Traveling through the famine, I stockpiled supplies like crazy

After everything was ready, the two began to enjoy today's dinner.

"I think it tastes best when steamed." Xu Han said while eating.

With this steamed dish, Xu Han didn't eat any staple food, but Lu Chuan had a big appetite and would get hungry quickly without the staple food, so he ate it with steamed buns.

"Hmm! Fried eggs are not bad either. Each method has a different taste. I think they are all delicious." Lu Chuan was impartial and ate some of each.

After finishing their dinner, the two of them sat in the main room chatting while processing the garlic roots and other wild vegetables they had dug up.

Mainly, garlic chives and viola yedoensis are more difficult to handle, but the others do not require any processing.

In this way, another day passed, and on the second day, Xu Han and Lu Chuan went out to pick wild vegetables with their backpacks on their backs.

This went on for several days in a row. Hunting was not allowed in spring, so Lu Chuan simply did not go. After a while, he took Xu Han into the mountains to stay for a few days.

That morning, after Xu Han and Lu Chuan finished their breakfast, they carried their backpacks and went to the bamboo forest to see if there were any bamboo shoots to dig!

At this temperature, some bamboo shoots are ready to emerge, but they have not yet emerged from the ground, which is when they are most delicious.

However, when the two arrived at the bamboo forest with great expectations, they found that there were fewer bamboo shoots, probably because there was no spring rain this year, and they were not as easy to dig as last year.

After digging for a day, I found that today's harvest was more than half less than last year.

But even so, the two did not give up digging bamboo shoots. After digging for a few days, bamboo shoots became even harder to find, so they stopped.

Wait until it grows back in a while, then come back to dig it up! It will be easier to find some.

The days passed slowly, and in the blink of an eye it was already March. The weather was getting hotter and hotter, which was not the weather expected for this season at all.

The two men, who couldn't sit still, planned to go to the county town early tomorrow morning to check the situation. They hadn't been to the county town since they came back from the provincial capital last time. During this period of time, they didn't know what the outside world was like.

After some discussion, the two decided to go to the county town to take a look at the situation.

"Let's go early tomorrow morning and see if there is anything else we need to buy." Lu Chuan asked.

"Most of the things are already available, but we can buy more things like rock sugar and brown sugar. We can't make them ourselves because we don't have the raw materials." Xu Han said after thinking for a while.

Whether it is a year of disaster or war, salt and sugar are important supplies. Xu Han wants to buy more now while she can.

Later on, these things will be regulated and will not be available for purchase.

"This is fine, are there any others?" Lu Chuan asked again.

"We already have cloth, food, and medicinal herbs. As for the rest, we can make do with what's almost there. The salt and seasonings in the space can be refreshed, so there's no need to prepare them extra. What we need to buy are some things that can improve our quality of life."

"That's fine, we'll buy it when the time comes!"

After the two of them agreed, they went to rest early. They planned to go to the county town early tomorrow.

Have a good night's sleep...

The next morning, after locking the gate, Lu Chuan and Xu Han set off.

Because they went early, it was just after ten o'clock when they arrived at the county town.

Along the way, we saw many farmers watering the fields beside the official road, probably in preparation for the spring plowing!

After arriving at the county town, I could clearly feel that there were fewer people in the county town.

Lu Chuan and Xu Han first went to the market as usual, but the market today was unusually deserted.

Lu Chuan bought food and chatted with the boss.

"Boss, I'm a hunter in the mountains. I haven't come down the mountain for a long time. Why are there so few people in the market suddenly? Has something happened?" Lu Chuan asked, pretending to know nothing.

The boss saw Lu Chuan asking, and the business at his stall was not good, so he chatted with Lu Chuan.

"So you are a hunter from the mountains! No wonder you asked that. It hasn't rained for three months, and the farmers who used to go to the city to sell their produce have gradually stopped coming to the city.

Isn't that why there are so few people in the market? Even the business at my stall has become much worse."

"So that's how it is! No wonder I felt the county town was a lot quieter when I arrived today!" Lu Chuan continued.

"Who says it's not true? Farmers are busy watering the fields and ploughing in spring at home! Who has time to come to the county town to sell things? We don't know what the harvest will be like in the coming years!

The county magistrate has already ordered the planting of drought-resistant crops, and has also made a new batch of water trucks to be distributed to each village for rotational use."

"Then our county magistrate is quite good. This is all thanks to his wisdom." Lu Chuan flattered.

"Yes, I heard that grain prices in other counties have already risen a lot, but the magistrate of our county does not allow grain prices to rise too high, and the people cannot buy large quantities of grain. However, even so, the price of grain is still five cents more expensive per catty than before.

Few people eat out now, and they all try to eat a little at home. As food prices rise, our stalls are going to lose business. I've been thinking about stopping these days!"

Lu Chuan expressed his understanding, chatted for a while, and then got up and left after eating.

In order to verify what the noodle stall owner said, the two of them went to the grain shop, only to find that the shop was unusually deserted. After going in to take a look, they found that the price of grain was indeed five cents more expensive than before, whether it was coarse grain or fine grain.

After looking around, they wanted to buy more symbolically, but the grain shop owner told them that each person was limited to buying ten kilograms of grain, and no more would be sold.

After careful inquiry, we found out the reason why the grain shop was deserted. It turned out that some people had realized that the weather was not right some time ago and started buying some grain to store it for emergency use.

Some people think that the drought will not be serious and they have enough food at home so they can survive this period.

In addition, the price of food is high now. If it rains later, wouldn’t we have wasted so much money on buying food?

Moreover, once the county magistrate's policy is announced, there is no need to worry about not being able to buy food in the future, so we can just wait and see.

After the two of them bought some food, they walked out of the store.

After leaving the store, Xu Han lowered her voice and said, "Fortunately, we bought food early, otherwise it would be difficult to buy food now."

Lu Chuan also said, "Now the grain store is limiting the purchase. I guess on the one hand it's because the county magistrate has issued a policy, and on the other hand it's because the grain store owner wants to stock up more grain so that he can make a profit when food is scarce later."

"Fortunately, the magistrate of our county is a good official who loves his people like his own children. Otherwise, with no rain for three months, the price of grain would be even higher." Xu Han also said in agreement.