Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Watching the ox cart leave the village, outside the village.

The village suddenly became tumultuous.

"You, did you see it just now?"

"I saw it, this, this Gu Chang'an, wasn't she dead?"

"Re, revived?"

"Could it be an evil spirit in disguise?"

The courtyard of the Village Head's family was packed with people, and the old Village Head had a splitting headache from all the shouting.

His eldest son bellowed, "Quiet, what's all the commotion about?"

The villagers thought Gu Chang'an's revival was ominous.

"Village Head, Gu Chang'an died and came back to life, she must be an evil spirit in disguise. When has there ever been someone who died and came back to life?"

"That's right, that's right, Village Head, capture Gu Chang'an and burn her to death, to prevent her from harming anyone."

Everyone said they wanted to burn Gu Chang'an to death, giving the Village Head an even worse headache.

In his youth, he had traveled and seen people appear to be dead in certain situations, but the ignorant would assume they were dead and bury them.

He thought Gu Chang'an might have been in such a situation, these foolish villagers.

"All shut up, what evil spirit nonsense? Look at yourselves behaving like ghosts, you lot are more like evil spirits than Gu Chang'an.

She never died, do you think Old Gu Six is stupid? Would he not know if his own daughter was dead or alive?

You all are meddling in other people's business, do you have enough food at home? Did you gather wild vegetables today?

That's enough, don't crowd here, go do what you need to do."

The Village Head's scolding dispelled any fear the villagers had.

The Village Head was the most educated person in the village and had seen the world, so the villagers trusted him.

Then they recalled that Old Gu Six had insisted his daughter wasn't dead, perhaps they had made a mistake?

Nevermind, nevermind.

They didn't even have their own food situation settled, how could they have time to worry about whether others were dead or alive?

The villagers dispersed in groups, chatting about family matters.

The Village Head looked at the dry, cracked earth outside and said to his eldest son, "Go to the city and investigate the situation there."

"Thank you, Elder Brother Li. Please prepare 800 pounds of new rice, 500 pounds of old rice, and 500 pounds of white flour for me. I'm buying rations for my entire village."

"Oh my, you're asking for a large amount. It's a good thing you came to Chen's Grain Store, as we have that much stock. If you had gone elsewhere, you might not have been able to buy any today."

Elder Brother Li cheerfully called two young workers to bring the goods from the warehouse.

This was a big customer; in addition to his wages this month, he would also get a good bonus. What a profit!

Old Gu Six looked at the old ox; it could not pull 1,800 pounds of grain, and even if it could, it would attract too much attention on the way back.

Recalling his daughter's abilities, he whispered to Gu Chang'an, "Daughter, can you use your powers to hide the grain for me?"

Gu Chang'an nodded.

Old Gu Six was relieved and said, "Elder Brother Li, I'll take the grain in two trips. First, I'll take one cartload out of the city, as our village's other ox cart is waiting outside. I'll come back for the rest later."

"Alright, that's 62 taels of silver in total. Pay me half now, and the other half when you come back for the rest."

"Agreed, 31 taels. Take it, I'll pay you the other half when I return."

The workers moved quickly, with the rice and flour in 100-pound sacks, and had already loaded ten sacks onto the cart.

It didn't look like much, but it was heavy.

Gu Chang'an also got off and walked. Father and daughter drove the ox cart around the city randomly for two rounds, then found a small alley and drove the cart inside.

Old Gu Six kept watch at the entrance while Gu Chang'an observed their surroundings. With a wave of her little hand, she transported the ten sacks of grain into the manor's warehouse.

"Father, it's done."

Old Gu Six looked at the empty ox cart, licked his lips; his daughter Gu Chang'an was truly formidable.

He returned to the grain store with the empty cart, paid the other half of the silver, and waited for the workers to load the cart. Just like before, he went back to that alley and secured the grain.

Then they went to a small grain store and bought 300 pounds of rice and 200 pounds of white flour, with prices the same as the previous store, just on a different street.

Gu Chang'an noticed that the grain stores only sold very basic grains: rice, white flour, and brown flour. Rice was divided into old rice and new rice, that was it.

There were no beans, no sweet potato flour, no corn flour, and no coarse grains.

In Gu Chang'an's memory, she had never seen corn, sweet potatoes, or potatoes.

When village families ran out of grain, they would eat brown flour and wild vegetable porridge or just wild vegetables to stave off hunger.

Before grain prices rose, brown flour cost 3 coins per pound.

Tsk tsk, how heartless, how heartless.

The famine hadn't even started yet, but grain prices had risen like this, would people even be able to live?