Chapter 336： Grain prices rise

On the second day, Yingbao, her father’s brother, Mr. Wu, Yuanbao and others boarded a large merchant ship.

Wei Zhan and a young boy also accompanied him.

Of course, there are also several students living in the Jiang family.

During the boat trip, Yuan Bao and other students discussed the past and present together, and Mr. Wu also gave an explanation. It was really eye-opening and made him feel calmer.

Yingbao stayed alone in the cabin, sorting out everything in the cave.

Her ginseng seeds have also fully sprouted and grown two leaves. It is estimated that there will be four or five leaves in another two years.

And several precious medicinal materials that I planted nearby are also growing very well.

These medicinal materials are also perennial, and the older they are, the more effective they are.

She has also harvested golden fungus, snow fungus, and more than a hundred kilograms of dry goods in her cave. From the Chinese New Year to now, all the fungi harvested are here.

However, it is summer now, and her store does not sell many mushrooms, so she is not ready to hand over the things to the shop for the time being.

Considering the possible war and chaos in the future, Yingbao decided to take time out to purchase grain and cotton cloth.

Since I have a few thousand taels of silver, it would be a waste to keep this money in the cave. It is better to exchange it for food, seeds, cotton, cloth and other physical goods.

Of course, weapons must also be stored quietly.

However, iron weapons such as machetes are not easy to buy, and farmers like them don’t know where to buy them unless they find gang members and go through the underworld.

But that would be too risky. If someone accidentally gets caught, there will be endless troubles in the future.

Yingbao was thinking, and suddenly thought of his own cave.

She doesn’t have any trouble collecting things, so why don’t she save some big rocks for herself, and if she encounters bad people, she will kill them with big rocks.

Thinking of that scene, Ying Bao chuckled, picked up a bunch of grapes and started eating them.

The merchant ship was halfway on the river when it encountered a heavy rainstorm.

The strong wind rocked the ship from side to side.

Jiang Sanlang was afraid that his children would be afraid, so he specially gathered them all in a cabin.

Yuanbao had never encountered such a situation before, and his face turned pale with fright. Fortunately, the ship walked for two days without any danger, and finally arrived at the Qinchuan County pier.

At this time, it was still raining. Yingbao took out some oilcloth raincoats from the cave and gave them to several members of his family and Mr. Wu. Even Wei Zhan also gave one.

Wei Zhan's boy ran off the boat first, called several porters and two oxcarts, carried their boxes and cages down, and loaded them on the oxcarts.

Jiang Sanlang saw that the two villagers could not find the cart, so he invited them to ride in the ox cart he hired.

 There is a shed made of mats on the bullock cart, which can barely cover the rain, but rainwater still drips from the inside of the cart.

Yingbao and his younger brother Yuanbao crowded together and put a big oilcloth on their heads.

Wei Zhan also got in, winked at Jiang Jie, and asked, "Jiang Jie, when will you return to Chuanhe Town?"

Jiang Jie: "Master said we will go back after Mingfu summons us."

At the end of this college examination, the county magistrate must summon the fifteen students in the county who passed the examination.

Moreover, the county magistrate also has to arrange for this year's new recruits to go to the county school for further studies.

There are a total of fifty or sixty students in the county school. This is the quota given by the imperial court. If new students are added this year, the ones with the worst performance in the annual examination will be expelled.

So Jiang Jie cannot enter the county school yet. He can only enter school after the annual examination and based on his examination grade.

Wei Zhan turned to Yuan Bao again: "Aren't you going back too?"

Yuan Bao hesitated for a moment: “We’ll talk about it then.”

He has benefited a lot from studying with Mr. Wu these days, so he naturally wants to continue taking lessons, but Mr. Wu has not agreed to accept him as his disciple. It seems not good if he keeps relying on him.

Wei Zhan showed his big white teeth to Yingbao again: "Yingbao, would you like to go home too?" Yingbao nodded: "Of course."

“I will also go to your house to play with Jiang Wu.” Wei Zhan said with a smile: “I haven’t seen Huzi and Yuanbao for a long time.”

Yingbao: "Don't you go to school in the county?"

Wei Zhan shook his head: "Your village also has a school. I can just go to school in the village school."

He didn't expect to pass the exams. There were martial arts teachers in the school in Dongchen Village, so it would be best for him to go to school there.

The most important thing is that I can always be with...Huzi Jiang Wu.

An hour later, the ox cart finally entered the county town and stopped at the gate of the Jiang family compound.

A few people got out of the car, and Jiang Sanlang asked the driver to send the two Linshan students home.

After returning home, Jiang Sanlang quickly went to the kitchen to boil water for Mr. Wu to wash himself.

Because the old gentleman’s clothes and hair were all wet, he had to take a shower, wash his hair and change his clothes.

Ying Bao and her brothers were also busy cleaning the tables, chairs and the floor, and even scrubbed the Kang mats.

 Wei Zhan’s young man named Wei Zhong, who was about fourteen or fifteen years old, was very clever. He arranged the young master’s suitcases and luggage, and then went to help Jiang Sanlang.

 Jiang Sanlang saw a helper coming and decided to go out to buy some food. He saw his little girl running towards him holding an umbrella.

"Dad, I'm going to buy vegetables. You can cook at home first." There are about ten people at home eating, and the vegetables in my cave are overflowing. If I don't eat them, they will be wasted.

Jiang Sanlang couldn't resist his daughter, so he had to agree: "Then you should be careful when you go out."

"I know." Ying Bao is nine years old and is very familiar with the county. It's not a big deal to buy groceries and go shopping alone.

Moreover, the security in the county is pretty good, and no one dares to abduct a girl in broad daylight.

Ying Bao walked out of the alley holding an umbrella and came to an abandoned house piled with stones and bricks.

Using an umbrella as a cover, she collected four or five large stones, and then took out a basket full of vegetables and fruits.

After sending the things in the basket home first, Yingbao went to the vegetable market.

Because of the rain, there were no people in the market, except for one fish vendor.

Ying Bao saw that his fish were still fresh, so he bought two.

The vendor put two grass stalks through the gills of the fish and handed them to her.

Yingbao took the fish and walked home slowly.

When I passed a grain store, I went in and asked about the price. It turned out that a bushel of rice cost 60 Wen.

And the hulled brown rice actually costs one hundred Wen.

As for other grains, including the wheat just harvested this year, the price is also 10% or 20% higher than in previous years.

When did the food supply in Qinchuan County become higher than that in Fucheng?

Yingbao was confused and asked the clerk why the price of rice grains had increased.

The waiter said: "I don't know, the price is set by the shopkeeper. If you think it's too expensive, you don't have to buy it."

Seeing Yingbao still glaring at him, the clerk added: "I heard that some people in our county buy grain at high prices. They ask for as much as they want, and then transport it away on large merchant ships. Even the dozen or so large grain stores in this county can't receive the grain. , it would be strange not to increase the price.”

There are tens of thousands of people in a county. Each person eats half a catty of grain a day, and consumes hundreds of thousands of catties of grain every month. Where does this grain come from?

“Have rice prices increased in other counties?” Yingbao asked.

The waiter rolled his eyes at her: "How could I know this? Anyway, the price will go up as the shopkeeper tells me."

Ying Bao frowned, turned around and walked back.

Some people in the county collect grain at high prices and transport it away, but the county magistrate does nothing. It is really strange.