time on disaster relief and re-settling the refugees.
It seemed that the Imperial Court was still sending out money for disaster relief the following year.
Seeing Qin Xiaoyao’s frown, Song Que continued, “You don’t have to worry too much. Our Mountain Spring Town is the biggest town in Zhao County. It’s also located along the major transportation artery leading to Hua An Prefecture, so there are many merchants coming and going.”
“If there’s a famine in Hua An Prefecture, the various towns and cities may experience a temporary food shortage. But once the merchants come in, the food will arrive quickly.”
“We’ll have more security if we live in the city. After winter, the snow will melt, and the grain stores in the city will reopen. No one should starve to death then. However, the price of grain may not drop in the short term.”
At that time, it would be the time for the various businesses to compete with each other.
Qin Xiaoyao nodded.
“Three years… is too long…”
“I’ll take stock of the money at home later and see if I can stock up on more grain. After the grain price rises, we can still make money by selling it,” Qin Xiaoyao said.
It was good to have a prophet at home. She wasn’t afraid of making such an investment.
“Mm-hmm.” Song Que did not object.
It was good to buy more food.
The two of them chatted for a while longer before Qin Xiaoyao went to retrieve the three money boxes in the house.
In the end, she only managed to count fifteen taels of silver.
There were quite a lot of copper coins though, filling up two large boxes.
Qin Xiaoyao looked at the copper coins that were heaped in one place. Then she glanced at Song Que and gave him the job of counting the coins.
“I have to go and wrap the century eggs. I’ll have to trouble Hubby to count these copper coins. 100 coins in one bundle. Later on, I will use some to buy food from the grain stores.” It also saved her the trouble of going to the bank to exchange them for silver.
Song Que raised his head and looked at Qin Xiaoyao.
“Mm-hmm.” He actually agreed to her proposal.
Qin Xiaoyao smiled.
“Do your best then, Hubby!” She gave Song Que some encouragement and then left.
The woman’s tinkling laughter echoing in Song Que’s mind only disappeared after she had left for a while.
He shook his head to get rid of the emotions in his mind. Only then did Song Que start to count and arrange the coins.
After Qin Xiaoyao left the room, she went to prepare the century eggs.
In the end, before the mud paste for the century eggs was ready, Madam Liu came to the alley.
At this moment, Song Yun, Wang Xiaomei, and the little kid Song Ye were all present.
“Girl, how did you handle the Qin family’s matter? Do you need our help?” Madam Liu asked with concern.
The in-law’s family had been very helpful to their family in the past. Now that the in-law’s family had run into trouble, they would definitely help as much as they could.
“It’s fine. Everything’s settled,” Qin Xiaoyao replied with a smile.
Then, she told her mother-in-law about the general situation.
When she heard that Madam Zhang had been divorced and that the child would be brought back to the Qin family’s eldest son’s household, Madam Liu heaved a sigh of relief.
Then, she said with another sigh, “That’s good. With one less troublemaker, the family will be more peaceful in the future.”
“You should also try to persuade your father to look on the bright side of things.” Madam Liu said to Qin Xiaoyao after she appeared to recall something.
Qin Xiaoyao smiled with amusement.
“I know, Mother.”
Seeing that Qin Xiaoyao could still smile, Madam Liu finally felt relieved.
She comforted Qin Xiaoyao some more before returning to her room to continue her embroidery work.
Qin Xiaoyao smiled and continued to wrap her century eggs.
After she completed wrapping the century eggs, Qin Xiaoyao only rested for a while before returning to her room.
After that, she chatted with Song Que about something, and laughter could be heard from the room from time to time.
About an hour later, Qin Xiaoyao finally left the room with a money box in her arms.
Following that, she went to the storage room to retrieve the handcart.
Song Yun asked where her sister-in-law was going.
Qin Xiaoyao left after simply saying that she was going to buy something.
After leaving the courtyard, Qin Xiaoyao went to the grain store where she had bought her grain previously. She was familiar with the place by now.
At this moment, there were no customers in the store. When the shop assistant saw his ‘big customer’, his face lit up like a blossoming flower.
“Madam Qin!” He shouted out to Qin Xiaoyao excitedly.
Qin Xiaoyao replied with a smile.
“I’m here to look for you again, Little Brother. Besides brown rice and coarse flour, I also want to buy some soybeans this time.”
“What’s the price in your shop now?”
At this point, Qin Xiaoyao stepped forward and whispered, “Same old rules. Give me an honest price.”
The shop assistant smiled.
“I always give Madam Qin an honest price.”
“However, the price of grain has been rising recently, so the shop owner said not to reduce the price.”
Qin Xiaoyao frowned.
The shop assistant smiled adorably and said with a lowered voice, “But Madam Qin has always been patronizing our store, so how can we treat you like our other customers?”