Chapter 51

Chapter 51

Village Head Zou of Daliushu Village was indeed a man of character.

Upon hearing the message relayed by Jiang Zhaonian, he neither stubbornly dismissed it nor panicked and immediately called for a village meeting.

Instead, the next day, he asked his eldest son, Zou Mingde, to prepare the cart and took him to the city to see the situation for himself.

Sure enough, there were several waves of tattered refugees setting up makeshift tents outside Hongye County.

In just the short time they stopped to observe, they saw dozens of refugees gathering from the main road.

It was clear that the number of refugees would only increase, and the situation was not looking good.

Village Head Zou hurriedly had his eldest son turn the cart around and rush back to Daliushu Village. He summoned the clan leaders and elders for a closed-door discussion that lasted half a day.

The next morning, while it was still dark, he struck the large gong at the threshing ground and gathered the entire village.

With a serious expression, he spoke of the locust disasters that struck the neighboring Prefecture Yan twice a year and advised those who had grain not to sell it, and those without grain to buy it before prices rose.

Every household must stock enough grain to last a year, until the next autumn harvest.

The crowd immediately erupted into chaos. Some, whose families were not wealthy in grain or money, asked, “Village Head, stocking grain until the summer harvest should be enough, right? Once we harvest the wheat, we can continue. Why must we stock until the autumn harvest?”

It was clear that many thought the same, as several voices chimed in agreement right after.

Village Head Zou gave them a disdainful look and replied irritably, “Our Prefecture Qi borders Prefecture Yan. If the locusts finish off their crops, who knows if they’ll fly to our prefecture and eat ours?

Even if the locusts don’t come, what if there’s a drought or flood? If the wheat yields nothing and the refugees drive up the grain prices in Prefecture Qi, will you be able to afford it?

If you can’t buy grain, what will you eat? Even digging for wild vegetables to stave off hunger won’t work; the refugees will have already dug them up! Might as well just drink the wind!”

His words left those few speechless.

Village Head Zou then softened his tone and persuaded, “Our village has plenty of land, and the past few years have been good. Everyone has some savings; don’t hide them. Use the money to buy grain if you need to.

Money can be earned again, but if people in your family starve to death, no amount of money can bring them back.”

His words were reasonable, and no one raised further objections. Everyone obediently agreed to stock up on grain.

As for whether they would secretly defy him in private, Village Head Zou couldn’t control that. He had informed them and given his advice.

If they were too stingy to buy grain and didn’t want to save themselves, then they had only themselves to blame.

During the two days that Village Head Zou was busy, Jiang Chun had bought ten stones of wheat and three stones of soybeans.

Not counting the five stones of millet in her grain storage, her family had stockpiled twenty-five stones of wheat, enough to last two years.

As for the soybeans, they were stored for Song Shian to press for oil and weren’t even considered part of the food grain.

Of course, she didn’t forget to remind her uncle, Zheng Yi, and her cousin, Wang Yiner, to stock up on grain.

She went to Zheng Yi’s house in person. The day after she returned from the county, she went to his house after selling the meat.

Just as she arrived at the door, she happened to run into Zheng Yi, who was hurrying out to look for her at the meat stall.

“Chunniang, I was just about to look for you. What a coincidence that you came,” Zheng Yi said with delight, not bothering with formalities and pulling her into the main room by her sleeve.

After closing the door, he said mysteriously, “There’s been a locust disaster in Prefecture Yan, and the crops have yielded nothing. The court hasn’t provided disaster relief, so the refugees are flooding into our Prefecture Qi. Grain prices will surely skyrocket soon.

Go tell your father to buy and stock up on grain before it’s too late and the prices go up.”

Jiang Chun smiled and said, “What a coincidence, I came to tell you this exact thing. I didn’t expect that you already knew.”

She was a bit flustered due to concern, but Zheng Yi and his eldest son, Zheng Peng, went to the city every day to deliver meat. How could they not have seen the several waves of tattered refugees setting up camp outside the city gate?

She didn’t regret coming in vain. What if her uncle didn’t know?

Zheng Yi asked in surprise, “You knew?”

Jiang Chun smiled and said, “I went to the city to buy medicine for my husband yesterday, and on the way back, I encountered a wave of refugees. After asking them, I learned about the locust disaster in Prefecture Yan.

I thought that since there’s a disaster, the neighboring Prefecture Qi’s grain prices would surely rise, so I bought some grain at Qiu’s grain shop yesterday and came to inform you early this morning.”

“We did the same. As soon as we returned from the county yesterday, we went to buy grain immediately.”

Zheng Yi said with a smug smile and then called for his second son, Zheng Peng, to bring over three bags of rice for Jiang Chun.

Jiang Chun declined.

Prefecture Qi is in the north, where the main crop is wheat, and people eat flour made from wheat in their daily lives.

They don’t grow rice, which is transported from the south, and the price is astronomical.

Jiang Chun had seen the price of rice the day before—one tael of silver for a stone. The price alone deterred her from buying even a few bags to cook porridge for Song Shian.

If she wanted porridge, she could cook millet porridge. It was cheap and nourishing for the stomach, more suitable for Song Shian than rice porridge.

The uncle and niece continued to push and decline, but Zheng Peng had already carried the three bags of rice to the mule cart outside the door.

Jiang Chun had no choice but to accept with a smile.

After leaving Zheng Yi’s house, she didn’t go directly to Wang’s house. Instead, she found a corner and spent a wen to have a child call Jiang Liu from the Wang’s house.

She got straight to the point, “There’s been a locust disaster in Prefecture Yan, and the court isn’t helping. The refugees are flooding into our Prefecture Qi. Grain prices will skyrocket soon.

The entire village is busy buying and stocking up on grain. Go tell Yiner to convince Cao Pozi to stock up on grain, or you two will starve.”

Starvation might be an exaggeration, but Wang Yiner had quite a bit of wealth stored with her. However, if she had to buy grain at inflated prices, she would have nothing left for the rest of her life.

Jiang Liu turned pale with fright and, without even stopping to greet her, ran toward the Wang’s house.

If there was a famine and the Wang family didn’t have enough grain stockpiled, she would definitely be sent back home.

And her grandmother and father would definitely not spare any grain for her, possibly even trading her for food.

She had to convince her cousin to buy and stock up on grain.

After resolving the grain stockpiling issue, Jiang Chun finally had time to calculate her income and expenses for the past three days.

*

First, the income and expenditure for the day she went to the city.

The only clear income was from selling Song Shian’s copied books at the bookstore, bringing in 150 wen.

The expenses, however, were numerous.

She paid the remaining 2 taels and 250 wen for the heating stove, 2 taels for medicine from the pharmacy, 3 taels and 6 qian for a silver hairpin for Song Shian, 6 taels and 2 qian for deer leather boots, and 1,350 wen for coal.

She also gave 100 wen to refugees from Prefecture Yan along the way.

After returning to Hongye Town, she spent 8 taels on grain at Qiu’s grain shop.

In the following two days, she spent 9 taels and 1 qian to buy ten stones of wheat and three stones of soybeans. Originally, it should have been 9 taels and 2 qian, but Master Qi gave her a discount of 1 qian.

Jiang Chun took a piece of charcoal and calculated on a strip of paper that Song Shian had cut. She couldn’t help but gasp.

In three days, she had earned 150 wen but spent 29 taels of silver, resulting in a net loss of 28 taels and 850 wen.

The 30 taels of silver she had brought with her when she went to the city were now down to just over 1 tael.

Even adding the two and a half strings of cash hidden in the kang and the 300-plus wen Jiang He had earned from selling meat in the past three days, they could barely make up 4 taels of silver.

Jiang Chun deeply felt what it meant to work hard for decades only to return to square one.

Of course, that was just the visible finances.

In reality, she had silver rewards from clocking in at the money warehouse that she hadn’t touched. Converted to silver, it amounted to just over 31 taels.

But these funds were stored in the system warehouse, invisible to others, and were her last resort. She wouldn’t touch them unless absolutely necessary.

Additionally, besides the silver, the system warehouse also contained rewards from her recent clock-ins, some of which were valuable items.

But with refugees gradually arriving in Hongye County and the city becoming increasingly chaotic, it wasn’t advisable to pawn things at this critical moment. Not only would they be undervalued, but it would also be unsafe.

At dinner that evening, Jiang Chun informed the other two household members of their financial situation and sighed, “Our family is truly penniless now. From today onwards, we need to be more frugal.”

Song Shian glanced at her sideways and didn’t ask why she wasn’t touching the 500 taels silver note and 50 taels of gold.

He knew he would rise to prominence in the future and likely expected that in two years, when he returned to the capital, he would bring her and Jiang He along.

She was likely saving those deposits for spending after returning to the capital.

He wanted to say that after returning to the capital, the court would return all the confiscated property of the Song family, and he would let her manage all his finances, to spend as she wished. There was no need to be frugal now.

But he couldn’t say it.

The matter of his rebirth was too strange, and he wasn’t even sure if, in two years, the Song family would be rehabilitated as in his memories...

So for now, he didn’t want to reveal the secret of his rebirth.

Thinking for a moment, he said to Jiang Chun, “The items sent by Lu Zhengheng, after finishing the two paintings for him, there should be enough materials to paint two more.

I’ll paint them, and you can sell them at the art shop for money.”

Jiang Chun felt a wave of emotion in her heart.

For a high-minded literati like him, to measure their work in terms of money was a great insult.

Before the Song family’s downfall, no one in the entire capital, not even the royal relatives, could obtain his paintings.

Only his sister’s husband, King Yan, had one, but it was part of his sister Song Shi’s dowry, not a gift.

But now, to help her settle the matter with Liu Qitan, he had promised to paint a picture for Lu Zhengheng.

And now, seeing that their finances were tight and there were leftover painting materials, he was willing to paint two more for her to sell for money.

It was truly commendable.

But she immediately rejected it, “Husband, what are you saying? After you finish the painting owed to the county magistrate, paint one more to sell at a high price. Use that money to look for relatives. Don’t paint anymore.

Our Hongye County is small, and the shopkeepers have limited knowledge. If your paintings can be bought at the local art shop, why would the magistrate, who paid a high price, not feel like a fool?

We don’t need to offend the county magistrate, our local official, for a few dozen taels of silver.”

Jiang He, hearing his daughter’s words, found them very reasonable and immediately chimed in, “Chunniang is right. Don’t sell your paintings easily, son-in-law. Those people don’t deserve your good paintings.”

Song Shian had wanted to say that this wouldn’t offend Lu Zhengheng. That cunning man would definitely have people watching the Jiang family.

As soon as Jiang Chun took his paintings to the art shop, Lu Zhengheng would buy them back.

His paintings, every single one, would definitely not end up in anyone else’s hands.

But thinking about it, it felt like he was making it too easy for Lu Zhengheng. When he returned to the capital, who knew how he would brag about it…

If he were to remain a son-in-law in Daliushu Village for the rest of his life, it would be one thing, but he was returning to the capital in two years. He had to preserve his reputation.

Song Shian discreetly glanced at Jiang Chun's right hand.

He didn't believe for a second that she only had that little bit of silver and nothing else of value. After all, she had the ability to conjure things out of thin air.

So, while money at home was tight, it wasn't that tight.

Before he could respond, Jiang He chimed in with a smile, "Besides, we still have banknotes and gold. If we really need money urgently, we won't be left in a bind."

Jiang Chun nodded in agreement, "Exactly! When I said we're broke, I meant we're running low on loose change, not that we're genuinely destitute. That wouldn't be possible."

Taking the opportunity, Song Shian nodded and said, "I'll follow what Father and Mother say. I'll only paint two pieces and then stop."

Jiang Chun was quite pleased with Song Shian's willingness to sell his paintings to help with the household expenses. In return, after they lay down for the night, she took his slightly cold feet, which had remained chilly even after soaking in hot water, and placed them on her stomach to warm them.

Startled, Song Shian quickly tried to pull his feet away, scolding her, "Don't mess around. A woman's abdomen must not catch a chill."

This fellow always talked about wanting to have two children but didn't even think about protecting his own body.

Many women had trouble conceiving due to a cold uterus, including his elder sister. She had been confined and caught a chill, and it took several years of treatment by the imperial doctor before she finally became pregnant.

Jiang Chun was taken aback by his scolding but quickly realized her mistake. She hurriedly put his feet down and used her calves to hold them instead.

Then she reached up and pinched his chin, grinning, "You're so concerned about my abdomen, husband. Have you been secretly planning to have children with me?"

Song Shian snorted and replied coolly, "I'm just worried that if your abdomen catches a chill and you become infertile, you'll blame me and say I'm too weak to have children."

Jiang Chun pressed a little closer to him, whispering into his ear, "As for your ability to have children, I'm very clear on that. After all, I've already checked more than once."

Though they hadn't gone all the way, she had felt his ability clearly when they hugged and kissed.

Song Shian's ears turned red, unable to respond to her shameless words. He could only awkwardly change the subject, "I want to drink white rice porridge tomorrow morning."

Jiang Chun gave him a sideways glance, worried that the oil lamp was too dim for him to see her expression. She snorted, "Uncle gave us rice grains. To make white rice porridge, we need to pound the rice.

I also have to help Father slaughter the pig tomorrow. Where will I find the time to pound the rice? By the time I finish pounding it after selling the meat, it'll be time for lunch.

You can have it the morning after next. Tomorrow morning, we'll still have millet porridge."

Poor people couldn't afford to buy rice or flour directly from the store; it wasn't cost-effective. They bought rice grains or wheat and pounded or milled them at home.

Whether it was the rice bran from pounding or the wheat bran from sifting, both were valuable.

In good years, they could be used to feed chickens or pigs, and in lean years, people could eat the bran or wheat bran to stave off hunger.

Song Shian obediently replied, "Alright, we'll have millet porridge."

He was fine with whatever, and his mention of porridge was just an excuse to change the subject.

But Jiang Chun had a good memory and wasn't so easily diverted.

After discussing breakfast, she brought up the topic again, "Husband, be honest. Haven't you secretly thought a lot about having children with me?"

Song Shian buried his head in her chest, closed his eyes, pretending to be sound asleep, and didn't make a sound.

Jiang Chun pushed his back.

Song Shian's breathing was steady, and he appeared to be deeply asleep.

She pushed his back again, annoyed, "If you don't want to have children with me, that's fine. I won't beg you. There are others who would be willing to have children with me."

"Shut up!"

Song Shian, as if his tail had been stepped on, suddenly sat up, his face dark and terrifying, his phoenix eyes glaring at her with a cold glint.

He said coldly, "Say that again. Just. One. More. Time."