In ancient times, I just wanted to be a salted fish

Chen Ruotong walked to the counter and admired the gold and silver jewelry, hairpins, rings and pearls. Needless to say, the styles and workmanship were very exquisite. She wanted to buy a piece of jewelry for everyone in her family. At first, she wanted to give the jewelry in the boxes in the space, but those jewelry were very exquisite and precious. It was not appropriate to give them to her family now. It would not be too late to give them to her family later when the family's living standards improved.

So, she bought a pair of silver bracelets and a pair of jade hairpins for Old Lady Chen and Zhang respectively; she bought a silver ring inlaid with emerald for Old Man Chen; and she bought ordinary jade pendants for her father and three brothers. In total, she spent fifty taels of silver.

The salesman in the jewelry store smiled and secretly glanced at Chen Sanhe, who was chatting with the two old people in the living room, for fear that he would come up and stop Chen Ruotong from shopping. Chen Ruotong was also afraid that the old people would not let her buy, so she quickly packed the things in a box and made a gesture to keep quiet.

At this time, Grandma Chen came over and said, "Xiaotong, what jewelry do you like? Tell grandma and I will buy it for you.

"Grandma, I only like the blue pearl flowers." Chen Ruotong pointed to a pair of exquisite blue pearl flowers on the counter.

"How much are the pearl flowers?"

"Grandma Chen, these pearl flowers are a new style, three hundred coins a pair."

"Okay, I want this pair, and also the hairpin. Bring it here to see." Old Mrs. Chen pointed to the silver hairpin with two pearls.

"Grandma Chen, you have a good eye. This is the goods that just arrived yesterday. This style is very popular in the capital now. This hairpin costs twenty taels."

The corner of Old Lady Chen's mouth twitched: "Why is it so expensive? You and Sanhe are old friends. Can't you give him a discount for his sake?"

"Oh, Grandma Chen, this is the price set by the shopkeeper. I, a young clerk, dare not change the price at will. Look how beautiful Sister Chen looks wearing this hairpin!" The clerk took out the hairpin and handed it to Chen Ruotong.

It is quite nice, and the workmanship and style are both top-notch, but for the current Chen family, twenty taels is not a small sum.

"Grandma Chen, the price of this hairpin lies in the pearls. Look how round and full these two big pearls are. You know what's good. It's really worth the price. It's not expensive at all!" the boy tried his best to sell it.

Finally, Old Lady Chen used her bargaining skills to buy the hairpin for 18 taels and put it on Chen Ruotong's head.

Chen Ruotong leaned over to Old Lady Chen and whispered in her ear, "Grandma, it's too expensive. Grandpa worked hard for a year to save up 50 taels, and you only spent 18 taels on me. If my brothers knew, they would say you are biased."

"Silly girl, grandma is rich. She has saved a lot over the years. She favors you. Everyone knows that. Just keep it."

"I can't bear to wear such a beautiful hairpin. I have to put it in the box."

Old Mrs. Chen was also in pain, but she couldn't help but buy beautiful jewelry for her granddaughter! Seeing her granddaughter happy, she was happy.

After buying the jewelry, the three were about to leave when Chen Jianshu walked into the silver shop, exhausted and asked, "Dad, Mom, why are you here?"

He looked at Chen Ruotong again, with an annoyed look on his face. He glared at her without saying anything.

Chen Ruotong felt bad. This cheap father was not very satisfied with her! He was not blindly doting on the original owner. It seemed that she would be scolded. Chen Ruotong lowered her head with a red face.

Chen Sanhe pulled Chen Jianshu to sit on a chair and poured him tea, saying, "Dad, you're back. Come and sit down. Are you tired? Come and have a cup of tea."

Chen Jianshu said sternly, "Old Third, pack up and tell the shopkeeper that we will take two days off and go home to dig canals to irrigate the rice fields."

"Okay, Dad." Chen Sanhe went to the backyard to ask for leave.

"Dashu, what's going on?" Old Man Chen asked puzzledly.

"Dad, I heard from merchants in the south on the road that there is drought in the south. There has been no rain since the beginning of spring. The rice that was just planted has died of drought. Many people have fled to our north to escape the famine. I think we are also doomed to suffer from drought. It has only rained once, but it is of no use. We must prepare in advance. What is the word for that?"

Chen Ruotong interjected at the right time: "Prepare for a rainy day!"

"Yes, prepare for a rainy day." Chen Jianshu said while rolling his eyes at her.

Chen Ruotong was like an eggplant hit by frost, wilted, and stood behind Old Lady Chen, at a loss as to what to do.

Old Mrs. Chen patted Chen Ruotong's hand and said, "Don't pay attention to your father. He's still angry. He'll be fine in a while."

Chen Jianshu continued, "We must dig canals immediately to bring water from the Hengjiang tributaries into the rice fields. This will ensure that the rice yield does not decrease. Even if the yield decreases, it will not be a total loss."

This is a very serious problem. When faced with natural disasters, people need to find ways to resist them while being afraid, and cannot just leave it to fate. For farmers who depend on the weather for their livelihood, this is a matter of life and death. Without food, it means starvation and death.

Chen Ruotong's heart tightened: How come time travelers can't escape natural disasters and man-made disasters? Where are the plots of escaping famine? Am I here to be tortured?

She suddenly remembered the daily necessities in her space, and she felt more confident. What was there to be afraid of? Others couldn't take care of it, and those supplies were more than enough for her family.

After Chen Sanhe asked for leave, he returned to the reception room and said, "Dad, I'm resigning. The shopkeeper has paid me this month's wages. Let's go home!"

Old Mrs. Chen said, "Let's go to the grain store and buy some grain. Buy more now before the price goes up. If there is a severe drought and nothing is harvested, we have grain, so we won't be afraid."

Old Mrs. Chen is the decision maker of the family. A group of people drove a bullock cart to the largest grain store in the county town to buy grain. There were only a few people buying grain, and it seemed that the bad news had not yet spread to this remote small county town.

Chen Ruotong still had three quarters of the grain she had looted from Liu Fugui left, and she wanted to smuggle the grain out and transport it back to the landlord Chen's home.

So she said to Old Man Chen, "Grandpa, you and Dad can go to the noodle shop to eat some noodles and take a rest. Grandma and I will go to the grain store to take a look." Chen Ruotong winked at Old Lady Chen and touched her purse.

Old Mrs. Chen understood: "Okay, I'll listen to my granddaughter."

The grandfather and grandson went into the grain store to ask for the price. Sure enough, the price of grain had not changed: refined rice was 13 wen per jin, ordinary rice was 10 wen per jin, brown rice was 7 wen per jin, white flour was 11 wen per jin, and black flour was 6 wen per jin...

Chen Ruotong chatted with the waiter for a while and learned that it was convenient to move grain to the backyard of the grain shop, so she sent Old Lady Chen out: "Grandma, I'll pay later. I have money. You go and ask Grandpa to drive the ox cart to the back door of the grain shop. We buy a lot, so it's more convenient to get grain there."

Old Mrs. Chen ran towards the noodle shop at lightning speed, and Chen Ruotong also quickly turned to the back door of the grain shop.

There happened to be a corner at the back door of the granary, which was very hidden. She took out five bags of rice, five bags of flour, and three bags of millet from the space and piled them into a small hill. An ox cart was not very big and could only hold these. Besides, people had to sit on it. Thirteen bags of grain, five adults, and more than a thousand pounds of weight were enough for the ox to bear.

Uh, thank you for your hard work, Lao Niu!

No one in the family suspected that the food had come from a strange source. Old Man Chen smacked his lips and said, "This amount of food is not enough. We have to buy some more tomorrow. Let's go!"

In the city, the ox cart was only carrying food and moving forward slowly. The five people followed the ox cart. When they arrived at the pastry shop, Chen Ruotong went in to buy some pastries, and then smuggled some more out of the space. The group returned home with heavy hearts.