บท 62: Buying

After discussion, Li Da and Li Er also went, and the eldest son of the village chief went. Several scattered families in Lijia Village also decided to go to the town to buy some food. Some people gave money to the village chief, and asked the village chief's son to help carry some coarse grains if possible. Fearing that there would be too much to buy, the village chief even emptied the ox cart and let the eldest son drive the cart. It was relatively smooth to get in, as long as the money was in place and know the rules.

They spent a total of 110 coins, including the oxen and horses, and were accompanied by several inspectors from Lingshan Town. These people just followed, but did not make any comments, just to save time and remind them where the various shops in the town were. Gulan thought about the carriage frame, so she asked a brother next to her.

"Brother Patrolman, where do we buy and sell livestock here?"

The man glanced at Gulan and the horse in his hand, "Do you want to sell a horse?"

"No," Gulan smiled honestly, "My cart broke down when I was fleeing from the famine, and it's not easy to walk with a child, so I thought about buying another one."

"Is that so! You're lucky. Today is the day when the livestock market is open. It's not far away. Just turn left a few hundred meters from here and you'll be there. If you're not in a hurry, you can go first."

Gulan hurriedly thanked him and breathed a sigh of relief. It was good that she didn't come in vain. She immediately looked at the others.

Li Da and the others had no objection and nodded. Gulan not only saved the whole village, but now he was their master who practiced martial arts with them. How could they have any objection to the master? The patrolman who led the way didn't care. As long as they didn't run around and didn't cause chaos in the town, it didn't matter where they went. So the group went to the livestock market first. It was indeed not far as the brother said. It was less than half a cup of tea to turn left along the main street.

In fact, it is a special secluded street. The smell of livestock is too strong, and it is far away from the residential area. There are cows, horses, mules and donkeys on the road. Horses are the least, with only one in the whole market. The cheaper mules and donkeys are the most.

There are also various frames that Gulan wants to buy. The styles are almost the same, the difference is the size and sealing. Time is tight. After choosing for a while, Gulan chose a medium-sized frame with a fence. It is too big and difficult to pull. The main thing is that the model they chose is enough for them.

After Li Da and several Lijia Village people who know about it confirmed that there is no problem, Gulan negotiated the price with the seller.

They were dusty and dressed badly. It was obvious that they had fled from the east to avoid the disaster, so the people in the livestock market looked at them differently.

But it was not obvious. The fact that they could spend money to come in and bring livestock showed that the conditions were still good, but the people were dirty and worse.

It was not a rip-off. Although the price was slightly higher than usual, it was not outrageous. Seeing Brother Li nod, Gulan finally spent two taels and four hundred coins to buy a cart of two taels, and then put it on the horse with the help of the seller.

With livestock, there is naturally fodder. Then Gulan bought a lot of fodder. The silver for the fodder was cheaper than the price of the cart, almost two taels of silver, a full half of the cart.

Several taels went down in a flash, and Gulan paid the silver without blinking, which made Li Da and the others sigh in their hearts.

Master Gulan did not look shabby on the outside, and I didn't expect that he really had some money in his hands. But thinking of Gulan's casual handling of bandits before, I felt that it was not strange for Gulan to have money. The inspectors who followed the whole process did not participate. They were only responsible for guarding, and their eyes looking at Gulan changed.

It is true that you cannot judge a person by his appearance. I didn't expect that a man in tattered clothes actually had some money in his hands. But looking at the horse he was leading, it didn't seem so strange. How could he be short of money if he could ride a horse.There were no bad thoughts. They were patrol officers who maintained public order, not thugs who stole things and did no good things. They would not do anything that violated the law. Although they were surprised and had some small thoughts, they were not bad-hearted.

Gulan was not ignorant of the ways of the world, or he would not have done the act of stuffing money yesterday evening.

After buying a cart, Gulan, who was in a good mood, smiled at the patrol brothers and said, "Thank you for leading the way, patrol brothers. These are for you to drink tea." Gulan stuffed five copper coins into each of them. It was not much, but it made people feel valued. The expressions of several people changed immediately.

"Okay, okay, then do you want to go somewhere next? Or go directly to the grain store."

Look, after taking the money, the attitude of speaking was different.

"Let's go to the grain store. Please lead the way, patrol brother." This time it was Li Youzhi, the son of the village chief, who spoke up. Li Youzhi was always uneasy if he didn't buy the grain first. Li Da and the others had the same idea. Seeing that Gulan had no different opinions, several people simply nodded and led them to the main street.

There were many shops along the main street. There were several grain shops alone, as well as grocery shops, cloth shops, and other shops. Under their guidance, Gulan and her party went straight to the destination, Shang's Grain Shop. They said that this shop was the largest and most fair in the town. If Gulan hadn't been good at dealing with things, they wouldn't have gone to two more shops to come here. Next to it was an ironware shop, with various farm tools and kitchen utensils displayed outside. Gulan really looked at it a lot, especially the big pot at the door. There were so many people, and the broken pottery jar she picked up was barely enough. However, at this moment, food was still the main thing. After buying food, she would put the big pot in her pocket.

Before they came, they had already prepared themselves for the price of food to rise. Food was indeed very scarce after such a long drought, but they didn't expect it to rise so much. The worst brown rice had tripled in price compared to before. It used to be ten cents per dou, but now it has risen to thirty cents. According to the shopkeeper, other shops are going to be thirty-five cents.

One dou of rough flour costs 40 wen, and one dou of fine flour costs 181 wen. Although fine flour is actually finer than rough flour, the few people dared not even ask about the price of fine flour, which should be even more terrifying. The price of polished rice has reached 200 wen per dou. With the money in their hands, they don't even need to consider it. They buy all the worst coarse grains. They can't afford anything else. How much can they buy with the money they bring? How long can they last?

The Li family has a large population, with more than a dozen people, big and small. Except for the village chief's son, he buys the most. Just the rough rice costs three shi, and the rough flour costs two shi, which is nearly two taels of silver. The money Li Da brought was almost spent. The remaining little was left to buy salt and some medicinal materials. Li Da didn't dare to touch it.

Li Youzhi bought more, the cheapest rough rice cost seven shi, and the rough flour cost four shi, which also included the grain bought for the villagers. The other people also bought a dou of brown rice. They couldn't afford a few buckets of brown flour. Like Li Da, they kept the remaining money to buy salt and medicine. These two things are as indispensable as food. Gulan bought a lot. She made two windfalls in a row. She has no shortage of silver. At worst, there are jewelry and gold in the space. She can't wear them because of work, but it doesn't stop her from liking them!

In addition, because of the bad habits she developed in the space, she can't buy them just because she has money. There are also things left by her mother. These things are enough for her to be a little rich.