The rural doctor bought a husband who was very treacherous

"Has the price of food increased in the city?"

"That's not the case, but I usually store some food, enough for everyone to eat for a month or so, what's the matter?"

"Yesterday our village paid public grain, and the grain tax went up a bit, so I thought the grain price in the city had also gone up. If the grain price went up, we could just sell the new rice and buy some old grain."

The last time Master Zheng and his friends went to the Su's house for dinner, the Su's didn't dare to serve them refined rice, and they only ate the old rice.

"Oh, so, if you want to buy grain, you'd better go early. Although the grain price has not increased, the grain is only sold for half a day now."

Upon hearing this, Su Tang did not greet Master Zheng and left under the pretext of visiting the rice shop.

Su Tang spent a lot of time here with Master Zheng, and when she came out, it was almost noon.

Su Tang drove the donkey cart directly to the rice shop.

When they arrived, there were quite a few people outside the rice shop. Su Tang listened to the group of people for a while and found out that they were all there to buy food.

"How come there's no rice before noon? I was delayed by something today and there's no rice left at home." Someone outside said anxiously.

"Yes, I don't know what's going on these days. They only sell grain for half a day every day. I just saw some country women coming here to sell grain. Why are they only selling grain? Why can't we buy it?"

"Hey, didn't you see that those people were just here to sell their new grains in exchange for old rice? The rice shop didn't give them much old rice in exchange, and those people didn't get enough, let alone people like us."

"What's going on? I heard from my relatives in the countryside that the grain harvest this year is good. I haven't heard of any disasters. Why are grains being rationed?"

"Hush, you can't just say that. Be careful or I'll accuse you of misleading people."

"Hmph." The man was obviously not convinced, but he just snorted and did not continue the previous topic.

Although the rice shop that Su Tang came to this time was not Qian's Rice Shop, it was also a shop where she had bought a large amount of fine rice and flour before.

So Su Tang waited until the people in front of her dispersed before she drove the donkey cart to the door of the rice shop.

The rice shop clerk was currently putting up the door panels of the shop, and there were only a few pieces left before it would be completely closed.

"Huh? You're here?" The guy saw Su Tang at a glance when he went to move another door panel.

Last time, Su Tang bought a lot of food from the store, and he even received a lot of tips.

"Well, you're not selling it now?" Su Tang felt a little regretful. It seemed that she had to hurry up to buy food.

Fortunately, the Su family does not plan to sell the grain they harvest this year. Although the amount is not much, it is enough for the Su family to eat until the beginning of next spring.

"Well, come this way." The waiter hesitated for a while, and finally put down the door panel and looked around. Seeing that no one was paying attention to this side, he whispered to Su Tang: "You have to go early if you want to buy food. Now the rice shops in the city only supply until noon, and the amount of food sold each day is limited. If you come too late, you will not be able to buy anything."

"What's going on? Isn't it the autumn harvest these days? Why is there a food ration limit?"

"I don't know about this, but our boss has been worried these days. He has sold less, so his income is naturally less. Who can hold back the goods and not sell them, right?"

"Is there really no food today?"

"Will you come tomorrow? If you come, I'll keep it for you. But you have to come early tomorrow." The waiter looked around and lowered his voice.

"Okay, then you can prepare more for me. Any kind of food is fine. I need a lot. Just fill my donkey cart to the brim."

The man looked at the donkey cart behind Su Tang, hesitated for a while and said, "Logically speaking, you want a lot, so we should be happy, but now we can't sell all the food to you like before, otherwise those people will make trouble."

The guy nodded at the people passing by on the street.

Su Tang nodded. There was nothing she could do. She estimated that this was all this guy could do.

Su Tang quietly handed the clerk a dozen coins and then pulled the donkey cart to other shops.

There is something wrong with the way grain is being sold now.

This time, Su Tang went to the grocery store and bought a donkey cart full of things, then pulled the cart to the next store.

Fortunately, only the rice shop had a limited supply, and other shops did not close at noon.

This time it was a cloth shop, and Su Tang bought a whole cart of cloth and cotton as usual.

Only when she went home and asked Sun and the others to make more cotton-padded clothes and beddings would she feel at ease.

In the end, Su Tang went to almost all the shops in the city, and she even went to Qian's rice shop.

"Come with me to the back door." The owner of Qian's Rice Shop took a look at the empty donkey cart pulled by Su Tang and knew that Su Tang must have arrived late today and failed to buy any grain.

"If you want to buy grain recently, you must come early." The shopkeeper took Su Tang around to the backyard of the store, opened the gate and let Su Tang pull the donkey cart into the yard.

The Qian family is indeed a big merchant family. The yard of the Qian family’s rice shop is bigger than the yard where the Su family lives now.

At this time, there were three or four ox carts parked in the yard, and the oxen were tied in the shed to rest.

"Boss." A waiter who was resting under the shade of a tree in the yard saw the boss coming from the back door. He didn't ask any questions, but just called out respectfully.

"Ah."

The shopkeeper of Qian's Rice Shop took Su Tang to a row of houses and asked, "Do you want to buy rice, or both rice and flour? How much do you want to buy this time?"

"Buy some of everything, but mainly buy more rice. It would be great if we could fill the car up."

After listening to this, the shopkeeper nodded, took a bunch of keys from his waist, and walked towards a house.

"Please wait a moment." The shopkeeper opened a room and called two servants to move the food into the house.

After a while, seven or eight bags of grain were brought out and piled at the door of the room.

"The sack contains refined rice, and the bag contains ground flour. Do you think you have seen enough?"

Su Tang was indebted to Young Master Qian, and the Qian family's shopkeeper knew it. The close attendant who followed Young Master Qian told her about it when Su Tang came here to buy food for the first time.

I had warned them before that Su Tang must not be neglected. Su Tang bought grain from Qian's Rice Shop, and they had to pay her the purchase price.

"Pack a few more bags of rice."

Su Tang wanted to fill the donkey cart. After all, it would be empty when she went out, so her little donkey would not be tired.

"Bring out two more bags of rice." The waiter responded and went inside to carry out two more bags.

Finally, Su Tang paid the shopkeeper the money and left Qian's Rice Shop, pulling the donkey.

After walking around the city for a while and finding a secluded place, Su Tang put all the things in the donkey cart into the space.

The truth is that the sound of a donkey cart fully loaded with goods is one way, while the sound of an empty cart is different. Su Tang doesn't want anyone to hear any clues.

"Thank you for your hard work." Su Tang took out two candies and fed them to the little donkey, and then fed the little donkey some carrots. Then she pulled the happy donkey out of the remote alley.