I will lead the whole village to occupy the land and become the king.

Although she did not agree to Wei Chengzhong's request to find a water source, Jiang Qinyu still paid attention to this matter.

That evening, the temperature dropped slightly, and Village Chief Li called the people of Dingshui Village to a meeting under the big locust tree at the entrance of the village.

"Village Chief, what's going on? It's so hot out here, I really don't want to leave the house!"

Many people are complaining about the hot weather. The longer they stay outside, the more irritable they become.

Seeing this, Village Chief Li wiped the sweat from his forehead and said unhappily, "Only you guys are hot, but I don't know it's hot, right?"

The weather was so hot that Village Chief Li didn't say anything more. He quickly got down to business. "I asked you to come because I heard from the county magistrate that a batch of grain will be delivered to our county tomorrow. He told us to go to the city to buy some if we need it."

This is inside information, and even Lord Wei would not tell everyone about it. Therefore, even though their village is not short of food now, he still feels that he should tell the villagers about it.

"Our village doesn't need to buy food, right?" Liuyazi asked quickly.

After all, not only did their village have a good harvest, but they also had a big haul from hunting in the mountains a couple of days ago. They had no shortage of coarse grains, fine grains, or meat. Why bother spending that money to buy food?

"What do you know, little brat?" Ma suddenly stood up and glared at Liu Yazi, saying angrily, "Just because your family doesn't lack food, does that mean other families don't?"

Her family didn't harvest anything this year. The output from the fields is not even enough for her own food. There are Lu Yancai and Lu Tianbao at home. How can she survive without buying food?

Liu Yazi was very dissatisfied when she called him a brat. He immediately rolled up his sleeves and asked loudly, "Who are you calling a brat? I'm a brat, so what are you? A fat pig?"

Although he is not as smart as Chen Shao, he is not someone to be trifled with. It would be strange if he could tolerate Ma looking down on him like this!

"You dare to scold me?" Ma stared at him in disbelief, "I'll tear your mouth off!"

"Whose mouth do you want to tear? I want to see who dares to touch my Liuyazi!" Liuyazi's mother was unhappy. She immediately stood up and confronted Ma with her hands on her hips.

Village Chief Li got a headache seeing them like this and shouted, "Enough! Go back and argue if you want to. Let's talk business!"

His prestige in the village was growing, and Ma had been punished by him before, so she became obedient after being yelled at like this.

Liuyazi's mother spat at Ma and stopped pestering her.

Ma was so angry that she almost died, but considering the status of Liuyazi's family in the village, she could only endure it. Apart from glaring at Liuyazi and his mother with vicious eyes, she dared not do anything else.

Village Chief Li continued to talk about buying food. This time, Grandpa Jiang stepped forward and said, "Although we have some food now, we don't know how long the disaster will last. It's better to buy some food."

Jiang Qinyu watched a farce, and after hearing what Grandpa Jiang said, she also said: "I also suggest that we buy more food. Whether it is a disaster or something else, we can only feel at ease if we have food in our hands."

The villagers of Dingshui Village do have some grain reserves now, but before the work point system was implemented, many families owed the village grain. After paying back that part after the harvest, what was left at home was just enough to eat until the autumn harvest.

There are also families like Wang Pozi and Lu Yancai who don't grow high-yield crops at all. The food they have may not even last until the autumn harvest, as they can only eat porridge.

That would be fine, but things are unpredictable. If there were any variables in the meantime, it is not certain whether there would be a food shortage.

Anyway, if there is a chance to buy food, Jiang Qinyu will not miss it.

"I agree with Grandpa Jiang and my niece," Village Chief Li nodded in agreement. "I was afraid of starvation before. Even though I still had some food stored at home, I wanted to save more. The more the better!"

After three years of drought, almost all of their food was consumed. Now they finally had a little bit of food left, but it was far from enough to make them feel at ease.

Especially in today's scorching hot weather, Village Chief Li is really afraid that one day he will wake up and find that the water in the wells and underground rivers is gone. Only when they have food in their hands can they calm down and make long-term plans to find new water sources.

The few influential people in the village all agreed to buy grain, and the others naturally agreed as well, but a new problem arose.

"Uncle Village Chief, buying grain is no problem, but do we have enough silver? Should the whole village buy it together, or should each family buy it on their own?" Chen Shao asked thoughtfully.

They are still implementing the work point system, and it was only in March that they distributed a batch of supplies and a small amount of silver and money to everyone.

Village Chief Li gave him an admiring look before turning to the others. "I called everyone here to ask for your opinions. Just like Ah Shao said, how should we buy food?"

When everyone heard this, they immediately started talking.

"If you ask me, it's up to each family to decide whether to buy or how much to buy, right?"

"But my family only has a few taels of silver. If I use it all to buy food, what if there's an emergency in the future?"

"I won't say anything else. The county magistrate just said there would be grain for sale in the county town tomorrow. Did he mention the price? If the price is too high, should we still buy it?"

"Oh, what you said makes me think about whether to buy it or not..."

Jiang Qinyu didn't know anything about grain prices, so when she heard someone mention it, she looked at Village Chief Li.

After everyone had finished their discussion, Village Chief Li, who was sitting on the straw platform, said, "Don't worry about the price of grain. The county magistrate said it's only 10% more expensive than before the drought. This is already a rare low price."

Before the drought, wheat cost between eighty and one hundred coins per stone, which is equivalent to eight to ten coins per catty. If it were only 10% more expensive, it would indeed be quite cheap.

"Uncle Village Chief," Jiang Qinyu said thoughtfully, "Did the County Magistrate say whether there will be a limit on the amount of grain we can buy?"

Village Chief Li thought for a moment before shaking his head and saying, "He didn't say."

"Then I suggest that the village keep 100 taels of public silver for emergencies, and use the rest to buy food. Each family can decide how to buy according to their own situation." Jiang Qinyu said seriously.

The money from the public treasury of Dingshui Village was used to buy food. Even if someone's family was short of food later, they could use their work points to exchange it in the village, so they would not starve to death.

After everyone had been discussing for so long, Jiang Qinyu finally understood that many families were actually not willing to spend money to buy food.

After all, for them, they could only earn a few taels of silver throughout the year before. Now they have finally accumulated some wealth and are not short of food at home, so there is no need to spend the cash.

"A Zheng's family's idea is great," Aunt Qin said with a smile, clapping her hands. "It not only ensures that our village won't be short of food, but also allows each family to have some money to make a living."

"I don't agree!" Ma shouted.