Chapter 449: Astronomical Prices Of Goods
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
Su Ying learned from the waiter that it had been more than three months since it rained in Luo City. Even the underground river had dried up.
The weather in Luo City had all along been dry, so no one had thought much of it at first. However, this time, the drought lasted longer than usual.
It was only when the crops in the fields dried up due to the drought that they realized that something was wrong. Many people went to the government office, hoping that the government officials would bring people to look for a water source to channel water here. However, the government office did not make their stand clear. In the end, the was no conclusion to the matter. Now that the well water in the city was about to dry up, everyone panicked.
Those who were well-off had already fled the drought disaster at the early stage. The rest of the commoners had no way of leaving.
When the waiter served the noodles, Su Ying realized that the noodles were not all made up of refined noodles. And a large bowl was only half filled.
“Young Master, your noodles are here. Eat them while they are hot. If you need anything else, just let me know.”
“Thank you.”
Su Ying pushed the noodles to the old woman for her to eat, but the old woman kept pushing it away until Su Ying said that if she didn’t eat it, she would throw it away. Only then did the old woman sit down with an embarrassed look on her face.
While the old woman was eating noodles, Su Ying took the opportunity to go to the outhouse to enter her interspatial store and retrieve a test strip for malaria and medicine to treat it. Although she wasn’t completely sure that the child was suffering from malaria, from her observation, it should be pretty much the case. Now, she just needed to take the final step of confirming her hunch.
Su Ying returned to the room and tested the child with a test strip while her back was turned to the old woman. The results were out very quickly, confirming that the child was indeed suffering from malaria.
Su Ying took out a syringe and injected it into the child’s body. She also fed him some nutrient fluids. With medicine, malaria was easy to treat. However, he would require a certain amount of time to recover from malnourishment.
“Young Master, how… how is my grandson?”
“He has malaria. In addition, he hasn’t had anything to eat for a long time, and his body is very weak. I’ll treat the malaria first. The other problems can be dealt with slowly.”
The old woman looked terrified. “Malaria! What… what should I do? My poor child! Grandma only has you as my remaining relative left. If you’re gone, I don’t want to live anymore.”
Su Ying felt a headache coming on as she listened to the old woman’s wailing.
“Madam, listen to me carefully. I can cure this illness. Don’t cry first.”
The old woman stopped crying and looked at Su Ying in bewilderment. Earlier, she had panicked completely the moment she heard the word “malaria.” In her understanding, people who contracted malaria would die. Now that Su Ying said that it could be cured, she was so excited that she knelt in front of Su Ying and kowtowed to her endlessly.
“Thank you so much, Young Master. Thank you so much, Young Master. You are our savior. I am willing to be your slave.”
“Get up first.”
Su Ying helped the old woman to a stool and made her sit down. When she saw that the noodles on the table hadn’t really been touched, she thought that the old woman was most likely unwilling to eat.
“Eat first. The noodles are getting soggy.”
Su Ying’s thoughts were correct. This old woman was really unwilling to eat this bowl of fine white noodles which cost fifty copper coins!
“Please eat, Young Master, please eat. I… I will eat the pancakes you gave me just now.”
Su Ying placed the chopsticks in her hands. “Your health isn’t too good either. If anything happens to you, who’s going to take care of your grandson?”
The old woman’s cloudy eyes turned red-rimmed again. She could not die, otherwise, the child would be too pitiful.
The old woman ate the noodles with tears in her eyes. This noodle in clear, bland soup was not delicious at all, but to the old woman who had been starving for many days, it was the most delicious delicacy.
Su Ying didn’t waste her portion either. She even finished all the soup in the bowl.
“You stay in the inn to take care of the child. I’m going out for a while.”
“Sure, Young Master. Just go ahead with your business. No need to mind us.”
Su Ying murmured a reply and left the guest room. She wanted to go to the city to see what the situation was like. If the City Guardian of Luo City really did nothing, she would have to think of a way to report the situation of Luo City to the capital.
When Su Ying arrived at the main hall, she immediately asked a waiter for directions to the government office. Then she led her horse out of the backyard and departed.
The streets were totally empty. Only when she reached the busiest main street in Luo City did she see a few shops open for business.
Su Ying stepped forward to take a look. The only shops that were open were grocery shops, medicine shops, and grain shops. Other types of shops were mostly closed.
Su Ying walked over to two shops and saw that the rice and flour in the two shops had almost been sold out. There was only some old rice left, whose quality did not look too good.
“How much is a kilo of this rice?”
The shopkeeper sitting on the chair extended five fingers.
Su Ying frowned. “5 copper coins?”
The shopkeeper smiled and said, “Young Master, you can only buy one catty of rice bran with 5 copper coins. This old rice is now 50 copper coins per catty.”
Su Ying’s eyebrows twitched at once. 50 copper coins for a catty! This price was several times higher than new rice.
“What about refined rice and refined flour? How much?”
“No more. We have already run out of those long ago.”
“The two-way journey from Luo City to the nearest Xi City only takes a few days. Why didn’t you go and stock up?”
“Oh, gosh! Who said we didn’t go? The shopkeeper of that grain shop up ahead went a few days ago.”
The shopkeeper said that although the city kept watch at the city gate and did not allow the disaster victims to enter, the merchants who wanted to go out to bring in goods could still go out as long as they had a pass. After all, when the merchants brought back the goods, they could help alleviate the supply crunch in the city.
“But nobody could have foreseen that this fellow would never come back after leaving. Yesterday, his mother came crying to pack up the things in the shop. She said that when that fellow was on his way back, he encountered disaster victims and bandits. The goods were gone, and the person perished. Who still dares to go? We have to risk our lives to earn this money.”
Su Ying understood this all too well. She had encountered this situation when she was fleeing from famine. Putting aside the bandits, even those starving disaster victims could be as ferocious as bandits when they saw food.
The goods outside could not be brought into the city, yet the goods in the city were being consumed day by day. It would not be long before the situation in the city became worse.
“What did the authorities say about this?”
The shopkeeper had a look of disdain on his face. “What could they say? They didn’t say anything. Hmph! The government officials won’t starve. The people who died were all commoners. They don’t care.”
Su Ying didn’t buy any rice but rode her horse straight to the government office.
The street outside the government office was also deserted. There were only two officers standing guard outside the entrance.
Just as Su Ying got off her horse, she saw a man dressed in a brocade robe walking out. He took out a pouch and shoved it into the hands of the person behind him. “I hope that Caretaker can put in a good word for us in front of His Lordship. The matter I spoke to His Lordship about is definitely beneficial to the entire Luo City.”
The caretaker accepted the pouch and said with a smile, “Don’t worry, Master Hee. His Lordship will give you an answer after he has thought it through.”
“Oh, thank you very much then.”
After sending Master Hee off, the caretaker put away the pouch and returned to the residence.
Su Ying made a detour to a small alley at the side. After putting the horse into the interspatial store, she jumped over the courtyard wall.
As soon as she entered, she saw the caretaker walking past on a bluestone path into a courtyard.
Su Ying looked at the roof and climbed onto it. She estimated the position and lifted a particular tile on the roof. With a glance, she saw the dishes spread out on the table. The table which could seat eight people was completely filled with dishes, but the food was only touched by a few persons.
“My lord, Master Hee has left.” The caretaker stood in the room and said to the person sitting at the table.
“Mm-hmm. This fellow Hee Zhixin has many crafty ideas. He wants to make money from everything.”
The caretaker responded, “My lord, you must give this matter due consideration. There is indeed a lot of profit in this matter.”
Lord Wei gave a murmur. “It’s not that this matter can’t be done, but I can’t be implicated. Do you understand?”
“Don’t worry, my lord. Master Hee is a smart man. He definitely knows what to do..”