12dz Chapter 39 IOU
Chapter 39 IOU
Su Rongrong came to buy something yesterday, and the shopkeeper had an impression of her.
Seeing her buying so much at once, I knew she might know the situation outside.
"The girl lives in a big house, so I guess there are quite a few people there. If you have the money, buy as much as you can.
The situation outside is not very good, but our boss is kind and the price of this batch of grain has not increased much.
If you come back tomorrow, the price won’t be the same.”
Su Rongrong knew that their family would help deliver the food. She didn't want to attract attention and wanted to buy some from each grain store, so she decided to buy more immediately.
"Shopkeeper, then, three dan of coarse grains, one dan of coarse flour, one dan of refined rice, and twenty dou of white flour.
I'll give you half a pound of vegetable oil and five stones of sweet potato rice. Please help me deliver these to the house I left yesterday."
The shopkeeper nodded, and then quickly calculated: "A hundred grains of fine rice are 40 wen a dou, and coarse grains and coarse flour are 20 wen a dou now.
A stone of sweet potato rice now costs three hundred coins, so the total is: one thousand eight hundred coins, plus two thousand coins, plus one thousand five hundred coins.
There is also vegetable oil, half a pound costs fifty-five cents.
The total is five thousand three hundred and fifty-five coins!
I can give you the decimal point, just give me five taels and three hundred and fifty coins!"
When Su Rongrong heard this, she couldn't help but gasp.
"No, shopkeeper, how much are the coarse grains and coarse flour now, and the sweet potato rice?"
Didn’t you say it didn’t increase much?
She could understand that the price of good food such as refined rice and white flour had increased from more than eight cents to ten cents per pound.
Why have coarse grains and coarse flour become more expensive than fine grains, rising directly from three cents per pound to five cents?
The price of sweet potato rice also increased from two cents per pound to three cents.
It's just one day. If it continues like this, who will be able to afford food?
"One dou is twenty wen, and sweet potato rice is three hundred wen."
"No, yesterday it was only 15 wen per dou, which is equivalent to 3 wen per jin. How come it has become 5 wen now?
Also, this sweet potato rice costs three cents per pound?"
"Yes! There is nothing we can do about it.
Several cities outside were flooded and the people had no food left.
We have food here, but if we want to transport it out, the amount of food will suddenly become much less, so won’t the price go up?
What's more, the rain seems to be coming this way. Just yesterday, it started raining in the capital of Muyang Prefecture.
The current grain price is really not high. In many places, coarse grains and coarse flour cost only four or five cents per pound.
Girl, listen to me, buy as much as you can.
If you think it's too expensive or you can't afford it, then buy less refined rice and flour.
No one knows whether we will be affected by external factors.
If it's the same as over there, we won't even know if we'll have any food to sell, let alone at the current price.
To tell you the truth, in Funing Prefecture, a pound of coarse grains and coarse flour is sold for fifteen cents.
But even so, ordinary people still have nowhere to buy it.”
Su Rongrong knew that there would always be people who took advantage of national disasters to make a fortune.
So she was silent for a while, and then she took the money to pay.
Even though her younger brothers and sisters were old enough to eat, she bought over a thousand kilograms of food at once, which should be enough for the family to eat for at least a year.
But she couldn't just buy from this store, she had to buy some from other stores as well.
Knowing that the harvest might turn bad, the more food she had, the more at ease she felt.
Currently I have more than eighteen taels on hand. After deducting the five taels that I gave out, I keep five taels for Jinhong to use for his studies next year. I also keep one tael for the medicinal herbs he may need.
So she only had more than seven taels left to use.
Of this silver, you have to keep three taels to buy winter clothes, quilts, salt, and pots, pans, and utensils.
In other words, she could only use four taels.
However, she couldn't use up all of the four taels, and had to keep one or two taels for emergencies.
If anything happens at home, you won’t be left without help.
Thinking of this, Su Rongrong didn't ask for refined rice or white flour when she went to other places to buy food.
However, he asked for two more stone of sweet potato rice and one stone each of coarse grains and coarse flour.
I also want some soybeans and mung beans.
At this point, she had spent all the money she had available.
When she returned, food had already been delivered to her in batches.
Baili Zheng looked at the food, and considering her family's situation, he said:
“The situation outside is getting worse and worse. I estimate that in a few days, there will be refugees here.
These things of yours are a bit eye-catching. I'll have someone deliver them to you when you go back tomorrow night.
Find a place to keep these and don’t let anyone know.
Otherwise, I am afraid that disaster will come.”
Su Rongrong will have someone send all the food to Mrs. Wang.
Firstly, it won't attract attention, and secondly, no one would dare to target the county magistrate's family.
Her idea was to ask the village chief to help transport some sweet potato rice and coarse grains and flour back later.
It doesn’t have to be a lot, just about fifty or sixty kilograms at most.
As for the rest, she would borrow Baili Zheng's carriage, send them out of the city and store them into the space, and then return the carriage when the time comes.
She didn't even need to say anything, Baili Zheng just said he would help her solve it. For her, that was the best thing that could happen.
"Well, thank you, Brother Zheng. I found that the food supply increased a lot in just one day."
“It’s normal. He isn’t that tall now. Wait a few days and you’ll know how outrageous he will be.
But the harvest here is pretty good, and the people have some grain reserves.
As long as there is no disaster, no matter how much the grain price increases, it has nothing to do with them.
What I’m afraid of is that those short-sighted people, seeing that the grain prices are high, will sell the grain they have for money…”
Liu Miao, who had just come out of Su Jinhong's room and was about to look for her father, was stunned when she heard this.
She glanced at the piles of food that Su Rongrong had bought, and after feeling relieved, she asked, "Rongrong, has the price of food gone up a lot?"
"Well, whether it's refined rice or coarse grains, the price has increased by one or two cents per pound compared to yesterday."
Liu Miao couldn't help but take a breath, and then hurried out.
"Rongrong, I won't talk to you for now, I have to go talk to my dad about this.
Let him tell the villagers that they must not sell grain.
Oh, and he needs to tell Tao Ya to ask her family to buy as much food as possible."
When Su Rongrong saw that Liu Miao had disappeared after she finished speaking, she looked at Baili Zheng.
"Brother Zheng, can I borrow your calligraphy?"
Baili Zheng nodded and took her into the study.
Seeing that the ink had been ground, Su Rongrong picked up a pen and quickly wrote two IOUs.
Then write your name on one of the sheets, stamp your handprint on it, and hand it to the other person.
"This is my IOU for you. Pay me back one hundred and fifty taels within five years."
Baili Zheng didn't take it, but picked up a pen and wrote one, then handed it over: "Signed!"
Su Rongrong was a little confused and reached out to take it.
It said that Su Rongrong owed Baili Zheng 120 taels of money for medicine, which should be paid off in five years.
If Su Rongrong did Baili Zheng any favor during this period, then the account would be automatically canceled.
Su Rongrong looked up at him, and seeing him nod, she didn't hesitate any more and signed and put her fingerprints decisively.