“Then…” Auntie Tian’s eyes darted around. She placed the teacup on the table and continued,” They’re staying at your house? Food is quite expensive now. ”
“Oh dear, Sister Wang is also a pitiful person, with no relatives to rely on. My family happened to have a few more rooms to live in. As for the food, we prepared more previously. I think it won’t be a problem for us to survive this period.” Madam Li did not mind. These were the only two people she could speak to here, so she naturally would not assume any hidden intentions from Auntie Tian.
“You’re a kind person.” Auntie Tian’s eyes suddenly turned red. She grabbed Madam Li’s hand and said in a choked voice, “To be honest, I was anxious when I saw so many houses in the village collapse. Now that we can’t buy food outside, won’t we be forcing our family to death?”
Back then, when Madam Li reminded her to prepare more food, she thought that Madam Li was stupid and rich. Now, it was really a slap in the face.
Madam Li paused for a moment and understood what Auntie Tian meant.
“Auntie Tian, don’t worry. I’ve seen your house. As long as you clear the snow off the roof often, it won’t collapse,” Song Jingchen suddenly said.
Auntie Tian stopped him, as if she didn’t believe him.
Although Shen Yijia didn’t understand these things, if Song Jingchen said that it wouldn’t collapse, it definitely wouldn’t collapse.
She echoed, “My husband is right. Your house is solid, so it definitely won’t collapse. It’s simple if you’re still worried. My house has a lot of materials from when it was built. Get An Dong to take them back and repair the house.”
Auntie Tian smiled awkwardly. “How embarrassing would that be?”
“It’s fine. Didn’t my mother say that we’re neighbors? We have to help.” Shen Yijia waved her hand nonchalantly.
Those things took up a lot of space, but she couldn’t bear to throw them away. After all, she had spent money to buy them. Anyway, she had made the best use of them.
Thinking of this, Shen Yijia was afraid that they would be too embarrassed to come and get it, so she simply said, “There’s no need for your An Dong to pick it up. I’ll send it over when you go back later. I’m strong anyway.”
Auntie Tian choked and could not say anything else. She lowered her head and continued to wipe her tears at Madam Li. “It’s my fault for not listening to your advice back then. I didn’t prepare more food for the family. Now, I can’t buy it even if I wanted to. I really regret it.”
Madam Li was in a difficult position. She had never been in charge of this family. She was afraid that Shen Yijia would be unhappy if she relented.
After all, not to mention the current price of food, it was impossible to buy it even with money. The stockpile in this house was the lifeblood of the entire family.
Who knew when this situation would finally be over?
Song Jingchen saw Madam Li’s dilemma. He calculated that there should be enough food at home, so he said, “There should be some leftover food at home. We can sell some.”
“That’s so embarrassing. Besides, your family buys refined rice. Can our family afford it?”
Auntie Tian’s words were actually to test if the refined rice would be given to them at the same price as before or now.
Now that Father An had recovered and no longer needed to take medicine, they could also use the medicine money that they had saved up in the past. Their finances weren’t as strained as before.
If they bought it at the same price as before, they could still exchange it for more brown rice in town.
The price of refined rice had increased several times. One pound of refined rice could be exchanged for several pounds of brown rice.
The extra could also be exchanged for a lot of money.
“That’s easy. Bruiser’s family bought brown rice. He and Auntie Wang won’t need it at our house in the future. Just let her sell it to you.” Shen Yijia believed she had thought of a good idea and raised her chin proudly at Song Jingchen.
1
Song Jingchen lowered his head and hid the smile on his face.
Auntie Tian had nothing to say in response.