In the years of famine, the knife in my mother's hand is not bad either

As a loud shout was heard.

The crowd consciously made way.

Village chief Wang Dakuo looked at the figure coming out of the crowd, frowned, and shouted coldly:

"You scoundrel, you act like a scoundrel in the village on weekdays."

"But you can't talk nonsense about this matter! This concerns the livelihood of every household in my village!"

Having said that, he suddenly changed the subject!

His tone was filled with the dignity of a village elder:

"Besides, the village buys grain collectively, but there's no compulsion! If you don't want to buy, just leave."

"You ridicule Wang Shen, who seeks profit for the clan, with such words. According to clan rules, I must convict you of disrespect for superiors and inferiors, destroying clan unity, and expel your name from the clan tree!"

As soon as these words were spoken, there was complete silence outside the huge ancestral hall!

It can be seen that the village chief is really angry.

He even brought up the idea of ​​removing the name from the family tree to support Wang Shen.

Wang Laizi was even more frightened by this sudden change.

He just didn't want to eat stale rice from today on, and because he was lazy and frivolous, his family didn't have much money, and even if they bought food together, they could only buy 20 to 30 kilograms...When the drought really came and the price of food rose, his family would be the only one in the village who couldn't make ends meet.

No one else was affected, but he felt uneasy just thinking about this situation.

But if he was kicked out of the family tree and lost the support of the clan, if he encountered debtors again, he would probably be beaten to death by those guys.

Thinking of this, Wang Laizi couldn't help but shudder.

He quietly retreated back into the crowd.

Shen Qian obviously didn't expect that the village chief would be so bold as to support her!

Is this still the village chief I know who pretended to be mute when fleeing famine?

Turning back, the village chief Wang Dakuo looked at the somewhat shocked Shen Qian and comforted her softly:

“I haven’t read much.”

"But I also understand one thing: those who carry firewood for others should not be allowed to drown in the snowstorm!"

"You could have kept this a secret and not taken any responsibility, but you dared to stand up and make plans for every family in the village. I must stand behind you and support you!"

"Even if there really wasn't a drought, and we were just eating old rice, how many families in the village would actually buy new rice?"

Shen Qian was truly moved by the village chief's words.

If he could continue to be so tough, I'm afraid that by the end of the escape, more people from the village would be able to escape to the southern border!

I just don’t know what happened in the next two months that made such a virtuous village chief pretend to be mute?

As the registration was completed, all the heads of households who intended to buy grain returned home to get money.

When Shen Qian arrived, she took out another tael of silver and two hundred copper coins to buy 400 kilograms of old rice!

She must stock up more while food prices are low.

When the price of grain rose to the point where the barbarians closed in, they sold some of the grain in exchange for gold and silver as travel expenses for fleeing south.

The village chief did not say anything when he saw Shen Qian buying more than one or two taels of silver worth of old rice.

Instead it was Wang Laizi!

He actually registered a hundred kilograms of old rice!

Village chief Wang Dakuo stared into Wang Laizi's eyes and asked:

"Are you sure you want to buy 100 kilograms?"

"Sure! Village chief!" Wang Laizi nodded in response.

"Can your family still afford three hundred copper coins?" Wang Dakuo was a little bit unbelievable.

"I..." Wang Laizi was speechless for a moment, but still said with a stiff upper lip:

"can!"

"Tomorrow I'll go to town and sell the good farmland at home to raise the money!"

When Wang Dakuo heard Wang Laizi say this, his brows furrowed even deeper.

Buy food on credit.

If his family does this and others do the same, who will pay the money on credit?

But if we don't buy food for Wang Laizi's family, given his rogue nature, I'm afraid he will do something unexpected.

Think again and again.

Wang Dakuo sighed:

"Manzi!"

"Bring me pen and paper. Have Wang Laizi sign the contract. Today he's borrowing 300 coins for two acres of good farmland. If he doesn't pay back the 300 coins tomorrow, I'll take two acres of his farmland!"

"Any objection?"

As he spoke, Wang Dakuo stared at Wang Laizi with his sharp eyes.

Wang Laizi had been frightened by Wang Dakuo's sudden burst of elder aura, so he lowered his head and agreed repeatedly:

"No objection."

"without..."

After the contract was signed, Wang Laizi left the crowd in disgrace.

He had been spending money frivolously over the years, and his family only had two acres of good farmland and ten acres of marginal land left.

If the village chief took away the two acres of good farmland for 300 coins, his father would either beat him to death or he would have to go to the county to be a beggar next year!

After seeing the village chief's strict contract, no one followed Wang Laizi's example and defaulted on paying money.

When everyone had paid the registration money in full, the village chief selected dozens of strong men from the crowd remaining outside the ancestral hall, and they set out together to go to the county town to buy rice early the next morning!

They have the final say in the family and can make decisions if there are any emergencies regarding the purchase of food!

Shen Qian is among them!

......

When Shen Qian returned home, Wang Tianci and his wife, who were still awake, came over and asked:

"Mother! The village chief is calling everyone to the ancestral hall tonight."

"What did you say?"

On the side, Wang Tianci's wife Liu pricked up her ears.

Obviously, he was also curious about the purpose of the village chief gathering the villagers tonight.

Shen Qian's heart skipped a beat when she saw this.

I forgot to mention the most important thing about buying rice this time!

Confidential!

Keep it secret!

The villagers would certainly not hide the fact that they were gathering together to pool money to buy rice from their wives at home.

But most of those women were not from Wangjia Village.

Most of them married into the family from other villages, and some were even from other counties. It would probably take a few days to get the news.

The surrounding villages will all know that Wangjia Village has purchased a large amount of old grain.

Troubled times are coming, and only one village has food, which may not be a good thing! Thinking of this, Shen Qian was worried:

It seems that I still need to remind the heads of each family when distributing food tomorrow.

Looking up at Wang Tianci and Liu again, Shen Qian shook her head:

"You'll know tomorrow."

She really didn't dare to say it.

Having said that, there is no need to wait until tomorrow to buy food. The fourth brother and his family member Liu have to rush to his father-in-law's house tonight to inform him of the news.

Who knows if that cunning old man will make trouble for me when I’m buying food!

Have to be on guard.

After hearing what their mother said, Wang Tianci and his wife were still curious.

But they could only return to their cabin obediently.

After all, if my mother said this in the past, it meant that she would tell it in front of the whole family the next day and she didn't want to talk to them alone in the middle of the night.

Asking again will not get you anything, instead you will get scolded.

......

Later in the night.

The village chief and his sons counted the money and calculated the total amount of grain to be purchased at home.

"I've counted it!" The youngest son put down the last copper coin and cheered:

"285 households contributed a total of money to purchase aged rice!"

"Among them, there are 32 taels of silver and copper coins!"

“They all match!”

"Here, our family bought 500 kilograms!"

“It can be said that this is the most purchased product in the whole village.”

"Okay, now that we've figured it out, let's go to sleep." Village chief Wang Dakuo looked at his youngest son and waved his hand, saying:

"I'll be on guard tonight. You can take the money away tomorrow. But you have to keep a close eye on it."

"If something goes wrong, make up for it from your rations!"