Chapter 42: Buying Grains
Editor: Atlas Studios
Liu Ting placed a spare pot on the stove made of clay to prepare a random stew of rabbit meat, before dicing half a rabbit to roast.
However, since only six-year-olds and above were allowed to eat this, the younger ones could only drool as they watched. This was because Mu Yangling had said that children had delicate stomachs, which was further exacerbated by the fact that they often went hungry, so they were forbidden from eating roasted food.
Even Little Bowen could only drool as he hugged the little rabbit.
Meanwhile, Mu Yangling was standing in the river with a sharpened wooden stick and aiming at the fish in the water. By the time the rabbit meat was almost cooked, her swift reflexes had allowed her to catch a large grass carp.
Mu Yangling laughed and threw it onto the shore. Waving at Liu Ting, she said, “Make fish stew using this.”
“You should take it back and let Auntie eat it.”
“My mother can’t stand the fishy smell, and I have no idea how to handle the fish anyway. Just go ahead and stew it here. Let my brother have a bowl of that nutritious fish stew later.”
Liu Ting agreed.
Only then did Mu Yangling carry Little Bowen to eat.
Everyone wiped out the food quickly as if they were fighting a war. After putting out the fire and hiding the pot, they hugged their full bellies and returned home.
As soon as Mu Yangling got home, she was scolded by Shu Wanniang. Mu Yangling wiped her brother’s face and hands, then placed him on the bed. After that, she took a shower, changed her clothes, before climbing onto the bed to sleep. She pulled the blanket over her stomach and said, “Mother, Brother is too quiet. By playing with everyone more often, he’ll become bolder. If all he does is study at home, he’ll become a bookworm in the future.”
Having said that, she turned around to take an afternoon nap. By then, Little Bowen had already fallen asleep.
Shu Wanniang looked at the two children and sighed helplessly. After covering their stomachs with the blanket, she went out, closed the door, and returned to her room.
That night, Mu Shi did not return. Only after checking the doors and windows, and placing a stick by the bed, did Mu Yangling go to sleep.
The next day, she woke up and waited for activity to pick up in the village before carrying the basket into the mountains. That day, she handed Liu Erqian some prey and sent the rest to the eatery and restaurant, then returned home with the earnings.
When Mu Shi returned in the afternoon, Shu Wanniang prepared hot water for him to wash up. Seeing that he looked tired, she asked, “Where did you stay last night?”
“I found a cheap inn in the city and stayed there for the night. I’m going to take a nap. Wake me up at dinner tonight.”
Mu Yangling’s gaze swept across Mu Shi’s clothes. Seeing her mother’s pained expression, she did not dare to speak.
There were some straw crumbs on the back of her father’s clothes. It was obvious to Mu Yangling that her father had slept in the county’s land temple last night.
Shu Wanniang, on the other hand, didn’t suspect anything and went to prepare dinner for her husband.
Mu Yangling said, “Father, rest for a day tomorrow while I enter the mountain to deliver prey to town. You can go to the county the day after tomorrow.”
Mu Shi nodded. “Alright, then I’ll go rest first. When your brother comes back later, don’t let him enter the room and disturb me.”
The Mu family’s schedule was decided just like that. Mu Shi would make a trip to the county after resting for a day, and that trip would take two days.
All the business in town was handed over to Mu Yangling. While supplying prey to the eatery and restaurant, she secretly earned a small sum of money with Liu Erqian.
Right now, the grain in the village was sold at last year’s price.
Liu Erqian specially stayed at home for a day because of this. They did not know who was buying the grains, but it was obvious that the buyer wasn’t one of the three Minister Counselors. Liu Daqian only hesitated for a moment before agreeing on behalf of the villagers and asking for cash.
“I wonder who they are. If we offend the Minister Counselors, we…” Ma Dazhuang’s father was very hesitant.
Liu Erqian snorted coldly and said, “So what if we offend them? Are they not ashamed to offer such a price to their fellow villagers? They’re the ones who offended us first. Previously, we were in discussion with a few villages to sell our grains to foreign merchants. Now, there isn’t even a need for that. That should teach them a lesson.”
Liu Daqian glared at his younger brother, before saying to everyone, “Don’t worry. I’ve asked around. These people also bought grains at this price in the nearby villages. Those villages are also willing. Not to mention that the Minister Counselors can’t blame us, even if there’s a conflict, surely so many of us aren’t afraid of the three of them?”
As the saying went, ‘If a law was violated by the masses, it would instead be left unenforced.’ Everyone was relieved to hear that it was not just their own village.
Hence, when the grain buyers came the next day, many families sold their grains to them.
Besides having to pay for their payment to a porter, money was needed here and there in everyday life. In addition, this year was considered a bumper harvest year, so everyone could more or less exchange some grains for money.
After selling their grains, the villagers’ money bags swelled up, and the entire village was filled with joy.
Not everyone was happy though—Minister Liu, Minister Zhao, and Minister Zhang were almost angered to death. A few days ago, the shopkeepers sent by them to the countryside to buy grains had been turned down because the villagers deemed the price too low. Annoyed at being snubbed, the wealthy trio decided to suppress the aura of those bumpkins by leaving them hanging before subsequently lowering the price even further. They figured those villagers would panic by then and have no choice but to sell their grains to them, no matter how low the price was.
Not only in Seven Mile Village, but the few squires in the county had also conspired to push down the price. Who knew that in just a few days, someone actually dared to come to their territory to buy grains?
When they asked around the county, they realized that this situation was not unique to Seven Mile Village. Even in the state and county, someone was buying grains at last year’s price and even conducting the transactions in cash.
The few squires really could not sit still anymore. Unable to determine the background of the person behind this, they did not dare to act rashly and could only gather to think of a solution.
Meanwhile, the grain buyers swept past one village after another.
Oblivious to this, the people in Nearhill Village were just happy to sell their grains and earn money. Liu Erqian even came to look for Mu Yangling and declared proudly, “Now that I’ve got money, I’ll go to town tomorrow and find an old woman to make a trip to Four Village.”
Mu Yangling looked at him suspiciously. “Your wife won’t beat you up?”
“What nonsense are you talking about?” Liu Erqian glared at her and said, “Can a woman interfere with me? Don’t worry about this matter. Just watch me.”
The corners of Mu Yangling’s lips twitched. She had seen her second great-aunt chase her second great-uncle out of the house with a club. At that time, Second Great-uncle didn’t even dare to let out a fart.
“Alright, I’ll do as you say.”
Liu Erqian went to town and paid an eloquent old woman 500 yuan to look for the witch.
Although she was called a witch, she was actually just an ordinary village woman. However, she would make up some nonsense based on one’s appearance. Gradually, everyone believed she had the powers of a witch. In spite of that, her family was not doing well either, for she had quite a few sons and their family didn’t have much land. Even though people came to her for fortune-telling, they only paid her ten to 20 copper coins for her hard work.
Therefore, when the eloquent old woman sent by Mu Yangling offered her one tael of silver for her to change her statement, the witch agreed despite her hesitation.
As for exactly what to say, it would depend on her intelligence. As long as she didn’t implicate Madam Ma-Liu, she could say whatever she wanted.