174 Chapter 174: The People Buying Water Had Arrived
When the shipping routes were cut off, they could only rely on oxen and horses.
At that point, there would definitely be a shortage of food in the Hua An Prefecture. Once there was a food shortage, what would happen next was self-evident.
When Big Girl Li, Liu Xiaomei and Wang Xiaomei heard this, the three of them looked very grim.
“Then if we stock up on food now…” Liu Xiaomei couldn’t help but ask, but she didn’t finish her sentence.
This was because Big Girl Li and Wang Xiaomei were both looking at her at this moment.
The price of brown rice and coarse flour had increased to five and a half copper coins, which was almost the price of refined rice and flour before the price increase.
Was it really worth it to stock up on grain at such a high price?
Moreover, even if the price of food continued to rise, they couldn’t buy much food with the money they had.
Qin Xiaoyao looked at the three of them with a smile.
“If you have money, it’s better to buy more food. After all, food can be eaten, but money can’t,” she said.
This could be considered a reminder to them.
This was the best she could do.
She couldn’t possibly tell them that the drought would continue for a long time and that there would be a locust plague after that.
The three of them looked at each other and came up with an idea.
Even if they didn’t exchange all the money they had for food, they still had to buy more food as soon as possible.
“Sigh!” Big Girl Li suddenly sighed again.
“Sister Sanya, I’m really impressed with you! When you said you wanted to buy a courtyard dwelling, you simply went out and bought it.”
“After that, when you talked about stocking up on food, you stocked up on so much food.”
“And now there are still your family’s century egg business and bean sprout business.”
“How can you come up with so many money-making ideas?” As Big Girl Li spoke, she looked at Qin Xiaoyao with envy.
The other two girls had similar expressions in their eyes.
Even Song Ye and Song Yun, who were not far away, looked at their sister-in-law.
The corners of Qin Xiaoyao’s lips curled up in a smile.
“Because I’m smart and capable!” she replied mischievously.
Everyone was momentarily stunned by her words, and then they all laughed.
After making the century eggs, Qin Xiaoyao went back to her room.
Now, when she wasn’t busy, she particularly liked to hang around her husband.
She would fan her husband, help him out and chat with him while admiring his good looks at the same time.
In the end, not long after she entered the room, Song Yun’s voice could be heard from the courtyard.
“Sister-in-law, Big Brother, someone is here to buy water!” Her voice was filled with joy and excitement.
How could she not be excited? This was a new business opportunity for the family.
The well water was readily available, and it could regenerate continuously. It couldn’t be any easier to earn this money.
Qin Xiaoyao’s eyes froze as she looked at Song Que.
Then, she saw Song Que smile.
He put down his brush and walked towards her.
“Let’s go out and take a look.”
“Oh.” The woman had no choice but to follow Song Que out helplessly.
That was right. Her husband’s leg had almost healed.
Although he was still limping slightly, he no longer needed anyone to support him.
When they arrived at the courtyard, the couple saw a few people carrying water buckets.
Their mother was talking to those people and leading them to the well.
“The sun is still so high up. They came too early,” Qin Xiaoyao muttered to herself as she fanned Song Que with the palm-leaf fan attentively.
Song Que glanced at his wife and couldn’t help but smile.
“Fan yourself,” he said.
Thereafter, he walked toward the well.
It was almost 5 pm. There would only be more people coming later.
Their family’s water-selling business had just started. If they didn’t help explain the situation to these people, their mother wouldn’t be able to handle it alone.
Qin Xiaoyao quickly caught up and continued to fan Song Que.
Her skin was rough and thick, so it was fine to be exposed to the sun. However, her husband’s body was delicate and precious. If he were to suffer sun damage, her heart would ache.
(Hehe! That was right. She was definitely the best wife in the world, the kind that ranked number one in doting on her husband!)
Song Que glanced sideways at his wife, and he couldn’t hide the smile on his face anymore.
This woman…
Finally, the two of them arrived at the well.
Song Que invited the visitors to a shady area at once.
...
Then, he stepped forward and explained the specific rules governing how his family sold water.
“The well water is limited. This arrangement is to allow as many neighbors to buy water as possible.”
“In the future, you don’t have to come so early. My family sells water to outsiders for eight hours a day. If you miss this session, you can still make it for the next one.”
“In addition, every two hours, after the number of people has exceeded the stipulated quota, if anyone is willing to wait a little longer and there’s still enough water in the well at that point, I can make the decision to add more spots for people.”
“Of course, if there isn’t enough water in the well, these people who arrived after the quota is filled may have waited in line for nothing. You’ll have to take this into consideration.”
“In addition, outside the stipulated four sessions, regardless of whether the quota of people has been filled or not, my family will not sell water to outsiders. I hope you can understand, my fellow neighbors.”
Outside the stipulated sessions to get water, the rest of the time was to allow the well to accumulate water again.
If they were able to draw water from the well continuously, there would be no need to allocate fixed time periods for everyone to get water.
“We understand!” someone immediately replied.
“Young Master Song is an upright man. We know that. We’ll definitely follow the rules in the future!”
“That’s right! We’ll keep an eye on each other. Whoever doesn’t follow the rules, we won’t let him come to the Song family to buy water!”
...
“…” Everyone echoed enthusiastically.
The reason was that the Song family’s act was really benefiting the neighbors.
Since they had benefited from their act, they naturally had to protect the Song family.
That was right. It was all thanks to Aunt Sun, who made door-to-door visits to explain the situation to every family.
Everyone now knew that the Song family knew that the previous owner of their courtyard dwelling had sold water at a high price and had made a lot of money, but they still decided to sell water at a low price.
Everyone remembered the Song family’s kindness.
Some of the neighbors who had come to buy water had seen Song Que before, while some were meeting him for the first time.
They were all shocked by Song Que’s looks and the way he carried himself.
Then, they saw Qin Xiaoyao standing beside Song Que with a love-struck look on her face, fanning him with the palm-leaf fan. The men looked on with envy.
Everyone had more or less heard about the Song family that had just moved into Yong An Lane.
They knew that in this family, the daughter-in-law was the main breadwinner.
Speaking of this Madam Qin, many of them had seen her before.
What exactly had they seen? They had seen her pushing the large handcarts full of goods in and out of Yong An Lane every day.
Her strength and her perseverance to work hard impressed even the men who saw her!
At the same time, some people also knew about the relationship between Qin Xiaoyao and the Qin butcher family at the market on West Street.
This made her appear even more impressive. Everyone felt that Qin Xiaoyao was even more diligent and down-to-earth.
What kind of person was butcher Qin? Having been in the market on West Street for decades, he rarely didn’t open his stall. He was also very honest.
Many of the people who lived in Yong An Lane bought pork from butcher Qin.
On top of that, Qin Xiaoyao had lost quite a bit of weight recently. She was only about 140 pounds now.
After she lost weight, her appearance blossomed.
The current Qin Xiaoyao could no longer be called fat. At most, she could only be called well-endowed.
In fact, because of her pleasant-looking facial features, she could almost be considered a beauty.
So, when the men saw how attentive she was to Song Que, how could they not be envious?