Farming and reading family

The price of honeycomb coal at Jin Gusheng's place has increased, but it hasn't increased either. However, Deng Yu doesn't care about this.

Gao E was right. Firewood has become secondary now. Food is what is important.

Deng Yu invited the grain merchants of Qinzhou City to dinner and told them about the food shortage in the surrounding provinces. The grain merchants knew what was going on without him saying anything.

Soon news of a famine spread from Qinzhou City, and some people in He County who got the news began to secretly stockpile food.

"We..." Jin Ruyi came to discuss with Gao E after getting the news.

Gao E glanced at Jin Ruyi and said, "We don't have enough food."

Jin Ruyi was speechless. What did Gao E mean by "not having enough food"? Every family provided farmhands with rice and noodles three times a day, and meat every few days.

In the past, only landlords dared to eat like this.

"Don't think about it." Gao E looked at Jin Ruyi.

"Why do I want to do this? I just want to ask you." Jin Ruyi said with a smile.

Gao E was silent for a moment: "Maybe it will be uneasy."

Seeing Gao E's seriousness, Jin Ruyi pretended to be relaxed and said, "Floods and famines only happen every few years. They're nothing."

Gao E looked at Jin Ruyi and said, "You can know that there are sufferings in the world, but you can't get used to them."

Jin Ruyi was stunned for a moment. She was curious why Gao E was not used to it.

Maybe she had never been out of Baotou Village before, so she didn't know how big the world was, and naturally she didn't know how much suffering there was.

"How painful it is to not get used to it." Jin Ruyi smiled bitterly.

Gao E didn't want to get used to it, nor did she want to suffer.

The hardest time has passed, why should she get used to it.

"At least our area is fine." This is all Gao E could say.

The two did not continue to talk about this topic.

During this period, people have been coming to Baotou Village to borrow grain. They are all relatives. It is normal to borrow some grain during the lean period.

But someone came to Gao E's house to borrow it.

In the eyes of others, Gao E was a landlord, and it was normal for her to lend out grain during a lean period.

Gao E directly refused, saying that her family had no surplus food.

This made her realize that the problem was quite serious, so she asked Lu Qingluo to drive her to He County.

He County is still prosperous, as if there is no famine at all.

She went straight to Wu's shop and saw that it was closed. Her heart skipped a beat and she hurried to Gao's shop, but it turned out that Gao's shop was also closed.

She immediately asked Lu Qingluo to go to Gao's hometown.

As soon as we arrived at Gao's hometown, we saw many people queuing up there to borrow food.

This is the habit of almost all landlords. They lend grain during the lean period and then collect it back with interest after the summer harvest.

What's worse is that farmers take in large amounts of money and spend small amounts of money. After a few years, farmers become tenants and tenants become slaves.

"Big sister." When Mrs. Wu saw Gao E coming, she immediately came out to greet her.

"What's going on?" Gao E asked directly.

Wu was stunned, not knowing what her elder sister-in-law was talking about. "I'm just lending some grain. I'll pay you back at the summer harvest, with 30% interest."

Gao E looked at Wu and said, "Calculate the time and only lend enough food to the tenants at home. Sell the rest to me and say there is no more."

Wu was puzzled: "Huh?"

Gao E looked at Wu and said, "I'll only say this once, you can do whatever you want." Then she left.

Wu hurriedly went to pull her back: "I'll listen to you, elder sister."

Although she felt that her elder sister was different from others, she didn't dare to say anything because her elder sister was so determined.

"Sister, wait a moment, I'll go and tell her right away." Wu pulled Gao E into the house to sit down.

Gao E had sold grain before, but the Gao family didn't say anything about it, so Gao E didn't ask. She didn't expect that it was the landlord's old habit to hoard grain and lend it out at high interest at this time.

Gao Chong listened to his wife. Since his wife said so, he had no objection.

Soon, those who were not tenants of the Gao family left cursing because they could not borrow food, and only the tenants of the Gao family were still waiting there.

"Sister, I've already told you." Wu said cautiously.

"The three percent interest paid to the tenants will also be waived." Gao E looked at Wu.

"Ah..." Mrs. Wu thought, if that's the case, why bother with all this? She could just sell the grain directly.

"You should think about why those tenants work hard with you for a whole year and still don't have enough food to eat." Gao E looked at Wu.

Mrs. Wu never thought that it was normal for tenants to not have enough food. Nine out of ten years they didn't have enough food, and that was how they managed to survive.

"Alright." Gao E saw that Wu didn't understand. "Sell me the remaining grain at the current price."

Wu leaned close to her elder sister-in-law and whispered, "I heard that food prices will continue to rise."

"So you want to sell it to me at a premium?" Gao E asked directly.

"No, no." Wu said hurriedly, "Sister, are you going to stock up on food?"

"Don't worry about what I want to do, whether you sell it or not." Gao E did not discuss it with Wu.

The couple knew what was right and wrong, but they had some deep-rooted ideas and would believe whatever others said.

"Sell." Mrs. Wu nodded.

The next day, the Gao family sold all their food to Gao E, who took advantage of the night to have it taken to the cave where she had lived before.

After the Gao family sold their grain, the couple lost interest and went back to look after the shop.

Someone came to them to talk about buying food, but they really had no food.

Chen Tao also came to see his master: "In addition to the grain I sold to you, my family also has a full granary. Please teach me what to do."

"Then tell me what you are struggling with?" Gao E looked at Chen Tao.

Chen Tao was silent for a moment. "In a year like this, all the landlords would hoard goods and make a fortune, but I know Master would never do that."

"If I weren't there, would you have done that?" Gao E looked at Chen Tao.

"My father taught me that profit is not to be taken, but it should not be taken to its full potential. There must be a balance," Chen Tao said seriously. "Now I don't know how to strike that balance."

Gao E felt that Chen Tao had grown up: "Listen to Master Cao."

"Ah?" Chen Tao didn't quite understand.

"Lord Cao is a good official who loves his people like his own children. We will be right if we listen to him," Gao E said with a smile.

She can buy food from the Gao family. They are a family, and Gao E will be responsible for the Gao family in the future.

However, Chen Tao's family business was too large, and Chen Tao wanted to grow the food himself, so Gao E would not buy his food.

Chen Tao has always disliked officials. In his opinion, officials all exploit the people.

But since his master said so, Chen Tao had no choice but to do as he was told.

In the blink of an eye, it was time for summer harvest, but the price of grain not only did not drop, but actually went up.

However, it was not a good thing for ordinary people. After paying taxes, there was not much food left, and some people who borrowed food had to pay interest.

Although there was a drought, the grain harvest in He County was still stable, but it turned into a loss if the landlords interfered.

Gao E still paid taxes in silver, and those in Baotou Village and Luoyun Village who wanted to sell grain also paid according to the market price.

Her family doesn't employ many long-term workers now, but they have a horse farm and a large number of livestock, all of which are hungry for food.