After fleeing famine, I have thousands of acres of fertile land

Boom ~ boom ~ boom

The sound of a gong rang out at the entrance of the village, and everyone put down their work and walked towards the entrance of the village.

"Village head, what's the matter? Why are you calling us here at this time? The crops in the fields are not waiting for anyone. They are still waiting for water to be carried to irrigate them. If we water them less, how much less will be harvested?"

"Yes, Li Zheng, we have to pay grain tax after harvesting summer wheat, and it's not raining. Isn't this making things difficult for me?"

"I was thinking about harvesting grain this year, paying taxes, and selling grain to send my second child to school. But forget about that this year."

The gong was hung under a big tree at the entrance of the village. Whenever there was something to discuss, the gong would be struck. When people heard it, they would come over on their own, saving the trouble of shouting from door to door.

The village head Ye Chengfeng frowned and shouted, "Everyone, be quiet and listen to me first."

The head of the village still has a lot of prestige in the village, so everyone gradually calmed down and waited to see if the head of the village had anything to inform them of. It would be best if they could exempt some taxes, as the land was too dry.

"As everyone has seen, it hasn't rained for more than two months, and it's obviously going to affect the harvest. If it doesn't rain again, food prices are expected to rise. This time I'm asking if anyone wants to buy food. It'll be cheaper if everyone buys together." The head of the village paused and looked at everyone's reactions.

"As the old saying goes, if you have food in your hands, you won't be worried. Even if it rains later, you can sell it for money. What do you think?" The head of the village said and looked at everyone.

"The grain this year is not as good as last year. It won't go bad if you buy some grain and keep it at home. This happened to me once when I was young. There was nothing to eat in the mountains and hills, and everyone fled south to escape the famine," recalled an elderly man in the village.

"I won't buy it. There is still water in this river. My family has a lot of laborers. If I make two more trips, I can harvest a lot of grain. Everyone knows that when the new grain comes in, the grain will be cheaper." Wang Erlang said indifferently.

Everyone said all kinds of things and they all made sense. No one knew when the rain would come. If it rained in a few days, wouldn’t the money be wasted? It’s not easy for farmers to earn money.

The headman coughed twice and said, "If anyone wants to buy this, please bring money to my house this afternoon and tell me. We will go to buy the grain early tomorrow morning. Anyone who is willing to buy the grain can send someone to transport the grain together."

People were walking in groups of three or four, discussing whether to buy or how much to buy.

The younger ones still hold out hope for rain, but the older ones feel anxious as they watch the river water decrease day by day.

The next morning, the old Ye family asked Ye Laoda to go with them to buy grain. The villagers drove ox carts to transport grain, and Zhou took Ye Qing to the city to sell embroidery.

On the street, everyone was talking about how much food they wanted to buy, whether to buy brown rice or gray flour. White flour was too expensive and no one was willing to buy it.

Listening to everyone's discussion, Ye Qing suddenly thought that if everyone bought so much food together, it would cause panic. Food prices were rising, so he quickly reminded Ye Lao Da: "Dad, let the uncles buy separately. It's best to buy from several stores and buy quietly so that others don't find out."

Boss Ye understood what Ye Qing said and hurried to tell the village head about it. The village head arranged for everyone to divide into three teams to buy food, trying not to attract other people's attention.

"Manager Wang, what is the price of grain now?" Boss Ye greeted the grain shop owner.

"Brown rice is four cents a pound, black flour is four cents a pound, gray flour is five cents a pound, white rice is seven cents a pound, and white flour is eight cents a pound. How much do you want, sir?" The shopkeeper quoted the price skillfully.

"Boss, if we buy a little more, can we get a discount?" Boss Ye asked.

"If the quantity is large, we can give you a discount. If the quantity is over 500 kilograms, we can give you a discount of one cent for each item." Shopkeeper Wang said with bright eyes.

"I want two thousand kilograms of brown rice," Boss Ye said to Shopkeeper Wang.

"Dad, let's buy something else." Ye Qing pulled on the sleeve of Ye Lao Da. "Brown rice needs to be boiled, so let's buy some more gray flour, and we can make cakes and steamed bread to eat." Ye Qing thought that if something happened in the future, the cakes could be kept longer.

Boss Ye was still a little hesitant, "Qingya, the gray noodles can't be kept for too long. If they get damp and moldy, they can't be eaten."

Zhou took over and said, "We have a large family. Even if we buy a thousand kilograms of gray flour, it will only last for a few months."

Finally, Boss Ye gritted his teeth and bought a thousand kilograms of brown rice and a thousand kilograms of gray flour. Seeing seven hundred dollars being paid out, his heart was bleeding. Ye Qing watched him and smiled with his lips pursed.

This many kilograms of food can sustain the family for several months. Thinking of this, Boss Ye felt more at ease.

Ye Qing followed Zhou to sell embroidery and took some thread back to continue working. Although the money was little, it was still an income and she could also keep some pocket money.

"Dad, buy more salt, we don't have much salt at home." Ye Qing whispered. "Dad, if there is no rain in the future and we have to flee famine, we can't be without salt. Without salt, we will lose strength." Ye Qing had read novels about this before, and no one had stockpiled salt. In fact, salt was even harder to buy when chaos broke out.

Now selling salt requires salt primer, so the salt is expensive, and it costs five hundred coins to buy one catty.

Boss Ye hardened his heart and bought two kilograms, spending another two taels of money.

Boss Ye hurriedly drove to the city gate and made an appointment with the village head to meet at the city gate.

When we arrived at the city gate, we saw that everyone had returned, and six or seven ox carts were heading towards the village.

The carts were full of grain, so Ye Qing and Zhou could only follow behind the ox carts.

After walking for about an hour, Ye Qing could no longer lift his legs, so Boss Ye picked up Ye Qing and put him on the grain cart.

They were almost at the village. Ye Qing was small and wouldn't add much burden to the cows.

Everyone in the village bought some food. Many of the old people who had experienced the famine decades ago were still alive. When they heard the head of the village say that they wanted to buy food, they asked the young men in their families to buy some as well.

When Ye Qing and his group returned home, Old Man Ye quickly arranged for everyone to hide the food in the cellar.

The cellar is usually empty, except in winter when the harvested cabbage and radishes are placed in it. The temperature inside is high and dry, so the cabbage and radishes will not go bad and can be stored for a longer period of time.

Old Man Ye also asked Old Third Ye to go to Sunjiazhuang specifically and ask his daughter to buy some food and keep it. In case of severe drought later on, this amount of food could last for several months and could save lives.

Days passed one after another, but still not a drop of rain fell. No matter how much water was given to the fields, the wheat still lacked vitality, and slowly more cracks appeared in the ground.

Old Man Ye secretly asked the third child to go to the city several times to buy food, water bags, and common medicinal herbs. The children at home were not allowed to go out during the day because the sun was too strong and would cause sunburn.