An eight-year-old kid emptied his scumbag father's warehouse and followed his grandparents into

Xiao Man didn't say a word from beginning to end, nor did she watch the two people playing. Instead, she turned slightly to the side like an ordinary child, but her eyes unintentionally looked behind Jing Chunxi, and occasionally chewed a hollow biscuit. She was unusually alert, but remained calm.

Jing Yi was right about him.

I passed by a grain store, but it was closed at night. I had wanted to take advantage of the night to check out the grain market in Ezhou City, but I didn't expect that all the stores were closed.

After returning to the inn, Jing Chunxi did not wash up immediately. Instead, he sat at the table and wrote a letter to his mother and brother, briefly reporting the situation on the road and the news of his arrival in Ezhou. Reporting that he was safe would definitely put their minds at ease.

While writing, Xiao Man stood beside Jing Chunxi and watched. The young lady wrote very carefully, and he felt comfortable looking at the neat handwriting of the hairpin-shaped regular script. He only regretted that he had read too little, and planned to take time to listen to the teacher's lectures more after returning to Qingshan Villa.

After finishing writing, Jing Chunxi handed the letter to Xiaoman and asked him to send someone to deliver it by official mail early the next morning.

Late at night, Jing Chunxi lay in bed, listening to the faint sound of the night watchman's drum outside the window, silently thinking about the arrangements for the next two days.

……

Breakfast was brought into the house. After seeing Tang Shuang clear away the dishes, Ah Qi knocked on the door and came in.

"A Qi sent someone out to inquire last night. Grain shops are usually located at Caishikou. There's a market not far from the inn, but the roads leading in and out are often congested, so taking a carriage would be inconvenient. Miss, you'll have to trouble me to walk there.

Also, the most people are buying groceries during the Si and Shen hours. Miss, do you think you should avoid these times?"

Jing Chunxi pondered for a moment and said, "No, we can't just look at the grain prices. When there are many people, it's a good time to listen to the people's voices. Maybe some information comes from the people themselves."

Jing Chunxi looked at Ah Qi again. He had changed out of the clothes he had worn to facilitate riding and was now wearing an ordinary blue-gray autumn coat. He looked no different from the ordinary local people he had seen last night. Jing Chunxi couldn't help but nod to him.

He praised: "Uncle Qi's outfit is suitable for buying groceries."

Ah Qi scratched his head and chuckled, "Big Brother told us to prepare long and short coats for emergencies, and today they just happened to be useful."

The grain store is located in a short street with only five or six grain shops in total. The shops do not just sell goods in two rooms, and most of them also have some dried goods or pickles displayed at the door.

Most brands of pickles are Liubiju, and there is also a kind called Yutang pickles, which is a bit dark in color but tastes very fragrant.

The most common thing you see is Wuchang fish hung up with ropes or bamboo poles to dry. Unlike the fishy smell of dried sea fish, the aroma of pickled pepper and star anise can be smelled from afar.

But what attracted them was not these, but the long queues of people in every grain store.

"Is Ezhou also short on food?" Jing Chunxi couldn't help but wonder. Tao Jin's letter only mentioned food shortages in Jiujiang and Jian'an counties. He hadn't heard of any other counties experiencing food shortages, yet why were the lines so long and crowded? So long that some people were nearly getting into fights over queue-jumping.

Chuntao and Tangshuang had already signaled to each other, carrying their baskets and joining the queues in front of the two adjacent grain stores. It looked like it would take at least two hours for them to get their turn to buy grain.

Ah Qi asked in a low voice: "Do you want Ah Qi to line up and go in too?" He had already bought a bunch of green vegetables in the basket on his shoulder, and looked like an ordinary person who came to the morning market.

"No need. Let's split up and walk around the area to see if we can find out anything." Jing Chunxi said and walked across to the shop.

This is a passage leading to the market. The road is quite wide and no one drives the women away from their temporary stalls. Most people only have a few vegetables in front of them, which are probably vegetables they grew themselves but could not finish eating, so they are selling them.

There was just one thin mother-in-law who had five or six kinds of dishes on display, each taking up half a frame.

The vegetables laid out on the oilcloth on the ground are tied in bundles and look very attractive, while those in the boxes are scattered. When there are no customers, my mother-in-law occasionally takes the time to tie one or two bundles together.

It seemed that she had all the necessary equipment for setting up her stall, including oilcloth and straw for tying vegetables. She was the only one with a scale on her stall, so she must be a vegetable vendor.

Seeing Jing Chunxi approaching, Xiaoman hurriedly followed with a basket on her shoulder. The two looked like a brother and sister who were sent out by their parents to buy groceries.

"Mother-in-law, your dishes are so delicious, they look better than those from other places."

She didn't squat down to pick vegetables immediately, but was still thinking about what to buy.

Jing Chunxi has a sweet voice and is good-looking. Grandma likes her as soon as she sees her: "The little girl has really good taste. Grandma, I set up a stall here every day, and the customers I sell are all regular customers who know the goods."

Xiao Man squatted down in front of her mother-in-law, placed the basket beside her, and carefully selected the dishes on the oilcloth. "Mother-in-law, can we charge less if we choose a few?"

"Wow! You're so young and you know how to bargain. Did your parents teach you that? I'm telling you, I'm a fair seller. I only make a few cents from selling you a few bunches of vegetables, which is already the best price. Since you're little kids, I can give you two extra green onions. I guarantee you won't get scolded when you go back."

Jing Chunxi squatted beside her mother-in-law, pretending to pick vegetables, and praised her sweetly: "Grandma is so nice. We will come to buy from you in the future."