Traveling through the mountains and farming

Lin Wan has already started shopping in the West Market.

The festive atmosphere in West Market today is particularly strong, with colorful lanterns of various shapes arranged everywhere, various stalls lined up in order, and the dazzling array of goods is dazzling.

The whole street was bustling with people and the stall owners’ shouts could be heard one after another.

The three of them walked together on the bustling street, feeling the festive atmosphere.

It was the first time for the two siblings to come to the city and also the first time they saw such a bustling street market. They were full of curiosity about the things on every stall.

They walked from the first stall to the next one, and if they came across something interesting, they would stay for a while.

If Lin Wan expressed her intention to buy something for them, they would immediately refuse and quickly run away to the next stall.

But eating is selective.

Li Ke was running and walking excitedly in front, while Li Chongle was following his sister closely, afraid that she would get lost, and would remind her to walk slower from time to time.

When they came to a stall selling special snacks, Li Ke would suddenly stop and his little nose would twitch constantly.

The fragrance penetrated her nose, and she couldn't walk for a moment. She stared at the snack stand and muttered, "It smells so good."

Li Chongle looked at her and smiled helplessly.

At this time, Lin Wan would walk over with a smile and buy things for the two siblings.

After that, Li Ke would take the snack, eat it happily, and then continue to jump forward. Li Chongle would quickly take a bite and quicken his pace to follow.

And so they ate and walked around.

Perhaps because today is the Mid-Autumn Festival, Lin Wan saw that there were many more festive activities in the market district than usual.

Not far away, a juggling troupe was performing, and their wonderful skills drew cheers from the crowd.

After seeing this, Li Ke pulled Lin Wan and ran forward.

They saw thrilling performances of breaking stones with chests, as well as skillful juggling performances of balancing bowls on the balance, where the performers steadily balanced a pile of bowls and performed various difficult movements, such as spinning, bending down, and handstands.

This caused Li Ke to clap his hands excitedly.

Afterwards, they saw a troupe performing a wonderful flower drum opera on the stage at the corner of the street.

Lin Wan is familiar with this. She had listened to it with her mother in modern times.

At this time, the audience in the audience was watching with great interest, and bursts of applause and cheers came from time to time.

They followed suit to join in the fun, standing at the back to watch. Fortunately, the people in the front were all sitting, so the two siblings could see the stage even when they were standing.

This reminded Lin Wan of the time during her sophomore summer vacation when a traveling opera troupe came to her hometown town and her mother took her to watch the flower drum opera on a long bench she brought with her.

As she watched, her eyes became sore and everything in front of her became a little blurry, as if she was back in the small town where she grew up, watching a play with her mother.

When the music ended and the crowd had left, she wiped away the tears from her eyes and continued strolling with the two siblings.

After a while, Lin Wan saw a stall selling lanterns in the shape of various small animals. The lanterns were lifelike, with cute little rabbits, clever little monkeys, adorable little bears, and so on.

She thought of buying a lantern for each of the two siblings to suit the occasion and let them feel the joyful atmosphere of the festival.

However, the two of them once again sensibly refused. Li Ke blinked her big, lively eyes and said, "Sister-in-law, no need. We need to save the money to buy food."

Li Chongle also nodded, echoing his sister's words.

He felt that the safest and most practical way to spend money was to spend it on food and provisions.

"We have enough money to buy food. After buying the lanterns, we will go buy food and prepare things for tomorrow's housing renovation party." Lin Wan said with a smile.

In the end, at Lin Wan's insistence, the two of them only picked a cute rabbit lantern.

Li Ke smiled with his eyes narrowed while holding the rabbit lantern. Li Chongle said that he was a real man and didn't need these childish toys, but there was still a hint of joy in his eyes.

After the two children had their fun playing, Lin Wan planned to go to the grain store to buy food.

If the grain shop could provide door-to-door delivery service, she would be ready to buy the grain immediately.

If delivery service is not provided, we will discuss with Mr. Shen, the owner of Qinxin Teahouse, to see if the items can be stored at the teahouse first.

So Lin Wan took the two siblings to the grain store.

Arriving at the grain store, Lin Wan immediately asked about the price of grain, and the shopkeeper smiled and replied, "Young lady, today's rice is 150 wen per dou, and rice is 215 wen per dou."

When Lin Wan heard this, her heart sank. The price was rising too fast.

She had a hunch that the price of grain might still go up, and she wanted to buy the grain as soon as possible, so she immediately said, "Shopkeeper, I want twelve stone of rice and three stone of rice."

The shopkeeper said awkwardly:

"No, I can't buy so much. The purchase limit was put in place three days ago. Each person is limited to half a dou of rice or paddy per day. The purchase limit for flour is also half a dou. From today, the purchase limit for soybeans, mung beans and millet is half a dou per person per day."

Lin Wan frowned, what should she do? All food purchases were restricted.

Three days ago, she learned from the head of the village that the price of grain had doubled. Even if she came to buy it immediately, she could not buy the amount she wanted.

Lin Wan asked anxiously, "Shopkeeper, do you know why there is a sudden purchase limit?"

"I heard that the food control decree issued by the King of Chu is to ensure the food supply of the military camp." The shopkeeper explained with a frown.

Lin Wan's expression became more solemn. She knew very well that under such a situation, life would become increasingly difficult.

But she still tried to cheer herself up and thought about how to deal with it next.

At the same time, he said to the shopkeeper, "Shopkeeper, there are three of us here. Please buy the limited amount for me. I want rice, flour, soybeans, mung beans and millet."

Seeing that the purchase limit was met, the shopkeeper began to weigh the grain for her.

Although at present, the prices of soybeans, corn and millet have not increased as much as rice.

However, Lin Wan had a strong feeling that their prices would definitely rise in the future.

Because the purchase restriction order has just been issued, most people in the county have not yet realized the severity of the situation. Villagers in the countryside have never been the main force in buying grain. They basically rely on self-sufficiency. Those villagers who do not have enough food choose to tighten their belts more because they do not have extra money to buy grain.

Lin Wan looked at the five kinds of grains that the shopkeeper had weighed, her heart filled with helplessness and worry. Even though they weighed ninety kilograms in total, it was just a drop in the bucket for them who had almost no surplus food.

After paying four hundred and forty-eight coins, Lin Wan negotiated with the shopkeeper to temporarily store the grain in the grain shop.

Then, she suppressed her inner anxiety, and went to buy the ingredients for tomorrow's Izakaya.

Then, she bought the necessary condiments, quilts, and thicker clothes.

It cost nearly ten taels in total.

After buying these things, she dragged her tired body and went to her second aunt's stall one by one with her two siblings.

After arriving at the stall, Lin Wan put her things down and breathed a sigh of relief.

Seeing her tired face, her aunt said worriedly, "Wan'er, why did you buy so many things at once? You can buy more slowly in the future."

Lin Wan answered absentmindedly:

"It's okay, auntie. It's not easy to go to the city. Just buy whatever you can. Don't think it's a lot. They are just necessities of life." She seemed to have not recovered from the food purchase restriction.

Wang Yu Niang saw that these were indeed necessities for their lives, so she didn't say anything else.

After a while, Lin Wan came back to her senses and said, "Aunt, do you know that there is a purchase limit on food?"

"I seem to have heard of it. What's the matter?" Wang Yu Niang responded puzzledly.

"Why don't you buy some food and store it every day? We have to set up a stall every day anyway, so it's just a convenience." Lin Wan suggested.

"No need. The autumn harvest will be here in a few days and we will have new grain at home." Wang Yu Niang said indifferently.

Lin Wan continued to persuade: "Aunt, it's better to be prepared. Who knows if the autumn harvest will go smoothly? If something unexpected happens, it will be troublesome if there is a shortage of food. Besides, it's not a big deal to buy some every day, just be prepared."

Wang Yu Niang thought for a moment and said hesitantly, "This... Wan'er, you do have a point, but I don't know how much I can buy every day. How much effect can it have?"

Lin Wan said hurriedly: "It's better to save a little than to do nothing."

Anyway, she decided that she would bring her two siblings here to buy food every day. One more person would mean more food.

Wang Yu Niang was still a little undecided, "I'd better go back and ask your great uncle and cousins."

Lin Wan nodded, "That's fine, but I suggest you store as much food as possible."

At this time, Lin Wan noticed that their ice jelly was almost sold out, so she asked Li Chongshan to help go to the grain store to transport the grain they had deposited, and told Li Chongle to go with her, while letting Li Ke wait at the stall.

Then, she turned around and hurried towards the teahouse, ready to settle the money with Manager Shen.