Chapter 158: Useless for Eating or Wearing

Chapter 158: Useless for Eating or Wearing

This cheered Qin Xiaoyao up instantly.

Seeing this, the clerk began to quote prices.

"Half an hour ago, the owner sent word to raise the price of coarse flour and rice by five cents."

"But since it's Lady Qin who wants them, I can still sell them to you at the previous price of three cents per catty."

"However, the quantity is limited to a maximum of one thousand catties. Also, if you come tomorrow, the new prices will apply!"

"Just one thousand catties?" Qin Xiaoyao frowned.

The clerk immediately put on a pained expression. "That's not little, Madam. Our owner said that the entire Hua'an Prefecture is facing a food shortage now."

"Our boss is currently trying to bring in grain from other regions."

"Think about it, transporting grain from afar involves carriages, boats, labor, and materials, which adds a lot of costs."

"So, the grain prices will continue to rise!" The clerk leaned closer to Qin Xiaoyao and whispered.

Qin Xiaoyao was moved.

"Then let's start with five hundred catties each of coarse rice and flour."

"Oh, right, what's the price for soybeans? You haven't mentioned it yet," Qin Xiaoyao asked.

The clerk glanced at the pile of soybeans inside the fence.

"Let's say three cents as well. If you buy five hundred catties, I'll throw in twenty catties for free."

Seeing that Qin Xiaoyao didn't respond, the clerk added, "Others wouldn't get even a single catty for free."

Qin Xiaoyao then looked at the clerk.

"If I buy one thousand catties, give me fifty catties for free." She bargained.

While soybeans aren't a staple, they can be used to sprout bean sprouts and make tofu.

In winter, when fresh vegetables are scarce, bean sprouts are the only green vegetable she could think of.

As long as Lai Fulu doesn't close, selling bean sprouts there would provide income.

And based on her speculation, even if there's a famine around Lingquan Town, the city's restaurants are unlikely to shut down completely.

After all, wealthy households have ample resources and can withstand disasters much better than the poor.

The saying "The rich feast while the poor freeze to death" isn't without reason.

The clerk hesitated for a moment.

"Alright! Since it's Lady Qin!" He finally decided, seemingly making up his mind.

Qin Xiaoyao felt particularly satisfied.

She then opened the money box in her hand.

When the clerk saw the box full of copper coins, he led Qin Xiaoyao to the counter.

He then weighed the coins directly to avoid counting them.

After receiving four thousand copper coins and two taels of silver from Qin Xiaoyao, the clerk took her to the back yard to weigh the grain.

In total, it was two thousand and fifty catties of grain. After weighing it, the clerk helped Qin Xiaoyao load some of the grain onto a cart.

"With your strength, you can transport all this in just three trips!" The clerk dusted off his hands and looked at Qin Xiaoyao with admiration.

Indeed, this woman had incredible strength.

Even among men, few could match Lady Qin.

"Ha, you flatter me, young man."

"I'll be going now! I'll be back later!" Qin Xiaoyao said, lifting the cart.

The clerk escorted Qin Xiaoyao out.

Qin Xiaoyao smoothly pushed the cart out of the grain store.

On the street, the flat road made it much easier to move.

Soon, she pushed the grain back home.

When Liu Shi saw her daughter-in-law bringing more grain, she came over.

"Why did you buy more grain? Didn't we just buy three thousand catties?" Liu Shi felt a bit heartbroken.

Qin Xiaoyao smiled.

"You can never have too much grain. Besides, not all of this is rice and flour; there are also soybeans."

"Now that Daniu finds it harder to collect farm produce, I plan to sprout some bean sprouts. If Lai Fulu needs them, we'll have another source of income."

"Also, we can sprout soybeans in winter. There's a greater shortage of fresh vegetables then, so we won't have trouble selling them." Qin Xiaoyao explained.

Mainly because their house has plenty of water, and the courtyard is large enough to set up a few sheds for sprouting bean sprouts.

"Bean sprouts?" Liu Shi was puzzled, not quite understanding Qin Xiaoyao's words.

"Yes, it's the sprouts of soybeans, fresh and crisp."

"When I grow the sprouts, you'll see how good they are." Qin Xiaoyao smiled.

In this era, or rather in Lingquan Town, she had never seen anyone selling bean sprouts.

There were vendors selling tofu, though. Big Sister's family business was making tofu.

Right, if Aunt Li ever runs short on soybeans, she could sell some to her as well.

"Oh, alright!" Lady Liu finally agreed with a smile.

Her daughter-in-law always had plenty of ideas. Although she hadn't seen bean sprouts before, she believed they must be good.

After all, their family's preserved eggs were a perfect example.

Only her daughter-in-law would be willing to take out preserved eggs from time to time to add to their meals.

Otherwise, she wouldn't touch a single one.

Those things cost two or three copper coins each at Lai Fulu. How precious they were! She couldn't bear to eat them.

Qin Xiaoyao smiled, appreciating the trust in her mother-in-law's eyes.

With her mother-in-law's help, she pushed the cart to the storage room.

Then, she unloaded the goods.

She went back to her room to put away the money box.

After hesitating for a moment, she took out an additional three taels of silver.

Since she decided to sell bean sprouts, a thousand catties of soybeans might not be enough. While the price of soybeans hadn't risen yet, she should order another thousand catties.

So, Qin Xiaoyao soon left home again with the silver and the cart.

She arrived at the grain store.

When the clerk heard that Qin Xiaoyao wanted another thousand catties of soybeans and asked him to deliver an extra fifty catties, he looked somewhat reluctant.

But in the end, he agreed.

Thus, Qin Xiaoyao had over a thousand more catties of goods to haul.

By the time she finished, it was almost dusk.

Lady Liu was deeply pained for her, and the Song family waited until Qin Xiaoyao came back to assist her in unloading the goods and arranging them properly before they all sat down to have dinner together.

After dinner, everyone thought Qin Xiaoyao must be tired, so no one mentioned going to the street.

However, after sitting on the stone bench in the courtyard for a while, Qin Xiaoyao came back and suggested they all go to the street together.

Then, she went to fetch Song Que and led him out of the courtyard first.

Song Que was initially worried about Qin Xiaoyao, but seeing her acting as if nothing had happened, full of energy, he felt relieved.

Upon learning that her strength-related ability had recovered, he was even more at ease.

Thus, their sweet date began once again.

After walking for a while, they finally reached the stall selling jewelry that Song Que had seen yesterday.

Qin Xiaoyao didn't think much of it and started to walk past, just like yesterday, but was pulled back by the man beside her.

"What's wrong?" she turned around, looking at Song Que in confusion.

A hint of awkwardness flashed across Song Que's face.

"Let's go take a look," he said.

Qin Xiaoyao followed his gaze and saw a stall selling jewelry.

"What's there to see? It's not food or clothing," she responded.

The warmth in Song Que's heart was instantly dampened by half.

"I want to take a look," he repeated.

Qin Xiaoyao glanced at Song Que, thinking of something, and finally nodded.

"Alright, let's go," she said.

Then, she led Song Que to the stall.