Yang Ruoqing knew exactly what the people in the village were talking about.
Now outside, not only the prices of rice and food, but also all food-related materials are rising steadily.
But compared to snacks, rice and grain are the basis of maintenance and a rigid need of the people, so the price has risen the fastest and most outrageously.
Several rice and grain shops in Qingshui Town have closed down. Now the rice and grain shops in the town's market are basically controlled by two or three shopkeepers.
They hoard goods in a strange way. There is obviously a lot of food in the warehouse, but they insist on pretending that food is in short supply and open a warehouse every day to sell some.
Let the hungry people stand in long queues from morning to night to buy.
Moreover, after opening the position, it was sold for half a day, and then closed, saying that today's share was sold out, and asking everyone to hurry up tomorrow if they wanted to buy.
This is just like in modern times, when a real estate project opens in some cities, you have to make reservations, rush to buy, and lottery, so that everyone can squeeze in the head...
The difference is that the real estate market is often in short supply because of the illusion created by the sellers, but now rice and grain are really in short supply and are urgently needed.
Of course, people such as the wealthy families in the town, the officials who retired and returned to their hometowns, the pampered squires, and the small landowners in the villages are not affected.
Those who are really affected are the vast number of poor people.
…
"Now everyone has no enough food to eat. Many families are beginning to think about selling their fields, and some are planning to sell their sons and daughters."
"As Li Zheng of Changping Village, I really don't have the shame to go see the villagers. I don't have the heart to eat this food. Take it over!"
When having breakfast the next day, Yang Huazhong looked at the bowl of sweet potato porridge that Sun put in front of him and the two large white flour buns on the plate. He sighed and pushed the bowl aside.
As the head of the family, Yang Huazhong had no intention to eat, so how could Mrs. Sun have the intention to eat?
In the same way, if neither father nor mother eats it, it is even less likely that Yang Ruoqing and Xiaohua Xiaoduo will eat it.
Everyone put down their chopsticks, and the table fell into a brief silence.
Mrs. Sun sighed and said, "It's a natural disaster. There's nothing we can do about it. It has nothing to do with your position."
"What's more, our family has so many fields and no harvest this year. Our family is the most severely affected. The food we have is all sent by Qing'er and is not from our own warehouse. There is nothing we can do... "Sun said.
Yang Huazhong frowned, and the man said: "I know this is the truth, but looking at each house in this house, the old ones are so hungry that they can't get out of bed, and the young ones are so hungry that they cry."
"Many families who originally didn't have three to five acres of land are now selling it off,"
"The price of land sold on the spot is pitifully low. Second-class land used to cost four taels of silver per acre, but now you can buy it for just two taels of silver."
"And in the rice and grain shops in town, a pound of the lowest-end rice costs fifty cents a pound,"
"A little less than half of that kind of rice is made of sand. The slightly better rice costs one hundred yuan per catty."
"Selling an acre of land for twenty taels of silver means selling twenty kilograms of rice with a little less sand. For twenty kilograms of rice, the whole family counts the rice grains in the pot, which lasts for two months at most."
"Those who have relatives in the village have gone to live with their relatives. Those who have no other means are thinking about selling their fields. After selling the fields, they will sell their daughters to save their sons. A few days ago, someone went to Lijia Village and took them with him. Four or five girls left..."
Sun's eyes turned red after hearing Yang Huazhong's words.
"These things sound very worrying. Qing'er, I see there is still some rice left in the rice vat in the backyard. How about I cook sweet potato porridge from tomorrow and give it to the village entrance every day? What do you think? ?”
During the flood that year, Mrs. Sun and Mrs. Sun were the same way. They cooked porridge at home every day and rowed a boat to send it to the villagers who were trapped on the "isolated island" in the south of the village.
But this time, Yang Ruoqing simply shook her head and rejected Sun's proposal.
"I don't agree with giving, mainly for two reasons." Yang Ruoqing said.
"First, our current stock of rice is also limited. In the face of this disaster, I must first ensure that our family does not go hungry."
"Secondly, there is the restaurant. The guys work for me. The restaurant cannot fail. It is the foundation for our livelihood."
"Secondly, the reason why I don't want to give is because I don't want to encourage the dependence of most villagers."
"There is a saying that rice's kindness rises to its hatred. During the flood that year, I still remember clearly that you and your aunt went back and forth to the isolated island twice a day to deliver porridge and steamed buns to the villagers who were trapped by the disaster."
"Of all the people who are trapped, how many of them truly know how to be grateful?"
"Most people sleep until they wake up naturally every day, waiting for you to bring food and drinks. In the end, they think that white flour steamed buns are not delicious, so they ask you to change them to meat buns. They also say that drinking too much millet porridge tastes bad, so they ask you to change them to meat buns." Japonica rice and glutinous rice are also fine. In the glutinous rice, you can grab a few handfuls of red dates..."
Sun also smiled bitterly when she heard Yang Ruoqing talking about that time.
"Some people, just like that, like to be picky." Mrs. Sun said.
Yang Ruoqing said: "So, after that incident, I don't agree with giving alms. When the time comes, you will give alms today, but what about tomorrow?"
"I gave alms this month, what about next month?"
"I don't know when the government's relief grain will arrive. Even if we get the relief grain and rice seeds, it will take June next year for the new rice to mature and be put into warehouses. There will still be more than half a year in between."
"We can't keep raising them for more than half a year, right? We can't afford it. If the government doesn't raise them, we don't have the ability or obligation to raise them!"
After hearing what Yang Ruoqing said, Sun also nodded silently.
"That's true..." she murmured.
Yang Huazhong's face didn't look good either, because this was the first time he heard these things.
During the flood that year, he was busy digging canals to drain water, and he couldn't care about matters at home.
"Why didn't you tell me these things before?" Yang Huazhong asked Sun and Yang Ruoqing.
Sun said: "At that time, you were too busy and couldn't even go home. I didn't want to talk about these things, so as not to upset you."
Yang Huazhong was a little unhappy.
Xiaohua said: "Father, mother, sister, there is something I don't know whether to say or not, but if I don't say it, I won't be happy in my heart!"
"If you don't like it, you have to talk more!" Yang Ruoqing said.
Xiaohua said: "I can't remember the first wave of people who asked me about it, asking when our family will give alms?"
"What?" Yang Huazhong frowned.
"You even took the initiative to ask?" he asked again.
Xiaohua nodded, "Not just asking me, but also asking Xiaoduo."
"They are all the lazy men and women in the village, just craning their necks and waiting!"
Yang Huazhong frowned even more tightly, and Sun was also speechless.
Yang Ruoqing sneered.
"What's going on? This is the human heart!" Yang Ruoqing said.
"We don't want to be bad people who take advantage of the situation, but we don't want to be good people either. Don't talk about charity anymore. But dad, you can go around the village and tell everyone who wants to sell their fields. Find me and I’ll buy it!”
