The sun leaps above the horizon.
The bullock cart stopped on the main street of Ping'an Town.
Cheng Wanwan and Zhao Dashan jumped out of the car and walked towards the pawn shop first.
It's still early, but people are already coming and going in the town. The roadside is full of stalls, mostly selling snacks, and the aroma is fragrant.
When he reached the door of the pawn shop, Cheng Wanwan paused and said, "Da Shan, go buy two meat buns."
She took out a few pennies from her waist and handed them over.
Zhao Dashan turned around and left.
Cheng Wanwan stepped into the pawn shop, and the clerk immediately greeted him.
She took out the silver hairpin from her sleeve. The clerk checked the quality and stretched out a finger: "One hundred coins."
Cheng Wanwan's eyebrows pounded. Her husband spent nearly one tael of silver to buy this, but it was only worth a hundred cash? ?
"The silver hairpin is too old and the style is not good-looking. Another thing is that there have been a lot of people pawning jewelry recently, so the price has naturally come down." The clerk was reasonable and said, "Auntie, I didn't raise the price randomly."
The sound of "Auntie" made Cheng Wanwan cry silently.
She took the silver hairpin back and said, "Forget it, it's inappropriate."
One hundred coins is really too little. It's really not worth it to pawn the love token between the original person and her husband for such a small amount of copper.
She turned around and walked out, and the man didn't stop her. When the house was completely out of food, this aunt would definitely come again.
When he walked outside, Zhao Dashan also came over after buying steamed buns. He hurriedly asked: "Mom, how much did you pay?"
Cheng Wanwan put the silver hairpin into his sleeve and said, "Two hundred coins."
I used the money I earned from selling mushrooms yesterday to buy some seasonings and soaps. I bought two meat buns this morning, leaving exactly two hundred cents left.
Zhao Dashan smiled: "Two hundred coins can buy a lot of food..."
Only when there is food at home will he feel at ease.
Cheng Wanwan took out ten cents and gave it to him: "You go to the grocery store to buy some salt and some necessary seasonings. I'll go to the grain store to have a look."
Zhao Dashan stuffed the meat bun into his mouth, took the copper plate and went to work.
Cheng Wanwan walked straight to the grain store. The price of each piece of food was marked, rice was twelve cents per catty, corn was five cents, and white flour was eight cents.
She frowned. When she came back to town to buy food, the price of corn was only two cents per catty. In just a short time, the price has increased so much.
She walked out of the grain store, walked to a deserted alley, and clicked on the virtual mall. Compared to the grain store, the food in the mall was much cheaper.
She bought twenty catties of rice for two cents a catty, twenty catties of flour for four cents a catty, and then bought an iron pot for thirty cents.
The basket behind her suddenly became heavy. She originally planned to buy something, but she really couldn't carry it anymore.
Cheng Wanwan walked out carrying a backpack weighing dozens of kilograms and met Zhao Dashan head-on.
Zhao Dashan held a small bag of salt in his hand: "Mom, the price of salt has increased, and you can only buy so little for ten cents."
Cheng Wanwan shook his head: "I just bought some, let's go home."
The salt in the mall is cheap, and you can buy five large bags for ten cents.
The two were about to take the bullock cart when chaos suddenly broke out in the street, and the people on the street looked panicked and talked a lot.
"Roots broke into Wang's wife's house last night and stole a thousand kilograms of rice!"
"The bandits are so bold. They broke into the house to steal food. Have they reported it to the official?"
"I reported it to the police last night, but no one was arrested. Please lock the door at night to avoid being targeted by the robbers."
"..."
Cheng Wanwan turned around and saw that the price tag at the grain store had changed, and the rice became fifteen cents per pound.
Zhao Dashan was stunned: "Why is it so expensive..."
Cheng Wanwan sighed.
One thousand kilograms of grain was stolen from Ping'an Town. The already short supply of grain was naturally even more valuable. Fifteen cash today might cost twenty cash tomorrow.
Fortunately, she has a shopping mall, so she is not worried about rising prices.
But other people in this era have to suffer a lot.
Cheng Wanwan waved away her complicated emotions and took Zhao Dashan into the bullock cart.
Zhao Da saw her backpack and asked casually: "Why did Sister Zhao buy a pot? This pot looks really good. When did Blacksmith Zhu's craftsmanship become so good?"
Cheng Wan said, "It wasn't Zhu Tiejiang who did it."
Exactly where she bought it, she refused to say a word more.
Zhao Da thought to himself, what's the point of this, it would be nice to have food to eat, but this prodigal woman actually spent money to buy a pot.
The other people on the oxcart were in a bad mood after their visit to the town, and they chatted all the way.
"Corn costs five cents per catty. I can't afford it, so I bought some buckwheat flour."
"We only have three days of food left at home, and it's all about the crops in the fields. If it doesn't rain, our family will have to eat tree bark every day."
"The court distributed food relief during the locust plague last year. If there is no revenue this year, the court will probably not ignore it."
"We have a drought here. I heard that it rains every day in Ancheng and all the crops are drowned. So many people are suffering. Is the court's food enough?"
"..."
The more we talked, the duller the atmosphere became.
Suddenly, something flew onto Cheng Wanwan's head. She was startled and didn't dare to move: "Dashan, hurry up, help me get it down!"
She has lived for thirty-three years and is not afraid of anything, except insects and spiders.
Zhao Dashan quickly went to catch the insect on her head. When the insect was caught, his face suddenly fell: "Uncle Da, look quickly, is this a locust?"
A green-yellow flying insect with long front wings. What else could it be if it wasn't a locust?
The woman on the bullock cart screamed.
"Didn't the locusts fly away last year? Why are they still there?"
"Don't scare yourself. There's only one locust, just crush it to death."
Aunt Fugui stepped forward and pinched the locust, which burst into juice instantly. She threw the locust onto the carriage board and stomped on it twice to relieve her anger.
As the saying goes, when locusts pass by, no grass will grow.
The locust plague is more terrifying to the villagers here than the drought.
You can still look forward to rainfall during a drought, but if locusts come, the crops in the field will be eaten clean in less than a day.
This was the case last year. Dahe Village had no harvest. It relied on the government's relief and autumn planting and spring harvest to survive until now.
No one dares to experience it again.
When they arrived at the entrance of the village, Cheng Wanwan and Zhao Dashan jumped out of the car. Only Wu Huiniang was at home, mending clothes.
Cheng Wanwan walked in: "Huiniang, go and close the door."
The incident with the king in the town gave her a warning. She must not expose the food, otherwise it will attract others to covet her. This is why she bought a pot in the town. The iron pot was placed on the back of the basket for everyone to see. I don't know what was in her backpack.
Even Zhao Dashan didn't know exactly what his mother bought.
She took out the iron pot first, and then took out the other things one by one.
Twenty kilograms of rice, twenty kilograms of white flour, two kilograms of pork belly that she took the opportunity to buy at the mall, a large bag of coarse salt, and various necessary seasonings were placed on a full table... on her body Now I have no money, so I have to go to the mountains to find mushrooms in the afternoon to earn some copper coins.
Cheng Wanwan handed the pork belly to Wu Huiniang: "We have braised pork for lunch today."
Wu Huiniang paused: "Mom, what is braised pork?"
