Natural disasters in books: I stockpiled goods to escape famine in ancient times

Hearing his elder brother's words, Zhou Yi smiled and said, "Behind me are not only the Zhou family, but also the Zhou family army and you, elder brother. Those women would naturally hope that I would look at them differently, but this Miss Song is different from them. She has never been kind to me."

"Then do you want to continue?"

Zhou Yi raised his head: "Of course I have to continue."

"Don't you mean you haven't lived enough?"

Zhou Yi's confidence collapsed instantly, and he hunched his shoulders: "Brother, can't you please stop trying to discourage me? You don't know how exhausted I have been these days trying to find her. I've been to the government office several times. I just got the news about them today, and I rushed to the Desert Village early in the morning, but the two of them were not there. The village chief thought I was looking for trouble, so I refused to tell him where they were. Later, I overheard him talking and found out that they were in the city, which was even more difficult than the mountain road I took."

Zhou Huai smiled: "It's rare to see you so focused on one thing. It's rare. Could it be that you have other thoughts about Miss Song?"

"Brother, please don't talk nonsense. You can't say such things. If Miss Song finds out, she will kill your brother."

Zhou Huai carefully observed her expression, and was relieved to see that she was not pretending. He jokingly said, "If you are not in love, then you must be in love with her. But I just heard you talking, and Miss Song doesn't seem to like being disturbed. If you still want to fight for her, remember to be tactful and don't annoy her."

Zhou Yi nodded repeatedly: "Don't worry, big brother, I know. Next time we meet, I will tell her my name, so that she won't call me Young Master all the time, which makes my heart tremble."

After saying that, Zhou Yi thought of the man who was no longer alive in the alley, and hurriedly said, "Brother, you go ahead and do your work. I have something else to deal with and will be back later."

Zhou Yi ran while talking, calling Chen Wei who was following in the dark, and the two of them disappeared into the alley carrying the dead man.

-

Song Shiwei, who had already returned to the inn, didn't know that Zhou Yi had not given up looking for him, nor did he know that the other party had dealt with his body. He had now returned to his room and was preparing to sleep.

Early the next morning, Zhang Wu drove the carriage back to Damao Village. After returning, he was pulled into the main hall by Wei Cai.

"Xiao Wu, tell me honestly, have you and your sister offended anyone outside?"

Zhang Wu frowned upon hearing this, and after meeting Wei Cai's concerned gaze, he paused for a moment, then smiled and said, "My sister and I have never had any grudges with anyone, so we shouldn't have offended anyone. Did the village chief hear anything?"

Wei Cai waved his hand and said, "No one said anything. Yesterday morning, several well-dressed people came to the village to inquire about the whereabouts of you and your sister, especially your sister. They asked several times. I was afraid something might happen, so I told them I didn't know. Later, they left, but I'm worried that they will come again one day. You should be prepared."

Zhang Wu was full of doubts. He and his master had just arrived in the north, so how could they have made enemies with others? However, he nodded in agreement and made a note of the matter, preparing to tell his master about it after returning to the city.

Afterwards, Zhang Wu took Wei Cai and drove to the next village. When everyone heard that they were going to repair houses for people and that not only would they be paid but they would not have to work during the hottest hours of the sun, they were overjoyed and agreed to this good deal. They couldn't wait to start working so that they could earn money to support their families.

Song Shiwei has gone out to the street to buy some more charcoal. It was from overhearing the conversation between the innkeeper and the guests in the morning that he learned that the winter here is exceptionally long and cold. Although he had prepared a lot of charcoal and firewood in the capital, Song Shiwei prefers to be confident of victory.

Zhang Wu is a reliable person and his cooking is delicious, so I have to prepare some for him, after all, he is one of us.

The weather is hot now, and the firewood and charcoal business is depressed. There is only one shop open in the whole city. Song Shiwei walked and asked, and it took him two cups of tea to arrive. There happened to be a house next to it. Song Shiwei first went to the house to look at a few houses, and finally rented a small courtyard.

Fortunately, I could rent the place for a short period of time, so I paid three months' rent, got the key and went to the charcoal shop.

There is no silver charcoal in the north, most of it is black charcoal, which is divided into first and second grades. First-grade black charcoal has a light and moist fragrance, high hardness, can resist water erosion, is easy to break, and has a gentle and hot fire. Second-grade black charcoal is darker in color, rough on the surface, has a slightly dusty smell, average hardness, and not very strong fire. It is more flammable when burning and has relatively low calories.

There are fewer people in the North who use charcoal. Even though there are many mountains and trees here, charcoal fire is a luxury for ordinary people. Therefore, most people use wood to keep warm in winter.

Shops selling charcoal and firewood also sell a variety of cut trees.

When Song Shiwei came in, the shop owner was looking at the account book and sighing.

"Shopkeeper, is it only black charcoal?"

The shopkeeper was startled by the sudden voice, but he immediately smiled and said, "Excuse me, young lady. We only have black charcoal in our store. In previous years, we could get some other charcoal from various places. But in recent years, there have been disasters everywhere, and many people have stopped buying other charcoal because their sources have been cut off. We are losing money if we keep it, so we don't buy any more."

The shopkeeper enthusiastically picked up the first-class black charcoal for Song Shiwei to look at: "The black charcoal we have here is also very useful. Many wives of wealthy families and officials in the city buy black charcoal."

Song Shiwei took a look and asked: "How much of this black charcoal do you have? And as for the firewood, do you have any firewood that is easy to burn and produces less smoke?"

The shopkeeper's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he nodded repeatedly: "There are about 10,000 kilograms of black charcoal in the warehouse, and there is a lot of firewood. Our store mostly uses firewood that is easy to burn and produces less smoke. There are various fragrances. It depends on which flavor the girl likes."

"I want all the black charcoal you have. As for firewood," Song Shiwei paused, "I'll take pine wood."

The shopkeeper was immediately delighted: "Great, great, pine is also good. Pine has oil, burns for a long time, has a strong flame, and is particularly resistant to burning. It is especially suitable for our northern winter."

Song Shiwei nodded modestly: "The pine wood must be 10,000 jin, please cut it neatly for me. If I find that it is inferior, I will return it."

Song Shiwei used the counter pen to write down the address of the courtyard, and took out the banknote: "Just send the charcoal and firewood here. When can they be delivered?"

"Don't worry, young lady. The weather has been very hot recently and everyone is trying to avoid the heat. You are the only one buying charcoal. Since you bought a large quantity, it will be delivered in two days."

Song Shiwei nodded with satisfaction.

A person consumes about two thousand kilograms of charcoal in winter, and the firewood used for cooking or making a fire is several times more. Song Shiwei had bought a lot of silver charcoal and firewood in the capital before, so he planned to prepare some more, just in case.

The charcoal and firewood are solved, and next you need to buy some thick quilts, preferably made of animal fur, which is the warmest.