Chapter 218: Difficult to Buy Grain
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
Didn’t the grain store say that they would only sell 4,000 catties in all? There were so many people. How was this quantity sufficient?
Uncle Liu yanked back his sleeve and glared at Aunt Liu in a foul mood.
“Shut your goddamn mouth!”
“We’ll know soon if they have grain or not!” he said.
Aunt Liu got a shock. She could feel her husband’s anger and didn’t dare to say anything more.
She was in charge of managing the family’s finances, and she had indeed made a mistake in the matter of buying grain.
Then again…
Aunt Liu felt a little aggrieved, but she could only endure it silently.
The line of people moved forward slowly.
After an unknown amount of time, it was finally the Liu family’s turn.
They were also lucky.
When they entered the store, there was still some brown rice and coarse flour left.
The coarse flour was almost sold out, and there were only 40 catties left. There were still about 300 catties of brown rice left.
“There are five of us here, so just give us 25 catties of coarse flour!” Uncle Liu said straightaway.
“Here’s the money,” As he spoke, he handed over the copper coins that he had prepared in advance.
The shop assistant received the money and looked at the five of them.
He didn’t think further, and straightaway got someone to weigh the flour.
Uncle Liu only felt a little more at ease when he received the 25 catties of coarse flour.
home.
On the way, Aunt Liu looked at the coarse flour on her second son’s back. She wanted to say something several times, but she held back eventually.
35 catties of coarse flour had cost them 450 copper coins.
And there was no guarantee they could buy this amount even if they queued up.
How were they going to live in the days after this…
When they finally reached home, the whole family followed Uncle Liu to the hall after they entered their house.
After everyone had sat down, Uncle Liu was about to speak when he heard some movement outside.
It turned out that Liu Daniu had also returned.
He was carrying grain on his shoulders, which looked to be more than five catties.
Liu Daniu quickly realized that the entire family was in the hall. Hence, he carried his grain over to the hall as well.
He placed the grain he bought next to those his family had bought.
“After I bought the grain, I queued up again and bought an extra five catties.”
Everyone understood then.
Looking at the packs of grain on the table, they all sighed.
18 copper coins per catty! Such a small amount of food had actually cost them more than five coins of silver.
Suddenly, Uncle Liu slapped his thigh and heaved a heavy sigh.
“The price of grain will definitely continue to rise. Our family’s surplus grain won’t last for long.”
“No matter how expensive it is, if we can buy it, we still have to buy it!” Uncle Liu looked at his two sons as he spoke.
“Since the grain store has started this practice today, then there’s a high probability that they will continue to do the same thing hereafter.”
“When the locust plague starts, don’t go out to work or look for work for the next few days. Keep an eye on the grain stores nearby.”
“Once you find a grain store selling grain, come back and inform the family.
We’ll all go and queue up with our whole family. We’ll buy as much as we can.”
Everyone’s face was grim.
No one responded, but no one objected either.
Aunt Liu wanted to say something, but she stopped herself when she saw her old man’s stern expression.
“Also, apart from the daughter-in-law, everyone else’s food ration will be halved.
“Since the weather is hot, it is possible for us to eat more diluted food!” Uncle Liu added.
His daughter-in-law was pregnant, and they could not cut her food ration.
As for the rest of the family, they should conserve food as far as possible.
After all, there were still many more days to come.
If the family really ran out of food, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Everyone’s hearts shuddered. They only glanced at Uncle Liu, but still, no one objected.
So be it if their food rations were reduced. Anyway, it was summer, and everyone’s appetites were not that good.
Big Girl Li also looked at her father-in-law. She wanted to say something, but in the end, she didn’t.
Forget it. At most, she would share some of her food with her man.
Daniu was working at the dock. It was labor-intensive work, so she must allow him to eat until he was at least 70% full.
Uncle Liu said a few more words before dismissing everyone.
Aunt Liu called Liu Xiaomei to the kitchen to cook the locusts they caught.
Big Girl Li followed her husband back to their room.
“Later, when you go to Sister Sanya’s house to fetch water, I’ll go with you.”
“I wonder what’s the situation on the Song family’s side. I have to go take a look,” she said to Liu Daniu.
Liu Daniu nodded his head.
“We do have to go and take a look. In addition, you and Xiaomei don’t go out to set up your stall for the next few days. You have to inform Sister Sanya about this. ”
“Mm-hmm,” Big Girl Li responded.
There was a moment of silence.
Then Big Girl Li suddenly said, “And regarding the grain issue…” A look of hesitation flashed across her face, but eventually, she still spoke up.
“Why don’t we buy some from Sister Sanya?”
The reason she said this was she knew that Sister Sanya had just sold a batch of grain to her maiden family.
Moreover, Sister Sanya had also revealed to her that she was preparing to sell another batch of grain in the near future.
Of course, what Sister Sanya meant was that she would sell it when the price was higher.
At that time, Big Girl Li still didn’t really believe that the price of grain would continue to rise.
Or rather, even if she believed that the price of grain would continue to rise, she didn’t believe that it would rise by too much.
However, it had only been a few days, and this situation had happened.
Now, if someone told her that the price of brown rice and coarse flour would rise to more than 20 copper coins per catty, she would believe it.
Liu Daniu was stunned.
His expression was a little grim, and he didn’t reply.
Both he and his wife knew about Sister Sanya stocking up on grain.
Moreover, it was because of Sister Sanya’s earlier reminder that his wife had stocked up a lot of grain for the family.
It was a pity that Daniu’s mother had stopped her. In addition, the family had not continued to buy grain for a while, so they were in a dire predicament now.
However, grain was precious at the moment, and the price of grain was likely to rise.
If they asked Sister Sanya for help, she would probably agree.
Then again, if they did that, they would be taking too much advantage of the Song family.
Big Girl Li understood what her man was thinking from his expression.
She sighed, and then she stood up and went to retrieve her money box. After counting the money in the box, she looked at Liu Daniu.
“Father asked you and Erniu to keep an eye on the grain store.”
“It’s still alright these few days. But after the locust plague, you have to go back to work.”
“There’s also Erniu. He’ll have to look for a new job. How can we just wait for tho ctnrp tn nnpn pvprv any?”
“I still have… more than 18 taels of silver here. You can take out 8 taels.”
“After that, you can go and ask Xiaomei and Erniu. Let’s see how much they can pool together.”
“Also, Father and Mother should also contribute some. We’ll try to gather 20 taels. ”
Looking at Liu Daniu, Big Girl Li continued, “After I get the money, I’ll go talk to Sister Sanya. Let’s see if we can buy a thousand catties of brown rice and coarse flour at the price of 20 copper coins per catty. ” Liu Daniu was stunned.
Immediately after that, he thought it through.
Although the price of brown rice and coarse flour in the grain store today was 18 copper coins per catty, it might be 20 copper coins tomorrow.
They were buying grain from the Song family in large quantities. If they didn’t offer a higher price, it would hurt their relationship.
“Also, I’m afraid my parents’ situation isn’t good either. If we can buy some grain, we will pay two more taels of silver and buy some more from Sister Sanya to send to my parents,” Big Girl Li said again..