The conspiracy of the courtyard

It was almost midnight when Guo Tiejun sent away the last family who came to borrow money to buy grain.

Lu Zixuan and He Yushui stood behind the window of He Yuzhu's house, taking everything in, counting those who came to Guo Tiejun's house to complain about their misery.

Except for Chen Ping's family, Xu Fugui's family, and Liu Guangqi's family, the rest of the families in the courtyard went to borrow money.

"Xuanxuan, what's going on? I remember you only talked to Zhao Ermeng.

Why are so many people looking for him? What did you say to him? "

He Yushui put down the notebook where he recorded people's names and asked about the doubts in his mind.

“I didn’t say anything, I just told him that Guo Tiejun was a good man who could help him overcome all difficulties.

It was his own idea to borrow money to buy food. He used borrowing money as an excuse to achieve the purpose of protecting his family.

I let you read these today so that you can understand the selfishness and evil of human nature.

In fact, none of the families in our courtyard house are truly in need.”

After Lu Zixuan finished speaking, seeing He Yushui's eyes widened, he could only explain further.

Zhao Ermeng's family is not short of food. It should be said that except for Guo Tiejun's family, all the families in the courtyard are not short of food.

When Yi Zhonghai purchased large quantities of grain, all the residents in the courtyard bought grain at high prices.

It’s just that everyone doesn’t have Yi Zhonghai’s financial resources and ambition, so they choose to store grain quietly.

Not only would Zhao Ermeng not hide the fact that he borrowed money to buy grain, he would also widely publicize Guo Tiejun's generosity.

There were two reasons why he went to borrow money with such fanfare.

First, explain to everyone the source of the family’s grain; second, prevent others from coveting his family’s grain.

What people lack the least is smart people with keen eyes. Once someone does something out of the ordinary, there will be people to analyze and look for answers.

When the second person analyzes that person's purpose, he will learn and do the same.

At this point, that person's secret is no longer a secret, and the third and fourth people will follow suit.

Everyone can see what Zhao Ermeng can think of, so everyone will buy grain at high prices and will all go to Guo Tiejun to borrow money to buy grain.

The price of high-priced fine grains has increased from the initial 1 cents per catty to the current 2 cents per catty. This did not happen overnight; it was bought bit by bit by everyone.

People choose to borrow money not only to show their poverty to others, but also as a disguised way of refusing others to borrow food from their homes.

Who would be so blind as to borrow money and food from families that are so poor that they have to rely on handouts to survive?

Really poor people, or people without food, will not ask others for money. It is not because they have strong willpower, nor is it because they are too embarrassed to ask for a loan.

It is because these people do not know how to adapt. They cannot think of ways to borrow money to make ends meet. They just work blindly or tighten their belts.

Only those who know how to ask for help from others have the opportunity to communicate with others, listen to advice, and learn more convenient and simple ways of survival.

He Yushui thought for a while, then nodded as if he had realized something. Then he asked:

"Then why didn't Guo Tiejun store food? Did no one tell him? Or did he not find out that others were storing food?"

Lu Zixuan first praised He Yushui's intelligence and continued his explanation.

"Good question. This is the best example of different experiences and different ideas."

There are two types of people who store food. One is the rich. They always think in times of peace and try to minimize all risks.

As long as there is any disturbance in society, they will respond quickly.

His knowledge and sources of information are definitely beyond everyone's imagination.

The year before, Lao Chen introduced Lu Zixuan to those red capitalists.

Lu Zixuan discovered that people had already prepared for five years of famine.

There is another type of people who store food. They are people who have experienced hunger. Only they understand the value of food.

As soon as the grain price rises slightly or the grain supply fluctuates slightly, they become alert and prepare in advance.

The residents of the courtyard house had already done their best to buy food last year.

Not only did they buy food, they also began to reduce their own food consumption.

Except for those who need to work to earn money and those who must labor, basically everyone lies in bed and reduces their exercise in order to save their lives with the minimum amount of food.

Of course, there are also several types of people who do not store grain. One type is people like Guo Tiejun, who have a little money at home.

They had some savings and never lacked food, so they lived a relatively comfortable life.

Even if the family is short of food, they can afford to buy food at high prices, so there is no rush to store food.

There is another type of people who don't store food. They are those who don't listen to advice, are short-sighted, value money more than their life, and have a mentality of relying on luck.

For example, Jia Zhang was definitely a leader. She ignored the dissuasion of her neighbors and sold all the contracted grain she had collected from her hometown and turned it into cash.

If you run out of food, you will only place all your hopes on the conscience of your neighbors.

The reason why Jia Zhang had such confidence was entirely due to Yi Zhonghai's past generosity.

He Yuzhu heard Lu Zixuan's remarks and quickly moved over, asking with some concern:

"Will food prices continue to rise endlessly? When will the price of food stop rising?"

"will not."

Lu Zixuan answered firmly and explained the reasons.

The real high-priced grain is a special measure used by local governments in conjunction with patriotic people to curb the rapid consumption of grain.

The main purpose is to mobilize private grain reserves among the people and circulate them on the market.

Those who have large private grain reserves will choose to sell the grain in their hands when the price of grain rises to about 30% to 50%.

They can win the favor of the government and make a quick buck, but their prices will never exceed the government's bottom line.

And when grain prices rise again afterwards, it is basically because of the middlemen who are trying to take advantage of the opportunity to make money and drive up the prices.

These people are the ones that the government wants to crack down on severely. They do not have strong backgrounds and are not likely to cause trouble, so they can serve as a warning to others.

This has been the favorite method used by governments at all levels from ancient times to the present.

In the past, the so-called collusion between officials and businessmen was only done by a small number of corrupt officials.

Most of the time, the government allows high-priced items to appear in order to appease the emotions of the majority of the people and has to compromise with wealthy businessmen.

The government can also take the opportunity to increase taxes. The most fundamental reason is that the government’s inventory is empty. If the government has sufficient reserves, it will certainly not allow food prices to rise at will.

Cheng Xiaoman was a little confused. Since the government knew that someone was driving up prices, why didn't they control it in advance? So she asked:

"How long will the government allow food prices to rise? Won't it make ordinary people suffer in the end?"

"Of course the government will intervene, but now is not the right time. We need to find the right time."

Lu Zixuan first answered Cheng Xiaoman's questions and then continued his story.

The right time is when there is no new food entering the market.

Although food prices are a bit inflated at present, at least there is food circulating and no one will die for the time being.

Once it is controlled in advance, those who store grain will stop releasing grain into the market.

It will also lose the best opportunity to crack down on grain dealers who are raising prices.

After listening to Lu Zixuan's analysis, the three of them nodded at the same time in agreement.

"Making Guo Tiejun lose money shouldn't be your goal, right? Do you have any other plans?"

He Yushui raised the question again.

Lu Zixuan gave a sly smile and said in an unfathomable tone:

"Of course not, didn't you notice that the amount of money he lent out varied?

We don't have to do anything, just wait and watch the show tomorrow.

Those who really know how to calculate will combine the right time, right place, and right people, and only need to ignite the most inconspicuous fuse.

Use all coincidences, accidents, and contradictions to weave a network that forces the target person to move in the set direction.

Guo Tiejun will deeply feel the determination of the grassroots people to pursue fairness, and will also experience the frustration of paying for sin. "

He Yuzhu sighed and said:

“If I had known you would take action, Xiaoman and I would not have troubled him.

We just wanted to create some friction between the couple, or make things difficult for him in the workshop.

But your method is more satisfying to extremely lustful fake good guys like him.

Let me tell you something, I found out something about him..."